Tag: Cain Velasquez

UFC Announces Lesnar vs. Dos Santos as TUF 13 Coaches

("Puleeaaze…You mean the dweeb in the alligator shirt? Yeah, I’ll fight him next.")
UFC.com inadvertently stole Dana White’s thunder this afternoon by announcing that Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar will be the coaches on next season of …


("Puleeaaze…You mean the dweeb in the alligator shirt? Yeah, I’ll fight him next.")

UFC.com inadvertently stole Dana White’s thunder this afternoon by announcing that Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar will be the coaches on next season of The Ultimate Fighter before the UFC president could make the announcement during Tuesday’s conference call for the January 22 Fight for the Troops event.

White shot down media members during the Q&A who asked if he would name the TUF 13 team heads, explaining more than once that he would be announcing who the coaches would be at the end of the call, but was upstaged by his company’s website who posted the press release 15 minutes before he could break the news.

According to the release, the pair of heavyweights will meet at the end of the season and the winner will face champion Cain Velasquez when he returns from a shoulder injury in an estimated six months.

White, who admitted during the call that he had lied to reporters when he told them that he had not spoken to Lesnar since his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October also quashed rumors that the bout will be for the interim heavyweight title.

The full release is after the jump.

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What If the UFC Held a Heavyweight Tournament?

(Somehow we see this tournament going down before Strikeforce’s HW GP.)
With the current buzz surrounding the recently announced Strikeforce 2011 heavyweight grand prix, we figured we’d take a look at what kind of tournament the UFC could put on if t…


(Somehow we see this tournament going down before Strikeforce’s HW GP.)

With the current buzz surrounding the recently announced Strikeforce 2011 heavyweight grand prix, we figured we’d take a look at what kind of tournament the UFC could put on if they were so inclined.

Contrary to popular opinion, the calibre of the UFC’s HW GP would be just as good, if not better than Strikeforce’s. The only noticeable difference is that there really wouldn’t be any mismatches in Zuffa’s heavyweightpalooza.

Even if Joe Silva decided not to put the matches together that we hypothesized in order to save some of the more anticipated pairings for the sem-final and final rounds, shuffling the card around would not cause a great disparity in the calibre of opponents.

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Strikeforce Tournament Could Crown MMA’s Top Heavyweight

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceThere’s no such thing as “the heavyweight champion of the world” in mixed martial arts. That’s a title that various promoters can bestow on their fighters, but the reality is that the promotions have their own heavyweight c…

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There’s no such thing as “the heavyweight champion of the world” in mixed martial arts. That’s a title that various promoters can bestow on their fighters, but the reality is that the promotions have their own heavyweight champions. If those champions won’t fight each other, then we never really know, for sure, who the champ is.

But there is usually a consensus opinion among MMA fans and the MMA media about who the top heavyweight is. For years, the top heavyweight was Fedor Emelianenko, which meant that the No. 1 heavyweight resided outside the UFC. The combination of Fedor’s loss to Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez‘s victory over Brock Lesnar, however, solidified Velasquez, in the eyes of most observers, as the No. 1 heavyweight.

None of the fighters participating in Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament will get the opportunity to wrest control of the mythical heavyweight crown away from Velasquez inside the cage. But the tournament will give the winner a lot of ammunition for an argument that he is, in fact, the best. And the tournament gives Strikeforce its best chance of making a legitimate case that its champion — and not the UFC’s — is the best heavyweight.

With Help From UFC Champ, Daniel Cormier Readies for Strikeforce Big Guns

Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, interview The news of Strikeforce’s upcoming heavyweight tournament was a bombshell development for a company still working on prying eyes from the UFC. And it’s also a welcome scenario for the Strikeforce …

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The news of Strikeforce’s upcoming heavyweight tournament was a bombshell development for a company still working on prying eyes from the UFC. And it’s also a welcome scenario for the Strikeforce athletes, who are well aware of the extra spotlight it is likely to bring, even to fighters who are not part of the field.

One such fighter who may receive added attention from it is Daniel Cormier, an undefeated fighter who is among a group of rising stars in Strikeforce’s heavyweight ranks.

On Friday night, Cormier (6-0) will face Devin Cole in a featured bout on Showtime’s Strikeforce Challenger series.

In 2010, Cormier fast-tracked his development, fighting five times. In 2011, he hopes to take his career to the next level, fighting some of Strikeforce’s stars. A win over Cole, his most experienced opponent at 18-8-1, may be the fight to get him there.

Cain Velasquez Details Shoulder Injury, Addresses Dos Santos’ Complaint

Filed under: UFC, News LAS VEGAS — In his first public comments since MMA Fighting broke the news of Cain Velasquez’s shoulder injury, the UFC heavyweight champion explained that he can’t pinpoint the exact moment he tore his rotator cuff, only that i…

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LAS VEGAS — In his first public comments since MMA Fighting broke the news of Cain Velasquez‘s shoulder injury, the UFC heavyweight champion explained that he can’t pinpoint the exact moment he tore his rotator cuff, only that it happened during his UFC 121 kingmaking win over Brock Lesnar.

He thinks it could have occurred in the early seconds of the match when he used an underhook to defend a Lesnar takedown try, but can’t say for sure. Regardless, Velasquez said that he felt fine during the fight and even in the immediate aftermath. But a few hours later, when his adrenaline levels returned to normal, he knew something was wrong.

“I didn’t feel it in the fight at all,” Velasquez said during a question-and-answer session prior to the UFC 125 weigh-ins. “After the fight, I felt good and later on that night, my body came down, I was moving around. I was laying down to get up, and it hurt really bad. That’s when I knew something was wrong.”

Junior Dos Santos ‘Outraged’ After UFC Heavyweight Title Curse Claims Cain Velasquez

(Junior’s ‘Hypnotic Polo Shirt of Brazilian Dominance’ just pissed all over the GSoAV’s face, son.)
Like the Hope Diamond and James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, the UFC’s heavyweight championship belt is a cursed object, bringing only misery to those w…

Junior Dos Santos Anderson Silva MMA photos
(Junior’s ‘Hypnotic Polo Shirt of Brazilian Dominance’ just pissed all over the GSoAV‘s face, son.)

Like the Hope Diamond and James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, the UFC’s heavyweight championship belt is a cursed object, bringing only misery to those who come in contact with it. Winning the title has resulted in immediate misfortune for Frank Mir (career-threatening motorcycle accident), Josh Barnett (steroid bust), Tim Sylvia (another steroid bust), Bas Rutten (training injuries leading to a seven-year retirement), Randy Couture (two separate contract disputes that caused him to leave the organization), and Brock Lesnar (goddamned Canadians). No heavyweight in the UFC’s history has ever been able to defend the belt more than twice consecutively, and the title has been defended an average of just 1.25 times per year for the last four years.

The Curse of the Belt struck again, right on schedule, when Cain Velasquez suffered a shoulder injury just two months after taking the belt off of Lesnar, and won’t be back in action for 6-8 months. If you ask us, Junior Dos Santos dodged a bullet, since he won’t have to go near that hoodoo-ridden talisman until late next year. But despite all the bad omens, JDS is pissed that his title shot has been delayed, and blames Velasquez himself. Here’s what Cigano had to say in a recent interview with portal Vale Tudo:

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