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Jake Ellenberger, Martin Kampmann Are Perfect Choices for Title Contender Fight

Back on March 22, I wrote a piece detailing my belief that the winner of the June 1 bout between Martin Kampmann and Jake Ellenberger—and not the mercurial Nick Diaz—should be the next contender in line for a UFC welterweight title shot.Tod…

Today, the UFC announced that the winner of that fight will indeed get a title shot:

The welterweight division is stacked and Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann are going to fight for the chance to earn a title shot. They will headline the season finale of TUF Live on FX to crown the next Ultimate Fighter. There’s a lot at stake for the guys competing on this card at the Palms.

It’s the right move. We know that Georges St-Pierre will likely make his return to the Octagon in November, and he’ll face Carlos Condit to unify the welterweight and interim welterweight titles. We know that Nick Diaz is—at least as of right now—suspended for a year, and he’s possibly retired for good.

With Diaz out of the picture for the time being, the UFC will need to move to set up a challenger for the winner of the St-Pierre/Condit fight. Ellenberger and Kampmann are perfectly deserving candidates. Johny Hendricks is also a deserving contender, but he’s got a tough fight ahead next month against Josh Koscheck. If Koscheck were to win that bout, I can’t imagine him being put back in title contention, especially if St-Pierre beats Condit later in the year.

That leaves Ellenberger and Kampmann.

If not for two questionable decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez, Kampmann would be riding a six-fight winning streak. When a fighter loses close and controversial decisions, the UFC’s response is to book them as though they won the fight despite the loss on his official record. That seems to be the case for Kampmann.

Ellenberger has a legitimate six-fight winning streak of his own, and his last loss came via a controversial decision to Condit in his UFC debut. The potential of a rematch with Condit and the chance to settle the question marks left by that fight makes him a perfect championship candidate.

Plenty of you believe Diaz should get the fights with Condit and St-Pierre. If he’s able to get his suspension reduced—and if he decides to continue fighting, as many believe he will—I suspect Diaz will get his chance. He’s one of the most popular fighters in the UFC, and that gives him an edge over guys like Kampmann and Ellenberger.

But in the meantime, Ellenberger and Kampmann will rightly get the chance to jump into championship contention. It’s the correct move.

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Brock Lesnar: Why the Former UFC Champion Will Thrive in Today’s WWE

Brock Lesnar’s debut was amazing to behold. Entering the arena for the first time, he met multiple veterans, even former champions head on. He tossed them around like they were children, violated them, scaring everyone in the industry in the process. T…

Brock Lesnar‘s debut was amazing to behold. Entering the arena for the first time, he met multiple veterans, even former champions head on. He tossed them around like they were children, violated them, scaring everyone in the industry in the process.

The pro wrestling industry.

The champions in question were Al Snow, Spike Dudley and reality star Maven, not Frank Mir and Randy Couture. The event wasn’t UFC 81; it was a random episode of WWE RAW all the way back in 2002, years before he ever seriously considered stepping into the UFC Octagon.

Lesnar adapted quickly to the Octagon, but it’s easy to forget just how quickly he made his mark in pro wrestling as well. Lesnar was a natural. He learned the ropes incredibly fast, becoming a competent and then a good worker in record time. He also had a presence about him. Although you’ll never mistake him for the Rock on the microphone, Lesnar has a physical charisma that draws the eyeball. He looks like the ultimate badass, and fans buy into him hook, line and sinker.

Lesnar, in short, is a star. And the WWE is desperate for a star right now. At WrestleMania, the Rock stole the show despite being almost a decade removed from the business. The company has so little confidence in rising players like Daniel Bryan that they didn’t even trust them to deliver a real match on the biggest card of the year. Chris Jericho and CM Punk were upstaged by the ancient Undertaker and decrepit HHH. The wrestling business needs Brock Lesnar now more than ever.

Some insiders expressed concern about Vince McMahon and Brock ever co-existing. Brock is proud and prickly. Vince used to getting his own way. A WWE return could, these experts suggest, be a disaster waiting to happen. When two powerful egos collide, the fallout could be devastating.

