At UFC 148, the incomparable Anderson Silva will defend his UFC middleweight title against Chael Sonnen. A rematch of their scintillating fight from UFC 117, this one promises to be a battle for the ages. And though Sonnen did well in the first encount…
At UFC 148, the incomparable Anderson Silva will defend his UFC middleweight title against Chael Sonnen. A rematch of their scintillating fight from UFC 117, this one promises to be a battle for the ages. And though Sonnen did well in the first encounter, he has his work cut out for him. The champion, without hesitation or doubt, is the best MMA fighter the world has ever seen.
That’s not just my opinion. Using our own statistical analysis, Bleacher Report determined that Anderson Silva is indeed the greatest MMA fighter of all time. But statistics only tell part of the story. Sport is about moments. Memories. Those snapshots in time that we will remember until our dying days, the proverbial “tell your grandkids about it” moments.
Here, once again, Silva stands alone. He does things in the cage you struggle to explain, let alone duplicate. His diverse striking technique is so incredible, so masterful, that he stands alone as the greatest artist in the history of a sport.
There may never again be another Anderson Silva. These moments are the reason why.
Roy Nelson has never been a dude that pulls any punches, whether he’s in the cage or on camera being interviewed by various media outlets.Both of those traits have turned him into one of the most popular stars in the sport. That’s pretty impressive whe…
Roy Nelson has never been a dude that pulls any punches, whether he’s in the cage or on camera being interviewed by various media outlets.
Both of those traits have turned him into one of the most popular stars in the sport. That’s pretty impressive when you consider where he came from. When Nelson won The Ultimate Fighter and made his proper debut in the UFC, he was booed far more than he was cheered, mostly because he’s the guy who exposed Kimbo Slice as a silly clown fighter by holding him down with his massive belly and forcing the ref to stop the fight after hundreds of non-damaging punches.
Yes, it may seem unthinkable, but Nelson wasn’t all that well-liked back then. Most of that stemmed from UFC President Dana White‘s comments towards Nelson on The Ultimate Fighter. White thought Nelson was a fat jerk who didn’t take the sport seriously and he didn’t mind telling you so. Lots of fans glommed on to this idea, and it took Nelson more than a year to turn public sentiment in his direction.
But now, as I said above, he’s one of the most popular stars in the UFC, coming off a big knockout win over Dave Herman at UFC 146. And for his next trick, Nelson is going back to his old habit of calling out Brock Lesnar, even though Lesnar is still technically retired. I say “technically retired” because, well, no one is really sure what kind of game Lesnar was playing by showing up at UFC 146 last Saturday.
Does he want to fight? Probably not. He’s more than likely attempting to use Dana and the UFC to create leverage with World Wrestling Entertainment. Brock’s always been the guy who uses every little angle he can to create the best deal possible for himself, both in business and in life. I think that’s essentially what we’re seeing here, and I have doubts that we ever see Brock back in the UFC for a fight.
You know what? Brock coming back, if he does come back, I would love to welcome him back to the UFC. That was a fight that I actually called him out on ESPN, before. But if they actually make him come back, or if he actually thinks about coming back, he’ll probably come back to fight Frank Mir, because I think that’s the only fight he thinks he can win. But, you know what? I would love to have that fight with Brock.
Nelson is right, but not for the reasons he’s saying in this quote.
If Lesnar comes back to fighting—and right now, nobody outside of Lesnar’s trusted inner circle is sure what’s going on—it would be almost criminal if he fought anyone besides Frank Mir in his return bout, but not because Lesnar would automatically win the fight.
No, the UFC would make that fight simply because it would do more money than any fight in the heavyweight division. And yes, I’m including the Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez rematch in that category.
Lesnar and Mir aren’t what they used to be, but there’s still a deep hatred between the two that somehow has the ability to hook fans and create extreme interest. Even now, several years after Lesnar seemingly ended their feud by beating Mir into a pulp at UFC 100, folks are interested in seeing them square off for a third time.
But kudos to Roy for throwing his name in the mythical Lesnar hat. If the biggest-drawing fighter in the history of the sport does ultimately decide to make a comeback, I wouldn’t mind seeing “Big Country” finally get a crack at him.
And this time, I bet Brock wouldn’t pretend as though he didn’t know the rotund fellow with the absurd haircut talking trash about him.
Dana White turned heads a few weeks back when he said that the UFC is mapping out a strategy to begin randomly testing the fighters they have under contract.That’s a stark difference from White’s position as recently as a month ago, but it’s the right …
Dana White turned heads a few weeks back when he said that the UFC is mapping out a strategy to begin randomly testing the fighters they have under contract.
That’s a stark difference from White’s position as recently as a month ago, but it’s the right one. As I’ve noted here in the past, the UFC introducing a random drug testing program would go a long, long way towards cleaning up the sport before it becomes an epidemic.
And make no mistake about it: there is no epidemic. At least not yet, anyway. But it could become a real problem in the future, and taking steps to avoid that now is the right move.
White was interviewed about the proposed drug testing policies by Ron Kruck from InsideMMA and gave his first real explanation of what the promotion has in mind. But if you’re a pot smoker, White said, you’re still out of luck:
“It is what it is. You go out and you smoke marijuana, it’s illegal. I don’t care if ‘Dr. Reefer’ gave you a prescription for it, you absolutely, positively cannot do it, according to the rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
I don’t care how many lawyers you get or what happens, you cannot smoke marijuana. You cannot takes PEDs. There’s a whole list of things that you cannot do, and if you get caught doing these things, you will be fined, and you will be put on suspension.”
