Tag: Donald Cerrone

Trash-Talking Roundup: Pettis Responds to Cerrone, Fitch Meets Kettle


“Did I stutter?! I said you’re a lay-and-pray artist who will NEVER beat Georges St. Pierre!”

It appears we weren’t the only ones surprised by Donald Cerrone’s recent comments for UFC lightweight Anthony Pettis. Anthony Pettis, who claims that he’s always been cordial with Cerrone in the past, recently attempted to make sense of the whole ordeal on “The MMA Hour.” Spoiler alert: He ain’t too keen on being told to “grab his purse and dance,” brother.

As transcribed by MMAMania.com:

“It’s comedy. This is the first news to me that I have heard of Cerrone calling me out or that he has been calling me out or he wanted to fight me. I talked to my manager about it and I think it’s just him trying to get his name out there and trying to get to my spot, trying to get to that title shot, to try and get closer to a title shot. But, for him to do it the way it did, just pissed me of, so. If he gets passed with his fight with Melvin, and it makes sense for me to fight him and then fight for a title shot, then I will do it. If he is in my way, I will take him out. (I’m)100 -percent (pissed off). I am super pissed. I am not the guy to talk or the type of guy to be out there and talk shit about anyone, but for him to call me out and put it the way he put it, pretty much saying that I am afraid to fight somebody, that is never the case. I am never afraid to fight anybody. I want to be the best lightweight in the world and if he is in my way, then I will take him out too. He wanted to fight in August, I wasn’t going to be ready until October or November and I openly said it on Twitter and I openly said it everywhere, so it’s not a matter of me ducking him, if he wants to fight in November, let’s do it, I will gladly take that fight and I will be so motivated to whoop his ass.”


“Did I stutter?! I said you’re a lay-and-pray artist who will NEVER beat Georges St. Pierre!”

It appears we weren’t the only ones surprised by Donald Cerrone’s recent comments for UFC lightweight Anthony Pettis. Anthony Pettis, who claims that he’s always been cordial with Cerrone in the past, recently attempted to make sense of the whole ordeal on “The MMA Hour.” Spoiler alert: He ain’t too keen on being told to “grab his purse and dance,” brother.

As transcribed by MMAMania.com:

“It’s comedy. This is the first news to me that I have heard of Cerrone calling me out or that he has been calling me out or he wanted to fight me. I talked to my manager about it and I think it’s just him trying to get his name out there and trying to get to my spot, trying to get to that title shot, to try and get closer to a title shot. But, for him to do it the way it did, just pissed me of, so. If he gets passed with his fight with Melvin, and it makes sense for me to fight him and then fight for a title shot, then I will do it. If he is in my way, I will take him out. (I’m)100 -percent (pissed off). I am super pissed. I am not the guy to talk or the type of guy to be out there and talk shit about anyone, but for him to call me out and put it the way he put it, pretty much saying that I am afraid to fight somebody, that is never the case. I am never afraid to fight anybody. I want to be the best lightweight in the world and if he is in my way, then I will take him out too. He wanted to fight in August, I wasn’t going to be ready until October or November and I openly said it on Twitter and I openly said it everywhere, so it’s not a matter of me ducking him, if he wants to fight in November, let’s do it, I will gladly take that fight and I will be so motivated to whoop his ass.”

I never understood the “What’d I do?” or “It’s not what was done but how it was done” responses to trash talk, which are essentially what we’re seeing here. What’d you do? You’re a professional fighter who is further up the totem pole than the other professional fighter below you. Cerrone wants a future title shot, and consecutive victories over Melvin Guillard and yourself can possibly give him one. He’s already booked to face Guillard, and is now trying to do whatever he needs to do to get a fight against you. If it offends you that much, maybe something can be arranged where you two can fight over it, possibly for some money, fame and a title shot against the …wait, never mind. Well played, Cerrone.

As for the latter issue, I’m with Rasheed Wallace: As long as parents, wives and kids are left out of the equation (and life-threatening illnesses, Kevin), then who cares? I just hope that Melvin Guillard hasn’t been spending time with Chick with Huge Cans, because Cerrone vs. Pettis appears to have Fight of the Year written all over it.

In “How did the irony not explode your head?” news, Jon Fitch is still tied to the tracks of the Erick Silva hype-train, pleading desperately to anyone who will listen to leave the “Dastardly” Achievement locked. And I mean anyone. Yesterday, Fitch used a Nuvo TV conference call attempting to push AKA’s new reality series to be far more urgent in calling out BJ Penn. Via MMAFighting:

“Here at AKA, we’ve got fighters who come out to fight, fighters who will face anyone and don’t hide from any opponents. You’ve also got cowards out there like B.J. Penn who say they want to fight people, but then they run and hide.”

