UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman feels that good ol’ fashioned American patriotism is dwindling in mixed martial arts, and that’s something that needs to change as soon as possible.
“The All-American” voiced his opinion during last week’s …
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman feels that good ol’ fashioned American patriotism is dwindling in mixed martial arts, and that’s something that needs to change as soon as possible.
“The All-American” voiced his opinion during last week’s edition of Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour (h/t MMA Fighting).
I feel like smaller countries, other countries, they cheer, they support their people no matter what. We need to get a little bit more supportive of our people … So America is the one country that, they don’t cheer for their own. They won’t just stick with Americans. I feel like Americans need to get better with that … We have a lot of great stars and so many different things, some of the other countries don’t have that.
Weidman seemed particularly peeved over the fact that many American fans decided to cheer for Irish sensation Conor McGregor when he faced off with Louisiana’s own Dustin Poirier at UFC 178 eight days ago.
McGregor won the bout in under two minutes via TKO.
Out of the UFC’s nine current titleholders, seven are American (Ronda Rousey, Demetrious Johnson, T.J. Dillashaw, Anthony Pettis, Johny Hendricks, Weidman and Jon Jones), with Rousey and Jones arguably having the largest fanbases.
Weidman, a native of Baldwin, New York, is currently unbeaten (12-0) and has faced little opposition inside the Octagon outside of his most recent contest against Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 in July.
The 185-pound champ won the fight via unanimous decision after a hard-fought, 25-minute battle.
The Serra-Longo Fight Team standout will defend his title against Brazilian slugger Vitor Belfort in February after their UFC 181 matchup was postponed after Weidman recently broke his hand in training, per UFC president Dana White.
Does Weidman make a solid point that American fans aren’t as vocal as fans of other nationalities when it comes to seeing their countrymen leave it all in the cage?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.
To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.
Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:
The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.
To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.
Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:
Bellator vs. Battlegrounds MMA
It wasn’t exactly the showdown anyone anticipated, yet Bellator 127 went head-to-head against the hopeful Battlegrounds MMA, the upstart group that hired WWE legend Jim Ross and former UFC trash-talking guru Chael Sonnen to lead the way in the commentary booth for the return of the epic one-night tournament.
First, let’s get Bellator out of the way. These weekly Bellator shows will thankfully come to an end, and we can’t wait for Scott Coker to put on monthly shows better than the five UFC shows Zuffa runs per month, even though season 11 has owned so far.
In the main event, Daniel Straus blitzed past Justin Wilcox in under a minute, returning to winning ways after dropping his featherweight strap to Pat Curran back in March. Karo Parisyan’s comeback came to a stop at the hands of Fernando Gonzalez in a catchweight bout, after the latter dropped him and continued to deck him into oblivion. Another catchweight fight saw Rafael Silva defeat another UFC veteran, Rob Emerson, and Kendall Grove surprised the majority of his naysayers by choking out Christian M’Pumbu. Check out the highlights here.
As for Battlegrounds MMA, it was the perfect mix of sensation and shit show. The tournament format made a return, but we can sort of see why MMA can do without it. The show was a little long (not nearly as long as you-know-who), and with all due respect to the combatants participating, it would be hard to say the event would have acquired the same intrigue had it not been a one-night, eight-man welterweight tournament.
Since most of you care about the commentary team, they were a lot better than Mike Goldberg & Joe Rogan, Jon Anik & Brian Stann/Kenny Florian, generic English guy & Dan Hardy, and even Michael Schiavello & Pat Miletech. Both Ross and Sonnen offered something different in the booth, ranging from the “American Gangster’s” steroid jokes and ranking a ring girl, to Ross’ dry humor and still intact punch lines.
The unlikely winner of the whole shebang was Roan Corneiro, defeating three men in one night (including two finishes), and then stripped of $15,000 by the Oklahoma Athletic Commission for “showing up late” to a medical. Since the grand prize was a whopping $50,000, earning just $35,000 to topple three foes in one night is pretty atrocious. Other notable tournament highlights include Cody McKenzie making weight by donating a pint of blood and then losing to Brock Larson by submission, Joe Ray mauled Luigi Fioravanti, and Trey Houston upset Jesse Taylor with a slick first-round armbar.
