Author: McKinley Noble

UFC Heavyweight Alistair Overeem Ends Legal Battle with Golden Glory

Slowly but surely, Alistair Overeem is clearing out the extra entanglements holding up his mixed martial arts career—one hurdle at a time.Most recently, “The Demolition Man” has finally come to the end of a lawsuit cycle against his former manage…

Slowly but surely, Alistair Overeem is clearing out the extra entanglements holding up his mixed martial arts career—one hurdle at a time.

Most recently, “The Demolition Man” has finally come to the end of a lawsuit cycle against his former management group Golden Glory. Both parties had served each other legal papers in California and Nevada courts, but all lawsuits have now reportedly been settled.

MMA Junkie reports (via press release) that while the settlement’s terms weren’t disclosed, both parties left the table satisfied:

“Everyone worked extremely hard to resolve these matters so that Golden Glory and (Golden Glory head) Bas Boon can walk away and move forward with the Glory World Series Promotion in Europe, Japan and the USA, and Alistair Overeem can concentrate on his fighting career with his new manager Glenn Robinson at Authentic Sports Management and his new team, the Blackzilians,” the release stated.

Overeem’s career had been plagued by Golden Glory since September 2011, when the Dutch fighter separated from his gym due to conflicts over commission fees and a five-year contract.

For his part, Overeem claimed that Golden Glory signed him to an unfair deal that required him to pay 35 percent of his winnings to the company (before state and federal taxes).

Moreover, Golden Glory allegedly owed Overeem $151,000 in back-pay before he jumped into a seven-figure UFC contract later that year.

Both groups traded lawsuits in November 2011, with Overeem eventually getting the worst of it in February the next year. Golden Glory’s parent company (Knockout Investments) successfully gained a court order to withhold 30 percent (over $427,000) of Overeem’s UFC 141 purse, which included pay-per-view incentives and certain merchandise/intellectual property rights.

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UFC Featherweight Pablo Garza Wants to Be the Bantamweight "Jon Jones"

Pablo Garza is already one of the tallest and rangiest fighters in the 145-pound division, but the standout featherweight is looking to further increase his advantage.Coming off a dominant upset victory over former title contender Mark Hominick at UFC …

Pablo Garza is already one of the tallest and rangiest fighters in the 145-pound division, but the standout featherweight is looking to further increase his advantage.

Coming off a dominant upset victory over former title contender Mark Hominick at UFC 154, Garza is now looking to test the waters at bantamweight. However, at 6’1″, that all depends on whether “The Scarecrow” can make the weight cut with his health intact.

Garza spoke with MMA Mania shortly after his win in Montreal, Canada, stating that his natural attributes could make him the “Jon Jones” of the 135-pound division:

I’m going to think about it. It’s probably going to be a couple of trial runs first, you know, see how I feel working with the diet, getting a good dietitian and stuff like that and if I can make ’35 and dominate, I’m going to do it.

If I make 135, I know I’ll win the title. I think I will be like the Jon Jones of 135.

Garza did show a knack for using his reach in the fight with Hominick. Over three rounds, he punished his Canadian foe from top position with hard elbows, forearms pressed to the throat, long punches while sitting in guard and the slightly unsportsmanlike “hands over the mouth” tactic—all techniques commonly associated with Jones.

Garza is currently 3-2 in the UFC since the merger with the WEC, with two losses in his last three fights and a 12-3 career MMA record. After two wins that netted “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night” awards, Garza hit a two-fight skid against Dustin Poirier and Dennis Bermudez.

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Silva vs. GSP: Betting Odds List Anderson Silva as Slight Favorite

Does Georges St-Pierre stand a chance in a superfight against Anderson Silva?According to BestFightOdds—a well-known website that aggregates gambling odds for mixed martial arts bouts—the potential battle between the top two pound-for-pound…

Does Georges St-Pierre stand a chance in a superfight against Anderson Silva?

According to BestFightOdds—a well-known website that aggregates gambling odds for mixed martial arts bouts—the potential battle between the top two pound-for-pound MMA fighters in the world only pegs Silva as a slight favorite ahead of St-Pierre.

Online gaming group Bovada, one of BestFightOdds’ usual sources, is the first to list the following odds for the Silva vs. GSP match-up:

  • Anderson Silva (-185)
  • Georges St-Pierre (+150)

At a glance, that barely sets up Silva as a 2-to-1 favorite against the welterweight champion, although betting lines can shift wildly in the build to a fight.

Notably, Silva has not been listed at odds that low since a 2008 UFC/PRIDE title unification bout with Dan Henderson at UFC 82. Silva was listed as high as a -160 favorite for that match, while Henderson was a +140 underdog at the lowest.

St-Pierre also hasn’t been given odds this close since his UFC 94 title defense against then-UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn. Additionally, this is the first time GSP has ever been the underdog in a fight since BestFightOdds began archiving matches in 2007.

UFC president Dana White has been adamant that he can sign both fighters to a lucrative main event superfight that could potentially take place in Canada, Brazil or (most likely) the massive Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. St-Pierre himself has shown little interest in a catchweight bout, while trainer Firas Zahabi insists that Silva must cut down to 170 in order for the match to be fair.

