Author: McKinley Noble

UFC Taking On Drug Tests Won’t Help Dana White Save Fighters From Themselves

It’s fair to say that drug abuse has ruined some of the Zuffa’s biggest fights in the last few years.Alistair Overeem was pulled from UFC 146 due to elevated levels of testosterone, resulting in a drastically reshuffled heavyweight fight card.Instead o…

It’s fair to say that drug abuse has ruined some of the Zuffa’s biggest fights in the last few years.

Alistair Overeem was pulled from UFC 146 due to elevated levels of testosterone, resulting in a drastically reshuffled heavyweight fight card.

Instead of receiving an immediate rematch against Anderson Silva after a nail-biter of fight at UFC 117, Chael Sonnen spent a year on the bench for the same thing.

Muhammed Lawal now sits in the employ of Spike TV and Bellator after a positive drug test and a hasty suspension, poised to become a much bigger star than he was in Strikeforce.

Even the women’s division isn’t immune, as pound-for-pound killer Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos failed a test for stanozolol metabolites, ruining any chance of her matching up against rising star Ronda Rousey.

Even Josh Barnett, a marketable and charismatic “Top 10” heavyweight legend, may be on the free market soon, as his repeat suspensions for steroid use add a ton of baggage to any new contract he could sign with Zuffa.

At some point, the UFC had to step in, that much is certain.

But despite UFC President Dana White confirming with the LA Times that his promotion would take up the responsibility of testing fighters under their roster, there’s a bigger problem not being addressed.

No matter what, fighters will take performance enhancing drugs. If hearsay and behind-the-hand speak is to be believed, more than 90 percent of them will do so in hopes of never getting caught.

And when they do get caught?

Serve a suspension, pay a fine, and if you’re popular enough, you’ll be brought back into the fold like nothing happened. Just look at Overeem, Sonnen, Chris Leben, Stephan Bonnar, Sean Sherk and Thiago Silva.

If the UFC is going to adopt the task of drug testing, they’ll have to adopt stiffer punishments as well. Suspensions and fines aren’t going to be enough.

Should fighters be cut for failing drug tests? That would be drastic, but maybe that’s what it’ll take.

In a fair world, Alistair Overeem would be cut from the UFC, and Cris Cyborg would be dropped from Strikeforce. Doing that would send a clear message to the ranks that even if you’re a dominant champion, a PPV draw, or just a fan-favorite fighter, that won’t save you from willingly breaking the rules.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 146 & History’s 10 Most Awesome UFC Promo Trailers Ever

Hardcore UFC fans know that the Ultimate Fighting Championship has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Not only is MMA now a mainstream sport, but the look and style of the UFC’s promotion materials have slowly evolved from bright neon-colored fi…

Hardcore UFC fans know that the Ultimate Fighting Championship has changed drastically in the last 10 years.

Not only is MMA now a mainstream sport, but the look and style of the UFC’s promotion materials have slowly evolved from bright neon-colored fight posters to stylish TV commercials and YouTube videos. Even though mixed martial arts will never really shake elements like heavy metal and cheesy voice-overs, it is a welcomed change. 

Still, it is fun to remember the UFC’s past style—one can’t help but laugh at Zuffa’s most recent YouTube masterpiece, “SATURDAY, SATURDAY, SATURDAY!” to see that the promotion’s marketing department is, as usual, amazingly on-point.

Before the big heavyweight bash this weekend, let’s take a look at some of the UFC’s most memorable “fan made” and official viral videos, from their most recent work to trailers from a few years ago.

Begin Slideshow

Jon Jones DUI: Real Photo of UFC Champ’s Wrecked Bentley Surfaces

UPDATE: Footage of the crash site has been uploaded by user “UncleFooFoo68” to YouTube. It looks like an exact match to footage and images from the scene in WBNG Action News’ video report.Amidst the coverage of last night’s Strikeforce e…

UPDATE: Footage of the crash site has been uploaded by user “UncleFooFoo68” to YouTube. It looks like an exact match to footage and images from the scene in WBNG Action News’ video report.

Amidst the coverage of last night’s Strikeforce event, much of the MMA media’s attention was focused on Jon Jones.

