Author: Luke Thomas

The long, undulating and semi-inglorious path the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is almost over. This Saturday the two finalists, Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, will compete in the finals of a tournament that started in February of 2011. What the future will hold for each is still unclear, but the fight itself promises to be an tightly-contested affair. We’ll also see Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez defend his title against Josh Thomson in a fight that marks their third meeting.

Is there any chance Josh Thomson can defeat Gilbert Melendez? Can Josh Barnett finally re-enter the top 5 rankings of the heavyweight division? Will this be the signature win to date in Cormier’s mixed martial arts career?

I’ll attempt to answer these questions with these predictions about Saturday’s fights.

What: Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier

Where: HP Pavilion, San Jose, California

When: Saturday, the preliminary starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Showtime Extreme and the four-fight Showtime card starts at 10p.m.

Predictions on the four Showtime fights below.

Josh Barnett vs. Daniel Cormier

I’ve agonized over making a final selection for this fight for weeks, if not months. Oddsmakers are seemingly just as unsure. Ultimately, though, I’m going to go with the upstart in Cormier. Barnett’s path to victory either results from out-striking Cormier or finding a way to land a submission. I find both outcomes to be improbable. Outside of submitting Kharitonov, Barnett hasn’t faced a top-tier heavyweight in quite some time (although I suppose you can make an argument for Brett Rogers). It’s true Barnett has handily defeated everyone since losing to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2006, but that includes fighters who shouldn’t be competing anymore (Jeff Monson, Pedro Rizzo, Mighty Mo), a light heavyweight (Hidehiko Yoshida) and opponents who have no business facing him (Geronimo dos Santos). I’m not sure that’s the best preparation for Cormier even if I grant Rogers and Kharitonov are fairly clear steps up.

Still, Barnett is going to have a hard time taking Cormier down and holding him there. That makes his clear submission edge hard to leverage. On the feet, Barnett has not been overly willing to stirke with clear threats. He took down Kharitonov, Mo and Yvel almost right away. Cormier’s hand speed is surprisingly good as is his accuracy and combination striking. Over time, I’m betting that will be the difference.

Pick: Cormier

Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson

There isn’t much to say about this one. Thomson is a very talented fighter, but injuries and time off have stunted his development. Not so for Melendez. After losing to Thomson in 2008, he’s rapidly improved every year and at this point in his career is far better than his opponent this Saturday. A healthy Thomson has enough skills to make it reasonably competitive, particularly with his ability to wrestle and scramble. Yet, there’s no guarantee Thomson is able to show up healthy and I’m not sure even a Thomson free of injuries is going to do much more than go the distance. This is Melendez’s fight to lose.

Pick: Melendez

Mike Kyle vs. Rafael Cavalcante

Kyle shocked a fair number of us when he beat the much more heralded Cavalcante in their first meeting at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields. I think it will be different this time and here’s why. Kyle was taken down in the second round and mounted. Yes, Kyle was able to hip escape, but Feijao was gassed terribly in that fight. Either from nerves or some other factor, he was totally shot by the middle of the second round. That’s when Kyle landed the big bomb that put him out. I have a fairly hard time seeing that happen again. Feijao isn’t characteristically out of shape and provided he’s had an appropriate preparation, he can get revenge on Saturday.

Pick: Cavalcante

Nah-Shon Burrell vs. Chris Spang

This is more interesting than it looks to the casual eye. Burrell and Spang are two great athletes and two competent, if slightly different types of strikers. Burrell is a little more hand friendly while Spang employs a bit of a wider Thai boxing arsenal. The key difference for me, though, is aggression. Burrell marches forward and presses action; Spang tends to wait around more than I like and can be pushed around. Burrell also has some ability to wrestle, a key liability for Spang. Could go either way, but I’ve got a little more confidence in Burrell to get it done.

Pick: Burrell

It wasn’t one of the UFC’s bigger fights of the year, but it was certainly one of the best. Last night’s UFC on FUEL 3 at the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia delivered. Much to my surprise (and I’m sure I’m not alone) Can Sung Jung has emerged as a legitimate featherweight contender and did so by dispatching Dustin Poirier in a highly-entertaining affair.

