At 38 years old, it would be easy to assume the best of Mark Hunt’s fighting career is behind him…and he would be quick to tell you otherwise.The “Super Samoan” is in the midst of a career resurgence as the former K-1 champion has collected three …
At 38 years old, it would be easy to assume the best of Mark Hunt’s fighting career is behind him…and he would be quick to tell you otherwise.
The “Super Samoan” is in the midst of a career resurgence as the former K-1 champion has collected three consecutive victories inside the Octagon. It is a stark turnabout from three years ago where Hunt found himself on the business end of a string of losses, including his UFC debut where he was defeated by journeyman Sean McCorkle at UFC 119.
Rather than dwell on the downside, Hunt jumped back into looking to sort things out inside the cage. In his next bout at UFC 127, the New Zealand-native fought his way back into the win column and has been building momentum ever since. He will be looking to keep things rolling this weekend in Japan when he faces Stefan Struve in the co-main event of UFC on Fuel TV 8.
“I don’t know what was wrong to be honest,” Hunt said about his losing streak. “I trained hard at American Top Team and I still lost my first fight in the UFC against McCorkle. That was my sixth straight loss and people were telling me I needed to hang it up. But why should I? I’m one of the best fighters in the world. I really don’t know what it was back then and why I was losing those fights. Maybe it took me fighting back home in Sydney and being in a situation where I needed to win. By God’s grace I was able to get a win there and get back on track. It has been great ever since.
The bout with the Dutch “Skyscraper” has the potential to vault the victor into the contender’s tier of the heavyweight division. Both fighters are riding solid win streaks and their bout comes at a time when the avenue to a heavyweight title shot is wide open. While the situation could present plenty of pressure, Hunt has made peace with letting the chips fall where they may against Struve.
“I’m going to give it my all and see where it goes,” Hunt said. “I’m not fighting for a draw and if I win, I win, if I lose, I lose. I’m going to leave it all inside the Octagon.
“I don’t think I’m going to be playing a range game with him at all. Stefan is such a big, tall guy, it would be pretty dumb of me to try to take him out from the outside. It is a strange match-up when you have a tall guy versus a short guy, but in the end, the best fighter will win. Which should be me of course. But we will see what happens.”
While competing in front of the well-versed Japanese crowd is something most fighters dream of, the process is somewhat of an old hat to Hunt. With over a decade of experience competing in Japanese-based promotions, Hunt has built a strong fan base in the “Land of the Rising Sun.”
On Saturday night, he will once again look to put on a show for the Japanese fans and grateful for the support they show him.
“It feels great to fight in Japan,” Hunt said. “I’ve been there over 60 times and it feels good to be back. Every fighter likes to compete in front of fans who appreciate and understand the sport they are watching. Japan is great about that. They are educated about mixed martial arts and I really enjoy fighting in front of them.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
The end of Wanderlei Silva’s storied career has been rumored to be coming for some time now.UFC President Dana White has addressed the matter publicly on multiple occasions, and a rough patch where the MMA legend has found victory in only three of his …
The end of Wanderlei Silva‘s storied career has been rumored to be coming for some time now.
UFC President Dana White has addressed the matter publicly on multiple occasions, and a rough patch where the MMA legend has found victory in only three of his last 10 showings, has only served to strengthen the case for Silva’s retirement. But when the topic is brought to Silva’s attention, the 36-year-old former middleweight juggernaut, insists he has plenty of battles left in him.
While “The Axe Murderer” will continue to press on for the time being, the question still lingers as to just how much the Brazilian’s body can handle.
For 17 years, Silva has given everything he’s had to the sport of mixed martial arts. The former Chute Boxe wrecking machine has spent his entire career trading punches, elbows and knees at all costs, leaving behind a highlight reel of violence that allowed him to achieve a level of success for fighters past, present and future to envy.
There is no doubting Silva’s heart to fight, but in a sport as physically unforgiving as mixed martial arts, time becomes a factor on a multitude of levels. Nevertheless, the decision to walk away is Silva’s to make, at least for the time being any way, and he has no plans of hanging up the four-ounce gloves anytime soon.
