Michael Landsberg, host of TSN’s Off the Record, blames his own confusion for an awkward interview conducted last week that abruptly ended when UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen walked off the show (video).
And this was after the interview had already been once restarted at Sonnen’s suggestion.
“I was really confused. I didn’t know if he was mad or I didn’t know if he was joking,” Landsberg said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I didn’t know if he was getting the whole thing.”
Landsberg is known for asking tough and arguably, aggressive questions and the longtime Canadian sports journalist didn’t start off on the right foot when he opened the satellite interview by asking Sonnen if he “backed down” from his initial offer of putting his UFC career on the line against champion Anderson Silva. Sonnen responded by asking Landsberg to check his tone and facts.
Landsberg said Monday he figured the opening question would be a good way to push Sonnen’s buttons in a gentle way to bring out the best of Sonnen’s outspoken personality.
“I knew going in that he liked to be challenged — or at least I thought he did,” Landsberg told host Ariel Helwani. “I knew he’s the greatest promoter ever. I know that he’s at his best when he’s got a little edge to him.”
Landsberg said he had never spoken with Sonnen before that day, describing Sonnen as a “total stranger.” However, Landsberg felt he hit it off with Sonnen when he introduced himself before the recorded interview.
But the tone quickly changed when the cameras started rolling and Landsberg pressed Sonnen with the question of “backing down.”
“I thought this would go to a fun tongue-in-cheek place,” Landsberg said. “Like he clearly had his tongue in his cheek in the Octagon when he challenged Silva. There was no way Silva was going to accept those terms.”
Landsberg, who pointed out the shortcomings of interviewing someone via satellite, admits he had difficulty reading Sonnen.
“I was pissed off but I’m also trying to match his anger to do good television,” he said. “I wish from my standpoint I would have done it better. It was tough to undestand what was going on.”
According to Landsberg, Sonnen was the first person in 3,000 shows to walk out of an interview with him.
“I have no animousity towards him at all. This is my confusion more than anything,” Landsberg said. “He’s a great interview. He’s the kind of guy where a show like ‘Off the Record’ lives for.”
Michael Landsberg, host of TSN’s Off the Record, blames his own confusion for an awkward interview conducted last week that abruptly ended when UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen walked off the show (video).
And this was after the interview had already been once restarted at Sonnen’s suggestion.
“I was really confused. I didn’t know if he was mad or I didn’t know if he was joking,” Landsberg said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I didn’t know if he was getting the whole thing.”
Landsberg is known for asking tough and arguably, aggressive questions and the longtime Canadian sports journalist didn’t start off on the right foot when he opened the satellite interview by asking Sonnen if he “backed down” from his initial offer of putting his UFC career on the line against champion Anderson Silva. Sonnen responded by asking Landsberg to check his tone and facts.
Landsberg said Monday he figured the opening question would be a good way to push Sonnen’s buttons in a gentle way to bring out the best of Sonnen’s outspoken personality.
“I knew going in that he liked to be challenged — or at least I thought he did,” Landsberg told host Ariel Helwani. “I knew he’s the greatest promoter ever. I know that he’s at his best when he’s got a little edge to him.”
Landsberg said he had never spoken with Sonnen before that day, describing Sonnen as a “total stranger.” However, Landsberg felt he hit it off with Sonnen when he introduced himself before the recorded interview.
But the tone quickly changed when the cameras started rolling and Landsberg pressed Sonnen with the question of “backing down.”
“I thought this would go to a fun tongue-in-cheek place,” Landsberg said. “Like he clearly had his tongue in his cheek in the Octagon when he challenged Silva. There was no way Silva was going to accept those terms.”
Landsberg, who pointed out the shortcomings of interviewing someone via satellite, admits he had difficulty reading Sonnen.
“I was pissed off but I’m also trying to match his anger to do good television,” he said. “I wish from my standpoint I would have done it better. It was tough to undestand what was going on.”
According to Landsberg, Sonnen was the first person in 3,000 shows to walk out of an interview with him.
“I have no animousity towards him at all. This is my confusion more than anything,” Landsberg said. “He’s a great interview. He’s the kind of guy where a show like ‘Off the Record’ lives for.”
Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsThe Strikeforce Challengers 20 fighter salaries were made available Monday by the Nevada state athletic commission for last Friday’s Strikeforce on Showtime event from the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
The Strikeforce Challengers 20 fighter salaries were made available Monday by the Nevada state athletic commission for last Friday’s Strikeforce on Showtime event from the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Women’s MMA standout Ronda Rousey, who scored a 39-second armbar win, earned $8,000 in her co-headlining bout.
Adlan Amagov was the only fighter to bank five digits with a $5,600 for show purse plus a $5,000 win bonus. Amagov’s opponent Anthony Smith forfeited 20% of his purse to Amagov for failing to make weight.
Official salaries for all 18 fighters on the card are after the jump. Please note that the salaries below are the numbers reported by Strikeforce to the commission and does not necessarily represent a fighter’s final earnings.
Filed under: UFC, NewsDan Henderson, Maurico “Shogun” Rua, Cung Le and Wanderlei Silva were all awarded bonuses for the honor of Fight of the Night Saturday at UFC 139 in San Jose.
Rarely handed out to more than one fight, UFC president Dana White sai…
Rarely handed out to more than one fight, UFC president Dana White said he had no choice but to call the two co-headlining bouts the Fight of the Night at UFC 139. Each post-fight bonus winner received an extra $70,000.
Henderson (29-8) won a five-round battle for the ages, edging out Rua (20-6) on scores of 48-47 across the board.
