Rick Story made his name as an up-and-coming fighter to watch out for in the welterweight division, with explosive pace and strong wrestling that dictated fights. Unfortunately for Story, much of the hype has died now that he lost his se…
Rick Story made his name as an up-and-coming fighter to watch out for in the welterweight division, with explosive pace and strong wrestling that dictated fights.
Unfortunately for Story, much of the hype has died now that he lost his second straight against Danish kickboxer Martin Kampmann in a split decision that shouldn’t have been split.
Story came out firing in Round 1, and won off of his brawling style and ability to back his opponents up.
In Rounds 2 and 3, Kampmann utilized his superior technique in the stand up to pick Story apart. Much to the surprise of many, he took Story down and out-wrestled him–an area where many felt Story held the advantage.
Kampmann does train at Xtreme Couture and he is well know for his impressive takedown defense, but Story has the collegiate wrestling background and it is largely what had gotten him to where he was in the UFC welterweight division.
This really begs the question: Where has Story’s wrestling gone?
His two-fight losing streak started with a loss to Charlie Brenneman, in which he was out wrestled through all three rounds. The result was surprising, but Brenneman was a last minute substitution—Story was originally expecting to face Nate Marquardt until a a positive steroid test knocked the former UFC fighter out of the fight and out of the UFC.
Last minute changes aren’t easy to deal with for a fighter. Couple that with the fact that Brenneman is a strong wrestler in his own right, it was easy to give Story a pass and chalk it up to the series of events leading up to the fight.
Fast forward to last night and the wrestler who dominated former UFC contender Thiago Alves through three rounds simply wasn’t able to use that wrestling against Kampmann.
Maybe Story has been spending more time on his striking, and rounding out his overall game. Who knows.
But tonight should have been a wake up call for Story to get back to work on his wrestling.
At one point, after the win over Alves, many were saying that if Story were to have beaten Marquardt that he would be very close to getting his shot at UFC gold. After last night, Story still has a ways to go before getting a title shot.
A step down in competition would be warranted for Story’s next appearance inside the Octagon.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA Interview Team,Follow @Leon_Horne
Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 139. B/R is your home for complete coverage of the November 19 fight card, including results and post-fight analysis.
The often controversial UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has made waves in the media once more. Earlier today he was a guest on TSN’s Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, and let’s just say his time on the show, or lack there of, made for inte…
The often controversial UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has made waves in the media once more.
Earlier today he was a guest on TSN’s Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, and let’s just say his time on the show, or lack there of, made for interesting television.
Landsberg is a Canadian sports journalist who has been the host of Off the Record for a few thousand shows now. As an interviewer, he doesn’t usually pull any punches, and won’t back down when trying to get the answers to his questions.
Let’s just say that Sonnen wasn’t overly appreciative of Landsberg’s style.
Sonnen wasn’t cooperative in answering any questions and chose to walk off the set before the interview was over. Watch all the action yourself and pass your own judgement. Was Sonnen serious, or was this a case of Sonnen simply being Sonnen?
“… and he [Sonnen] left never said another word, that’s never happened before” Landsberg said at the end of the clip. “I kind of figured he was going to leave about halfway through it and to be honest it was probably an appropriate ending. So here’s the offer Chael, let’s try it again unless you refuse to talk about Anderson Silva, then we’ll take a pass.”
Refusing to talk about Anderson Silva—the current UFC middleweight champion who defeated Sonnen in August, 2010, via triangle choke—was definitely an underlying theme throughout the interview.
Landsberg came off a little chippy at the beginning of the clip, and it seemed to have set the tone for the rest of the interview.
The main point Landsberg wanted to clarify had to do with the challenge Sonnen issued Silva after his win over Brian Stann at UFC 136.
“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck” Sonnen told Joe Rogan after his fight with Stann. “I’m calling you out [Anderson] Silva, but we’re upping the stakes. I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever.”
Landsberg pointed out to Sonnen that shortly after issuing the challenge, he told Jim Rome that the offer expired and that he backed down from the challenge. Sonnen didn’t appreciate that.