Join me at 1 p.m. ET as we break down all of last night’s action. We’ll talk about ESPN boxing reporter Dan Rafael being in attendance at last night’s event, Dana White’s illness that forced him to not attend the event, where Amir Sadollah is really headed and more. We’ll also look ahead to this weekend’s final of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier. And if you want, we can talk about this Braulio Estima-Nick Diaz nonsense (including what the judge really said about his lawsuit against the NSAC), but am I wrong in thinking everyone is tired of that at this point?

Remember: you can log in to our Scribblelive service using Twitter, Facebook or by creating your own username. Be back here at 1 p.m. ET ready to question, challenge, applaud and complain.

If Dustin Poirier’s public statements are to be believed, he considers his challenge tonight in the form of Chan Sung Jung to be appropriately formidable. There’s no talk of Jung not deserving his place, lacking power, technical skills on the floor or a general sense of gameness. If anything, Poirier is looking to collect Jung’s scalp precisely because of its perceived value.

On the other hand, the Louisiana native isn’t ready to heap huge amounts of praise on his South Korean opponent or some of his celebrated accomplishments. Yes, the Twister he scored on Leonard Garcia is noteworthy, but Poirier doesn’t believe that act is a proxy for a deeply technical jiu-jitsu. Poirier acknowledges Jung’s starching of Mark Hominick is impossible to discount, but Poirier isn’t convinced that knockout is definitive proof of power or polished striking skills.

Poirier’s aim for this bout is clear: affirm Jung is a worthy adversary while also proving his own talents and abilities have greater depth, breadth and refinement. Poirier admits Jung has both highlight reel knockouts and submissions, but that they deceive fans into thinking Jung’s game is more dangerous and complete than it actually is.

In this interview with MMA Fighting, Poirier discusses the evolution of his skills, the pressures of headlining a card, who he believes will win the Eric Koch vs. Jose Aldo bout, why those with difficult upbringings tend to make the best fighters and what he makes of the punching of Jung.

Excerpted transcript below:

Luke Thomas: You’re at the top of a card and I spoke to Clay Guida about this because he’s at the top of a card coming up. Any additional pressures headlining a show? Obviously you want to win, but do you feel it when you’re headlining?

Dustin Poirier: There’s always the pressure to win. That never goes away, but being a main event, I want to go out there and put on a great show for the fans and live up to being a main event. That doesn’t really stress me out or pressure me anymore. The fight is enough. I always want to go out there and get it done.

Luke Thomas: What is the state of the featherweight division today? Do you feel like the contendership is being properly sorted? Is Hioki the guy who should be after Koch or is it you if you should win on Tuesday, where is it?

Dustin Poirier: I think it was kind of in scrambles, but it’s coming together over the last couple months. Tuesday night if I win, maybe I should be next in line or maybe I should get the Hatsu Hioki-Ricardo Lamas winner

Luke Thomas: Do you feel it’s contingent upon performance, not just a win or a loss?

Dustin Poirier: Definitely, I think that’s gonna have a lot to do with it. If I go in there and knock out of the Korean Zombie, for sure. That’s what’s gonna happen so we’ll take those steps.

Luke Thomas: Do you think he’ll be treated more as a favorite for this one? And I don’t mean oddsmakers, I’m speaking from an audience perspective.

Dustin Poirier: Yeah, I definitely expect that. He’s got a huge fan following because of his epic fights, his wars and his submissions. He’s grown a huge following by that and I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of cheers for him and some boos and I’m sure the same for me, but I can definitely see that he has a huge fan base.

Luke Thomas: Do you believe for his first loss to Leonard Garcia and his loss to George Roop, when he actually said he was never gonna fight the same way again, he wasn’t gonna blindly windmill punches. Do you believe that he has reformed his game?