I guess that statement wasn’t direct enough for two, maybe three people on the planet, because Fitch was asked to clarify if he thought Penn was a coward. His response?

“Yes. He’s a coward. He wouldn’t be welcomed here.”

I bet Erick Silva finds your “running and hiding” comment hilarious, considering that’s exactly what you’re attempting to do with him. And not to create an MMA conspiracy theory on the spot, but if Fitch gets injured and has to pull out of his fight against Silva, I’m sure a lot of fans will think that the injury is “suspiciously convenient.” But who knows?

Does Fitch have a point about Penn waiting for Rory MacDonald instead of looking for another fight? Does anyone have any interest in watching Fitch and Penn do the man dance again? And how excited will you be about Cerrone vs. Pettis? Let us know, and keep it civil.

@SethFalvo

UFC 150 Videos: The UFC 150 Danavlog & Countdown to UFC 150

Regardless of whether or not you feel Frankie Edgar truly deserved an immediate rematch with Benson Henderson after their epic clash at UFC 144, this rematch is going to happen this weekend, barring any last minute injuries, so you’ll just have to deal with it.

In all honesty, Edgar/Bendo II is perhaps the perfect main event to follow up UFC on FOX 4, as it will surely continue to deliver on the action-packed slugfests that its preceding event provided. And while we’re on the subject of UFC on FOX 4, check out a behind-the-scenes look at the event provided by the almighty Danavlog. It’s got everything: Damarques Johnson asking “What the hell happened?”, Ryan Bader asking “What the hell happened?”, and even Brandon Vera asking “What the hell happened?” Valentine McKee would’ve been proud.

So give that a gander if you would be so kind, and if you’re looking to get properly amped for this weekend’s events, down your first 5-hour energy of the day and check out the full Countdown to UFC 150 videos detailing the Bendo/Edgar, Cerrone/Guillard, and Ed Herman/Jake Shields fights after the jump.

Regardless of whether or not you feel Frankie Edgar truly deserved an immediate rematch with Benson Henderson after their epic clash at UFC 144, this rematch is going to happen this weekend, barring any last minute injuries, so you’ll just have to deal with it.

In all honesty, Edgar/Bendo II is perhaps the perfect main event to follow up UFC on FOX 4, as it will surely continue to deliver on the action-packed slugfests that its preceding event provided. And while we’re on the subject of UFC on FOX 4, check out a behind-the-scenes look at the event provided by the almighty Danavlog. It’s got everything: Damarques Johnson asking “What the hell happened?”, Ryan Bader asking “What the hell happened?”, and even Brandon Vera asking “What the hell happened?” Valentine McKee would’ve been proud.

So give that a gander if you would be so kind, and if you’re looking to get properly amped for this weekend’s events, down your first 5-hour energy of the day and check out the full Countdown to UFC 150 videos detailing the Bendo/Edgar, Cerrone/Guillard, and Ed Herman/Jake Shields fights below.

Edgar/Henderson

The story of Benson’s mother, Song, is Oscar Pistorius-level heartwarming, and the same goes for Benson. Everything about the guy is captivating; from his humble beginnings to the heroes welcome he received upon returning home to South Korea with the lightweight strap, Henderson has been a motivated, hard working, class act through and through. That must be why you don’t see a lot of BEN HENDO IS OVERRATED TRASH ASSHOLE GARBAGE RAWWRR!! forums on the UG these days. “Why change because you’ve got the belt?” he asks, “I wanna stay the same fighter that I was before.” We’re sure he means with the exception of one small moment.

And then there’s Frankie Edgar, a.k.a The Little Engine That Could Except No One Wanted It To Because It Was Coming From New Jersey. Undefeated in the rematch scenario, Edgar promises that “Henderson will not defend the belt, because I’m taking it home with me.” Why, Frankie, so you can shower it in AXE body spray and hair gel?!! I think not, Mr. Edgar. I think not.

Cerrone/Guillard

Only twenty three seconds into this video, we are treated to perhaps the most brutal knockout of Melvin Guillard’s career, against Rick Davis at 60. The closest thing I could compare it to would be the beating the Shawshank guards put on Boggs, and like Boggs, Davis never walked fought again.

Guillard describes his old training partner as “The craziest white boy I’ve ever met.” That’s a compliment, right? Fun fact: Cerrone’s and Guillard’s birthdays are only one day apart, which in Guillard’s mind is as close to destiny as he can imagine.

