UPDATE 11:28 A.M. Eastern Time It didn’t take long for Sanchez to respond to Melendez, and to say he’s confident he would win a rematch is an understatement. @mmamania @ufc @GilbertMelendez @danawhite ill be more than happy to knock your ass out again only I wont go for chokes gnp and its a tko. — […]
UPDATE 11:28 A.M. Eastern Time It didn’t take long for Sanchez to respond to Melendez, and to say he’s confident he would win a rematch is an understatement. @mmamania @ufc @GilbertMelendez @danawhite ill be more than happy to knock your ass out again only I wont go for chokes gnp and its a tko. — […]
Our friend Marcos Villegas over at FightHubTV caught up with Michael Bisping ahead of his UFC on Fox 1 middleweight contender match-up this weekend and the brash Brit is not surprisingly confident of his chances Saturday night against Chael Sonnen, who he has been preparing to fight his whole life apparently.
“Well, you know…um… it’s a difficult match-up. There’s no two ways about it. Chael Sonnen is widely regarded as the number one contender and he’s closing in on a match with Anderson Silva. I was training for Demian Maia, who himself is a very, very dangerous opponent. He actually holds a very good win over Chael Sonnen. Demian Maia submitted Chael Sonnen. I’ve been training hard — as hard as humanly possible, to be honest, for my fight with Demian Maia. A fight with Chael Sonnen, there’s a lot of people out there who don’t want to take that fight,” he explained. “I didn’t think about it for a second. I jumped at the opportunity. I’m a fighter. This is what I do and I want to have the title. A lot of people said, ‘Oh, you’ve only got a week to prepare.’ I disagree. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. I’ve been training in martial arts since I was about nine years old; I’ve been training hard for this fight. It doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, I don’t care about the style, we’re gonna get in there and fight and it’s gonna be who’s the better fighter. I believe I’m the better fighter, but we’ll see what happens…I believe this is my destiny to be world champion and Chael Sonnen’s in my way.”
(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)
Our friend Marcos Villegas over at FightHubTV caught up with Michael Bisping ahead of his UFC on Fox 1 middleweight contender match-up this weekend and the brash Brit is not surprisingly confident of his chances Saturday night against Chael Sonnen, who he has been preparing to fight his whole life apparently.
“Well, you know…um… it’s a difficult match-up. There’s no two ways about it. Chael Sonnen is widely regarded as the number one contender and he’s closing in on a match with Anderson Silva. I was training for Demian Maia, who himself is a very, very dangerous opponent. He actually holds a very good win over Chael Sonnen. Demian Maia submitted Chael Sonnen. I’ve been training hard — as hard as humanly possible, to be honest, for my fight with Demian Maia. A fight with Chael Sonnen, there’s a lot of people out there who don’t want to take that fight,” he explained. “I didn’t think about it for a second. I jumped at the opportunity. I’m a fighter. This is what I do and I want to have the title. A lot of people said, ‘Oh, you’ve only got a week to prepare.’ I disagree. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. I’ve been training in martial arts since I was about nine years old; I’ve been training hard for this fight. It doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, I don’t care about the style, we’re gonna get in there and fight and it’s gonna be who’s the better fighter. I believe I’m the better fighter, but we’ll see what happens…I believe this is my destiny to be world champion and Chael Sonnen’s in my way.”
“There’s a lot of people out there who wouldn’t have taken this fight, but that’s precisely why I’m gonna win, because I did take this fight because I’ve got the balls and I’m gonna back it up,” Bisping says. “Ultimately it doesn’t matter [who the fans like or hate]. I couldn’t care less who’s the hero, who’s the heel, who’s liked, who’s not. There’s a lot on the line this fight. A world title shot is on the line. I couldn’t give a shit who the fans are cheering for. All I care about is winning.”
As for how he sees the fight playing out, “The Count” seems to think his, er… superior striking will decide the match, in spite of the fact that he has yet to knock out a UFC opponent.
“Chael Sonnen is an outstanding wrestler. There’s no two ways about it. I’ve fought a lot of good wrestlers in my UFC career and this fight will be just like al the others. I’m gonna go out there and look to keep it on the feet and I’ll look to knock him out — as simple as that. He’s gonna be a tough test. I’m under no false illusions about that. He’s an amazing wrestler, but like I said, I think I’m a better fighter. I want it more. Nobody wants this as bad as me. I believe I can stop his takedowns,” he predicts. “If he does take me down, I believe I can submit him on the ground. If I can’t get the submission, I’ll get back to my feet. Nobody gets back to their feet as well as me in the UFC and I’ll show that [Saturday].Of course he’s probably going to get takedowns. Like I said, I’ll get back up, but for the most part I’ll shrug off most of his takedowns, he’ll wear, I’ll start landing punches and soon he’ll fall to the floor. Chael Sonnen is probably going to look to control me on the floor and ground-and-pound me, which he’s very good at. I’m not gonna let that happen. I’m gonna work back to my feet, I’m gonna turn the tables, I’m gonna look for the knockout.”
