A decade ago, when the UFC was struggling to keep pace with the heavyweight renaissance emanating out of Japan, a fight between Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir was one of the best pairings the promotion could’ve put on.
And somehow, all these …
A decade ago, when the UFC was struggling to keep pace with the heavyweight renaissance emanating out of Japan, a fight between Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir was one of the best pairings the promotion could’ve put on.
And somehow, all these years later, it remains just as relevant.
A match-up between the two resurgent legends is being targeted for UFC 191, MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported Wednesday on UFC Tonight. The fight has yet to be finalized at the time of this writing.
Arlovski and Mir have both seemingly defied Father Time, revamping their games to mount simultaneous title runs at the age of 36.
While Mir’s recent success is surprising, the streak Arlovski (24-10, 1 NC) is currently on may be one of the most unexpected in the history of the division.
The former UFC heavyweight champion was effectively left for dead back in 2011, having suffered four straight losses, three of which ended in grisly knockouts. Calls for his retirement were abundant at the time, but Arlovski persevered to win six of his next eight wins and earn a second shot in the UFC.
It’s there he truly blossomed, ripping off another three consecutive victories highlighted by back-to-back first-round knockouts over Antonio Silva and Travis Browne. The latter win came in one of the wildest fights of the year and propelled Arlovski into a No. 4 ranking, inching him to the precipice of title contention.
To get another shot at gold though, he’ll likely have to defeat Mir (18-9), a fellow former UFC heavyweight champion who suddenly finds himself riding a wave of momentum after spurning calls for retirement.
Much like Arlovski, Mir rebounded from a nasty four-fight losing streak to catapult into his latest run with back-to-back knockouts over Silva and Todd Duffee. He is currently the No. 10 ranked heavyweight in the UFC’s media-generated rankings.
UFC 191 takes place September 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. An updated fight card can be found below.
Ronda Rousey often has fantasies of her Rocky 4 moment, of marching straight into enemy territory and silencing an arena full of foreigners by taking out their local hero. She assumed UFC 190 would be her chance. Undefeated challenger Bethe …
Ronda Rousey often has fantasies of her Rocky 4 moment, of marching straight into enemy territory and silencing an arena full of foreigners by taking out their local hero. She assumed UFC 190 would be her chance. Undefeated challenger Bethe Correia was born and raised in Brazil, after all, so it wouldn’t be a leap to think the fight faithful in Rio de Janeiro would support their own.
And they have, for the most part. But they’ve also supported Rousey — perhaps even more.
“I was cautiously optimistic,” Rousey said Wednesday after receiving a raucous reception at UFC 190’s open workouts. “Like, I wouldn’t get mad if everybody came out here and they booed me. But I have to admit, it really warms my heart a lot to get such a warm reception from people who I respect so much.
“I would understand if I walk out on Saturday and everyone boos me at the top of their lungs. I would still be happy that they would care that much. But I mean, it just really warms my heart, the kind of reception that I’ve gotten here. I just try my best to deserve it.”
Rousey’s fight week welcome isn’t particularly surprising. Considering her flawless 11-0 career record, and a highlight reel that already rivals the greats in MMA, the former Olympian’s ascent into one of the sport’s biggest stars has been as destructive as it has been swift.
She received similar support from the Brazilian fans at UFC 190’s announcement press conference in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year, and despite treading into what many assumed to be enemy territory, Rousey is expected to enter her match against Correia as one of the biggest favorites in UFC history, largely because of Correia’s inexperience and the ridiculous trail of devastation Rousey has left in her wake.
The last three of Rousey’s title defenses paint the picture clear enough. One by one, Sara McMann, Alexis Davis, and Cat Zingano all fell in 66 seconds, 16 seconds, and 14 seconds, respectively.
The prevailing thought is that Rousey can stop Correia just as quickly. Rousey, though, has maintained all along that she wants to extend Correia’s suffering — punishment for all of the perceived slights and bad blood that have been traded in UFC 190’s lead-up.
“There’s no such thing as an easy finish, and the thing is, a lot of times when I’m going for a really fast finish, I’m taking a lot more risks,” Rousey said. “I’m skipping steps. So if I’m actually more thorough and I take my time, it’ll actually be a safer and less risky approach and she’ll be softened up a lot more by the time I get there.
“Bethe did have one thing right,” Rousey added. “She said that the Brazilian people deserve to have the belt left here. So I’ve decided that after I win it, I’m going to make sure that when I have the belt, I don’t take it home with me. I’m going to give it and make sure that it stays someplace in Brazil as my gift.”
