Dana White says Nick Diaz will get the next Welterweight title-shot should he beat BJ Penn at UFC 137. Let’s see how Diaz can f*** this up… M-1 Global Light Heavyweight Champion, Vinny Magalhaes competes.
Dana White says Nick Diaz will get the next Welterweight title-shot should he beat BJ Penn at UFC 137. Let’s see how Diaz can f*** this up…
Cage Warriors promotion getting with the times by implementing blood testing (My God, they weren’t testing before? WTF! Those guys could have gotten the herp or HIV and they probably only get $300 to fight. That doesn’t even cover a year’s supply of VALTREX, not that I would know this…) and possible steroid testing.
Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal to add KJ Noons vs. Billy Evangelista to December 17th card.
UFC plans to move pay-per-view times back to 10pm (ET) and 7pm (PT) possibly due to a slump in ppv buys. The new-old time slot (or “classic” time slot to those of you who recall the failure of New Coke) will start with UFC 141.
If you haven’t read the dirty details of 22 year-old model? actress? waitress? …whatever she is, she’s at least 6 figures richer, Sara Leal‘s unprotected sex romp with Ashton Kutcher on the eve of his 6th year anniversary to Demi Moore, for which he patted himself on the back, you can check it out: here.
Filed under: UFCWhen Matt Hughes steps into the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, it will be the 25th fight of his UFC career and the last on his current contract. The former champ turns 38 this October, and he’s not sure what his future holds….
When Matt Hughes steps into the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, it will be the 25th fight of his UFC career and the last on his current contract. The former champ turns 38 this October, and he’s not sure what his future holds.
“My wife tells me I’m done fighting,” Hughes told reporters on Monday’s media call. “She wanted me to quit after the B.J. [Penn] fight. But we’ll just see. We’ll just see what I feel like and what the UFC wants to do.”
If you’re the UFC, a lot might depend on how Hughes looks against Koscheck. It’s a pairing that Hughes wasn’t eager to accept back when Koscheck and the other welterweights from the AKA squad lobbied for it a couple years ago. But after Diego Sanchez pulled out of the September 24 bout due to a broken hand, Hughes thought he might end up without any opponent at all in Denver.
“The first thing that went through my mind was, here I’ve been training for quite a while and expecting to fight on this card and now it’s not going to happen. It was kind of confusing when [UFC president Dana White] called me,” said Hughes, who added that he was first told he might be fighting another AKA 170-pounder, Jon Fitch.
That was the last he heard before boarding a flight, Hughes said. By the time he landed, he found out the UFC wanted him to face Koscheck instead.
“Really, it’s Dana’s call,” he said. “It’s not even my call to decide who it’s going to be. So I said, yeah, whoever you want.”
Coming off his knockout loss to Penn at UFC 123, Hughes had no problem with a considerable layoff between fights. Having ten months to train more casually and pursue other interests “is fine with me,” he explained.
But as he approaches the final fight of his contract, it’s difficult to tell what kind of future Hughes might have inside the Octagon. It seems unlikely that he’ll ever again find himself as a top contender for the UFC welterweight title, and he’s already secured his legacy as one of the most dominant UFC champions and a member of the organization’s Hall of Fame.
At this point, what’s driving him to keep getting in the cage with younger opponents who are still trying to make their name in the sport?
“It’s competition,” Hughes said. “I think that’s what drives your top athletes in the UFC, getting in there against one other person and mixing it up. I don’t have to rely on four other basketball teammates to score a basket or anything. I just have to rely on myself. The fact that it’s just me and one other person competing in there, that’s my drive right there.”
According to many oddsmakers, Koscheck is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 5-1 favorite to beat Hughes on Saturday night. If they’re right, you have to wonder where that will leave the former champ.
With two consecutive losses in his late-30s, a new contract for Hughes would seem like little more than an insurance policy to keep him from taking his talents outside the organization. With an upset victory over a top welterweight like Koscheck, however, it might only get harder for Hughes to convince himself that it’s time to walk away.
But if his immediate future with the UFC really is riding on this fight, don’t tell Hughes. He insists it doesn’t matter, as if winning and losing in the final fight of your contract both lead to the same end. And, when you’re in Hughes’ position, maybe they do.
