Author: Jeremy Botter

Brandon Vera’s "Golden Ticket" Against Shogun Rua Could Turn out Badly

Remember the days, way back in 2006, when Brandon Vera was considered the future of mixed martial arts? He was going to be heavyweight champion, and then he’d drop some weight and capture the light heavyweight belt just for the fun of it. Vera rep…

Remember the days, way back in 2006, when Brandon Vera was considered the future of mixed martial arts? 

He was going to be heavyweight champion, and then he’d drop some weight and capture the light heavyweight belt just for the fun of it. Vera repeated the claim for anyone who wanted to listen, but he wasn’t making empty threats. Many fans and media folks alike thought Vera had the tools to follow through on his promise.

I sure did, especially after his violent dispatching of Frank Mir back at UFC 65.

But then consecutive losses followed to Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum, and Vera suddenly found himself scrambling to light heavyweight without the heavyweight belt. He won that 205-pound debut fight against the completely unheralded Reese Andy, but has gone just 3-3-1 since.

He wouldn’t even be on the UFC roster in 2012 if it hadn’t been for Thiago Silva’s brainiac decision to use fake urine for a drug test after beating Vera at UFC 125 early last year.

Vera survived the cut and came back to win a narrow decision over Eliot Marshall last fall. For his next trick, he’ll jump directly into the fire for the biggest fight of his life when he faces Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on FOX in August.

Vera told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that beating Rua could be his finest moment:

This is a golden ticket. I need this. This could almost become the defining moment of my career, through all the good, the bad and the ugly. If I do this the way I’m supposed to, the way I can, the world will start following. I’m not ready to let my story come to an end. I’m not ready to retire. I’m not ready to hang up the gloves.

Vera makes a cogent point. A win over Shogun still means something—not as much as it used to, mind you, but something—and beating the former light heavyweight champion would launch Vera back to the kind of heights many assumed he’d never again attain.

But a loss to Shogun still means something, too.

A loss is a loss—especially when you’re only on the UFC roster due to a technicality. Vera isn’t stepping in on short notice, either, which means he won’t be afforded the usual grace for saving the UFC’s bacon as a late-notice replacement.

Listening to Vera, I was utterly convinced that he believes he will beat Shogun in August. And maybe he will.

But history has been full of promise for Brandon Vera, and thus far he hasn’t been able to deliver on it. Perhaps he’ll start doing so in front of the largest audience of his career, and wouldn’t that be something?

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Michael Bisping Has a Right to Be Pissed If Hector Lombard Gets a Title Shot

Michael Bisping has never been known as a guy that minces his words. He says exactly what he’s thinking at all times. To him, it’s your own fault if you take issue with anything that comes out of his mouth.MMA fans typically love that kind of swagger i…

Michael Bisping has never been known as a guy that minces his words. He says exactly what he’s thinking at all times. To him, it’s your own fault if you take issue with anything that comes out of his mouth.

MMA fans typically love that kind of swagger in their professional athletes, but Bisping is the exception.

Why? I’d say a large portion of fan hatred towards him is due to the simple fact that he’s not American. That may sound harsh, but it’s true. If Michael Bisping were from somewhere in the heartland, the middle of America, he’d be one of the most beloved fighters on the roster. 

No? Okay, probably not. We’ve seen how well that worked out for Matt Hughes.

At the end of the day, Bisping has given MMA fans plenty of reasons to hate him over the years, American or not. 

But he’s right when it comes to one thing: If Hector Lombard comes into the UFC, wins a single fight over Tim Boetsch and then earns a title shot against Anderson Silva, it’ll be ridiculous.

Here’s what Bisping had to say regarding Lombard’s potential title shot:

Massively, massively pissed off. Listen, I understand the UFC’s decision, the reason why I haven’t had a title shot is because of me, I’m a realist and I understand what’s happening. I have been in the position to fight for the title several times and have been in number one contender match-up’s (sic) several times.

So I’ve got no one to blame but myself, I’m not blaming the UFC, I’m not angry with the UFC. If I had beaten Dan Henderson I would have fought for the title but I didn’t. If I had beaten Chael Sonnen I’d be fighting Anderson in Brazil, but I didn’t. I was robbed by the judges, it wasn’t the UFC. So yeah, it’s frustrating to see someone coming from Bellator. I will be honest, I have never seen the guy fight once because I’ve never seen Bellator, I don’t watch it, I have no interest.

By all accounts he’s an aggressive fighter and he knocks people out, but I have never seen him fight. He could be the best thing since sliced bread, I don’t know. But what I do know is that he has never fought in the UFC, so why the [expletive] is he getting a title shot?

Sure, Lombard has a stellar winning streak. But let’s take a closer look at that winning streak. More specifically, let’s look for wins over any guys who could have been considered top-10 fighters at the time Lombard beat them.

You go look. I’ll wait. It won’t take you long, because you simply can’t find a single top-10—or perhaps even top-15—fighter that Lombard has defeated during this vaunted winning streak. His biggest wins during that time came against Brian Ebersole (who suffered a knee injury in the first round of their 2008 bout) and James Te Huna, who might not even be a top-20 middleweight at the moment.

