(When the TUF producers decided to shoot Koscheck’s reaction to Two Girls One Cup, little did they know what traumatic psychological issues they would uncover.)
Say what you want about Josh Koscheck — seriously, do it now and in great detail — but if there’s one thing that male nurse hatin’ sumbitch isn’t, it’s afraid of a tough fight. His resume is easily one of the most impressive in the division and although he hasn’t been able to strike gold, he has more than earned his current status as a perennial contender. Sure, he has his shortcomings, but should we chastise a man just because he prefers his motorboats to be of the male ass variety rather than that of the female chest? For is the ass not but the chest of the South?
While you ponder those roundtable-worthy questions, consider the words of Dana White, who said in a recent interview that Nick Diaz would need a big win over a top guy at 170 before he would be considered back in the title picture. Being the remarkably generous company man that he is, Koscheck has apparently already agreed to play the role of stepping stone one last time (see Johny Hendricks, Thiago Alves), calling out Diaz over Twitter yesterday.
(When the TUF producers decided to shoot Koscheck’s reaction to Two Girls One Cup, little did they know what traumatic psychological issues they would uncover.)
Say what you want about Josh Koscheck — seriously, do it now and in great detail — but if there’s one thing that male nurse hatin’ sumbitch isn’t, it’s afraid of a tough fight. His resume is easily one of the most impressive in the division and although he hasn’t been able to strike gold, he has more than earned his current status as a perennial contender. Sure, he has his shortcomings, but should we chastise a man just because he prefers his motorboats to be of the male ass variety rather than that of the female chest? For is the ass not but the chest of the South?
While you ponder those roundtable-worthy questions, consider the words of Dana White, who said in a recent interview that Nick Diaz would need a big win over a top guy at 170 before he would be considered back in the title picture. Being the remarkably generous company man that he is, Koscheck has apparently already agreed to play the role of stepping stone one last time (see Johny Hendricks, Thiago Alves), calling out Diaz over Twitter yesterday.
HOLD ON A GOSH DARN SECOND, DID HE JUST TAKE THE THING THAT DIAZ NORMALLY SAYS AND FLIP IT BACK AT HIM?!
Must. Resist. Scanners gif.
But on a serious note, I must applaud Koscheck for his effort, or lack thereof. You see, I’ve followed the career of Nick Diaz for a while now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that his habits are shockingly similar to that of the Highland Cattle. Any questioning of his dominance as Stocktonian pack leader is immediate grounds for a fight. Hell, you don’t even have to call him out; maintaining eye contact with Diaz for over a second is enough to warrant an ass-whooping in his mind, so Koscheck has more than likely already launched himself to the top of Diaz’s hit list with this simple prodding. The fact that Cesar Gracie a.k.a Diaz’s muzzle told Tatame that he loved the idea of the fight should all but confirm this outright.
The suspension for Diaz’s positive marijuana metabolites test at UFC 143 is set to end in early 2013 and Koscheck has already told the media that he’d like to take the rest of the year off, so why not have these two scrap to kick off 2013? The amount of trash-talking, chest-puffing, and mean-mugging alone would make the pre-fight press conferences worth watching, granted Diaz was able to show up to them.
Confidence is like nature’s bath salts. Using a combination of trickery, implied reasoning, and outright tomfoolery, confidence basically transports us back to the ignorant serenity of youth. It surpasses logic, the physical limitations of the human body, and the laws of nature to convince its host that anything is achievable through the pure power of will. And just like bath salts, confidence can have devastating effects on the body it occupies. Just ask Melvin Guillard. Or Tom Brady. Or Hitler. I’m not saying that Tom Brady is Hitler reincarnated, I’m just saying.
So rather than take pot shots at the wellspring of confidence you will meet in the video above, I would rather like to commend him for it, as misplaced as it may have been. Because I can assure you that none of us — not one — has ever been as confident in our ourselves as this man, if even for the briefest second. Nick Diaz may have perfected the “Come at me, bro” pose in the octagon, but the motherfucker was never crazy enough to let one of his opponents tee off on him until he crumbled to the ground in a heap. This gentleman was so confident in his abilities that he knew he could get knocked the fuck out and still beat his opponent. Sure, the second half of his gameplan kind of fell apart, but still, respect. You’re move, Anderson.
(Props to Rodeo and bOredjOrd for the tip.)
