Late last night, it was reported by CBC.ca that a fatal hit-and-run incident involving an unidentified 34-year-old man had occurred outside of the H20 Lounge in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to circulate that the unidentified man in question was none other than former UFC fighter Ryan Jimmo, rumors which were sadly later confirmed by CP’s own former editor Mike Russell.
Late last night, it was reported by CBC.ca that a fatal hit-and-run incident involving an unidentified 34-year-old man had occurred outside of the H20 Lounge in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to circulate that the unidentified man in question was none other than former UFC fighter Ryan Jimmo, rumors which were sadly later confirmed by CP’s own former editor Mike Russell.
Details after the jump.
As CBC writes:
The 34-year-old driver of one vehicle walked up to the occupants of the other vehicle. When he began to walk away, police say the suspects’ vehicle accelerated and struck him before leaving the scene.
The suspects’ vehicle, a dark-colored pickup truck police say was occupied by two Caucasian males, then fled … and nearly hit a red car.
Once again, I find myself at a loss for words. Ryan Jimmo was an incredible talent, a former contributor here, and according to those who knew him, one of the friendliest, funniest guys in the business. He was an MFC champion, and his time with the UFC, scored wins over Anthony Perosh, Igor Pokrajac, and Sean O’Connell. He also did a FANTASTIC robot, which is something that simply can’t be quantified when looking back on his many, many accomplishments.
As of this write-up, police are still searching for the drivers of the vehicle involved in what has been the *second* hit-and-run related death of an MMA fighter this year.
It has been, oh, I dunno, six or seven or twelve or fifteen years since CM Punk aka Phil Brooks first signed with the UFC, and the buzz surrounding his debut has never been lower thanks to — again, I’m just spitballing here — no less than eleventeensuccessiveinjuries that have kept him on the sidelines since the first Bush was President.
So before you hardcore Punkites (is that what you’re called?) completely flip your shit and start giving GTS’s to everyone in your office, perhaps takes this news with a grain of salt. As announced on the UFC’s Twitter last night, Punk will finally make his promotional debut against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September.
It has been, oh, I dunno, six or seven or twelve or fifteen years since CM Punk aka Phil Brooks first signed with the UFC, and the buzz surrounding his debut has never been lower thanks to — again, I’m just spitballing here — no less than eleventeensuccessiveinjuries that have kept him on the sidelines since the first Bush was President.
So before you hardcore Punkites (is that what you’re called?) completely flip your shit and start giving GTS’s to everyone in your office, perhaps takes this news with a grain of salt. As announced on the UFC’s Twitter last night, Punk will finally make his promotional debut against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September.
Details after the jump.
Gall is, of course, the 24-year-old, 2-0 prospect who was discovered on Dana White’s Internet reality series, Looking For a Fight, and earned his shot against Brooks after defeating Mike Jackson via a lightning fast rear-naked choke in his UFC debut back at Fight Night 82. Brooks, on the other hand, was a seven time WWE world champion and the sixth longest reigning champion in promotional history who not only has his own Wikipedia page, but his own website to boot. SO YOU TELL ME WHO SHOULD BE THE FAVORITE HERE.
Said Brooks of his upcoming fight:
I think there’s probably something seriously wrong with me. Everyone is trying to figure out why I would want to do this. I’m a guy who gets bored easily and I have goals and there’s things in life I enjoy. It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey.
Inspiring stuff.
UFC 203 goes down at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on September 10th.
(Well thank God this isn’t having a noticeable effect on DW yet.) There are a couple reasons that we haven’t been reporting on the alleged sale of the UFC, which has been making the rounds here in the MMA blogosphere for the past week or so. For starters, most of these reports have been little more […]
(Well thank God this isn’t having a noticeable effect on DW yet.)
There are a couple reasons that we haven’t been reporting on the alleged sale of the UFC, which has been makingtherounds here in the MMA blogosphere for the past week or so. For starters, most of these reports have been little more than hearsay and conjecture, and not to take some journalistic high ground here, but any article that begins with “UFC Sold to blah blah blah” and ends with “But nothing is finalized yet” is some amateur hour clickbait bullshit that even we are not prepared to publish. Of course, there’s also the fact that the UFC has been threatening legal action against anyone who *was* reporting on the story, which is a headache that we really didn’t feel like dealing with.
