Author: Steven Muehlhausen

Bisping Feels This Is the Real Main Event/Sonnen Feels Bisping Fight Is Bigger

We talked to Cheal Sonnen and Michael Bisping as they square off in co-main event Saturday night at UFC on Fox 2. Sonnen was originally supposed to face Mark Munoz, but Munoz suffered an elbow injury that forced him out of the fight last week. Bisping …

We talked to Cheal Sonnen and Michael Bisping as they square off in co-main event Saturday night at UFC on Fox 2. Sonnen was originally supposed to face Mark Munoz, but Munoz suffered an elbow injury that forced him out of the fight last week. Bisping was originally scheduled to face Demain Maia until the UFC stepped in and asked him if he could take the fight. 

UFC on Fox 2 takes place from the sold out United Center in Chicago with Rashad Evans vs Phil Davis as the headliner. The preliminary portion starts on Fuel TV at 5 p.m. EST with the main card on Fox starting at 8 p.m. EST.

Here are quotes from both fighters:

Bisping on getting the phone call with the announcement of him facing Sonnen: “I was excited. Dana (White) called me up and offered me the fight and I jumped at the opportunity. Chael is a great fighter and ranked No. 2 in the world and I’d be a fool to turn it down. I jumped at the opportunity. I’m excited, I beat Chael Sonnen and I’m fighting for the title. It’s all there. Ive been preparing for this since the day I was born. I’m in the best shape of my life and I’m ready kick some goddamn ass.”

Sonnen on the changing of opponents: “I never get locked in to a certain guy or anything. I know change is gonna happen. You gotta be able to roll with that.”

Sonnen on if this is a bigger fight than the original Munoz fight: “Much bigger.”

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UFC on FX 1 Video: Jorge Rivera Knew It Was Time to Retire

UFC on FX 1 press conference with Jorge Rivera as he talks about his victory over Eric Schafer, why he’s retiring, when he made the decision and what he feels defines his legacy and more. If Rivera is satisfied with his decision to retire: “Yeah, …

UFC on FX 1 press conference with Jorge Rivera as he talks about his victory over Eric Schafer, why he’s retiring, when he made the decision and what he feels defines his legacy and more.

If Rivera is satisfied with his decision to retire: “Yeah, I thought about it long and hard. I would have probably retired in August, but I didn’t want to go out with an L. So I was very happy with tonight’s result.”

If it was a hard decision to decide to retire: “It wasn’t a hard decision at all. I’m getting older. I’m gonna be 40 this year and I see some of these young guys like Melvin (Guillard) and Jim (Miller) and Pat (Barry). These guys are young and they’re no joke. My reflexes are slowing down, I got a family to take care of. I don’t want to suffer a serious injury to where it might complicate that. I’m very happy with what I’ve done here and very happy with what it gave back to me and it’s time to go. I’m happy to come out with a W.”

When he made the decision to retire and when he told the UFC: “I would say probably the start of camp. I had a school opening up and I was cutting time between training and opening the school see the future and what I wanted to do and how I wanted to go about it. I’ve had enough. I told Dana (White) at the weigh-in yesterday and then I told MMAJunkie this afternoon.”

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UFC on FX 1 Video: Melvin Guillard Says He Doesn’t Regret Changing Camps

At a UFC on FX 1 press conference with Melvin Guillard, he discusses his defeat to Jim Miller in the main event Friday night, the status of his ground game, whether he regrets changing camps, what went wrong in the fight, where he views himself in the …

At a UFC on FX 1 press conference with Melvin Guillard, he discusses his defeat to Jim Miller in the main event Friday night, the status of his ground game, whether he regrets changing camps, what went wrong in the fight, where he views himself in the lightweight division and more.

On his performance:

I came in tonight very focused. The key for me to my success right now is to be patient. I thought I had Jim hurt. He’s very tough. For me to hurt a guy like Jim, I didn’t want to overdo it and just fatigue my arms, so I tried to back off and reset and go back in again. I’m still having trouble figuring out how he caught my back. I don’t regret changing camps. I’ve been working on my back escapes and it’s crazy. I knew what exactly to do to get him off my back but when he grabbed me, he had it tight at that point. I couldn’t do anything.

On the people criticizing his jiu-jitsu and why it is still a continuing problem:

It wasn’t a problem. I mean, I did everything right. I knew exactly how to shake him off my back. I just happened, when he jumped on my back, I was actually going to go down, so I could pull his arm away from my throat. But when he reset, it shook me. He collapsed my hip and I fell down. At that point, I had to try to roll over to the other side. I was sticking to the basics of what I learned. You know a lot of people criticize my ground game, I’m not going to sit here and think I have the best ground game because obviously I don’t. I’ve lost fights on submissions. To lose to a guy like Jim, I wasn’t emotional about this loss like I was for the [Joe] Lauzon fight because I really feel in my heart the Lauzon fight was a fluke.

