(It’s official — Dominick Cruz is the most cursed fighter in MMA history. / Photo via Getty)
The world is a dark, senseless place. The evil are allowed to roam unpunished, while the good-hearted are forced to suffer and suffer and suffer. I don’t know how else to set up this news, but look, Dominick Cruz blew out his knee again. No not thatknee, the other knee. As he wrote on his Facebook page today:
It is with great sadness to report I have experienced another ACL injury. This time it’s in the right knee, opposite side of my first and second ACL injuries. Leading up to my last fight in September and after, I have practiced a very careful and methodical training and diet regime to keep my body healthy. Unfortunately, this is beyond my understanding and control. I don’t have a timetable for my return but trust and know I will pour my heart and soul into returning to the Octagon. I want to thank the UFC, my fans and my sponsors ahead of time for your support and prayers. I appreciate you more than you could understand. I don’t have any other facts to share right now. I, along with my camp, respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Thank You.
Cruz’s previous knee injuries cost him three full years of his competitive prime, as well as the UFC bantamweight title belt that he’d defended twice in 2011. When he finally returned at UFC 178, he needed just 61 seconds to lay a hellacious, cathartic beatdown on Takeya Mizugaki. Every fan of the Dominator was already looking forward to seeing him tangle with current champ TJ Dillashaw in the spring. Now, that won’t happen. Cruz will go back into surgery and rehab, and the UFC bantamweight division will go back to being a weight class you only sort of care about.
Merry goddamned Christmas.
(It’s official — Dominick Cruz is the most cursed fighter in MMA history. / Photo via Getty)
The world is a dark, senseless place. The evil are allowed to roam unpunished, while the good-hearted are forced to suffer and suffer and suffer. I don’t know how else to set up this news, but look, Dominick Cruz blew out his knee again. No not thatknee, the other knee. As he wrote on his Facebook page today:
It is with great sadness to report I have experienced another ACL injury. This time it’s in the right knee, opposite side of my first and second ACL injuries. Leading up to my last fight in September and after, I have practiced a very careful and methodical training and diet regime to keep my body healthy. Unfortunately, this is beyond my understanding and control. I don’t have a timetable for my return but trust and know I will pour my heart and soul into returning to the Octagon. I want to thank the UFC, my fans and my sponsors ahead of time for your support and prayers. I appreciate you more than you could understand. I don’t have any other facts to share right now. I, along with my camp, respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Thank You.
Cruz’s previous knee injuries cost him three full years of his competitive prime, as well as the UFC bantamweight title belt that he’d defended twice in 2011. When he finally returned at UFC 178, he needed just 61 seconds to lay a hellacious, cathartic beatdown on Takeya Mizugaki. Every fan of the Dominator was already looking forward to seeing him tangle with current champ TJ Dillashaw in the spring. Now, that won’t happen. Cruz will go back into surgery and rehab, and the UFC bantamweight division will go back to being a weight class you only sort of care about.
(If only the discs in Brown’s back could’ve been “immortal” too. / Photo via Getty)
We don’t want to freak you out, but curses are real. Our last five posts about UFC on FOX 9 have all been injury related. Our sixth post about the event is worst of all: Matt Brown is out of his fight with Carlos Condit due to a back injury.
The best fight left on the card after a series of injuries ravaged it is gone now. If you’re not keeping score, here’s a rundown of how injury-plagued this fight card has been:
(If only the discs in Brown’s back could’ve been “immortal” too. / Photo via Getty)
We don’t want to freak you out, but curses are real. Our last five posts about UFC on FOX 9 have all been injury related. Our sixth post about the event is worst of all: Matt Brown is out of his fight with Carlos Condit due to a back injury.
The best fight left on the card after a series of injuries ravaged it is gone now. If you’re not keeping score, here’s a rundown of how injury-plagued this fight card has been:
Either way, UFC on FOX 9 is a shadow of its former self. There are still some decent to above-average fights on it, but it’s no longer a must-see, free-card-of-the-year. Bummer.
In the very brief history of The World Series of Fighting, Anthony Johnson vs. Mike Kyle has been booked on two separate occasions yet has never come to fruition. It probably never will.
The pair was first scheduled to collide in the main event of WSOF 5last September, until “Rumble” was forced to pull out from the bout with an injury and replaced by Andrei Arlovski (who eventually defeated Kyle via unanimous decision). The pair was then rescheduled to throw down in the main event of WSOF 7 on December 7th. A press release sent out earlier this morning, however, informs us that the fight has once again been scrapped. Did I mention that it will likely never happen ever?
“I’m as disappointed as anyone that we’re forced to cancel this fight, but Mike just could not compete with his broken toe, and we simply could not find a suitable opponent for Anthony on such short notice,” World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo said.
“That said, we are fortunate that we still have a fantastic championship matchup between Georgi Karakhanyan and Lance Palmer that will now serve as our main event, and I think fans are still going to enjoy an incredible fight card.”
In the very brief history of The World Series of Fighting, Anthony Johnson vs. Mike Kyle has been booked on two separate occasions yet has never come to fruition. It probably never will.
The pair was first scheduled to collide in the main event of WSOF 5last September, until “Rumble” was forced to pull out from the bout with an injury and replaced by Andrei Arlovski (who eventually defeated Kyle via unanimous decision). The pair was then rescheduled to throw down in the main event of WSOF 7 on December 7th. A press release sent out earlier this morning, however, informs us that the fight has once again been scrapped. Did I mention that it will likely never happen ever?