“You might want to take the bass out of your tone, I’m not sure you know who your talking to here, but I’ve never backed down from anything. You better check your facts” Sonnen told Landsberg.
Despite taking shots and refusing to cooperate with Landsberg, Sonnen had it in his mind to rile up more than a journalist in this interview.
“Is that how you guys do business in Canada? Cause in my country, that created business. Offers expire” Sonnen said. “I made him [Silva] an offer. Apparently it didn’t work. He didn’t accept it. It’s not that I backed down, but apparently I need to present him with a new offer. You guys probably don’t do that in socialism, but in America, in a capitalistic society, that is how things works.”
This is nothing new from Sonnen. He likes to upset the biggest fans of the sport. He did it with the Brazilians, and now he is doing it with Canadians.
From there, the interview took a bunch of interesting turns involving the Nogueira brothers, Sonnen not caring if he loses to Silva in a second fight, Sonnen on fighting St-Pierre, until finally, he decided just to walk away.
Add this to the chapter of Sonnen’s book of insane ways to act with the media.
It will be interesting to see how the Canadian fans will react to this, and what will be more interesting is to see if this recent outburst will do anything toward setting up a rematch between him and Silva.
Maybe the UFC can set up the rematch in Montreal or Toronto and we’ll hear more boos than when Josh Koscheck fought Georges St-Pierre in Montreal.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA interview team,Follow @Leon_Horne
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion and K1 Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Alistair Overeem are slated to face off against each other at the end of the year to determine the No. 1 contender to newly …
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion and K1 Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Alistair Overeem are slated to face off against each other at the end of the year to determine the No. 1 contender to newly minted champion Junior Dos Santos.
Everyone saw what Dos Santos did to Velasquez in just over a minute during UFC on Fox 1: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, it is going to take a very solid performance to dethrone the current champion.
Both Lesnar and Overeem pose very different challenges for the current champion and both men have the potential to be the toughest tests of Dos Santos’ UFC career.
Should Lesnar beat Overeem, expect a classic wrestler vs. striker matchup against Dos Santos.
The winner in this fight will be determined by who can dictate where the fight takes place. Many people will be thinking Lesnar’s best chance is to get the fight to the ground and Dos Santos’ best chance is to keep the fight standing. Although this is true to a certain extent, there is one more place Lesnar can work from where he should have the advantage.
Lesnar is a strong wrestler with a lot of weight to force his opponents to carry, and as we have seen with Dos Santos in the past, he does get tired as the fight wears on.
If Lesnar can’t secure a takedown, simply closing the distance and and clinching Dos Santos against the cage and leaning his weight on him in a fashion similar to Randy Couture’s style could be the formula for success. This would have the potential to tire and frustrate Dos Santos, who would prefer to be at striking range.
Although Lesnar was beaten badly by Cain Velasquez, he did score two takedowns against him, and if he would have continued pressing Velasquez against the cage as opposed to dropping for his second takedown Lesnar may have fared better.
How Dos Santos fares when a 280-pound man is leaning on him against the fence has yet to be determined, but it is definitely something that would tire him out as the fight wears on—in fact, it would tire anyone out.
People also forget that in Lesnar’s seven-fight career he has taken down all seven opponents. Of course, guys have gotten up quickly from the big man’s takedowns, but those guys were high-level collegiate and Olympic wrestlers like Randy Couture, Shane Carwin and Velasquez. Watch Frank Mir, Heath Herring or Min Soo Kim against Lesnar, and getting up from under him doesn’t look so easy.
The problem with Lesnar is that Dos Santos hasn’t shown any weaknesses in his takedown defense and for now has looked good in close quarters.
If Dos Santos can keep the fight at striking distance there is no doubting he will pick Lesnar apart and probably finish the fight no matter how hard Lesnar has been working on his striking this past year.
Even if Lesnar does close the distance, Dos Santos might perform well regardless, depending on his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and ability to work out of the clinch.
Alistair Overeem, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. He doesn’t have the wrestling of Velasquez or Lesnar, but he is probably the only fighter in the heavyweight division who’s striking may be equal to or even better than Dos Santos’.
