Author: Khurram Aziz

Bjorn Rebney Believes UFC Was ‘Ridiculous’ in Passing on Askren

Bellator president Bjorn Rebney has voiced his frustration at the UFC’s failure to sign its welterweight champion Ben Askren.
Askren is one of the most dominant 170-pounders outside the UFC, but today sits as a rare free agent after he failed to …

Bellator president Bjorn Rebney has voiced his frustration at the UFC’s failure to sign its welterweight champion Ben Askren.

Askren is one of the most dominant 170-pounders outside the UFC, but today sits as a rare free agent after he failed to renew his contract with Bellator.

In a three-year career with the promotion, the fighter has defeated all nine of his opponents and it was thought, by the time his contract came up, that the UFC would show some interest.

However, the UFC has passed on the fighter, a decision which has riled Rebney.

“I think it’s disingenuous and ridiculous,” Rebney told Luke Thomas of MMA Fighting. “If you stand up consistently at every press conference and meeting and every scrum and say the best fighters in the world fight here, and the No. 6-ranked welterweight in the world becomes available – unrestricted with no matching rights – and you don’t even make him an offer, then you need to stop saying the greatest fighters in the world fight there.”

The UFC’s decision not to sign Askren is a curious one. It has previously fought fiercely to capture Bellator’s top fighters and recently acquired their middleweight champion Hector Lombard. However, the UFC’s attempts to acquire Bellator lightweight champ, Eddie Alvarez, led to a year-long contract dispute and the fighter ultimately re-signed with Bellator.

This bitter history could have put the UFC off wanting to do business with Bellator, even though the promotion said it would not try to match any offers made to Askren.

Askren, though, is a polarising fighter in and of himself. He’s utterly dominated almost all his opponents, but he’s used his one skill set, wrestling, to control fights and smother his opponents. This has alienated many fans.

However, Bellator hasn’t shown much faith in Askren either. He’s served the company for years and now his future could be destined at new promotion World Series of Fighting (WSOF).

Rebney explained why they couldn’t reach a deal with Askren.

“His value of his perception in the marketplace was higher than my perception of his value to this company. I don’t know what he’s going to make where he goes. I hope he makes a fortune wrestling people to death.”

As yet, WSOF is the only promotion to have publicly extended an offer to Askren.

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UFC Fight Night 32: Should the UFC Re-Sign Dan Henderson?

Dan Henderson’s KO loss to Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night 32 could be the last time we see the 43-year-old inside the Octagon.
His fight against “The Phenom” in Brazil on Saturday was the last on his UFC contract, and in the year when he’…

Dan Henderson’s KO loss to Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night 32 could be the last time we see the 43-year-old inside the Octagon.

His fight against “The Phenom” in Brazil on Saturday was the last on his UFC contract, and in the year when he’s lost three in a row, that does not bode well for his future.

There’s no doubt that he has earned his spot among the luminaries of the sport, after winning some of the most respected titles in mixed martial arts—except, of course, the UFC strap.

That fact alone could drive him and the UFC to stay in business together. After all, he’ll continue to be a recognisable fighter living off his past glories for some years to come. And after coming so close to two title shots last year, he would never want to end his career on such a melancholic note.

But other factors are coming into play.

For one, a title shot is now beyond him. The UFC is packed with emerging talent, and the promotion is busy shuffling its roster to make way for new blood in the sport. In that shuffle, fighters who have no chance of making a title run are being discarded in favour of a talent pool so rich that there is no shortage of fighters to headline cards.

In the middleweight division, Belfort, Lyoto Machida and Ronaldo Souza are part of a long list of men lining up to take a shot at Chris Weidman’s belt—and that’s after Anderson Silva gets his rematch at the end of the year.

In the light heavyweight division, Henderson is now being sucked into a black hole that swallowed up Tito Ortiz, Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin earlier this year. They too remained bankable stars but had no place left in a title run.

Another factor is how old Henderson is beginning to look inside the cage. When he fought Machida and Rashad Evans earlier this year, he carried none of the threat or aggression that saw him go on the remarkable late-career surge in 2011, when he won the Strikeforce light heavyweight title and then staged the fight of the year against Mauricio Rua in his return to the UFC.

In the process, he also TKO’d MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko inside the first round while fighting as a heavyweight.

Performances like that caught the attention of UFC promoters, who were quick to arrange a title shot at 205 pounds between Henderson and champion Jon Jones. Based on the performance we saw at UFC Fight Night 32, “Bones” would have eaten him alive.

As in the Machida and Evans fights, we saw an overly tentative and somewhat lackadaisical Henderson step inside the Octagon. While his previous two losses this year were three-round snoozefests, Belfort put him to sleep for the first time in his career on Saturday.

Coming in with his “H-bomb” cocked—a vicious right hand that served no purpose on the night—Hendo faked and faked again without any heed to the threat in front of him. As a result, he caught an uppercut to the chin that took out his legs right from under him.