I don’t know who Dr. Reefer is, but he sounds sketchy and I probably wouldn’t go to him for any kind of medical advice.
White obviously discusses Nick Diaz in the above video, but he also delves into Jon Jones, Alistair Overeem and other recent high-profile cases. It’s worth 20 minutes of your time to watch the entire thing.
We weren’t sure if the UFC’s grand all-heavyweight experiment would deliver, but I think it’s safe to say it did exactly that. In fact, it delivered in spades with one of the fastest pay per view cards in promotion history. All five PPV fights end…
We weren’t sure if the UFC’s grand all-heavyweight experiment would deliver, but I think it’s safe to say it did exactly that. In fact, it delivered in spades with one of the fastest pay per view cards in promotion history.
All five PPV fights ended in the first or second round, and all ended by knockout or submission. That’s a far cry from the boring wrestle-fests many fans feared when the concept was first unveiled.
Hell, I’m not ashamed to admit that the card unfolded completely different than I thought it would. And that’s a good thing, because UFC 146 should ultimately go down as one of the best cards of the year.
But now, it’s time to take a look at what’s next for some of the bigger stars of last Saturday’s awesome event. Join me, will you?
Anderson Silva is, in the parlance of our times, shook. The longtime middleweight champion recently revealed he had tweaked his knee training for the rematch the world has been waiting for.It was a moment those of us who follow the sport…
Anderson Silva is, in the parlance of our times, shook. The longtime middleweight champion recently revealed he had tweaked his knee training for the rematch the world has been waiting for.
It was a moment those of us who follow the sport closely have been waiting for, the moment he showed the world that when the lights go out at night, when he stares up at the ceiling, when it’s only Silva and his God, the champion has doubts.
Challenger Chael Sonnen is so deep in Silva’s head, he’s got the champion’s hypothalamus in plain view. And with good reason—over the course of six title defenses, people treated Silva with a sense of awe. They genuflected before his greatness. Even opponents never seemed convinced that they could win.
Until Chael P. Sonnen.
Unlike the others, Sonnen didn’t place Silva on a pedestal. That honor was reserved for former President Richard Nixon, his father, even a great American patriot like Brian Stann. Silva wasn’t an idol to Sonnen—he was an obstacle.
For four rounds, Sonnen beat Silva from pillar to post. Like so many hot knives running through infinite slabs of butter, Sonnen ran through Silva. Dominated him. Bent him to his will. Surprised him with quick hands and a willingness to trade punches. An inexhaustible gas tank. And the ability to hold him on the mat and punch him in the face. Over and over and over again.
Silva, in one of the most amazing finishes in UFC history, managed a last-minute submission win. In his moment of desperation, when the odds seemed the longest, he came through. Because he’s a great champion and that’s what champions do.
But it was Sonnen who came out of the fight with the confidence that he could own a rematch. In an interview last month with Bleacher Report, Sonnen and his team seemed legitimately convinced that nothing was going to stop him from walking away with UFC gold.
They also told us that Silva, whose team leaked after their first fight that he had suffered a rib injury in training, would have Silva’s reasons for a poor performance primed and ready when Sonnen beat him at UFC 148.
“I’m going to let the whole world know in advance. I’m going to stomp you and this isn’t even going to be close,” Sonnen said. “So, get your excuses ready, sit down with Team Soares and come up with your excuses cause you’re going to need them in twenty-five minutes or less. And the same thing is going to happen this time. This will not be a close fight and people say, ‘Chael you’re just trying to sell the fight.’ No I’m not. I’m doing the opposite. I’m telling you this is not going to be a good fight, this is not a fight worth watching, this is not going to be a war; This is going to be a one sided beating. Just like the first time. Period. And he can have all the excuses he wants. But at the end of the day, when this fight’s done, it will not even be close.”
There are two fights. The mental and physical battle that takes place in the cage and the battle a fighter wages with himself. With his own confidence. The battle to believe you can win.
Sonnen is winning that battle. And, come fight night, I believe he will walk out of the cage as the new world middleweight champion.
No one is ever sure what’s going on in Brock Lesnar’s world—a world best described a labyrinthine. Brock Lesnar is an enigma. The most popular star in the UFC’s short history, he walked away from the Octagon, and millions of dollars per fight, to…
No one is ever sure what’s going on in Brock Lesnar‘s world—a world best described a labyrinthine. Brock Lesnar is an enigma. The most popular star in the UFC’s short history, he walked away from the Octagon, and millions of dollars per fight, to rejoin the wild and wacky world of professional wrestling.
This, of course, comes just a few years after making the opposite journey, traveling from the WWE to find his way in legitimate sport, first trying the NFL before settling on the Octagon.
The WWE honeymoon, it seems, is over.
Lesnar met with UFC President Dana White after the UFC 146 all-heavyweight extravaganza at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Although White had nothing to announce, he did suggest in the post-fight press conference that Lesnar might indeed be coming back to the cage.
So, let’s play along. If Lesnar does come back, here are five men who could meet him in the middle.
Roy Nelson has never been a dude that pulls any punches, whether he’s in the cage or on camera being interviewed by various media outlets.