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UFC 166: Roy Nelson Says He’s Had the ‘Crappiest Camp Ever’

When most guys are talking about their training camps heading into a big fight, it’s par the course to talk about how they’re feeling great. Roy Nelson is taking a different path.
And would you expect anything less from the man with a big personality t…

When most guys are talking about their training camps heading into a big fight, it’s par the course to talk about how they’re feeling great. Roy Nelson is taking a different path.

And would you expect anything less from the man with a big personality to match his beard? Nelson is claiming (per MMA Fighting) that this camp wasn’t all that great.

“This has actually probably been the crappiest camp that I’ve ever had,” Nelson said. “It is what it is.”

Nelson’s boxing coach, Jeff Mayweather, suffered a heart attack and “Big Country” was without some of his best training partners.

I lost Jeff probably about two weeks into camp. I lost (training partner Muhammed ‘King) Mo’ Lawal. I lost Ryan Martinez, because in Bellator he broke his hand. It was just one of those camps where anything possibly that could’ve happened, happened. So you just kind of deal with (it). I mean, I’ve been in the game long enough to know what I’m supposed to do and put the work in. And at the end of the day, that’s what it is.

On one hand I’m not only surprised but encouraged by Nelson’s honesty. It’s nice to hear a fighter be “real” in his pre-fight talk rather than going the simple route of hyping himself and his camp up as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Fans aren’t the only ones who tire of politically correct lines—media members aren’t fans of it either.

However, this comes off as Nelson already making excuses for a potential loss.

Nelson and his training methods have always been questioned. We’ve seen “Big Country” gas hard and often during his UFC tenure. In his last fight against Stipe Miocic, Nelson was reduced to being nothing more than a moving punching bag.

Many fans were already pegging top contender Daniel Cormier to pick up the win on Saturday night. Expect to see Cormier become even more of a favorite after this news.

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Jason High vs. Anthony Lapsley Added to UFC 167 Anniversary Card

Jason High will welcome UFC newcomer Anthony Lapsley to the Octagon in the latest, and likely final, addition to the UFC 167: St-Pierre vs. Hendricks fight card.
The fight was confirmed by High in a Twitter post on Thursday.

High is a standout wrestle…

Jason High will welcome UFC newcomer Anthony Lapsley to the Octagon in the latest, and likely final, addition to the UFC 167: St-Pierre vs. Hendricks fight card.

The fight was confirmed by High in a Twitter post on Thursday.

High is a standout wrestler from Missouri hoping to build some momentum in his second UFC run. Back in 2010, he was released from the promotion after dropping a unanimous decision to Charlie Brenneman.

The loss seemingly lit a fire under him, and he was able to string together seven consecutive wins to get the UFC knocking on his door once more. He was defeated in his Octagon return by Erick Silva, but he recently rebounded with a first-round submission win over James Head.

Lapsley, on the other hand, comes into the UFC relatively unknown with a highly impressive 22-5 professional record.

It certainly has been a long road to the big show for “The Recipe,” who has spent the last seven years bouncing around different promotions. He has competed for organizations such as Bellator, Rocktagon, Elite XC and King of the Cage.

Like High, Lapsley is a talented grappler with an affinity for making his opponent tap. In 22 wins, he has finished 15 of his fights by submission.

UFC 167 is slated to take place on November 16 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The star-studded fight card commemorates the UFC’s 20th anniversary and features the welterweight title bout between pay-per-view king, Georges St-Pierre, and Johny Hendricks.

Other fights listed on the card include Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen, Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler, Josh Koscheck vs. Tyron Woodley and Donald Cerrone vs. Evan Dunham.

The UFC has yet to announce whether High vs. Lapsley will stream live on Facebook or air on FOX Sports 1 as a preliminary bout.

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Miesha Tate: ‘Emotionally Unstable’ Ronda Rousey Only Promotes Herself, Not WMMA

Upcoming UFC bantamweight title challenger Miesha Tate is looking to avenge a loss to arch nemesis and divisional champ Ronda Rousey at UFC 168, and the secret is out that there is a ton of bad blood between these two fighters.
Rousey and Tate’s …

Rousey and Tate’s heated feud has been getting aired out in the public on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, where the two top-tier competitors are head coaching opposite one another.

