Pat Healy testing positive for marijuana may be the reason that Bryan Caraway was awarded the “Submission of the Night” bonus, but, according to Dana White, Caraway is the reason the award was $65,000 instead of the usual $50,000. “We…
Pat Healy testing positive for marijuana may be the reason that Bryan Caraway was awarded the “Submission of the Night” bonus, but, according to Dana White, Caraway is the reason the award was $65,000 instead of the usual $50,000.
“We had a union representative at the fighter meeting that chiseled me up to 65: Bryan Caraway,” White said during his usual media scrum following UFC 159 a few weeks ago.
He said ‘I fought on the last card—it was 65, this one’s 50.’ I said what are we f***ing negotiating now? All the fighters were like ‘yeah it was 65.’ And he just kept talking, ‘I had to cut a lot of weight for this fight.’ I said what are you a union representative? It was funny actually, and we had a good time in the locker room and I made it 65.
Caraway earned a submission victory at UFC 159 over Johnny Bedford in the final minute of the third round. He seems to making good use of his time: forcing Bedford to tap with 16 seconds left in the fight and using the fighter’s meeting to get the UFC president to increase the size of the night’s bonuses.
This is now the second-ever “of the Night” bonus for Caraway. He earned a “Fight of the Night” bonus after defeating Mitch Gagnon by a rear-naked choke at UFC 149.
Since losing in the semi-final round on The Ultimate Fighter 14, Caraway has started out fairly well in his still very young UFC career. He has won three out of his first four fights in the UFC and now earned his second bonus.
Although he won this current bonus by a retroactive decision, due to Pat Healy’s failed drug test and suspension, he accomplished two things: He earned a substantial bonus fighting on the preliminary card—where a lot fighters don’t typically win bonuses—and he pushed to have White raise the bonus, then went out and got a finish, putting himself in the good graces of his employer.
Caraway being awarded what Pat Healy lost seems quite fitting. Looks like he earned it, doesn’t it? Yes, he was the only other fighter to win by submission, but White could’ve very well not awarded it to anyone if he chose to do so. He awarded to the fighter who pushed for it and won in decisive fashion.
Caraway will be the last fighter to earn a bonus of $65,000 for the time being though.
Longtime MMA official Rob Hinds has been inside the cage as a referee for more than 4,000 professional fights and sat outside as a judge for almost 1,000. There is not much he hasn’t seen or heard. He is leading the charge in educating…
Longtime MMA official Rob Hinds has been inside the cage as a referee for more than 4,000 professional fights and sat outside as a judge for almost 1,000. There is not much he hasn’t seen or heard.
He is leading the charge in educating new and current MMA officials. His company, Combat Consulting, teaches MMA referees and judges in seminars around the country.
Recently, he provided his insight into the controversial and rare technical decision between Gian Villante and Ovince St. Preux. At UFC 159, referee Kevin Mulhall paused the action early in the third round after Villante suffered an inadvertent eye poke from St. Preux. Mulhall then waived off the bout after Villante informed him he couldn’t see. St. Preux won the contest by majority technical decision.
“Any time a fighters tells a referee ‘I can’t see’ or ‘I can’t breathe,’ the only procedure at that time is to call the fight,” Hinds explained on Wednesday as a guest on Darce Side Radio.
Hinds said there could have been “better communication” or “more time to deliberate” or “call in the doctor”; however, once Villante admitted he couldn’t see, proper procedure was followed.
He said, “In the heat of the moment, that procedure was heard, which caused Villante to give the one incorrect answer that you can’t give a referee. At that point, once that is verbalized, you have to call the fight.
“Maybe ask him a more general question: Are you all right, man? Do you need to see the doctor?” Hinds suggested. “Normally that gives you a more general answer, and then you can call in the doctor and actually give a little bit of time.”
Eye pokes have been a sore subject in MMA for some time. Suggestions about altering the style of gloves are often bandied about. Another common question is: Why aren’t fighters given five minutes like they are for incidental groin strikes?
Hinds had this to say:
The reason a groin shot gets five minutes is because there’s absolutely no way for the doctor to check what’s happening there. You can’t pull down their shorts or jock strap and all that and examine. Any other injury, a thumb injury an eye injury the doctor can physically look at it, take an evaluation, clear blood away, ask questions, those types of things.
