Author: Matt Erickson

After Long Injury Layoff, Alan Belcher Finally Returns and Gets Back in Mindset

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NEW ORLEANS – After a few teases, this time, Alan Belcher is finally back.

The UFC middleweight returns for the first time in more than 16 months on Saturday following a layoff brought on by eye surgery – and a couple hints at being ready to return that wound up being more optimism than anything else.

On Thursday in New Orleans, where he’ll face Jason MacDonald at UFC Fight Night 25 on Saturday, Belcher said the long layoff most definitely affected him mentally – but he doesn’t plan on that being a factor on Saturday. Especially not 90 miles from Biloxi, Miss., his hometown.

“My head was a little out of the game,” Belcher said of his mentality. “I hadn’t given up, but I was starting to get out of the mindset. It took me a while to get back in the groove of things, but it feels better than ever now.”

Belcher (16-6, 7-4 UFC) has won four of five, including four straight bonus awards. His only loss was a controversial split decision setback to Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100. But a TKO of Wilson Gouveia at UFC 107 and a submission of Patrick Cote at UFC 113 had him riding plenty of steam – before the eye injury took him out of the game.

While out for so long, Belcher said it was only natural for him to consider retirement from MMA.

“I started conditioning my mind to accept (retirement) one way or another,” Belcher said. “Whenever you go that far, you’re pretty much saying you’re not going to fight again.”

But a great thing happened to him once he tested out his eye in January, and once doctors cleared him over the summer: He got ready to roll again.

“Once I got the green light, I had to start thinking in a different way,” Belcher said. “My whole thing now is I’m blessed to do the sport I’m passionate about. My new goal is one fight at a time, performing close to home, making an awesome comeback, and let’s go from there. I’m just happy to be back competing.”

Though Belcher admits he enjoyed some of the temporary entrapments of the non-training life while he was out, he said “every piece of the puzzle is there” for him to make the kind of comeback that gets talked about – and put him in the mix for a title shot.

“I feel like my body’s the same,” Belcher said. “It feels different in that my mind’s been sharper. The whole (layoff) made me a better person, stronger character and personally, as a fighter, I grew. I’m bringing a lot into this fight I didn’t have before.”

Belcher and Yang open up the UFC Fight Night 25 card Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern on Spike.

More UFN 25 Coverage: UFC Fight Night 25 Predictions

 

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NEW ORLEANS – After a few teases, this time, Alan Belcher is finally back.

The UFC middleweight returns for the first time in more than 16 months on Saturday following a layoff brought on by eye surgery – and a couple hints at being ready to return that wound up being more optimism than anything else.

On Thursday in New Orleans, where he’ll face Jason MacDonald at UFC Fight Night 25 on Saturday, Belcher said the long layoff most definitely affected him mentally – but he doesn’t plan on that being a factor on Saturday. Especially not 90 miles from Biloxi, Miss., his hometown.


“My head was a little out of the game,” Belcher said of his mentality. “I hadn’t given up, but I was starting to get out of the mindset. It took me a while to get back in the groove of things, but it feels better than ever now.”

Belcher (16-6, 7-4 UFC) has won four of five, including four straight bonus awards. His only loss was a controversial split decision setback to Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100. But a TKO of Wilson Gouveia at UFC 107 and a submission of Patrick Cote at UFC 113 had him riding plenty of steam – before the eye injury took him out of the game.

While out for so long, Belcher said it was only natural for him to consider retirement from MMA.

“I started conditioning my mind to accept (retirement) one way or another,” Belcher said. “Whenever you go that far, you’re pretty much saying you’re not going to fight again.”

But a great thing happened to him once he tested out his eye in January, and once doctors cleared him over the summer: He got ready to roll again.

“Once I got the green light, I had to start thinking in a different way,” Belcher said. “My whole thing now is I’m blessed to do the sport I’m passionate about. My new goal is one fight at a time, performing close to home, making an awesome comeback, and let’s go from there. I’m just happy to be back competing.”