Overeem is a big, strong heavyweight similar to Lesnar, but has the standup technique to compete with the world’s best strikers not only in mixed martial arts, but in professional kickboxing as well.
In 2010, Overeem won the K1 Heavyweight Grand Prix, a tournament where the best strikers on the planet compete.
Overeem knocked out Badr Hari during his career, which is impressive, to say the least. Watch Hari’s fights, the guy is a monster. Anyone who can knock out Hari has legitimate skills in the standup department. Hari has moved on from K1 now and is preparing for his debut in professional boxing.
Of course, mixed martial arts is different than kickboxing, but it isn’t as if Overeem is a fish out of water when the fight hits the mat or takes place in the clinch. He is a former Abu Dhabi Combat Club European champion, the prized organization for submission grapplers to compete. Not to mention the fact that 19 of his 35 wins come by way of submission, eight of which were his patented guillotine choke used to choke out Brazilian Jiu-Jitu black-belt Vitor Belfort.
Overall, Overeem is the tougher matchup for Dos Santos. He doesn’t have the wrestling of Lesnar, but is the only heavyweight that has the striking prowess to match Dos Santos in the standup and his ground game is strong enough to threaten with submissions.
The two knocks on Overeem are that he hasn’t fought the toughest competition and that his cardiovascular conditioning isn’t up to par, as evidenced in his last fight against Fabricio Werdum. That being said, despite not fighting top guys all the time, the guys he has faced have been annihilated by him and even if there are questions surrounding his endurance, Dos Santos receives the same criticism.
In any case, Lesnar or Overeem are both very challenging fights for Dos Santos, but Overeem is the tougher fight because of his level of striking and his experience with over 60 professional fights to his name. Overeem has the ability to make Dos Santos uncomfortable in the place he is most comfortable, and that is standing up.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the BR MMA interview team. Follow @Leon_Horne
Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC on FOX. B/R is your home for post-fight analysis of the Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos fight card. Also, be sure to check out our fight card hub page for news and opinion on the entire UFC on FOX fight card.
It is no secret, Alistair Overeem had a falling out with his management team Golden Glory Gym earlier this fall and the K1 champ and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion made the decision to leave. Overeem wasn’t open to discussing the issues h…
It is no secret, Alistair Overeem had a falling out with his management team Golden Glory Gym earlier this fall and the K1 champ and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion made the decision to leave.
Overeem wasn’t open to discussing the issues he had with Golden Glory but made it known that things were not handled the way he expected them to be.
It was looking as if Overeem was simply moving on and preparing for his big fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, but no, he is now taking on another fight. Overeem is taking Golden Glory to court.
Head of Golden Glory Bas Boon was expecting this to be dealt with in the courts from the get-go.
“I think the judge will decide on this issue that we have, and when that is decided, we will see who was right and who was not,” Boon told MMAjunkie.com in late September.
Gossip website TMZ.com reported the news first that Overeem is suing Golden Glory for unspecified damages and wants his contract with the Netherlands-based fighter management company dissolved.
Overeem is upset with the contract that was put in place by Golden Glory that allegedly has him giving 35 percent of his gross income for their services despite his feelings that the Golden Glory management hasn’t been putting in the leg work to earn their piece of the pie.
Overeem claims that Golden Glory owes him $151,000 in back pay and, like many K1 fighters, has had a lot of trouble getting his money from the Japanese kickboxing organization, something Golden Glory should have been responsible for taking care of.
The bottom line is that Overeem is unhappy with how he was treated by the Golden Glory management. In the coming months, the courts will tell us who was ultimately right and who was wrong.
“I think it’s the management’s duty to explain stuff to the fighter… [and] to negotiate to explain things to me, and clarify things for me, and they were not doing their job. Not only that, it was such a big disadvantage that it also caused a breach in trust. I like to work with people I can trust,” Overeem said in the most recent episode of his documentary at thereem.com.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA interview team, Follow @Leon_Horne
Bart Pasewlski was maybe awarded the Knockout of the night for his UFC 137 round 1 victory over UFC veteran Tyson Griffin. Roy Nelson might have retired Mirko Crocop at UFC 137 with his round 3 technical knockout of the former Pride cham…
Bart Pasewlski was maybe awarded the Knockout of the night for his UFC 137 round 1 victory over UFC veteran Tyson Griffin. Roy Nelson might have retired Mirko Crocop at UFC 137 with his round 3 technical knockout of the former Pride champion. Finally, Bellator heavyweight Eric Prindle might have scored a knockout over Ron Sparks at Bellator 56 to secure his place in the heavyweight finals. All those knockouts aside, none of them compared to the slam knockout that happened at Wreck MMA’s Unfinished Business this past Friday.