“Cupcake” has been documenting her experiences on the show through a blog on Yahoo! Sports, with her most recent entry taking some heavy shots at the “Rowdy” one.

While I find it interesting that this was really the first time the producers showed Ronda flipping me off, I really think the viewers are getting to see the real Ronda this season—and it’s not pretty. She’s got a great skill set and as an athlete she’s awesome. But she’s not interested in building female MMA, she’s interested in building Ronda MMA and then leaving for movies or something else. She isn’t an MMA fan at heart. Shayna was the only fighter out of the 16 women who fought to get in the house that Ronda had heard of. The other girls, Ronda had no clue who they were, what they had done, where they had fought, nothing.

Last month, Rousey told MMA Junkie that she was worried about the way she was going to be portrayed on TUF, though Tate is arguing that is the type of person the former Olympic bronze medalist really is.

Rousey has her hands full leading up to the December 28 rematch with Tate, as she is filming roles in The Expendables 3 and Fast & Furious 7, something her old rival was also a bit critical of.

“No one would have turned down a Hollywood movie without giving it a lot of soul-searching, but surely Ronda could do phone interviews or at least tweet about TUF. They have cell phone reception in Europe, don’t they?” Tate wrote in her blog, criticizing Rousey for her lack of promotion for the reality show.

The 27-year-old Washington native also writes that she feels that she has the psychological edge heading into her title tilt with Rousey, an advantage she admits the champion had when they met in Strikeforce in March 2012.

Rousey won that bout, and the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title, by first-round armbar, though the fight was competitive in the earlier moments of the opening frame.

Since then, Rousey has won two fights, including her UFC debut, with her patented first-round armbar – while Tate won a thriller over Julie Kedzie last August and lost a tough fight against Cat Zingano this April.

Tate dominated the first two rounds against Zingano before getting TKO’ed in the third round, a stoppage she adamantly disagreed with.

Despite losing the title eliminator fight, Tate got her rematch with Rousey after Zingano suffered a knee injury days before TUF filming began and Cupcake was happy to take her place, per USA Today.

Will Tate pull off a stunning upset at the UFC’s annual year-end pay-per-view, or will Rousey’s reign of dominance continue?

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Dana White Open to Renzo Gracie’s Return, Says to Give Him a Call

Renzo Gracie is a legend. As one of the few members of the “First Family of MMA” to truly throw himself into the sport, he was an early star in Japan’s Pride and RINGS promotions. He fought numerous stars of the present and future such as Oleg Taktarov…

Last month, Renzo told Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting that he was actively training and looking to make a comeback, saying:

Believe it, there’s nothing that I want to do more than to be back in the cage, to be back fighting. I just love doing that. Life has been pushing me everywhere but in that direction, but now I’m getting so tired and frustrated with everything else that I’m going to just bury myself into a mat and train the whole day, and do what I love, which is training and fighting. For sure, I’ll be fighting again.

While this may be exciting for some, it truly makes no sense.

At age 46, Gracie owns an incredibly successful string of gyms in the Northeast, has a family, and functions as a coach and trainer to many fighters in both MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. On top of that, he has not fought since 2010, losing a bout to former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes by TKO.

Reactions were both swift and negative. Gracie, though, would deliver a soundbite for the ages when he explained why he wanted to return, again per Helwani:

For having nothing to prove nor nothing to gain. To fight for what it is without reason, without greed, just for the passion to step once again in the arena and be an inspiration for a future generation of great fighters. To prove that age is only a handicap for the soft ones. And above all, because I love it.

Dana White, like most people, was initially perplexed and reluctant about the veteran returning. Gracie’s passionate plea, however, may have just swayed the UFC president. Speaking with Fox Sports Live, White invited Gracie to give him a call so they could discuss things, saying, “He’s got my phone number. If Renzo wants to fight, Renzo can call me.”

Gracie is undoubtedly well past his prime. He found himself unable to keep up with the previous generation of mixed martial artists like Henderson and Hughes years ago. Mixed martial artists have only gotten faster and stronger since then, making Gracie an underdog in every hypothetical fight with a UFC opponent outside the newest of newcomers.

Still, there are certainly throngs of fighters who would love to step into the cage with a legend like Renzo Gracie.

Upstarts like Gunnar Nelson and Kelvin Gastelum, as well as middling veterans like Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy (should he get medically cleared to return), would all be well-served fighting him.