Rousey puts her UFC women’s bantamweight title on the line against Correia this Saturday in the main event of UFC 190, and Las Vegas oddsmakers have already made Rousey a whopping 17-to-1 favorite in some sports books. If that number holds up, it’ll stand as the biggest and most lopsided line in UFC history. Add in the fact that it’s a title fight in the challenger’s own backyard, and suffice to say the pressure carried on Rousey’s shoulders is enormous.
But that’s just the way she likes it.
“This definitely is the most personal fight that I’ve ever been in and it’s the most pressure that I’ve ever been under, and that’s another reason why Bethe is just never meant to be the champion,” Rousey said at UFC 190’s open workouts. “Because she said that, ‘oh, I have no pressure on me, no one expects anything out of me, so that’s an advantage.’
“So you’re saying that you do the best with less pressure? Like, that’s what’s best for you? You’re not meant for this life. You’re not. I do the best the more pressure there is. I fight above myself. I’ve never been under more pressure in my life, and I’m going to show the world what I’m really made of.”
Rousey hasn’t made a secret of her disdain for Correia. While the pair’s rivalry may have started out friendly enough, it took a turn in May when Correia told Brazilian media that she hoped Rousey didn’t commit suicide after losing her UFC title.
Rousey’s father took his own life when Rousey was a young girl, and the tragedy was understandably one of the turning points of Rousey’s athletic career.
Since hearing Correia’s comments, Rousey has repeatedly vowed to make an example of the undefeated Brazilian.
“I can’t have girls taking the same approach as Bethe,” Rousey reiterated Wednesday. “Ender’s Game was one of my favorite books growing up, and one the messages I took (from the book) is when you beat somebody, you have to beat them so well and thoroughly that you beat them all of the future times. You have to win all of the future possible fights.
“So I have to beat this girl so thoroughly that there’s not future girls who pick on my family in order to get a quicker title shot. Pick on me all you want, but leave them out of it. That’s what I really want to accomplish.”
Correia ultimately backtracked away from her comments, claiming that she was unaware of Rousey’s father’s suicide when she made her initial remarks.
Her mea culpa didn’t exactly come with an apology though, as Correia said only, “I’m humble enough to ask [you] for forgiveness.” And Rousey isn’t willing to let that fact slide.
“I don’t believe her at all,” Rousey said. “How could you know that many more obscure facts about my life and not know about that? I don’t know if I’m more insulted by what she said or by her phony attempt to save face, because she never even apologized. That’s the thing. She was just like, ‘I’m humble enough to ask for forgiveness.’
“You’re complimenting yourself and you’re asking for forgiveness without apologizing. And it’s all a lie. So that’s like A, B, and C of bulls**t, and I just don’t have the capacity for bulls**t.”
For better or worse, the incident ultimately became a driving narrative of UFC 190, and the fallout has done little to slow Correia’s trash talk.
Correia captured Rousey’s attention by defeating two of her training partners, Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler, thereby forcing a rivalry with Rousey’s Four Horsewomen group. The storyline took on a life of its own, which eventually led to Correia being granted her title shot. She has since continued to throw shots at Rousey nearly every chance she gets, even implying that Rousey is a one-trick pony who is fallible without her trademark armbars.
“The thing is, when you’re trying to address someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, you have to keep in mind that they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Rousey said. “My last five fights were all very different. It was a very different progression of events that happened in every single one, and it just kind of speaks to her ignorance.
“It’s like watching boxing (and saying), ‘oh, well it always ends with a punch, so they always do the same thing.’ Every single one of those armbars, the knockout with the knee, the knockout with the overhand right, they were all extremely different. If they all looked the same to you, that really shows how little you understand.”
Rousey puts her UFC women’s bantamweight title on the line against Correia this Saturday in the main event of UFC 190, and Las Vegas oddsmakers have already made Rousey a whopping 17-to-1 favorite in some sports books. If that number holds up, it’ll stand as the biggest and most lopsided line in UFC history. Add in the fact that it’s a title fight in the challenger’s own backyard, and suffice to say the pressure carried on Rousey’s shoulders is enormous.
But that’s just the way she likes it.
“This definitely is the most personal fight that I’ve ever been in and it’s the most pressure that I’ve ever been under, and that’s another reason why Bethe is just never meant to be the champion,” Rousey said at UFC 190’s open workouts. “Because she said that, ‘oh, I have no pressure on me, no one expects anything out of me, so that’s an advantage.’
“So you’re saying that you do the best with less pressure? Like, that’s what’s best for you? You’re not meant for this life. You’re not. I do the best the more pressure there is. I fight above myself. I’ve never been under more pressure in my life, and I’m going to show the world what I’m really made of.”