Wreck MMA is based out of Canada’s national capital region, the fights were streamed by Canadian based sports channel The Score.
The co-main event featured a match between Canadian Bantamweight Nick Denis and Denver, Colorado based fighter Nick Mamalis.
Denis was making his return to competition after a layoff that spanned more than a year.
“I haven’t been fighting, but I’ve been training hard the entire time so it doesn’t really feel like I haven’t been fighting,” Denis told Leon Horne of Bleacher Report (see original interview here).
The hard training at Tri Star gym and Ronin MMA certainly paid off despite the layoff from competition.
Mamalis, a former Bellator competitor who trains at the well known Grudge Training Center in Colorado expected to utilize his collegiate wrestling base to hold the Canadian down and inflict damage from the top.
Things worked out great for Mamalis early on as he landed a slam in the opening sequence of round 1 and proceeded to control and dominate Denis in the clinch and on the ground throughout the remainder of the round.
Round 2 started out just as bad for Denis. The Canadian was in a rear naked choke and was trying to pass and escape the submission attempt by Mamalis. In the process of escaping Denis made it back to his feet and ended up taking Mamalis’ back. In position for a slam of his own, Denis landed one of the most devastating belly to back suplex knockouts in recent history.
The slam was reminiscent of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s multiple highlight reel slams during his Pride days.
Don’t take my word for it though, watch the knockout for yourself at the 1:40 mark of The Score’s Wreck MMA Wrap and you be the judge.
It took a bit of time for Denis to shake off the “ring rust”, but once again this up and coming Canadian Bantamweight not only improved his record to 10-2-0, but added another highlight reel knockout to his repertoire.
Of Denis’ 10 wins, 9 have come by way of knockout, an impressive feat no doubt and hopefully fans will get a chance to see whether or not Denis can translate that killer instinct to the next level.
“It’s [making the UFC] something I am obviously striving for, but I won’t be too happy until I get there,” Denis recently told Bleacher Report.
Denis wants to crack the UFC bantamweight roster and with knockout wins like the one he had on Friday his shot shouldn’t be too far off.
Denis was ranked as the number 1 bantamweight in Canada prior to his layoff and with the win he is definitely back in to the top 3. One would imagine that one or two more solid victories would result in the UFC extending him an offer to fight and don’t expect to wait long for those wins to come.
“I want to get my wins in, everything I need to do to get in the UFC as soon as possible, ideally before the New Year,” Denis said.
Let’s not predict the future and let’s wait and see how things play out for this young Canadian. In the meantime, Denis’ slam knockout over Mamalis was impressive to say the least. It was the kind of knockout that some fighters, even those fighters at the highest level, may never achieve during an entire career.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA interview team, Follow @Leon_Horne
It is rare that a professional mixed martial artist makes their debut in the UFC—the biggest stage in professional MMA. It is through the local shows that fighters are able to develop their talents and work their way up to the big show.”The …
It is rare that a professional mixed martial artist makes their debut in the UFC—the biggest stage in professional MMA. It is through the local shows that fighters are able to develop their talents and work their way up to the big show.
“The guys at Wreck they tend to always make evenly matched fights, they are pretty exciting,” Canadian Bantamweight Nick Denis told Bleacher Report’s Leon Horne about the Canadian based promotion.
Wreck MMA is a homegrown promotion based in Canada’s National Capital region. The promotion acts as a spring board for up-and-coming talents as well as a place for veteran talents to continue showcasing their skills.
Denis is competing in the next Wreck MMA event scheduled for this Friday at the Lac Leamy Casino in Gatineau, Quebec. This will be his first fight back in well over a year.