All that aside, it is important to remember that Gracie is free to sign with any promotion of his choosing. While he could fight in the UFC again, World Series of Fighting and Bellator would both almost certainly be willing to give him a top spot on one of their cards.

While Gracie certainly won’t make a title run, this is going to be very, very fun should it come to fruition. Make sure to keep an eye on how this new saga pans out.

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Fabricio Werdum: I’ll Submit Cain Velasquez If He Takes Me Down

UFC heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum has been chomping at the bit to get a shot at UFC gold ever since submitting Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC on FUEL 10 in June.
Based on a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, it seems clear that “Vai Cav…

UFC heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum has been chomping at the bit to get a shot at UFC gold ever since submitting Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC on FUEL 10 in June.

Based on a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, it seems clear that “Vai Cavalo” has his sights set on current champion Cain Velasquez, who has a rubber match with Junior dos Santos headlining UFC 166 this Saturday.

“I want the belt, but Cain Velasquez is a good fight for me because he takes down guys, and if he takes me down, I’m finishing him,” Werdum said, admitting that a matchup with the former two-time NCAA Division I All-American would be ideal.

While Velasquez was awarded his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu earlier this month, Werdum, a second-degree black belt in BJJ, is regarded as one of the best grapplers in the world.

Werdum, a 10-time gold medalist in top-tier gi and no-gi BJJ competitions before entering MMA, has submitted the likes of Nogueira, Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko inside the cage. Since making his return to the Octagon, the Brazilian native has put together three straight dominant performances against Roy Nelson, Mike Russow and Nogueira.

According to the UFC’s official rankings, Werdum is the No. 3 heavyweight fighter in the world.

Meanwhile, Velasquez’s only loss in 13 professional fights came against Dos Santos at the inaugural UFC on FOX event in November 2011, as he was knocked out early in the first round.

However, it didn’t take the American Kickboxing Academy staple long to earn his rematch with “Cigano” at UFC 155 last December, and he dominated his Brazilian counterpart for five rounds.

The two elite heavyweights look to settle their score this weekend, while Werdum anxiously awaits a matchup with the winner.

Werdum has already squared off with Dos Santos, suffering a brutal uppercut knockout early into their UFC 90 encounter back in October 2008, so a JDS victory this weekend could hurt Werdum’s chances at a title shot.

Would Werdum’s impeccable submission skills be too much for Velasquez to handle, or would the champion’s cardio, wrestling and ground-and-pound be enough to wear his Brazilian counterpart down?

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Junior dos Santos Suffered Facial Laceration, Received Stitches Ahead of UFC 166

Junior dos Santos nearly lost his opportunity to break a tie with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 166 on Saturday.
During the UFC 166 open workouts on Wednesday, Dos Santos revealed to MMAJunkie.com and assembled media that he’d require…

Junior dos Santos nearly lost his opportunity to break a tie with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 166 on Saturday.

During the UFC 166 open workouts on Wednesday, Dos Santos revealed to MMAJunkie.com and assembled media that he’d required three stitches for a facial laceration only three weeks ago.

“It was in the training (camp), and it was accidental,” Dos Santos said. “I’m OK already. I’m 100 percent already.”

Dos Santos will be able to go this weekend, sparing UFC officials from having to do some late scrambling in order to save a UFC 166 fight card that features the Brazilian in a heavyweight championship match. Nonetheless, a cut suffered only one month prior to a fight of this magnitude, especially above the eye, has to be concerning to Dos Santos and his team.

The stitches have been removed, but a noticeable scar remains above Dos Santos’ right eyebrow.

With a cut so recently healed, there is potential for the laceration to be opened again during competition. Facing an opponent like Velasquez, who turned Antonio Silva into a bloody mess at UFC 146, those chances are only increased.

In all other facets, Dos Santos appeared in prime condition on Wednesday. The former champion looked fit and ready while hitting pads during the open workouts.

Still, Dos Santos’ cut has become something worth paying attention to on Saturday.

Should Velasquez open that wound back up at UFC 166, Dos Santos will be dealing with one more obstacle he doesn’t need in his quest to reclaim the heavyweight championship.

At UFC 155, Velasquez alone proved difficult enough for Dos Santos to deal with. Adding vision problems due to draining blood could drive a dagger into Dos Santos’ UFC 166 title hopes.

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