Hinds explained that it’s not necessarily about having an automatic five-minute rule but more about proper referee procedure.
It’s a determination of the referee on how much recovery time they get. So it doesn’t need to be an automatic five minutes. Again, this is a procedural thing from referees to where they need to take their time, assess the fighter, call the doctor if necessary, and this whole time they are getting a chance to recover.
After the fight had concluded—and St. Preux had been declared the winner—the scorecards were revealed, which showed that judges Eric Colon, Michael DePasquale Jr. and Jose Tabora had scored the incomplete round 10-10.
According to Hinds, even in that short of period of time, one fighter should have been awarded 10-9 as someone had to have “some effective advantage over their opponent.”
I always say a 10-10 round is like a unicorn. Some people claim they’ve seen them, some people believe in them, but they don’t really actually exist. Now, for that 33 seconds; if they just circled each other, and nobody threw a punch, kick, knee, tried a takedown, if they did absolutely nothing but circled for the 33 seconds, then you would have a 10-10 round because you didn’t have any effective offense or any effective technique.
Jose Tabora actually scored both the second and third round 10-10.
For a professional judge at that level to score a 10-10 to begin with, and then have two 10-10 rounds in one bout, that’s either the most boring bout we’ve seen or there needs to be further evaluation of those officials who score those 10-10 rounds.
Hinds explained that the sudden stop at the beginning of Round 3 between Villante and St. Preux could have provoked the three 10-10 scores.
One of the things that happens with judges on incomplete rounds is it kind of takes you by surprise. You have the pause in the action due to the injury, and some judges if they’re not focused, they’ll forget what happened up until that point.
Hinds offered a refreshing and insightful take on what many fighters, managers, promoters and fans have complained about lately. If more referees were to communicate better and more judges were to improve their focus, maybe there would be fewer complaints about refereeing and scoring.
Michael Stets is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
“It’s up to you, New York, New York.” Most New Yorkers know the words to the theme song originally performed by Liza Minnelli from Martin Scorcese’s film, “New York, New York,” written by composer John Kander and lyr…
“It’s up to you, New York, New York.”
Most New Yorkers know the words to the theme song originally performed by Liza Minnelli from Martin Scorcese’s film, “New York, New York,” written by composer John Kander and lyricist FreddElb, and made famous by the version sung by the late crooner Frank Sinatra.
However, New Yorkers will not know about the UFC holding an event in New York unless legislation passes through the State Assembly this year.
The State Assembly being the final hurdle, the bill killer if you will.The Assembly is as effective at killing the bill to legalize Mixed Martial Arts in New York as Jon Jones is at raining down vicious elbows.
The UFC light heavyweight champion was in Madison Square Garden last week, home to some of the greatest fights in history, to promote his fight in New Jersey. A common occurrence when the UFC heads to New Jersey, and a huge tease for the fans in New York.
New Yorkers were more than teased when news broke in February in the on-going court battle between Zuffa and New York State, that a loophole did in fact exist, allowing the UFC, or any professional MMA promotion, to hold an event in the Empire State, without the sport becoming legal.
During a media day to promote UFC 159 at Madison Square Garden last week, Dana White killed any hope of that happening, saying that would not be an avenue the UFC would explore.
“We’d never do anything sneaky,” White said.“We’re either going to get sanctioned here or we’re not.We will only do it if the government…you know.”
White, at one point said he’s “over it” in regards to talking about MMA becoming legal in New York.
He isn’t alone.Think of all the fans, the grass roots leaders like NY MMA Now—who fight the good fight—and host rallies to push for the cause.Or the fans—who take off from work to come to a rally, or a UFC press conference, or events like the Metro PCS-sponsored fan day in Manhattan last week.
For the last four years, UFC and MMA fans in New York have been feverishly waiting for Christmas morning, only to find out Santa won’t be coming, as the bill died in Assembly, failing to get to the Assembly floor for a vote.
White acknowledging the UFC won’t attempt to hold an event using the loophole, combined with an uncertain timetable for the ongoing court case between Zuffa and New York State, means the fate of New Yorkers seeing the UFC come to their hometown state will now return to rest in the hands of the government.
