(U.N.’s revenge: Anderson Silva knew he shouldn’t have cozied up to John Bolton so publicly back in the late nineties)
Just over two months away from when it was supposed to happen, the year’s most anticipated MMA bout does not yet have a time and place locked in stone, according to UFC President Dana White. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and #1 contender Chael Sonnen were supposed to square off in a rematch of their 2010 thriller at UFC 147 in Rio de Janiero on June 23rd but at Saturday’s post UFC in Sweden event press conference White revealed that a conference of the United Nations scheduled in Rio the same week may force the fight promotion to move their event.
“The problem down in Rio right now is they’re having a big United Nations convention down there, so there’s some stuff going on. We’re working through it trying to figure this whole thing out,” White said to the assembled media.
The U.N. conference was announced after the UFC first announced their intentions to hold an event in Rio on June 23rd, and will draw tens of thousands of visitors to the city, in addition to heads of state. White says that he’s essentially being told that Rio ain’t big enough for the both of the UFC and U.N.
(U.N.’s revenge: Anderson Silva knew he shouldn’t have cozied up to John Bolton so publicly back in the late nineties)
Just over two months away from when it was supposed to happen, the year’s most anticipated MMA bout does not yet have a time and place locked in stone, according to UFC President Dana White. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and #1 contender Chael Sonnen were supposed to square off in a rematch of their 2010 thriller at UFC 147 in Rio de Janiero on June 23rd but at Saturday’s post UFC in Sweden event press conference White revealed that a conference of the United Nations scheduled in Rio the same week may force the fight promotion to move their event.
“The problem down in Rio right now is they’re having a big United Nations convention down there, so there’s some stuff going on. We’re working through it trying to figure this whole thing out,” White said to the assembled media.
The U.N. conference was announced after the UFC first announced their intentions to hold an event in Rio on June 23rd, and will draw tens of thousands of visitors to the city, in addition to heads of state. White says that he’s essentially being told that Rio ain’t big enough for the both of the UFC and U.N.
“We know that the Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva fight [is] one of the biggest sporting events this year in the world, so we need to make sure ( that there will be room) especially when you’re doing an 80,000-seat soccer stadium. There better be some hotel rooms,” White said.
“We’re waiting to hear back,” he continued. “We’re trying to figure this whole thing out. The problem is that first of all they don’t like the idea of us coming at the same time as this United Nations convention is going on. The other problem is hotel rooms. Most of the hotel rooms are being taken up.”
White says that he had hoped to have the situation resolved before this weekend but that he expects that the UFC will “get this thing done within the next few days, one way or the other.”
(I have seen the future of Swedish MMA and it is pale, polite and comes with a nasty uppercut)
No one really disappointed in the UFC’s first ever event in Sweden Saturday. Swedish headliner Alexander Gustafsson won an entertaining and technical stand-up striking battle against Thiago Silva. For his part, Silva was coming off of a one-year suspension from a failed drug test and was a late replacement for Antonio Rogerio Nogueira but found success in spots throughout the fight and never stopped pushing the pace and coming forward, no matter how much damage he took.
It’s always fun to see what crowds in new UFC territory are like and the Swedish fans proved to be a pleasing combination. Think the soccer chants of British and Brazilian fans with the polite appreciation of Japanese fans (but slightly louder). When one of their own won, they roared. When one of theirs lost, they applauded the victor for their honest effort. Old dad was on the scene last week and did a great job writing about Swedish attitudes.
As he wrote, Silva was initially one of the few people to get booed in Sweden. But that had more to do with his assumed steroid use than his nationality. And by the end of his strong-willed battle against Gustafsson, the Swedish fans cheered Silva for his aggression.
(I have seen the future of Swedish MMA and it is pale, polite and comes with a nasty uppercut)
No one really disappointed in the UFC’s first ever event in Sweden Saturday. Swedish headliner Alexander Gustafsson won an entertaining and technical stand-up striking battle against Thiago Silva. For his part, Silva was coming off of a one-year suspension from a failed drug test and was a late replacement for Antonio Rogerio Nogueira but found success in spots throughout the fight and never stopped pushing the pace and coming forward, no matter how much damage he took.
It’s always fun to see what crowds in new UFC territory are like and the Swedish fans proved to be a pleasing combination. Think the soccer chants of British and Brazilian fans with the polite appreciation of Japanese fans (but slightly louder). When one of their own won, they roared. When one of theirs lost, they applauded the victor for their honest effort. Old dad was on the scene last week and did a great job writing about Swedish attitudes.
