Tag: Breaking News

Mark Hunt Responds to Dana White: ‘I Have Never Turned Down a Fight’

Top 10 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is disputing the notion that he turned down a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. Shortly after UFC President Dana White said “The Super Samoan” wouldn’t fight JDS, Hunt went on Twitter to de…

Top 10 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is disputing the notion that he turned down a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. 

Shortly after UFC President Dana White said “The Super Samoan” wouldn’t fight JDS, Hunt went on Twitter to defend himself. 

 

Hunt then went on to say the only time he has ever declined a fight is when he was injured: 

 

While this makes sense given the fact that Hunt was all about a scrap with dos Santos as of Wednesday night, it begs the question: Why would White lie?

To further complicate the situation, the UFC’s head honcho tweeted last night that he had a phone conversation with Hunt: 

White did not provide any further updates as of Friday morning, but there appears to be some semblance of hope that this fan-friendly heavyweight scrap will go down after all. 

The former PRIDE star became a hot topic of conversation when Alistair Overeem, who was supposed to fight dos Santos at UFC 160, withdrew from the fight due to a slight quad tear. 

The K-1 level kickboxer has currently won four straight fights, including three knockouts, while dos Santos lost the heavyweight strap to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in December. 

Prior to the title loss, the Brazilian had won 10 matchups in a row, scoring seven KO’s along the way.

Hunt, fresh off of a stunning “Knockout of the Night” performance against Stefan Struve, could have the stand-up skills to provide a challenge for “Cigano’s” superior boxing game. 

Was White using public humiliation as a negotiating tool with Hunt or did he have an opponent besides dos Santos in mind all along? 

Hopefully the UFC will make a formal announcement before the end of the day.

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TUF 17’s Uriah Hall Slams UFC and FX Producers: ‘Editing S*** Is Killing Me’

The Ultimate Fighter camera crew might want to watch out for spinning kicks. They’ve been known to do some damage, ya know. As the latest season of the UFC’s popular reality TV show plays out, Uriah Hall becomes the villain and the outca…

The Ultimate Fighter camera crew might want to watch out for spinning kicks. 

They’ve been known to do some damage, ya know. 

As the latest season of the UFC’s popular reality TV show plays out, Uriah Hall becomes the villain and the outcast little by little, show by show. 

Despite his unquestionable talents inside the cage, Hall plays the part of the “loner” and the “d-bag” around the house and at group functions. 

According to Hall, this depiction is a result of the producers’ editing and does not accurately reflect how his time on the show went down. 

The middleweight striking sensation took to Facebook to clear the air on recent episodes: 

wtf is up with these episodes lol all I wanted was to win a competition and I’m the bad guy haha this editing shit is killing me now I’m the sensitive guy with issues?

Without actually spending time in the house during filming, it is impossible to know which story more accurately portrays the season’s proceedings. 

TUF is a reality show, after all, and it would not surprise fans to learn of some shady editing tactics to boost ratings. 

Hall then bounced back from this tirade to tease the upcoming episodes, stating: 

Keep watching thow (sic) I’m interested to see how this character plays out. 

Is Hall in the finals, and is the UFC intentionally marketing him as the bad guy so that he can already have the fans’ full attention upon the show’s completion? 

Right now, only a select few people know for sure, but if you do believe this to be the case, you are not alone. 

Browse through this Reddit entry to see what people are saying about Hall’s fate on the show. 

Whether he is in the finals or not, one thing is clear: This guy is stealing the show both inside and outside the Octagon.

 

For fans of MMA, heavy metal or general absurdity,  

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Like the Terminator, Ronda Rousey Feels No Emotion When Destroying a Foe

There’s a famous line in the 1984 science-fiction classic The Terminator when Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) says, “Listen and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, …

There’s a famous line in the 1984 science-fiction classic The Terminator when Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) says, “Listen and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop.”

The terminator in the film played by Arnold Schwarzenegger is an unstoppable killing machine, hell bent on eliminating whatever target its been programmed to destroy.

In mixed martial arts, the role of The Terminator could easily be played by a few fighters, maybe none more fitting that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, whose path of destruction rivals that of the fictional cyborg in the movies.

A new contender to that crown has risen lately, however, and that’s UFC bantamweight women’s champion Ronda Rousey. 

