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UFC Fight Night 50 Results: Ben Rothwell Slams ‘Dirty’ Alistair Overeem

It’s not too often you hear the phrase “sore winner” used in combat sports (who complains about a win?) but Ben Rothwell is trying his hardest.
Speaking to Submission Radio, Rothwell slammed his UFC Fight Night 50 opponent Alistair Overeem based on som…

It’s not too often you hear the phrase “sore winner” used in combat sports (who complains about a win?) but Ben Rothwell is trying his hardest.

Speaking to Submission Radio, Rothwell slammed his UFC Fight Night 50 opponent Alistair Overeem based on some tactics used by “The Reem.”

“I almost yelled at him in the fight,” Rothwell said. “He was doing some real dirty push kicks to my knee, and it’s just a dirty move. It’s not honorable in my mind because this isn’t street fighting.”

Overeem utilized the same kicks we’ve come to expect from UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones in his fights. It’s no surprise Overeem decided to try these out, as he’s moved his camp to Greg Jackson’s MMA.

There are two sides to Rothwell‘s claims about the kicks to the knee. Anyone who has played a team sport (baseball, basketball, football, etc.) knows that the knees are a sacred area for a player. Speaking from the perspective of someone who has played on the offensive line in football, if you want to really annoy the guy across from you, dive at his knees.

Targeting someone’s knees is just something that isn’t viewed as being strategic or taking advantage of a weakness, oftentimes it’s viewed as playing dirty.

There’s a reason guys in the NFL have been telling other players to aim at their head instead of tackling low. Recovering from a concussion is viewed as better than recovering from a blown-out knee.

But, on the other side, it’s a legal move in MMA, and the result isn’t much different than a knee bar or heel hook. MMA is inherently a violent sport, and attacking the legs is a strategy often employed by strikers. Rothwell should’ve expected Overeem to employ similar tactics as Jones considering they come from the same camp.

A simple check, or adjusting his weight to not be so heavy on his front leg would’ve negated the effects of Overeem’s kicks.

It obviously bothered Rothwell enough to complain about it even after winning the fight, but being a sore winner isn’t what Rothwell wants, considering it was his first fight after getting popped for elevated testosterone.

Rothwell wants to move up the heavyweight rankings following the win, but it remains to be seen whom the company will match him up against. Overeem, meanwhile, heads back to the drawing board after yet another underwhelming performance in the UFC.

He’s quickly becoming one of, if not the biggest free-agent bust in UFC history.

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Dana White Believes The Ultimate Fighter 20 Will Produce Another Ronda Rousey

The Ultimate Fighter 20 hasn’t even aired yet but there’s already plenty of lofty expectations for the women competing. The bar just got raised again thanks to UFC president Dana White.
White spoke to members of the media following UFC 177 and cou…

The Ultimate Fighter 20 hasn’t even aired yet but there’s already plenty of lofty expectations for the women competing. The bar just got raised again thanks to UFC president Dana White.

White spoke to members of the media following UFC 177 and couldn’t hold back about how excited he was for this upcoming season of TUF, per MMA Mania.

I love this season of The Ultimate Fighter, it’s way better than the last season of The Ultimate Fighter. The reality is great, but the fights are fucking awesome, and that’s all I really care about. Everybody is going to be happy. You guys are going to be blown away. There’s a Ronda Rousey on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, absolutely.

To be honest, saying this upcoming season will be better than the previous season isn’t saying much.

But despite the obvious hyperbole displayed by White (as if that’s anything new), there are some strong candidates to become a star in the UFC.

Felice Herrig is among one of the most popular (or notorious, depending on your viewpoint) women competitors in MMA. Her ability to use her good looks combined with an outgoing personality have created a considerable amount of buzz, despite the fact she sports a 9-5 overall record.

It’s pretty telling of the dislike for Herrig that an “incident” occurred on just the first day of filming.

Of course, there are plenty of other talented women competing this season as well. Carla Esparza comes in with the Invicta FC strawweight title while Tecia Torres can lay claim to victories over a pair of fellow TUF 20 competitors.

Regardless of the improved talent level, the ladies of TUF 20 are going to have a tough task ahead of them if they’re trying to become the next Rousey. The current UFC women’s bantamweight champion has not only enjoyed success in MMA (none of her fights have gone the distance), but she’s also racked up a number of accolades outside of it.

The Ultimate Fighter 20 is set to debut on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. ET. The season will feature UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis and former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez as coaches and will crown the first ever UFC women’s strawweight champion

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UFC Contender Luke Rockhold Bets His Purse Against Michael Bisping

Luke Rockhold wants Michael Bisping to put his money where his mouth is, and he is even willing to throw his own money into the fray.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti), Rockhold claimed that he would put his p…

Luke Rockhold wants Michael Bisping to put his money where his mouth is, and he is even willing to throw his own money into the fray.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti), Rockhold claimed that he would put his purse on the line in an interesting stipulation.