As he wrote, Silva was initially one of the few people to get booed in Sweden. But that had more to do with his assumed steroid use than his nationality. And by the end of his strong-willed battle against Gustafsson, the Swedish fans cheered Silva for his aggression.
Gustafsson was well-prepared to deal with Silva’s “in your face” style. At the opening horn Silva rushed Gustafsson but the young Swede stayed clear of danger and used footwork to circle out. It was typical of how the fight would go. Though, both fighters each landed their share of bombs. Just a few seconds into the first round, Gustafsson took advantage of Silva rushing head first into him by countering with an uppercut that floored the Brazilian. Even though the lanky Swede used his long jab well throughout the fight to keep Silva at bay, the uppercut became his most reliable punch over the course of three rounds. And, just as he did in the first round after the uppercut, Silva responded to each big Gustafsson strike landed by gathering his wits and getting back in his face. When Gustafsson’s constant lateral movement didn’t keep him out of harm’s way, his solid chin kept him in the game. Silva landed more than a few big overhand rights that landed flush on the Swede’s chin. As the fight closed, Gustafsson seemed to know he was in the lead and tried to run out the clock. Silva, though visibly tired, finished strong in his trademark fashion (think his bout with Rashad Evans), landing hard roundhouse leg kicks and one last big overhand right.
It wasn’t enough, however, and Gustafsson won the unanimous decision (30-27, twice, and 29-28).
Gustafsson continues to climb the ranks at light heavyweight. Perhaps more importantly, he dealt with the spotlight remarkably well against an elite opponent. If he continues to win it seems likely we could see Gustafsson challenge for the belt in the next year. It’s unlikely that even a title fight will put him through the emotional grinder and place the amount of pressure that headlining his nation’s first ever UFC event did. He passed that test with flying colors, staying composed and sticking to a smart strategy. Gustafsson moved to 14-1 while Silva dipped to 14-3.
At this point I should probably be surprised at how good Brian Stann is at making other strikers fight his type of fight. And a Stann type of fight is one heavy on brawling with heavy shots being traded. Alessio Sakara could not withstand Stann’s onslaught in their co-main event and got knocked clean out early in the first round of their bout. Stann started the fight bobbing and weaving behind a type of peek-a-boo guard. When he had closed the distance, Stann unleased with heavy shots to the body and head in nice dirty boxing fashion. Sakara fell to his back and Stann finished with him stiff shots from inside his guard. One shot put Sakara out and another woke him up. The referee wisely recognized that the fight was over and stepped in. It seems like the only time Stann will lose is when he’s put against a grappler. As long as he gets paired with fellow sluggers, he should continue to impress. As it stands, his record is 12-4 and Sakara’s second consecutive loss moves him to 15-9.
Siyar Bahadurzada shocked everyone with a quick KO over Paulo Thiago just as Thiago did to Josh Koscheck a couple years ago. The Afghanistan-born Bahadurzada threw a wide left hook and a short right as Thiago waded in face-first seconds into the first round. The left hand missed but the right hand clipped Thiago right on the chin, knocking him out cold and dropping him face-first onto the mat. Bahadurzada moves to 21-4 while Thiago slides to 14-4.
Dennis Siver and Diego Nunes went after each other, mostly on the feet, for three rounds. The pair combined cautious rang-finding with dramatic spinning kick and fist attacks for about the first round and a half. Siver continues to look more confident in his grappling, as he attempted multiple takedowns, but was unable to finish them. His aggression and slight edge in accuracy ended up giving Siver the advantage on the scorecards and he won a unanimous decision. Siver improved his record to 20-8 and Nunes fell to 17-3.
In other main-card action, John Maguire beat DeMarques Johnson with an arm bar in the second round and Brad Pickett submitted Damacio Page with a rear naked choke in the second stanza of their fight. James Head also took out fan favorite Papy Abedi with a rear naked choke in the first round of their welterweight bout.