Then again, the status of Silva’s career could take a drastic turn this weekend in Tokyo, Japan. The former Pride champion squares off with war hero turned mixed martial artist Brian Stann in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 8 in a bout that comes at a crucial time in the careers of both men.
The “All-American” is looking to regain traction in his career since falling out of title contention this past September, and Silva is fighting to see another day under the UFC banner. The potential circumstances at hand would be enough to rattle even the most seasoned fighter, but Silva is at ease heading into this weekend’s showdown. The Team Wand leader has prepared for the battle ahead, and with the fight coming in the country where his legacy was built, Silva has all the motivation he needs to go after the victory.
“I am very happy right now in my career,” Silva told Bleacher Report. “I’m so happy to be fighting in Japan and being in the headline fight at the event. This moment has been good to me and my career right now. It’s great being able to fight in Japan again. It’s a great opportunity for me to show how I fight in front of some of my biggest fans. I will do my very best to win this fight.”
While the Brazilian powerhouse built his reputation by steamrolling the opposition with a chaotic blitzing style attack, recent performances have shown an increased patience in Silva’s game. Rather than rush across the cage and throw caution to the wind, the Las Vegas transplant is choosing to use a more measured approach.
“I’ve changed some things up now because it only takes one punch to change a fight,” Silva said. “You have to be careful with your opponent. Things could be going well in the moment for you, but one punch could change everything about the fight.”
The upcoming tilt between Silva and Stann features two men with the proven ability to end a fight with one clean shot. In addition to their respective power, both fighters posses strengths in all areas of the mixed martial arts game, but Silva believes the winner of the bout will ultimately be determined in the striking department.
“[Stann] is a compete fighter,” Silva said. “He’s good in the stand-up like me and that is where I like to fight. He is really good, and I’m looking forward to the fight.
“I know one fighter is going down and it won’t be me. I am going in there to beat my opponent. He is experienced, and is a good guy, but a fight is a fight. I am there to win and knock him out.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
The life of a professional fighter is filled with uncertainty. Their successes and failures play out in the public eye for all to see. When the cage door closes and the battle of wills begins, it becomes a matter of opportunity. One walks away victor…
The life of a professional fighter is filled with uncertainty. Their successes and failures play out in the public eye for all to see.
When the cage door closes and the battle of wills begins, it becomes a matter of opportunity. One walks away victorious, the other defeated, the outcome sometimes determined by only the slightest of margins.
What happens under the bright lights is what the fans are left to debate, but rarely are they given a glimpse into what it takes to make the walk to the cage in the first place.
This is what the climb looks like—told in their words. This is “The Fighting Life.”
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The ever-changing tides of life often makes opportunity a difficult thing to recognize. Circumstance dictates maturity, and without a readiness to make the most of the moment, the ability to capitalize on the chance provided greatly diminishes.
In the realm of professional fighting, timing means everything both in and out of the cage. Natural talent only provides the foundation for a career to begin. In most cases, it takes a fighter seizing the moment presented for traction to be found and process of progression to get under way.
Whether this comes in the heat of battle, when an opponent’s mistake opens a split-second window to to unleash an attack, or it comes in the form of a phone call from the biggest promotion in mixed martial arts, the ability to recognize the situation at hand and make it count is what ultimately allows a dream once believed to be unachievable to become reality.
For Thiago Alves, emerging from poverty-stricken roots in Fortaleza, Brazil to become one of the best welterweight fighters on the planet, was made possible by his ability to capture opportunity when it has arisen. It has been a journey filled with success and setbacks alike, but the education provided throughout, and Alves’ ability to rise above hardships, has taught the 29-year-old the importance of positivity and that hard work truly does pay off.
In some form or fashion, the American Top Team staple has been fighting his entire life. From his days competing in bare-knuckle bouts to put scraps in his pockets, to displaying a level of skill that has made him one of the most feared strikers in the world, Alves’ quest to improve his quality of life has been successful.
While his ultimate dream of becoming a UFC champion is yet to be realized, his appreciation for what hard work and determination has made possible, are things Alves never fails be thankful for.