Confidence is like nature’s bath salts. Using a combination of trickery, implied reasoning, and outright tomfoolery, confidence basically transports us back to the ignorant serenity of youth. It surpasses logic, the physical limitations of the human body, and the laws of nature to convince its host that anything is achievable through the pure power of will. And just like bath salts, confidence can have devastating effects on the body it occupies. Just ask Melvin Guillard. Or Tom Brady. Or Hitler. I’m not saying that Tom Brady is Hitler reincarnated, I’m just saying.
So rather than take pot shots at the wellspring of confidence you will meet in the video above, I would rather like to commend him for it, as misplaced as it may have been. Because I can assure you that none of us — not one — has ever been as confident in our ourselves as this man, if even for the briefest second. Nick Diaz may have perfected the “Come at me, bro” pose in the octagon, but the motherfucker was never crazy enough to let one of his opponents tee off on him until he crumbled to the ground in a heap. This gentleman was so confident in his abilities that he knew he could get knocked the fuck out and still beat his opponent. Sure, the second half of his gameplan kind of fell apart, but still, respect. You’re move, Anderson.
But perhaps even more impressive than our fallen comrade’s confidence is the entrance of the shirtless superhero at the 45 second mark, who descends from the rafters just moments shy of stopping the hilarious atrocity that has been committed. It was a noble effort, but Spiderman would’ve made it on time, bro.
Unless you’ve been a close follower of the Utah MMA scene over the past few years, chances are that you’ve probably forgotten all about TUF 2 alum Josh Burkman. After a three fight skid saw him ousted from the UFC back in 2008, Burkman took over a year and a half off to recover from several injuries that could have ended any lesser man’s career, injuries Burkman admits in hindsight that he should have addressed much earlier. But if you were to ask Josh how the past few years have treated him, you’d think he was on top of the world.
I called Josh at approximately 5:15 p.m. EST yesterday. He was just stepping into his house after a long day of training for his November 3rd match against fellow UFC veteran Gerald Harris on the inaugural card of the Ray Sefo-run World Series of Fighting promotion. It’s a win that could very well propel “The People’s Warrior” back into the octagon for the first time in over four years, yet he doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of the pressure getting to him. I ask him how he’s doing. “Life is good,” he tells me, making sure to kiss his ten day old son as soon as he enters the house. From the get-go, I can tell that Josh is a much more open and laid back guy than some of the fighters I’ve dealt with in the past. But little did I know that before our conversation was over, we would discuss everything from his career comeback and newly found lease on life to his infamous in and out of the ring brawls with Jeremy Horn and Phil Baroni.
Unless you’ve been a close follower of the Utah MMA scene over the past few years, chances are that you’ve probably forgotten all about TUF 2 alum Josh Burkman. After a three fight skid saw him ousted from the UFC back in 2008, Burkman took over a year and a half off to recover from several injuries that could have ended any lesser man’s career, injuries Burkman admits in hindsight that he should have addressed much earlier. But if you were to ask Josh how the past few years have treated him, you’d think he was on top of the world.
I called Josh at approximately 5:15 p.m. EST yesterday. He was just stepping into his house after a long day of training for his November 3rd match against fellow UFC veteran Gerald Harris on the inaugural card of the Ray Sefo-run World Series of Fighting promotion. It’s a win that could very well propel “The People’s Warrior” back into the octagon for the first time in over four years, yet he doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of the pressure getting to him. I ask him how he’s doing. “Life is good,” he tells me, making sure to kiss his ten day old son as soon as he enters the house. From the get-go, I can tell that Josh is a much more open and laid back guy than some of the fighters I’ve dealt with in the past. But little did I know that before our conversation was over, we would discuss everything from his career comeback and newly found lease on life to his infamous in and out of the ring brawls with Jeremy Horn and Phil Baroni.
I started by asking him all the formalities about Harris — what Josh thinks his strongest and weakest areas are and how he has trained to deal with them– and he was more than frank when assessing his upcoming opponent. But rather than detail how he planned to defeat Harris, Burkman simply stated that the intrigue of figuring out another person’s fighting style is one of the reasons he became a mixed martial artist in the first place:
“[Harris] is so big and strong and he’s got heavy hands. And he’s a great wrestler. He seems to be able to control his fights and take them where he wants them to go. It’s always fun for me going into a fight to figure that out, and that’s kind of what my training revolves around; figuring out that problem out and how that plays into my game. It all comes out on November 3rd and I’m ready for that. That’s why I fight. I fight for that competition, for that chance to figure someone out, and I feel I’m more prepared for Gerald Harris than I’ve been for any other fight in my career.”