Though Belcher admits he enjoyed some of the temporary entrapments of the non-training life while he was out, he said “every piece of the puzzle is there” for him to make the kind of comeback that gets talked about – and put him in the mix for a title shot.

“I feel like my body’s the same,” Belcher said. “It feels different in that my mind’s been sharper. The whole (layoff) made me a better person, stronger character and personally, as a fighter, I grew. I’m bringing a lot into this fight I didn’t have before.”

Belcher and Yang open up the UFC Fight Night 25 card Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern on Spike.

More UFN 25 Coverage: UFC Fight Night 25 Predictions

 

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Retirement May Loom for Jason MacDonald, but Not Until He Stops Having Fun

Filed under: UFC, NewsNEW ORLEANS – In a lot of ways, had Jason MacDonald reinjured the ankle that he hurt at UFC 113, it would have at least kept him from being conflicted down the road.

As it is, MacDonald’s ankle feels healthy, he said, and he fee…

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NEW ORLEANS – In a lot of ways, had Jason MacDonald reinjured the ankle that he hurt at UFC 113, it would have at least kept him from being conflicted down the road.

As it is, MacDonald’s ankle feels healthy, he said, and he feels good about where he’s at heading into his Saturday fight against Alan Belcher at UFC Fight Night 25.

MacDonald said a reaggravation of that injury might have forced him to retire from MMA. But it’s not the ankle that will ultimately wind up deciding when it’s time for him to quit – it’s the realistic mindset he prides himself on.

“I’m interested, I’m still motivated to go train every day, I still enjoy it – so I’m still going to do it,” MacDonald said Thursday at the New Orleans Athletic Club. “The moment I don’t want to put in the work, I’ll be a guy who steps away. I’m not going to wait until I’ve been knocked out four times in a row and just hang on for that one more pay day. I have things to fall back on. There are other things in my life besides fighting. When I stop having fun, I’m going to move on in life.”

It’s ironic that MacDonald was recently in the position to come back after a long injury layoff. An injury against John Salter at UFC 113 in Montreal last year kept him on the shelf until UFC 129 in April, when he ignited his home country Canadian fans in Toronto with a submission win over Ryan Jensen.

Now MacDonald (25-14, 6-6 UFC) faces Belcher (16-6, 7-4 UFC), who has been out since, coincidentally, UFC 113 with eye problems that required surgery. And MacDonald said he knows what Belcher has on his mind.

“I can relate to what he’s going through,” MacDonald said. “I know the things that were going through my head before Toronto: ‘Am I gonna get back good enough to do this? Am I gonna reaggravate the injury and call it wrap, call it a career?’ There are lots of unanswered questions there. I was able to answer those questions in Toronto, and obviously Alan’s going to have to answer those questions. I think I can understand some of the things going through his head.”

Belcher had plenty of momentum on his side before his layoff – four straight fight night bonuses and a 3-1 mark which had just a controversial split decision loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama as a blemish.

But MacDonald said even a win over Belcher doesn’t mean he can necessarily count on sticking around for a while to go on a title run.

“For me, I know I belong here,” MacDonald said. “I’m no one-fight wonder. If you look at my fights and my record, I’ve fought a who’s who of the middleweight division. It’s not a question of if I belong here, it’s how much longer can I do this for? How much longer do I want to do this for?”

MacDonald said Chris Lytle‘s retirement last month had him thinking about his own situation with four kids at home, and being closer to 40 than 30. He also said keeping it real comes in handy.

“I’m not a title contender,” MacDonald said. “People might say that’s a poor thing to say, but I’m realistic. Even if I beat Alan on Saturday, I’m a lot of fights away from a title shot. You start asking yourself, ‘How many more fights do I want to do this for?’ When it’s time to step away, it’s time to step away. I don’t know the answer to that question yet. I’m 37 years old, I’ve had a good run and now it’s time to start looking forward.