Winning streaks are impressive, but they shouldn’t earn you title shots when every single one of the wins came against guys outside of the top 10 or 15 in the world.

You may not like Michael Bisping, but you can’t deny that he’s one of the world’s absolute best middleweights.

And you can’t deny that he has a point here. Bisping hasn’t continually fought the guys at the very top of his division, but he’s fought far more top-10 fighters than Lombard ever has. He went to an extremely close decision with current number one contender Chael Sonnen earlier this year, and though he lost the fight, I came out with more respect for Bisping’s skills than I had going in.

No matter what happens against Boetsch next month, Lombard does not deserve a title shot. But Bisping, if he’s able to return from knee surgery and win one more fight, certainly does deserve a crack at the belt.

It’s time to give the Brit his due.

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UFC 148 Preview: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen Prediction Video

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is on a collision course with his nemesis Chael Sonnen, and the two will finally settle their differences at UFC 148 in July. We all saw what happened the first time Silva and Sonnen squared off at UFC 117 nearl…

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is on a collision course with his nemesis Chael Sonnen, and the two will finally settle their differences at UFC 148 in July.

We all saw what happened the first time Silva and Sonnen squared off at UFC 117 nearly two years ago. And much has happened since that day in Oakland, with Sonnen facing a difficult time due to a failed drug test after the bout and Silva moving on to defend his championship against Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami.

In this B/R exclusive video, lead UFC blogger Jeremy Botter takes a look at the rematch between two of the brightest — and most controversial — stars in the sport of mixed martial arts. Botter also tells you who he thinks will come out victorious come July 7.

Do you agree with the pick? Disagree, perhaps? Leave your comment below and tell Jeremy why you agree with him, or why he’s wrong. And leave a prediction of your own, while you’re at it.

Be sure to sound off and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you like what you see, click here for more from Bleacher Report Productions. 

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Rich Franklin Admits He’s Interested in TRT, but Should He Use It?

Rich Franklin has long been known as one of the UFC’s best “company men.” When the promotion finds itself in a bind or needs someone to replace an injured fighter, they know they can typically rely on “Ace” to fill the void.But Franklin is getting on i…

Rich Franklin has long been known as one of the UFC’s best “company men.” When the promotion finds itself in a bind or needs someone to replace an injured fighter, they know they can typically rely on “Ace” to fill the void.

But Franklin is getting on in years. At 37, he’s not ancient by any means, but he’s certainly approaching the twilight of what has been a memorable career.

And so the question must be asked: Has Franklin, like many other fighters of advancing age, considered using testosterone replacement therapy as a means of extending his career? Ariel Helwani posed the question to Franklin on today’s edition of The MMA Hour:

Yeah, I’ve kicked around that idea and everything, and actually I’ve talked to doctors that work with the UFC and the athletic commission in Nevada and all that kind of stuff. And at 37, my count obviously is not what it was when I was 25, and I’m a candidate for that kind of stuff. I haven’t started yet.

But Franklin also said he understands the long-term downside of going on TRT:

I’m not sure if that’s something I want to do or how I want to approach that, because TRT is … once you start that process it’s a permanent fixture. Once you start putting those hormones in your body—those synthetic hormones—then your body is not going to produce its own hormones any more, and so you really have to think carefully. 

I’m sure you’re very familiar with my stance on TRT by this point, but here’s a brief synopsis for those who aren’t: I’m against it. Plain and simple, I don’t think it has any place in mixed martial arts, or any other sport, for that matter.

Everyone ages. It’s a fact of life. You’ll eventually get to an age where you can no longer do the one thing you’ve done the best over the course of your life. When that happens, it’s time to quit and find something else to do.

Unfortunately for most athletes, that moment of reckoning comes much earlier in life than it does for those who work typical nine-to-five jobs. I don’t agree with the idea of artificially extending your career by taking a substance that gives you the ability to continue athletic endeavors when you should be winding things down and thinking about what you’re going to do when the bright lights are no longer shining directly on you.

Should exceptions be made?

Perhaps. In very extreme and very specific circumstances, there are athletes who just don’t generate the kind of testosterone levels they need to compete.

As long as these circumstances are naturally occurring—and not brought about by past abuse of steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs—I don’t have a problem considering the use of testosterone. 

In these situations, the athlete isn’t responsible for the fact that their body just doesn’t give them the tools they need to compete.

But these situations are few and far between, and I don’t honestly know that we’ve seen any of them in mixed martial arts thus far.

Franklin certainly doesn’t fall under that category. He’s simply getting older, and when an athlete gets older, it’s time to find something else to do.