UFC Sweden Actually Turned Out To Be A Good Show
UFC in the afternoon is a little odd. Depending on which coast you reside on, you have limited time when waking up in someone’s bed that you don’t recognize, and realize you’re about three ferry rides away from your home. Some of us would just keep chilling, but you know, their partner can turn out to be Leo Johnson.
Anyway, Twitter, the best social media app on the fucking planet, blew up with so-called MMA journalists and enthusiasts making fun of those watching the UFC Sweden prelims around noon without being paid for it. We tend to agree.
The UFC Fight Night 53 main card was pretty damn entertaining, mainly because all the Swedes and their affiliates lost. Rick Story shocked by emphatically defeating the overhyped Gunnar Nelson, and then completely blew his post-fight interview by not calling someone out. The co-main event saw Max Holloway knock out Akira Corassani, and the Wiki-less Ilir Latifi also fell to Jan Blachowicz due to a mean kick to the body. The action opened up with Mike Wilkinson upsetting Niklas Backstrom with a nasty knockout. The best part was when the latter walked up to Dan Hardy in the midst of talking to the Englishman and simply said, “that’s fucked up, man …(something else)…”
Donald Cerrone & Hapless Canuck Get Inked
After promising his boss he wouldn’t wakeboard or commit to other crazy shit on fight week, UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone got some pretty interesting ink on his foot. To be honest, there should be more instances of a blonde Bettie Page riding a rocket-penis in the sport.
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WoW the feet hurt!! Would way rather take 30 unanswered uppercuts to the face lol @benguntattoo
If you thought that was bad, check out this moronic UFC-loving sap getting UFC Halifax inked on his freaking forearm, complete with the iconic Chuck Liddell pose.
UFC made its debut in Nova Scotia this past Saturday night with UFC Fight Night 54, showcasing the fight card on multiple backup platforms after FOX Sports 1 flipped them the bird and said, “we’re finishing baseball first, Mitch Gagnon.”
The event was pretty lackluster in general, minus Rory MacDonald’s official coming out party as the real Patrick Bateman. He finished Tarec Saffiedine in the third round via knockout, and there’s a good chance he’s next in line for the welterweight championship. Also on the card, Miesha Tate’s boyfriend lost to Raphael Assuncao in the co-main event.
As for the rest of the main card, check Wikipedia. If Dana isn’t doing post-fight scrums anymore, we aren’t either.
War Machine Is Back On Twitter
War Machine, real name John … you know what? Fuck War Machine. Up next …
UFC Newcomer Creates Go Fund Me Page
Every time the fighter pay issue is brought up in the media, the UFC brass (primarily) completely shuts down the remarks, citing backstage bonuses, unknown contract clauses, and general media stupidity to fight their cause.
In this instance, Nina Ansaroff, who makes her Octagon debut against Juliana Lima in a women’s strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil, has created a “Go Fund Me” page upon entering her first fight for the promotion hopeful of “world fucking domination.”
This has to be one of the saddest instances of fighter pay in the goddamn world. Not only did Cat Zingano’s paycheck raise a few eyebrows last week, but also that’s just another example of how flawed the pay system is. Ansaroff is an Invicta FC veteran, riding a five-fight winning streak, and fought both Carla Esparza and Barb Honchak early on in her career. As it stands, the fighter has raised $960, with a projected goal of $5,000.
The “People’s Warrior” claimed he threw his welterweight title fight against Steve Carl back in October 2012, just to get back into the UFC’s grace. It was a little hard to believe since the scrap was a back-and-forth battle that saw Burkman go out due to a triangle choke.
After some back-and-forth clowning with Ben Askren on Twitter, Burkman reiterated that he would never throw a fight, and was simply tooling the current One FC welterweight champion (as per his chat with MMA Fighting).
