If you are one of the 71,839 individuals that read my piece on the 25 sexiest MMA girls of 2011, you are fully aware of the fact that Bellator Fighting Championships Ring Girl Mercedes Terrell and I are newlyweds. You are also aware that she assaulted …
If you are one of the 71,839 individuals that read my piece on the 25 sexiest MMA girls of 2011, you are fully aware of the fact that Bellator Fighting Championships Ring Girl Mercedes Terrell and I are newlyweds.
You are also aware that she assaulted my incredibly good-looking face with a lead pipe, after I finished enjoying a lovely oriental dinner at PF Changs, and refused to cease her attack until I agreed to be her husband.
Do not be fooled by her breathtakingly amazing looks, my wife is a violent woman.
However, joking aside, Terrell is one of the many reasons why the Bellator Fighting Championships have acquired such a tremendous fanbase in such a short period of time.
She is everything you can hope for and more in a ring girl.
She’s super beautiful on the outside and one of the coolest chicks imaginable on the inside.
By the way, please do not insert a ‘’that’s what she said’’ joke at the end of that last sentence. I may have been forced under my will but Mercedes Terrell is still my wife so don’t make me get my bear claws out on you clowns.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Terrell about a wide variety of interesting topics, here are a few highlights.
On growing up in the desert and launching her modeling career
“I was lucky as a child, and still am lucky today, to have the privilege of spending time in the desert every year playing in the sand with our quads, sand rails, and dirt bikes. I also spent a lot of time skiing, snowboarding, boating and jet skiing. My parents are the ones who deserve the credit for keeping us girls out of the house and active,” Terrell told B/R MMA’s Featured Pimp Mitch Ciccarelli.
“I totally agree with you that kids spend way too much time indoors. The whole fun of being a kid is having the energy and confidence to be active and attempt to do things that you might get injured while doing.”
“Growing up I never once thought I would become a model, it just happened. My childhood dream was to become an artist but I also wanted to be a fashion designer. Today I draw, paint, and design my own clothes so I guess those childhood dreams came true,” Terrell said.
On finding MMA
“I grew up with five sisters and no brothers. Needless to say I didn’t grow up as a ‘guy’s girl’ watching sports or having favorite teams. I was never in any sports in school, I took art classes instead,” Terrell said.
“So with that said, it would take an awe inspiring sport to capture my attention and I found that in MMA. Not only was it thrilling to watch two guys in the cage try to rip each other’s heads off but once I began to learn more about the sport I could recognize the different fighting styles and moves being used in the cage, which made it all the more entertaining.”
On Working with Bellator
“When I first signed with Bellator, the organization was so new that I had no idea what to expect, all I knew was that I just scored the best job ever. Front row seats to the best MMA action in the business every weekend, traveling the country and having a blast while doing it all is definitely not a bad gig.”
“As the season passed I became extremely close with the entire Bellator family and began learning more about the sport. I have a true respect for what we are doing for MMA and I am so stoked to be part of a company that is helping diversify and grow this sport on the rise.”
“I love being a Bellator girl and will continue to be their cage girl for the time being. I’m always working on what’s next but that doesn’t necessarily mean I would venture away from Bellator or MMA. I’d love to continue to grow within the industry.”
On Potentially Posing for Playboy
“I’m not sure that will ever be something I’m comfortable doing. I don’t feel I need to take my clothes off in order to promote Bellator, we are a thriving organization with some of the best fighters in the world and we put on top notch shows on a weekly basis.”
“Furthermore, as my ‘husband’ I’m surprised you would be at all interested in me exposing myself to the world in that manner! I’m shocked really!”
On what she looks for in a guy
“I’m sure by now you can tell that I have a sense of humor and that’s the number one thing I look for in a guy. If we can’t laugh together than what’s the point?
“As far as looks go I wouldn’t really say I have a type, good looking is a plus but if you are too good looking I might have to worry about you hogging the mirror in the mornings. I like learning from other people so it’s always nice when a guy has a good head on his shoulders and can hold up a conversation with anyone.”
“Another biggy for me is confidence and security; I’m gone at least 3-4 days a week and sometime I’m not home for a month at a time with the work I do.”
“Being with a guy who can truly deal with my absence and will support me in what I do for a living without giving me a bunch of grief is a must! With me being away from home so often, whoever I’m with has to be able to trust in me completely and I in him.”
