Anthony Pettis Calls Out Max Holloway For New York Bout

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis recently got back in the win column after dropping three straight. The win also marked a successful debut at featherweight for Pettis as he submitted top 10-contender Charles Oliveira at UFC on FOX 21 in Vancouver. In the aftermath of the bout, Pettis made it clear that he

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Speaking on today’s (September 6, 2016) edition of The MMA Hour, “Showtime” said that he’s targeting a fight with No. 3-ranked Max “Blessed” Holloway next, although he did admit that a future at 155-pounds remains an option:

“I’ve made my decision, I think me and Max Holloway would be a great fight. He’s sitting there on the sidelines waiting for a title shot, as well. He’s No. 3 in the world at featherweight and that’s the guy I would love to see myself fighting at 145 pounds. But then at 155 pounds, there are still good fights for me, too. I just have to sit down and figure it out.”

Holloway has won an incredible nine straight and is well-deserving of a title shot, but the division has been held up due to reigning champion Conor McGregor moving up in wait for a rivalry with Nate Diaz. McGregor is expected to drop back down to featherweight in the near future, but he’ll first take on interim titleholder Jose Aldo meaning Holloway will likely be booked in another fight.

Pettis also has his eyes set on a specific date and venue, and it will likely be one of the biggest cards of the year:

“New York City, Nov. 12. There are a lot of special things for me on that day. Nov. 12 is the day my dad passed away. That was rough day for my family. So with a Madison Square Garden fight, that day, it would be awesome to be on the card and make that day a special day for my family, and not have to remember, I mean, we are still going to remember it. We used to take the day completely off, I would hang out with my mom. My mom takes it pretty hard, so that was always a day for my mom.”

Would you like to see “Showtime” and “Blessed” clash at UFC 205 in New York?

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WAIT, HOW DID CM PUNK GET SANCTIONED TO FIGHT AGAIN?

Questionable to say the least… Whether you love him or hate him CM Punk is a thing. After this saturday (9/10/16), the straight edge former WWE champion will either be in the win or loss column with his UFC debut at UFC 203. The Chicago native will dawn his signature Pepsi tattoo against fellow […]

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Questionable to say the least…

Whether you love him or hate him CM Punk is a thing. After this saturday (9/10/16), the straight edge former WWE champion will either be in the win or loss column with his UFC debut at UFC 203. The Chicago native will dawn his signature Pepsi tattoo against fellow UFC newcomer Mickey Gall (2-0) as the co-co main event of the card held at Cleveland Ohio’s Quick and Loan Arena.

But wait a minute, let’s back track here. How exactly does a former sport entertainment star with no experience get sanctioned to fight in the most elite MMA stage on earth??? Butt loads of cash that’s how…I mean through a careful and logical judiciary process of course…(cough, cough).

So how exactly did CM punk get sanctioned? According to Ohio Administrative Code 3773-7-20(E) requires a fighter seeking licensure in Ohio to have at least five amateur bouts and a winning record in those contests. However, a fighter “may appeal to the executive director or Ohio athletic commission to have this waived.”

Punk clearly does not meet this standard, but according to Executive Director of the Ohio Athletic Commission, Bernie Profato his pre-determined matches with the WWE count as real world fight experience. “CM Punk has a wrestling background similar to Brock Lesner being permitted to fight in the past,” Profato said.

While both men did get there rise to stardom through professional wrestling, their backgrounds aren’t exactly the same. Brock Lesnar is a 2x all american NCAA division 1 wrestler who won the 285lb title in 2000. Secondly his first professional match technically against Judo Silver medalist Min Soo Kim under the K-1 organization which he won via first round TKO. Not his fight against Frank Mir at UFC 100 as most fans might think.

The second reasoning for sanctioning “Punk” was off of the strength of former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.

“There was also confidence in the matchmaker from the UFC and the past bouts he has submitted in previous UFC events in Ohio,” Profato argued

Now Joe Silva is a matchmaker, so I’m not sure why they would go to him on a fighter’s ability to defend himself. His job is to make the fights that will improve the ass to seat ratio, not on whether someone should be sanctioned. He’d book Conor McGregor vs. Scott Baio if the PPV numbers were right, but I digress.

The bottomline is that this comes down to money. Once again our beloved sport’s integrity is being undermined by greed. Ohio state commission is probably lining their pockets with a kick back from the UFC as well as the boatloads of cash the event will bring to the city, and the UFC is hoping to squeeze as much as they can out of the spectacle that is CM Punk. No skill, no reason, just the fact that you’ll pay to see it.

But maybe I’m wrong, maybe Ariel Helwani is right and the sport has no integrity, maybe it never did. It’s just a circus for whatever the people want to see. What do you guys think? Is the UFC just a whore to the industry or does it have a chance to be a legitimate sport?

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CM Punk’s UFC Debut: Definitive TImeline of Ex-WWE Star’s Long Road to UFC 203

The day is nearly upon us. Five-time world champion in the WWE CM Punk is finally, finally going to step into the Octagon at UFC 203 on Saturday.
Nearly three years removed from professional wrestling and two years removed from his initial s…

The day is nearly upon us. Five-time world champion in the WWE CM Punk is finally, finally going to step into the Octagon at UFC 203 on Saturday.

Nearly three years removed from professional wrestling and two years removed from his initial signing with the UFC, the man also known as Phil Brooks has had a long, difficult journey. There have been mysteries, there have been pitfalls, there have been lawsuits and there have been nonstop questions.