And Cerrone promises fireworks, like we’d expect anything less.

Shields/Herman

Jake Shields has apparently been training everywhere from San Diego (alongside Phil Davis and Brandon Vera) to Abu Dhabi (where he apparently got to fly a jetpack) for his return to the middleweight division. Did I mention he got to fly a jetpack?! For some reason, I suddenly want to be a f*cking fighter.

On an unrelated not, if Shields somehow manages to knock Herman out on Saturday, we’re all gonna get laid. You heard it here first.

–J. Jones

Already Looking Past Melvin Guillard, Donald Cerrone Tells Anthony Pettis to “Quit Crying and Fight Me”

(Guillard discusses his game plan for UFC 150. To summarize it in a word: Kill, kill, kill.) 

Allow me to begin this article with a series of understatements:

–Melvin Guillard hits pretty hard.
-His ground game, however, is somewhat lacking.
–Donald Cerrone has a decent chin, and a slightly better ground game than Melvin Guillard.

Now, whether any of these notions has any influence over your view of how Cerrone vs. Guillard will go down is a moot point. If you were to ask Cerrone how he thinks he will fare against Guillard on Saturday night at UFC 150, however, his response would be something along the line of “Where’s that bitch Anthony Pettis? Tell him to stop ducking me!”

Confused? Well so were we when we heard Cerrone’s recent interview with Inside MMA, where he all but completely disregards the fact that he is fighting one of the most dangerous strikers in the lightweight division this weekend, and instead focused his crosshairs on the former (and final) WEC lightweight champion:

I definitely wanna go after that title, and getting a rematch with Henderson would be an honor. That’d be sweet, for the belt. But, I really wanna fight Anthony Pettis. I want him to quit crying about his hurt shoulder and step up and fight me. I don’t know what I gotta do. Just grab your purse and let’s dance, brother. 


(Guillard discusses his game plan for UFC 150. To summarize it in a word: Kill, kill, kill.) 

Allow me to begin this article with a series of understatements:

–Melvin Guillard hits pretty hard.
-His ground game, however, is somewhat lacking.
–Donald Cerrone has a decent chin, and a slightly better ground game than Melvin Guillard.

Now, whether any of these notions has any influence over your view of how Cerrone vs. Guillard will go down is a moot point. If you were to ask Cerrone how he thinks he will fare against Guillard on Saturday night at UFC 150, however, his response would be something along the line of “Where’s that bitch Anthony Pettis? Tell him to stop ducking me!”

Confused? Well so were we when we heard Cerrone’s recent interview with Inside MMA, where he all but completely disregards the fact that he is fighting one of the most dangerous strikers in the lightweight division this weekend, and instead focused his crosshairs on the former (and final) WEC lightweight champion:

I definitely wanna go after that title, and getting a rematch with Henderson would be an honor. That’d be sweet, for the belt. But, I really wanna fight Anthony Pettis. I want him to quit crying about his hurt shoulder and step up and fight me. I don’t know what I gotta do. Just grab your purse and let’s dance, brother. 

If the odds are any indication, Cerrone will handily defeat Guillard on Saturday, most likely by taking him down and submitting him. Specifically, with a rear-naked choke. So maybe Cerrone has the right to look past Guillard. His ground game is so far above that of his opponent that it’s almost laughable, and besides, its not like Guillard has ever been a smart fighter. Just ask Jim Miller. But you know who else had a far superior ground game to Guillard, and was heavily favored to submit him inside of the first round? Evan Dunham, and look how that ended.

The point I’m trying to make is that, although Melvin may never have the all around game that Cerrone possesses, he hits harder than any other fighter in the division, and has pretty great takedown defense when he’s not throwing a barrage of flying knees. Looking past a guy like Guillard is not only foolish, it’s plain dangerous. There is also the issue of Cerrone’s pride, which could lead him to stand and trade with an arguably more lethal striker as it did in the Nate Diaz fight (granted, it’s not like Cerrone was going to take Diaz down and submit him. Just ask Jim Miller.).

Then again, Cerrone is fresh off a brilliant performance against Jeremy Stephens, another hard-hitting but limited striker who poses many of the same threats as Guillard, at UFC on FUEL 3. Cerrone basically turned Stephens into ground meat in their three round, one-sided slugfest, but does anyone else feel he is making a fatal mistake by already setting his sights on another opponent with a guy like Guillard still in the picture?

