(It’s official — Dominick Cruz is the most cursed fighter in MMA history. / Photo via Getty)
The world is a dark, senseless place. The evil are allowed to roam unpunished, while the good-hearted are forced to suffer and suffer and suffer. I don’t know how else to set up this news, but look, Dominick Cruz blew out his knee again. No not thatknee, the other knee. As he wrote on his Facebook page today:
It is with great sadness to report I have experienced another ACL injury. This time it’s in the right knee, opposite side of my first and second ACL injuries. Leading up to my last fight in September and after, I have practiced a very careful and methodical training and diet regime to keep my body healthy. Unfortunately, this is beyond my understanding and control. I don’t have a timetable for my return but trust and know I will pour my heart and soul into returning to the Octagon. I want to thank the UFC, my fans and my sponsors ahead of time for your support and prayers. I appreciate you more than you could understand. I don’t have any other facts to share right now. I, along with my camp, respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Thank You.
Cruz’s previous knee injuries cost him three full years of his competitive prime, as well as the UFC bantamweight title belt that he’d defended twice in 2011. When he finally returned at UFC 178, he needed just 61 seconds to lay a hellacious, cathartic beatdown on Takeya Mizugaki. Every fan of the Dominator was already looking forward to seeing him tangle with current champ TJ Dillashaw in the spring. Now, that won’t happen. Cruz will go back into surgery and rehab, and the UFC bantamweight division will go back to being a weight class you only sort of care about.
Merry goddamned Christmas.
(It’s official — Dominick Cruz is the most cursed fighter in MMA history. / Photo via Getty)
The world is a dark, senseless place. The evil are allowed to roam unpunished, while the good-hearted are forced to suffer and suffer and suffer. I don’t know how else to set up this news, but look, Dominick Cruz blew out his knee again. No not thatknee, the other knee. As he wrote on his Facebook page today:
It is with great sadness to report I have experienced another ACL injury. This time it’s in the right knee, opposite side of my first and second ACL injuries. Leading up to my last fight in September and after, I have practiced a very careful and methodical training and diet regime to keep my body healthy. Unfortunately, this is beyond my understanding and control. I don’t have a timetable for my return but trust and know I will pour my heart and soul into returning to the Octagon. I want to thank the UFC, my fans and my sponsors ahead of time for your support and prayers. I appreciate you more than you could understand. I don’t have any other facts to share right now. I, along with my camp, respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Thank You.
Cruz’s previous knee injuries cost him three full years of his competitive prime, as well as the UFC bantamweight title belt that he’d defended twice in 2011. When he finally returned at UFC 178, he needed just 61 seconds to lay a hellacious, cathartic beatdown on Takeya Mizugaki. Every fan of the Dominator was already looking forward to seeing him tangle with current champ TJ Dillashaw in the spring. Now, that won’t happen. Cruz will go back into surgery and rehab, and the UFC bantamweight division will go back to being a weight class you only sort of care about.
Fresh off a 14-second flying armbar victory over some broad at a UFC Fan Expo, Cat Zingano finally has her return fight booked. The former #1 contender will take on hard-hitting Amanda Nunes on September 27th at UFC 178: Jones vs. Gustafsson II, which despite having just 4 fights booked, is already more stacked than any PPV card we will see before or after it (*laughs, then cries into whiskey glass*).
Zingano’s placement on the card seems both highly fitting, given that UFC 178 will also feature the return of Dominick Cruz from *his* ACL/groin injury, and a hell of a gamble on the UFC’s part, if you ask me. Oh well, I’m sure everything will work out fine.
The fight will be the first in what has been an emotionally and physically trying 18 months for Zingano, who has been forced to deal with both the ACL injury that removed her from the title picture and the unexpected and shocking suicide of her husband/coach, Mauricio. Should she defeat Nunes in triumphant fashion, expect a Lifetime movie at the very minimum to be made in “Alpha’s” honor — something like Not Without My 4 oz. Gloves or Uncaged Passion: The Cat Zingano Story.
(WE’VE EARNED THIS!!!!)
Fresh off a 14-second flying armbar victory over some broad at a UFC Fan Expo, Cat Zingano finally has her return fight booked. The former #1 contender will take on hard-hitting Amanda Nunes on September 29th at UFC 178: Jones vs. Gustafsson II, which despite having just 4 fights booked, is already more stacked than any PPV card we will see before or after it (*laughs, then cries into whiskey glass*).
