Tag: fighter interviews

Quote(s) of the Day: Urijah Faber Lobs Racist, Sexist, Basically Everything-ist Accusations at Duane Ludwig

(I only counted 280 “likes” and 372 “dudes.” No way that was actually Faber on the phone. via MMAFighting)

So as we all know, the fallout between Duane Ludwig and Team Alpha Male — specifically, TAM leader Urijah Faber — has been a bit heated, with both sides lobbing some pretty strong accusations at one another. First, Ludwig claimed that TJ Dillashaw was the only fighter on the team who trained “like a champion.” Faber then hit back, calling Ludwig “difficult to deal with” and his eventual departure from the team “a breath of fresh air.”

Recently, Ludwig attempted to apologize for his comments, while maintaining that Dillashaw “trained differently” than the rest of TAM.

“I say some stupid stuff sometimes,” Ludwig said. “And they’re training at their full potential. T.J. just really wants it. If you look at it in comparison, there’s a difference. You can just see it, you can feel it. And it’s just different with T.J.”

When asked to respond to Ludwig’s quote unquote apology on yesterday’s MMA Hour, Faber had had enough, it seemed, and unleashed a barrage of harsh claims Ludwig’s way in a lengthy, eye-opening interview.

The post Quote(s) of the Day: Urijah Faber Lobs Racist, Sexist, Basically Everything-ist Accusations at Duane Ludwig appeared first on Cagepotato.


(I only counted 280 “likes” and 372 “dudes.” No way that was actually Faber on the phone. via MMAFighting)

So as we all know, the fallout between Duane Ludwig and Team Alpha Male — specifically, TAM leader Urijah Faber — has been a bit heated, with both sides lobbing some pretty strong accusations at one another. First, Ludwig claimed that TJ Dillashaw was the only fighter on the team who trained “like a champion.” Faber then hit back, calling Ludwig “difficult to deal with” and his eventual departure from the team “a breath of fresh air.”

Recently, Ludwig attempted to apologize for his comments, while maintaining that Dillashaw “trained differently” than the rest of TAM.

“I say some stupid stuff sometimes,” Ludwig said. “And they’re training at their full potential. T.J. just really wants it. If you look at it in comparison, there’s a difference. You can just see it, you can feel it. And it’s just different with T.J.”

When asked to respond to Ludwig’s quote unquote apology on yesterday’s MMA Hour, Faber had had enough, it seemed, and unleashed a barrage of harsh claims Ludwig’s way in a lengthy, eye-opening interview.

Accusation #1: Ludwig is a sexist who refuses to work with women

“I had a girl from Alaska who said that Duane keeps on saying these comments. And first off, Duane refused to work with any females. He said, ‘I just want to tell you, I’m not supportive of women’s MMA. I won’t be working with anybody, I won’t be working with Paige (VanZant), I’m not going to be working with Nicky, I’m not going to work with Veronica. I don’t believe in it.’ Okay. That was an issue.”

Accusation #2: Ludwig has a penchant for making racist jokes

“The second thing was, he was saying racial things. And that’s what I’m saying when I say, things aren’t jokes just because you laughed at them, especially if they’re hurtful. So I had two of the African-American guys on our team who approached me and said, ‘this is getting real uncomfortable. It’s funny one time, I guess, when he says stuff like, all the black guys at the end of the line. But he’s saying it every single day.’ Then one guy says, ‘every single time I’m in the gym and I’m talking to a girl, Duane yells across the gym, hey, so-and-so, all black guys 25 feet away from the females.’ He says, ‘I get it, he thinks it’s funny, whatever. But he keeps doing it and it’s really getting on my nerves.’”