Since it’s inception, Bellator Fighting Championships have cultivated a batch of world renowned fighters under their banner. In 2011, many memorable battles took place, featuring notable fighters such as Brett Cooper, Alexander Shelemenko and form…
Since it’s inception, Bellator Fighting Championships have cultivated a batch of world renowned fighters under their banner.
In 2011, many memorable battles took place, featuring notable fighters such as Brett Cooper, Alexander Shelemenko and former champion Eddie Alvarez.
These men have garnered a lot of praise for their recent fights which have created some of the best, can’t miss fights of the year.
Miguel Torres was recently fired from the UFC quickly after making a rape joke on Twitter.He later apologized for the tweet which read, “If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone loves a s…
He later apologized for the tweet which read, “If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone loves a surprise.”
Not the most brilliant thing to put out there on the Internet.
Even though it might have been a bit harsh to fire Torres for such a comment, it wasn’t completely out of bounds to do so. Some other fighters have been given more slack than Torres, and though it is uncertain why, there is one thing that is obvious.
Torres is in need of a job because it doesn’t seem that this is going to be one of those things that Dana White, the president of the UFC, is going to reverse anytime soon.
Torres may not be a champion anymore as he was when he was the WEC bantamweight titleholder, but he is still an ex-UFC fighter coming off a win. His name still has a lot of clout.
The longer he stays away from the cage the more his name value drops. He needs to quickly get it back out there in the MMA world so that fans feel like keeping up with him. That said, if he doesn’t have a national medium in which he can show off his skills then it means nothing.
That is where Bellator comes in.
Not only are they the second-largest promoter in America and arguably the world, they were just purchased by Viacom. That means they also have economic stability in the rocky world of mixed martial arts.
They also seem to have trouble signing big names in an effort to compete with the UFC. That could be leverage for him to use to get serious paycheck.
He also might have an easier amount of competition in Bellator. That isn’t to say he could become champion without trying, but that it won’t be as difficult. A lot of the fighters in Bellator are unproven fighters who haven’t ever made it to the big show.
Some of this might be luck or timing, but some of it could be that they never measured up. Bellator could have a second shot at being champion.
Between a better potential paycheck and another shot at glory, Torres should take the opportunity in front of him. He may have made a mistake by tweeting an insensitive statement, but he can turn a negative and make it a positive.
Torres was removed as a main player from the WEC to be a cog in the UFC machine. He didn’t really stand out in the promotion. It is weak as an excuse, but it might have been what made him willing to send out such a shocking statement. He wanted to stand out.
Now that he is no longer there he still can do it.
So, it seems there might be life outside the UFC after all.
Filed under: DREAM, Strikeforce, Bellator, NewsDespite a shortage of talent, the interest in women’s MMA seems to be stronger than ever, thanks in large part to Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Still, there are other talented women making hea…
Despite a shortage of talent, the interest in women’s MMA seems to be stronger than ever, thanks in large part to Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Still, there are other talented women making headlines out there, and they deserve some of our attention too.
Below is a roundup of news and notes from the world of women’s MMA.
* ProElite has signed an intriguing 135-pound fight for its upcoming card on Jan. 21 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Sara McMann, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist who has compiled a 4-0 MMA record thus far, will meet top-ranked Hitomi Akano on the undercard of the event headlined Kendall Grove vs. Ikuhisa Minowa. The 31-year-old McMann defeated Raquel Pa’aluhi via third-round submission in the first ProElite show back in August. Akano, who famously lost to an overweight Cris Cyborg in an Aug. 2009 Strikeforce bout, enters the fight with an 18-8 record and riding a two-fight winning streak. She recently defeated Roxanne Modaferri via unanimous decision in July.
* Megumi Fujii (pictured), one of the best pound-for-pound female fighters in the world, has agreed to meet Karla Benitez in the first-ever DREAM women’s bout. The fight will take place on the promotion’s New Year’s Eve show, which is being dubbed “DREAM – Fight for Japan: Genki Desu Ka! New Year! 2011.” Fujii (24-1) is 2-0 since suffering the first and only loss of her career to Zoila Gurgel at Bellator 34 last October. Benitez (6-1) will enter the bout looking to get back on track after losing her first pro MMA fight in her most recent bout in October.
* Speaking of Gurgel, the Bellator 115-pound champion, who underwent knee surgery to repair a torn ACL several weeks ago, tweeted recently that she is healing “ahead of schedule,” and if things keep up this way, she could be back in action in approximately five months.