The world of professional sports is marred by a situation that doesn’t involve action within the realm of play. Domestic violence allegations have swarmed the National Football League and other professional organizations. Ultimate Fighting Champi…
The world of professional sports is marred by a situation that doesn’t involve action within the realm of play. Domestic violence allegations have swarmed the National Football League and other professional organizations. Ultimate Fighting Championship has not been able to escape criticism as it has been mentioned in multiple incidents as well. Whether it is the allegations surrounding Anthony Johnson, Thiago Silva or Will Chope, UFC has shown a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to domestic violence.
The stigma surrounding professional athletes and heinous situations such as domestic violence is that the alleged individuals are given a “pass” because of their celebrity status. The NFL’s handling of the Ray Rice situation caused a firestorm that led to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admitting to making a mistake in how he punished him. Since then, the league has had the opportunity to retrace its steps and suspend him indefinitely due to the release of videotaped evidence (via NFL.com).
Still, UFC can learn much about how that situation was handled and seems to have started with steps in the right direction.
Johnson was recently suspended amid reports of a restraining order filed against him by the mother of two of his children (via Sherdog). According to UFC President Dana White, the issue is not a positive one for the developing star.
“He’s not in a good position right now,” White said in a report by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “(An indefinite suspension) doesn’t mean he’s definitely going to fight here. Even if (the latest allegations) go his way. We’ll see what happens.”
This article also mentions UFC and its zero-tolerance policy toward domestic violence. In recent months, the organization has had the opportunity to flex that muscle. For example, Chope was released mere hours before a scheduled fight in the Octagon when it was revealed he was discharged from the military in 2011 due to charges of assault (via MMA Mania).
Unfortunately, the question will still arise as to what will happen if a big-name fighter is caught up in these allegations. Silva, who is far from being a mainstream headliner, was recently welcomed back to the organization once the criminal charges he faced were dropped. However, the UFC re-released him as more evidence was made public (via MMA Fighting).
The company should still go forth and make its policy public for fans and media alike to show that the organization is transparent in a time when most major promotions are not. If a situation arises in which a major star, such as a current champion, is caught in a similar situation, UFC will have to respond with the same severity that it has in the cases of Johnson, Chope or Silva. At the same time, the company has to be careful in allowing due process to proceed before making any concluding moves.
It is often forgotten that the athletes who make up the professional sports world are human beings who make mistakes. When their names cross the police blotters, many media members and fans want to see them dealt with in a harsh manner. The UFC has stepped up and created a zero-tolerance policy for its fighters when it comes to domestic violence. Here is to hoping the company will not have to enforce it at any point in the future.
UFC 178 represented a notorious coming out party for Conor McGregor, who Dana White now calls the biggest star in UFC history.
Yes, you read that correctly.
After just four fights, the UFC president has conceded that the Irish featherweight is bigger t…
UFC 178 represented a notorious coming out party for ConorMcGregor, who Dana White now calls the biggest star in UFC history.
Yes, you read that correctly.
After just four fights, the UFC president has conceded that the Irish featherweight is bigger than Georges St-Pierre and Brock Lesnar.
When speaking with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani on Fox Sports 1’s UFC 178 post-fight show, White uttered the grand proclamation that the hype and excitement behind McGregor was “bigger than any of the fighters” the UFC has ever had, including St-Pierre and Lesnar.
“ConorMcGregor is the real deal – he is legit,” White said, according to MMAjunkie. “He is a force that I have never seen ever. Bigger than Brock Lesnar when he was here. Bigger than any of the fighters we’ve ever had. Yes, [he’s bigger than Georges St-Pierre]. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
McGregor proved skeptics wrong on Saturday night by effortlessly dispatching of top-five ranked featherweight contender Dustin Poirier. He even managed to finish the fight in the fashion and round he predicted weeks in advance, a first-round knockout.
The prospect of McGregor being a major star for the UFC is glaringly obvious, considering the reception he received over the weekend in Las Vegas. But it still remains to be seen whether he can move a pay-per-view needle to the effect of top-earning fighters in the past.
However, it’s tough to doubt a man with an entire country behind him.
During the live UFC 178 broadcast, per MMAWeekly, White claimed that “ten percent of ticket sales came from Ireland” just to see McGregor. It’s a kind of star power that is at least comparable to St-Pierre’s influence in Canada, if not greater.