–J. Jones

Cowboy Justice: Donald Cerrone to Throw Down With Ex-Teammate Melvin Guillard @ UFC 150


(“Pose on that red carpet, Donald Cer-Ro-Nay!“)

The UFC has confirmed that the co-main event for UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar 2 (August 11th; Pepsi Center; Denver, CO) will be a pretty damn promising lightweight battle between Colorado native Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard. Both fighters are coming off of decision wins — Cerrone with his three-round thrashing of Jeremy Stephens at UFC on FUEL 3 in May, and Guillard with his recent win against Fabricio Cameoes at UFC 148.

Not only is the matchup compelling from an entertainment standpoint, there’s also a bit of backstory considering that the two men were longtime teammates under Greg Jackson, until Guillard jumped ship at the beginning of this year to train with the Blackzilians in Florida. (Here’s a photo of Melvin pretending to be Bigfoot Silva’s shadow.) After the fight was announced, Guillard referred to himself and Cerrone as “best friends,” while Donald simply described their relationship as “cool.” I mean, obviously Cowboy already has a best friend.


(“Pose on that red carpet, Donald Cer-Ro-Nay!“)

The UFC has confirmed that the co-main event for UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar 2 (August 11th; Pepsi Center; Denver, CO) will be a pretty damn promising lightweight battle between Colorado native Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard. Both fighters are coming off of decision wins — Cerrone with his three-round thrashing of Jeremy Stephens at UFC on FUEL 3 in May, and Guillard with his recent win against Fabricio Cameoes at UFC 148.

Not only is the matchup compelling from an entertainment standpoint, there’s also a bit of backstory considering that the two men were longtime teammates under Greg Jackson, until Guillard jumped ship at the beginning of this year to train with the Blackzilians in Florida. (Here’s a photo of Melvin pretending to be Bigfoot Silva’s shadow.) After the fight was announced, Guillard referred to himself and Cerrone as “best friends,” while Donald simply described their relationship as “cool.” I mean, obviously Cowboy already has a best friend.

Cerrone originally wanted Anthony Pettis as a dance partner at UFC 150, but is just happy that somebody stepped up to fight him in his home state. Official CagePotato Prediction: Cerrone defeats Guillard by second-round submission, picks up the SOTN bonus, then takes like 10-12 chicks out on a pontoon boat. (Keep in mind that Official CagePotato Predictions are wrong almost 100% of the time.) The current UFC 150 lineup is below…

MAIN CARD (PPV)
Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar (for lightweight title)
Donald Cerrone vs. Melvin Guillard (LW)
Jake Shields vs. Ed Herman (MW)
Yushin Okami vs. Rousimar Palhares (MW)
Chris Camozzi vs. Buddy Roberts (MW)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX)
Jared Hamman vs. Michael Kuiper (MW)
Nik Lentz vs. Eiji Mitsuoka (FW)
Justin Lawrence vs. Max Holloway (FW)
Dennis Bermudez vs. Tom Hayden (FW)
Ken Stone vs. Erik Perez (BW)

Recipe For Greatness

As I sit here day dreaming I can’t help but feel a little sad as I recall the fun of Memorial day weekend and how at this point it’s already ancient history…Friday night was spent.

As I sit here day dreaming I can’t help but feel a little sad as I recall the fun of Memorial day weekend and how at this point it’s already ancient history…Friday night was spent sparring in the gym in preparation for my second amateur fight on June 30th. Saturday, I was fortunate enough to attend a Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar featuring multiple time world champion grappler Pablo Popovitch. On Sunday, my brothers and I made the trip to the Monster training facility in Miami for a FREE grappling tournament hosted by our generous friends at FXG. Monday I enjoyed a healthy dose of ice, ibuprofen, and household cleaning. Tuesday, my first day back on the job, I seem to have blacked out completely. Now Wednesday, my selective awareness has acknowledged my surroundings and I somehow find myself back on the grind.

Before the suffocating tediousness of the rat race sucks away the joy of life for the next few days—I’m writing this at my real job instead of doing what I’m supposed to be doing—I thought I would share some thoughts (maybe too strong of a word) I had during my kickass holiday weekend.

First, let’s spend a few moments considering what makes a good MMA fighter: decent jiu-jitsu, and kickboxing are definitely the utmost barestestEST of essentials. Add three spoonfuls of wrestling, throw in a heaping helping of strength & conditioning, a shake of mental toughness and four hundred pounds of solid technique and you might even have the ingredients for a champion.