Dustin Poirier: I think he’s tried, but I’m definitely gonna be the one to test that out. The Hominick fight was so quick, we didn’t get to see a whole lot of anything. We saw a cross and a hook. The Leonard Garcia, the second one, he was a lot more technical, but I saw at times he gets frustrated when Leonard wasn’t attacking and he gets back to wanting to brawl. I’m excited to see how he’s gonna come and what Chan Sung Jung is gonna show up.

Luke Thomas: Do you believe in the idea of Chan Sung Jung or any other fighter, that a fighter can revolutionize or reform their game?

Dustin Poirier: Yeah, but that takes time though. No matter how technical he tries to fight, when I touch him on his chin and he’s hurt, he’s gonna wanna go back to the Jung you saw. He’s gonna start throwing crazy punches and swinging for the fences and I just think that’s who he is. He’s a fighter, man.

Luke Thomas: Talk to me about his submission game. Is it true people kind of overblow the Twister a little bit?

Dustin Poirier: I think it was incredible for him to do that. That was awesome, but just because you do a Twister, I don’t think you’re a world champion jiu-jitsu practitioner. He has a lot of submissions and he’s no slouch, but he’s not gonna be able to put me in the twister.

Luke Thomas: I’ve heard you talk about your specific fight camps, but fight camps are more about one guy and one specific challenge and then in the offseason or at least when you’re not in camp, you like to just work on your skills. Is that a fair characterization of what you do?

Dustin Poirier: Definitely. In fight camp, I’m just kind of preparing and polishing what I have and getting ready to fight a style. Of course I’m learning new things, but that’s not the main focus. The main focus is sharpening what I’m good at and trying to tak advantage of what they’re not good at. The time off when I don’t have a fight coming up is when I learn a lot. I get to have fun training and it’s not as stressful. I’m not preparing to fight one style and I’m just having fun, learning and every fighter needs that. You can’t just fight every month. Your game’s gonna stay the same.

Luke Thomas: Over time, if you’re not doing that stuff between camps, is that when you start to lose yourself and go stall out in terms of skills?

Dustin Poirier: I think you’re right. You’re definitely right. The game’s changing so much, you have to be in the gym and doing new things and rolling with guys who are better. You can’t just be only going to the gym when you sign a fight contract or you’ll just be the same fighter every time, just more experienced.

Luke Thomas: What have you gotten best at in the last year? A year of training through the ups and the downs, the aches and the good days in the gym, what has been in your mind the thing you can look at and think “I have really improved here.”

Dustin Poirier: I have really improved my wrestling no doubt. I’ve really improved my wrestling and I’ve focused on it. On top of that, just refine my kickboxing a little bit better. I was kind of a brawler too and would get sloppy. But my wrestling and my kickboxing.

Luke Thomas: What do you make of Chan Sung Jung’s power?

Dustin Poirier: That’s a tough one too. He’s got a couple knockouts on his record and he knocked out Hominick in seven seconds, but he threw hundreds of punches at Leonard Garcia that landed and couldn’t put him down, but Leonard’s a tough guy. I don’t know man, that’s something we’re gonna find out when I get in there and we start exchanging.

Luke Thomas: You can obviously train defense, you can train to get in and out of range. Can you train around somebody’s power?

Dustin Poirier: Of course you want to circle away from somebody’s power hand and you don’t want to run into something stupid. You can make those preparations, but he should be worried about my power.

Luke Thomas: Where do you think you rank in the featherweight division in terms of power punching?

Dustin Poirier: I think I should be up there man. You’re gonna see it Tuesday night. In the featherweight division, I should be up there in terms of punching power.

Luke Thomas: Certainly you don’t want to look past Chan Sung Jung, but people are not in this business if they don’t want to be champions, certainly if they’re headlining shows in the UFC. First of all, what do you make of the Jose Aldo/Erik Koch fight. Who comes out there, wins and why?

