(Weidman delivering an inspirational speech while still in his hospital bed, following surgery Wednesday | Via Weidman’s Youtube account)
The first step in Chris Weidman’s elaborate counter-plan to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva chasing super-fights and blatantly avoiding him was completed Wednesday, as the contender underwent successful shoulder surgery. Weidman went under the knife to repair a host of problems, including a torn AC joint and a torn labrum and rotator cuff.
Unbeaten in nine professional fights, Weidman set himself apart as the clear number one contender to Silva’s belt with wins over former title challenger Demian Maia and fellow top contender Mark Munoz. The Long Island native’s campaign towards gold came at an inconvenient time as the champion turned his attention instead towards fights with Stephan Bonnar and, potentially, Georges St. Pierre, claiming he had no interest in defending his belt for some time.
(Weidman delivering an inspirational speech while still in his hospital bed, following surgery Wednesday | Via Weidman’s Youtube account)
The first step in Chris Weidman’s elaborate counter-plan to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva chasing super-fights and blatantly avoiding him was completed Wednesday, as the contender underwent successful shoulder surgery. Weidman went under the knife to repair a host of problems, including a torn AC joint and a torn labrum and rotator cuff.
Unbeaten in nine professional fights, Weidman set himself apart as the clear number one contender to Silva’s belt with wins over former title challenger Demian Maia and fellow top contender Mark Munoz. The Long Island native’s campaign towards gold came at an inconvenient time as the champion turned his attention instead towards fights with Stephan Bonnar and, potentially, Georges St. Pierre, claiming he had no interest in defending his belt for some time.
A title shot for the Serra/Longo protege would be the pot of gold at the end of…well, whatever the opposite of a nice rainbow is. Weidman saw his title shot hopes fade away because Anderson Silva’s management didn’t think he was a big enough deal, then had his new home destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, then blew out his shoulder, all in succession.
So what would you rather see at this point, nation — Anderson vs. GSP or Anderson vs. Weidman? We know we’re not getting our dream match-up any time soon…
Inspired by that punch-power machine Drago was lighting up in Rocky IV (seriously), Michael Williamson designed the Ten Count Bag to be a cutting-edge training tool for boxers and MMA fighters to analyze their striking power and frequency, and track their improvement. The tricked-out heavy-bag uses a bluetooth connection to transmit information to your computer, tablet, or cell phone, telling you how hard you hit, the average force of your strikes, and how many punches you throw per round, giving you hard data to compare your workouts over time; you can even compare your performance against other users online.
Williamson and his team are producing the Ten Count Bag independently — which ain’t cheap, as he explains in the video above — so he’s looking for some outside help to get his product to market. Here’s the link where you can donate money to his cause or pre-order one of the bags. And here’s what’s in it for you:
– Once the Ten Count Bag has raised $30,000, one CagePotato donor will be randomly selected to receive one of the bags. All you have to do is type the word “CagePotato” in the comments section of the Indiegogo page after you kick in some cash, and you’ll be entered to win.
– Everyone who pre-orders a bag (check out the $299 “Super Early Bird” level) before December 9th will receive a free pair of MMA gloves and a set of handwraps, compliments of CagePotato.
Once the Ten Count Bag hits market, Williamson plans to develop another product that will monitor concussions in combat sports — which could revolutionize training safety in MMA and boxing. (You wouldn’t need to be a Ph.D. candidate to know when to quit fighting, for example.) So give the video a look, donate or order if you can, and help an awesome new training product get off the ground — and possibly into your own home.
Inspired by that punch-power machine Drago was lighting up in Rocky IV (seriously), Michael Williamson designed the Ten Count Bag to be a cutting-edge training tool for boxers and MMA fighters to analyze their striking power and frequency, and track their improvement. The tricked-out heavy-bag uses a bluetooth connection to transmit information to your computer, tablet, or cell phone, telling you how hard you hit, the average force of your strikes, and how many punches you throw per round, giving you hard data to compare your workouts over time; you can even compare your performance against other users online.
Williamson and his team are producing the Ten Count Bag independently — which ain’t cheap, as he explains in the video above — so he’s looking for some outside help to get his product to market. Here’s the link where you can donate money to his cause or pre-order one of the bags. And here’s what’s in it for you:
– Once the Ten Count Bag has raised $30,000, one CagePotato donor will be randomly selected to receive one of the bags. All you have to do is type the word “CagePotato” in the comments section of the Indiegogo page after you kick in some cash, and you’ll be entered to win.