His forlorn attempts to stand back up only highlighted the fact he was fighting a much bigger and stronger man. Mercifully, after a second knockdown, the ref stopped the fight moments later.

At this point, whether he continues to rejuvenate his body with testosterone replacement therapy, or the remarkable weight loss and health supplement Garcinia Cambogia extract, it will still all be an uphill battle for the fighter.

There’s every chance that even after three losses, the UFC will offer him a new contract. His previous losses were hardly the one-sided affairs we saw on Saturday, and if Hendo really wants it, the UFC is unlikely to deny him a new deal.

But the question for both parties will be: why?

Considering all that he’s achieved in his career, being a bit player in the UFC will suit nobody. What’s more, he has proved to be a tough negotiator. In 2009, while riding a three-fight win streak, he left for Strikeforce over a dispute with his employers. On his return, he became one of the highest-paid fighters in the promotion.

Against Machida, he made $250,000 just for showing up.

He’ll never make that kind of money again with the UFC. Nor will he be given the big-money fights he’s looking for.

That leaves him in a difficult spot. Because even if he is offered a contract, it’s unlikely the two parties will agree to the terms.

At this point, it’s probably best for the UFC to let him seek opportunities elsewhere.

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Cro Cop Says If He Were Dana White He’d Fire Jon Jones for Unprofesisonalism

UPDATE: Cro Cop lost his fight at Legends 2 against Alexey Oleinik via submission in the first round
According to MMA Mania, Former UFC and Pride heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop had choice words for a group of UFC fighters, including Jon Jone…

UPDATE: Cro Cop lost his fight at Legends 2 against Alexey Oleinik via submission in the first round

According to MMA Mania, Former UFC and Pride heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop had choice words for a group of UFC fighters, including Jon Jones, who turned up at one of his press conferences.

In the opinion of the MMA veteran, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, along with heavyweights Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem, should all be fired by the UFC for appearing at another organisation’s event in Russia.

The Croatian fighter is gearing up for the 42nd fight in his long career for new MMA outfit LEGEND Fight Show at its Legends 2 event in Moscow. Speaking candidly to a reporter in his hotel room, he said (h/t MMA Mania):

It’s nice that they came, that they graced us with their presence. But on the flip side, I think Dana White is going to grow his hair back when he sees them here. Jon Jones is the light heavyweight champion. Werdum is fighting Cain next for the heavyweight belt. Those are people under contract with UFC… They came over, sat in the front row at the press conference. Took photos. All of that sends a bad message. I would never do that, never.

The head-kick knockout specialist then went on an almost-five-minute rant as to why their behaviour was inappropriate.

In Cro Cop’s opinion, it was completely unprofessional for these men to stand at an event, with the logos and banners of a rival promotion behind them, while under contract with the UFC. He went on to say that UFC president Dana White would likely go mad when he found out, and that if he were in White’s shoes, he would fire them all.

This isn’t the first time LEGEND has called on Jones to help promote its event. Back in May, in the run-up to its first event, Jones was also invited to give a seminar. Second time around, the Russian promotion widened its association with some of the UFC’s top draws, with even more seminars featuring the heavyweights and light heavyweight.

Cro Cop said that while giving a seminar is one thing, doing extra publicity for the promotion, such as attending press events, was going too far.

The UFC is, indeed, strict with the kind of work fighters can do for other promotions, although no one has ever been fired for attending someone else’s press conference. It’s also unlikely that high-profile stars such as Jones, or heavyweight title challenger Werdum, will lose their jobs over this.

Cro Cop, meanwhile, takes on Alexey Oleinik this Friday at Legends 2. Other MMA fighters on the card include Paul Daley, who fights Alexander “Bad Boy” Yakovlev.

Pictures of Mir, Jones and Werdum teaching their seminars in honour of LEGEND Wednesday and Thursday can be seen across the net.

Below is the full video of Cro Cop making the comments in his hotel room.

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UFC’s Ronda Rousey Thinks She Could Beat Cain Velasquez

UFC female bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey continues to demonstrate that she has, perhaps, the biggest balls in all of MMA—this time practically calling out heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez.
Rousey gives up more than 100 pounds to Velasquez. Howe…

UFC female bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey continues to demonstrate that she has, perhaps, the biggest balls in all of MMA—this time practically calling out heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez.

Rousey gives up more than 100 pounds to Velasquez. However, in an interview with Spanish newspaper Hoy (h/t Yahoo! Sports), she insists she could, under the right circumstances, beat him in a fight.

“In any given moment, under the right circumstance, I think it is possible,” Rousey said of beating Velasquez. “You cannot tell me that it is physically impossible. It is possible that in any given moment that I could beat him. I simply believe in my possibilities.”

Rousey’s belief in her “possibilities” had her emerge out of obscurity in 2011 to claim her first MMA title, the Strikeforce belt she took from Miesha Tate, in only five fights. The former Olympic judo bronze medallist has never been shy about challenging anyone and has gunned for the biggest names in MMA, including arguably the toughest woman in the history of the sport—Cristiane Justino.