“When I was growing up, I was always a little chubby kid because I came from a family of bakers,” Alves told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “I needed to get in shape because if I didn’t, girls wouldn’t pay any attention to me. I used to watch a lot of Bruce Lee and Jean-Claude Van Damme movies and saw a Thai Boxing gym right by house. I was 13 years old and decided to join in. I fell in love with combat sports.
“I was supposed to fight in an amateur tournament along with a few other local kids, but the kid I was supposed to fight pulled out two weeks from the fight. His gym wasn’t far from my house and I went in there to do some training, and his coach asked if I wanted to spar with his guys. I agreed and dropped the first kid in two minutes. Then he sent the second one and I dropped that kid quickly as well. That is when I realized fighting was something I could be good at. When I was 14 years old, I had my first amateur fight, and at 15, became a professional Muay Thai fighter.
“My first competition was against a 25-year-old, grown ass man, who had a bunch of fights already under his belt. My coach at the time had just come back from Holland, and the technical level we were training at was far superior. He trusted my ability and the work he had put into me, and we took the fight. It was a five-round fight, three minutes with one minute of rest in between. I beat him up for the first three rounds, but the last two rounds I got tired, and he ended up getting the best of me at the end. That was my first professional Muay Thai fight. Even though the last two rounds were rough, I still won and I knew right there I had what it took to be a good fighter.
“Over the next two years I continued to compete, and when I was 17 years old, I fought Gleison Tibau, who is one of my teammates now at American Top Team. There was no boxing commission or anything like that at the time, and Tibau already had like nine pro fights. He was at least 15-20 pounds bigger than me at the time. I was still growing up, but you’ve seen the way Tibau is built.
“We went to war, and it was Pride rules, where the first round is 10 minutes with a five-minute second round. During the first round, we scrapped for like nine minutes going back and forth from the ground to trading punches on our feet. When he would take me down, I had zero experience with jiu-jitsu. I would just muscle him off me and every time we stood up, I would hurt him.
“The final 30 seconds, his eye was cut open and his lip busted up, and I put my hand on his throat to throw a punch and he caught me with an armbar. I had no idea what to do, and the way he caught me, I was face down on the mat with him flipped over stomach down. I was looking at my coach asking what to do and he said I needed to tap. I did what he told me to do and I tapped out. That was my first loss in mixed martial arts, but I fell in love with MMA that night. I decided right there I wanted to get as good as I possibly could at mixed martial arts.
“After my fight with Tibau, I started training properly and did 12 more fights in Brazil. The first five were bare knuckles and there was barely any pay for them. They would bring you out there to fight and give you $100. You would get in there and scrap bare knuckles, which is pretty hardcore, but that is how it used to be back in the day.”
As Alves continued to develop his skill set, it became apparent a change of scenery was needed in order for him to prepare to face a higher level of competition. In Brazil, mixed martial arts has been a thriving sport for decades, with the two most dominant teams being the Brazilian Top Team and the notorious striker squad Chute Boxe.
When the time arrived for “Pitbull” to compete on the biggest stages in Brazil, he found himself surrounded by fighters he had looked up to for years. Alves was admittedly intimidated at first, but once he let his hands go, everything fell into place and the talented young Muay Thai fighter found success in mixed martial arts. Little did he know at the time, but those performances would ultimately lead to his life being changed forever.
“My last fights in Brazil were for Bitetti Combat, and my first match came against Fabio Holanda, who was a BTT fighter. Back in the day, BTT and Chute Boxe were huge in Brazil, and Holanda had guys like Maurillo Bustamante and the Nogueira brothers in his corner. I saw those guys fighting on television and was a bit intimidated. But my coach made me focus on the task at hand and reminded me I wasn’t fighting those guys…just Holanda.
“I beat him up and ended up winning the fight by unanimous decision. After the fight I was invited to join Chute Boxe but I also heard Top Team was bringing on fighters all over the world. Marcus Aurelio is from the same city I’m from in Brazil, and I contacted him to give him my profile. I had never really met him before, but he had heard some good things about me. He took my profile with him to America and showed it to Master Ricardo Liborio and Dan Lambert, who owns American Top Team.