More results and an amazing photo gallery from UFC photographer Josh Hedges below
Preliminary fight results:
Cyrille Diabate defeats Tom DeBlass via majority decision
Francis Carmont defeats Magnus Cedenblad via rear naked choke at 1:42 of the second round
Reza Madadi submits Yoislandy Izquierdo with a guillotine choke at 1:28 of the second round
Simeon Thoresen beats Besam Yousef with a rear naked choke at 2:36 of the second round
Jason Young wins a unanimous decision over Eric Wisely
This week’s matchup between Joe Proctor and Chris Tickle seems to be a study in contrast. Proctor has been quiet thus far, with his nose to the grindstone in training. Tickle has been loud, full of bravado, while annoying his coaches by finding ways not to train during practices.
Similarly, both sides seem to agree that Proctor is the more technical fighter, with the ability to finish on the ground while Tickle is a powerful brawler that needs to avoid the ground. But before we can get to that fight, Tickle showed up drunk to last week’s.
After his teammate loses and he is selected to fight Proctor, we see Tickle giggling, talking smack and pushing his coach Dominick Cruz over the edge. We are told, and its not hard to believe, that Tickle got crunk prior to the bout.
Coach Cruz is in no mood for jokes after losing his second straight in the locker room and tells Tickle to “shut up. Shut up.” “What are you doing?” Cruz asks Tickle.
“Nothing,” Tickle replies. “I’m being me.”
Coach Cruz, and perhaps the viewing nation, simply replies, “why?”
Last week’s episode ended with Tickle getting in Urijah Faber and Proctor’s face when the match up was announced. Proctor teammate Al Iaqunita, fresh off his own win, believes that Tickle’s courage is liquid-based.
This week’s matchup between Joe Proctor and Chris Tickle seems to be a study in contrast. Proctor has been quiet thus far, with his nose to the grindstone in training. Tickle has been loud, full of bravado, while annoying his coaches by finding ways not to train during practices.
Similarly, both sides seem to agree that Proctor is the more technical fighter, with the ability to finish on the ground while Tickle is a powerful brawler that needs to avoid the ground. But before we can get to that fight, Tickle showed up drunk to last week’s.
After his teammate loses and he is selected to fight Proctor, we see Tickle giggling, talking smack and pushing his coach Dominick Cruz over the edge. We are told, and its not hard to believe, that Tickle got crunk prior to the bout.
Coach Cruz is in no mood for jokes after losing his second straight in the locker room and tells Tickle to “shut up. Shut up.” “What are you doing?” Cruz asks Tickle.
“Nothing,” Tickle replies. “I’m being me.”
Coach Cruz, and perhaps the viewing nation, simply replies, “why?”
Last week’s episode ended with Tickle getting in Urijah Faber and Proctor’s face when the match up was announced. Proctor teammate Al Iaqunita, fresh off his own win, believes that Tickle’s courage is liquid-based.
“Tickle was hammered at the fight tonight. When he wakes up and finds out he has to fight Proctor, he’s going to shit himself,” Iaquinta laughs.
Cruz continues his dressing down of Tickle. “Do me a favor and just try to keep your mouth shut for this next week,” he says. “And no more drinking.”
Cruz explains during an interview later that he actually loves Tickle and his personality. “He cracks me up…he has a good heart.”
Tickle, perhaps still drunk, takes Cruz aside in the training center and makes a request. He tells Cruz to fuck all that technique shit, he needs to be “pushed,” in terms of conditioning. Well, no one’s conditioning is likely to improve in the week of their fight, and Cruz has been trying to push Tickle for a month now, with much push back from Chris.
Cruz is flabbergasted at Tickle’s lack of self-awareness.
“’I don’t want to tell you how to coach me, but push me.’ Alright Tickle. Good advice!” Cruz
Back in the house, Tickle weighs himself on the scale – he’s 168.5 pounds. The lightweights will need to weigh in at a maximum of 156 the day before their fight. Proctor, who says he likes Tickle and that they talk every day, walks in to the house after Tickle and is goaded into weighing in in front of his opponent.
He does, and he’s over 175. Still, there’s no chance that the Joe-Lauzon protégé will miss weight after his coach has mercilessly teased fellow TUF 5 cast mate Gabe Ruediger, will he?
Cut to Tickle eating three corn dogs in his bed. Well, he seems to have the weight thing under control.
Tickle’s Team Cruz team member Justin Lawrence expresses his disgust at Tickle’s attitude. “Every day you don’t get coached by a world champion like Dom. You’ve got to be able to take this opportunity that he’s giving you, and just soak it up,” Lawrence preaches.