Now let’s consider what makes a SUCCESSFUL MMA fighter……….anyone?? Besides all of the above you could probably make pretty good use of outstanding genetics, in the reach and chin departments a la Jon Jones and Dan Henderson. Having rich parents would probably help as well, as BJ Penn, Carlos Condit and Donald Cerrone can all attest. Maybe you just have to be really really good friends with Steven Seagal…look I don’t know that’s why I’m asking. I just want to point out that skill and success don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

To better illustrate my point—or more likely my lack of one—let’s talk about the Popovitch seminar. For those of you who don’t know, Pablo Popovitch is one of the most badass submission grapplers on the planet. He is an Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling Champion as well as a multiple time no-gi world champion. People call this guy “Weapon X,” yeah as in THE “Weapon X”, as in this guy would b*tchslap Wolverine in his mouth and make him say thank you. It’s true….google it.

All that jive aside, the guy was NICE. I mean REALLY nice. After the seminar, I bothered him for a picture while he was eating and then had to go back twice because my technologically challenged friend Moses took terrible pictures. He just smiled and said ‘no problem buddy’. He could quite possibly be the coolest badass on the planet not named Morgan Freeman. Ok back to my original train of thought: what makes a SUCESSFUL MMA fighter?

Popovitch had his MMA debut in 2010 against Jeff Savoy and beat the living hell out of him, scoring a fantastic 2nd round submission due to strikes. Right about now you may be thinking, “yeah dude, he’s a world champion grappler big surprise he won, he probably fought some scrub.” While this might be true, it does offer some interesting insight into our question. Let’s look at a similar case with a totally different result.

Marcelo Garcia is widely considered one of the best grapplers alive. Arguably the pound for pound best, he has personally beat Popovitch twice in competition (although I believe Popovitch eventually beat Garcia to win ADCC). For his MMA debut, Marcelo squared off with CMA Korea’s Kim Dae-Won—a guy with four first round submission losses. Several sloppy takedown attempts later and Garcia is smothering his opponent with constant pressure from the top. Fast forward to the end result and we have a 2nd round TKO doctor’s stoppage when Marcelo’s face explodes after winding up on the wrong side of Kim’s fists. What the f*ck happened? Maybe he had a bad night? Maybe he ran into some bad luck? He was winning the fight handily right up until fate said, “No, not today Marcelo…today you bleed.”

At the end of the day who or what, if anything, is responsible for an individual’s success in the cage? Is it the men themselves, boldly snatching victory from the hands of destiny? Is it the team rallying behind an individual, carrying a fighter to greatness? The training then perhaps, forging hardened monsters through blood and sweat? Could it be some all-inclusive mix of socio-economic and physiological factors? Shit maybe nothing can ensure success in the cage and everything that occurs within is at the mercy of total random chance. After all, it’s MMA, anything can happen, right? Maybe that’s the whole reason we love it.

Maybe the very nature of MMA is defined by this idea: An endless number of variables offering an equally infinite number of potential paths to both victory and defeat, in a way that it then becomes possible for a great fighter to be overcome by a lesser one. So I leave you all with this: one world champion prevails while the other falls…why? Is MMA the great equalizer? All theories/other examples welcome, comment section, go!

UFC on Fuel TV 3 – The Crisper’s Betting Recap

Man that Korean Zombie really f’d up what was looking like a great betting night in the UFC. Here is a recap of the bets and results: TJ Grant (-460) – This one was like.

Man that Korean Zombie really f’d up what was looking like a great betting night in the UFC. Here is a recap of the bets and results:

TJ Grant (-460) – This one was like takin candy from a baby ….Grant took control from the onset and dominated all phases. It’s nice when you’re laying so much to never really feel nervous at any point during the fight. PUT ONE IN THE COOKIE JAR!….. + 1 unit.

Donald Cerrone (-250)– Cowboy uses his reach advantage to completely outclass a good fighter in Lil Heathen Stephens. Stephens couldn’t even play dead in a western on this night. He had no chance and Cerrone never let him breath, give the Crisper another one!…… + 2 units.

Jorge Lopez (+110) – Just read Alan Wells’ recap on this fight in UFC on Fuel Random Thoughts. We got SCREWED by the judges and I am none to happy about it. Cost us money. Bullshit. Anyway….take a half a unit and stick it up the judges asses……+1.5 units

Dustin Poirier (-325) – All I can say is, when you lay on a big favorite and he gets his ass kicked, for the betting man it feels like getting your nuts kicked in. Korean Zombie took it to our boy, and there was really never a doubt. It looked like Poirier started to turn a corner in the 3rd by establishing his jab, but Zombie turned the tables and finished him off. That result completely ruined our night giving back 3.25 units……-1.75 units

This brings our total on posted picks to -1.025 units. Check back this weekend for Crisper Picks on Strikeforce Saturday night May 19th!