“Before I went to America, I went to train at Chute Boxe for two weeks because they promised me a bunch of great things, but when I got there, things weren’t how they said they were going to be. My family couldn’t support me living in Curitiba. It is a different state than where I’m from, Fortaleza, and my family didn’t have the money for me to be there training. I was there for 10 days when Marcus Aurelio called me to give me the great news that American Top Team picked me. I packed my bags and made up some story that my grandmother was sick and then I left for America. Thank God for that.”
Once Alves’ place at American Top Team was made official, he left the small town of Fortaleza behind and set off for America. With barely any money to his name and huge language barrier ahead of him, Alves knew adjusting to the American way of life was going to be a difficult process. Nevertheless, the opportunity to progress his fighting career and make better money doing so was something the 19-year-old couldn’t pass up.
“It was really hard for me to adjust to American culture,” Alves said. “We are from such a small place in Brazil, and we thought Fortaleza was the center of the world. I had never traveled much, only to the local places I fought in. I had never gone to Sao Paulo before and still to this day I’ve never been to Rio. When I got on the plane to come to America, it was only the second time in my life I had ever been on a plane. But moving to America was a great opportunity, and they were giving a salary to the fighters at ATT. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to survive and send money back to my family in Brazil.
“At the time, our family situation wasn’t very comfortable because my mother and father had a falling out. For five years, my dad pretty much went on his rampage and didn’t want to deal with anything. My mom is my hero, and she made sure we stayed together. She had every opportunity to leave my father but she decided to stick with him, and I’m very thankful for her making that choice. Things have changed now and we all have a great relationship, but it was very hard at the time. Family is everything to me.
“Coming here to America was very challenging. Being away from my mother was tough, and I spoke no English. I knew two words—’thank you’ and ‘money’. Those are two solid words, but that was the extent of my English.
“I had $70 in my pocket before I left Brazil,” Alves added. “All my friends got together to throw a going-away party and they came up with $20 for me. I have a lot of friends, dude, and combined they came up with like $21 and some change for me. It’s all they had, and we were all very poor growing up. We weren’t wealthy by any stretch, but I never really thought about it because we always had food on the table and were happy.
“When I got to America they had a house we could live in and a car to transport us back and forth to the gym. I also got $225 a week, and that was way more money than I ever had before. I thought I was a millionaire. The transfer rate for the American dollar to the money we used in Brazil was like three to one, and my $225 was like $700 in Brazilian money. I was able to send most of it back to my family and help them get out of a bad situation. I’ve been through some bad things in my life, but I’ve always been very thankful for the support I get from my family.”
Stay tuned for the second installment of The Fighting Life: Thiago Alves coming tomorrow.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist with Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
When a fighter competes outside of the UFC, there is a stigma that becomes attached to their careers. While strong records are collected and impressive resumes built, the fact their work isn’t being done inside the Octagon can make respect in the eyes …
When a fighter competes outside of the UFC, there is a stigma that becomes attached to their careers. While strong records are collected and impressive resumes built, the fact their work isn’t being done inside the Octagon can make respect in the eyes of MMA fans difficult to come by.
This is a scenario fighters from the Strikeforce promotion have dealt with for years. With the doors to the San Jose promotion now closed and the roster merged into the UFC fold, the fighters who formerly battled in the six-sided cage are making their presence felt on the sport’s biggest stage.
At UFC 157 this past weekend in Anaheim, a handful of former Strikeforce fighters kept the momentum rolling inside the Octagon.
On the preliminary portion of the card, Nah-Shon Burrell made a proper introduction to the UFC fanbase by defeating Yuri Villefort in a three round war. It was precisely the caliber of performance “The Rock-N-Rolla” needed to deliver after failing to make weight for the bout. After a back-and-forth affair, the Philadelphia native earned the unanimous decision nod, making him successful in seven of his last eight showings.
While spending eight years away from the UFC, heavy-handed slugger Robbie Lawler made his return on Saturday night against Josh Koscheck. The two welterweights kicked off the pay-per-view portion of the event and “Ruthless” needed less than a full round to dispatch of the perennial contender.