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Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate Agree That GSP Is ‘Ignorant’ on Women’s MMA

It’s rare when Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate agree on something, but they both think that UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is ignorant.Not in general, of course, but squarely concerning the subject of women’s MMA. During his media rounds befo…

It’s rare when Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate agree on something, but they both think that UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is ignorant.

Not in general, of course, but squarely concerning the subject of women’s MMA. During his media rounds before UFC 154, “Rush” said that while it was good for female fighters to finally break into the big leagues, he personally hasn’t seen women fight in a cage.

According to the champ, he generally has “a hard time” with watching girls fight.

That statement drew the ire of former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and UFC-bound Miesha Tate, who ripped into GSP on her official website:

I think the problem with GSP‘s view about WMMA is that he doesn’t have one. If he hasn’t ever watched us women fight then he can’t say how he really feels about it because he’s ignorant.

Being old fashioned is fine, but us “modern day” girls aren’t asking for your protection, we are asking for your acceptance and we are fighting for equality.

Surprisingly, Tate’s biggest rival shares the exact same sentiment. Rousey wasn’t as verbose as “Cupcake” had been, but still stressed her own displeasure with the UFC’s top draw and affable Canadian fan favorite:

 

Regardless, Rousey and Tate will have a large platform for promoting women’s MMA now that both fighters have officially been confirmed as UFC signees. Rousey is the incumbent UFC women’s bantamweight titleholder, and Tate is the second addition to that division.

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Report: Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida Has Been Moved to UFC 157

It seems that the mega-stacked UFC 156 card was too good to be true.In the first schedule change for the promotion’s highly anticipated Las Vegas card in February, light heavyweights Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida are being moved to UFC 157.TATAME was…

It seems that the mega-stacked UFC 156 card was too good to be true.

In the first schedule change for the promotion’s highly anticipated Las Vegas card in February, light heavyweights Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida are being moved to UFC 157.

TATAME was first to report the news, citing that the UFC made the change just this past weekend:

Originally scheduled for Feb. 2 at UFC 156 in Las Vegas, the fight between [both] light heavyweights will now be held at UFC 157, the 23rd of the same month in Anaheim, Calif. (USA), as found [by] TATAME.

UFC 157 was made official for Anahiem’s Honda Center earlier this month, although no headliners were announced for the February card. It’s likely that Henderson and Machida will headline the event in a title eliminator for the opportunity to face the winner of Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen.

With the change in schedule, the following fights are still tentatively set for the UFC 156 card:

  • Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar
  • Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio Silva
  • Rashad Evans vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
  • Urijah Faber vs. TBA
  • Jon Fitch vs. Demian Maia

Throughout the years, the UFC has seen lower live gates and attendance at the Honda Center, which has generally hosted heavyweight title fights as the main events.

UFC 121 (Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez) and UFC 59: Reality Check (Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia and Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin) are the two most profitable events that have taken place at the Honda Center so far, with four fight cards hosted there over the last six years.

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GSP’s Trainer Wants Anderson Silva ‘Weakened’ at 170 Pounds for Superfight

Anderson Silva, you’re just too fat to fight Georges St-Pierre.That’s the latest critique handed out by GSP’s trainer, Firas Zahabi, who says that the UFC middleweight champion will have an unfair advantage at a catchweight limit.Silva regularly f…

Anderson Silva, you’re just too fat to fight Georges St-Pierre.

That’s the latest critique handed out by GSP’s trainer, Firas Zahabi, who says that the UFC middleweight champion will have an unfair advantage at a catchweight limit.

Silva regularly fights at 185 pounds, with occasional trips to the 205-pound light heavyweight division—seemingly with no ill effects. As Zahabi told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s latest edition of The MMA Hour, Silva’s “ballooning” tactics should be nixed by cutting to 170 pounds (translation via MMA Fighting):

“You know, the thing is, the next day he’ll balloon up over 200, and I don’t think that’s fair,” Zahabi said. ” I don’t think that’s a fair fight. If he can make the cut to 170, that would be great. Georges has to fight everyone at 170, and that’s the case. Really I think it would be even and fair. Even if [Silva] would balloon up the next day, he would be weakened by the weight cut, there would be something there.”

Zahabi also reaffirmed GSP’s belief that going up to middleweight would permanently destroy the champion’s carefully-crafted welterweight physique, rending him unable to go back down in weight.

If that’s truly the case, it seems the burden is on Silva to find some way to slim down to St-Pierre’s level.

For his part, St-Pierre has often informed outlets such as SportsNet.ca that Silva “used to fight at 168 pounds” in Japan, yet currently walks around at 230 pounds when not training.

Silva did indeed weigh-in at 168 pounds for his Shooto middleweight title fight against Japanese legend Hayato Sakurai—more than 11 years ago. But at a glance, it seems physiologically unlikely that the 37-year-old Silva could cut weight the same way he did back when he was 26 years old.

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