Rousey hasn’t made a secret of her disdain for Correia. While the pair’s rivalry may have started out friendly enough, it took a turn in May when Correia told Brazilian media that she hoped Rousey didn’t commit suicide after losing her UFC title.
Rousey’s father took his own life when Rousey was a young girl, and the tragedy was understandably one of the turning points of Rousey’s athletic career.
Since hearing Correia’s comments, Rousey has repeatedly vowed to make an example of the undefeated Brazilian.
“I can’t have girls taking the same approach as Bethe,” Rousey reiterated Wednesday. “Ender’s Game was one of my favorite books growing up, and one the messages I took (from the book) is when you beat somebody, you have to beat them so well and thoroughly that you beat them all of the future times. You have to win all of the future possible fights.
“So I have to beat this girl so thoroughly that there’s not future girls who pick on my family in order to get a quicker title shot. Pick on me all you want, but leave them out of it. That’s what I really want to accomplish.”
Correia ultimately backtracked away from her comments, claiming that she was unaware of Rousey’s father’s suicide when she made her initial remarks.
Her mea culpa didn’t exactly come with an apology though, as Correia said only, “I’m humble enough to ask [you] for forgiveness.” And Rousey isn’t willing to let that fact slide.
“I don’t believe her at all,” Rousey said. “How could you know that many more obscure facts about my life and not know about that? I don’t know if I’m more insulted by what she said or by her phony attempt to save face, because she never even apologized. That’s the thing. She was just like, ‘I’m humble enough to ask for forgiveness.’
“You’re complimenting yourself and you’re asking for forgiveness without apologizing. And it’s all a lie. So that’s like A, B, and C of bulls**t, and I just don’t have the capacity for bulls**t.”
For better or worse, the incident ultimately became a driving narrative of UFC 190, and the fallout has done little to slow Correia’s trash talk.
Correia captured Rousey’s attention by defeating two of her training partners, Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler, thereby forcing a rivalry with Rousey’s Four Horsewomen group. The storyline took on a life of its own, which eventually led to Correia being granted her title shot. She has since continued to throw shots at Rousey nearly every chance she gets, even implying that Rousey is a one-trick pony who is fallible without her trademark armbars.
“The thing is, when you’re trying to address someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, you have to keep in mind that they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Rousey said. “My last five fights were all very different. It was a very different progression of events that happened in every single one, and it just kind of speaks to her ignorance.
“It’s like watching boxing (and saying), ‘oh, well it always ends with a punch, so they always do the same thing.’ Every single one of those armbars, the knockout with the knee, the knockout with the overhand right, they were all extremely different. If they all looked the same to you, that really shows how little you understand.”
On the second episode of UFC 190 Embedded, Mauricio Rua trains with his old mentor Rafael Cordeiro, Stefan Struve and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira hit the beaches of Brazil, Bethe Correia discusses the challenges and benefits of having her boyfriend se…
On the second episode of UFC 190 Embedded, Mauricio Rua trains with his old mentor Rafael Cordeiro, Stefan Struve and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira hit the beaches of Brazil, Bethe Correia discusses the challenges and benefits of having her boyfriend serve as her coach, and Ronda Rousey continues to prepare for the sixth defense of her UFC women’s bantamweight title.
Dominick Cruz is no stranger to the nasty vernacular of the fight game. After all, for much of the past four years there’s been plenty of halfwits on social media ready to remind Cruz about his injuries or his precipitous fall from UFC bantamweight champion to sideline fixture. Cruz has stayed largely silent during the process, but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his edge.
After hearing Duane Ludwig predict a two-round knockout win for his protégé, current UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw, in a potential match-up against Cruz, “The Dominator” minced no words with his scathing response Monday on The MMA Hour.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” a heated Cruz said. “Because Duane Ludwig is the same guy who told (Joseph) Benavidez, ‘just keep going forward on Demetrious Johnson. He doesn’t sit down on his punches, he can’t knock you out.’
“What happened to Benavidez? He got knocked out, and that’s because Duane Ludwig told him ‘don’t worry about Demetrious Johnson knocking you out, just go forward, he doesn’t hit hard.’ Duane Ludwig could learn something from me. I could be Duane Ludwig’s coach. Straight up. And so could (Alliance MMA head trainer) Eric del Fierro.”
Cruz is currently rehabilitating an ACL tear in his right knee. The injury, which he suffered in late-2014, was the fourth major injury he suffered since 2011. Cruz initially tore his left ACL twice, then torn his quad, the last of which sunk a proposed match-up against then-interim champion Renan Barao and prompted the UFC to strip Cruz of his long-held bantamweight title.