I asked Burkman whether or not he viewed himself as the underdog coming into the fight and Josh was quick to admit that he had been out of the public eye for quite a while longer than Harris, and could therefore find himself playing that role whether he wants to or not:
“You know, Gerald Harris, he’s kind of been in a bigger scene than I’ve been in as of late. I think that most people have heard about what he’s been doing a little bit more; he’s a little bit more high-profile than I am going into this fight and I think that’s probably what people are seeing.”
But don’t be fooled, Burkman is not exactly selling himself short. He mentioned that, since coming back from the devastating injuries that limited him during his last few fights in the UFC, he’s racked up five wins against only one loss, including wins over Bellator vet Jordan Smith (who was undefeated at the time) and UFC veterans Brandon Melendez and Jamie Yager.
“Harris is in that line of each opponent being better and better than the last for me. I think Harris the best guy I’ve fought since I’ve comeback, and I’m gonna try and show that. It’s coming quick, isn’t it?” he says with a chuckle.
As any conversation with a UFC veteran such as Burkman will inevitably take, we began to talk about his former promotion. Specifically, whether or not he felt a win over Harris would earn him another shot at Zuffa glory.
“This fight is right where I want to be in my career. I went on a nice little run in the UFC, then I got injured, and I couldn’t train like I wanted to train. I had to take a year and a half off and during that year and a half off I didn’t know whether I would be able to comeback and fight or not. As I came back, I wanted to fight in Utah and I fought Melendez and Smith, two guys that were big names in Utah and had fought on the UFC and Bellator level. I had to prove to myself that I could fight at that level again. And once I was able to, I was like ‘Alright, let’s step it up a little bit, then step it up a little bit more.’
When I was first in the UFC, I had only been fighting for two years and I was getting big fights and a lot of publicity. I felt like I was learning as I was going and as I was fighting. Now, I feel like I’ve been around and learned a lot of the different styles. I’ve trained with guys like Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture and the best in the business. I’ve kind of brought all that into my own style.”
But even more than what Burkman has been up to professionally, he credited his recent marriage to International Yoga Champion Brandy Lyn Winfield and incredibly recent birth of his son as the factors that pushed him to prove to the world that he was ready for another shot at the big time.
“All of those things have now come together to where I’m ready to get back out on a bigger scene and see how much better I am than I was then. A win over Gerald Harris let’s everyone know that [I] haven’t been sitting around. I’m better than I’ve ever been and I think that’s what this fight is going to show.”
Click on the “next page” tab to hear Burkman discuss everything from his former training partner Chael Sonnen’s upcoming TUF gig/fight against Jon Jones to the time he was spit on by Jeremy Horn and cheap-shotted by Phil Baroni at a nightclub.
Before we even get into the awesome that is UFC Tonight’s recent “Fighter Trivia” episode, I just want to put it out there that I will beat any of you in any game show trivia challenge. Any of you. When I was in college, the only channel my RCA 630TS television received was The Game Show Network. Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Double Dare, right down to the early pioneers of Press Your Luck, Match Game, Pyramid, and The Price is Right were at my disposal on a near 24/7 basis. When I wasn’t browned out in an alleyway looking for a jar of marmalade and bus ticket to Santa Fe, you could assume I was getting my trivia knowledge on with Brawlin’ Bob and the gang.
So you can imagine my excitement when I came across this gem of an idea Fuel TV devoted an episode of UFC Tonight to, with Ariel Helwani playing the proverbial Bob Eubanks role. The premise is simple, a group of fighters are subjected to what I assume is five rounds of trivia (there aren’t videos of all 5 rounds to confirm/deny this) covering everything from their knowledge of The Ultimate Fighter to that of pop culture. They are paired up for certain rounds, but mostly are forced to go on their own until one man is declared the winner.
For the inaugural segment, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, Dominick Cruz, and Kenny Florian were chosen as participants. Spoiler alert: Cruz doesn’t know sh*t about sh*t, and Bisping knows more about Dora the Explorer than we would have ever imagined.
After the jump: Two snippets from the show in which Florian forgets that Bisping and Evans fought at UFC 78 (along with the rest of the world) and Cruz fails to identify Bruce Springsteen by his nickname. Unforgivable, Dom.
