UFC president Dana White hasn’t always been a big fan of the sport’s elite trainers.
He may have retired Greg Jackson’s ‘sport killer’ moniker, but he has choice words for UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez’s American Kickboxing Academy camp in San Jose.
Speaking with Setanta Sports, White made it known he isn’t happy watching one of his biggest stars sit on the shelf nursing injury after injury.
“Some of the camps are still in the stone ages and need to be brought up to date,” White said. “AKA is one of those places. You’ve got Cain Velasquez, our heavyweight champion, who’s always hurt. Those guys go to war every day.”
Velasquez hasn’t competed since scoring a TKO victory over former champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 166 in October 2013.
The champ was meant to star in the promotion’s debut event in Mexico at UFC 180, but was forced to withdraw less than a month before fight night due to a torn MCL and meniscus suffered in training.
Prior to Velasquez being re-booked to face interim champion Fabrício Werdum June 13 at UFC 188, White set a deadline stating that if the champion was unfit to fight by March 2015 he could have been stripped of his title.
“He’s training for a fight and he’s going to war with Daniel Cormier every day,” said White. “That’s not how it’s done. Not anymore. We need to educate a lot more.”
White noted the UFC’s snake-bitten 2012 and 2014 campaigns, saying he would have never believed so many main and co-main events could fall through due to injury.
“We’re working on how to try to fix things like that,” said White. “Obviously educating the fighters on training better, training safer. We’re building a new headquarters in Las Vegas. We break ground in June and it will be done the following June in 2016. We’re building a huge facility for rehab and therapy.
“Normally what we would do is say, ‘[Conor McGregor], you blew your ACL out. We’re going to send you to the best surgeon in the country and then come back and let us know when you’re ready.’ No [major sports franchise] does that.”
With the help of the new facility, White says the promotion will work to reduce injuries by ‘controlling the uncontrollable.’
“Now we’re going to take the guys in and when they have surgery, they’re going to be there in our facility with the best therapists recovering,” White said. “We’re going to watch over them and we’re going to continue to educate these guys on how to train safer. We’re going to try to fix the things you normally can’t control. We’re going to try to control the uncontrollable.”
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Changes. The UFC will use tenure, not rankings, to determine Reebok money distribution for fighters.
‘I didn’t take it.’ Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva reacts to the news he’d tested positive for PEDs on TUF Brazil. ‘I didn’t take anything. Do you think I’m crazy?’
Monday Morning Analyst. Luke Thomas breaks down the techniques from UFC on FOX 15.
‘I’m very disappointed in my stupidity.’ Hector Lombard maintains his innocence after testing positive for PEDs at UFC 182 saying he took a pill from a friend to treat the flu. ‘This is what’s going to keep me going, I’ve got to stick around for a few more years to prove that I don’t need none of that.’
‘I’m entirely looking at it as a business move.’ Phil Davis says he would have liked to stay with the UFC for ‘a big contract.’
Watch The MMA Hour with Phil Davis, Hector Lombard, Max Holloway, Gian Villante, Jessica Rakoczy, Sarah Kaufman, Stephane Patry and Shaun Al-Shatti.
MEDIA STEW
Dan Hardy breaks down UFC 186.
Countdown to UFC 186: Michael Bisping vs. CB Dolloway.
Jose Aldo training some boxing.
Michael Bisping says he isn’t convinced Chris Weidman is all that great.
Demetrious Johnson one-ups Conor McGregor’s Floyd Mayweather prediction.
Luke Rockhold says Sensei Seagal is no joke.
Long watches.
Show Money, Ep. 3 (04-20-2015)
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Chad Mendes: Lamas KO, What’s next, Aldo vs McGregor, Easiest path to the title, Urijah Faber
…
Phuket Dreaming Season 2 – Episode 2 “Selling Dreams” (On location at Phuket Top Team)
TWEETS
Approve.
I for one highly approve of this system 🙂 nothing to do with the fact I’ve had 23 Ufc fights … https://t.co/OOTefsFdKs
— michael (@bisping) April 20, 2015
I’m thrilled about this: @ufc tenure will determine @Reebok sponsorship money, not rankings. http://t.co/zZRxnXlUN2 big improvement.
— Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) April 20, 2015
@danawhite @lorenzofertitta it’s real honorable you guys appreciate all the wars us vets have bled for @ufc new @Reebok compensation deal
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) April 21, 2015
Flexing.
Photo shoot for silva fight wasn’t flexing yet #noflexzone #ufc #venum https://t.co/D6TJ1PtQmh
— nick diaz (@nickdiaz209) April 20, 2015
Pirate wenches.
Time travel renaissance pleasure faire! with my amazing sister Jen (the genius photographer) and… https://t.co/t9QV3gfzIl
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) April 20, 2015
Back.
Getting better one day at a time. Always a pleasure having @wonderboymma in! @gpvillante even showed… https://t.co/9JnBOD3Ji1
— Chris Weidman (@ChrisWeidmanUFC) April 20, 2015
Get well soon.
After fight damage. Getting my teeth pulled back in place and baced to the others and the… https://t.co/eQD30C1GNk
— Corey Anderson UFC (@CoreyA_MMA) April 20, 2015
Voltando de levinho. || Starting to do a couple training slowly. #teamant #kvra #kvraco #kvragirl… https://t.co/ss85Z4BZj7
— Claudia Gadelha (@ClaudiaGadelha_) April 21, 2015
Dr. Appt this morning, hoping to get released this week! Time to start kicking ass!
— Eddie Wineland (@EddieWineland) April 20, 2015
Cool?
My new Walkout tees coming soon! Affliction Clothing giving true meaning to “Signature Series”! pic.twitter.com/ClQRRzmt5P
— Cain Velasquez (@cainmma) April 20, 2015
BP’d. Get on my level.
This is from the new Mortal Kombat game. What do you think? lol pic.twitter.com/0x5vjUJym5
— Jose Aldo Junior (@josealdojunior) April 20, 2015
Happy holidays.
#Happy420 #cbd #cure #livestrong420 #420 #nsac #ufc #fans https://t.co/QpBABhifvY
— nick diaz (@nickdiaz209) April 21, 2015
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (April 20 2015)
Douglas Lima vs. Andrey Koreshkov at Bellator 140
Rousimar Palhares vs. Jake Shields at WSOF 22: Palhares vs. Shields
Damon Jackson vs. Rony Jason at UFC Fight Night: Alves vs. Condit
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via Johnny Jimmy.
“A CHAMPION WILL BE CROWNED” AND OTHER FICTION STORIES
I’ll admit that I was one of the people who thought Felice Herrig would smoke Paige VanZant. I mean, Felice seemed physically stronger, had more MMA experience, and taking into account her dozens of kickboxing and Muay Thai fights, she had way more experience overall.
In her UFC debut, Felice submitted Lisa Ellis, who was also a veteran of the game and had faced some of the greatest strawweights of all time (namely, Aguilar and Fujii). Felice had also faced her own share of great fighters in Carla Esparza, Tecia Torres and Barb Honchack. All of those were losses, but it goes to show that she had a lot of experience at the highest level. Or… was that actually the highest level?
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Check out the rest of the post here.
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