Author: Nick Caron

UFC 147’s Rich Franklin: Fighting Wanderlei Silva Is Like Fighting a Tornado

UFC 147 may not have have the most enticing fight card ever, but the main event between Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin could make for a sleeper pick in the 2012 Fight of the Year race.Franklin and Silva will meet for the second time after their firs…

UFC 147 may not have have the most enticing fight card ever, but the main event between Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin could make for a sleeper pick in the 2012 Fight of the Year race.

Franklin and Silva will meet for the second time after their first fight saw Franklin win an extremely entertaining 15-minute slug fest at UFC 99.

After being bumped up on the card to the main event, Franklin now looks forward to the rematch in what he expects to be another exciting fight.

“The best way to describe Wanderlei’s fighting style…it would be like fighting a tornado,” Franklin told UFC.com. “As long as you stay away from the tornado, you’re safe. But if you get too close to the tornado, it does damage.”

It does damage, indeed. In his 34 career MMA victories, Silva has finished 24 by way of knockout. Another two came by way of submission due to strikes. 

“When you come in, he pulls the trigger, and when he pulls the trigger, things fly,” Franklin continued. “He’s throwing multiple punches with his hands, following up with knees and he’s dangerous.”

Despite Silva’s devastating knockout power, which he displayed in his most recent victory over Cung Le at UFC 139, Franklin believes that he can not only beat the Brazilian in his home own country, but finish the fight this time. 

“The best way for me to finish the fight is to not get lazy in the fight and get caught up in his game,” he said. “It’s been 16 months since I’ve been in the Octagon, so I’m excited to fight again. I’m hungry.”

Franklin last competed at UFC 126 against Forrest Griffin.

A string of injuries to himself and his opponents has kept him out of the cage since then, but barring any freak accidents between now an June 23rd, fans will see the return of “Ace” at UFC 147. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC’s Clay Guida Will Braid Hair Following Complaint from Gray Maynard

UFC lightweight Clay Guida is known for many things. His entertaining personality, his non-stop motor…his long, glorious, flowing locks of hair. Unfortunately, following a complaint from his UFC on FX 4 opponent Gray Maynard, the hair will be go…

UFC lightweight Clay Guida is known for many things. His entertaining personality, his non-stop motor…his long, glorious, flowing locks of hair. 

Unfortunately, following a complaint from his UFC on FX 4 opponent Gray Maynard, the hair will be going through a disappointing transformation prior to the bout. 

Before anyone freaks out, the answer is “No”—he’s not pulling a Urijah Faber and chopping it off. The caveman-like hair that fans have grown to love will instead be under containment with braids for the fight. 

The decision to control the hair came after Maynard filed a complaint to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board in May. Rather than try to fight the action in a legal hearing, Guida will simply opt to comply with Maynard’s request and focus on the fight itself.

Fosco told MMAjunkie.com:

“Clay chose to avoid any distractions and simply complied. Clay will be braiding his hair back. Clay is not focused on this and has one objective: winning. Nothing will distract him from his goal.” 

Under the Unified Rules of MMA, individual state athletic commissions are allowed to make a ruling on “whether head or facial hair presents any hazard to the safety of the unarmed combatant or his opponent or will interfere with the supervision and conduct of the contest or exhibition.”

We often see this rule come into play with female fighters whose hair is typically as long as or longer than Guida’s. 

Nick Lembo, counsel for the NJSACB, told MMAjunkie.com:

“He doesn’t want to do it, and I don’t believe he’s 100 percent happy about it, but he’s being very understanding and very cooperative about it and he agreed to it. Otherwise, if he said, ‘No, I’m not going to do that,’ we’d have to have a hearing on it and let both sides present their case and have a commissioner’s ruling on the issue.”

Lembo explained that Maynard’s complaint was that Guida’s hair “could pose a distraction to their fighter…and that they thought it gave an unfair advantage to their opponent.”

As disappointed as some fans may be by the decision to make the physical appearance alteration, there is little doubt that the bout itself between Guida and Maynard will be a great one. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 154: Johny Hendricks Disappointed at Not Receiving Immediate UFC Title Shot

UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks has taken the long journey up the rankings toward an eventual shot at the 170-pound championship.At 8-1 in the Octagon, and although Hendricks has beaten some of the very best in the world along the way, the j…

UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks has taken the long journey up the rankings toward an eventual shot at the 170-pound championship.

At 8-1 in the Octagon, and although Hendricks has beaten some of the very best in the world along the way, the journey got a bit longer last week when UFC President Dana White announced that Hendricks will still have to win one more fight before getting a title shot.

After defeating Josh Koscheck at UFC on FOX 3 in May, Hendricks was promised an immediate shot at the title. Unfortunately, with champion Georges St-Pierre still on the shelf and interim champion Carlos Condit content with waiting for St-Pierre’s return, the UFC was put in a very tough spot with Hendricks. 

