LAS VEGAS — On Wednesday afternoon, Dana White was informed that Rashad Evans, who was scheduled to compete next week at UFC 170 against Daniel Cormier, had injured his knee.
Evans was scheduled for an MRI to assess the extent of the damage. Eva…
LAS VEGAS — On Wednesday afternoon, Dana White was informed that Rashad Evans, who was scheduled to compete next week at UFC 170 against Daniel Cormier, had injured his knee.
Evans was scheduled for an MRI to assess the extent of the damage. Evans said he still wanted to fight and felt like he could compete against Cormier.
White and his staff waited for the results to come back. Later that night, White was attending his son’s basketball game when he got the call: Evans was out of the fight, but he would only be out for four weeks.
Cormier was informed of the injury, and he was upset. He told White he had to fight.
“This whole cutting weight thing was hard on him,” White said during a media lunch today.
White said the weight came off easily, but that Cormier was upset that he put all the work in and wasn’t going to get to fight. White told Cormier that Evans was only supposed to be out for four weeks and that he wanted to put Cormier on the UFC 172 card in Baltimore in April.
“I was keeping my options open. I was thinking light heavyweight tournament,” White said.
“I don’t want to fight in Baltimore,” Cormier said. “I need to fight.”
“There’s nothing I can do, man,” White responded. “Plus, nobody is going to fight you on a week’s notice.”
Cormier called White twice during the game, pleading for something to be done. But White went to bed on Tuesday night believing he was powerless to help Cormier out.
When White woke up on Thursday morning, he heard about a Twitter petition for Patrick Cummins to get the fight against Cormier. Cummins, an undefeated former collegiate All-American wrestler, had publicly said on Twitter that he would be glad to fight Cormier.
White found out the details on Cummins. He liked what he heard, especially when Cummins‘ manager told White what Cummins said: When Cummins and Cormier used to train together, he claimed, he often made Cormier cry. He broke him.
White was intrigued. And so Cummins‘ manager, Ryan Parsons, was asked to get Cummins on the phone. White wanted to know if the story was true, and he wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Cummins didn’t answer White’s calls because he was at work at a coffee shop in Dana Point, California.
Parsons drove to the coffee shop and walked in. He told the manager on duty that he needed to speak to Cummins.
“He’s working,” the manager responded. “He can’t talk right now. You’re going to have to leave.”
And so Parsons got back in his car and went to the drive-through window, where Cummins was working his shift.
“Hey, I need to talk to you,” Parsons said. “I need to get you on the phone so you can talk to Dana.”
Parsons gave Cummins the phone. White asked him about his comments claiming he could make Cormier cry.
“I’m telling you right now,” Cummins said. “I made Cormier cry every time we wrestled. I broke him every time. And I’ll beat him on Saturday night.”
White was interested. But Cummins continued.
“Well, I hope I get this fight,” he said. “Because they just fired me.”
Cummins‘ manager had fired him for taking the phone call while on shift.
“You tell your manager to go f–k himself,” White told Cummins. “Head to the gym right now. We’ll call you in a little while.”
White then called Cormier and told him he had the fight against Cummins.
“I know that guy,” Cormier said with a laugh. White relayed what Cummins told him about making him cry and breaking him during wrestling.
“First of all, if anything like that ever really happened, it was because guys were cycling in on me,” Cormier told White. “I wasn’t wrestling just one guy. I was training for the world championships and they were cycling guys in on me.
“If he ever beat me, and if any of this is remotely true, he did it in some obscure wrestling room out in the middle of nowhere where three people saw it. I’m going to whip his ass on the biggest stage on earth on Saturday night.”
And that’s how Patrick Cummins, long considered one of the best light heavyweight prospects in the world, finally got his shot at the UFC.
And he’s getting the chance against one of the best fighters in the world. It’s a tough ask for anyone, much less a fighter making his UFC debut.
Cummins is just 4-0 as a professional. And yes, he is a virtual unknown to much of the MMA world. But let me tell you something: I have seen Cummins train with some of the best the world has to offer at Mark Munoz’s Reign Training Center in California, and I can tell you right now that he’s a much tougher fighter than anyone is giving him credit for.
I’m not saying Cummins is going to beat Cormier. I don’t think he will. What I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if this fighter you’ve never heard of gives Cormier a ferociously tough test.
(Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Durkin? What does that even mean? / Photo via MMAJunkie)
When Rashad Evanspulled out of his scheduled UFC 170 match against Daniel Cormier, Cormier was devastated. “I don’t want this work to be for nothing,” he told Ariel Helwani. “I’ve killed myself in this gym. I’ve spent ten weeks away from my family…I’d fight Chael in a heartbeat. I’d fight Anthony Johnson in a heartbeat. I’d fight any of those guys. There’s somebody out there who wants to fight. Line ’em up…I just want to fight now.”