Accusation #3: Ludwig’s financial instability has made him a monster

“He’s getting his salary, then he starts charging everybody for privates. And there’s a point where T.J. (Dillashaw) is like, ‘man, I don’t know what to do. Duane is bleeding me. I’m doing his videos for him after class, I’m doing this, and he’s still charging me for privates. I need to have a talk with him.’ T.J. has a talk with him. He’s charging everyone, and I feel bad for [Ludwig]. He’s selling peanut butter at the front desk, he’s doing all these things to make extra cash, he’s leaving every single weekend to go do a seminar, even if it’s for a couple hundred bucks. I’m like dude, I appreciate the hustle, but let’s just settle down. Let’s let the apple grow into a ripe, red apple before you start trying to pull it off the tree when it’s green and sour. Give it some time.

“So then it comes to my first fight that he corners me. I have my partner Scott who’s in Texas who owns Torque, and so Duane wants to wear his own shirt in my corner with a conflicting brand, Fear the Fighter, instead of Torque. … I said, ‘Duane, dude, my partner is going to be pissed off. Like, you didn’t okay this with him if you wear another brand. No one talked to him, he’s going to be pissed. Can you wear like a Duane Bang shirt or one of the other sponsors or something like that?’ This is 30 minutes before I’m about to go fight my fight. I said, ‘here dude, here’s this phone number. If you can call and get the okay from him’ — granted, this is 30 minutes before I’m about to go out and fight, and this is the first time having him in the corner — ‘if you can talk to my partner and get him to okay wearing the shirt, then you’re good.’

“Apparently, I didn’t find this out until afterward, he tries to shake down my partner for $300. He’s trying to get my guy to pay him $300 to wear my shirt, this and that. I didn’t know until way later when my partner told me, and it just baffled me.

In addition to all this, Faber also called Ludwig a “bully” and “tyrant” who is threatening trying to sue Team Alpha Male for not fulfilling a contract which he himself refused to sign.

While I’m not quite prepared to throw Ludwig under the bus based on hearsay, even though Faber has always struck me as stand-up, honest guy, an r/MMA thread has compiled a few things of note that certainly don’t help Ludwig’s case here.

Example #1: During the interview, Faber repeatedly brought up the notion that Ludwig is a very emotionally unstable guy, especially so when he’s interrupted. Knowing that, check out how Ludwig reacts when Joe Rogan dares to interrupt him during his appearance  appearance on Rogan’s podcast back in August of 2013. The first instance happens at 47:08 in (queued up below) and the second just over a minute later (at 48:41).

Brian Redban’s reaction to this act of insolence is just priceless.

Example #2: Faber also recounted a story about Ludwig’s first time cornering a TAM member — Danny Castillo at UFC on FUEL 7 — which is cringe worthy to say the least. Apparently Ludwig, broke and sponsorless (minus a peanut butter company who was allegedly paying him in their product), showed up to the event offering to wear the signature shirt of any fighter competing on the card for $250, regardless of the fact that he was cornering Castillo. According to Faber, Ludwig hawked his services as close to half an hour before Castillo’s fight with Paul Sass.

Here’s an interview with Ludwig from that night. You’ll notice he is wearing a Tom “Kong” Watson shirt. Tom Watson competed at FUEL TV 7 just two fights before Danny Castillo.

There’s also the fact that Ludwig’s reaction to Faber’s comments in a follow-up interview with MMAFighting today didn’t exactly paint him as an innocent party.

On the sexism accusations: “I wouldn’t say I’m against women’s MMA. I do feel uneasy seeing a woman get punched in the face. That, I don’t like. Women’s grappling and wrestling, that’s cool. But seeing a woman punched in the face, I don’t really necessarily like that. There’s awesome women’s fights, but it still makes me feel a bit weird. But yeah, I don’t like to train women.”

On the racism accusations: “I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. There’s jokes floating around the gym all the time. For him to point me out, like what the hell dude?”

On the financial issues with TAM: ”We definitely had a couple lapses. Every time we talked I thought one thing was said and then apparently something else was said. So there’s multiple times when we had what I thought were agreements and the result was always me getting short-handed. I don’t get it. That’s why we always had problems, because we always had a conversation, we’d agree on certain things and when it came time for certain things to happen, they wouldn’t.”