“He wouldn’t take my bet,” Rockhold said. “The bet was if I finish him in one round, we switch purses. And if I don’t finish him in one round — one round — he gets my purse. Show and win, everything.”

It’s quite a boast from Rockhold given the impression Bisping left in his most recent outing, a dominant performance against former Strikeforce star Cung Le. Bisping battered Le for the better part of four rounds before finally getting the stoppage.

Le’s face after the fight was the most telling image of Bisping’s performance.

It was a great showing by Bisping, only four months removed from a dreadful showing against Tim Kennedy that had a lot of MMA fans wondering how much the Englishman had left in his tank.

Despite the solid showing against Le, Rockhold wasn’t impressed by Bisping’s performance.

“What, by his pitter-patter?” Rockhold asked flatly. “No. Not impressed by Bisping whatsoever, nothing he does. He’s the most unflexible MMA fighter I’ve ever seen in my life. Did you see some of those kicks he threw?”

Rockhold and Bisping’s rivalry has been budding for years, but the two men were always in different promotions. And when both were finally under the UFC umbrella, Rockhold lost his UFC debut while Bisping lost to Kennedy.

Now, with Rockhold reminding fans of how good he is capable of being by dispatching Tim Boetsch and Bisping putting on a great performance, the time might be right for the two men to face one another.

The fact that Rockhold would forgo a fight with highly ranked Lyoto Machida that could lead to a UFC title shot in favor of a grudge match with Bisping lets you know the animosity between these two is real. Rockhold explained to Helwani that he’s recovering from a knee injury and is about two or three weeks away from being back at 100 percent.

That could set both men to face off at UFC 181, which is set up to be the last pay-per-view event of 2014 for the UFC. In previous years, the UFC has typically made it a point to put high-profile fights on to cap off the last card of the year. With Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort facing one another in the main event, a Bisping-Rockhold fight would do a lot to help clear out the muddled middleweight title picture.

The extra trash talk between Bisping and Rockhold combined with the rivalry between Weidman and Belfort would undoubtedly lead to an impressive showing in terms of pay-per-view buys, something the UFC is desperate for.

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Bobby Green Claims Donald Cerrone Is the ‘Most Obnoxious As—Le I’ve Ever Met’

Bobby Green may be a new name to a lot of UFC fans, but he’s already picking up the nuances of being a major player in a competitive division.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Green blasted his former UFC 178 opponent and fan-favorite Donald …

Bobby Green may be a new name to a lot of UFC fans, but he’s already picking up the nuances of being a major player in a competitive division.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Green blasted his former UFC 178 opponent and fan-favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

“He is just the most obnoxious as—le I’ve ever met,” Green said.

The surging lightweight contender explained the details around why he and Cerrone won’t be meeting for coffee anytime soon.

“He just said some racist stuff,” Green said. “He said stuff like, random racist stuff like ‘we gotta check him, we gotta check him, you know how black people like to steal.'”

But Green also leveled some other accusations toward Cerrone, in particular to the way he was treating some of the fans at an autograph signing:

He was groping every woman in his line to do his signing. He’s groping these women. They’ve got husbands, they’ve got fiancees, they’ve got boyfriends, I’m like, that’s messed up man, just because this guy’s a nerd and he can’t do anything to you, you’re going to do this to him. Girlfriend’s cute, Donald Cerrone, picks her up, grabs her ass, starts grabbing on there and stuff and he’s like “I’m Donald Cerrone.” I’m like, ‘you’re going to piss somebody off, you get the wrong person they’re going to get pissed.’ He’s like, ‘what are they going to do to me, I’ll knock them out.’

Green and Cerrone were originally set to square off at UFC 178 until Eddie Alvarez slid into Green’s spot. Green said he’d moved on from being upset about being taken off a big card, but it appears the anger toward Cerrone still lingers.

He explained that Green didn’t make an issue of Cerrone’s antics due to being new to the UFC and having friends within the Jackson’s MMA camp. It was a tactical move by Green considering if he had said these words at a time when just breaking into the company, they would’ve held little weight.

But after a victory over perennial top contender Josh Thomson, now Green has an audience to share his feelings with. Unfortunately for Green, his comments aren’t likely to deter too many people from cheering the next time Kid Rock’s “Cowboy” plays over the arena speakers at UFC 178.

Cerrone has been a staple of the UFC (and formerly of the WEC) lightweight division for years now. His daredevil, “live on the edge of your seat” personality has resonated with the adrenaline-filled MMA fanbase.

He also is one of the most exciting fighters to watch no matter if he’s winning or losing.

Green also gave some details into his ongoing issues with Norman Parke, but odds are we won’t see those two paired up given the disparity in the rankings between the two. A Green-Cerrone fight, however, is still possible if Cerrone can get past Alvarez at UFC 178.