– Everyone who pre-orders a bag (check out the $299 “Super Early Bird” level) before December 9th will receive a free pair of MMA gloves and a set of handwraps, compliments of CagePotato.
Once the Ten Count Bag hits market, Williamson plans to develop another product that will monitor concussions in combat sports — which could revolutionize training safety in MMA and boxing. (You wouldn’t need to be a Ph.D. candidate to know when to quit fighting, for example.) So give the video a look, donate or order if you can, and help an awesome new training product get off the ground — and possibly into your own home.
There’s no need for a wordy introduction here: Strikeforce has officially become so incompetent that it can’t even die correctly.
After canceling two consecutive events, Strikeforce planned to have an absolutely stacked grand finale on January 12, 2013 featuring three title fights and Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier. Much like everything else that Strikeforce has planned since being purchased by Zuffa, things quickly went wrong. First, lightweight kingpin Gilbert Melendez got injured/realized he was in a no-win scenario fighting for Strikeforce again and pulled out of the event. Now, middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is also off of the card, citing a wrist injury as the reason for his departure. According to The MMA Corner:
The MMA Corner has learned from sources close to the camp of Rockhold that the middleweight champion has suffered a wrist injury and has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled Jan. 12 title defense against Lorenz Larkin.
There’s no need for a wordy introduction here: Strikeforce has officially become so incompetent that it can’t even die correctly.
After canceling two consecutive events, Strikeforce planned to have an absolutely stacked grand finale on January 12, 2013 featuring three title fights and Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier. Much like everything else that Strikeforce has planned since being purchased by Zuffa, things quickly went wrong. First, lightweight kingpin Gilbert Melendez got injured/realized he was in a no-win scenario fighting for Strikeforce again and pulled out of the event. Now, middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is also off of the card, citing a wrist injury as the reason for his departure. According to The MMA Corner:
The MMA Corner has learned from sources close to the camp of Rockhold that the middleweight champion has suffered a wrist injury and has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled Jan. 12 title defense against Lorenz Larkin.
Rockhold and Larkin were previously slated to meet on Strikeforce’s Nov. 3 card, but Rockhold was forced out of that contest with an injury to the same wrist and the entire card was subsequently canceled.
For those of you keeping score, Strikeforce’s final card, Strikeforce: Champions, now features only one champion. That champion, welterweight champion Nate Marquardt, will be defending his title against Tarec Saffiedine, assuming Nate the Great doesn’t also pull out of this utterly pointless title defense. Also on the card, Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier will beat up Dutch veteran Dion Staring and Mike Kyle will fight former champion Gegard Mousasi.
Anyone out there want to bet that this event ends up getting scrapped as well?
It’s safe to say that we should all be thankful that 2012 is almost over. This has been a rough year to be an MMA fan, and with a damn-near legendary injury curse spanning the last eleven months, it’s been just as hard on the fighters. But this has been an especially hard year for UFC veteran Dennis Hallman, whose house burned down in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.
As Hallman told MMAFighting.com, the cause of the fire is unknown, but authorities believe it was an electrical fire. No one was hurt, but Dennis Hallman has lost everything to the fire.
It’s safe to say that we should all be thankful that 2012 is almost over. This has been a rough year to be an MMA fan, and with a damn-near legendary injury curse spanning the last eleven months, it’s been just as hard on the fighters. But this has been an especially hard year for UFC veteran Dennis Hallman, whose house burned down in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.
As Hallman told MMAFighting.com, the cause of the fire is unknown, but authorities believe it was an electrical fire. No one was hurt, but Dennis Hallman has lost everything to the fire.
After battling injuries throughout the first half of the year, Hallman was expected to fight Thiago Tavares on at UFC 151. When that event got axed, Hallman/Tavares was rescheduled for UFC on FX 5. Hallman would show up seven pounds overweight, canceling the bout entirely. Dennis Hallman would walk away from competition in order to deal with an ugly custody dispute with his wife, who is reportedly battling a drug addiction.
I realize that money is tight for everyone -especially with the holidays approaching – but anything you can afford to give will help Dennis out. You can donate to him by visiting this page. Hopefully, Dennis can get a fresh start in a new house in time for his family to enjoy the holiday season.