It was an impressive showing for the former Elite XC champion as he bounced back from a rough start which saw Koscheck put him on his back. But once Lawler was able to get out from under the former NCAA Division I wrestling champion, his powerful right hand closed out the action in stunning fashion.
Burrell and Lawler are just the latest examples of how effective the former Strikeforce fighters have been since coming over to the UFC. With a collection of solid wins since coming into the mix, and a handful of the now-defunct organization’s biggest names set to make their respective debuts, 2013 could very well prove to a tremendous year for former Strikeforce representatives.
Cormier, Rockhold and Melendez on a Quest for Gold
Lawler’s victory at UFC 157 was the highest-profile victory for a Strikeforce transplant, but that could easily change over the next three months. With Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier and former Strikeforce lightweight champion Glibert Melendez heading into the biggest fights of their careers at UFC on Fox 7 in April, the stage is set for a major shake-up on the UFC’s landscape.
“El Nino” will attempt to capitalize on an immediate title shot when he squares off with current champion Benson Henderson. The 30-year-old has been on a quest to be recognized as the best 155-pound fighter in the world, and a victory over “Smooth” would carve that label in stone.
Melendez has won seven consecutive bouts, and in the process of this run has avenged the only two losses of his career. Nevertheless, solving the Henderson puzzle has proven to be extremely difficult.
The Bleacher Report 2012 “Fighter of the Year” has been on a tear since coming to the UFC, earning victories in each of his six showings inside the Octagon, making “Bendo” successful in 16 of his last 17 bouts. Should Melendez find championship gold in San Jose, the recognition and respect he’s been battling for will come in rapid fashion.
Before Melendez and Henderson’s title scrap, another former Strikeforce standout will take center stage when prospect turned contender Daniel Cormier makes his highly anticipated debut. The former Olympic wrestler will lock up with former two-time heavyweight champion Frank Mir, in a bout which could ultimately affect multiple divisions.
In three short years, Cormier has proven to be one of the sport’s best heavyweight fighters. But with his close friend and AKA teammate Cain Velasquez currently holding the divisional strap, the Louisiana native has laid out a plan of action which would keep their paths from crossing.
Following his victory over Dion Staring in the final Strikeforce event in January, “D.C.” stated he wanted to fight Mir in his debut, then drop down into 205-pound waters and fight Jon Jones later in the year.
It is an interesting path Cormier is choosing to travel. The 33-year-old’s wrestling pedigree is second to none in the MMA realm, and with proven put-away power in his hands, Cormier’s skill set is a difficult matchup for any opponent to handle.
While Mir is certainly no one to overlook, the thought of Cormier facing Jones has built a solid buzz in the MMA community. Up to this point, the light heavyweight phenom has ripped through every fighter to challenge his crown, and many people believe Cormier has the tools to be the young champion’s most difficult challenge to date.
Another former champion eager to begin a championship run in the UFC is Luke Rockhold. The last man to hold the Strikeforce middleweight title will make his promotional debut in May when he steps in against MMA legend Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8.
The matchup against “The Phenom” presents the type of high-profile opportunity the AKA-trained fighter has been looking for, and a victory over the Brazilian powerhouse has the potential to launch Rockhold into middleweight title contention.
The 28-year-old has been asking to face the best in the world since winning the Strikeforce title in 2011, and getting Belfort for his first assignment is the beginning of that process.
Be Bobby Green
Having the biggest names from Strikeforce making their Octagon debuts has certainly generated the biggest buzz, but one veteran’s first showing for the organization has perhaps made the largest impact.
After years of being a journeyman fighter and consistently overlooked, the “King” got the attention of the most powerful man in MMA earlier this month when he defeated Jacob Volkmann at UFC 156.
UFC President Dana White heralded Green’s drive and determination and has used the 26-year-old as the premier example of how a hungry young fighter should approach competing in the UFC. White raved about Green’s ability to overcome a bad situation during the bout with Volkmann. The UFC boss was not only impressed with Green fighting through an ill-advised stand-up by referee Kim Winslow, but the killer instinct he showed in ultimately finishing the Minnesota native.