Dustin Poirier: I think that’s gonna be a fun fight to watch, but I think Jose Aldo’s gonna come in there and win. I think he’s a little bit faster than Erik Koch and Koch’s jiu-jitsu’s good, but Jose Aldo’s jiu-jitsu’s gonna be better. Unless Koch can land something and put him out, anybody has that chance, but I don’t see him winning that fight. He’s not gonna win a decision and I think Jose Aldo’s speed and power is just gonna be too much.

Luke Thomas: What’s it gonna take to beat Jose Aldo? Why has everybody fallen short?

Dustin Poirier: I think people just, you need to walk across the cage and you need to fight. You need to hit him and let him know he’s in a fight. They’re starting to do the same thing they do with Anderson Silva, fight his fight and they go in there to fight not to lose. They fight not to lose and they need to go in there and try to win. Somebody needs to just go in there and have it on their mind to finish the fight and let him know he’s gonna be in a battle right off the bat and try to get him backing up a little bit.

Luke Thomas: Hatsu Hioki was in a space where he could have taken a fight with Aldo and he said, “you know what? Maybe I need one more.” Even if you go in there and blast Jung, do you feel like you could say, “Eh, I need one more,” or are you ready for Aldo

Dustin Poirier: Well that’s up to the UFC, but my main goal is to be a world champion and if they think that’s the next step, for sure, but I wouldn’t mind fighting Hatsu Hioki or whoever else they want me to fight. I want to get as much experience so when the time comes and I do fight Aldo or whoever is the champion at the time, that I’m ready 100 percent.

Luke Thomas: I want to talk quickly If we can about this Fightville documentary. Pat Militech said something once that you can get get good fighters from any walks of life. B.J. Penn came from a wealthy, normal family, but generally it tends to help if you’ve had a tough life. Do the agree with Miletich’s assessment?

Dustin Poirier: I’m not sure why that’s linked, but maybe just growing up rough and having a rough upbringing, working hard kind of translates to fighting and training. Every day’s a fight. Fighting comes down to who you are as a person. With B.J. Penn, he has no problems, not a hard upbringing and came up with money or whatever and he’s just a fighter, he enjoys the fight and he refined his skills so I don’t think it necessarily has to be a rough upbringing for guys to be great fighters.

Luke Thomas: Do you believe that no matter where you came from, no matter what parents you were born to, whatever tax income bracket, whatever, you’d have found your way to fighting no matter what?

Dustin Poirier: Yeah definitely. No matter where I came from, I’m a fighter. That’s what I do this for. I enjoy getting in there and I love to fight.

Luke Thomas: Is it the most enjoyable thing you do?

Dustin Poirier: Well yeah, man. Just the whole experience. Walking out there, getting in there and then going to battle, it’s just so pure to me, man. It’s the best. I feel like after every fight, I just go back to my hotel room and I feel like I’ve accomplished so much. It’s just an awesome experience. You have to do it to experience it, to even know what a feeling like that is.

Jeremy Stephens can’t re-program himself. Even if he could, he probably wouldn’t want to. Win or lose, his style of fighting is pleasing to himself. That doesn’t mean, however, that he doesn’t recognize potential shortcomings. Having entered the UFC at age 20, Stephens’ game – which was arguably too much for his peers in regional circuit around him – simply didn’t have the time to earn the refinement it needed. Of course, his contemporaries in the UFC and the game itself continue to rapidly evolve as well.

In the wake of the loss to Anthony Pettis, Stephens acknowledges some changes had to be made. Some were already in motion, as ‘Lil’ Heathen’ had earned his purple belt in jiu-jitsu with the gi. But other, more immediate alterations to his life and preparation were in order. He needed a camp with more sparring partners, hands-on attention and the right kind of environment to continue to add skills to his arsenal.

Ahead of his bout with Donald Cerrone at UFC on FUEL 3, though, Stephens believes he doesn’t want to get away from who he is or what got him to his current placement. If he’s going to beat Cerrone, he believes it will happen by using a game that at its core is still unchanged. Everywhere else, sure, he’s more than welcome to add a higher degree of sophistication. But as he put it, ‘going for broke’ is part of who he is and not something he’s prepared to let go.