Today, however, it seems like this thing is actually going through, so head after the jump for all the details.
As first unveiled by Jeremy Botter of FloCombat, it appears that (emphasis on “appears”) 100% the UFC has in fact been sold to a massive investment group led by the William Morris Endeavor-IMG agency for something in the neighborhood of 4.2 GODDAMN BILLION DOLLARS.
Our sources said that the basics of the deal was finalized during a dinner meeting in Hollywood last Sunday between Lorenzo Fertitta, Ari Emanuel—the CEO of WME-IMG and one of the most powerful men in entertainment—and other UFC and WME-IMG executives…
… the Fertitta Brothers would leave the UFC to focus on the expansion of their Las Vegas casino empire. White, who owns approximately 8.89% of the company, was said to be cashing out to the tune of $320 million US dollars. But our sources also said that the new ownership group would grant White a new ownership stake in order to entice him to continue in his role as president and promoter.
And just like that, CagePotato’s last chance at getting credentialed just flew out the f*cking window. As for Fertitta, it’s looking like his replacement as CEO has been boiled down to a few options, the most notable being former executive of the Manchester City Football Club Gary Cook. Emanuel — who it bears mentioning was the inspiration for Ari Gold on Entourage and is probably a real swell guy – is also being considered for the role.
Though no announcement has been made by the UFC at this point (we reached out to White for comment and were strangled through the phone), reports are indicating that the sale will be finalized in the coming days and be announced during the UFC’s International Fight Week in July. We’ll keep you updated as information is made available.
It’s been three years since Georges St. Pierre last competed in the octagon, three years the former champ has gloriously spent selling booze, signing boobs and unearthing dinosaur bones. It’s a life that stood in stark contrast to what we come to see from St. Pierre in the latter stages of his career — the self-doubt, the anxiety, the onslaught of strikes he was beginning to absorb in each fight — and one that GSP himself admitted to being more than content with. Georges St. Pierre was one of the all-too rare fighters to recognize that his best days were behind him and that is was best to step away from the sport while he still had his facilities intact.
It’s been three years since Georges St. Pierre last competed in the octagon, three years the former champ has gloriously spent selling booze, signing boobs and unearthing dinosaur bones. It’s a life that stood in stark contrast to what we come to see from St. Pierre in the latter stages of his career — the self-doubt, the anxiety, the onslaught of strikes he was beginning to absorb in each fight — and one that GSP himself admitted to being more than content with. Georges St. Pierre was one of the all-too rare fighters to recognize that his best days were behind him and that is was best to step away from the sport while he still had his facilities intact.
And now, he’s ready to take it all back.
On yesterday’s edition of The MMA Hour, St. Pierre dropped the bomb that he was not only ready to return to the cage, but already had a fight in mind for when he does.
“What I did is I did a training camp to see where I’m at,” said St-Pierre. “I’ve been training, but being in shape and being in fighting shape is something different. I did a training to push myself and go back to the highest level of competition. I didn’t fight, but I put myself through a training camp and I sparred and everything, and I did it successfully. Now I know for a fact that I could go back and fight, if my management and the UFC get to an agreement.”
“I love my sport and I still feel I’m at my best right now. The clock is running. I’m not getting any younger. I’m in the peak of my career and if there is a shot, there is another goal, another run, I better do it and do it quick, because it is time to do it now.”
It’s a statement that sounds undoubtedly familiar to fight fans. GSP, like countless fighters before him, got a taste of the normal life and decided that he would rather go through the hell that is mixed martial arts to prove that he’s “still got it.” It’s not hard to see why he’d think such a thing; he did, after all, step away from the sport with the belt in hand and an incredible 9 title defenses to his credit. But you can’t help shake the feeling that “the clock is running” and “I’m not getting any younger” aren’t exactly the greatest reasons for returning to one of the most dangerous sports on the planet.