(Unless you plan on “purging” that, Anderson, you may need to switch your diet up a bit to make 170 pounds)
It never really becomes crystal clear if we’re getting closer to MMA’s two best pound-for-pound fighters fighting one another or further away from it. UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva has finally warmed to the idea of fighting welterweight king Georges St. Pierre, six years after each man won their first world titles.
Well, Silva has more than warmed to the idea. He’s practically begging for the fight.
He even hijacked St. Pierre and Carlos Condit’s special Primetime moment to lobby for the bout. The much smaller St. Pierre, however, doesn’t seem to like the idea of fighting Anderson nearly as much.
GSP has only gone so far as to wonder out loud if Silva could once again make the welterweight limit, and his head coach has said he’d only want his charge taking the bout if it was at welterweight, not at a heavier catch weight, as Silva’s camp has suggested in the past.
Alright, let’s say that GSP gets his way and Anderson gets on a Machinist diet and gets down to welterweight…unlikely but if he did we could get more than a “legacy fight.” We’d get an honest to goodness, here and now title fight.
Well, don’t you worry your pretty lil head about that exciting possibility. UFC President Dana White is here to dampen your enthusiasm.
When asked last Saturday if GSP’s belt would be on the line if “The Spider” came down in weight to fight him, White replied, “Probably not, because I don’t know how many times Anderson would actually defend it.”
Great. So if St. Pierre gets his wish he’d be fighting an emaciated Silva who wouldn’t even have the incentive of getting a hold of another title belt if he earned it with a win.
Unless Uncle Dana was just being crazy like a match-making fox. Hear me out.
(Unless you plan on “purging” that, Anderson, you may need to switch your diet up a bit to make 170 pounds)
It never really becomes crystal clear if we’re getting closer to MMA’s two best pound-for-pound fighters fighting one another or further away from it. UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva has finally warmed to the idea of fighting welterweight king Georges St. Pierre, six years after each man won their first world titles.
Well, Silva has more than warmed to the idea. He’s practically begging for the fight.
He even hijacked St. Pierre and Carlos Condit’s special Primetime moment to lobby for the bout. The much smaller St. Pierre, however, doesn’t seem to like the idea of fighting Anderson nearly as much.
GSP has only gone so far as to wonder out loud if Silva could once again make the welterweight limit, and his head coach has said he’d only want his charge taking the bout if it was at welterweight, not at a heavier catch weight, as Silva’s camp has suggested in the past.
Alright, let’s say that GSP gets his way and Anderson gets on a Machinist diet and gets down to welterweight…unlikely but if he did we could get more than a “legacy fight.” We’d get an honest to goodness, here and now title fight.
Well, don’t you worry your pretty lil head about that exciting possibility. UFC President Dana White is here to dampen your enthusiasm.
When asked last Saturday if GSP’s belt would be on the line if “The Spider” came down in weight to fight him, White replied, “Probably not, because I don’t know how many times Anderson would actually defend it.”
Great. So if St. Pierre gets his wish he’d be fighting an emaciated Silva who wouldn’t even have the incentive of getting a hold of another title belt if he earned it with a win.
Unless Uncle Dana was just being crazy like a match-making fox. Hear me out.
What if White knows it is unlikely, for whatever set of reasons, that Silva would fight at welterweight and so was trying to deflate any excitement around that particular version of the match that he clearly wants to make so that St. Pierre got the picture and opened himself up to a catchweight possibility?
St. Pierre would look pretty bad making Silva come down in weight and then not even risking his belt. And the championship itself would surely be degraded if the two fought at its weight, Silva won and St. Pierre retained a then pointless title.
Who knows? I’m definitely in desperately searching for meaning territory now. But I’m coming down an intense sugar high from eight different Thanksgiving desserts in the last twenty four hours so I’m a bit foggy.
Point is, if White says a 170lb bout between GSP and Anderson won’t be for the belt, then it shouldn’t happen at that weight. Silva has never gone up in weight to face a reigning champion, but he has gone up in weight and fought very good light heavyweights. Fans of this super fight need to hope that St. Pierre meets Silva half way for it to retain meaning.
What do you think, ‘taters? Do you still want to see this fight? What weight do you want to see it at? Should I put down the fork while I’m typing in the future?