In middleweight action between two dangerous strikers, Silva (34-11-1) fought back from a difficult first round to spoil Le (7-2)’s UFC debut with brutal knees and punches to bring on the referee stoppage in the second.
Michael McDonald (14-1) earned Knockout of the Night with an explosive first-round finish over Alex Soto (6-1-1). The 20-year-old bantamweight needed only 56 seconds to score his third UFC win.
Urijah Faber (26-5) took home Submission of the Night for his guillotine choke over Brian Bowles (10-2). With the win, Faber earns a rematch with bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
The UFC’s debut at the HP Pavilion drew an attendance of 13,173 for a gate of $1.268 million, according to White.
Filed under: News, JapanTo close out DREAM’s World Bantamweight Grand Prix, Bibiano Fernandes will face Antonio Banuelos, while Masakazu Imanari will fight Rodolfo Marques on the Dec. 31 “Genki Desu Ka!!” (How are you?) card in Saitama, Japan.
Fernandes, Baneulos, Imanari and Marques were all victorious in opening round bouts at DREAM.17 in September to advance to the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will meet the same night on Dec. 31 to determine the Grand Prix champion.
Former DREAM Featherweight GP winner and titleholder Fernandes (9-3) is coming off a win against Takafumi Otsuka via rear-naked choke. Marques (14-1) out of Brazil’s Nova Uniao advanced with a unanimous decision win over Yusup Saadulaev.
Leglock specialist Imanari (24-9-2) has been one of the most active fighters in Japanese MMA in 2011. He’s 3-2 this year with wins over Abel Cullum, Kenji Osawa and Keisuke Fujiwara and loses to Hideo Tokoro and Hiroshi Nakamura. Banuelos (19-7) made his UFC debut in February in a losing effort against Miguel Torres and then bounced back with a win over Hideo Tokoro at DREAM.17.
Sakurai (35-12-2) will be in search of his first win since knocking out Shinya Aoki back at DREAM.8 in April 2009. The former UFC title contender last competed last New Year’s Eve in a loss to Jason High. He was booked to fight at DREAM.17 but bowed out due to injury. Chonan (20-12), best known for a submission win over Anderson Silva, won both his fights in 2011 fighting under the DEEP banner.
The final “Genki Desu Ka!!” card will be a mix of MMA, kickboxing and pro wrestling matches.
Current lineup:
Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo Marques
Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos
Winner of Fernandes-Marques vs. Winner of Imanari-Banuelos
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi “Lion” Inoue
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
Filed under: News, JapanA pair of featherweight bouts have been booked for the Dec. 31 “How Are You?” event (this year’s Dynamite!! equivalent) with Tatsuya Kawajiri squaring off against Kazuyuki Miyata and Hiroyuki Takaya defending his belt against Ta…
A pair of featherweight bouts have been booked for the Dec. 31 “How Are You?” event (this year’s Dynamite!! equivalent) with Tatsuya Kawajiri squaring off against Kazuyuki Miyata and Hiroyuki Takaya defending his belt against Takeshi “Lion” Inoue in Saitama, Japan.
Kawajlri (29-7-2) fought in two of the three DREAM events in 2011, beating Drew Fickett and Joachim Hansen. In April, Kawajiri challenged Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight belt and lost by first-round TKO. In his most recent fight against Hansen in September, Kawajiri made the drop to featherweight. Miyata (11-8) fought once this year in a losing effort against Takaya with the DREAM title on the line.
Takaya (16-9-1), who won the DREAM title last New Year’s Eve, returned to the U.S. in April for Strikeforce and lost on the undercard to now-UFC fighter Robert Peralta. Takaya then bounced back in July with the aforementioned win over Miyata. Inoue (21-5) won all three of his fights this year against Taiki Tsuchiya, Koichiro Matsumoto and Caol Uno.
The full card will be a mixture of MMA, kickboxing and pro wrestling matches and will air on HDNet.
Filed under: UFC, NewsThe first live UFC on FX event will happen in January and while an exact date and location is to be announced, there are now two fights scheduled.
On Wednesday, the UFC announced that Josh Neer will fight Duane Ludwig in welterw…
The first live UFC on FX event will happen in January and while an exact date and location is to be announced, there are now two fights scheduled.
On Wednesday, the UFC announced that Josh Neer will fight Duane Ludwig in welterweight action and Pat Barry will take on Christian Morecraft in a heavyweight scrap.
Under UFC’s deal with FOX, the promotion will bring four live events to FOX and six to FX each year. These live cards on FX will be similar to the former “Fight Nights” on Spike/”UFC Live” on Versus events. All four fighters announced so far are coming off appearances on UFC Live cards.
Neer and Ludwig matchup well considering that Neer has an aggressive style and Ludwig’s strength lying in his background as a Muay Thai fighter. Neer (32-10-1) made his return to the UFC last month with a bloody TKO win over Keith Wisniewski. Ludwig (21-11) has won his last two fights and last competed in August, beating TUF winner 7 Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision.
Barry and Morecraft are heavyweights desperately in need of a win. Barry (6-4) is riding a two-fight losing streak from losses to Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve. Morecraft (7-1) was knocked out in June by Matt Mitrione and is 1-2 in the UFC.
Michael Landsberg, host of TSN’s Off the Record, blames his own confusion for an awkward interview conducted last week that abruptly ended when UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen walked off the show (video).
The 
To close out DREAM’s World Bantamweight Grand Prix, 
A pair of featherweight bouts have been booked for the Dec. 31 “How Are You?” event (this year’s Dynamite!! equivalent) with 
The first live