Specifically the New York State Assembly, since once again the bill to legalize MMA in New York flew through the New York Senate with a 47-14 vote.
“It’s just ridiculous,” White explained.“We get more votes (In the Senate) than we got last year.It’s just to the point now where it’s just absolutely ridiculous.”
White scoffed at the idea in the Crain’s NY article suggesting that the MMA is not yet legal in NY because the UFC has become a “useful pot” in regards to the lobbying and PR money they have doled out in the last few years.“Trust me, that’s not the reason it’s being held up,” he said, before bringing up once again who he thinks is the main reason.
“Guys, it’s the Culinary Union,” White exclaimed.“The culinary union bused a bunch of people up to Albany last week to try to protest up there.It’s 100 percent the Las Vegas Culinary Union.“It’s being held up because the Las Vegas Culinary Union is that powerful in New York.”
UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta was in Albany a day prior to the UFC 159 pre-fight press conference, to speak with legislators on having the sport legalized.He told Jim Genia,Zuffa would “Hold their options open,” in regards to holding an event without legislation being passed.
“If the court comes down in our favor in that instance,” Fertitta said.We will have to take a step back, evaluate, and if we think it makes sense, we’ll do it.”
That would appear to contradict what White had said about the UFC not doing anything “sneaky.”
After the UFC 159 post-fight presser had concluded, White was asked about his and Fertitta’s statements from earlier in the week.
“If Lorenzo said that we’d keep our options open…Believe me when you talk about Lorenzo and if he says he’d keep his options open, I don’t what he meant, but he didn’t mean that,” White explained.“Lorenzo is the last one on earth…Lorenzo is a former athletic commissioner.Lorenzo is so by the book, so by the book.”
White went on in further detail backing up what he said about the UFC owner, explaining he was adamant about not getting sponsors from online gambling companies, and that Fertitta was also against him allowing the ring card girls Arianny Celeste, and Brittany Palmer to pose in Playboy.
When pressed further on his feelings on the issue, mainly if any part of him would like to use the loophole to put on an event without legislation being passed just to stick to the politicians, White did not hold back:
“You know what you do, and I don’t like to say this, because there’s a lot of fans in New York, and I appreciate the fans in New York.Talking about the politicians…The biggest way you say F**k you to the politicians in New York is you don’t have a show in New York.Are they hurting my business one bit?No. I just stayed in New York.I f*****g ate in great restaurants.Loved the hotel I stayed in.Then I drove over here.Took me about 30 minutes to get here, and I did a fight here that did a 2.7 million dollar gate, and all the things that happened over here, we gave the money to New Jersey.New Jersey got all the money.I still hung out in New York.I had a blast in New York.And guess what?The host hotel is here in New Jersey.They got all the rooming nights, all the people that came over, people coming over to the hotel and getting all the fighters, everybody flew into New Jersey and we did it in New Jersey.That’s the ‘f**k you’ to the politicians in New York.”
“I’m not doing s**t in New York man,” White concluded. “I’m not doing anything in New York, ’til they do the right thing and stop this dirty bulls**t they are doing, we’ll do everything in New Jersey.
The legislative calendar ends in June of this year, so we will know very soon if MMA becomes legal in New York.We know the UFC won’t be coming anywhere closer than New Jersey unless it’s a press conference or fan event, until it passes.
It’s up to you, New York State Assembly.It’s up to you.
Michael Stets is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained first hand unless noted otherwise.
Yes, the world will be tuning in Saturday night for the UFC 159 light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon “Bones” Jones and Chael Sonnen on pay-per-view. The fans of women’s mixed martial arts should be tuning in much earlier…
Yes, the world will be tuning in Saturday night for the UFC 159 light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon “Bones” Jones and ChaelSonnen on pay-per-view.
The fans of women’s mixed martial arts should be tuning in much earlier, as the third fight in the newest division in the UFC—the women’s bantamweight division, that is—will be taking place on the FX channel prelims between Sara McMann and Sheila Gaff.
If the first two women’s fights inside the UFC are any barometer, then this one should be a surefire, can’t-miss, early “fight of the night” candidate.
The women, as of late, seem to be fighting with a fierceness that is reminiscent of the Game of Thrones character DaenerysTargaryen.The slightest difference heading into battle being four-ounce gloves in lieu of dragons.
