Tag: Dana White

MMA News: Jason “Mayhem” Miller Talks About Beef with Strikeforce & UFC 132

Notorious MMA fighter and host of MTV’s Bully Beatdown, Jason “Mayhem” Miller has a bone to pick with Strikeforce over his contract or lack thereof. Miller was involved in the infamous “Strikeforce: Nashville Brawl” which …

Notorious MMA fighter and host of MTV’s Bully Beatdown, Jason “Mayhem” Miller has a bone to pick with Strikeforce over his contract or lack thereof.

Miller was involved in the infamous “Strikeforce: Nashville Brawl” which aired live on CBS in April of 2010.

For his participation in the scrap, Miller received a three month suspension, a $5,000-$7,500 fine and was pulled from the card of his scheduled bout with Robbie Lawler, but that’s not specifically what Miller’s beef is about.

Once the fines were paid and suspension was up, Miller still had heard no word from Strikeforce as to when, where or who his next fight would be.

According to Ben Fowlkes of MMAFighting.com Miller stated, “All I knew is that I sat on the bench for a year…that’s all I knew.”

Even though Miller was still under contract with Strikeforce, the promotion apparently “refused to offer him a chance to fight and without ever explaining why”, said Fowlkes.

When Miller’s contract with Strikeforce was up, he signed with the UFC and it wasn’t until then, that he learned the reason he was never given another fight with Strikeforce.

Fowlkes said, Dana White explained that Miller had been banned from Showtime and CBS for the Nashville incident; news that neither Strikeforce management nor CEO, Scott Coker thought was important enough to tell Miller.

“I asked, and guess what? Nobody would tell me. This is a political environment. Nobody’s going to tell you. They’re just going to be cowards about it. That’s the way of the world. Nobody’s going to tell the crazy ultimate fighter guy to his face, ‘Hey, screw you.’ They’re not going to do that,” Miller told MMA Fighting.

Miller has had one fight since his suspension against MMA legend, Kazushi Sakuraba in Japan with the DREAM promotion, which he won by submission.

Since Zuffa LLC’s acquisition of Strikeforce and now that Miller’s contract has expired, he will face Aaron Simpson at UFC 132 in his first UFC middleweight bout and first fight back in the UFC since losing a welterweight matchup against Georges St-Pierre in April of 2005.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Owns Strikeforce, Will They Utilize It?

With the recent purchase of Strikeforce by the UFC, the MMA world has been a buzz as of late about the future of the sport. Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest-growing sport in our country. It has taken the model of promoting fighters and pay-per-views l…

With the recent purchase of Strikeforce by the UFC, the MMA world has been a buzz as of late about the future of the sport. Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest-growing sport in our country. It has taken the model of promoting fighters and pay-per-views like wrestling or boxing, which has been very successful for Zuffa.

Now that one company owns the two largest leagues in the fight game, many aspects of the sport could look to change.

The WWE has SmackDown and Raw, which play off of each other; will the UFC look to do the same?

From a company that was going under the bus just a decade ago, to a powerhouse in the entertainment business, they have showed that ambition and the willingness to gamble on a product can pay off if everything lines up. Now they have the power to actually buy out other companies. Just remember that Strikeforce had just as much talent as the UFC and many argue they have an even better Heavyweight class.

Now, the fans on the forums and blogs might actually have some their wildest dreams come true.

When Affliction folded, many fighters immigrated to their respected leagues; it really was down to Strikeforce and the UFC. Like boxing, there are multiple belts in the same weight classes. This creates debates over who is the best of the best. That creates discussion that keeps the sport in the news, but now these debates can actually come into fruition.

Even though Dana White has stated that Strikeforce will keep its name, some fighters will face each other.

This merger breeds hypothetical matchups.

In the heavyweight class, you have so much talent on both sides. In the UFC, you have Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar, Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin to name a few. In Strikeforce, you have Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emilianenko, Antonio Silva, Fabricio Werdum and other rising talent.

While Cain and Alistair hold their respected belts, many people want to see Brock Lesnar fight Fedor just because they have the star power and so much debate has been over those two fighters. Many times, matchups and talent take a back seat to star power in the fight game.

In all honesty, Alistair Overeem is probably the best heavyweight in both leagues, but that can’t be fact until he goes toe-to-toe with the fighters in the UFC.

That is just a taste of the potential of what this merger can do for MMA. Without the leagues joining, this talk would be just talk. Now that these matchups are viable, it might take MMA to another level.

With the marketing of the sport coming from all sides like clothing, DVDs, video games and training gear, the grassroots movement has taken a back seat to the marketing juggernauts. When your sport has made its way to Walmart shelves, it says a lot about how far it has come.

If the UFC wants to move away from the pay-per-view market and mix a cocktail of WWE, NFL and ESPN, this sport will shadow everything in the country but football.