Again, there’s a lot of he said/she said going on here, but if it was me who had just been accused of being an emotionally unstable racist/sexist with financial issues, I might have brought a stronger counter-argument to the table than, “What the hell dude?” Again, this is just me. But what say you, Nation? Do you find any truth in Faber’s accusations, or is it just another case of egos clashing?

The post Quote(s) of the Day: Urijah Faber Lobs Racist, Sexist, Basically Everything-ist Accusations at Duane Ludwig appeared first on Cagepotato.

Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191


(Derailing the hype train of a youngster once and for all, on the other hand…via Getty)

Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski have a lot in common. They’re both over six feet tall, they were both born in 1979, and they both recently used Antonio “Bifgoot” Silva as a stepping stone for their careers. (Ed note: Click here to celebrate that sweet burn with me.)

Less than a year ago, it looked like Mir all but destined to wind up alongside his former rival in the “forced retirement” line, and now, he’s looking at a potential title shot if he is victorious over Arlovski, whom himself just defeated a heavily-favored top 5 opponent in his last contest. The two veteran heavyweights will do battle at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 in just a couple weeks in a fight that has damn near everyone foaming at the mouth in anticipation. Everyone except Frank Mir, that is.

The post Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191 appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Derailing the hype train of a youngster once and for all, on the other hand…via Getty)

Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski have a lot in common. They’re both over six feet tall, they were both born in 1979, and they both recently used Antonio “Bifgoot” Silva as a stepping stone for their careers. (Ed note: Click here to celebrate that sweet burn with me.)

Less than a year ago, it looked like Mir all but destined to wind up alongside his former rival in the “forced retirement” line, and now, he’s looking at a potential title shot if he is victorious over Arlovski, whom himself just defeated a heavily-favored top 5 opponent in his last contest. The two veteran heavyweights will do battle at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 in just a couple weeks in a fight that has damn near everyone foaming at the mouth in anticipation. Everyone except Frank Mir, that is.

Mir lamented his frustrations to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

In one sense, I’m not happy about it on a social level. I think we both have a lot to offer the sport and I don’t want to see either one of us derailed right now. I would have been much happier with this situation if we could have skipped each other at this point. I could have fought someone else in the top three and he could have fought Werdum for the title and then we could have faced each other in a title fight instead if he would have won.

I have a lot of respect for Andrei. He’s a guy that if my kids were to tell me right now they were fans of Andrei, I would completely cultivate that. Here’s a guy who was at the top. He went from the pinnacle of our sport to getting cut, signing with other organizations, losing more and he’s getting put out cold. Everyone is saying he’s done, his chin is gone, he needs to retire and this guy doesn’t listen to anybody. He just said, ‘Nope, I’m going to keep moving forward and figure out a way.’ He’s better now.

While it’s obviously not the ideal thing you’d like to hear from a guy heading into one of the biggest fights of his life, can you really fault Mir here? Like most of us diehard Arlovski fans who totally predicted his comeback from the day he first left the UFC with complete, unwavering assuredness (raises hand), Mir’s pulling for the old guy. The guy who’s been knocked down, beat down, black and blue. The guy who took a bad situation and made it right. The guy who, if he fell back down, you’d help him back up again. (Ed note: The soundtrack for that inspiring bit of prose can be found here).

Then again, over half of the heavyweight division’s top 10 are old dudes either in the midst of a comeback or on the tail end of one, so Mir’s options for potential opponents are pretty limited here. I wonder if he knows that the new champ and the former champ have been booked in a rematch for no apparent reason. That’d be a kick right to his wrinkly old balls.

In any case, I hope for Mir’s sake that his lack of motivation to fight Arlovski doesn’t affect his performance in the cage come September 5th. “The Pit Bull” is already being listed as a 3-to-1 favorite and everyone who knows anything about this sport knows that Nostalgic Frank Mir can be found just between High Altitude Velasquez and Unmotivated Penn on the list of P4P Worst Fighters Ever.

The post Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191 appeared first on Cagepotato.