Rather than having him wait potentially up to a year for a title fight against the winner of GSP-Condit, the UFC opted to put him in a fight of his own on the same night, at UFC 154, against fellow top contender Martin Kampmann.

“It is what it is,” Hendricks told MMAFighting.com in a recent interview. “I feel like I fought the best guys at 170 in our division and I’ve won, but it looks like I have to get through one more person, and that’s just the way it goes. You can either sit here and complain about it or you can sit there and do your best to win it.”

Since the beginning of 2011, Hendricks has been on an impressive streak, winning each of his four fights, all of which came against very credible opponents. His most recent two victories were the biggest of his career as he defeated perennial top contenders Jon Fitch and Koscheck in back-to-back fights. 

While he has no problem getting back in the cage and fighting Kampmann, it’s hard for him not to think about the opportunity that should have been his.

“Of course you’re disappointed. You get promised a title shot and then something happens and it doesn’t happen. But then again, that’s the nature of this business. There’s always good fights going on, you just have to win each one.”

With St-Pierre still out of action due to a torn ACL which has kept him out of action since mid-October 2011, Hendricks is still holding out hope that he might be able to sneak into the title picture sometime before the end of 2012. 

“I’m training for a five-round fight because if one of them gets hurt, I got to take my opportunity when I can,” he said. 

If Hendricks can defeat Kampmann, it will mark the third straight top five-ranked welterweight who he has defeated to get into the title picture. At that point, there really won’t be anything left for him to do than finish off his journey to the top with a title fight against St-Pierre or Condit. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Shogun Rua: UFC President Dana White Lied About Glover Teixeira Conversation

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua may no longer be considered the top 205-pound fighter in the world, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to give up the dream of getting back there. However, after upsetti…

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua may no longer be considered the top 205-pound fighter in the world, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to give up the dream of getting back there.

However, after upsetting UFC President Dana White by turning down a fight with UFC newcomer Glover Teixeira, Shogun might be looking at a longer climb up the ladder.

According to White, the former champion told him that he would prefer to be cut rather than fight Teixeira. Shogun had a different recollection of the conversation.

“They asked me to fight Glover, my manager told me and then I talked to my team and we decided not to fight Glover because he’s a top guy but, but he’s building a career in the UFC,” Teixeira told TATAME.com. “He fought once and it was on an undercard, so it’s not fair. I made it clear that it wasn’t interesting for us now.”

Though Rua admits that he did not want the bout with Teixeira, he also denied White’s claim that he told the UFC that he would rather be cut from the company than take the fight.

“Dana White commented I rather leave UFC than fighting him but it was not true. UFC never thought about it neither did I,” he said. “[The conversation about preferring to be cut] never happened.”

Rua will instead fight Brandon Vera in the main event of the next UFC on FOX fight card from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on August 4, 2012.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on FX 3 Johnson vs. McCall Results: The 10 Most Memorable Moments

The BankAtlantic Center played host to the UFC on Friday night, as the rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall headlined an action-packed fight card for UFC on FX 3. Johnson and McCall first met earlier this year …

The BankAtlantic Center played host to the UFC on Friday night, as the rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall headlined an action-packed fight card for UFC on FX 3.

Johnson and McCall first met earlier this year in the first round of the flyweight tournament, with Johnson originally being announced as the winner by majority decision. However, we later found out that there was an error on the scorecards and the bout was actually a draw.

With a “sudden death” fourth round missed due to the incorrect scoring, the decision was then made to have a rematch headline the FX card on June 8. The bout was the first UFC card to ever feature flyweights in the main event.

That historic fight will be remembered, but it was only part of what made this a highly entertaining fight card. Here are the 10 most memorable moments from UFC on FX 3: Johnson vs. McCall.

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UFC Ultimate Fighter Live Finals Results: 10 Memorable Moments from Las Vegas

Another year of The Ultimate Fighter is now in the books as the first ever “live” version of the show came to a conclusion on FX. The finals featured lightweights Michael Chiesa and Al Iaquinta as they battled for the right to be called T…

Another year of The Ultimate Fighter is now in the books as the first ever “live” version of the show came to a conclusion on FX.

The finals featured lightweights Michael Chiesa and Al Iaquinta as they battled for the right to be called The Ultimate Fighter in Season 15. The fight didn’t last long, but it was very entertaining as the winner capped off an emotional few months of training with what was easily the biggest win of his MMA career.

Though the event itself featured mostly competitors from this season’s cast, the main event was a very interesting bout between two consensus top-10 welterweight contenders in Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann.

Read on to to find out who the victors were as we look back at the 10 most memorable moments from UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter 15 Finale.

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