Our own Trent Reinsmith further elaborated on why GSP should stay retired back when the news was still fresh in our minds:
St-Pierre left the sport as one of the top five (or better) fighters of all time. If he comes back and loses, not only will his legacy be tarnished, but it’s entirely feasible that the UFC would use that loss to further step on what St-Pierre has contributed to the promotion. The UFC machine would undoubtedly use a victory over St-Pierre as the launching point of a media campaign for whatever fighter defeated the mid-30’s version of St-Pierre.
Plus, St-Pierre doesn’t need to fight. He’s made his millions; he’s appearing in movies, he has sponsorship deals. He’s doing exactly what (almost) every professional fighter dreams of doing: making money without getting punched in the head by the likes of Johny Hendricks or Nick Diaz.
This isn’t to mention that, in unretiring, St. Pierre would be casting himself back into the arms of the very people that buried him when he chose to step away from the sport in the first place. Does anyone even remember the unjustifiably dickish language that Dana White used to try and pressure St. Pierre into an immediate rematch with Johny Hendricks? Here, let us remind you…
“You owe it to the fans, you owe it to that belt, you owe it to this company, and you owe it to Johny Hendricks to give him that opportunity to fight again, unless you’re gonna retire…There’s no ‘Hey listen I’m gonna go on a cruise and be gone for two years.’”
You hear that? Forget the fact that George St. Pierre had spent the past nine years bleeding for the UFC and netting them millions of dollars in the process, or that he was questioning not only his future health but how the lax drug-testing policies of the promotion he was fighting for were affecting it, he was a fighter, and fighters fight whether they want to or not! Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!!!
Why in God’s name would St. Pierre want to sign up for that circus again? The answer, or so it seems, is glory. Later on in his interview, St. Pierre then moved on to who he would like to face upon his return. His answer? Newly-crowned middleweight champ Michael Bisping.
“Look, it’s something big,” said St. Pierre. “You just give me the chills thinking about it, because it’s not the first time that people have mentioned it. I’m sure Michael and his side people have talked to him about it, because he creates a lot of buzz. I always said if I come back, I would come back for something very big. Bisping is the man to beat right now. He beat Silva, he knocked out Rockhold, Rockhold beat Jacare and Weidman. [Bisping is] bigger than me. [When I was fighting as a welterweight] I never really considered going up and going back down after, because I was the welterweight champion. Now that I’ve retired, I can make things more experimentally. I could, if I want to, fight at lightweight, as well. It would be easy for me. I could fight at welterweight, and I can also fight at middleweight. I’m not a big welterweight, and even though Michael Bisping is bigger than me, I believe if I fight him, I believe I’ll beat him.”
For what it’s worth, Bisping seems up for the bout, no doubt because it would easily make for the most lucrative of his career. And look, I’m not here to play the moral police and question whether or not GSP “should” come back from a mental health standpoint. As far as I see it, George St. Pierre is a grown-ass man who can do what he pleases, even if that means losing a few more million brain cells in a half baked quest to recapture the glory of his former self. He’s no different than Fedor Emelianenko, even if the latter’s most recent performance should serve as a shining example of why he probably *shouldn’t* come back. Completing a training camp is one thing, but actually getting back in the ring and squaring off against a bigger opponent than anyone you’ve ever faced before seem’s like a fool’s errand to me. Then again, that’s why one of us is a legend of the game and the other a legend in his own mind.
The point is…well, I’m not really sure. George St. Pierre has his mind set on coming back and the UFC is more than willing to make that a reality, so I guess all we can do now is watch the fight and wait until the aftermath to start questioning how terrible the UFC, MMA fans, and the members of the MMA media should feel for watching it in the first place. At least St. Pierre can do so knowing that the sport’s drug-testing policies are finally in order.
In Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Rory “I Refuse to Write His Nickname” MacDonald, we were expecting one of the more technical battles you’ll ever see in the octagon; one was a kickboxing and karate master with a wealth of experience behind him, the other an archetype of the modern MMA fighter whose only losses had come to the top 1% of his division. Suffice it to say, a sloppy haymaker-fest it would not end up being (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Our predictions, as it turns out, were mostly spot-on. What we might not have expected, however, is that Thompson would almost completely shut down MacDonald’s attack over the the course of five rounds and reduce his face to the mashed-up pile of blood and gore that only Robbie Lawler before him was able to do.