“In January or February, I can’t remember, I moved to Montreal. I didn’t have a job and I was training at Tri Star, Grant Brothers Boxing and doing Jonathan Chaimberg’s conditioning and all that stuff,” Denis said. “I haven’t been fighting, but I’ve been training hard the entire time so it doesn’t really feel like I haven’t been fighting.”
Tri Star gym is regarded as one of the strongest MMA training facilities not only in Canada, but around the world. Taking time away from competition to hone one’s skills at a place like Tri Star gym is definitely not something to baulk at, and it will be interesting to see what Denis has learned during his time there.
Obviously, Tri Star gym is recognised as the home of current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre was forced to withdraw from his UFC 137 title defense against former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz due to injury.
“I’m never surprised that anyone gets injured training, I mean people get injured all the time, it’s obviously crappy because I was excited to see him [St-Pierre] Fight,” Denis said. “I don’t know how bad his injury is, but I suspect at his stage in his career just because he is GSP he can’t take any chances you know? If I was him I wouldn’t want to fight, even if the injury isn’t too serious I wouldn’t want to risk it, you got to always come in at 100 percent.”
Where Georges St-Pierre is in his career, is where every fighter wants to be—UFC champion. This isn’t any different for Denis who has been wanting to get his shot in the UFC, whether it be by fighting his way up the ranks or getting on the reality television show The Ultimate Fighter.
The Ultimate Fighter has spawned the careers of many great fighters currently in the UFC. Despite showcasing great talents, it isn’t just one’s skills inside the Octagon that gets them on the show.
“I did it [TUF tryouts] the year Junie Browning was on it for 155ers, and then, I did it again this year. The talent portion, it’s really easy to pass,” Denis said. “After that, the people from Tuff Guy productions that run the show, just producers and what not and it is all interviews and personality.”
Despite not making this season’s team Jason Miller vs. Team Michael Bisping, Denis left a good impression.
“When they called me to say that I wasn’t making it on to the show, they basically told me that any future seasons where they do 135 to 155 I wouldn’t have to tryout again,” Denis said. “They would just call and fly me out to Vegas, which is great because it’s a free trip to Vegas, It’s obviously encouraging.”
The time couldn’t be better for a bantamweight fighter as the UFC is just beginning to push the lighter weight classes in to the limelight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo and bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz paving the way. Denis is happy to see the recognition the lighter weight guys are getting but won’t be fully satisfied until he gets his piece of the pie.
“It’s encouraging obviously that finally the lighter weight classes are making it in the UFC and what not,” Denis said. “It’s something I am obviously, striving for, but I won’t be too happy until I get there.”
Obviously MMA is a sport where a fighter has to strike while the iron is hot because the window of opportunity can be very small. Should Denis win this weekend, he is ready to fight again and again until he gets that call.
“Basically my manager will talk to the people from the UFC and see if that’s [this weekend’s fight] enough for me to get in or if I need more fights. If I need more fights, yeah I’ll want to fight right away as soon as possible because I am in really great shape,” Denis said. “I want to get my wins in, everything I need to do to get in the UFC as soon as possible, ideally before the New Year.”
Denis has been slowed down a little due to injuries and opponents pulling out of scheduled matches, but prior to his break from competition, he was widely regarded as one of the top bantamweight fighters in Canada. Denis has fought in both Canadian and Japanese promotions and has amassed a 9-2-0 record since his debut.
Topmmanews.com had Denis ranked as the No. 1 bantamweight in the nation prior to his period of inactivity which resulted in him being dropped out of the top 10. A solid win or two should shoot him back up towards the top and that starts with a win over Grudge Training Center fighter Nick Mamalis this Friday at Wreck.
“He’s coming off a couple of wins, he’s 23-7, a pretty good guy, good wrestler, decent striker, and yeah, it’s going to be a good fight for sure,” Denis said.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA Interview team,Follow @Leon_Horne
Rick Story made his name as an up-and-coming fighter to watch out for in the welterweight division, with explosive pace and strong wrestling that dictated fights. 
The often controversial UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has made waves in the media once more.