And so, in an apparent move to keep him happy, the UFC has allowed Cormier to remain on the February 22nd “Rousey vs. McMann” lineup. No, he won’t be fighting Chael Sonnen, or Rumble Johnson, or anybody else you’ve heard of. Instead, Cormier will fight 4-0 light-heavyweight prospect Patrick Cummins, who will be making his Octagon debut.
A former two-time All American wrestler for Penn State, Cummins trains out of Mark Munoz’s Reign MMA gym in Orange County, and he’s finished all four of his pro fights in the first round. Cormier, of course, is one of the greatest MMA fighters in the world. Be sure to tune in, folks, because you might not see a bigger squash match all year. Seriously, how in the hell did the Nevada State Athletic Commission approve this friggin’ thing? KEITH, GET BACK HERE!
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Not that Cormier vs. Cummins is going to jack up the buyrate for this zombie card, but at least the entire show won’t rest on Ronda Rousey‘s shoulders now. Your thoughts?
(Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Durkin? What does that even mean? / Photo via MMAJunkie)
When Rashad Evanspulled out of his scheduled UFC 170 match against Daniel Cormier, Cormier was devastated. “I don’t want this work to be for nothing,” he told Ariel Helwani. “I’ve killed myself in this gym. I’ve spent ten weeks away from my family…I’d fight Chael in a heartbeat. I’d fight Anthony Johnson in a heartbeat. I’d fight any of those guys. There’s somebody out there who wants to fight. Line ‘em up…I just want to fight now.”
And so, in an apparent move to keep him happy, the UFC has allowed Cormier to remain on the February 22nd “Rousey vs. McMann” lineup. No, he won’t be fighting Chael Sonnen, or Rumble Johnson, or anybody else you’ve heard of. Instead, Cormier will fight 4-0 light-heavyweight prospect Patrick Cummins, who will be making his Octagon debut.
A former two-time All American wrestler for Penn State, Cummins trains out of Mark Munoz’s Reign MMA gym in Orange County, and he’s finished all four of his pro fights in the first round. Cormier, of course, is one of the greatest MMA fighters in the world. Be sure to tune in, folks, because you might not see a bigger squash match all year. Seriously, how in the hell did the Nevada State Athletic Commission approve this friggin’ thing? KEITH, GET BACK HERE!
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Not that Cormier vs. Cummins is going to jack up the buyrate for this zombie card, but at least the entire show won’t rest on Ronda Rousey‘s shoulders now. Your thoughts?
Depending how you look at it, Chael Sonnen‘s offer to step in for Rashad Evans against Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 was either an act of extreme bravery or extreme cowardice — further proof that Sonnen is the most fearless man in the UFC or that he is one desperately trying to get out of Brazil in one piece A.S.A.P. Personally, I choose to believe the former, because if Chael Sonnen was brave enough to march head first into enemy territory to promote a reality show that no one watches, there’s no way a little on-set scrap would be enough to scare him away.
Sonnen’s valiance aside, Cormier would have demolished the Gangster From West Linn inside 3 minutes. You know this. I know this. Sonnen knows this. Chael P. was thoroughly overpowered by Evans and Jon Jones at light heavyweight, and against Cormier he’d be fighting an Olympian dropping down from heavyweight. They’d need a spatula to peel him off the canvas by the time all was said and done.
Realizing this, the UFC has denied Sonnen’s request, instead re-scheduling Evans vs. Cormier for UFC 172 (this is unconfirmed) and moving Sonnen vs. Wandy from UFC 173 in Las Vegas to a yet-to-be-named event in Brazil the following weekend.
As Happy Gilmore would say, “Talk about your all-time backfires.”
Depending how you look at it, Chael Sonnen‘s offer to step in for Rashad Evans against Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 was either an act of extreme bravery or extreme cowardice — further proof that Sonnen is the most fearless man in the UFC or that he is one desperately trying to get out of Brazil in one piece A.S.A.P. Personally, I choose to believe the former, because if Chael Sonnen was brave enough to march head first into enemy territory to promote a reality show that no one watches, there’s no way a little on-set scrap would be enough to scare him away.
Sonnen’s valiance aside, Cormier would have demolished the Gangster From West Linn inside 3 minutes. You know this. I know this. Sonnen knows this. Chael P. was thoroughly overpowered by Evans and Jon Jones at light heavyweight, and against Cormier he’d be fighting an Olympian dropping down from heavyweight. They’d need a spatula to peel him off the canvas by the time all was said and done.