“I’m as disappointed as anyone that we’re forced to cancel this fight, but Mike just could not compete with his broken toe, and we simply could not find a suitable opponent for Anthony on such short notice,” World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo said.
“That said, we are fortunate that we still have a fantastic championship matchup between Georgi Karakhanyan and Lance Palmer that will now serve as our main event, and I think fans are still going to enjoy an incredible fight card.”
As Sefo mentioned, the injury pictured above has shuffled the featherweight title bout between Georgi “Insane” Karakhanyan and Lance “The Party” Palmer to the main event slot. But rather than inform you of Karakhanyan’s current 8-fight win streak or Palmer’s unblemished 7-0 record (do you see what I did there?), I’d rather we use this opportunity to brainstorm a better nickname for poor Lance Palmer. I’ll get us started:
The current 10-fight lineup for Bellator 106 is below. Beware, Joe Riggs — the UFC washout injury curse is coming for you next…
MAIN CARD (Spike TV)
Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez
Pat Curran vs. Daniel Straus
Muhammed Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton
Joe Riggs vs. Mike Bronzoulis
Mike Richman vs. Akop Stepanyan
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)
Jesse Juarez vs. Joe Williams
Joe Camacho vs. Cleber Luciano
Brandon Halsey vs. Hector Ramirez
Mike Guymon vs. Aaron Miller
Darren Smith vs. Josh Smith
“And then the hair on my arms stood up, and I felt a cold hand on the back of my neck, and a voice saying … “Well, well, well, motherfucker.” PicProps: AllElbows
Scott Coker commented today during a media call today about the possibility of awarding the Strikeforce heavyweight championship to the winner of the Heavyweight Grand Prix, saying that the decision hasn’t been made, but that the company probably would not do so.
Because, you know, why would you?
After promoting a tournament as a way to “finally answer once and for all who is the world’s most dangerous man” (uh, hello? Ken Shamrock. /thread), obviously the most rational thing to do is hand the winner a large trophy or a poster-sized check, right? But to go ahead and award that winner the title of “champion”, a title that is currently vacant? Well that’s just not a decision they’re in any hurry to make.
Now call me crazy, but it seems Scott Coker believes that the belts he gives to fighters are cursed. I mean cursed like “made from the skin of blind puppies”, “hexed by crazy-haired blood witches”, “directly connected to Cenobites” cursed. Nothing else could explain the ghost town that is Strikeforce Championville, USA, but that it’s been built on the sacred land of indigenous peoples whose souls rest uneasily.
“And then the hair on my arms stood up, and I felt a cold hand on the back of my neck, and a voice saying … “Well, well, well, motherfucker.” PicProps: AllElbows
Scott Coker commented today during a media call today about the possibility of awarding the Strikeforce heavyweight championship to the winner of the Heavyweight Grand Prix, saying that the decision hasn’t been made, but that the company probably would not do so.
Because, you know, why would you?
After promoting a tournament as a way to “finally answer once and for all who is the world’s most dangerous man” (uh, hello? Ken Shamrock. /thread), obviously the most rational thing to do is hand the winner a large trophy or a poster-sized check, right? But to go ahead and award that winner the title of “champion”, a title that is currently vacant? Well that’s just not a decision they’re in any hurry to make.
Now call me crazy, but it seems Scott Coker believes that the belts he gives to fighters are cursed. I mean cursed like “made from the skin of blind puppies”, “hexed by crazy-haired blood witches”, “directly connected to Cenobites” cursed. Nothing else could explain the ghost town that is Strikeforce Championville, USA, but that it’s been built on the sacred land of indigenous peoples whose souls rest uneasily.
Heavyweight champ Overeem: gone, and no title for the GP winner. Light heavyweight champ Henderson: free agent, probably gone. Welterweight champ Nick Diaz: gone for a GSP superfight. Coker isn’t in a hurry to crown a new guy there, either. Melendez would be gone, too, but the UFC picture at 155 looks like the DMV complete with a sign that says “Take a Number”. The women’s division is plagued with similar absences, but that’s really an entirely different dynamic. Unless the title belts are haunted by angry ghosts hungry for vengeance.
Clearly, Coker has gotten the message that the UFC will handpick fighters from his roster, and he’s powerless to do anything about it. So he’s taken the ingenious tactic of refusing to make new champions, like he’s the babysitter in the house with the hook-wielding escaped lunatic and as long as he doesn’t acknowledge the problem, he won’t get gutted even though the call is coming from inside the house!
That analogy may have gotten out of hand, but the craziest thing is this: Coker just might be on to something. Rather than have a bunch of belts that might as well say “Gone to UFC, BRB” on them, maybe focusing on putting on good fights with good matchups and an odd tournament or two would help carve out a solid niche for the promotion. Accepting a role as a feeder organization, and excelling at it, could be the best thing for Strikeforce as part of the Zuffa family.
Of course, that would put the promotion on a collision course with Bellator, but with Zuffa backing and cable distribution deals already in place, Strikeforce would smash Bellator in ratings.
Either that, or Coker is going to need to get those belts into a containment unit.
(If only the discs in Brown’s back could’ve been “immortal” too. / Photo via Getty)