* “Haywire,” starring Gina Carano, will be released in theaters on Jan. 20, so that means expect to see a whole lot more of Carano in the coming weeks. Which leads us to …
* Carano is featured in the latest edition GQ Magazine. More on that here. Now, if you’re wondering whether Carano will ever fight again, we asked Stephen Espinoza, the new EVP and GM of Showtime Sports, who also used to be Carano’s a lawyer, that very question on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour.
“I’ve actually been trading calls with Gina,” he said. “She’s really, really focused on the film, on ‘Haywire.’ She just smiles and winks. You know her well enough. She’s got that sort of mysterious wink once in a while when she sort of says, I don’t know, but will sort of wink and you kind of feel like there’s something else there. But I know she is, in her heart, a fighter and always has that urge, just like any boxer does or anyone that is really committed to the sport. So if there is any opportunity to do so, I think you could see her [fight again] pretty quickly.”
* It feels like Rousey, who is still pushing for a fight against Miesha Tate at 135 pounds instead of Cris Cyborg at 145, continues to break barriers everyday. For example, she was a guest on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” on Wednesday, which most MMA fighters can’t say, let alone any women’s MMA fighters. You can watch/listen to the show here.
In October 2010, UFC president Dana White tried to slow down the expectations for Jon Jones. The light-heavyweight talent had just run through veteran Vladimir Matyushenko and the buzz around him had grown to the point where people were trying to project him into the title picture.
White, though, would have none of it. Jones was going to fight Ryan Bader in early 2011 and still probably have to win another 2-3 fights after that before fighting for the belt, White said. Just three months later, circumstances caused him to reconsider.
In a perfect storm of a day, Jones blitzed Bader and White discovered he needed a challenger for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua when Rashad Evans got hurt and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson declined the fight on six weeks’ notice. Jones got the call and answered the challenge in historic fashion, annihilating Rua to capture the belt and become the youngest UFC champion in history.
Jones is the easy pick for fighter of the year, but in reality, his 2011 was more than that, arguably the finest single calendar year in MMA history.
Consider this: he became the first man in history to defeat three former UFC champs in a single year. But he didn’t just beat them, he finished each one of them (and choked out Bader for good measure).
If you like statistics, Jones’ dominance over the opposition can be proved numerically. In his four fights, he out-landed Bader, Rua, Jackson and Lyoto Machida by an obscene total of 233 to 56, according to FightMetric.
Keep in mind, those four came into their respective bouts with Jones with a combined winning percentage of .851, yet Jones won all 11 rounds against them and only Machida had any moments of success.
It’s not easy to select a defining moment for Jones in 2011, but his title victory was certainly a moment of clarity for all the remaining skeptics. From the opening touch of gloves until the time referee Herb Dean pulled Jones away signifying the end, Jones’ performance was nothing short of a masterpiece, MMA‘s equivalent of a perfect game.
Rua, a vaunted striker who was believed to have the standup advantage over Jones, was simply overwhelmed in every aspect. Jones out-landed him by a ridiculous amount, 102 to 11 by FightMetric’s count. He took him down on all three attempts. He passed his guard repeatedly. And finally, he finished the fight for good with a liver punch that crumpled Rua midway through the third.
Showcasing his versatility, Jones became the first man in a decade to make Jackson tap out when he scored a fourth-round submission in his first title defense. And he saved his most mature performance for last, navigating his way through a rocky first round against Machida before dropping him with a straight left and finishing him by choking him unconscious in the second.
The year saw Jones jump from prospect to champion in seemingly an instant. Just a few months before 2011 began, White thought Jones wasn’t yet ready to fight for the belt, but by the time it was over, White, like everyone else, had been converted.
“I don’t know how you deny the guy anymore,” he said. “He’s literally walked through everybody. He fought four times this year, probably the nastiest schedule in the history of the company. He’s incredible, man.”
And an easy choice for 2011’s Fighter of the Year.
2. Dan Henderson
When does time run out on Hendo? Judging from his 2011, it won’t be anytime soon. The 41-year-old insists he’s got a UFC title run in him, and his recent performances suggest he is indeed still a threat to either Jones or middleweight champ Anderson Silva. He started off the year in March by knocking out Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante to take the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title. Months later, he moved to heavyweight and scored a TKO over Fedor Emelianenko, and he capped off his year by outlasting Rua in an all-time classic at UFC 139.