Lawrence turns his judging eye to injured teammate Mike Rio next. Rio, one of the oldest in the house, is talking about his injured knee to Lawrence. The 21 year-old dispassionately responds by saying MMA is a “young man’s game.”
Rio says he feels that he has ten more years in him if he can stay healthy. Lawrence says, “Really? See, I think at the age 30, you’re done.”
Rio is 30 years old. Dick move, Lawrence.
At the next day’s training, Cruz calls Tickle over, but not to yell at him. The coach wants to apologize to the fighter.
“I was very frustrated last night and I let it come out and I apologize for that,” Cruz tells Tickle.
Cruz says he’s making today’s practice a hard one. He wants his fighters to be put in “tough situations [that] challenge their brain and their heart.”
On that note, Rio and Lawrence are sparring and things are about to get intense. Cruz explains that he makes spinning kicks illegal in sparring for his guys because he’s seen nasty KO’s from them and wants to keep things safer in practice.
Lawrence still throws a spinning heel kick at Rio and the old man gets pissed. A shouting match ensues between the two but Cruz doesn’t seem to much mind. “They got angry at each other. Good. They are already fighting each other,” he says with a wide grin.
Rio says later during an interview that he was pissed so decided to give a little extra mustard on the ground to Lawrence and “pop” his arm in an arm bar. Cruz makes Lawrence and Rio continue sparring one another and Rio appears to use his anger to school Lawrence on the ground.
Rio shoots in, takes Lawrence down, arm bars him, and their round ends with Lawrence downed once again, his back taken by Rio. Lawrence storms off, presumably in search of the supposed benefits of his youth.
“Rio stepped up,” Cruz says. “And Justin, when he doesn’t kick your ass, he starts getting frustrated with himself.”
Cruz talks with Lawrence after practice, calming him down and explaining to him that he needs to start relying on his mind as much as he does on his physical gifts. “You’ve got to find different ways to win other than [with] power, athleticism and speed…now you’ve got to think each round,” Cruz explains calmly.
Now’s the time we learn a little bit more about Proctor and Tickle’s lives outside of the Octagon. Both men say they’ve used MMA training to lift themselves out rough situations during their youths.
Proctor was raised by his grandparents, his father in jail during his youth and his mom out of the picture. He goes on to say proudly that these days he and his dad are close, and that his dad has been clean of drugs for four years.
Proctor’s coach Faber says of the quiet Massachusetts kid, “always beware of the dog with no bark.”
Faber is confident that Proctor’s technical style will be able to overcome Tickle’s powerful brawling. The segment ends with the voice of Faber and perhaps an assistant coach doing the Faber thing to do – coining nicknames.
“Proc-daddy,” Faber says. “Proctologist,” another voice says. “The Proctornator,” Faber submits. It’s like improvised jazz, really it is.
“Velociproctor,” the other voice offers. To which Faber, simply says, in a mellow voice, “I know.”
Ok.
We’ve got the first real house prank of the season, ladies and gents!
Guess who does it? That’s right, Tickle me Chris. Tickle takes a plastic water jug, cuts it in half, fills with water and rigs it on the house front door so that when Team Faber walks in, it will fall on one of them.
Joe Proctor walks in and gets soaked. With water from his own water bottle!
Proctor laughs it off. Tickle brags about Proctor getting “smoked.” What is and isn’t entertaining must vary wildly depending on one’s ability to communicate with the outside world, read, listen to music or watch television.
Live cut- in! Vitor Belfort is in the UFC Training Center waiting to watch the fight.
We’re back in the house on Easter Sunday and the guys all seem to wish they were back home with family for the holiday. Lawrence, underscoring how young he really is, actually says that he misses being at home with his parents for Easter, because his mom and dad get him an Easter basket each year.
Tickle is being all nice and cooking a turkey and ham for the guys. Two other guys are off in the distance in the yard playing bean bag in their underwear. Why not, I guess?
Mike Cheisa is waxing poetic on what it will be like getting back home and being with a girl again after three months with dudes. “Look, this is going to be the worst performance of my life,” he imagines telling the lucky lady to be. “You’re going to get naked. I’m going to put my hands on you and then I’m going to jizz all over you.”
Who hasn’t been there?
Tickle talks a bit about growing up in the not-Chicago portion of Illinois and dealing with racism. He says he was in and out of jail through his youth but that training himself in MMA lifted him out of many bad habits.