Realizing this, the UFC has denied Sonnen’s request, instead re-scheduling Evans vs. Cormier for UFC 172 (this is unconfirmed) and moving Sonnen vs. Wandy from UFC 173 in Las Vegas to a yet-to-be-named event in Brazil the following weekend.
As Happy Gilmore would say, “Talk about your all-time backfires.”
But there is good news. In return for Sonnen’s chances of survival dropping from 90% in America to 0.05% in Brazil, the matchup will be given top billing at the TBA event. So at least Sonnen will be shipped back to America in the nicest casket available (a nice cabreuva, perhaps. Mmmmmm…)
Who am I kidding? Sonnen cannot be killed by conventional weapons or mere mortals. Submitted yes. TKO’d yes. But killed? Not in our lifetimes. Not in anyones. Chael Sonnen is so badass that he will start a fight while starting a fight. He’s like the Xzibit “Yo Dawg” meme wrapped in 200-odd pounds of pure machismo and violence, and the only thing that he’s heard you liked is getting your lily ass kicked. Chael Sonnen would fight Junior Dos Santos with *five* broken ribs, and walk sixteen miles in the snow both ways to get there.
Whether you’ll admit it or not, you would follow Chael to the gates of Hell. And once he had bitch-smacked Lucifer and told the nearest she-devil to make him a rusty nail sandwich, only then would you know true greatness. All hail Chael. All hail Chael.
Details on Evans’s injury are scarce, although UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole that Evans would need four weeks of rehab. (Iole’s report called it a knee injury, by the way.) Depending on Rashad’s recovery, the UFC may reschedule the Evans/Cormier match to take place at UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira (April 26th, Baltimore). We’ll update you if that becomes official.
Details on Evans’s injury are scarce, although UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole that Evans would need four weeks of rehab. (Iole’s report called it a knee injury, by the way.) Depending on Rashad’s recovery, the UFC may reschedule the Evans/Cormier match to take place at UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira (April 26th, Baltimore). We’ll update you if that becomes official.
A huge blow was just dealt to the UFC 170 card as Rashad Evans has announced that he suffered a leg injury and will be unable to compete in the co-main event. The development was first announced by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole on Twitter:
Breaking news: …
A huge blow was just dealt to the UFC 170 card as Rashad Evans has announced that he suffered a leg injury and will be unable to compete in the co-main event. The development was first announced by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole on Twitter:
Evans was slated to compete opposite former heavyweight standout Daniel Cormier. Cormier, per Iole, will be removed from the card entirely. A heavyweight standout, he was scheduled to make his highly anticipated light heavyweight debut.
“Suga'” most recently demolished former middleweight and light heavyweight contender ChaelSonnen at UFC 167. He easily outwrestledSonnen en route to a first-round TKO victory. That, combined with his win over former two-division Pride FC champion Dan Henderson, put him in the running for a possible bout with champion Jon Jones.
The bout is a huge blow to the UFC 170 card. While it features a strong headline in a title bout between Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann, Evans vs. Cormier was a very, very strong co-main event and was a critical bout for the 205-pound division.
UFC 170 has seen numerous exciting fights cancelled. A tilt between former Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez and rising Russian KhabibNurmagomedov was axed due to a contract dispute between Melendez and the UFC.
Additionally, a highly anticipated match between RustamKhabilov and Rafael dos Anjos was nixed last week due to an injury to Khabilov (dos Anjos is now set to face Nurmagomedov at UFC on Fox 11).
It is likely that the welterweight bout between Rory MacDonald and Demian Maia will be elevated to co-main event status.
Details are still breaking, so stay here for updates as they become available.
Update 1:Iole reached out to UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and reported the following:
Just spoke to @lorenzofertitta. Rashad doesn’t need surgery. Needs four weeks of rehab.
Update 2: Brett Okamoto from ESPN is reporting that the Evans-Cormier matchup is still planned, but will be moved according to Evans’ timetable for return:
UFC’s Lorenzo Fertitta says Rashad‘s progress will be monitored and the fight will be rebooked, likely to either 172 or 173 in Vegas.
The team of analysts for the UFC on Fox Sports 1 and Fox broadcasts has been providing the most in-depth coverage that mixed martial arts has seen in its 20 years of existence.
With a collection of seasoned fight veterans and a handful of well-versed h…
The team of analysts for the UFC on Fox Sports 1 and Fox broadcasts has been providing the most in-depth coverage that mixed martial arts has seen in its 20 years of existence.
With a collection of seasoned fight veterans and a handful of well-versed hosts at the helm, the people working the pre– and post-fight shows for the UFC have consistently raised the bar.