3. Ben Henderson
With dominant wins over Clay Guida, Jim Miller and Mark Bocek, Henderson proved that he belonged in the UFC’s lightweight division and that he was a legitimate challenger to current champ Frankie Edgar. Just as impressive as his performance was his quick climb back from disappointment. It was just about a year ago when he lost to Anthony Pettis during the infamous “Showtime kick” match. The victory was supposed to get Pettis a title shot, yet it’s Henderson who got there first.
4. Michael Chandler
It wasn’t a huge surprise when Chandler beat Marcin Held and Lloyd Woodard to advance to the Bellator lightweight tournament finals, but his tournament title win over Patricky “Pitbull” Freire raised some eyebrows, and then Chandler one-upped himself by toppling champ Eddie Alvarez in one of 2011’s best fights, a wild back-and-forth classic that Chandler closed out with a rear naked choke win.
5. (tie) Nick Diaz
What a wild ride 2011 was for Diaz, who earned early wins over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and Paul Daley before vacating his welterweight belt to move over to the UFC. He came to fight champ Georges St-Pierre, but never got the chance after he missed media commitments and the UFC removed him from the bout. As it turned out, St-Pierre ended up getting hurt and would have missed the match anyway, but Diaz decided to take a fight with BJ Penn and smashed him in a way that we’ve only see GSP do lately, building more anticipation for a possible future bout between the pair.
5. (tie) Junior dos Santos
There’s no way to keep the new UFC heavyweight champion off this list after he demolished Shane Carwin back in June, and then headlined one of the most important shows in UFC history in November. Sure, the 64-second knockout of Cain Velasquez at the inaugural UFC on FOX show seemed more than a bit anticlimactic, but it also put into perspective just how dominant dos Santos has been. Since signing with the UFC, he has never lost a round.
In October 2010, UFC president Dana White tried to slow down the expectations for Jon Jones. The light-heavyweight talent had just run through veteran Vladimir Matyushenko and the buzz around him had grown to the point where people were trying to project him into the title picture.
White, though, would have none of it. Jones was going to fight Ryan Bader in early 2011 and still probably have to win another 2-3 fights after that before fighting for the belt, White said. Just three months later, circumstances caused him to reconsider.
In a perfect storm of a day, Jones blitzed Bader and White discovered he needed a challenger for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua when Rashad Evans got hurt and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson declined the fight on six weeks’ notice. Jones got the call and answered the challenge in historic fashion, annihilating Rua to capture the belt and become the youngest UFC champion in history.
Jones is the easy pick for fighter of the year, but in reality, his 2011 was more than that, arguably the finest single calendar year in MMA history.
Consider this: he became the first man in history to defeat three former UFC champs in a single year. But he didn’t just beat them, he finished each one of them (and choked out Bader for good measure).
If you like statistics, Jones’ dominance over the opposition can be proved numerically. In his four fights, he out-landed Bader, Rua, Jackson and Lyoto Machida by an obscene total of 233 to 56, according to FightMetric.
Keep in mind, those four came into their respective bouts with Jones with a combined winning percentage of .851, yet Jones won all 11 rounds against them and only Machida had any moments of success.
It’s not easy to select a defining moment for Jones in 2011, but his title victory was certainly a moment of clarity for all the remaining skeptics. From the opening touch of gloves until the time referee Herb Dean pulled Jones away signifying the end, Jones’ performance was nothing short of a masterpiece, MMA‘s equivalent of a perfect game.
Rua, a vaunted striker who was believed to have the standup advantage over Jones, was simply overwhelmed in every aspect. Jones out-landed him by a ridiculous amount, 102 to 11 by FightMetric’s count. He took him down on all three attempts. He passed his guard repeatedly. And finally, he finished the fight for good with a liver punch that crumpled Rua midway through the third.
Showcasing his versatility, Jones became the first man in a decade to make Jackson tap out when he scored a fourth-round submission in his first title defense. And he saved his most mature performance for last, navigating his way through a rocky first round against Machida before dropping him with a straight left and finishing him by choking him unconscious in the second.
The year saw Jones jump from prospect to champion in seemingly an instant. Just a few months before 2011 began, White thought Jones wasn’t yet ready to fight for the belt, but by the time it was over, White, like everyone else, had been converted.
“I don’t know how you deny the guy anymore,” he said. “He’s literally walked through everybody. He fought four times this year, probably the nastiest schedule in the history of the company. He’s incredible, man.”
