Who is the fighter of the year?Yes, we realize that we’re only halfway through 2012 thus far, and it might seem a little ridiculous to already discuss our awards. But they’re not really awards in the traditional sense; we just wanted to discuss who has…
Who is the fighter of the year?
Yes, we realize that we’re only halfway through 2012 thus far, and it might seem a little ridiculous to already discuss our awards. But they’re not really awards in the traditional sense; we just wanted to discuss who has impressed us the most thus far.
Bleacher Report lead writers Jonathan Snowden and Jeremy Botter discuss their picks in this video, and they may surprise you.
But we also want to know YOUR picks. And plenty of you will disagree with us, so we want to hear why. Sound off in the comments below and let your voice be heard (and disagreed with).
I’m sure you’ve seen the past two episodes of UFC Primetime.You know, the ones where Frank Mir lovingly—and in excruciatingly grisly detail—describes his love for snapping limbs. It’s painful stuff, especially when you remember the visage o…
I’m sure you’ve seen the past two episodes of UFC Primetime.
You know, the ones where Frank Mir lovingly—and in excruciatingly grisly detail—describes his love for snapping limbs. It’s painful stuff, especially when you remember the visage of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira shortly after he made the dumb decision to let Mir thrash his right arm beyond all recognition rather than tap out.
Is Mir a violent man? In a manner of speaking, yes. He’s the best submission heavyweight in the history of the sport, and with that comes a certain expectation of limb-snapping. But I discussed this subject with Mir during a chat on Wednesday afternoon, and he told me that he’s not all he’s portrayed to be.
“I don’t really enjoy breaking limbs. I love winning by submission. They are so definitive and powerful. It’s my favorite aspect,” Mir says. “But you have to realize, the guy that I am fighting, we are of the same breed. We’re both mixed martial artists. I want to win, of course, but if they can leave with their limb intact, I’m a happier person for it.”
That’s a big difference from the guy we’re seeing on television each week, isn’t it? But that’s usually how these things go. Mir is a master at building fights, but he’s also one of the most charming and intelligent fighters in the entire sport. I sat with Mir in the Media Center at the MGM Grand for nearly 45 minutes, discussing a range of subjects from Obama/Romney on gun control to his desire to beat the living crap out of Ted Bundy.
And I wondered how much time Mir has left in the game. He’s still young, but he’s been doing this cage-fighting thing for a long, long time. He tells me that Dan Henderson is still fighting for titles in his 40s, so there’s no reason he can’t do the same thing. But I don’t see Mir sticking around until his 40s, and I don’t think he does, either.
He has a future in commentary, because he’s one of the best analytical minds in the sport.
“It’s something I can get back to and help the world of martial arts with, the sport that has given me so much,” Mir says. “If I can help the casual fan out, that would be great.”
How much does Mir have left? Is this his final run at the title, or the beginning of a late-career renaissance for one of the greatest heavyweights in the history of the sport? As with anything else, Mir is cogent when discussing the day that he’ll pack up his gear and go home for the final time.
“First and foremost, injuries have to be taken into consideration. And really, I have three small children. I want to be part of their lives,” Mir says. “Once they get older, it’s time for me to become a cast member and not the star of the show. Which I am more than happy to take up.”
The first full day of fight week is exhausting. I say this mostly because I woke up a little before 5am to catch my flight here this morning, and yet here I sit at 8:00 p.m. with the day not being close to over yet.Open workouts were interesting. I’ve …
The first full day of fight week is exhausting. I say this mostly because I woke up a little before 5am to catch my flight here this morning, and yet here I sit at 8:00 p.m. with the day not being close to over yet.
Open workouts were interesting. I’ve already filled you in on Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos, the headliners for Saturday’s big event. I had a lengthy chat with Frank shortly after I posted that update this afternoon; We talked about a ton of subjects, and I’ll have some notes from that for you later in the week.
Tomorrow is the press conference, right in the lobby of the MGM Grand. It’s open to fans, so if you’re in Las Vegas, you should make a point to stop by. UFC officials told me today that all ten heavyweights on the main card will be involved in the press conference. That doesn’t happen very often, and it should be an interesting one. You can watch the entire thing right here at Bleacher Report if you’re not here in Nevada, or if you have zero desire to brave the heat and the Strip to see it in person.
We’re doing a number of interesting things over the next 48 hours. You’ll be able to catch most of them on upcoming editions of The Ultimate Show with Kenda Perez. But please, by all means continue to stay tuned here. I’ll keep updating this fight week diary with what I hope are interesting news and anecdotes from what is sure to be an exhausting and awesome week in the Las Vegas sun.
“Baddest man on the planet.” At one point, going back to the Irish drunkard John L. Sullivan, it was a title awarded, almost without question, to the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Sullivan would swagger into a bar and announce, without the …
“Baddest man on the planet.”
At one point, going back to the Irish drunkard John L. Sullivan, it was a title awarded, almost without question, to the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Sullivan would swagger into a bar and announce, without the slightest hesitation, that he could lick anyone in the joint. If someone wanted to question his brash statement, well, they could go outside and discuss it.
Eventually, that part of the game changed. Fighting became more professional. The heavyweight champion didn’t prove his worth by challenging guys in the street. But the danger still loomed. Ask Mitch “Blood” Green what happened when he tried to start something with Mike Tyson late one New York City evening.
Tyson, 220 pounds of crazy, was the last boxer to claim the title. The paradigm, as super-serious people might say, was shifting. The new “World’s Most Dangerous Man” wasn’t boxing in a ring—he was trying to rip people’s limbs right off their bodies. His name was Ken Shamrock, and he was representing a brand-new sport, one that took organized fisticuffs to brand new levels of complexity and raw violence.