The biggest difference with Rousey is outside the cage—she is as engaging as any fighter in the UFC. Brutally honest and refreshingly unfiltered, as she puts it, Rousey is a rare combination of charisma outside the cage and unbelievably talented when she straps on the gloves.

Through seven professional fights, Rousey still has no clue what the second round even looks like, and she’s only technically been in bad positions a couple of times in her whole career thus far. 

When she’s inside the cage, Rousey possesses a steely grin like a lot of fighters, but much like the terminator in the films, don’t expect her to crack a smile or even show emotion of any kind until after she’s torn her opponent’s arm away from their body and feels the quick tap on her leg to signify the fight is over.

“I fight emotionless. I have no emotion when I fight,” Rousey said recently when speaking to the Dan Patrick Show. “Like I’m entirely in the present moment, and I just observe everything and make quick, snap decisions off of all those observations. It’s really hard to describe.”

Trying to give a little more detail in her detached nature when she steps into the cage, Rousey says when a fight is over she barely remembers anything. Almost like a blackout where instinct takes over, Rousey is a force of nature, and then it takes some time and a little bit of playback to remember exactly what just happened.

“Sometimes when I walk out of the ring like I’m spending so much time on play that it’s not recording,” said Rousey.  “I’ll walk out and be like “what?”, like I’ll remember little snippets of what just happened and then I’ll go back and I’ll watch the replay and then I’ll remember oh I was thinking this here and thinking of that here, so it’s very hard to say. I think I’m just focused in on the moment when I fight.”

Though she’s only had one fight in the UFC so far, Rousey is already one of the most popular fighters in the sport and already on another whirlwind media tour that never seemed to slow down for the former Olympian over the last several months.

If Rousey can continue her current workload promoting her fights and then turn into that blank, emotionless, wrecking machine inside the Octagon, there’s no telling just how far she can go.

She won’t feel pity or remorse for any of the women she has to beat to maintain her spot at the top of the division, and it’s not likely Rousey will ever stop until she’s reached her goal of being considered one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report

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Nick Diaz Says He Can Beat 185-Pound and 155-Pound Champions After Beating GSP

It was only a week ago when the UFC released an interview with welterweight contender Nick Diaz where he said Georges St-Pierre was “crazy” for not asking for a fight against middleweight king Anderson Silva. The proposed superfight has been theoretica…

It was only a week ago when the UFC released an interview with welterweight contender Nick Diaz where he said Georges St-Pierre was “crazy” for not asking for a fight against middleweight king Anderson Silva.

The proposed superfight has been theoretically on the table for a number of years, but the UFC has never quite put the pair together on a bout agreement.  Following a long absence from fighting due to a knee injury, St-Pierre turned his focus back to the welterweight division and didn’t seem all that interested in fighting Silva when the fight was brought up to him last November following his return win over Carlos Condit at UFC 154.

Diaz criticized St-Pierre because the champion hasn’t asked to fight the absolute best in the world, but if he captures the 170-pound title next weekend, that’s exactly what he plans to do.

Throughout his career, Diaz has fluctuated his weight to face many opponents in different divisions including a brief run as a lightweight once upon a time, as well as some higher catchweight fights like his victory over MMA legend Frank Shamrock in Strikeforce.

“I’ll have to take a long hard look, but if I had that option available to me, I would be honored to be in that position.  I would be gratefully accepting of that position, or fight if you will with the 85 pound champion or the 155 pound champion,” Diaz said during a media conference call on Thursday.

Diaz has actually tried to get a spot previously to face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and it doesn’t sound like his confidence is waning at all just a week away from battling for the UFC welterweight title in Montreal.

The same can be said for his desire to fight for the UFC lightweight title currently held by Benson Henderson. An interesting side note to that discussion is the fact that Henderson just recently defeated Nick’s younger brother, Nate Diaz, for the second defense of his 155-pound belt.

“I would take either fight and I think I could beat either guy,” Diaz stated.  “I’d like to be the guy to win a title at both weights.  I’d like to be a runner up in the pound for pound rankings, that’s the No. 1 goal asides from the No. 1 ranking in the welterweight division.  That’s what I’ve been working towards here.”

While it’s not likely even with a win that Diaz would get to immediately jump to fight either Silva or Henderson, Diaz‘s willingness to do so shows his fighting spirit is truly at work.