For the next installment of the series, former heavyweight-turned-light-heavyweight title contender Daniel Cormier dropped in to share his thoughts on Saturday’s card for UFC on Fox 10 in Chicago. The former Olympian has proved to be one of the UFC’s brightest new stars, as he’s made a seamless transition from the Strikeforce cage to the Octagon.
The Louisiana native defeated former two-time champion Frank Mir and one-punch knockout artist Roy Nelson, respectively, before making the decision to drop down into 205-pound waters to chase his first UFC title.
“D.C.” will square off with former titleholder Rashad Evans next month at UFC 170, but before he scraps it out with his good friend “Suga,” the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner returned to this column to wreck a little more shop.
Cormier has quickly become one of the best analysts on the Fox Sports 1 team and has given some seasoned vets a run for their money.
Here is what Cormier had to say about the card for UFC on Fox 10.
Let’s start with the main event between Benson Henderson and Josh Thomson. You are very familiar with Thomson having trained with him a long time, but I’m sure you’ve done your homework on Henderson as well. They both have tremendously well-rounded skill sets, and what do you think are the keys to victory for each fighter on Saturday?
The biggest thing for Thomson is to use his feet. He needs to be very active like he was in the fight with [Nate] Diaz. He can’t stand still because Benson is a big guy and Josh normally doesn’t do very well against big wrestlers. He’s struggled against guys who can grab him, bear hug him, throw him down and hold him there. He needs to employ the same strategy he did against Diaz where he was moving nonstop. He would hit him then move, and Diaz was almost chasing Josh. But that’s OK because Josh’s striking is better from a technical standpoint and he’s tighter with his punches. He’s also fought a lot of five-round fights just as Benson has.
For Benson Henderson, he needs to move forward and get off to a quick start. In some of his past fights, he tends to eke into them. If he does that, Josh can start to get on a roll and he doesn’t want that because it kind of snowballs. Henderson will want to start early, get in his face and put a lot of pressure on him. Henderson needs to take the fight right to him and basically say, “I’m the guy who held the UFC championship and defended it three times. I’m supposed to beat you and win this fight. I’m going to show you why I’m picked to beat you.” If he does that, it will go a very long way in the picture that is going to be painted at the end of this fight because it will be Benson’s fight.
You just brought up the lightweight title. Your AKA teammate was supposed to get his shot against Anthony Pettis back at UFC on Fox 9 in December, but “Showtime” became injured and was forced to withdraw. Title opportunities in the UFC are coveted, but rather than wait around, Thomson decided to get back to work. Do you think a move like this shows just how game a fighter the former Strikeforce champion is?
I think to find how game Josh Thomson is, you just go back to his three fights with Gilbert Melendez. You can look at all his fights in Strikeforce or just look at the portrait of his career. You can ignore all the things he said in the media about a terrible training camp and things not going to plan. When Thomson steps into the cage—every time he steps into the cage—this is a guy who goes out there and competes at the highest level. He’s a former Strikeforce champion. He was one of the top fighters in the UFC lightweight division before they decided to scrap the weight class all those years ago.
Also, Josh Thomson has now spent more time in his fight career than his life outside of fighting. He spent 17 years of his life not being a fighter, but he’s been fighting for 18 years now. He’s more of a fighter than he is a regular person. That’s crazy.
There are a lot of rumors floating and nothing is official, but do you think the winner of this fight will get the next shot at Pettis?
This is where it becomes tricky. Dana [White] said because of the way Henderson lost to Pettis in their last fight, it will be very hard to tell people why these two guys are fighting for a championship again. So Benson Henderson’s situation is a little tricky. He needs someone to beat Pettis in order to get another championship fight.
Thomson, on the other hand, didn’t get his title fight. If he wins this fight, he would have beat Benson Henderson, the former champion, after losing out on his title shot in his last fight. He also beat Diaz, who challenged for the belt when Henderson had the title. With a win, Thomson will have the clearest claim to a title shot of any weight class in the UFC.
Moving onto the big boys. Gabriel Gonzaga will fight StipeMiocic in the co-main event. This is a strange situation because Gonzaga has looked better than he ever has and Miocic is a unique heavyweight who moves very well with his footwork. Do you think Miocic‘s footwork will be the difference, or do you see “Napao’s” ground game being his definitive advantage in this fight?
This is one of those situations where you have a smaller, more active heavyweight against a true heavyweight like Gonzaga. He has turned the corner because his commitment has changed in this sport. I’ve heard from people who have trained with him that he hasn’t always trained all that hard. People who know him have told me he wasn’t training very hard, but now he does.
