Chael Sonnen is more famous for his mouth than for what he does as a fighter, though he actually is a great wrestler and a top UFC fighter.But what if he didn’t have the ability to fight? What would the Oregonian middleweight contender do then?He would…
Chael Sonnen is more famous for his mouth than for what he does as a fighter, though he actually is a great wrestler and a top UFC fighter.
But what if he didn’t have the ability to fight? What would the Oregonian middleweight contender do then?
He wouldn’t be the fighter who brings fans in by getting them to listen to his over-the-top promos and pressure style of fighting. With a mind like his and a mouth to match, he could still think of something to do.
Someone as intelligent and controversial as Sonnen would have had several avenues available to him. Some of these are still possibilities.
Here are the eight possible alternate professions of Chael Sonnen.
After Nick Diaz’s loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143, a fight between Diaz and Georges St-Pierre was dashed to pieces.Many fans and most of the media were hoping that Diaz would walk away victorious, but Condit was able to fight from the outside and walk…
After Nick Diaz’s loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143, a fight between Diaz and Georges St-Pierre was dashed to pieces.
Many fans and most of the media were hoping that Diaz would walk away victorious, but Condit was able to fight from the outside and walk away with the decision.
Diaz lost, no matter how controversial some might see it being, and now he is going to have to get back in line and win some bouts if he wants another chance.
But will he do it?
After his fight with Carlos Condit, Diaz announced that he might be done with MMA. In an article written on Yahoo Sports, he mentioned his frustration with the fact that Condit ran and he pushed the fight.
As fans who paid good money to see the fights, it’s hard to not sympathize with Diaz. Fans want to see spectacular finishes and exciting moments. Instead they got five rounds of one fighter pedaling backwards while the other chased him.
Diaz is talented and with enough effort, a fight with Georges St-Pierre would be possible. He would have to get some serious wins over top contenders under his belt and St-Pierre would have to keep the title, but it isn’t unthinkable that it could happen.
It all comes down to Diaz.
He is a young man plagued with problems and doesn’t seem to be able to control them. If he feels his time as a fighter is up, then he will walk away.
If Diaz even wins one more fight in the Octagon, the UFC will make the match. There is simply too much money involved for it to not happen.
Even if Condit does beat St-Pierre for the title, the UFC could still make money from the animosity that both fighters have shown each other, but if the fight is going to happen, Diaz needs to keep competing.
It isn’t in Diaz’s nature to give up, though he is erratic enough to throw away an opportunity like the ones he has before him.
So the real question isn’t if Diaz will face St-Pierre, but if he will grow up enough to let the match happen down the road.
And that is only something that Diaz knows the answer to.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comthat focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
Many times when a fight takes the main event in a UFC pay-per-view it will have some of the best in the world competing.Sometimes that makes for less than exciting fights. That doesn’t mean that those fighters are always boring, just that they need to …
Many times when a fight takes the main event in a UFC pay-per-view it will have some of the best in the world competing.
Sometimes that makes for less than exciting fights. That doesn’t mean that those fighters are always boring, just that they need to focus on winning and can’t fight with reckless abandon at all times.
The main event at UFC 143 isn’t one of those fights.
It’s shocking that a lot of the media attention has been on Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz considering Carlos Condit is the one fighting tomorrow and in many ways he is more dangerous than the sidelined champion.
Both Diaz and Condit are known for finishing fights and making exciting bouts, so it is surprising that the majority of the media hasn’t focused on their match.
The undercard is stacked as well with Renan Barao and Scott Jorgensen facing off in a fight that with almost any other main event would probably win the pick for Fight of the Night.
However, with a main event like Diaz-Condit, UFC 143 is going to save its best fight for last.
Part of the fun of the fight is that both Diaz and Condit are capable on the ground and on their feet. There is no limit to where the fight could end up and with both men known for finishing fights either by submission or knockout, there is also no limit to the outcome.
Condit may be known as “The Natural Born Killer”, but both men have a reputation for leaving it all in the cage and trying to finish their opponents. While that hasn’t helped them sell the fight to the casual fan, it has excited many hardcore MMA fanatics.
Those that have followed the careers of both men know what to expect tomorrow.
Normally in UFC fights an undercard fight overshadows the main event in terms of action.
Don’t expect that Saturday when Diaz and Condit step into the cage.
And don’t blink. It could be over in a second.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog—elbaexiled.blogspot.com—which focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film, and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
No one can be sure who will win at UFC 143 in the main event between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz. Both men seem to go for the kill in their fights whether they remain standing or fight on their feet, and either one could land a knockout punch or find t…
No one can be sure who will win at UFC 143 in the main event between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz. Both men seem to go for the kill in their fights whether they remain standing or fight on their feet, and either one could land a knockout punch or find the opening for the submission at any moment.
But just because Diaz or Condit could land a strike that knocks his opponent doesn’t mean that they are evenly matched in the stand up department.
That is because Condit is the better striker.
A better way to put it is that Condit is the more precise striker.
In each of Diaz’s fights he has used his boxing to beat his opponents down and take them out. The angles he has used are excellent and he maximizes his reach and height which puts most of his victims outside of their range and squarely in his.
And Unlike Daley, Noons or Diaz he has something else.
He is patient.
In Condit’s fight with Hardy it wasn’t the fact that he was more powerful that he won. It was that he calmly traded strikes and slipped into Hardy’s range without the other fighter even noticing. Hardy was so intent on throwing punches that he didn’t even realize he was getting sucked into fighting at Condit’s range.