If the UFC plans a well thought-out network deal, you could have your fight fix on Saturday night and the pigskin on Sunday!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White: No Major Criticism of GSP’s Performance at UFC 129

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TORONTO — MMA Fighting spoke to UFC president Dana White following UFC 129 about Georges St-Pierre’s performance against Jake Shields, whether GSP should be criticized for not finishing finishing Shields, what’s next for the champion, whether he now believes this is the end of Randy Couture’s career, the decision to allow Mark Hominick to fight after “The Machine” developed a hematoma on his forehead and his overall thoughts on the event at Rogers Centre.

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TORONTO — MMA Fighting spoke to UFC president Dana White following UFC 129 about Georges St-Pierre’s performance against Jake Shields, whether GSP should be criticized for not finishing finishing Shields, what’s next for the champion, whether he now believes this is the end of Randy Couture’s career, the decision to allow Mark Hominick to fight after “The Machine” developed a hematoma on his forehead and his overall thoughts on the event at Rogers Centre.

Dana White: Non-Title, Five-Round Fights in UFC’s Immediate Future

Filed under: UFC, News TORONTO — Five-round non-title fights are in the UFC’s immediate future, UFC president Dana White said on Friday afternoon.

Until now, only championship fights have been five rounds, while all other fights have been three. The …

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Brock Lesnar TORONTO — Five-round non-title fights are in the UFC’s immediate future, UFC president Dana White said on Friday afternoon.

Until now, only championship fights have been five rounds, while all other fights have been three. The different structure would likely only be utilized for non-title main events, or other important bouts, like No. 1 contender fights.

Finally! UFC Set to Introduce Five Round Non-Title Fights

So far 2011 has continued to build on 2010 for MMA fans; there’s been a ton of great fights put together, the UFC finally introduced the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, and from a pure fan’s perspective, Zuffa’s acquisition of Strikeforce should produce even more great tilts. Yes, we’ve all been…gaining…(we’d use ‘winning’ if not for […]

penn fitch

So far 2011 has continued to build on 2010 for MMA fans; there’s been a ton of great fights put together, the UFC finally introduced the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, and from a pure fan’s perspective, Zuffa’s acquisition of Strikeforce should produce even more great tilts. Yes, we’ve all been…gaining…(we’d use ‘winning’ if not for the nauseating overuse of the term lately)

Well, at this week’s pre UFC 129 festivities (another card that is cause for celebration), Dana White has apparently announced that five round, non-title fights are headed to the UFC. Yup, that’s right, and after you’re finished shouting ‘eff yeah’, finish it off with an ‘it’s about effin time.’ Apparently one of the deciding factors in this decision was the recent draw between BJ Penn and Jon Fitch, which if there ever was an example of the need for two more rounds, there it was.  MMA Fighting quoted the boss man saying:

“I hate draws worse than anything,” White said…”You sit there and watch a game for hours and nobody wins?” he said. “I don’t get it. That’s one thing I hate about fights, too. Draws suck.”

Yes, yes they do. The story also states that the UFC had looked at making the upcoming Brock Lesnar, Junior Dos Santos a five rounder, but eventually decided against it, as both men had already begun their preparations. Too bad, but we appreciate the UFC acknowledging that the fight should have two extra frames, and even more importantly, taking action to remove another item from our bitch list.

You’re running out of time to get some bets down on UFC 129….

Lorenzo Fertitta Working on Hendo vs. Fedor

After Zuffa purchased Strikeforce during its most recent game of MMA Monopoly (it was right beside the WFA, two spots before Free Parking), one of the more discussed topics was what would go down with Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global. If you’re new to the sport, then you might not know that UFC boss man […]

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After Zuffa purchased Strikeforce during its most recent game of MMA Monopoly (it was right beside the WFA, two spots before Free Parking), one of the more discussed topics was what would go down with Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global. If you’re new to the sport, then you might not know that UFC boss man Dana White and the Russian star’s management aren’t exactly bestest buddies .

Of course, Fedor hasn’t exactly been bolstering his bargaining position by losing back-to-back fights to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, but despite his recent setbacks, people are still keen to see him tussle. For example, when reports surfaced stating Strikeforce was trying to put together a fight between Dan Henderson and Fedor, we, like many others, were pretty damn happy. Well, the good news is that Zuffa apparently is going to do their part to git r done as well. White reported this week at the UFC 129 pre-fight festivities (thanks to MMA Junkie for the quote) :

“Lorenzo’s working on it,” White said Thursday. “Me getting anywhere near that thing? You’ll never see that fight.”… “I’ve been out of it,” White added.  “Me involved in that situation would only make matters worse. The great thing about this company and the way we do things – there’s a lot of people I butt heads with. Lorenzo can handle it, and then I can handle stuff. (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva handles stuff.”

Yes, feel free to wipe your forehead, as it’s looking more and more like this bout will happen. Speaking of UFC 129, to bet on any of the fights head here.