That being said, if StipeMiocic shows up for this fight like he did against Roy Nelson, Miocic is walking away with this fight. If Gonzaga is able to make this a dirty fight, he’ll be in a great position to win. If Gonzaga leans on him and takes him down the way [Stefan] Struve did, it is going to be a much different fight. If Gonzaga is successful with putting him up against the cage and wearing him down, Miocic will get tired, and that will give Gonzaga more opportunities. Miocic will be able to fight him for 15 minutes if it’s just a boxing match. Gonzaga needs to find a way to get this fight to the ground and just whale on him. He needs to put his weight on him at all, Miocic is going to box him up because his footwork is just too good.
We spoke to Gonzaga this week, and he said he has put a lot of work into his striking. He acknowledged stopping Miocic‘s footwork is going to be tough, but Gonzaga said he needs to cut him off at angles rather than just following him. It also has the potential to give Gonzaga a lot of problems. Do you think it will cost him the fight if he can’t cut Miocic off?
StipeMiocic is the smaller of the two, and he’s so fast. If Gonzaga follows him, that’s trouble because that is exactly what Roy Nelson did at UFC 161. Watch the fight. When you break these fights down, watch that fight and look at how Nelson moved in that fight. Every time Miocic would move and give him an angle, Nelson would have to reposition both of his feet to go in the direction of the angle because he doesn’t have the ability to change angles as quick as Stipe did. And that is what could happen against Gonzaga.
He is a big heavyweight, and big heavyweights tend to follow. They don’t really get on their feet and move. They aren’t cutting angles, boxing and moving as fast as a guy like StipeMiocic.
I’m counting on you for this one, D.C. No one else seems to give me any credit on this, but I’ve discovered a stigma surrounding Gabriel Gonzaga. If you look at his record, the guys he has lost to have all gone on to some form of title contention or contender’s status. The only one who hasn’t is Brendan Schaub, and his journey hasn’t fully developed. On the other hand, the guys Gonzaga defeats all fall back into some form of irrelevance. This being said, can you see this stigma that beating Gonzaga makes you the real deal, and a loss means you need more time to reach the top tier?
The thing about Miocic is that he has plenty of time, but I don’t think we are at that point yet. But if the facts show that is how it has been, then that’s how it’s been. Gonzaga is a guy who will introduce you to that next level. Say you are a guy who is teetering on the line, then you beat Gonzaga and it pushes you into the next level. I could possibly see that stigma with him. It may be the case, but Miocic is so young, he has plenty of time, regardless of what happens.
The problem comes in when we talk about these contenders. You have to ask are they trying to just be contenders, or are they guys who could actually hold the belt? When you look at the landscape and then compare them to Cain Velasquez, there is no reason to really think—based on what we have seen—that these guys are going to be able to challenge him. Save for him getting caught in a submission by [Fabricio] Werdum or getting caught with another knockout punch the way he did against Junior dos Santos—which could happen because we are talking about heavyweights—it is just very hard to look at these guys as true title contenders. Velasquez just seems so far ahead of these guys right now.
There is another exciting lightweight scrap on this card between Donald Cerrone and Adriano Martins. How important is this fight for “Cowboy” and how huge is this opportunity for a fighter on the rise like Martins?
It is a huge opportunity for Martins. This is one of those situations that could push him into the higher level of what is already a stacked division to begin with. Donald Cerrone has put together impressive winning streaks before. For him, this is par for the course. He goes on these long winning streaks, gets to the top of the division, then gets knocked back down. He got knocked out by Pettis. He got beat by Diaz. But then he’ll go back down and put together these long winning streaks. It is up to Martins now to actually change that and not allow him to move back up into the upper echelon of the division.
Martins needs to make this his turn. It will be a very difficult fight if Cerrone shows up the way he did against Evan Dunham in his last outing. It will be a very difficult fight for Martins. Then again, we never really know which Cerrone is going to show up on fight night. It’s a very dangerous fight for Cerrone because no one knows who Martins is. Huge opportunity if he can win this fight.
While we’ve covered the big names on the card, are there any fighters or a particular bout you’ve come across in your research you think fans should keep an eye on?
People need to be watching Sergio Pettis. This is a kid that goes out there and does some amazing things just like his brother. There is also a heavyweight fight between Nikita Krylov and Walt Harris I think will be interesting. Krylov got tired in his last fight against SoaPalelei but was doing very good before he gassed. He has some good stand-up skills. He will be fighting Walt Harris, who is a guy who has finished nearly all of his fights. These are two young heavyweights who always come to fight, and it should be a great way to kick off the preliminary portion of the card.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