“But right now, right here, right this second, I’m focused on Saturday night.”

MacDonald and Belcher open the main card of UFC Fight Night 25 on Spike TV at 9 p.m. Eastern. The main event features a welterweight fight between Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger.

 

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TUF 11 Champ Court McGee Taking UFC Career One Small Moment at a Time

Filed under: UFC, NewsNEW ORLEANS – It’s not like Court McGee wanted to be on the sidelines for 11 months.

But while out of action, he managed to find a way to get his frame of mind reinvigorated for what he needs to be doing, one day at a time.

Fo…

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NEW ORLEANS – It’s not like Court McGee wanted to be on the sidelines for 11 months.

But while out of action, he managed to find a way to get his frame of mind reinvigorated for what he needs to be doing, one day at a time.

For the 26-year-old, who doesn’t shy away from talking about his past as a heroin addict if it’s brought up, a potentially frustrating and lengthy layoff – thanks to a bad knee and a busted-up hand – turned into an affirmation of his mindset.

“Having some time off, I got to rethink – and I never questioned the reason I was fighting,” McGee said Thursday after a short workout at the New Orleans Athletic Club. “No. 1, I do it to carry the message. No. 2, I do it because the payout means I can better take care of my family – my wife, my two sons, my training partners, my team. And No. 3, because I love competition.”

For McGee, that message is to help make a difference for someone who might be venturing down the path he found himself on more than five years ago. “Whatever changed in me made a difference,” he said. “If I can do this for someone else and make a difference, that’s a big deal.”

McGee (13-1, 2-0 UFC) fights Dong Yi Yang (10-1, 1-1 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 25 on Saturday in New Orleans, the promotion’s first trip back to “The Big Easy” since UFC 27.

The Season 11 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” had built up some nice momentum in his first two UFC middleweight bouts – both submission victories. He tapped Kris McCray to win the TUF 11 title, then submitted Ryan Jensen at UFC 121 last October.

But despite his generally positive outlook on everything, McGee said the injury did have him down when it happened – but just for a couple days, and then just sporadically when he was reminded that he could be in a training camp instead of watching with his hand in a cast after a training injury on the heels of a knee injury.

“The frustration (came from) putting in over 4,000 hours to get where I was at,” McGee said. “I won at UFC 121, I’m in the UFC, and now it’s time to come in and prepare and focus and really pursue greatness, and to have the injury it was just like … man. All I can control is healing my hand, healing my knee and making sure I’m there for my wife and sons, and I’m there for my teammates and coaches. So that’s what I do. That’s part of my job – a place of maximum usefulness and service to others. That’s my job. My career is an MMA fighter.”

Against Yang, who has nine of his 10 wins by knockout, McGee said the that though on paper it would appear he would want to take the fight to the ground, the challenge of mixed martial arts is never knowing just what’s going to happen.

“I love being in the fight,” McGee said. “I love taking 15 minutes and figuring out how to beat somebody. He’s a bigger, quite possibly stronger opponent. So I’m going to have to overcome that and figure out how to beat him, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

And that is perhaps what keeps McGee the most grounded. He’s not throwing around lofty goals of winning titles. He’s not saying he wants to fight Anderson Silva. All he said he’s trying to think about is what’s next – even if what’s next isn’t the fight, or making weight. Even if what’s next is just talking to three reporters.

“I take this one day at a time,” McGee said. “I don’t look at a destination, I don’t look at the championship. Of course the goal is to be the world champion, but it’s not a realistic goal today. My goal today is to stay focused, relaxed, be in this interview and give you guys 100 percent of my attention.”

 

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Jake Ellenberger Would Have Understood If Jake Shields Had Decided Not to Fight

Filed under: UFC, NewsWith arguably the biggest fight of his career about a week away, Jake Ellenberger said he would understand if it didn’t happen.

Ellenberger fights Jake Shields in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25 this Saturday in New Orleans….

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With arguably the biggest fight of his career about a week away, Jake Ellenberger said he would understand if it didn’t happen.