Before we even get into the awesome that is UFC Tonight’s recent “Fighter Trivia” episode, I just want to put it out there that I will beat any of you in any game show trivia challenge. Any of you. When I was in college, the only channel my RCA 630TS television received was The Game Show Network. Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Double Dare, right down to the early pioneers of Press Your Luck, Match Game, Pyramid, and The Price is Right were at my disposal on a near 24/7 basis. When I wasn’t browned out in an alleyway looking for a jar of marmalade and bus ticket to Santa Fe, you could assume I was getting my trivia knowledge on with Brawlin’ Bob and the gang.
So you can imagine my excitement when I came across this gem of an idea Fuel TV devoted an episode of UFC Tonight to, with Ariel Helwani playing the proverbial Bob Eubanks role. The premise is simple, a group of fighters are subjected to what I assume is five rounds of trivia (there aren’t videos of all 5 rounds to confirm/deny this) covering everything from their knowledge of The Ultimate Fighter to that of pop culture. They are paired up for certain rounds, but mostly are forced to go on their own until one man is declared the winner.
For the inaugural segment, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, Dominick Cruz, and Kenny Florian were chosen as participants. Spoiler alert: Cruz doesn’t know sh*t about sh*t, and Bisping knows more about Dora the Explorer than we would have ever imagined.
It’s OK Kenny, we all forgot about UFC 78. But because I live to educate you members of the Potato Nation, I offer the following Rondeau to take you back to that magical night:
It came boasting “Validation,”
Achieving mere irritation,
Two undefeated TUF winners,
Served the crowd a NyQuil dinner,
A lay-n-pray meditation.
Though it was quite a sensation,
Watching hype trains leave the station,
A future champ dry-humped Fischer, Lytle saved us.
“Assassin’s” humiliation,
A Jiu-Jitsu education?
Earlier, a ginger sinner,
Made the lights in Joe’s brain dimmer,
Overall, a dull occasion,
Lytle saved us!
God damn, I am a lyrical wordsmith.
Now, onto the pop culture round.
Now, I’m never one to play the race card, but did anyone find it rather odd that the black guy (Evans, for those of you who can’t see color or are afraid to make obvious observations) was given two questions about rappers, and all the white dudes were given questions involving Twilight, Britney Spears, Hannah Montana, and generic British history?
And you gotta love that the show made Brittney Palmer don her full octagon “uniform” — ring card and all — to inform us what round it is. Because if there’s one thing people tune into late night MMA news shows on obscure networks for, it’s the chance to see some tits.
But after three grueling rounds, Michael Bisping found himself atop the leaderboard despite the fact that he could barely remember who Prince William was married to. Unfortunately for “The Count,” Dana White still gave the third round to Rashad.
Now who else agrees that at the minimum, this needs to become a regular feature on UFC Tonight, if not a full time game show? Think about it; they could do a Password round with Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones(The password is: “coward”), and a game in which several English-speaking fighters try to decipher whatever the hell Terry Etim is saying. It would be TV gold.
(It isn’t often that you can document the exact moment someone’s UFC career went to shit, yet here we are…)
If you were to ask any knowledgeable fan of the sport circa 2008 what they thought of Luiz Cane, they would likely tell you that he was “one of the most underrated LHW’s in the division.” Following an unsuccessful UFC debut — which was halted when Cane accidentally struck James “Curse Watch” Irvin with an illegal knee — “Banha” absolutely blistered Jason Lambert and Rameau Sokoudjou in back-to-back contests, then scored a solid UD victory over Steve Cantwell to solidify his place as a rising contender. No, not the five fight losing streak Steve Cantwell, we’re talking about the Brian Stann TKOing, Al-Hassan arm-breaking Steve Cantwell. Cane’s chin appeared to be made of iron, platinum, unobtanium, or whatever element you’d prefer to compare it to, and combined with his solid takedown defense and devastating hands, looked to be on the fast track to a title shot.
But then, things fell apart (as they oft do in MMA) and Cane would quickly find himself fighting not just for a win, but to remain employed under the promotion in which he had once thrived.