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Andrei Arlovski Blasts Alistair Overeem Following Injury to UFC Champ Jon Jones

Alistair Overeem isn’t a popular guy lately.
Not that he’s ever won a popularity contest with MMA fans, but Overeem has left fans with a sour taste in their mouths following the news that he injured UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in preparati…

Alistair Overeem isn’t a popular guy lately.

Not that he’s ever won a popularity contest with MMA fans, but Overeem has left fans with a sour taste in their mouths following the news that he injured UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in preparation for Jones’ fight against Daniel Cormier at UFC 178.

Although the injury was pegged as accidental by nearly everyone involved, former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski believes differently. He spoke with Sports.ru, and the interview was translated by MixedMartialArts.com (h/t Bloody Elbow).

“Now I know that Overeem injured Jon Jones simply because he injures everyone he trains with,” Arlovski said.

Arlovski shared his own story about how “The Reem” sent him to the hospital following a round of sparring:

Couple of days ago I sparred with Overeem and learned such outcome by my own experience. Usually sparring partners don’t try to inflict a real damage to each other. But Overeem at one moment kneed me really hard in the stomach. In a real fight I could have been KO’ed after that.

I rushed to a hospital to make sure that my ribs are not broken.

Luckily, Arlovski wasn’t seriously injured, and his scheduled fight against a returning Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will go down as planned.

Arlovski’s statements echo those made by Overeem’s former training partners at the Blackzilian camp in Florida. According to Bloody Elbow’s Karim Zidan, Gilbert Burns claimed Overeem was arrogant and left after blowing out the knee of Guto Inocente during their training sessions.

The injury to Inocente was also caused by an Overeem takedown.

Another former teammate, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson said virtually the same thing as Arlovski, per Fighters Only‘s Nick Peet (h/t MMA Mania). The surging light heavyweight contender said if UFC matchmaker Joe Silva offered him to fight Overeem, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

Overeem did have a very public fallout from the Blackzilians so it’s to be expected that they might not have the nicest things to say about him. But it’s an entirely different matter when those kind of statements come from Arlovski, a current member of the Jackson’s MMA team.

Former opponent and now teammate Travis Browne has already set the law down on what he (and likely the rest of the team) expects from Overeem joining their ranks.

Of course accidents happen all the time during training, and knee injuries are common during grappling sessions. But Overeem has been in the game long enough to know his own strength, his limits and how to conduct himself in a professional manner behind closed doors.

He’s had a negative reputation for years from fellow fighters and fans. Outside of eliminating world hunger, it’s not likely to change. The only one who knows if the incident was completely accidental is Overeem, and he will likely continue with the “it was an accident” story.

Accident or not, injuring the best fighter in the world—the face of the Jackson’s MMA and one of the few major marketable stars currently in the UFC—isn’t the way to endear yourself to the promotion or your new teammates.

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UFC 182: Jon Jones’ Coaching Staff Provide Details Surrounding Knee Injury

MMA fans collectively slumped their shoulders on Tuesday when the UFC light heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, which was originally scheduled for UFC 178 in September, had to be postponed due to an injury to the ch…

Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog has the quotes from Jones’ camp, which indicates a takedown from UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem caused the injury.

“It’s part of the game, it wasn’t like … somebody went for a flying kick and dislocated [something]. Somebody went for a takedown, [Jones] stepped the wrong way, twisted the wrong way and down he went. He was fighting it, and he just twisted it. And then it just popped,” said trainer Greg Jackson.

Jackson did say that while Jones won’t be able to do certain things (like kickboxing) during the early part of his rehab, the UFC champ will be able to do other things to train (like working off his back). That’s something that will likely come into play given Cormier‘s wrestling skills.

Speaking of Cormier and his skills, some additional quotes from assistant coach Brandon Gibson have puzzled some MMA fans. The Jones camp assistant told Critchfield:

One positive I think there is, is [Cormier] was having a shorter camp. … I’m sure he was going to be worried about getting in shape, and we didn’t want any excuses from him. This gives DC plenty of time to get better at every aspect he wants to get better at and heal whatever needs to heal.

Because when we face him, we want to face the best DC there is. No excuses.

It’s interesting that Jones is the one pulling out of the fight due to an injury, but his camp is concerned with Cormier making excuses.

Cormier‘s struggles to make a lower weight limit have been picked at by Jones, per the MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle), but it’s more likely that Cormier was more concerned with a knee injury of his own. An injury to Cormier‘s LCL was believed to have required surgery, but the title challenger opted to hold off on surgery to face Jones at UFC 178.

Now Cormier will have additional time to heal up any nagging injuries and have a full training camp to face the UFC light heavyweight champ.

It’s unclear as to whether Jones’ injury will require surgery at the moment, but the two are scheduled to headline the UFC 182 card on January 3, 2015, in Las Vegas.

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