In the aftermath of Green’s victory in Las Vegas, White has urged every fighter looking to make a home in the UFC to be like Bobby Green. It is a strong message from White which comes at a crucial time for the organization. With a recent string of cuts and many more on the way, using Green’s “win at all cost” mentality as the standard is a message sent loud and clear.
In addition to his praise for Green, the UFC president has also touted the majority of the Strikeforce fighters who have competed thus far in 2013. It has been one impressive performance after another for the former Strikeforce contingency.
With their respective hands being raised at a high percentage and earning White’s praise, the former Strikeforce fighters are making the most of their opportunities to shine.
The fight game can be an unforgiving creature.Athletes losing their jobs is simply part of the process, and with new talent emerging and with competitors failing to fend off the rising tide, there will be those fighters who are pushed aside as the mach…
The fight game can be an unforgiving creature.
Athletes losing their jobs is simply part of the process, and with new talent emerging and with competitors failing to fend off the rising tide, there will be those fighters who are pushed aside as the machine moves on. Surely it can be a difficult thing to swallow, and the cliche of “it’s business; not personal” does little to soften the blow. But promotions releasing fighters from their rosters is a stone cold aspect of the fight game that will never change.
In mixed martial arts, there has always been a natural “weeding out” process inside the cage. When a fighter fails to perform up to the standards which landed them the position in the first place, the shadow of a hovering axe looms overhead. The saying “you are only as good as your last fight” gets tossed around in MMA with the frequency of 4 oz. leather, and while the phrase is overused, it doesn’t mean the words do not ring true. That being said, some times those lines become blurred, and what constitutes a “good fight” is not easily determined.
With the UFC’s recent string of cuts and with President Dana White telling the media in Anaheim that there is still more blood to be spilled, the sport’s biggest promotion sent a message to the fighters on their roster. The biggest question lingering is exactly what that message is and what implications it will have on how fighters approach their bouts in the future.
UFC Proving to Be No Fan of the Grind
It is common practice for the UFC to trim their roster in the aftermath of events. But when the news hit earlier this week that former No. 1 welterweight contender Jon Fitch had been released, it kicked up dust in all corners of the MMA community.
Following Thursday’s press conference for UFC 157, White addressed the situation surrounding Fitch’s release from the company. Whether you agree with White’s reasoning or buy in to the idea that the AKA staple is an expensive fighter on the decline, it doesn’t change the fact that White and Co. saw the 34-year-old as expendable.
White was quick to dismiss the notion that Fitch had been released for anything other than performance, but nevertheless, the additional details he offered and the tidbits of information he laid out this week surrounding other fighters and their respective styles, may provide the best “tell” in the situation at hand.
Fitch’s fighting style has never been one that fans have clamored over. The former Purdue University wrestling standout has found success inside the Octagon working behind a grinding, wrestling-heavy attack. It was an effective approach that resulted in Fitch earning one of the highest winning percentages in UFC welterweight history, but one that created a stigma of sorts that hovered over him at all times.
The point at hand becomes stronger when you consider White’s recent comments concerning Clay Guida. Where “The Carpenter” was once one of the most beloved fighters on the roster, the Chicago-native’s most recent showings appear to have put him out of favor with the UFC boss. Following an awful showing against Gray Maynard in Atlantic City that saw Guida refuse to engage for the entirety of the five round affair and a “lay and pray” performance against HatsuHioki at UFC on Fox 6, one of the UFC’s most fan-friendly fighters now finds himself lingering somewhere in the cold distance.
At the post-fight press conference following his loss to Maynard, the Jackson/Winkeljohn-trained fighter attempted to explain his change in approach. Guida said he was tired of getting beaten up for the sake of exciting fights and refused to stand in front of the powerful lightweight for the sake of an entertaining scrap. Instead, Guida attempted to work a game plan his team believed would improve his chances of winning. While that approach played out to terrible reviews, can we really blame Guida for not wanting to eat bombs from “The Bully?”