Ironically, he may be the real mature guy in the house because of the real-world responsibilities he has. “Most of these guys live on their own or with their parents,” Tickle says. He, on the other hand, has a fiancé and two kids.
“I fight for my family,” he says.
At the weigh-in, Cruz looks at Faber in his Urijah Faber dress-code mandated flip flos and calls his toes “sweaty.” Faber brushes off Cruz by saying he is “very intimidating with zero finishes.”
Tickle weighs in at 153 while eating pizza on the scale and then breaks up the seriousness of his stare down with Proctor by asking Joe if he can “smell my pizza?”
Fight time!
Proctor comes out staring hard at Tickle.
Rd 1
Proctor lands a jab, Tickle misses with a head kick. Lots of feinting from both men. Tickle with a rear roundhouse leg kick.
Proctor with an inside leg kick. Tickle marches towards Joe with a left-right, left-right combo followed by an attempted high kick that is blocked.
Proctor lands a right hand and clinches with Tickle. Tickle reverses and presses Proctor against the cage. Tickle lands an overhand right on separation and then throws a hard punch combo at Proctor, mixing the body and the head.
They free up and hit the center of the cage. A lot of measuring each other up and Tickle coming in with bursts of strikes. Two head kicks that miss from Tickle but a left hook that lands.
Proctor throws a two-punch combo and clinches up with Tickle. Proctor has his own back to the cage but is controlling Tickle’s head in a Thai plum grip. Tickle defends against knees to the head and they separate with Tickle whiffing on a big overhand elbow strike to the head.
Proctor jabs and then shoots and gets a double leg takedown. Tickle scrambles up to his feet but gives up his back in the process.
Proctor gets behind Tickle and gets his arm under his chin, dragging Tickle backwards onto the mat. Tickle fights hard to remove Proctor’s connecting hand from the back of his own head, but Proctor maintains the other arm’s position under Tickle’s throat and eventually secures the tap out.
Three in a row for Team Faber. They now lead 3-2
Matchup time!
Faber chooses his own John Cofer to face Vinc Pichel. Faber also takes the time to give Vinc a new nickname. Vinc “From the depths of hell” Pichel. The man is a champion and a poet.
(Hiroko’s ‘long-game’ plan is all coming together now | Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)
Cris “Cyborg” Santos tested positive for banned substances after her December 17th fight last year in California and was subsequently suspended for one year by the state’s athletic commission. Yesterday an appeal from the former 145 pound champion to reduce her suspension to six months was rejected by the California commission.
MMA Weekly reports that Santos’ team was trying to get clearance to fight on a coming StrikeForce card. “Santos’ appeal was asking for the commission to reduce her sentence from one year down to six months. According to her lawyer, Santos was up for a potential fight on an upcoming Strikeforce show in “late June/early July’ in San Diego,” they wrote.
Ultimately, the CSAC voted unanimously to uphold “Cyborg’s” one year suspension. If things stay that way, she will only be able to re-apply for for a license until December 17th, 2012. It’s been a rough year for MMA’s top female fighter. First she was popped for steroids after her 16 second execution of Hiroko Yamanaka (a win that was then turned to a “No Contest”), and then she announced that her and her husband, the other “Cyborg,” were getting divorced.
Since it might be a long time till you Chute Boxe fans get to see her in action again, we’re putting some highlights of her beating up hapless women (and Tito Ortiz) below for you to enjoy:
(Hiroko’s ‘long-game’ plan is all coming together now | Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)
Cris “Cyborg” Santos tested positive for banned substances after her December 17th fight last year in California and was subsequently suspended for one year by the state’s athletic commission. Yesterday an appeal from the former 145 pound champion to reduce her suspension to six months was rejected by the California commission.
MMA Weekly reports that Santos’ team was trying to get clearance to fight on a coming StrikeForce card. ”Santos’ appeal was asking for the commission to reduce her sentence from one year down to six months. According to her lawyer, Santos was up for a potential fight on an upcoming Strikeforce show in “late June/early July’ in San Diego,” they wrote.
Ultimately, the CSAC voted unanimously to uphold “Cyborg’s” one year suspension. If things stay that way, she will only be able to re-apply for for a license until December 17th, 2012. It’s been a rough year for MMA’s top female fighter. First she was popped for steroids after her 16 second execution of Hiroko Yamanaka (a win that was then turned to a “No Contest”), and then she announced that her and her husband, the other “Cyborg,” were getting divorced.