In this interview with MMA Fighting, Stephens discusses what went wrong against Anthony Pettis, proclaims his desire to earn a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, explains why he believes Donald Cerrone broke against Nate Diaz, how Eric Del Fierro has improved his striking, training with Alliance MMA exclusively and getting over staph infection.

Full audio and partial transcription below:

Luke Thomas: Let’s get right into this fight you have with Cerrone. It was originally going to be against Yves Edwards and you’re filling in. Talk to me about why you took this fight on short notice rather than taking a different fight. What was attractive about fighting Donald Cerrone?

Jeremy Stephens: To me, it really wasn’t short notice. I had about 10-12 weeks to prepare for the fight and I was actually looking to fight sooner than that but ended up getting a staph infection which sidelined me for a little bit. Then we got word that Yves was out and Donald Cerrone would be May 15th. I wanted to fight sooner, but when I heard Donald Cerrone, I knew it would be a good fight for the fans and for me and I had to take it. It’s a good opportunity, once in a lifetime to fight someone that’s going to come at me the way that I do and it’s a fight for the fans for sure.

Luke Thomas: How’d you get staph and how bad was it?

Jeremy Stephens: Oh, it’s just something. It’s just on the mat. I’m on the mat all the year-round training. Of course you’re going to get something like that. It was kinda bad. I ended up having it pretty bad so I had to sit back and take care of it. No worries, it gave me time to relax, ease my mind and think about the future.

Luke Thomas: Was that the first time you’ve had staph?

Jeremy Stephens: No, I had it once when I was 18-19 years old. I had it about 2-3 times.

Luke Thomas: Is that common? How often do you see your fellow fighters get staph?

Jeremy Stephens: It’s pretty common. It’s on the mat, staph’s already on your skin. You can get it from ingrown hair. My aunt got it one time from washing dishes, she had a small cut and it just gets infected, you know? It’s pretty common.

Luke Thomas: Alright, let’s talk about Donald Cerrone. Is he in any way in your mind similar in any kind of capacity to any previous opponents you’ve faced?

Jeremy Stephens: I don’t think he’s similar as to fighting, but he brings it. He comes to fight. He comes forward and he’s similar in other aspects. Donald Cerrone likes to fight and so do I, but I feel like I have the advantage over him in that area.

Luke Thomas: You mentioned something in your video blogs or I think it was a video interview that I felt was interesting. Right now, correct me if I’m wrong, you’re a purple belt in the gi, is that correct?

Jeremy Stephens: Yep, that’s correct.

Luke Thomas: Who are you a purple belt under?

Jeremy Stephens: The Gracie Humaita family and Dean Lister.

Luke Thomas: A lot of guys who start MMA who do the no-gi thing, some do no-gi, some don’t. Tell me what your trip through using the gi has been like. Were you initially resistant to using it?

Jeremy Stephens: Just actually when I started. I live in San Diego now. I’ve been there four years and I originally started in Iowa. The highest belt there was a purple belt at the time and I never got into it. When I started in California, I realized that a lot of the fighters were getting into the gi and it was just something that interests me after my career. I want a good longevity career and I want my black belt to go along with my gym as my credentials in the sport afterwards. I don’t want to just be known as a UFC fighter. I want to have my black belt and have some credentials that would be to my advantage after my fight career is over.

Luke Thomas: And you fundamentally believe that training in the gi sharpens technique versus strictly no-gi?

Jeremy Stephens: Living proof, brother. (laughs)

Luke Thomas: Tell me what it has done to your game. Obviously submission defense is a component, but do you feel like you’re in a position now where, obviously you’ve won Knockout of the Night three times, do you feel like you’re in a position now where you can leverage your submission game to win UFC fights?

Jeremy Stephens: Yeah, definitely. I use it, when it comes to fighting, I use it to a fighting advantage. Like when I get a guy in a good situation or inside, I’m not just going to try to submit you. I’m gonna try to cut your eyes open or go for the knockout at all times, but it does help my game.