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UFC on FX 1 Video: Pat Barry Says His Ground Game Is Not ‘Garbage’

UFC heavyweight Pat Barry discusses his fight victory over Christian Morecraft, improvements in his ground game and whether he can compete for the title and more. Pat Barry on whether he is going back to his old haircut: “I made a deal. I haven’t done …

UFC heavyweight Pat Barry discusses his fight victory over Christian Morecraft, improvements in his ground game and whether he can compete for the title and more.

Pat Barry on whether he is going back to his old haircut:

“I made a deal. I haven’t done this since high school—that I was not going to cut the top of my hair until I submit somebody in the octagon. Probably means that I’m going to have a Clay Guida in a little while. That’s the plan for now. I’m bringing it back. Somebody actually wrote, Snooki got taller at the weigh-ins. The hair is going to be here for a bit.”

On the progression of his ground game in the fight:

“Well, I’ve said I’m finally the smallest guy in the room in Death Clutch. I’m finally the smallest guy there. We got Brock Lesnar, Cole Konrad who is a monster, Jon Madsen, a bunch of other guys.

We got Marty Morgan, who is a world-renowned wrestling coach. we’ve got Comprido who is also our ji-jitsu coach. So i have been able and given the opportunity finally roll around and grapple and get stronger with a bunch of guys who are a lot bigger than i am. I mean Christian Morecraft fell on top of me. Christian Morecraft went for submissions. But if you can become accustomed to Cole Konrad trying to pull your arm or Brock Lesnar trying to squeeze your head off, then everybody else you tend to stay a little bit more calm and relaxed.

Whereas before, back in the day as soon as you grabbed my forearm I just started tapping everything. I am definitely growing. my ground game is not as garbage as the world thinks.

I actually had a guillotine for about three seconds. I don’t know if you all saw that. But I had it in for about three seconds then I got taken down. That sucks. Sorry, Marty.”

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UFC on FX Headliners Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller Discuss Their Upcoming Fight

UFC on FX 1 headliners Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller recently spoke to the media to discuss their fight against one another on Friday night and much more. UFC on FX 1 takes place on Friday night from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The preli…

UFC on FX 1 headliners Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller recently spoke to the media to discuss their fight against one another on Friday night and much more.

UFC on FX 1 takes place on Friday night from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The prelims begin at 6PM ET/3PT on Fuel TV with the main card starting at 9ET/6PT on FX.

Here are some tidbits from each fighter as we get close to the fight.

Guillard on people saying he overlooked Joe Lauzon at UFC 136: “Everybody has their own opinions. Like I tell everybody and I’ve been stressing this, I don’t overlook anyone. Everybody in this game is tough. That’s why it’s the UFC. That’s why the UFC is as big as it is. They know how to pick talent. I didn’t call out Joe Lauzon because he was an easy fight. I called out Joe Lauzon because I knew he was tough. I really wanted to fight in Houston in front of my family. I didn’t want them to give me that would have been an easy fight, so I asked to fight Joe Lauzon. I respect Joe Lauzon and he’s a very talented fighter.”

On being headliner for this card considering he was coming off a loss: “No, I’m never shocked about stuff like that. Everybody knows when I fight, I come to fight, win or lose I’m coming to fight. I put on a great show for the fans all the time. That’s the way I fight, that’s my style of fighting. I want to make sure the fans enjoy every minute, every moment of me being in the octagon. I wasn’t surprised. Was I surprised it was Jim Miller? Not really. We are two top guys in our division. We are both coming off two tough losses. This fight makes all the sense in the world.”

Miller on what went wrong with Ben Henderson: “I didn’t adapt to the situation. I had an off night. I tried to fight like I don’t normally fight. It didn’t work out to my advantage.”

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UFC on FX 1: Guillard vs Miller Weigh-in Video

The new year kicks off with a bang on Friday with UFC on FX 1: Guillard vs Miller, as the UFC officially starts their deal with Fox. The show takes place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville,TN.The prelims start on Fuel TV 6PM ET/3PT, with the main …

The new year kicks off with a bang on Friday with UFC on FX 1: Guillard vs Miller, as the UFC officially starts their deal with Fox. The show takes place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville,TN.

The prelims start on Fuel TV 6PM ET/3PT, with the main card on FX at 9ET/6PT.

The main event features Melvin Guillard vs Jim Miller in a battle of two lightweights looking to stay in contention in the weight class.

Guillard (29-9-2) is looking to rebound from a loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 136; he faces Miller (20-3), who is also coming off a loss, against number one contender Ben Henderson at UFC on Versus 5 event. A win for either guy should put them right in title picture.

“I expect a great fight between Melvin and I,” Miller said at the weigh in Thursday. “We’re two of the best guys in the division. I’m hungry for the win.”

Here are the main card fighter’s weigh in results:

Jim Miller (155) vs Melvin Guillard (156)

Josh Neer(171) vs Duane Ludwig (170.5)

Jared Papazian (135.5) vs Mike Easton (135)

Christian Morecraft (256) vs Pat Barry (242)

 

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