Zingano’s placement on the card seems both highly fitting, given that UFC 178 will also feature the return of Dominick Cruz from *his* ACL/groin injury, and a hell of a gamble on the UFC’s part, if you ask me. Oh well, I’m sure everything will work out fine.
The fight will be the first in what has been an emotionally and physically trying 18 months for Zingano, who has been forced to deal with both the ACL injury that removed her from the title picture and the unexpected and shocking suicide of her husband/coach, Mauricio. Should she defeat Nunes in triumphant fashion, expect a Lifetime movie at the very minimum to be made in “Alpha’s” honor — something like Not Without My 4 oz. Gloves or Uncaged Passion: The Cat Zingano Story.
Nunes has also been out of action for a significant, albeit much shorter period of time than Zingano as well. After kickstarting her UFC career with two decisive first round TKOs in 2013, Nunes was offered the chance to fill in for an injured Shayna Baszler against former title challenger Sarah Kaufman at the TUF Nations Finale back in April. She accepted, only to be similarly struck down with a dislocated thumb five days later. The Zingano fight will make for her first since November of last year.
Will Zingano pick up where she left off? Or will Nunes prove to be the next challenger worthy of a Ronda Rousey ass-whippin’? Will we ever stop inserting this video of Zingano stretching into every last post about her, no matter how unnecessary it is? Tune into UFC 178 to find out! (except for that last question, the answer to which is no.)
(Ugh, post-knockout leg lifts are just the *worst*. Photo via Getty.)
There wasn’t an MMA fan among us who enjoyed watching Antonio Rodrigo Nogueiraget pancaked by Roy Nelson at Fight Night 39. The ugly loss accounted for Minotauro’s second in as many contests and 5th in his past 8 overall. Even more unsettling is the fact that in those 5 defeats, the formerly unfinishable heavyweight has suffered two broken arms and at least three concussions, not to mention the litany of injuries he’s gone down with in between those fights.
In short, it would appear that Big Nog’s body is trying to tell him something. Unfortunately for his arms, legs, torso, and jaw, his mind has apparently yet to receive the message. It was revealed over the weekend by Nogueira himself that the former PRIDE champion had tore his ACL just days prior to his contest with Nelson, which might have explained why he looked as if he was fighting underwater in the minutes leading up to his brutal loss:
I just got my exams, and I unfortunately tore my ACL. Three days before the fight, I was training wrestling and I twisted my right knee working on a single leg. I stopped training, and I felt it during the fight. I did the exams as soon as I returned to Brazil, and I found out this morning that I hurt the ACL and LCL.
I’m going to need surgery. I had the same surgery on the left knee three years ago, and now it’s on the right knee.
So basically, Nogueira’s body is a ticking time bomb. But rest assured, he still wants another fight…
(Ugh, post-knockout leg lifts are just the *worst*. Photo via Getty.)
There wasn’t an MMA fan among us who enjoyed watching Antonio Rodrigo Nogueiraget pancaked by Roy Nelson at Fight Night 39. The ugly loss accounted for Minotauro’s second in as many contests and 5th in his past 8 overall. Even more unsettling is the fact that in those 5 defeats, the formerly unfinishable heavyweight has suffered two broken arms and at least three concussions, not to mention the litany of injuries he’s gone down with in between those fights.
In short, it would appear that Big Nog’s body is trying to tell him something. Unfortunately for his arms, legs, torso, and jaw, his mind has apparently yet to receive the message. It was revealed over the weekend by Nogueira himself that the former PRIDE champion had tore his ACL just days prior to his contest with Nelson, which might have explained why he looked as if he was fighting underwater in the minutes leading up to his brutal loss:
I just got my exams, and I unfortunately tore my ACL. Three days before the fight, I was training wrestling and I twisted my right knee working on a single leg. I stopped training, and I felt it during the fight. I did the exams as soon as I returned to Brazil, and I found out this morning that I hurt the ACL and LCL.
I’m going to need surgery. I had the same surgery on the left knee three years ago, and now it’s on the right knee.
So basically, Nogueira’s body is a ticking time bomb. But rest assured, he still wants another fight…
I want to recover and see what happens, but I want to fight. I was feeling great, had a great training camp for this fight. I was fast, but I couldn’t perform. I have to recover and start it all over again.
Well, at least we know that Nogueira has yet to actually see a video of the fight, because if he thinks he was faster than anything but a T-1000 covered in liquid nitrogen, he is sorely mistaken.
But who would you like to see Big Nog face when he returns from his latest surgery, Nation? A willow tree? A slowly-shifting tectonic plate? Father Time?