Cruz eventually returned with a stunning 61-second masterpiece over Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178, but once again injuries derailed him before he could mount a challenge for the UFC title.
This time around, though, the sidelines have done little to slow Cruz’s momentum. Interest in a fight against Dillashaw hit a new high Saturday night after Dillashaw dominated Barao for second straight time at UFC on FOX 16. Now Cruz is aiming to come back healthy at the end of the year or in early 2016, and when asked whether he’d prefer another warm-up fight before being given Dillashaw, Cruz was definitive in his reply.
“This one has been nine months,” he said. “That’s nothing compared to three years. This would be a cakewalk compared to what I went through before. I eat ACL surgeries for breakfast, man. This is nothing. I’m coming back strong as ever, looking just as sharp as I did against Mizugaki, and I’ll be winning my belt back. And when I win it, it’s not going to be for me anymore. It’s going to be for everybody who thinks that people are counting them out. That win is going to be for everybody who says you can’t something.
“Just believe that you can do it, and that all everybody else says is just a bunch of crap. Duane Ludwig is talking a bunch of nonsense about knocking me out. He doesn’t know anything. Have you heard him in an interview? He’s stuttering the whole time. The guy has been hit in his head too much already. The bottom line is, these guys don’t understand what I bring to the table. They don’t understand the style I bring. They don’t understand any of it. They think they do, but everything is a trap. I’m going to trap T.J. and he’s going to get slept.”
Out of all the possible options, a fight between Cruz and Dillashaw is one of the most interesting stylistic pairings the UFC can put on with its current roster. The bantamweights are considered to be two of the best tacticians in the sport, with both utilizing unorthodox movement and angles to befuddle their unsuspecting foes.
Dillashaw, though, is a late-comer to the style, having adapted it under the tutelage of Ludwig during the latter’s brief tenure at Team Alpha Male. Ludwig has since moved on to open his own gym in Denver, but he has remained Dillashaw’s head coach — much to the amusement of Cruz, whose long-standing feud with Team Alpha Male dates back to his early battles against Urijah Faber and Benavidez.
“The smartest thing T.J. Dillashaw ever did was leave Team Alpha Male,” Cruz said. “Because he’s not going to be able to do nothing with those guys. Ludwig already said that. He already told Alpha Male that. They got all sad and started crying about it on Twitter, but I see the same thing that Duane Ludwig does, and that’s what T.J. Dillashaw sees also, and that’s why he’s not at Alpha Male training anymore. He’s up in Colorado.”
While nothing can be finalized until Cruz is healthy, Dillashaw already wasted little time calling out the 29-year-old ex-champion. On the UFC on FOX 16 post-fight show, Dillashaw said he’d like to fight Cruz next, but also wondered aloud whether Cruz will be able to stay healthy long enough to complete the match.
To that end, Cruz can only try and keep an optimistic outlook towards the future.
“I can’t control that. At all,” Cruz said. “I’m working as hard as I can to be a world champion and I’m doing everything I can to make that happen.
“I’m training as safe as I can and I’m doing everything that I can. So that’s all that I’m going to continue to do. I will get in there healthy, and the bottom line is, I always follow through with my word. If there’s anything you can look back at throughout my career, it’s when I say something, I do it. So keep a look out, because I’m going to school T.J. Dillashaw and he’s going to stay No. 2.”
Dominick Cruz is no stranger to the nasty vernacular of the fight game. After all, for much of the past four years there’s been plenty of halfwits on social media ready to remind Cruz about his injuries or his precipitous fall from UFC bantamweight champion to sideline fixture. Cruz has stayed largely silent during the process, but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his edge.
After hearing Duane Ludwig predict a two-round knockout win for his protégé, current UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw, in a potential match-up against Cruz, “The Dominator” minced no words with his scathing response Monday on The MMA Hour.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” a heated Cruz said. “Because Duane Ludwig is the same guy who told (Joseph) Benavidez, ‘just keep going forward on Demetrious Johnson. He doesn’t sit down on his punches, he can’t knock you out.’
“What happened to Benavidez? He got knocked out, and that’s because Duane Ludwig told him ‘don’t worry about Demetrious Johnson knocking you out, just go forward, he doesn’t hit hard.’ Duane Ludwig could learn something from me. I could be Duane Ludwig’s coach. Straight up. And so could (Alliance MMA head trainer) Eric del Fierro.”