But I think there is a high upside here too.

Lesnar and pro wrestling were made for each other. The first time around, the marriage between the two broke up over scheduling issues and the grind of the road. If Lesnar can find a happy medium this time, including a schedule that only has him working a couple of days a week, the relationship with Vince has the potential to thrive.

The bottom line, as a certain wrestler may have said a million times or more, is that Brock Lesnar is a pro wrestling savant. He was made for the business the way he never was MMA. He became a UFC champion despite being entirely ill-suited for the occupation. In wrestling, he was seemingly sculpted for success.

I can’t wait to see him, possibly on Raw as early as tonight. It’s Lesnar’s second act—I, for one, think it will be better than the first.

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Jon Jones Says Rashad Evans Isn’t Going to Break Him Mentally

We’re now three weeks away from one of the most anticipated UFC fights of 2012.The UFC 145 main event battle between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans has been a long time coming, and the build-up for the bout should begin reaching a fever pitch with Friday’s…

We’re now three weeks away from one of the most anticipated UFC fights of 2012.

The UFC 145 main event battle between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans has been a long time coming, and the build-up for the bout should begin reaching a fever pitch with Friday’s debut episode of UFC Primetime: Jones vs. Evans. The three-part series will follow Jones and Evans as they wrap up training camp and head to Atlanta to square off for the light heavyweight title.

Both fighters have spent the past year waging a verbal battle, with Evans spending plenty of time discussing how he used to handle Jones when the two were training partners under the tutelage of Greg Jackson.

Jones has issued a response to those comments:

“Rashad talks about the time he held me down in practice and how he was getting me to break mentally,” Jones told the Sun.

“I’ve eliminated all possibilities of that happening. I have my older brother here, I have Travis Brown here and I have a whole bunch of heavyweights that are a lot more powerful and big than Rashad and I’m having these guys hold me down in practice and try their hardest to break me mentally. Basically, I’m fighting from the worst position he could put me in and if he’s banking on breaking me mentally, he’s going to have a rude awakening when he realizes that’s just not going to happen.”

Nobody will ever truly know what used to happen between Jones and Evans during those sparring sessions. The only people who might be able to shed some light on the subject are the other Greg Jackson fighters, and none of them are talking.

Evans may have been the superior fighter during those days. He probably has the best chance of anyone else in the light heavyweight division at cracking the Jones mystery and handing him his first real defeat.

But there’s one thing for certain: Jones has improved drastically, in all aspects of the game, since the last time he and Evans trained together. Evans needs to expect a much better version of the Bones than the one he faced in New Mexico. If he doesn’t, he’ll be in for a short night.

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Bob Sapp vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski Will Be the Best/Worst Fight of All Time

Following his fight at the inaugural Super Fight League card, my colleagues were extremely critical of Bob Sapp and his desire to put in the work needed in the gym to be a successful fighter. It’s an ongoing joke that Sapp has essentially become a “weekend warrior,” a fighter who schedules so many fights that he’s forced to tap almost immediately just to keep his bookings the following weekend.

Prior to his fight at SFL 1, Bob Sapp made various claims but the most unbelievable, as in no one actually believed it, was that he was putting in significant time in the gym to prepare for James Thompson. Sapp stated he was finally taking his career seriously and was training anywhere from three to six hours a day.

In typical Bob Sapp fashion, the fight finished quickly with the “Beast” tapping to a single leg takedown off of a scramble. Initially believed to be a knee injury, Sapp left the cage in good spirits, celebrating yet another easy payday and another money mark fooled. Once again the world bought into the Bob Sapp hype only to watch him escape the fight without giving an honest effort.

So why, after so many disappointing performances from the “Beast” should fans give him another chance? The simple answer is that Sapp is a rarity in the sport. He’s so intriguing that no matter how poor his showings, he’ll continue to be booked around the world as the star attraction.

