When I saw on Twitter that Cody McKenzie had called out Frankie Edgar, I thought it was a joke. A very funny joke. My next thought was that someone was playing a prank on McKenzie and hacked his account. However, neither of these appear to be what…
When I saw on Twitter that Cody McKenzie had called out Frankie Edgar, I thought it was a joke. A very funny joke. My next thought was that someone was playing a prank on McKenzie and hacked his account.
However, neither of these appear to be what happened. In one of the most shocking and hilarious social media call outs in social media history, Cody McKenzie is in fact angling for a fight against Frankie Edgar.
I know. I think it’s hilarious too.
But it appears that he’s completely serious. After hearing the news that Edgar was making the drop to featherweight, McKenzie went to Twitter and sent two tweets to the former UFC lightweight champion.
I heard frankie edger just moved to 145 ad wants a fight before the end of the year dec 8th seattle lets fight!!!!! #WARSEATTLE
Now, it’s extremely unlikely that this fight happens. Actually, let me change that a bit and say that there is absolutely zero possibility of this fight taking place. Props to McKenzie for looking for a tough fight after suffering such a brutal defeat at the hands of Chad Mendes at UFC 148, but it’s probably one of the most ridiculous call outs ever.
This is literally like me calling out RoboCop. Sure, it’s OK to call him out, as there is no possibility of ever actually fighting him. But there’s also no way that anyone would allow that fight to happen. Even if the Fourth Directive is there to save me, it would still be a most reckless booking.
And that’s what this would be, a reckless booking. It’s a worse idea than Van Halen with Gary Cherone.
Cody should stop calling out top fighters and instead look to rebuild and continue to develop his skills. He’s not a Diaz or a Rousey. He’s Cody McKenzie. And that means that he has no business sharing a cage with Frankie Edgar.
Jon Jones recently came under a lot of heat when he stated that a second fight with Lyoto Machida was “high risk and low reward.” His logic was that out of all his title defenses, the one with Machida had the lowest buy rate and therefore, the lowest r…
Jon Jones recently came under a lot of heat when he stated that a second fight with Lyoto Machida was “high risk and low reward.” His logic was that out of all his title defenses, the one with Machida had the lowest buy rate and therefore, the lowest return on pay-per-view payout.
People immediately jumped on these comments and were highly critical of the UFC light heavyweight champion for “whining” about monetary return.
It’s pretty common really. People hate when athletes complain about how much or how little money they make as those yearly earnings are often far greater than those of the people who write about or follow their sport.
It’s usually when an athlete such as Alex Rodriguez signs a ridiculously lucrative contract that draws public ire. Rodriguez and the New York Yankees agreed to a 10-year, $275 million deal in 2007, making him one of the highest paid athletes in the world. The general feeling was that no athlete needs to make that much money for playing a sport.
However, there are also times when an athlete receives a contract offer that just doesn’t meet their expectations. One of the most notorious cases was when Latrell Sprewell was offered a 3-year, $21 million contract extension from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2004.
Sprewell was insulted by the figure and claimed publicly, “I have a family to feed … If Glen Taylor wants to see my family fed, he better cough up some money. Otherwise, you’re going to see these kids in one of those Sally Struthers commercials soon.”
It was a completely ridiculous comment and one that resulted in Sprewell getting absolutely lambasted in the media.
It turns out that Sprewell had some uncanny foresight though, as he has ended up having an incredible amount of financial problems following his retirement from professional basketball.
These problems include foreclosure on multiple homes as well as being forced to auction a yacht in order to satisfy debts.
Sprewell isn’t a unique example and these cases aren’t just limited to the traditional “stick and ball” sports.
In professional wrestling, Ric Flair’s story is considered one of the most depressing. A man who has earned millions as a performer during his professional career, Flair’s legacy will end up being one that saw him squander it all away in order to live his character.
The folks over at Cageside Seats have a fantastic write up about Flair’s financial despair. However, the abridged version is that Flair is in so much debt that he is no longer the “jet flying, limousine riding, kiss stealing, wheeling dealing, sonuvagun.”
This is the same man who once claimed to have “spent more money on spilled liquor from one side of this world to the other” than most make in a year.
Which brings us back to Jon Jones.
On the UFC 151 media call, Jones was asked to explain his comments regarding the possible rematch with Lyoto Machida. His reasoning was simple: he knows that he has a limited career and has to prepare for a time when he is no longer fighting. In short, he doesn’t want to end up as “another broke athlete.”
He is one of the most recognizable faces in mixed martial arts and has the potential to elevate the sport for the next decade. His recent deal with Nike was a milestone as it showed that the apparel conglomerate is showing interest in what is still a very niche sport.
However, the reality is that no matter how amazing the Nike deal sounds on paper or how much fans want to see him rematch against the enigma that is Lyoto Machida, Jones needs to look out for himself first.
He’ll always be viewed as the “kid” in the light heavyweight division but the sobering truth is that Jones is showing maturity by discussing his financial well-being. Instead of portraying him as the “whiny child,” people should instead commend him for thinking about the future.
It’s refreshing that an athlete of Jones’ caliber is already thinking about what he’ll live on in retirement. If he doesn’t, he could end up being the next Ric Flair and Latrell Sprewell, a man who earned a lot and has little to show for it.