Cruz is currently rehabilitating an ACL tear in his right knee. The injury, which he suffered in late-2014, was the fourth major injury he suffered since 2011. Cruz initially tore his left ACL twice, then torn his quad, the last of which sunk a proposed match-up against then-interim champion Renan Barao and prompted the UFC to strip Cruz of his long-held bantamweight title.
Cruz eventually returned with a stunning 61-second masterpiece over Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178, but once again injuries derailed him before he could mount a challenge for the UFC title.
This time around, though, the sidelines have done little to slow Cruz’s momentum. Interest in a fight against Dillashaw hit a new high Saturday night after Dillashaw dominated Barao for second straight time at UFC on FOX 16. Now Cruz is aiming to come back healthy at the end of the year or in early 2016, and when asked whether he’d prefer another warm-up fight before being given Dillashaw, Cruz was definitive in his reply.
“This one has been nine months,” he said. “That’s nothing compared to three years. This would be a cakewalk compared to what I went through before. I eat ACL surgeries for breakfast, man. This is nothing. I’m coming back strong as ever, looking just as sharp as I did against Mizugaki, and I’ll be winning my belt back. And when I win it, it’s not going to be for me anymore. It’s going to be for everybody who thinks that people are counting them out. That win is going to be for everybody who says you can’t something.
“Just believe that you can do it, and that all everybody else says is just a bunch of crap. Duane Ludwig is talking a bunch of nonsense about knocking me out. He doesn’t know anything. Have you heard him in an interview? He’s stuttering the whole time. The guy has been hit in his head too much already. The bottom line is, these guys don’t understand what I bring to the table. They don’t understand the style I bring. They don’t understand any of it. They think they do, but everything is a trap. I’m going to trap T.J. and he’s going to get slept.”
Out of all the possible options, a fight between Cruz and Dillashaw is one of the most interesting stylistic pairings the UFC can put on with its current roster. The bantamweights are considered to be two of the best tacticians in the sport, with both utilizing unorthodox movement and angles to befuddle their unsuspecting foes.
Dillashaw, though, is a late-comer to the style, having adapted it under the tutelage of Ludwig during the latter’s brief tenure at Team Alpha Male. Ludwig has since moved on to open his own gym in Denver, but he has remained Dillashaw’s head coach — much to the amusement of Cruz, whose long-standing feud with Team Alpha Male dates back to his early battles against Urijah Faber and Benavidez.
“The smartest thing T.J. Dillashaw ever did was leave Team Alpha Male,” Cruz said. “Because he’s not going to be able to do nothing with those guys. Ludwig already said that. He already told Alpha Male that. They got all sad and started crying about it on Twitter, but I see the same thing that Duane Ludwig does, and that’s what T.J. Dillashaw sees also, and that’s why he’s not at Alpha Male training anymore. He’s up in Colorado.”
While nothing can be finalized until Cruz is healthy, Dillashaw already wasted little time calling out the 29-year-old ex-champion. On the UFC on FOX 16 post-fight show, Dillashaw said he’d like to fight Cruz next, but also wondered aloud whether Cruz will be able to stay healthy long enough to complete the match.
To that end, Cruz can only try and keep an optimistic outlook towards the future.
“I can’t control that. At all,” Cruz said. “I’m working as hard as I can to be a world champion and I’m doing everything I can to make that happen.
“I’m training as safe as I can and I’m doing everything that I can. So that’s all that I’m going to continue to do. I will get in there healthy, and the bottom line is, I always follow through with my word. If there’s anything you can look back at throughout my career, it’s when I say something, I do it. So keep a look out, because I’m going to school T.J. Dillashaw and he’s going to stay No. 2.”
HBOhas uploaded HBO Real Sports’ recent report on domestic violence in mixed martial arts in its entirety. The segment, which can be seen above, was first aired last week and featured the first on-camera interview with Christy Mack, the former girlfriend of ex-UFC and Bellator fighter War Machine who was allegedly beaten close to death by the now incarcerated fighter.
Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Rener Gracie were also interviewed for the piece. A study conducted by HBO Real Sports concluded that the frequency of domestic violence incidents involving MMA fighters is more than double the average national rate. (Warning: the above feature is NSFW.)
HBOhas uploaded HBO Real Sports’ recent report on domestic violence in mixed martial arts in its entirety. The segment, which can be seen above, was first aired last week and featured the first on-camera interview with Christy Mack, the former girlfriend of ex-UFC and Bellator fighter War Machine who was allegedly beaten close to death by the now incarcerated fighter.
Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Rener Gracie were also interviewed for the piece. A study conducted by HBO Real Sports concluded that the frequency of domestic violence incidents involving MMA fighters is more than double the average national rate. (Warning: the above feature is NSFW.)