Since it might be a long time till you Chute Boxe fans get to see her in action again, we’re putting some highlights of her beating up hapless women (and Tito Ortiz) below for you to enjoy:
“Cyborg” taking apart Yamanaka:
Santos beating up Gina Carano (not cool, “Cyborg,” not cool. What if you would have ruined Gina’s movie career?):
Santos beating up various people in a highlight video:
By Elias Cepeda (Come on NSAC, can’t we talk this out?)
Alistair Overeem may have failed his recent surprise drug test, but it appears that he isn’t giving up on challenging heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146 on May 26th. He has requested a hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) and has been given a hearing date of April 24th, little more than a month before he hopes to still vie for the UFC belt.
After testing positive for elevated testosterone levels in late March in Nevada, Overeem had the option of asking the state’s athletic commission to test the second sample they took from him during their test, as well as the option of deciding to apply for a license in the state at a hearing.
More on Overeem’s options and the UFC’s plans after the jump.
By Elias Cepeda (Come on NSAC, can’t we talk this out?)
Alistair Overeem may have failed his recent surprise drug test, but it appears that he isn’t giving up on challenging heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146 on May 26th. He has requested a hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) and has been given a hearing date of April 24th, little more than a month before he hopes to still vie for the UFC belt.
After testing positive for elevated testosterone levels in late March in Nevada, Overeem had the option of asking the state’s athletic commission to test the second sample they took from him during their test, as well as the option of deciding to apply for a license in the state at a hearing.
After turning in a required urine sample for testing nearly a month late last year to Nevada in the lead up to his UFC 141 main event fight with Brock Lesnar, the state granted Alistair a conditional license that allowed him to fight, but required that he be subjected to two additional surprise drug tests in the future.
Overeem’s conditional license ran out at the end of 2011 and, though he was booked by the UFC to take on Dos Santos in Nevada at UFC 146, Overeem had yet to apply for a new license with the commission at the time he was most recently tested. Because of this, the commission cannot suspend Overeem for his positive test, but they can, and likely will, take it into consideration as he applies for a license.
Neither Overeem nor the NSAC has announced whether the fighter has requested that his B sample also be tested. Should he request that it be done, and that sample comes back negative, he would be in the clear.
Dan Henderson has said through his twitter account that he would take the fight with Dos Santos if he were offered it. The forty one year old has been a world champion before at middleweight and light heavyweight but also recently knocked out former heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in under one round and is coming off of a decision win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in a bout that might be the most exciting single battle in mixed martial arts history.
An online fan campaign to give Mark Hunt a shot at Dos Santos at UFC 146 has also popped up. Hunt’s overall MMA record stands at 8-7, but he is an exciting knockout artist who once was a world kickboxing champion and is currently riding a three-fight win streak in the UFC.
At press time it appears that White and the UFC are hanging on to the chance that, after his April 24th hearing, Overeem will be allowed to fight. It’s unknown what type of accounting Overeem might give for himself to convince the NSAC that they should license him to fight.
Nevada does allow the possibility of Dan Henderson Talks Openly About His TRT Exemption; Says Stricter Testing is Needed of Approved Fighters” href=”http://www.cagepotato.com/dan-henderson-talks-openly-about-his-trt-exemption-says-stricter-testing-is-needed-of-approved-fighters/”>therapeutic use exemptions for certain substances that might have contributed to Overeem’s elevated levels of testosterone. Recently, UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen, who tested for higher levels of testosterone than Overeem after his failed title challenge against Anderson Silva in 2010, testified before the NSAC that he received hormone therapy from doctors because of a deficiency in testosterone.
If the UFC is to stick to its plan to have Dos Santos defend his title in May, and Overeem is not licensed to fight him at the end of this month, they will only have about a month to find a suitable replacement title challenger.
After the normal celebrating and gloating from last week’s winning Faber team, attention is turned to this week’s matchup of Team Cruz’ Jeremy Larsen and Team Faber’s Mike Chiesa. Remember when a few weeks back Mike’s father died just after seeing him fight and win on national television, and we learned that Mike and Sam Sicilia are best friends and training partners back home.