Interview: Ken Shamrock Talks Kimbo Slice, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Personal Protection, and His Ministry — Part 1

By Zach Heim, with Chad Blessinger 

Ken Shamrock is a busy man these days. 2015 finds the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” involved in a Bellator main event against Kimbo Slice, a professional bare knuckle fight, a ministry for God, stock trading, and at least four other business and professional ventures. He is busier than ever building a future for himself off of 30 years of hard work, and lucky for us, we managed to get a few minutes with Shamrock to discuss a variety of topics.

CagePotato: You were supposed to fight Kimbo Slice a long time back until a last-minute cut over your eye forced you to bow out. Tell us about that experience.

The post Interview: Ken Shamrock Talks Kimbo Slice, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Personal Protection, and His Ministry — Part 1 appeared first on Cagepotato.

By Zach Heim, with Chad Blessinger 

Ken Shamrock is a busy man these days. 2015 finds the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” involved in a Bellator main event against Kimbo Slice, a professional bare knuckle fight, a ministry for God, stock trading, and at least four other business and professional ventures. He is busier than ever building a future for himself off of 30 years of hard work, and lucky for us, we managed to get a few minutes with Shamrock to discuss a variety of topics.

CagePotato: You were supposed to fight Kimbo Slice a long time back until a last-minute cut over your eye forced you to bow out. Tell us about that experience.

Ken Shamrock: Yeah, there’s a lot to it. My father had went into a coma and I spent about three weeks at the hospital with him while I was training for this fight. I got on a plane because he told me I needed to go take care of business. So I get on a plane and I fly down to do the fight. The night before the fight they called and told me he went into a coma or they put him on a machine or whatever…they had to keep him on life support. They asked what I wanted to do. So I said don’t do anything until I get back. So there was a lot of stuff going on, along with some different business stuff that was happening.

I grabbed a friend of mine and moved everything out of the hotel room. I was in a suite, so I had an area just to roll around to get my head back in to where it needed to be, a light roll, nothing heavy. I just caught his head the wrong way, it cut me, went to the hospital got it triple stitched/double stitched. I asked the doctor, “Can you clear me?” and he said, “If they let you fight, I’ll let you fight.” I went to the arena, got into the locker room and the [Florida] Commission came in, the promoters came in and I clearly told them I would fight. Of course, the Commission ixnayed it, [saying] you know we can’t take the risk. I told them if it [the cut] opens up or breaks they can stop the fight, it’s on me. No big deal, just let it roll, the fights not going to go very long. There’s no way he’s going to last very long. But if it does open up, you can stop me. I’m ok with that. Well, they said no. The fight didn’t happen.

Now what really made me angry was that when they wouldn’t let the fight happen, all the sudden all these different types of stupid comments started coming into play. Kimbo and his team being a part of that and what really upset me the most was the fact that I had made a sacrifice to go out and do this fight. My father had a problem and they put him on life support, things didn’t work out the way they should have but yet I still hear these stupid comments about why I wouldn’t fight, how come I didn’t fight, I got cut, I cut myself, I’m afraid, all these things coming from the Kimbo camp. It just boiled in me and there was not much I could do about it. I always kept it in my mind that if I ever had the opportunity to get into a ring and fight him in mma, I’d be waiting for him.

Neither of you have fought an MMA fight in 5 years and it has been reported the Missouri Commission is going to ask you to do some additional medical testing. Has any of that begun and what exactly does that entail?

They are going to want extra testing, which to me is, you know, whatever, it is what it is. I don’t know why, I thought we got past this stuff, you know, years and years ago with prejudices against women, against colors, against gender, sexual preferences — all these things. We are supposed to have grown as a nation but we continue to keep pulling people aside for whatever the reason the may be because they may be older or they speak different or whatever the reason is. It seems they can’t let it go. Why in the world would you test somebody who is clearly passing all the regulations they are supposed to pass as a regular fighter? Why does it have to be extensive testing because you are 50 years old or your forty years old? Either you pass, or you don’t pass. I don’t understand what their sanctioning reasons are for. It’s either you pass or you don’t pass. If you pass, you fight. I don’t care what age you are.