Early yesterday morning, TMZ reported that the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Binghamton, New York. MMA Fighting later confirmed the report with manager Malki Kawa, along with the following report from the Broome County Sheriff’s Office:

According to the Broome County Sheriff’s Office, Jones was arrested at 5:02 a.m. after suffering “minor injuries” following a one-car accident wherein his car struck a pole. Sheriff’s office officials refused to comment on whether there were any passengers in the car with Jones at the time of the accident.

Aside from a short message on Twitter stating “God is good,” Jones has been silent about the incident. Follow-up reports from other MMA websites haven’t turned up any new information, either, aside from UFC President Dana White resignedly saying that it just hasn’t been his week.

Notably, a photo thought to be Jones’ wrecked New Continental GT Bentley circulated around Twitter and other sites yesterday, showing a horrifically chewed up vehicle of the same model type. That photo was later debunked by several MMA writers and journalists as fake.

However, the real images of Jon Jones’ car crash can be found at the WBNG Action News website and in their media server, along with a conclusive video report.

Moreover, the Binghamton news team has more specific information on the accident, including the exact time and place of occurrence—the corner of Grand Blvd. and Helen Street (a residential area just off of Main Street) at roughly 5:00 in the morning.

Binghamton Police received reports of a car crash on the corner of Grand Blvd. and Helen Street around 5 A.M. Saturday morning.

Police told Action News that Jon Jones was on the scene, and it was his 2012 Bentley that had crashed into a telephone pole.

Through the investigation, it was determined that Jones was driving the vehicle.

He was arrested and charged with a DWI.

(A/N: As noted by Rleacher Beport, the metadata from the image hosted on WBNG’s server indicates that the photo was created at 5:37:43 a.m. by a Motorola Android phone.)

As a related tidbit to the news, this is actually the second time that Jon Jones has been involved in a vehicular accident. Prior to his fight with Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Jones survived a brutal collusion with another car on January 19, 2011, where the woman driving the other vehicle was reportedly carried away by paramedics on a stretcher.

Currently, no mugshot of Jones has appeared on the Internet, and the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion suffered only minor injuries. No penalty has been addressed by the Broome County Sheriff’s Office at this time.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Nick Diaz: No-Show for Braulio Estima Superfight Explained, Nate Diaz Weighs in

Almost 12 hours later, we’re not much closer to solving the latest Nick Diaz mystery.Last night, Diaz was expected to headline the 2012 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in a no-gi superfight against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion and multi-medalist Braulio Est…

Almost 12 hours later, we’re not much closer to solving the latest Nick Diaz mystery.

Last night, Diaz was expected to headline the 2012 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in a no-gi superfight against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion and multi-medalist Braulio Estima.

Not only was the bout highly hyped in non-grappling circles, but the event also had a feel-good story as Diaz was expected to donate his fight purse to charity. Although mobile users found ways to stream the event for free, many others paid a $9.95 fee to watch the event online.

But at the end, Diaz never showed up.

It was a surreal moment, as Estima waited on the mat while the commentary team wondered aloud where Diaz was. Eventually, it was announced to the crowd that Diaz wasn’t in the building, and the fans audibly booed. Estima vowed to track Diaz down in an MMA ring, but refused to fight a late replacement.

While there’s been no solid excuse or explanation given by anyone involved, Cesar Gracie recently went to Twitter, as did brother Nick’s brother Nate, who had the following to say via his Twitter feed:

Braulio didn’t show up on weight the day of weigh ins knowing he had pull? Wtf

In the lead-up to the event, Estima announced that he made the 180-pound weight limit for the match. However, statements from the Diaz brothers and Gracie seem to indicate that this was a clear sign of rule-bending, as Estima was allowed to make weight late due to his “pull” with the group. Weigh-in rules for grappling tournaments are different than MMA fights, but apparently, Estima was only required by the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo to make weight on competition day.

So far, the most common threads of information have suggested that Nick no-showed the fight for two reasons: 

1. Braulio Estima was allowed to make weight outside of the agreed rules without penalty.

2. GracieMag, Mobile Black Belt and the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo (the promoters of the event) allegedly failed to donate Diaz’s purse to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by a pre-determined deadline.