Ellenberger fights Jake Shields in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25 this Saturday in New Orleans. But he’ll be fighting an opponent carrying a heavy heart – Shields’ father and manager, Jack Shields, died late last month.

On last week’s “The MMA Hour,” Ellenberger told host Ariel Helwani that had Shields decided to pull out of the fight, he would have had no choice but to understand it, given the circumstances.

“I’m always sad to hear when something like that happens,” Ellenberger said. “Unfortunately it did, (but) we’re still going to fight. I can totally understand if he wouldn’t be in the right realm to fight. It’s definitely something tough to go through.”

Ellenberger (24-5, 4-1 UFC) has been on a tear ever since dropping his UFC debut by split decision to Carlos Condit in September 2009. His four straight wins include three knockouts – and his KO win over Sean Pierson at UFC 129 in Toronto came just 2:42 into the first round, and on 17 days notice.

Shields fought at UFC 129, too – and lost a unanimous decision to welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre. So an Ellberger win over Shields would not only give him five straight, it would have his name right in the mix for a possible title shot down the line.

And though Ellenberger said he’s not thinking beyond the Shields fight, he said he knows what’s at stake for him with a win.

“I’m just taking it one fight at a time,” Ellenberger said. “People can always say what they want, but at the end of the day it comes down to winning fights. Beating a guy like Jake Shields, who’s top three in the world, is going to prove if I’m a top contender or not.”

Ellenberger also will carry a little extra bulletin board material into the fight. He started asking for a fight with Shields a year ago when the former Strikeforce middleweight champ first signed with the UFC. And recently, Shields said he didn’t know who Ellenberger was.

Now the native of Omaha, Neb., said he’ll not only use Shields’ slight of him as motivation, he’ll also use Shields’ resume as a reminder of what he’d like to accomplish, himself.

“We fought not he same card in Toronto (and) I had (a) knockout – and he claims he does’t know who I am,” Ellenberger said. “It’s all good, though. No worries. He’s been what I want to be, I’m not gonna lie. He’s a top guy in the world at middleweight and welterweight. It’s definitely motivating for sure.”

Ellenberger and Shields fight in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25 on Sept. 17 in New Orleans. The main card will air live on Spike TV starting at 9 p.m. Eastern.

 

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Former Strikeforce Champ Cung Le to Face Vitor Belfort at UFC 139

Filed under: UFC, NewsThe Strikeforce-to-UFC fighter defection continues.

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le will enter the UFC and debut against Vitor Belfort. The UFC has not announced the fight, but Belfort said on his website late F…

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Cung LeThe Strikeforce-to-UFC fighter defection continues.

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le will enter the UFC and debut against Vitor Belfort. The UFC has not announced the fight, but Belfort said on his website late Friday the matchup was in place.

Belfort vs. Le, according to Belfort, will take place Nov. 19 at UFC 139 in San Jose, Calif., which is Le’s home training base. Le joins Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and welterweight champ Nick Diaz as fighters who have switched promotions since Zuffa announced its purchase of Strikeforce earlier this year. And light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson is widely believed to be returning to the UFC, as well.

Le (7-1, 7-1 Strikeforce), who will turn 40 next spring, has been out of action since a knockout win over Scott Smith in June 2010. That victory avenged his only loss, which came seven months earlier when Smith knocked him out.

All seven of Le’s pro MMA wins have come by stoppage, including the March 2008 middleweight title fight against Frank Shamrock in which he broke Shamrock’s arm with a barrage of kicks and won the belt. Le is also unbeaten in his professional kickboxing career.

But after going 18 months without defending his title, Le relinquished the belt to focus on an acting career. Le has appeared in several movies, and will appear in the forthcoming film “The Man With the Iron Fists” along with Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and Dave Bautista, “Batista” of WWE wrestling fame, who has been long rumored to be pursuing an MMA deal with Strikeforce.