Ego Personified
It takes a special kind of man to become the baddest man on the planet. The level of hubris, just to even fathom the idea, is off the charts. Imagine thinking, if only for a moment, that you might the toughest guy in the world. It’s an act of almost incalculable arrogance—the kind of personal confidence and unbridled belief in yourself that most of us could never imagine.
As a writer, I’ve never once thought “David Foster Wallace, Phillip Roth, George RR Martin, I’m coming for your titles.” I realize my own mediocrity and just try to do the best I can. But these aren’t the kind of thoughts that drive a world-class athlete.
Fighters, especially, are different than other men. They confront situations that would scar most of us deeply, and for life, for a living. They proclaim, to another tatted-up, muscle-bound killing machine, that they will break their will and make them quit. It’s really quite extraordinary if you stop and think about it.
If You Want to Know: Ask
Think about it—it turns out that’s something these tough guys rarely do. We asked three current or former UFC heavyweight champions—men who could legitimately make claim to have been the best in the world—about how they decided, and at what moment they conceptualized, that they might be the baddest man on the planet.
”I just trained and I realized it,” former UFC champion Frank Mir said. Short and sweet, much like his first fight with the enormous Brock Lesnar.
But we wanted more. How did it feel? That’s the parlance of our times right? What does it feel like in your soul to know you are the best person in the world at what you do? And what you do is pummel other men in a cage.
“I don’t really feel that way,” UFC champion Junior dos Santos said. “I don’t think of myself that way. I don’t consider myself the toughest guy or the best guy. I think I just reaped the rewards of all of my hard work. I work really hard and I feel like I’m blessed by God.
“I consider myself the number one ranked fighter in the world in my sport in my weight class. But I don’t really see anything bigger than that as far as being the baddest or toughest on the planet. I’m really happy with everything that’s happening to me. I feel very blessed and I like to share that with the people around me. I like to share happiness. I like to share the rewards of my success with the people who are around me in my life.”
How The Sausage is Made
The hidden truth is that you don’t wake up one morning as the baddest man on earth. It’s a status you earn in the gym, during the parts and doing the things they normally skip on The Ultimate Fighter. Cain Velasquez isn’t sure when he first realized he could be the best. As early as college perhaps. But he knows it’s the product of hard work.
“From junior high until now, I’ve been five days a week,” Velasquez said. “Even when wrestling wasn’t in season, I would be in the gym working out. Wrestling freestyle in the summer time. Pretty much nonstop. It’s been forever. It’s something that you have to do all the time. People dedicate themselves to it. It’s work. I’ve pretty much been working all day and that’s how I think of it.
“It’s definitely a good feeling. Getting to the top, knowing you’ve been at the top. It’s definitely one of the best feelings in the world. Now I’m on the other side. I’m trying to go back to where I was.”
Jeremy Botter and Matt Roth contributed to this report. UFC 146, starring three of the baddest men on the planet, is available Saturday night on PPV. All quotes in this piece were acquired by Bleacher Report. Because that’s how we do.
Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos are not small men. I don’t really need to state this, but I am anyway. Of course, none of the 10 men working out during today’s UFC 146 open workouts at the MGM Grand were small, save for Diego Brandao. Last season’…
Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos are not small men. I don’t really need to state this, but I am anyway.
Of course, none of the 10 men working out during today’s UFC 146 open workouts at the MGM Grand were small, save for Diego Brandao. Last season’s Ultimate Fighter winner worked out for Brazilian media, mostly because American media didn’t realize he was actually working out. Brandao simply strolled to the mat and started rolling.
Dos Santos was all smiles, and that always freaks me out when I see him hit pads. Because he hits so hard, and with such blinding speed, that it easily makes him the most terrifying man in the UFC. Never has a nicer man hit anyone as hard as Dos Santos hits people.
He was the most beloved fighter on the workouts, but Mir also received his share of attention. Mir took his time in warming up, but went through a full sparring session with his workout coach and then a grappling clinic with wunderkind submission king Ricky Lundell. He was also very talkative, giving detailed and thoughtful answers to each question posed.
This is the good version of Mir, the one who is one of the best analysts in the entire sport. Most of the media pressures are over. There are no more marathon sessions on the phone, answering the same question over and over again, to make him testy and on edge.
Now it’s time for the hype, and that’s one of the things he does best.
There is nothing quite like a fight week in Las Vegas.I should know. I lived there for a year and attended far more events than I can possibly list here. Hell, I can’t even remember them all.I saw local action from some of the best independent promotio…
There is nothing quite like a fight week in Las Vegas.
I should know. I lived there for a year and attended far more events than I can possibly list here. Hell, I can’t even remember them all.
I saw local action from some of the best independent promotions in the country like Superior Cage Combat. I saw Ronda Rousey make her Las Vegas debut for Tuff N’ Uff, another local promotion. Rousey was every bit the star then that she is now; people just didn’t really know who she was. But it was only a matter of time.
I saw Strikeforce hit Vegas for the first time with its Challengers series. And yeah, I saw Rousey fight on that event as well.
But there’s really nothing like a big UFC card to get your juices flowing. The city comes alive in a way that’s hard to describe. Only the World Series of Poker or big boxing fights with Floyd Mayweather compare to UFC fight weeks. OK, Chinese New Year is pretty awesome too, but only if you know the rules of baccarat and/or have hundreds of thousands of dollars to blow.
I’m glad to be back. Fight week kicks off in earnest today with the open workouts. Every single heavyweight on the main card will be featured, and I’ll be bringing you exclusive stories and video content throughout the week. Stay tuned as I attempt to take you as close to fight week as you can get without actually being there.
I’m sure you’ve seen the past two episodes of UFC Primetime.