At the very least, we now know that Nick didn’t bail out due to injury or something some worrisome. But in a way, it’s territory that’s all too familiar.

So, who’s really at fault?

Accusations of the failed charity donation were made in an early morning statement on the Diaz Brothers’ official Facebook page, which is attached to DiazBrothers.com, a site that also cross-links to Nick’s official website and Nate’s official website:

Promoter fails to donate the money to charity as agreed. (shady) Promoter changes rules for weigh ins to accommodate fellow Brazilian
Match ain’t happening

Right now, each side of the conflict (Cesar Gracie and the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo promoters) is playing the blame game, with neither wanting to look like the guilty party.

Either way, the biggest loser in this whole circus is Nick Diaz. Regardless of fault, his name was the biggest one attached to the superfight, and the resulting fallout from the non-event mostly pins the blame on him for not showing up to the match at the agreed time.

And that’s much more damning than any explanation the fans will get now.

[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and former writer for GamePro, PC World and Macworld. Follow his Twitter account for crazy talk, 1990s movie references, and general weirdness. Or, you could just stalk him on Google.]

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 150: Is Frankie Edgar Being Set Up to Fail Against Ben Henderson?

Frankie Edgar may be walking into a fight with Ben Henderson at less than 100 percent.At least that seems to be the case, as a recent broadcast conducted at UFC on Fuel TV confirmed that Edgar would be challenging for the UFC Lightweight Title against …

Frankie Edgar may be walking into a fight with Ben Henderson at less than 100 percent.

At least that seems to be the case, as a recent broadcast conducted at UFC on Fuel TV confirmed that Edgar would be challenging for the UFC Lightweight Title against Henderson at UFC 150. Dana White reaffirmed the news himself, simply stating that the two would fight on August 11th.

Strangely, this is just a few days removed from Edgar saying that he most likely wouldn’t be able to compete at UFC 150 due to his often-damaged nose, which needed time to heal to due to the abuse it’s taken in several of his recent fights:

Yeah, you know, I had some issues with my nose. My nose obviously breaks pretty frequently, at least for the last couple of fights, so I just need some time to let it heal properly so I can get back to sparring.

Right now, the UFC itself is in the midst of a scheduling crisis due to a variety of freak occurrences. Dominick Cruz is out of UFC 148 due to a torn ACL. Alistair Overeem was removed from UFC 146 thanks to suspiciously high testosterone levels. Dana White and the UFC played musical chairs with Jose Aldo’s next title defense before settling on Calgary, Canada. Carlos Condit is essentially holding the welterweight division hostage while waiting for Georges St. Pierre to finish rehab.

And all of that’s nothing to mention of the various injuries and events that have moved and restructured other matches in the UFC’s upcoming fight cards.

So when Frankie Edgar says that he needs time to heal an injury on Fuel TV, and Dana White turns right around and says that Edgar’s not getting an extra month off, it looks a little weird.

Whatever the case, Edgar seems committed to the UFC 150 date, as his official Twitter account has retweeted the announcement of the fight.

Is this a case of Frankie Edgar playing the role of the good “company man” against his better judgement? Perhaps his injured nose isn’t quite damaged enough to prevent him from getting in a full training camp.

Or maybe Dana White isn’t willing to let Frankie Edgar hold up the UFC lightweight title picture for any longer than necessary—especially when too many of his other title belts are currently in limbo.

After all, Ben Henderson is the favorite to win their rematch. And considering that Edgar hasn’t been a successful pay-per-view draw, the UFC brass might just want this over with so the lightweight division can move on to bigger, better things.

Either that, or someone still has plans on pushing “The Answer” into helping out the ailing featherweight division.

If Frankie Edgar is walking into a five-round title fight with that kind of handicap, the smart bet for Ben Henderson would be targeting Edgar’s nose with every jab, elbow, and kick that he could throw. After so many wars with B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard, and Henderson himself, the question isn’t “if” Edgar’s nose could break again, but “when” it’ll happen.

Hopefully, the former champion can walk into the Octagon this August without any health issues hanging in front of his face—but no matter what, the show (apparently) must go on.