Belfort (20-9, 9-5 UFC) will be back to work quickly after his last outing, in which he made quick work of Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133. Belfort handed Akiyama a knockout loss just 1:52 into the first round. That fight was Belfort’s first since being knocked out by Anderson Silva in a middleweight title fight at UFC 126.

Belfort is now 2-1 in his return to the UFC, including a knockout win over Rich Franklin. After not fighting in all of 2010, Belfort will now fight three times in 2011, making this his most active period in five years.

UFC 139, though not yet made official by the UFC, will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. The last time Belfort fought there was for Strikeforce against Alistair Overeem, who like Le also just signed with the UFC.

UFC 139 originally featured a heavyweight title main event between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos. But that fight was moved to the promotion’s first show on the Fox network one week earlier.

 

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Scott Coker: Talks With Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champ Dan Henderson Ongoing

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsAs if Scott Coker didn’t have enough championship belts already in flux, Dan Henderson’s last win on his Strikeforce deal just added to Coker’s list.

Henderson beat Fedor Emelianenko last month to finish off his Strikefo…

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Dan HendersonAs if Scott Coker didn’t have enough championship belts already in flux, Dan Henderson‘s last win on his Strikeforce deal just added to Coker’s list.

Henderson beat Fedor Emelianenko last month to finish off his Strikeforce contract, making him a free agent. The UFC has expressed interest in bringing Henderson back into the mix, and Henderson has expressed interest in returning to the promotion.

But Coker said Tuesday nothing has been figured out yet, and that if Henderson did return to the UFC, vacating his light heavyweight title, he was not yet sure how that belt would be filled – but that the winner of a fight between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Roger Gracie, on Sept. 10, could position himself to be in the picture.

“There are ongoing discussions with Hendo, and it hasn’t been determined yet,” Coker said during a Strikeforce media call.

“I like to watch the fight and stir the pot after,” Coker said. “Let’s see who wins and how they win. We also have some other fights coming up in the 205 weight class – Mike Kyle will be fighting again shortly, and Gegard Mousasi will be probably be fighting before the end of the year. When the time is right, we’ll let everybody know.”

Lawal has not fought since he lost the light heavyweight title to Rafael Cavalcante a year ago, his first career defeat. Gracie is 4-0 with four submission victories, but has fought just twice the last three years.

No decisions yet on vacant heavyweight title
When heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem was given the boot from Strikeforce earlier this summer, many assumed the easiest solution to fill the suddenly vacant belt would be to hand it over to the winner of the ongoing heavyweight tournament.

But that won’t be the case, Coker said. The CEO said there are no plans for the tournament winner to automatically assume the role of Strikeforce heavyweight champion, and that the promotion was “in discussions” to figure out what will happen.

Coker reiterated that he expects the finals of the heavyweight tournament to take place sometime in the first quarter of 2012.

In other news from Coker on Tuesday’s call:

Cormier always in the heavyweight tournament mix
Daniel Cormier was inserted quickly into the heavyweight tournament when Alistair Overeem was cut from the promotion, and Coker said that was no coincidence.

“He was always considered the top alternate,” Coker said. “Cormier was the first person under consideration. He had a great performance against a seasoned veteran like (Jeff) Monson. That fight, he looked like a kickboxer. He showed he had the ability to take it to the next level. We just felt he was the right guy. Anyone who has Olympic-level wrestling is going to give people in this tournament a tough time.”

Cormier stepped in for Overeem and will face Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in one semifinal bout. The winner of that fight will face the Josh Barnett–Sergei Kharitonov winner.

“Cyborg” Santos should fight again by year’s end
Coker said Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has officially re-signed with the promotion. Santos reportedly signed a new deal with Strikeforce last week after more than a year on the sidelines.

Santos (10-1, 4-0 Strikeforce) has not competed since a June 2010 knockout win over Jan Finney to retain her Strikeforce 145-pound title. Coker said no opponent has been set for Santos’ return, but he expects she will fight before the end of 2011.

 

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