That confidence has so far been rewarded with seven first-round finishes against all seven women to step inside the cage with her. 

And her threats to Velasquez, who recently dismembered heavyweight challenger Junior Dos Santos for the second time, are also grounded in some realm of reality.

For example, there’s always the possibility of ninjas appearing out of nowhere while Rousey and Velasquez are getting it on and throwing a smoke bomb in the heavyweight champ’s face. With smoke in his eyes, rendering him completely disoriented, Rousey could sneak a victory.

Ninjas might not have been seen since the Tokugawa shogunate in early 17th century Japan, but there are still plenty of practitioners of the code to make such a ninja attack a possibility.

Ninjas aside, there’s also a chance that the 240-pound Velasquez could simply slip on a wet patch caused by excess water from water ionizers that leak, while fighting Rousey, land on his head and knock himself out. That’s just another “right circumstance” under which the 135-pound Rousey could win in that fight.

However, before she can speculate on such unlikely encounters, Rousey is preparing to face an opponent much closer to her own size, and gender. She’s billed as the co-main event at UFC 168 in a rematch against Tate, which will be the third defence of her UFC bantamweight title.

That fight takes place Dec. 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

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Cain Velasquez Injury Puts UFC’s Mexican Plans on Hold for Now

It appears that the UFC has shelved plans to stage its first event in Mexico, after it emerged that heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez suffered a shoulder injury after his last fight.
The news also means that there are no dates set for his next title …

It appears that the UFC has shelved plans to stage its first event in Mexico, after it emerged that heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez suffered a shoulder injury after his last fight.

The news also means that there are no dates set for his next title defense against Brazilian Fabricio Werdum.

UFC president Dana White told Yahoo! Sports that reports on a Spanish-language website that Velasquez would face Werdum at UFC 172 in Mexico City on either April 19 or 26 were false.

We haven’t offered anyone a fight for that card and Cain is injured right now and might need surgery. … Obviously, we’re not going to Mexico without Cain Velasquez.

Velasquez is said to have sustained the injury during his blistering second defeat of Junior dos Santos in their encounter last month. The incumbent champion dominated that fight; however, the intensity at which he fought could have contributed to the injury.

Confirming the news to Yahoo! Sports, Velasquez’s trainer Javier Mendez said the heavyweight first mentioned the injury to him moments after the fight.

It was one of those things where it had no impact on him in the fight, but after it’s over and the adrenaline isn’t going as much, you go, ‘Uh oh, I may have done something.’ He never said a thing about it during the fight, but I was with him after just before we went to the press conference and he told me he thought he hurt his shoulder.

Melendez, as well as Velasquez’s manager Bob Cook, also suggest that they don’t know at this time as to how serious the injury is and whether, after rehab, the fighter could be ready to fight in April after all. That will depend on the results of a second MRI scan the heavyweight is due to have.

The uncertainty seems enough for the UFC to postpone its venture south of the border, which is a major part of the promotion’s plans to move into Latin America in 2014.

In July, the UFC announced a partnership with Mexican sports channel Televisa Deportes Network, which was its first TV deal in a country where boxing still dominates the world of combat sports.

To unseat that sport in the hearts and minds of Mexicans, who were recently captivated by their star boxer Canelo Alvarez’s failed attempt to defeat Floyd Mayweather, would require a concerted effort by the UFC. Clearly the promotion thinks that only a fight involving its heavyweight champion, a son of Mexican immigrants, can accomplish that.

 

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Rustam Khabilov and the 5 Best Russian Fighters in MMA Today

Among the nations that have dominated the sport of mixed martial arts, Russia is one that has been churning out fighters from the very beginning.
Men like Oleg Taktarov emerged from behind the iron curtain in the early 1990s to prove that the Russian m…

Among the nations that have dominated the sport of mixed martial arts, Russia is one that has been churning out fighters from the very beginning.

Men like Oleg Taktarov emerged from behind the iron curtain in the early 1990s to prove that the Russian martial art of Sambo could stand alongside its Brazilian and US counterparts as a complete fighting system.

Taktarov was the first Russian MMA fighter to make a name for himself, winning UFC 6 and going on to fight in two other events. However, aside from the legend that is Fedor Emelianenko, few other Russian fighters have left much of an imprint on MMA compared to some other storied nations.

Until now.

With their roots still in the sport of Sambo and emerging from the clubs that produced men like Emelianenko, such as Red Devil Sport Club, Russian fighters now litter the sport at all levels.

From world champions to upcoming stars, this slideshow presents the five best Russian fighters competing in MMA today. These fighters have been selected for their accomplishments as well as their performances in the cage.

Many of these fighters are only now emerging onto the scene but have already caught the attention as potential future champions. They carry with them impressive records and a diverse set of skills.

Begin Slideshow