His next MMA bout promises to be one of the best freak show fights in MMA history. Sapp will test his skills against the former World’s Strongest Man, Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 19 in May. If Sapp is the worst fighter in the world, Pudz is not too far behind him in terms of talent and gas tank.

Mariusz Pudzianowski is an icon in Poland. As a five-time winner of the World’s Strongest Man competition, Pudz is celebrated for his ability to lift heavy things. This celebrity allows him to pretend to be a mixed martial artist for Polish promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW) several times a year for a big money payday.

KSW is so desperate for Pudzianowski to be viewed as legitimate that they have booked him strategically. After he was embarrassingly defeated by James Thompson at KSW XVI (16 for those that don’t speak Roman), the promotion went ahead and booked a rematch.

The rules for the fight are still confusing as it was only a two-round bout that saw Thompson again embarrass Mariusz. The judges scored the fight for Mariusz and Thompson went on a rampage in his post-fight interview. The promotion changed the decision to a “No Contest” because of a “judging error” and Mariusz escaped without taking the loss.

So what can fans expect when Sapp and Pudzianowski collide in May? It would be unfair to try and hype this as anything more than a fight between two massive men with extremely limited skill sets. Sapp was booked because of his propensity for losing fights and his name recognition.

Make no mistake, this is not a legitimate fight. While for legal reasons I cannot claim this to be a worked fight, Sapp was not hired to win. His role will be to put Pudzianowski over for the Polish crowd. For literally tens of seconds Mariusz will put a beating on Bob Sapp who will ultimately submit to strikes.

Once again Mariusz will be the national hero. The man who bested the “Beast.” And Bob Sapp? He’ll leave Poland with another hefty check from another satisfied promoter who got exactly what they wanted.

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Dear Don Frye: Give UFC President Dana White a Break

This article reflects the opinion of the author
Some men are national treasures. Think Chesley Sullenberger, the heroic pilot who guided US Airways Flight 1549, and all 150 of its passengers, to the relative safety of the Hudson River. Think Kiefer Sut…

This article reflects the opinion of the author

Some men are national treasures. Think Chesley Sullenberger, the heroic pilot who guided US Airways Flight 1549, and all 150 of its passengers, to the relative safety of the Hudson River. Think Kiefer Sutherland, who under the nom de plume Jack Bauer, saved us from certain death hundreds of times as depicted in the documentary series 24. And think Don Frye, the mixed martial arts legend who redefined what it means to rock a mustache and wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with the baddest men in the world’s baddest sport.

Frye is a man’s man. He and Yoshihiro Takayama squared off in a battle that no one who has witnessed it could ever forget. Standing in hockey goon range, the two men wailed on each other for what felt like days. It was contested in the Pride ring, but it might as well have been held in a phone booth. The courage and sheer brass, shiny balls on display that night were nothing short of awe inspiring.

Even when it was his time to take a whooping, and in a career that has spanned three decades there were some of those along with the triumphs, Frye takes it like a man. Mark Coleman was the better man. Frye took his lumps and shook his hand. That’s how men settle their business.

I love interviewing Don Frye. He’s great, entertaining and witty. He never fails to thank me for my military service. He’s a great American. But sometimes, Don Frye is undeniably, inexplicably and embarrassingly wrong. Take, for example, his recent interview with Sherdog where he suggested that UFC President Dana White had ruined MMA:

I had a lot of fun. The fans are fantastic. Fantastic fans. But the thing is, Dana White‘s just ruined the sport. I got to thinking about it today and you know, he ruined it for me. I thought, ‘Why am I letting that a**hole dictate my life and take all of the fun out of it for me?’ I just ignore him and go on with my life.

Frye went on to complain about the economics of the sport:

Oh my God, it’s a crime. It’s a crime. You see some of these guys only getting two or three or six thousand dollars and you’ve got Dana bragging about having 30 Ferraris. Come on. You have a sponsor and he charges a sponsor what, a hundred and fifty grand to have your stuff on the fighter? That’s money he’s stealing from the fighter. Then he goes and he pays them two or three thousand dollars. That’s crazy.