[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and former writer for GamePro, PC World and Macworld. Follow his Twitter account for crazy talk, 1990s movie references, and general weirdness. Or you could just stalk him on Google.]

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Undisputed 3 Prediction: Jim Miller Narrowly Beats Nate Diaz at UFC on FOX 3

How do you predict Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller at UFC on FOX 3?In the lead-up to the third UFC fight card on FOX, there has been an interesting shift in fight predictions for the main event. While Nate Diaz has looked nothing short of unstoppable in wins …

How do you predict Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller at UFC on FOX 3?

In the lead-up to the third UFC fight card on FOX, there has been an interesting shift in fight predictions for the main event. While Nate Diaz has looked nothing short of unstoppable in wins over Takanori Gomi and Donald Cerrone, many MMA pundits think that Jim Miller will most likely walk away with a tidy decision win. Indeed, the recipe for Diaz’s defeat looks very similar to his matchups against Clay Guida, Gray Maynard, Rory MacDonald and Kim Dong-Hyun—elite ground specialists who can take a punch as well as they dish them out.

But while there’s no way to test-run the headliners against each other ahead of the actual event, there is one valuable fight prediction tool that hasn’t been utilized since UFC 144 in Japan: UFC Undisputed 3. Considered as the “Madden” of mixed martial arts games, the THQ and Yuke’s product has been used several times to simulate popular fights and predict winners based on large data sets. For the most part, it’s been a successful tool, correctly picking the victors in 6-out-of-8 UFC events.

With no UFC Undisputed 3 fight prediction for Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans (or any other UFC fights since then), I took the time to simulate the upcoming fight between Nate Diaz and Jim Miller in a similar fashion to the methods used by the game’s developers and producers for past UFC events:

  • Each match set between two CPU-controlled fighters
  • Simulated 25 total fights
  • Each fight set at five rounds
  • CPU difficulty set to “Ultimate”
  • Game rules set to “Competition”
  • Energy settings set to “Simulation”

And after running the data over two days, UFC Undisputed 3 predicted that Jim Miller defeats Nate Diaz, albeit by the most razor-thin margins possible.

Not only did the majority of the 25 five-round fights go to a decision, but the judges’ scorecards often read 48-47 across the board. In total, the simulations gave Jim Miller 13 wins out of 25, with Nate Diaz picking up the other 12 victories. In fact, the last simulated fight proved to be a tie-breaker, as both fighters were dead even after 24 simulated bouts.

Here’s a look at the data from the fight simulations, with the full tables visible here and here:

Jim Miller:

  • 13 wins (10 via Unanimous Decision, 2 via KO, 1 via TKO)
  • Miller attempted an average of 11.8 takedowns per fight, and landed an average of 4.6
  • Miller landed 114 takedowns out of 296 attempts (in 25 fights)

Nate Diaz:

  • 12 wins (12 via Unanimous Decision)
  • Diaz threw/landed more strikes than Miller on average (punches, elbows, kicks, knees)
  • Diaz was only knocked down 3 times in 25 fights

Notable Trends:

  • Neither fighter won or lost by Submission
  • Miller and Diaz threw a combined average of 255.1 strikes per fight
  • 24 out of 25 fights made it to the fifth round

Both fighters are rated very closely in UFC Undisputed 3, but a clear edge seems to go to Miller’s takedowns and Diaz’s simulated inability to stop them.

The Bottom Line:

Unlike Donald Cerrone, Jim Miller doesn’t seem like the type to abandon the type of gameplan that will serve him best, no matter how many middle fingers the younger Diaz brother dishes out in-between rounds. Although it’s unlikely that Nate Diaz can be stopped on strikes, the most likely situation—as most have guessed—is that Miller will outwork Diaz just enough to win on the judges’ scorecards. As the UFC Undisputed 3 data suggests, a decision is guaranteed either way, but a win for Miller will only come on the razor’s edge.

[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and former writer for GamePro, PC World, and Macworld. Follow his Twitter account for crazy talk, 1990s movie references, and general weirdness. Or you could just stalk him on Google.]

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com