Well, on this year’s TUF, the two lightweights have found themselves on opposing teams, but are trying to find a balance between not betraying their team and not betraying one another. They call themselves “Team purple,” as in a combination of Faber’s blue team and Cruz’ red team. That’s adorable. Really.
After the normal celebrating and gloating from last week’s winning Faber team, attention is turned to this week’s matchup of Team Cruz’ Jeremy Larsen and Team Faber’s Mike Chiesa. Remember when a few weeks back Mike’s father died just after seeing him fight and win on national television, and we learned that Mike and Sam Sicilia are best friends and training partners back home.
Well, on this year’s TUF, the two lightweights have found themselves on opposing teams, but are trying to find a balance between not betraying their team and not betraying one another. They call themselves “Team purple,” as in a combination of Faber’s blue team and Cruz’ red team. That’s adorable. Really.
Because of their close friendship, Mike seemed to lean heavily on Sam when his father died. Having a true friend there to support him made a huge positive difference for Mike. Well, now that Mike is up and fighting Team Cruz’ Jeremy, Coach Dominick wastes no time trying to get Sam to trash all that trust and goodwill between he and Mike.
Cruz makes it immediately known to Jeremy, Sam and his whole team in the locker room that he expects Sam to tell him and Jeremy everything he knows about his friend Mike’s strengths, weaknesses, style and preferences. Sam isn’t having it.
“It’s still important to me to be a good man, above all,” he says during an interview. “And giving away game plans and being that sneak, isn’t what I’m here for at all.”
Cruz basically makes an argument that since Sam might have to fight Mike at some point anyway, like, why not go ahead and help some stranger beat him up first? Or something convoluted like that.
“If you want that belt you should be willing to give up anything for it,” Cruz says, even though its not Sam that is fighting, and there is no belt on the line.
Back in the house Sam tells Mike what Cruz tried to get him to do. Mike is not pleased.
“It makes me want to cut my leg off, go down to 135 pounds and throw [Cruz] a fucking beating,” he says.
Looks like Faber was wrong in his nickname of Chiesa. “Long hair” does, in fact, care.
Coach Cruz does not give up and in the training center approaches Sam. “Hey Sam, how often do you train with Chiesa?” he asks. “Everyday,” Sam responds. “What are his submissions?” Cruz continues.
Cruz digs deeper, asking Sam to divulge more and more about Mike’s go-to moves. When Sam demures, Cruz pays lip service to this being a tough situation for Sam…and then he proceeds to shit all over that understanding notion.
“What I’m trying to do here is help you guys win. It’s not my job to keep people friends, make people friends,” Cruz tells Sam.
Cruz must have some crazy Eddie Munster vampire mind control powers because by the end, Sam seems to have, in part, come around. “He’s just helping me out,” he says.
Cut to Jeremy and he says that Mike is one-dimensional, then proceeds to list two dimensions of his game – wrestling and submissions. Who’s counting anyway?
So Chris Tickle might have gout, you guys. Or something. Either way, his toe really hurts and his coach Cruz can’t be bothered. “Nobody really cares if you’re hurt. All they want to know is are you going to fight or aren’t you going to fight?” Cruz says.
So how’s this for awkward – Mike and Jeremy share a room together. When the topic is brought up in the house, neither one wants to be the guy who says they’d rather no longer share a room. With that new knowledge, the TUF producers could have just stuck eight cameras in that room all week long and captured what very well could have been really uncomfortable moments for both fighters.
Faber is high on his guy, saying that “Mike has some of the best MMA style takedowns.”
Back in the Team Cruz training room, Chris Tickle, who went to a specialist to get his foot tested for gout, is having stomach problems. It’s not the first time. He got out of sparring during a past week by telling his coach that he was about to poop himself.
After some sharp and intense looking sparring exchanges, Tickle says, “my stomach.” Cruz isn’t annoyed yet, saying, “you got hit with a good body shot.”
Tickle specifies, “no, it hurt before I started training.” To which, his coach replies, “Who cares?” Yeah, Cruz is annoyed now, once more. Not that he doesn’t have high hopes for Chris.
“Tickle, he does not like getting punched. He does not like pushing through the pain of getting tired…Tickle can win this whole show. That’s what’s frustrating about this,” he says.
Back to his fighter at hand, Cruz tells us that he and Jeremy used to actually play together when they were little kids because their moms were friends. “You cannot break this guy,” Cruz says admiringly of Larsen. Those must have been some intense play dates.