Before he can challenge either other champion, however, Diaz first has to get by Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 in Montreal.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report

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Bellator 92 Results: Mike Richman Survives Ugly Round 1, Outlasts Popo Bezerra

The chance to compete for $100,000 is something that only happens to a very small fraction of MMA fighters. Mike Richman has now earned that opportunity after his victory over Alexandre Bezerra during Thursday night’s Bellator 92 event. Richman…

The chance to compete for $100,000 is something that only happens to a very small fraction of MMA fighters. Mike Richman has now earned that opportunity after his victory over Alexandre Bezerra during Thursday night’s Bellator 92 event.

Richman survived a borderline disastrous Round 1 which saw Bezerra, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, take his back with nearly three minutes left in the round. Richman stayed calm, though, and was able to make it out of trouble.

The striking abilities of the Minnesotan took over in Round 2 when Richman peppered “Popo” with punch after punch, bloodying the nose and evening the fight at one round a piece.

Round 3 would determine the winner, and what a back-and-forth round it was.

Richman started off strong again, out-striking Bezerra the same way he did in Round 2. But things took a sudden turn for the worst when Bezerra shot in and got another takedown. Bezerra took his back yet again and looked for the rear-naked choke over and over again.

Sensing the fight slipping away, Richman used every bit of strength and technique that he had in him to flip the positions, putting Bezerra on his back for the first time in the fight. With only about 1:15 left in the round, however, Richman knew he had to bring the fight back to the feet if he wanted to win the round. He did just that by standing up, forcing Bezerra to get back up with him.

An exhausted Bezerra looked for another takedown, but was unable to get Richman back to the mat. Richman unloaded once again, tagging Bezerra repeatedly before the round finally came to an end.

The split decision (29-28 Richman, 29-28 Bezerra, 29-28 Richman) told the story of this very close bout which pitted an excellent striker against an excellent grappler. On this night, the striker, Richman, did just enough to win and move on to the finals of the Bellator MMA featherweight tournament.

“[It was the] Biggest victory of my career,” Richman said in the post-fight interview in the cage on Spike TV. “He’s got a granite chin. I hit really hard and he took every shot of it.”

When asked about the other semifinal bout between Frodo Khasbulaev and Marlon Sandro, Richman couldn’t pick a winner, but did give a vote of respect for both men.

“I’m so excited to bang with either of them,” Richman said.

Richman will now relax for a couple days before getting back into the gym at The Academy where he will prepare for the next “biggest fight of his career” in the finals of the Bellator featherweight tournament.

 

For more fighter interviews, news and opinions, please follow Nick Caron (@nicholascaron) on Twitter. 

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World Series of Fighting: Former UFC Welterweight Jon Fitch Debuts on June 14

Just a little over two weeks after being let go from the UFC in a shocking series of roster cuts, former welterweight contender Jon Fitch has found a new home.According to MMA Fighting, Fitch’s next bout will be in the World Series of Fighting promotio…

Just a little over two weeks after being let go from the UFC in a shocking series of roster cuts, former welterweight contender Jon Fitch has found a new home.

According to MMA Fighting, Fitch’s next bout will be in the World Series of Fighting promotion, possibly on their June 14 card:

According to [WSOF vice president] Abdel-Aziz, Fitch is expected to debut for the promotion at its third event on June 14. He could face the winner of Aaron Simpson vs. Josh Burkman, which will take place at WSOF 2 on March 23, but that has not been set in stone just yet.

Fitch’s sudden dismissal from the UFC (via MMA Fighting) came as a shock to much of the MMA community, as the American Kickboxing Academy star had been a firm staple in company’s ranks since October 2005.

During the last seven years, Fitch has been a perennial contender, defeating the likes of Thiago Alves, Ben Saunders, Mike Pierce, Diego Sanchez and prospect Erick Silva while amassing an impressive 14-3-1 record in the UFC.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for him to secure his job.

Often criticized by MMA fans and pundits alike for his “boring” top-heavy wrestling game, Fitch arguably has little drawing power compared to the likes of more successful welterweights like Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit and Johny Hendricks.

When Fitch (currently 35 years old) heads into his first professional bout with WSOF, he’ll be riding a 2-2-1 stretch in his last five fights.

But regardless of his recent struggles, Fitch is likely the highest-ranked at MMA welterweight outside of the UFC right now, even with his crushingly one-sided loss to surging contender and jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia during UFC 156.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

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