It was quite possibly Thompson’s best performance to date, and one that cemented his name as the next title contender (after Tyron Woodley, for whatever reason). As for the “Red King” (dammit, I said it!), well, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board, by which I mean that he may very well have to hire a team of scientists and graphic artists to draw him up a new nose, because he won’t have much of a fighting future left with the one he’s got.
Head after the jump for a complete recap of Fight Night 89.
In Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Rory “I Refuse to Write His Nickname” MacDonald, we were expecting one of the more technical battles you’ll ever see in the octagon; one was a kickboxing and karate master with a wealth of experience behind him, the other an archetype of the modern MMA fighter whose only losses had come to the top 1% of his division. Suffice it to say, a sloppy haymaker-fest it would not end up being (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Our predictions, as it turns out, were mostly spot-on. What we might not have expected, however, is that Thompson would almost completely shut down MacDonald’s attack over the the course of five rounds and reduce his face to the mashed-up pile of blood and gore that only Robbie Lawler before him was able to do.
It was quite possibly Thompson’s best performance to date, and one that cemented his name as the next title contender (after Tyron Woodley, for whatever reason). As for the “Red King” (dammit, I said it!), well, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board, by which I mean that he may very well have to hire a team of scientists and graphic artists to draw him up a new nose, because he won’t have much of a fighting future left with the one he’s got.
Head after the jump for a complete recap of Fight Night 89.
In the evening’s co-main event, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone improved to 2-0 as a welterweight with a surprisingly dominant performance over Patrick “Look Into My Eyes and See The Wellspring of All Creation” Cote. Known the world across for his notoriously tough chin — which has stood up to the likes of Anderson Silva, Stephen Thompson, and Tito Ortiz — the Canadian “Predator” was dropped on numerous occasions by Cerrone, finally succumbing to a flourish of strikes in the third round. The sky appears to be the limit for Cerrone at 170 for now, which begs the question: With USADA’s recently-implemented weight-cutting rules now in place, are we about to enter the era of fighters going *up* a weight-class to save their careers? Details at 11.
You know that thing I said early about haymaker-fests? Well that’s more or less what the light heavyweight battle between Steve “The Boss” Bosse and Sean “The New Tom Lawler of Weigh-Ins” O’Connell was (are these nickname jokes working for you at all?), and it was fantastic. After nearly getting slept in the first round — well, actually getting slept, then somehow recovering — Bosse managed to rally in the second and third to deliver some brutal punishment of his own. How either guy had the stamina or strength left to engage in that final exchange is beyond impressive, and the UFC should probably do the sensible thing and book them in a rematch on every other card for the rest of eternity.
But it wouldn’t be a night of MMA without some horrific judging and/or refereeing, amiright Nation? On Saturday, that came in the form of referee Jerin Valel, who you might remember as the guy who nearly got Ruan Potts, Josh Koscheck *and* Mark Munoz killed back at UFC 184, who all but forced Valerie Letourneau to go out on her shield against Joanna Calderwood after she had clearly given up. You’d think that a fighter turning her back on his/her opponent and fleeing would be enough of a sign that they were unable to fight back, but not for Jerin Valel. Because Jerin Valel does not operate under the assumptions that you or I do. No, when he sees a man being choked within an inch of his life, he makes sure that he sees his soul dip its toes into the Netherrealm before bringing him back to life. He’s basically the Red Priestess of MMA in that regard.
The full results for Fight night 89 are below.
Main card
Stephen Thompson def. Rory MacDonald via unanimous decision (50-45 x2, 48-47)
Donald Cerrone def. Patrick Cote via third-round TKO (2:35)
Steve Bosse def. Sean O’Connell via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 2:28)
Joanne Calderwood def. Valerie Letourneau via third-round TKO (2:51)
Undercard
Jason Saggo def. Leandro Silva via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Misha Cirkunov def. Ion Cutelaba via submission (arm triangle) (R3, 1:22)
Krzysztof Jotko def. Tamdan McCrory via first-round TKO (0:59)
Joe Soto def. Chris Beal via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 3:39)
Elias Theodorou def. Sam Alvey via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Randa Markos def. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger via UD (30-27, 29-28 x2)
Colby Covington def. Jonathan Meunier via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, :54)
Ali Bagautinov def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