Here’s the truth. Thanks to Dana White and the Fertittas, MMA has made multiple millionaires. Those sponsorship opportunities Frye is talking about? A direct result of White’s hard work securing a platform for fighters to reach fans. Big money sponsorships are the direct result of television—and White and the UFC staff have created ever expanding avenues for fighters to be seen on the boob tube.

Fighters on the UFC’s fringes, the guys making $8,000 or $10,000 are honestly overpaid for their efforts. They don’t contribute to the UFC’s bottom line and aren’t compensated like they do. That’s fair.

It’s a stepping stone, an opportunity to become the kind of fighter who makes big money like Georges St-Pierre or Jon Jones. The UFC doesn’t have to pay fighters that much for their initial undercard bouts. They’d have guys lining up for the opportunity at $6,000 to show and $6,000 to win.

In fact, they’d have guys lined up around the arena for a chance to get their foot in the door for free. They pay as much as they do, not because they are cold-hearted, but because they care about the fighter.

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Brock Lesnar’s Return to World Wrestling Entertainment Is the Right Move

Reports circulated over the weekend that former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has signed a one-year contract to return to World Wrestling Entertainment.My own sources close to Lesnar and WWE confirm that Lesnar has signed a deal, but nobody tru…

Reports circulated over the weekend that former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has signed a one-year contract to return to World Wrestling Entertainment.

My own sources close to Lesnar and WWE confirm that Lesnar has signed a deal, but nobody truly knows specifics. I haven’t been able to pin down an exact number of dates he’ll be required to work, but I was told he’ll probably appear in the wrestling promotion more often that you might think he would, and he’s going to make a whole bunch of money for doing so.

I also haven’t been told when he’ll debut, but I would expect it to happen on tonight’s Monday Night Raw television show.

Lesnar was a lock to return to pro wrestling once he finished up his months-long vacation after losing to Alistair Overeem at the tail end of 2011. The thing with Lesnar is that he doesn’t really have to do professional wrestling—at least not in the way you see old veterans of the pseudo-sport constantly returning to have “one more match” because they’re broke. Lesnar has money. He has a ton of money, actually, because he’s a spendthrift. He lives a very frugal lifestyle.

However, he also values security, both for himself and for his family, and so he’ll do this wrestling thing to pad his bank account for his family’s sake. He’ll complete a very low amount of contracted dates, but he’s not going to go above and beyond. WWE is notorious for demanding performers exceed their amount of requested dates, and Lesnar won’t be talked into doing more than the minimum required by his contract.

Where does the UFC stand in all of this?

It’s an interesting case. In reality, Lesnar left the UFC and is headed to its competitor, at least in terms of pay-per-view entertainment dollars. Dana White doesn’t usually allow something like this to happen, as witnessed in the Randy Couture case a few years ago. And yet White has gone on record in saying Lesnar is free and clear to do professional wrestling for the WWE.

Why is Lesnar being treated differently than Couture?

Firstly, he’s not going to a direct MMA competitor. White would be singing an entirely different tune if Lesnar “retired” from the UFC and then attempted to sign with Bellator.

Secondly, White is convinced—as am I—that Lesnar is never going to fight again. He’s disbanded the DeathClutch gym near his home and moved it to Minneapolis. He has no plans to incorporate much in the way of MMA training into his workout regime. If Lesnar thought there was any chance of a return 12 months down the road, he would continue working and refining his MMA game.

Lesnar will never be considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. He started too late and his medical issues prevented him from truly reaching whatever potential he may have had. We’ll never know what he could’ve been had he jumped into fighting straight out of college. Given what we know of his athletic history, it’s apparent Lesnar may have been one of the best fighters of all time with 10 or more years of solid training.

What we do know, however, is that Lesnar is a pretty good pro wrestler. And kudos to him for making the decision to get off the farm and back into the spotlight where he can entertain millions. I don’t know how long he’ll be there, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be awesome while it lasts.

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