It helps my defense. It helps me get in better position. It really slowed me down and made me focus on technique instead of just using strength or scrambling. Yeah, it’s definitely an advantage for everyone who gets in the gi that’s a fighter. Everybody is also different as well, too, but as far as my game, it helped me out a lot.

Luke Thomas: Let’s talk about Alliance MMA. How long have you been with them?

Jeremy Stephens: I’ve been training with them off and on since I came to San Diego, but full-time was actually for this camp so I’ve been with these guys anywhere from 15-20 weeks now and I’ve been training with them full-time and mixing things up over there. Coach Eric Del Fierro has been my gameplanner and he’s been a bright coach to have in my corner.

Luke Thomas: Talk to me about your evolution. What was it before where you were part-time with them and now you’re sort of exclusively with them. What changed?

Jeremy Stephens: I was just living on the other side of town. I was living in Point Loma which a half hour away from Chula Vista. I was training with another group of guys at some other gyms. I was training with K.J. Noons and a lot of different guys and I just needed a good team, a solid team around me and some of the guys were starting to disappear and I needed to be in a gym were a lot of guys had the same similar aspects as me and were getting after it so I had to make that change.

Luke Thomas: Coach Eric Del Fierro is an interesting guy. The reason why, fairly or unfairly, is he has a reputation of taking guys who are strikers and gives them very polished technique but, this is not my personal opinion, playing devil’s advocate here, maybe he also makes fighters not go for the kill. How would you respond to that?

Jeremy Stephens: I think that’s the fighter’s aspect. You’re the only one going into the Octagon for 15 minutes. You have to know how to train and know what to do. As far as guys not going for the kill or playing the technical aspect, you can’t place that on a coach. Maybe that has some of an influence on that, but the fighter has to know that he’s only in there for 15 minutes and he has to do everything he can to take that guy out.

That’s not my mindset. You can train me jiu-jitsu technique and put me in a fight knowing I’m just going to be dropping bombs on you the whole time. Yeah, I know the technique’s there, but I’ll use it to land my strikes. That’s how I evolve. I get around the best grapplers, the best wrestlers, the best strikers and I use their techniques, but my mindset’s always to take guys out, to go for the kill. To me, that’s the fighter’s aspects. I think maybe some guys are thinking a bit way too much and are maybe trying to stick to the game plan just to win the fight. There’s a lot of pressure there, but my style’s always to go for broke and to swing big.

Luke Thomas: So what has Eric Del Fierro done for your particular game?

Jeremy Stephens: He’s just helped me get back to pressuring guys the old style. Pretty much no respect of any of the guys’ combinations or power. I know guys ain’t hitting as hard as me and I know I have a good chin. He’s got a good style for me. He makes me pressure when he holds pads. He makes me throw a lot of explosive powerful combinations.

He really hasn’t changed too much of my game. He’s just sharpened me up and helped me out mentally. That’s the big part, just the mental aspect. He’s really helped me define the person I am as a fighter and I’ve truly sharpened that tool back up and I think that was something I lost in my last fight and now it’s back again and it’s a whole new energy.

Luke Thomas: What’s notable in this fight is you’re coming off a loss and so is Cerrone. I want to start with you. The Pettis fight is weird because I didn’t expect him to wrestle as much as he did. What went wrong for you in that particular fight?

Jeremy Stephens: I think, no excuses, I think my head just wasn’t in the game. I had a good camp. I was in good shape, but my head was just not in the game. I had a lot of things going on outside the ring and I just didn’t show up to that fight mentally. That’s the biggest asset of the fight game is having your mental backing you up and it just wasn’t there for me that night. I wasn’t my normal self. I had to take some time off to kind of re-energize and reboot the system.

Luke Thomas: You’re 25 years old and, if I’m not mistaken, you’re UFC debut was against Din Thomas at UFC 71. Were you burnt out?