Here are three reasons WMMA fans will want to catch Sara McMann at UFC 159.
If there is a controversial decision in a title fight in the UFC, you can be sure Benson Henderson will have participated in it. Henderson narrowly bested Gilbert Melendez by split decision in the main event of the UFC on FOX 7 card, leadi…
If there is a controversial decision in a title fight in the UFC, you can be sure Benson Henderson will have participated in it.
Henderson narrowly bested Gilbert Melendez by split decision in the main event of the UFC on FOX 7 card, leading to various outcry and complaints on the Internet and social media.
The fighter they call “Smooth” proposed to his girlfriend immediately after Bruce Buffer announced the decision. The proposal was anything but, as it was practically drowned out by a cascade of boos from the Melendez-friendly San Jose hometown crowd.
This is Henderson’s second split-decision win in his last three title defenses.
“I knew it was going to be close,” Henderson said at the UFC on FOX 7 post-fight presser.“I didn’t know it would be a split but it is what it is.”
UFC President Dana White nipped any further discussion in the bud and prevented any rumors of a potential rematch at the conclusion of the post-fight press conference saying:
“Gray Maynard is ranked No. 3, TJ Grant is ranked No. 7.Those guys are going to fight at UFC 160 on May 25.The winner of that fight will fight Ben Henderson next.There you go, you got one.”
Maynard, at first glance, appears to be the tougher test out of the two for Henderson.He was in two of the all-time classic title fights versus former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, has only lost once in his career and has the experience of going five rounds in a title fight.
Grant is the fresher of the two opponents, having fought at the end of January, compared to Maynard fighting last June before being out due to a knee injury.Since his move down from welterweight, Grant is on a roll and has won all four of his fights at 155.
Henderson may now be competing with Georges St-Pierre in regards to finish-hungry fans, having failed to finish in all seven of his fights in the UFC.He continues to win, though, no matter who he faces, and the tough opponents will continue to come.
“There’s a lot of guys at 155 who are pretty tough, pretty good who all want to beat me up,” Henderson said.
We will find out at UFC 160 on May 25, who the next contender will be.
Josh Thomson became the first man to ever finish Nate Diaz by strikes in the third fight of the main card on UFC on FOX 7. Thomson landed a high kick right on the button, before swarming in for the kill and finishing the fight with strikes,…
Josh Thomson became the first man to ever finish Nate Diaz by strikes in the third fight of the main card on UFC on FOX 7.Thomson landed a high kick right on the button, before swarming in for the kill and finishing the fight with strikes, causing referee Mike Beltran to halt the action at the 3:44 mark of the second round.
What we’ll remember about this fight:
In his first fight in the UFC since 2004, Thomson made this fight his coming-out party.He came in poised and ready to make a statement.The shark tank of talent in the lightweight division just got put on notice after his performance.Diaz landed a few punches and of course did some taunting, but Thomson capitalized when it mattered and got the finish.
What we learned about Nate Diaz:
In his first fight back since losing to Benson Henderson for the lightweight title, he seemed unable to match the intensity of Josh Thomson.Thomson landed a similar kick in the first round, and Diaz was not able to defend it again in the second.
This is the first TKO loss of his career, which speaks volumes of how tough he has been throughout his career.Thomson was just too much for him.
What we learned about Josh Thomson:
Many people were claiming Gilbert Melendez was overrated after defeating Thomson by split decision last summer.It is now apparent that they were underrating Thomson.
Thomson is a legit top 10 contender after this performance.Being the first fighter to finish Nate Diaz is a nice feather in his cap as well.
What’s next for Nate Diaz:
Nate will no doubt need to regroup.He has spoken recently about moving back up to welterweight.His time for being a contender at lightweight may have now passed.If he stays at lightweight, perhaps his next fight will be the loser of Jim Miller vs. Pat Healy.
What’s next for Josh Thomson:
After his impressive victory, a top 10 contender should be next.I’d say the winner of KhabibNurmagomedov vs. Abel Trujillo sounds about right.
Pat Healy testing positive for marijuana may be the reason that Bryan Caraway was awarded the “Submission of the Night” bonus, but, according to Dana White, Caraway is the reason the award was $65,000 instead of the usual $50,000.