(It isn’t often that you can document the exact moment someone’s UFC career went to shit, yet here we are…)
If you were to ask any knowledgeable fan of the sport circa 2008 what they thought of Luiz Cane, they would likely tell you that he was “one of the most underrated LHW’s in the division.” Following an unsuccessful UFC debut — which was halted when Cane accidentally struck James “Curse Watch” Irvin with an illegal knee — “Banha” absolutely blistered Jason Lambert and Rameau Sokoudjou in back-to-back contests, then scored a solid UD victory over Steve Cantwell to solidify his place as a rising contender. No, not the five fight losing streak Steve Cantwell, we’re talking about the Brian Stann TKOing, Al-Hassan arm-breaking Steve Cantwell. Cane’s chin appeared to be made of iron, platinum, unobtanium, or whatever element you’d prefer to compare it to, and combined with his solid takedown defense and devastating hands, looked to be on the fast track to a title shot.
But then, things fell apart (as they oft do in MMA) and Cane would quickly find himself fighting not just for a win, but to remain employed under the promotion in which he had once thrived.
It all started when Cane squared off against PRIDE veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 106. You see, word had it that this “Minotoro” guy — who was making his UFC debut at the time — packed some power of his own. Word also had it that he had a brother who had been around the block a time or two. Despite this, many members of the MMA media were pegging Cane as the favorite, being that Rogerio and Cane had shared a similar opponent in Sokoudjou and one of them was KTFO by him. In either case, it took roughly two minutes for Lil’ Nog to throw enough left hooks to ensure that Cane would not only fall over, but would never truly pick himself back up. This kind of fighter-changing moment would be mirrored at the very next UFC pay-per-view event when Frank Mir would take a moderately entertaining kickboxer in Cheick Kongo and turn him into a lethargic, hesitant grappler for the rest of his career*.
For his next outing, Cane would be paired against another hard-hitting PRIDE veteran making his UFC debut in Cyrille Diabate. Although he managed to rock Diabate on at least one occasion this time out, just 17 seconds would be the only thing separating his second TKO loss from his first by the time this one was over.
After managing to end up on the right side of a first round TKO in his next outing against Elliot Marshall, Cane was given a golden opportunity to impress in front of his home country at UFC 134, where he would take on fellow slugger Stanislov Nedkov. It would not go well. Despite battering and bloodying his foe up early in the fight, you could almost see the hesitance in Cane’s eyes. “Bahna” would go down in the first (again) and Brazil would suffer its only loss to foreign competition that night. It was at this point that we placed Cane on our list of fighters we wished were better than they actually were, hoping it would provide the spark of motivation that he seemed to be missing.
For his final shot at redemption, Cane faced TUF 11 alum Chris Camozzi at UFC 153. It was a match that he was favored to win, due in part to the fact that Camozzi lacked the kind of KO power that had given Cane trouble in the past. Yet in the end, Cane would find himself swinging at air for the majority of the three round affair and eating a hellstorm of leg kicks and crisp combos to boot. According to Cane’s manager, the Brazilian’s sluggishness could be attributed to the pair of surgeries he was forced to undergo and the fact that he took the fight against doctor’s orders:
[Cain] comes from two knee surgeries. At first, the doctor made a mistake and he had to have another. To compete at that level, with a lot of athletes, it’s hard. He made a great fight.
He’ll keep fighting, and hope to be back soon to the UFC. People have to understand that being cut from the UFC is not a disaster. Once you’ve got a name in the UFC, things get easier for a comeback. Every athlete is likely to have that phase. Soon he wins and returns to the Ultimate.
*Kongo’s Hail Mary KO of Pat Barry, while remarkable, does not change this fact. One fluke KO does not compensate for his abysmal performances against Travis Browne, Paul Buentello, Matt Mitrione, and Shawn Jordan.
In the video, St. Pierre discusses how his injury actually helped reignite a long quelled flame within him, as well as how his training partners, coaches, and team of doctors all but completely removed the mere memory of the surgery he underwent some months ago. But according to “Rush,” the biggest lesson he took away from the recovery process was that “elth is the most important thing in the world. You can ave welt, evryting, money, but you don’t ave elth, it’s useless.”
In the video, St. Pierre discusses how his injury actually helped reignite a long quelled flame within him, as well as how his training partners, coaches, and team of doctors all but completely removed the mere memory of the surgery he underwent some months ago. But according to “Rush,” the biggest lesson he took away from the recovery process was that “elth is the most important thing in the world. You can ave welt, evryting, money, but you don’t ave elth, it’s useless.”