Jeremy Stephens: No, I wouldn’t say I was burnt out. I think I just had some personal things going on in my life that distracted me a little bit. I allowed that to get into my mind and I just really wasn’t focused 100 percent on the fight and that’s some change that I had to make and some mistakes that I had to learn from to move and grow forward and grow as a man. It happens. Things go on and life goes on. You can’t dwell on it. You’ve just got to move forward and just try to get better and learn from it.

Luke Thomas: Donald Cerrone lost to Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is a top competitor and there’s no shame there, but from your vantage point, why did Cerrone lose that fight?

Jeremy Stephens: I just don’t think he knows how to move his head. He didn’t capitalize. He fought with a lot of emotion and gassed himself out and I felt like he kind of gave up in the third round. Nate Diaz was fingering him from across the cage like he was a little girl. He didn’t have it in his eyes. He kind of just broke and took his ass-whooping.

Luke Thomas: That’s interesting you say that. Out of all the guys that have a reputation for toughness, Donald Cerrone is probably at the top of the list. Do you believe that reputation is undeserved?

Jeremy Stephens: No, I think Donald Cerrone is a tough guy. He’s definitely a game competitor but when someone is just as tough as you and they’re putting on the pressure and beating you up, you have plenty of time, five minutes of the last round to go in there and go for the kill, go for broke. You’ve got nothing to lose, everything to gain and I just don’t think that he really went for it. There’s times where I’ve been losing in the third round and I’ve come out with the knockout in the last couple seconds and I felt like he just kind of gave up, took his ass-whooping.

Luke Thomas: So 2012, we’re almost halfway through. Obviously this is a big fight for you. Have you thought about what you want out of 2012? Obviously you want a bunch of wins, but have you thought about how many times you want to fight and where you want to be by the time 2013 starts?

Jeremy Stephens: No. All my focus is on this next fight. I have nothing else on my mind besides Donald Cerrone, getting that win and moving forward from there, but as of right now, this is the big picture. This is the light at the end of the tunnel. Tuesday is right around the corner. I’ve never felt so energized, never felt so good mentally and spiritually in my life. I’m ready to go take Donald Cerrone out and look forward to the future after that.

Luke Thomas: Who’s gonna be in your corner on Tuesday night?

Jeremy Stephens: Eric Del Fierro and then Adrian who’s also with Alliance and he’s my boxing coach, been helping me out and my coach Chaco. He’s from the other gym, but he’s a good mental aspect and a good person to have in my corner. He’s one of those guys that will probably be always in my corner.

One wonders if Gary and Jared Shaw actually believe they’re fooling the public.

Last night at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma, Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson continued his sojourn into the world of boxing as he faced and defeated Jesse Porter in the first round of their scheduled four-round bout (it should be noted there is some dispute as to whether Slice’s opponent was Porter or Richard Dawson, which is another hilariously sad angle to Slice’s boxing foray). If Slice keeps this up, he’ll soon replace Butterbean as the ‘King of the Four Rounders’, which is, well, signifying of nothing even approximating an accolade.

If Slice wishes to or needs to feed his family this way, one can think of worse ways to do so (although one can think of better ways, too). Slice’s participation in this charade is regrettable and one wonders how much he’s financially taking home after his handlers get their cut, but he’s hardly a villain.

The question is how long it will be before Slice crosses the tipping point. He’s not demonstrably getting any better and presumably needs double-digit wins to even begin tantalizing someone with a scintilla of a name to face him in what will surely be unregulated territory. Until then, I suppose they’ll keep feeding Slice pre-diabetic gas station attendants to render unconscious.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — While we can’t show the entire match, MMA Fighting was on hand at yesterday’s World Jiu-Jitsu Expo to capture all the action from the super fights with today’s top stars in the grappling world. In the video below shot from Saturday’s event, jiu-jitsu black belt, three-time ADCC winner, and four-time jiu-jitsu world champion Kyra Gracie tangles with Cesar Gracie brown belt and MMA bantamweight Alexis Davis. Gracie would go on to win on points and later stated she wasn’t sure when she would enter professional MMA.