The same thing happened when Condit fought Rory McDonald. McDonald had the fight won, but got tired and Condit used the small opening to take him out.
Diaz is a clever fighter, but his willingness to take chances in fights likes his bout with Daley will leave him open.
In the match with Daley, Diaz was willing to trade punches and almost got taken out by the smaller fighter because of his willingness to trade. In the end Diaz used his grit and size to win, but he almost lost because of it.
Condit won’t make the same mistakes that Daley did and knows how to finish fights in a more surgical manner then Daley does.
That isn’t to say that Diaz couldn’t knock Condit out. He could land a great punch and take his opponent out of the fight.
It is possible, but it his reckless attitude that limits his superior boxing and will leave him open to Condit’s punches, kicks and knees which will find the openings where they can land.
It is also possible that if the fight hits the ground Diaz will use his superior Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to submit Condit. Any of these possibilities exist.
But the longer the fight stays standing, the better Condit’s chances are of winning.
Because he is willing to wait for his opening instead of just swinging for the fences.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comwhich focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film, and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal was one of Strikeforce’s top rising stars, and until recently, it looked like he was headed for a showdown with UFC star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. One positive steroid test ruined all of that.It was found that Lawal tested pos…
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal was one of Strikeforce’s top rising stars, and until recently, it looked like he was headed for a showdown with UFC star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. One positive steroid test ruined all of that.
It was found that Lawal tested positive for banned substances after his fight with Lorenz Larkin, which he won by KO.
It was the worst thing he could have done for himself.
Fans hate excuses and they hate cheaters. When a fighter makes an excuse for cheating it just adds fuel to the fire. For a fighter to say they didn’t know what they were putting into their body is ridiculous.
The Internet has made it so even some of the most complex knowledge is easy to find. If Lawal had really wanted to know he could have done a quick search.
Instead in the article, he blames the fact that he want to a Muscle Max chain store and didn’t believe steroids could be sold there. If that is true, then Lawal made one of the worst mistakes a fighter can. He is supposed to pay attention to what he puts into his body and not take chances when it could affect his career.
The worst part is that it endangered his opponent and affected Larkin’s career. If Lawal hadn’t been on steroids, Larkin might have taken the win and established himself in Strikeforce and with MMA fans.
Now he has to heal up and continue on without having suffered a loss or netted a win. Other then a paycheck, Larkin’s career is the same as it was before he met Lawal.
But it all comes back to Lawal. He chose not to do the research. Now he is choosing not to acknowledge his mistake and tell fans that he will learn from it.
It’s akin to if Lawal had been driving a car and caused an accident because he didn’t see the stop sign because a few branches were covering it. If he had really been looking the sign would have been there, but he didn’t and caused an accident that harmed both himself and the other driver.
The same thing goes for accidentally using steroids.
It would have been better if he had just admitted to it and said that while he should have known better he would learn in the future.
Fans would have eventually forgiven him and moved on.
Now he just looks like he is covering up his mistakes.
Or that he hasn’t learned anything from having made them in the first place.
And the second option might be worse than the first.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comwhich focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film, and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
Dan Henderson may be one of the most dominant fighters at middleweight and light heavyweight, but since he won’t generate as much money for the UFC as Rashad Evans-Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva II will, he is going to have to wait and see w…
Dan Henderson may be one of the most dominant fighters at middleweight and light heavyweight, but since he won’t generate as much money for the UFC as Rashad Evans-Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva II will, he is going to have to wait and see who emerges victorious.
Henderson already had one match with Silva and did well in the first round before getting choked out in the second. A rematch with Silva doesn’t look promising, but it may be the safer fight to take.
Even though he already lost to the middleweight champion, Silva is older and the devil Henderson knows. If Henderson were to face Jon Jones, there could be a different amount of outcomes, but there are two that stand out.
One is that Henderson finds a way to land a power punch and knocks Jones out, or uses his Olympic-style wrestling to take his opponent down and control him. The second is that Jones does whatever he wants to with Henderson and beats him.
There is no in-between when it comes to that match, and with Henderson now 41, it may behoove him to face the older man.
Jones is only 24, and while that youth doesn’t give him the wisdom and experience that Henderson has earned over the years, it does give him the frenetic energy he needs to push the pace and keep himself going.
Silva is nearing 37, and while he still looks unbeatable, that age is going to be much easier for Henderson to cope with.
There is also a matter of size. Silva is only 6’2″ with a 77″ reach, while Jones is 6’4″ with an 85″ reach.
For the 5’11” Henderson who has a 71″ reach, there is almost no way that he could get inside of Jones strikes to even try and take his opponent down.
Henderson may struggle to make middleweight, but unless he is just competing now because he enjoys it, there is very little chance of him being able to defeat Jones. The only way he could possibly take on the phenomenal fighter is if he got inside his range.
But the real x factor for Henderson is the fact that both champions have fights coming up. As mentioned earlier, Silva has the rematch with Sonnen while Jones has the fight with Rashad.
Should either man lose their bout, their opponents might make easier and more attractive options for the former Pride star.
For the focused and competitive Henderson, it may not be what he wants to hear, but if he wants to be a UFC champion, it may be what he has to do.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comwhich focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film, and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
After Nick Diaz’s loss to Carlos Condit at