“This is the last fight on my contract, so the outcome of this fight won’t really matter, to be honest,” he said. “After this fight — win or lose, doesn’t matter — I’ll talk to the UFC and we’ll figure out what we want to do.”
If things don’t go Hughes’ way in Denver, it could be one more decision that is ultimately Dana White’s call.
BJ Penn clears up his beef with the UFC regarding Nick Diaz: here. Nick Diaz talks pay loss for losing title-shot: here. Bellator 50 weigh-ins results: here. UFC Fight Night 25 weigh-ins results: here. Josh.
BJ Penn clears up his beef with the UFC regarding Nick Diaz: here.
Nick Diaz talks pay loss for losing title-shot: here.
Carlos Condit picks BJ Penn over Nick Diaz. Josh Koscheck says he’s lucky to face Matt Hughes. Paul Daley is out of BAMMA 8. Michael Bisping says Middleweight Division not cleared out. Anderson Silva hasn’t.
Carlos Condit picks BJ Penn over Nick Diaz.
Josh Koscheck says he’s lucky to face Matt Hughes.
When ProElite makes its return to promoting MMA on Saturday night in Hawaii, the most inexperienced fighter on the card will also be one of the best known.
That’s because the fighter, Reagan Penn, is the brother of UFC star B.J. Penn. Reagan is an experienced Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner who’s making his mixed martial arts debut against a little-known opponent named Paul Gardiner on the ProElite show, and he said on The MMA Hour that he’s been surprised by how many people are talking about him, even though he’s never fought before.
“I’m definitely getting a lot more attention than I expected,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure.”
The 30-year-old Reagan said that over the last few years he’s spent a lot of time with his brother, everything from cornering B.J. during fights to doing the technical work on BJPenn.com. But he said it dawned on him recently that it was time for him to do more than just that, and start pushing himself in a new direction.
“I just found myself not doing much,” Penn said. “I didn’t have any plans before, but I found myself not doing much and it seemed like the right time. I’m training more, getting in good shape.”
Reagan said he thinks his jiu jitsu skills are close to as good as B.J.’s, but he’s got a lot of work to do in the stand-up department. That’s what he knew he needed to improve before he could step into the cage with Gardiner.
“I’ve been working a lot on my standup,” Penn said. “I’m trying to get comfortable. You never know until you get there, but I’m comfortable on my feet. We’ll see on Saturday.”
It’s not realistic to think that Reagan could start his MMA career at age 30 and be anything close to the same fighter as B.J., who’s been a professional fighter for more than a decade. But the Penn name carries a lot of weight in MMA, especially in Hawaii, and there’s no fighter on the ProElite card who can expect a warmer reception from the local fans than Penn.
When ProElite makes its return to promoting MMA on Saturday night in Hawaii, the most inexperienced fighter on the card will also be one of the best known.
That’s because the fighter, Reagan Penn, is the brother of UFC star B.J. Penn. Reagan is an experienced Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner who’s making his mixed martial arts debut against a little-known opponent named Paul Gardiner on the ProElite show, and he said on The MMA Hour that he’s been surprised by how many people are talking about him, even though he’s never fought before.
“I’m definitely getting a lot more attention than I expected,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure.”
The 30-year-old Reagan said that over the last few years he’s spent a lot of time with his brother, everything from cornering B.J. during fights to doing the technical work on BJPenn.com. But he said it dawned on him recently that it was time for him to do more than just that, and start pushing himself in a new direction.
“I just found myself not doing much,” Penn said. “I didn’t have any plans before, but I found myself not doing much and it seemed like the right time. I’m training more, getting in good shape.”
Reagan said he thinks his jiu jitsu skills are close to as good as B.J.’s, but he’s got a lot of work to do in the stand-up department. That’s what he knew he needed to improve before he could step into the cage with Gardiner.
“I’ve been working a lot on my standup,” Penn said. “I’m trying to get comfortable. You never know until you get there, but I’m comfortable on my feet. We’ll see on Saturday.”
It’s not realistic to think that Reagan could start his MMA career at age 30 and be anything close to the same fighter as B.J., who’s been a professional fighter for more than a decade. But the Penn name carries a lot of weight in MMA, especially in Hawaii, and there’s no fighter on the ProElite card who can expect a warmer reception from the local fans than Penn.
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