But therein lies the problem of perception. The blurred lines between the entertainment business and the authenticity of sports as a whole become an issue when simply winning isn’t enough. Guida lost the fight with Maynard and ultimately won his tilt with Hioki, but watching the 31-year-old sit awkwardly at the end of the dais at the post-fight presser told the bigger story. Where he could once do no wrong, Guida has now put himself under the microscope.
Whether you call it the “hot seat” or an unfavorable position, White questioning what happened to the way you used to fight is never a good thing.
The UFC boss also mentioned this week that Matt Riddle “used to be exciting,” before giving a tepid review of the takedown-heavy approach he’s taken as of late. But what is a middle-tier welterweight to do? Winning is the only means to guarantee continued employment, but winning “ugly” raises the ire of the man holding the axe.
Big Name Fighters On the Chopping Block?
In the fight business, a high profile and a strong connection to the promotional fan base is typically enough to keep the all mighty pink slip out of your general area. This may no longer be the case in the UFC.
During White’s media scrum where he addressed the Fitch situation, the UFC head honcho also mentioned Urijah Faber as another fighter who could be coming to the end of the road. With Faber’s current contender status in the bantamweight division and his history of being the poster boy for the lighter weight classes, the news of a possible cut this weekend was surprising. But if you take what White said about Fitch being an expensive fighter on the downside of his career at face value, the former WEC featherweight champion’s potential release could fit the new mold.
While Fitch’s release may have been shocking in the moment, the idea of the UFC cutting high profile fighters on a skid, could be the biggest news of all. When you look at the recent turn of events for some of the UFC’s most recognizable stars, it brings plenty of questions and pressure into their foreseeable futures.
White explained that Fitch had gone from being the No. 1 contender to ranked ninth in the rankings and former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans appears to be on a similar trajectory. After losing to champion Jon Jones at UFC 145 and a dreadful showing against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156, “Suga” has fallen to the back in the heated race for contention in the 205-pound weight class. Much like Faber, the former TUF winner has the talent to always be one or two fights away from another shot at the title, but if Evans can’t find a way to stop his current backslide, it is hard to imagine the UFC shelling out top dollar to put Evans on a preliminary card.
It is premature to think fighters who carry a profile the likes of Evans and Faber will be cut from the fold in a hasty fashion, but it could certainly be a turn the UFC takes in the near future. White stated there were still a 100 more cuts to make with a full schedule of events on the docket over the next several months. It should come as no surprise if those cuts come in bulk and a few big names are pared from the roster.
Josh Koscheck has never been the most popular fighter with the UFC fanbase.The former No. 1 contender to the welterweight crown has enjoyed a love/hate relationship with the MMA community spawning from his days on the original season of The Ultimate Fi…
Josh Koscheck has never been the most popular fighter with the UFC fanbase.
The former No. 1 contender to the welterweight crown has enjoyed a love/hate relationship with the MMA community spawning from his days on the original season of The Ultimate Fighter. That being said, the villain role has never seemed to bother Koscheck.
The former NCAA Division I wrestling champion brings his “black hat” back into the Octagon for the first time in nine months when he faces Robbie Lawler this Saturday night at UFC 157. The bout will be Koscheck’s first appearance since dropping a close decision to surging contender Johny Hendricks at UFC on Fox 3, where Lawler’s return to the Octagon has been more than eight years in the making.
While MMA fans have always shown their distaste for Koscheck, it appears his lack of popularity also spills over to his fellow fighter…at least in the case of Ian McCall.
During a recent video breakdown of the upcoming throwdown between Koscheck and Lawler, “Uncle Creepy” told Bleacher Report’s own Jeremy Botter he hopes the Strikeforce convert “knocks the f*** out of Koscheck.”
While the flyweight staple ultimately picked Koscheck to win this weekend’s tilt, he had no problems adding a few more choice words for the UFC veteran.
After McCall said, “nobody likes Koscheck,” he went on to add the perennial contender was “always the bridesmaid and never the bride.”
Check out the video below as McCall goes unfiltered and breaks down the upcoming matchup at UFC 157.
The life of a professional fighter is filled with uncertainty. Their successes and failures play out in the public eye for all to see.