He may be looking for a while since Sonnen has never been knocked out in his MMA career. But this is MMA and there’s always a first for anything, right. Ah, who the hell are we kidding. It ain’t happening Mike, so you should probably come up with a “Plan B.” And FYI, you can just say “Chael,” or “Sonnen” or even “he,” instead of saying his full name every time you mention him. We know who you’re referring to. You’re welcome.
Chael Sonnen’s routine of taunting Anderson Silva and calling himself the “People’s Champ” is growing old with Ed Soares. Since being submitted by Silva in August 2010 at UFC 117 in Oakland, Sonnen has thrown countless verbal ja…
Chael Sonnen’s routine of taunting Anderson Silva and calling himself the “People’s Champ” is growing old with Ed Soares. Since being submitted by Silva in August 2010 at UFC 117 in Oakland, Sonnen has thrown countless verbal jabs at the UFC middleweight champion. For the most part, Silva has remained quiet in an attempt to […]
“You can never count out Randy Couture.” A sentence that once accurately described the dangers of overlooking a legend has since become an almost zombie-like response from fans around the globe. Once upon a time, however, Randy Couture more…
“You can never count out Randy Couture.” A sentence that once accurately described the dangers of overlooking a legend has since become an almost zombie-like response from fans around the globe. Once upon a time, however, Randy Couture more than deserved such a reputation. It’s not that he didn’t lose—he lost 10 times. It’s that […]
("I can’t touch my head, see.")
Jeff Monson is getting too old for this shit and is ready to settle down.
"The Snowman," who turns 40 in January, tells the Miami Herald that at just 5′ 9" his chances of being a heavyweigh…
("I can’t touch my head, see.")
Jeff Monson is getting too old for this shit and is ready to settle down.
"The Snowman," who turns 40 in January, tells the Miami Herald that at just 5′ 9" his chances of being a heavyweight champion weren’t great, so the Olympia, Washington native made the decision to drop down to light heavyweight for the remainder of his career.
Following his final heavyweight fight last weekend — a win over Travis Fulton Saturday night at Fight Time Promotion’s event in Pompano Beach, Florida — Monson (38-11), who walks around at just over 230 pounds, will now drop down to fight at 205 where he says he will have a distinct size and strength advantage over his opponents.
"Losing the weight is difficult, but I used to lose a lot of weight when I wrestled in college,” he said. "Instead of me being the small guy at heavyweight, fighting the 265 guys, maybe I won’t be taller, but I’ll be one of the biggest 205-pounders out there. When I climb into the cage I’ll be 230 again with all my power behind me. This will be a new bonus for me.”
4-0 in his last four outings, Monson’s first fight in his new weight class will come tonight when he takes on 3-4 Sergey Shemetov at Israel FC: Genesis in Tel Aviv. A win over a sub .500 fighter like Shemetov likely won’t earn him an invite from Strikeforce or the UFC, but it will prove if the weight cut will affect Monson’s conditioning, which has been questionable in some of his recent fights.
(Don’t you know who my cousin is, bro?)
Now, I know fighters sometimes say ludicrous things in the heat of the moment when hyping upcoming fights, like Mir saying he wanted Brock to suffer the first Octagon-related death and Mike Tyson saying he wanted…
(Don’t you know who my cousin is, bro?)
Now, I know fighters sometimes say ludicrous things in the heat of the moment when hyping upcoming fights, like Mir saying he wanted Brock to suffer the first Octagon-related death and Mike Tyson saying he wanted to eat Lennox Lewis’ children, but for some reason none of those remarks seem as asinine to me as something Manny Gamburyan said during an interview with MMAWeekly radio yesterday.
“If they’re comparing him to Anderson Silva, they should compare me with Fedor," Gamburyan said without cracking up. "If he’s Anderson Silva, most definitely, I’m Fedor.”
Sure you’re Fedor, Manny — if Fedor wasn’t as good as he is, if he dropped a decision to Thiago Tavares and if he got KTFO by Rob Emerson.