Though the St-Pierre and Lesnar comparisons might seem a bit premature, there is something to be said about the myriad of intrigue surrounding the 26-year-old McGregor so early in his UFC career.
It has been a tough year for the UFC with St-Pierre going on indefinite hiatus and Anderson Silva being sidelined with an injury.
Perhaps the long and arduous journey of finding the next breakout star led the UFC to a large pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and his name is ConorMcGregor.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Bob Bennett feels the chances are “very slim” that the governing body would overrule a Yoel Romero Round 3 TKO over Tim Kennedy at UFC 178—in the event an appeal is filed by Kennedy’s camp. …
Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Bob Bennett feels the chances are “very slim” that the governing body would overrule a Yoel Romero Round 3 TKO over Tim Kennedy at UFC 178—in the event an appeal is filed by Kennedy’s camp.
Bennett told MMA Fighting that he would be surprised to see the result of the entertaining middleweight scrap overturned.
“They’re very seldom overruled,” Bennett told Shaun Al-Shatti. “The likelihood of an appeal being overturned is very slim. I’m not going to say it’s not going to happen, but like I initially said, it would be deferred to our legal department.”
Bennett was also complimentary of referee “Big” John McCarthy, who he felt got the fight “to continue as quickly as possible.”
A bloody brawl that netted both competitors “Fight of the Night” checks worth $50,000, the fight was controversial since Romero’s corner stalled after a UFC cut man applied Vaseline over the fighter’s left eye between Rounds 2 and 3.
The result saw Romero get at least an extra 25 seconds to recover on his stool before McCarthy took it upon himself to wipe off the excessive amount of Vaseline.
Romero was nearly finished at the end of the second frame after a barrage of heavy punches from Kennedy, but “The Soldier of God” was saved by the bell.
Kennedy has been vocal that the bout should’ve been stopped in between rounds, posting a tweet explaining the NSAC rule on the subject and expressing his displeasure with Romero in a Vine video taken shortly after the fight ended (NSFW language).
The Greg Jackson’s MMA fighter entered the matchup on the strength of a four-fight win streak, recognized as the No. 6 middleweight in the world, according to the UFC’s official rankings.
While Romeo only cracked the list at No. 10, he has now won five fights in a row and is unbeaten since cutting down to 185 pounds.
UFC President Dana White was noncommittal when asked if he would book Kennedy-Romero II, but certainly hasn’t ruled it out either, per ESPN.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
Following his dramatic exit from the UFC, Wanderlei Silva has officially been blackballed from the Hall of Fame, according to UFC President Dana White.
The legendary MMA fighter took aim at the UFC a week ago in a YouTube video, but surprisingly, this …
Following his dramatic exit from the UFC, Wanderlei Silva has officially been blackballed from the Hall of Fame, according to UFC President Dana White.
The legendary MMA fighter took aim at the UFC a week ago in a YouTube video, but surprisingly, this black and white promo wasn’t the usual melodramatic speech fans had grown accustomed to hearing.
The Axe Murderer announced that he would be dropping the axe on his own 18-year career due to a lack of “respect” and serious discrepancies in UFC fighter pay. Though an early retirement hardly seems necessary at this point, given Silva’s current situation with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
On Tuesday, the NSAC handed the former Pride middleweight champ a lifelong ban and a $70,000 fine for allegedly running away from a random drug test earlier this year.
If a lifelong ban wasn’t harsh enough, White added a heap of dirt on Silva’s already deep grave by denying him an opportunity to be honored in the UFC Hall of Fame.
“Nobody has ever run from a drug test before. I didn’t see a lifetime ban coming. Nobody will let him fight. He’s in a very serious situation,” White said about Silva, when speaking to Fox Sports.
“There’s going to be no Hall of Fame,” White continued. “The guy’s been Pete Rose’d. There’s going to be no Hall of Fame offers.”
Silva’s lifelong ban and being denied access to the Hall of Fame is truly a sad ending to one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
Few can lay claim to helping carry the weight of an entire sport on their shoulders, but Silva’s historical significance falls right in line with Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and FedorEmelianenko.
He closed out his career back in March 2013 in Saitama, Japan with a second-round knockout win over Brian Stann.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
