Tag: fake injuries

So Bellator Almost Definitely Screwed Attila Vegh Back in November

(Video via MMAFighting.com)

Bellator’s tenth season hasn’t even started yet and the company is already in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Remember the highly suspicious bait-and-switch Bellator pulled in November 2013? The one where their light heavyweight champ Attila Vegh conveniently got “injured,” allowing Bellator to book a much-anticipated rematch between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emanuel Newton (who really should’ve adopted the nickname “Kingslayer” after defeating Mo the first time) for an interim title?

If you recall, Vegh said he wasn’t actually injured. Bellator disputed this, and then Vegh shut his mouth (maybe Bjorn Rebney threatened his dog).

Fast forward to yesterday, when Ariel Helwani interviewed Vegh in what looks like a dingy auto repair shop. Vegh spoke about the “injury,” but not before some prodding by Helwani.


(Video via MMAFighting.com)

Bellator’s tenth season hasn’t even started yet and the company is already in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Remember the highly suspicious bait-and-switch Bellator pulled in November 2013? The one where their light heavyweight champ Attila Vegh conveniently got “injured,” allowing Bellator to book a much-anticipated rematch between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emanuel Newton (who really should’ve adopted the nickname “Kingslayer” after defeating Mo the first time) for an interim title?

If you recall, Vegh said he wasn’t actually injured. Bellator disputed this, and then Vegh shut his mouth (maybe Bjorn Rebney threatened his dog).

Fast forward to yesterday, when Ariel Helwani interviewed Vegh in what looks like a dingy auto repair shop. Vegh spoke about the “injury,” but not before some prodding by Helwani.

“I was injured,” Vegh maintained through a translator when first asked about the situation.

“I did have an injury before, but I was ready for the November fight,” he then said. “I wasn’t disappointed, but I was ready to fight.” He claimed to have “internal bleeding” from a kick to the rib cage.

Helwani kept pressing while Vegh and his translator nervously fiddled. He wanted to know why Vegh didn’t ask Bellator to book him in the fight against Newton since, after all, the Slovak was ready for the fight. Vegh channeled his inner Dana White with his response.

“No, I didn’t ask them,” he said. Why not? “Because.”

“I was ready just in case if somebody would be out or injured,” he explained. Then the discussion drifted to other, less interesting topics.

Let’s get this straight. According to Vegh, the CHAMPION (Vegh) was relegated to being an alternate for an INTERIM title fight. Wow. Is that the most Bellator thing that’s ever happened? We’re not definitively saying Bellator screwed Vegh, but the situation sounds fishy to us, especially in light of this interview.

It’s also concerning that Bellator’s stable of fighters seems rife with discontent. Featherweight champ Daniel Straus was pissed off about former champ Pat Curran getting an immediate rematch. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Bellator mainstay, earned a title shot by winning the season 9 welterweight tournament. Yet this recently booked rematch denies him of that. He was furious.

Bellator: Where title shots are earned, not given…unless you’re not quite as marketable or well known as somebody else. Then we’ll give you a title shot.

UFC Conspiracy Theory of the Day: Anthony Pettis Is Going to Steal TJ Grant’s Title Shot


(And that “Showtime Kick”? As fake as the moon landing. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

As we’ve already discussed, the upcoming UFC 164 lightweight title fight between Benson Henderson and TJ Grant isn’t exactly capturing the hearts and minds of MMA fans, and could potentially tank on pay-per-view. (Which wouldn’t be the first time that Bendo has tanked on PPV.) So when Anthony Pettis went down with a knee injury last week, knocking him out of his UFC 163 featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo, some of the more paranoid fans among us began buzzing: Is this just a ploy to line-jump Pettis into a much more compelling/lucrative fight against Henderson? The two men have some history, after all.

At first we dismissed this theory as lunatic ravings from the same people who would tell you that Luke Rockhold signaled that he was ready to take a dive against Vitor Belfort, or that Chael Sonnen bangs his desk to signify that he’s ready for his close-up. Would Pettis really fake an injury — or would the UFC invent one — in order to screw over TJ Grant and cash in with a bigger fight? Come on, that’s absurd. At least we thought so until we read this:

“I can be 100% ready to fight Benson Henderson in Milwaukee,” said Pettis to Fuel TV. “With all due respect to T.J. Grant, Milwaukee is my town, and the fight with Ben is the fight everyone has wanted for years.”

For the record, UFC president Dana White claims that Pettis’s knee won’t be ready in time for UFC 164 on August 31st, but obviously he’s just trying to keep the public from catching on to his dastardly plot, and TJ Grant will be faking his own injury sometime within the next couple weeks. Allegedly.

But seriously, here’s what Grant had to say about the situation…


(And that “Showtime Kick”? As fake as the moon landing. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

As we’ve already discussed, the upcoming UFC 164 lightweight title fight between Benson Henderson and TJ Grant isn’t exactly capturing the hearts and minds of MMA fans, and could potentially tank on pay-per-view. (Which wouldn’t be the first time that Bendo has tanked on PPV.) So when Anthony Pettis went down with a knee injury last week, knocking him out of his UFC 163 featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo, some of the more paranoid fans among us began buzzing: Is this just a ploy to line-jump Pettis into a much more compelling/lucrative fight against Henderson? The two men have some history, after all.

At first we dismissed this theory as lunatic ravings from the same people who would tell you that Luke Rockhold signaled that he was ready to take a dive against Vitor Belfort, or that Chael Sonnen bangs his desk to signify that he’s ready for his close-up. Would Pettis really fake an injury — or would the UFC invent one — in order to screw over TJ Grant and cash in with a bigger fight? Come on, that’s absurd. At least we thought so until we read this:

“I can be 100% ready to fight Benson Henderson in Milwaukee,” said Pettis to Fuel TV. “With all due respect to T.J. Grant, Milwaukee is my town, and the fight with Ben is the fight everyone has wanted for years.”

For the record, UFC president Dana White claims that Pettis’s knee won’t be ready in time for UFC 164 on August 31st, but obviously he’s just trying to keep the public from catching on to his dastardly plot, and TJ Grant will be faking his own injury sometime within the next couple weeks. Allegedly.

But seriously, here’s what Grant had to say about the situation…


(Props: fueltv)

“As of right now I haven’t been told anything, I’m preparing for Benson Henderson. I try not to focus on all that other stuff. I know that there are possibilities, but I haven’t heard anything…right now, my sights are set on Benson Henderson, I feel like I earned my shot and it’s my time…I’m ready to rock ‘n’ roll, man, I’m not gonna worry about it right now…I’m fighting Benson Henderson, that’s as far as I know right now.”

Poor TJ. He’s just a patsy.