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UFC’s Dana White Says Fighters Need to Tone It Down, Stop Hurting Each Other

The injury bug in mixed martial arts has reached epidemic status over the past few weeks.Let’s take a look at just a few of the major summer fights that were canceled, postponed or changed due to injuries suffered by one or both fighters: Vitor Belfor…

The injury bug in mixed martial arts has reached epidemic status over the past few weeks.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the major summer fights that were canceled, postponed or changed due to injuries suffered by one or both fighters:

  • Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva, UFC 147: Belfort broke his hand and was replaced with Rich Franklin.
  • Michael Bisping vs. Tim Boetsch, UFC 148: Bisping re-injured his knee and was removed from the fight. Bisping was replaced with Hector Lombard and the fight was moved to UFC 149.
  • Thiago Silva vs. Mauricio Rua, UFC 149: Silva suffered another back injury. Rua was moved to the FOX show in August to face Brandon Vera.
  • Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Thiago Alves, UFC 149: First, Akiyama was injured and replaced by Siyar Bahazurdada. Alves then suffered his own injury and was replaced by Chris Clements.
  • Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch, UFC 149: Aldo was injured, and Koch elected to wait for him to heal. The fight was canceled and replaced with Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao
  • Brian Stann vs. Hector Lombard, UFC on FOX: Stann suffered a shoulder injury. Lombard was moved to the Boetsch fight at UFC 149, and the new FOX main event is Shogun Rua vs. Brandon Vera.
  • Chad Griggs vs. Phil Davis, UFC on FOX: Griggs was forced to pull out of his light heavyweight debut and was replaced by Wagner Prado.

That’s quite the list of major televised fights that were changed dramatically due to fighter injuries. And that list doesn’t even include all of the preliminary fights that underwent alterations of their own.

Is the UFC’s fighter insurance policy to blame? Perhaps. In the old days, fighters were forced to fight through injuries because they needed a paycheck or a way to pay for surgery. That’s no longer the case. Nowadays, the UFC pays for any medical procedures needed due to injuries suffered in training, which means that fighters have a much easier time pulling out of a bout than they used to.

But fighter insurance can’t be held responsible for all of the blame. 

On any given day, there are hundreds of really good fighters in gyms around the country who are going toe-to-toe with friends and training partners. We hear teammates talk about not fighting each other all the time, but the reality is that most of them are fighting very intense battles against their teammates in the gym each and every day. 

I’ve seen it firsthand during visits to gyms such as Xtreme Couture and American Kickboxing Academy. These gyms are packed with elite fighters preparing for fights, going nearly as hard as they would come showtime on a daily basis. And as the quality of fighters around the world improves—and as more of them join the bigger, name-brand camps—the potential for injury is much greater.

UFC president Dana White agrees, stating, “I think what’s happening, too, and me and Joe Silva were talking about this tonight, you have so many talented guys out there now all in the same camp, going at it like they’re fighting for the title. These guys need to tone it down in training a bit and stop hurting each other.”

So what’s the answer? Asking fighters to tone down their training is an impossible task. They’re preparing to win, and they’re doing it the only way they know how. That includes going head-on with training partners, at full volume. They’re hitting each other with everything they’ve got, and they’re executing takedowns at full force.

It’s standard operating procedure in almost every MMA gym, and I don’t see it changing any time in the future. And why should it? What happens if one fighter decides to take things a little bit easier, but their opponent is going full-bore in preparation to dismantle them? They’re not going to take the easy way out. They’re going to go hard because their opponent is going hard, and they want to keep a level playing field.

That’s unfortunate, too. Because until major changes are made in the way training is approached, these injuries will continue to affect UFC cards.

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Rory MacDonald Wanted Carlos Condit but Settled for B.J. Penn

Rory MacDonald never really wanted a fight with B.J. Penn. He got one, of course, but the fighter he actually wanted to face was Carlos Condit.MacDonald made the confession on MMAjunkie Radio today when asked about who he actually wanted to fight:”Carl…

Rory MacDonald never really wanted a fight with B.J. Penn. He got one, of course, but the fighter he actually wanted to face was Carlos Condit.

MacDonald made the confession on MMAjunkie Radio today when asked about who he actually wanted to fight:

“Carlos Condit,” MacDonald told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “But he’s busy right now. He’s got a fight coming up, so I have to work my way up to that level (with someone else).”

That’s understandable, isn’t it? Condit handed MacDonald his only career loss back at UFC 115, in a fight that, until the waning moments of the final round, MacDonald was handily dominating. And when I say “waning moments of the fight,” I mean right up until the last 10 seconds or so of the final round. It’s understandable that MacDonald would want to roll that one back and go for revenge.

And then there’s the fact that Condit is the interim welterweight champion. MacDonald wants to compete for a title, and Condit makes perfect sense, mostly because MacDonald isn’t going to fight the true champion because he’s a teammate.

Of course, MacDonald versus Condit doesn’t make a ton of sense form the UFC’s perspective. What happens if MacDonald beats Condit? He becomes the new welterweight champion, but won’t participate in a unification bout with St-Pierre. That leaves the UFC with two welterweight champions and roughly zero chance of them squaring off to unify the belts.

The welterweight division has gotten very interesting over the past few months.

Johny Hendricks and Martin Kampmann are both on the verge of contendership, and they’ll meet this fall to determine who faces the winner of the November bout between Condit and St-Pierre. MacDonald, with another win, would have to be considered for a title shot, and you’ll have Nick Diaz hovering around once he comes back from his year-long suspension.

It’ll be interesting to see how all of this shakes out.

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