I think Kimbo showed a lot about himself when he fought Petruzelli the night they wouldn’t let you fight. Seth knocked him out in, what, 15 seconds or something like that?

I don’t get some of these comments that people are making about “Well if he stands up, he’s gonna lose,” and “If he can’t take him down, he’s going to lose.” I’m thinking, “Who are these people, where is their education?”

Not a lot of people knew much about Seth Petruzelli before that fight, which I suppose made his win all the more shocking. 

To me it’s ridiculous. I don’t think Kimbo’s going to handle me, whether it’s stand-up or on the ground. We know [he can’t handle me] on the ground, but even stand-up I just; I watched his boxing. He hand picks his guys, and even then you see [his weaknesses]. Like I said, you know, I’m not going to take him lightly. I’m going to prepare like this is the best fight in the world. But like I said, in the back of my mind, I don’t see a problem here either stand-up or on the ground.

What is the current status of the Lion’s Den? How many gyms are there? What is going on with that part of your career?

I still have Team Lion’s Den. In fact, it is my son, myself, and I will be fighting under Team Lions Den in this fight coming up. My son still fights under it. I have three boys. They fight under it. All my family fights under it. That’s as far as it goes. Right now Team Lion’s Den is basically a ministry outreach program. (It’s) my non-profit organization where I walk out and I help youth and do motivational speaking. I transferred that in that direction but the Team Lion’s Den is definitely not dead now. It’s just that right at this point in time I’m just so focused on really doing more work for my ministry and work for young athletes who are amateurs who are trying to turn pro. I don’t want to, obviously, but them under a team flag or anything like that. I just want to help these guys make good decisions on their own for their own career.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this interview, which will be up tomorrow.

The post Interview: Ken Shamrock Talks Kimbo Slice, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Personal Protection, and His Ministry — Part 1 appeared first on Cagepotato.

Portland, Oregon’s Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen to Fight for Lightweight Title at Bellator 136

By David Golden

Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen has been waiting a long time for his chance to fight for the Bellator MMA lightweight title. After winning the season 7 lightweight tournament back in March of 2013 Jansen was set for a clash with then champion, Michael Chandler. However, that fight would never take place. Chandler fell victim to injury, as did Jansen. Two years later, fully recovered from a knee injury that had him sidelined eighteen months, Jansen is ready to return to the cage with the hopes of bringing gold back to Portland, Oregon.

The state of Oregon has long been a hotbed for top-level talent in the world of mixed martial arts, but championships have been relatively scarce as of late. The last person fighting out an Oregon based camp to hold a title with a major promotion was Evan Tanner back in 2005. This decade long drought is likely just feeding the fire that is Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jansen and get his thoughts on the upcoming title shot against “Ill” Will Brooks at Bellator 136 on April 10. During our discussion Jansen exuded a calm but confident attitude. Jansen seemed excited about the opportunity to fight Brooks he made it clear to me that he knew this day would come, it was inevitable.

The post Portland, Oregon’s Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen to Fight for Lightweight Title at Bellator 136 appeared first on Cagepotato.

By David Golden

Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen has been waiting a long time for his chance to fight for the Bellator MMA lightweight title. After winning the season 7 lightweight tournament back in March of 2013 Jansen was set for a clash with then champion, Michael Chandler. However, that fight would never take place. Chandler fell victim to injury, as did Jansen. Two years later, fully recovered from a knee injury that had him sidelined eighteen months, Jansen is ready to return to the cage with the hopes of bringing gold back to Portland, Oregon.

The state of Oregon has long been a hotbed for top-level talent in the world of mixed martial arts, but championships have been relatively scarce as of late. The last person fighting out an Oregon based camp to hold a title with a major promotion was Evan Tanner back in 2005. This decade long drought is likely just feeding the fire that is Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jansen and get his thoughts on the upcoming title shot against “Ill” Will Brooks at Bellator 136 on April 10. During our discussion Jansen exuded a calm but confident attitude. Jansen seemed excited about the opportunity to fight Brooks he made it clear to me that he knew this day would come, it was inevitable.