Earlier, Cruz confronts Tickle in front of the doctor and asks if he wants to continue in the competition or go home. Tickle is offended that anyone could interpret his being late to practice and stopping early as anything but an insatiable appetite to improve and compete. He says that unless someone has gout, they can’t understand the pain he’s in.
Yeah, so turns out Tickle doesn’t have gout. He did get some anti-inflammatory shots and says his toe feels good. Never had gout before, but joint damage there does hurt like a bitch. Glad I didn’t have Cruz around me at the time calling us one at the time.
Weigh in time!
Jeremy is in at 154 and Mike at 155. Staredown, no incident. Time to get it on.
Fight Time!
Rd 1
Feints from both, with pawing jabs from Mike. Chiesa lands a leg kick and then goes in for the takedown. He presses Jeff against the cage and works for the takedown relentlessly. Forty five seconds in, he gets it
Larsen with a half guard, Mike postures up and throws elbows, landing a bunch. Jeff works his way to the cage to try and walk his way up the way Coach Faber taught him to in practice. They are away from the fence now, but Jeff recomposes an open guard. Mike stands up and throws punches downward.
Jeff stands up, gets an underhook of his own and presses Mike against the cage, where they stay for some time. Mike lands a knee to the head, using his longer limbs well.
They separate and Mike throws a head kick that misses then shoots in. Like the last time, Jeff does a game job of defending, even as he’s backed against the cage. But Mike keeps working and eventually scoops him up for a big double leg slam at just inside two minutes left.
Jeff prevents Mike’s initial attempts to pass his guard and gets full guard. Mike stands to pass but Jeff makes his way back to his feet. Mike gets a front headlock/guillotine grip, presses Jeff back to the cage, where Jeff kneels to prevent Mike from kneeing him legally.
That does not stop Mike, who knees Jeff right to the head while he’s on one knee and one arm. Referee Steve Mazzagatti steps in and breaks up the action.
At the restart, Mike comes in with a flurry of punches that miss. Jeff works into a clinch and tries to take Mike down against the fence. Round ends with him trying.
Rd 2
Mike throws a head kick that misses to open the round. He then follows with a takedown attempt that takes Jeff back into the fence. Jeff defends and then reverses positions with his own underhook, pressing Mike against the fence. Mike turns him around once more and presses against the cage, landing a knee to the head and then to the body before they separate.
They stay on the outside where the shorter Jeff lands two jabs and a cross. Mike shoots in for the takedown. Once more, Mike doesn’t get it initially but keeps pressing against the cage and ultimately puts Jeff on his butt.
Jeff fights hard to prevent the pass, then gets up to his feet but is promptly dumped once more. Mike tries to take Jeff’s back but the cage stops him.
Back to their feet, Jeff lands a left hook and right cross, Mike shoots, gets stuffed.
Mike seems to be getting tired but keeps shooting as Jeff keeps swinging. Mike momentarily gets the takedown but Jeff stands back up. Mike shoots again and works while Jeff defends. With thirty seconds left, Mike take Jeff’s back and they are on the ground. Mike works for the rear naked choke, Jeff defends as time runs out.
Ain’t gonna be a third round tonight, folks. Mike gets the unanimous decision win. Team Faber evens the score to 2-2.
“It’s been a tough year. I love you mom,” he tells the camera while inside the ring.
Host Jon Anik interviews Mike and asks how he was able to stay in the house after his dad died and stay focused on winning. “I knew its what my dad wanted…It was tough for me but it was an easy decision to make,” he says.
Anik interviews Larsen and he’s none to happy about no point being taken in the first round for Mike’s blatant foul, which would have likely meant a sudden death third round. “I don’t know, man. I thought they took a point in the first round. I took a knee right to the head…we should be in the third right now,” the disappointed Jeff says.
Dana White gets interviewed by Anik next and warns fighters to not commit fouls. “That illegal knee could have cost him the fight,” he says. Or, in our mind, “That’s fucking illegal!”
Fight Pick time
Faber gets to make the matchup with his team’s win and chooses Tickle to take on Joe Proctor. Surprise, surprise, Tickle seems offended that Faber chose him to fight one of his guys, and puts his arms out wide in the universally “get at me,” pose. Faber doesn’t even look in Tickle’s direction and acknowledge him. Really, why would he?