And an easy choice for 2011’s Fighter of the Year.
2. Dan Henderson
When does time run out on Hendo? Judging from his 2011, it won’t be anytime soon. The 41-year-old insists he’s got a UFC title run in him, and his recent performances suggest he is indeed still a threat to either Jones or middleweight champ Anderson Silva. He started off the year in March by knocking out Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante to take the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title. Months later, he moved to heavyweight and scored a TKO over Fedor Emelianenko, and he capped off his year by outlasting Rua in an all-time classic at UFC 139.
3. Ben Henderson
With dominant wins over Clay Guida, Jim Miller and Mark Bocek, Henderson proved that he belonged in the UFC’s lightweight division and that he was a legitimate challenger to current champ Frankie Edgar. Just as impressive as his performance was his quick climb back from disappointment. It was just about a year ago when he lost to Anthony Pettis during the infamous “Showtime kick” match. The victory was supposed to get Pettis a title shot, yet it’s Henderson who got there first.
4. Michael Chandler
It wasn’t a huge surprise when Chandler beat Marcin Held and Lloyd Woodard to advance to the Bellator lightweight tournament finals, but his tournament title win over Patricky “Pitbull” Freire raised some eyebrows, and then Chandler one-upped himself by toppling champ Eddie Alvarez in one of 2011’s best fights, a wild back-and-forth classic that Chandler closed out with a rear naked choke win.
5. (tie) Nick Diaz
What a wild ride 2011 was for Diaz, who earned early wins over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and Paul Daley before vacating his welterweight belt to move over to the UFC. He came to fight champ Georges St-Pierre, but never got the chance after he missed media commitments and the UFC removed him from the bout. As it turned out, St-Pierre ended up getting hurt and would have missed the match anyway, but Diaz decided to take a fight with BJ Penn and smashed him in a way that we’ve only see GSP do lately, building more anticipation for a possible future bout between the pair.
5. (tie) Junior dos Santos
There’s no way to keep the new UFC heavyweight champion off this list after he demolished Shane Carwin back in June, and then headlined one of the most important shows in UFC history in November. Sure, the 64-second knockout of Cain Velasquez at the inaugural UFC on FOX show seemed more than a bit anticlimactic, but it also put into perspective just how dominant dos Santos has been. Since signing with the UFC, he has never lost a round.
Filed under: MMA Media Watch, UFC, Bellator, NewsSpike TV announced on Tuesday that beginning Friday, March 2, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight ET/PT it will air highlights from the past fourteen seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. “The Ultimate Fighter Fridays…
Spike TV announced on Tuesday that beginning Friday, March 2, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight ET/PT it will air highlights from the past fourteen seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. “The Ultimate Fighter Fridays,” as they are calling it, will be televised at the same time as TUF 15 live on FX, which debuts March 9.
The move comes as no surprise as Spike aired UFC programming on its network at the same time as the UFC’s debut on FOX and has already announced that it will do the same during the UFC’s second show on FOX on Jan. 28.
Interestingly enough, though, Bellator Fighting Championships, which is owned by Spike TV’s parent company, Viacom, will debut its sixth season on MTV2 on March 2, as well. However, according to David Schwarz, Spike TV’s Vice President of Communications, MTV2 has not decided which time slot it will use to air Bellator events. That could very well be based on the time slot FX uses to air TUF 15 next year.
“We have to monetize the library,” Schwarz said when asked about Spike’s decision to counter UFC programming on FOX. “The UFC prefers that we keep the library and run the library.”
Spike has the right to air old UFC programming for one more year before its contract with the promotion expires. The UFC could buy back the library to prohibit this from happening, but UFC president Dana White has already stated publicly that he is not interested in doing so.
Spike announced recently that Bellator will move to its airwaves come 2013.
If you are one of the 71,839 individuals that read my piece on the 25 sexiest MMA girls of 2011, you are fully aware of the fact that Bellator Fighting Championships Ring Girl Mercedes Terrell and I are newlyweds.
Despite a shortage of talent, the interest in women’s 
In October 2010, 
Spike TV announced on Tuesday that beginning Friday, March 2, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight ET/PT it will air highlights from the past fourteen seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. “The Ultimate Fighter Fridays,” as they are calling it, will be televised at the same time as TUF 15 live on FX, which debuts March 9.