With that in mind, it’s worth taking a look at how Punk has gone from a top star in professional wrestling to one of the most divisive figures in MMA. Here is the definitive timeline of the long road to his UFC debut.

Begin Slideshow

CM Punk Granted Licensing Waiver To Fight At UFC 203

Phillip “CM Punk” Brooks is set to make his UFC debut against Mickey Gall on the main card of Saturday’s (September 10, 2016) UFC 203 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, yet there seems to be a shroud of questionable circumstances that have transpired to get Punk licensed to professionally fight in MMA. Punk

The post CM Punk Granted Licensing Waiver To Fight At UFC 203 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Punk has no amateur nor professional MMA bouts to his name, and according to Ohio Administrative Code 3773-7-20(E) via CombatSportsLaw.com, a fighter must have a minimum of five bouts with a winning record to be considered a professional fighter in the state:

A mixed martial arts fighter will be required to have a minimum of five recorded amateur bouts with a winning record prior to being permitted to compete as a professional mixed martial arts fighter. They may appeal to the executive director or Ohio athletic commission to have this waived.

The Ohio Athletic Commission (OAC) issued Punk a waiver to compete in the UFC’s first-ever pay-per-view from the state. The governing board called it a situation not unlike that of Brock Lesnar – who was recently given a USADA waiver to compete at July 9’s UFC 200, only to test positive for a banned estrogen blocking substance in both pre and post-fight tests – when contacted about the matter by Bloody Elbow:

‘We felt it was like the Brock Lesnar situation, that there’s enough experience, and trust the UFC would have also ensured that he met the qualifications to compete as a Professional. We have permitted others with past experience to turn Professional. That’s why the exemption was put in the rule. We feel that this is a competitive matchup.’

But this only serves to call the Commission’s decision into question, as Subsection(F) of the above Code states that any mixed martial artist over 35 years old – Punk is 37 – must compete in at least three bouts of a masters division before being licensed as a professional, in which the waiver like the one they granted him is actually not permitted:

Masters division: applies to all amateur mixed martial arts contestants ages thirty-five and over. They must compete in this division until they have competed in a minimum of three events. After three events and a winning record they may apply to the executive director or commission to be able to compete in all levels of amateur or professional competition.

So it seems that the OAC granted Brooks a license to fight in a high-profile UFC bout based solely on his longtime combat ‘sports’ experience as a decorated professional wrestler, although it could be obviously argued that those scripted matches, although no doubt physically taxing, are a far cry from fighting another trained man in a cage.

Of course, Ohio could have made the decision to grant Brooks his waiver based on the massive economic payday Cleveland stands to gain from its inaugural UFC pay-per-view. Do you believe they should have bent their own rules and allowed Punk to fight despite his lack of any relevant fighting experience whatsoever?

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Video: GSP Reveals Never-Before Told Reason Why He Walked Away From UFC

https://youtu.be/HvEI-JGu4w8

In the new documentary, “The Hurt Business,” former longtime UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre shed some light on one of the rarely-discussed reasons why he decided to walk away from the sport a few years ago.
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https://youtu.be/HvEI-JGu4w8

In the new documentary, “The Hurt Business,” former longtime UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre shed some light on one of the rarely-discussed reasons why he decided to walk away from the sport a few years ago.

In the past, GSP, who left the sport while sitting atop the 170-pound mountain as the reigning Welterweight Champion, pointed to the growing performance-enhancing drug (PED) epidemic in MMA and the accumulative pressures that come along with being a longtime champion of the sport.

In the above clip from the aforementioned documentary, St-Pierre reveals that another factor played into his decision — his growing lack of desire to hurt his opponents.

“Critics said I was fighting more to win instead of finishing the fight and it’s true,” St-Pierre said. “Toward the end, I didn’t have the same anger, I didn’t have the same drive to hurt the guy and to finish it. And it’s a fact. I tried to get it back, but it is very hard and I think the best way to get it back for me is step out, because it’s more an emotion thing.”

GSP continued, “I was fighting more for winning instead of for going through the guy. I needed to step out to let my hunger go up.”

St-Pierre has apparently gotten that hunger up, as he has been talking quite a bit in recent weeks/months about a return to the Octagon, pending his ability to reach a deal with UFC management.

H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing the above GSP quote.

Video: CM Punk On His MMA Team, Duke Roufus & Anthony Pettis On His Progress

https://youtu.be/wccMP5xnnAg

Ahead of this Saturday’s UFC 203 pay-per-view in Cleveland, Ohio, CM Punk is featured in a new video released by the UFC to promote his Octagon debut against UFC prospect Mickey Gall.

Featured above is the video, “UFC…

https://youtu.be/wccMP5xnnAg

Ahead of this Saturday’s UFC 203 pay-per-view in Cleveland, Ohio, CM Punk is featured in a new video released by the UFC to promote his Octagon debut against UFC prospect Mickey Gall.

Featured above is the video, “UFC 203: CM Punk – My Team Taught Me Everything,” which features the former WWE Superstar talking about the importance of his MMA fight team — Roufusport — in helping with his transition from pro wrestler with no MMA experience to a UFC pay-per-view main card fighter.

In addition to comments from Punk himself, the above video also features insight from Punk’s coach, Duke Roufus, as well as the star pupil in the Milwaukee-based gym, former UFC Lightweight Champion and current UFC Featherweight contender Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.

Punk-Gall takes place on the PPV main card at this Saturday’s UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem event, which goes down live from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Join us here at MMANews.com this Saturday for live coverage of the UFC 203 PPV!