It’s been one of the most discussed topics in MMA. Even after defeating B.J. Penn and defending the UFC lightweight belt against Gray Maynard, fans and media continued to push for Frankie Edgar to cut weight and drop to featherweight. The talks subside…
It’s been one of the most discussed topics in MMA. Even after defeating B.J. Penn and defending the UFC lightweight belt against Gray Maynard, fans and media continued to push for Frankie Edgar to cut weight and drop to featherweight. The talks subsided for a bit after the UFC 136 TKO victory over the aforementioned Maynard, but like many things in MMA, they didn’t completely go away.
Following his UFC 144 loss at the hands of Benson Henderson, Edgar’s size would again be the topic of conversation with discussions about a potential fight between the New Jersey native and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
Those talks were short lived, as Edgar was awarded a rematch with Henderson at UFC 150 earlier this month. Unfortunately for Edgar, he again came up short, and the pressure began to build for him to finally make the decision to drop to featherweight.
Well, it looks like he’s finally going to be known as UFC featherweight Frankie Edgar.
On tonight’s episode of UFC Tonight,Ariel Helwani confirmed that Edgar will cut the additional 10 pounds and fight in the UFC’s featherweight division. He hopes to make his debut in the weight class later this year. No opponent has been named yet.
As a fan of Frankie Edgar, I can’t be more ecstatic about the decision. While he’s always had a speed advantage at lightweight, he always lacked a definitive advantage in punching power. He’d literally have to take one heavy punch to give three, and that kind of damage adds up.
This also opens up the featherweight division even more, as there is a new challenger for the title. The division has been a little stagnant with Aldo absolutely crushing everyone that the UFC puts in his way. Edgar versus Aldo is a dream fight, and one that will surely test the skill set and heart of both fighters.
He’ll just have to wait a little bit, as Aldo faces Erik Koch at UFC 153 in Rio deJaneiro on October 13.
Yesterday Bleacher Report posted a debate article regarding Ronda Rousey and whether fans would purchase a pay per view with her as the main event. I’m not too sure that I would really want to purchase a Rousey headlined card if only because a special …
Yesterday Bleacher Report posted a debate article regarding Ronda Rousey and whether fans would purchase a pay per view with her as the main event. I’m not too sure that I would really want to purchase a Rousey headlined card if only because a special attraction fight doesn’t really interest me. My personal feelings aside, Rousey currently is one of the most intriguing and popular fighters in MMA.
She is coming off her first-round domination of Sarah Kaufman in San Diego and riding high as the face of women’s MMA. She’s all but cleaned out the Strikeforce bantamweight division and is in need of a challenging and desirable matchup.
In her post-fight interview, Rousey called out former Strikeforce 145-pound champion Cris Cyborg and challenged her to drop to bantamweight for a super fight. In the post-fight presser, Scott Coker echoed that he would love to see that fight happen.
UFC President Dana White was on the Dave and Mahoney show on X107.5 today and the topic of Ronda Rousey came up. The UFC President has been extremely outspoken on his support of Rousey and the view that she could potentially be the first female athlete to fight in the UFC.
Well according to host Dave Farra’s twitter, White may be closer to considering this fight to many believed.
Dana White: Yes, I could see @rondarousey vs. Cyborg as a co-main or main event for a @ufc pay per view. Rousey is incredible.
Now one thing to consider is that both Rousey and Cyborg are currently under contract with Strikeforce. Therefore, if this bout were to happen, it would likely be in Strikeforce on Showtime. However, that White is even talking it on a live radio interview means that there is at least discussion going on internally at the Zuffa offices.
Is it possible that we will see Rousey vs Cyborg sometime in the future? I hope so. It’s the only bout that makes sense for either at this point. There will have to be some discussions about contested weight and other considerations, but it’s becoming more and more realistic every day. And that’s a good thing for everyone.
UFC President Dana White will host the call with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and No. 1 contender Dan Henderson. The combatants will be available to discuss their eagerly-awaited upcoming championship fight, which t…
UFC President Dana White will host the call with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and No. 1 contender Dan Henderson. The combatants will be available to discuss their eagerly-awaited upcoming championship fight, which takes place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on September 1.
WHO:
DANA WHITE, UFC President
JON JONES, UFC light heavyweight champion
DAN HENDERSON, challenger and three-time world champion
WHAT:
UFC® 151 Media Conference Call
Join Bleacher report at 1:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. CT for live updates from the UFC 151 media call
Prestige Worldwide. Entertainment 720. Primetime 360.The first two of those are completely fictional businesses. The last is Tito Ortiz’s latest venture.After retiring from MMA following a loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 148, Tito Ortiz has decided to u…
Prestige Worldwide. Entertainment 720. Primetime 360.
The first two of those are completely fictional businesses. The last is Tito Ortiz‘s latest venture.
After retiring from MMA following a loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 148, Tito Ortiz has decided to use his experience as a fighter to become a manager. Ortiz was quite outspoken that his contractual standoffs with Zuffa were to improve the treatment of all fighters. He now will have to put that experience to use as he represents the future of the sport.
Jerry Sullivan of the Orange County Business Journal was the first to break the story. Primetime 360 Entertainment & Sports Management Inc. is a partnership between Ortiz and longtime friend and attorney George Prajin.
Ortiz is the owner of Punishment Athletics as well as the Punishment Training Center in Huntington Beach, Calif. He also has experience as a coach and is notorious for having run some truly grueling training camps.
The goal of the management company is to represent athletes inside and outside of MMA, as well as artists in the entertainment industry. The company launched with Cris Cyborg and Rob Emerson as clients.
Cyborg is currently serving a suspension for testing positive for a banned substance following a win over Hiroko Yamanaka. Emerson was a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter. He is currently 13-10 in his MMA career.
Primetime 360 is based in Huntington Beach, Calif.