I asked Jansen, considering the injury and the long wait for this title fight how does it feel to know that a shot at the belt is just 2 months away?

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I’m really looking to make the most of it. I knew it was just a matter of time before I got the title shot since I had already won a past tournament. But then they offered me the Rick Hawn fight as a bit of a test coming off my ACL injury to see what I had done since the surgery. I jumped on that opportunity to help speed things along.”

Being put in a comeback fight with a top contender like Rick Hawn (a former Olympian in judo) when you are widely considered next in line for a title shot wouldn’t be an easy thing to deal with for most people. Jansen however, took the challenge by the horn. Jansen showcased his striking in the bout earning a unanimous decision victory. Not known for his striking Jansen’s standup looked much improved against Hawn. I asked Jansen what has changed in his camp that has helped create this newfound success on the feet?

“Since the injury I started training my kickboxing with Robert Villardi and he has changed everything for me as far as my confidence in both my hands and my kicking game [is concerned]. I feel more comfortable than I ever have before and I have so many more weapons on my feet as a result. My flexibility has gotten a lot better, coach Villardi has me on a good stretching routine and it has been a huge help. I want to be able to take the fight anywhere it goes and every fight starts standing up. Early on in my career I was lacking in that part of my game but now things have really improved.”

Jansen has improved his game in more ways than just his striking. Jansen mentioned to me that not only has his striking improved greatly but his Jiu Jitsu has also seen improvement. Jansen credited this to the addition of the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu program to the Rose City FC family. Head instructor Nathan Orchard is a black belt under Eddie Bravo and Jansen had only positive things to say about Orchard and his team. Even with these improvements to his game Jansen will likely have his hands full when he takes on Will Brooks in April. Brooks is a good wrestler with serious knock out power and excellent speed. I asked Jansen what about Will Brooks impressed him?

“He’s fast, that’s for sure, but I’m not really impressed with his power. I guess I’m just really impressed with his speed but he’s kind of a runner. He goes in and out, in and out. I’m not looking to chase him. I want to make him fight, that’s what I do, I force people to fight and I bully them. I’m really looking to dominate and everything I throw is going to be with bad intentions.”

With speed being the obvious concern I asked Jansen what he was doing in camp to prepare for the speed of a guy like Brooks?

“The trick to beating Will Brooks is training with guys that are faster than Will Brooks and Carson [Frei] and Ian [Loveland] are definitely faster than he is. It won’t be a huge shock to my system when I get in there with Brooks because the guys I’m training with are so fast and talented.”

Jansen went on to praise his teammates in preparing him for this fight. He is proud of the guys around him and made it clear that he thinks the world of them. He specifically mentioned the young upstart, Carson Frei. Jansen praised the work ethic and determination of the young fighter from Idaho and believes that Frei has helped put him in position to defeat Will Brooks at Bellator 136.

Since suffering the ACL injury Jansen has taken the time to get himself healthy and he is trying to stay on a path that will keep him healthy. Jansen mentioned multiple times that his health, both mentally and physically, are very important to him. He wants to be sure he can maintain a high level of performance in and out of the cage. Jansen mentioned specifically that he is working with a sports massage therapist, Bill Proppe, who Jansen is very thankful for. That, in combination with an intense yoga program and two separate stretching programs has been instrumental in keeping Jansen healthy.

From two years to now just two months the wait is nearly over for Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen. Between now and fight night you can find Jansen grinding away at the gym, holding a pose at a yoga class or stretching out with coach Villardi. What you won’t find is Jansen taking time off. Jansen is eager to show the world just what he brings to the table and whether it be a one round lopsided victory or a five round war Jansen will be ready to bring a title back to Oregon.

The post Portland, Oregon’s Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen to Fight for Lightweight Title at Bellator 136 appeared first on Cagepotato.

Thiago Silva on Assault Charges and UFC Return: “People Will Forget. They Always Do.”

(Silva posts a message to fans after news of his UFC return is made public.)

By now, you’ve all likely heard the news that Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was terminated by his team just hours after a new video surfaced showing him KO’ing his future wife during an argument in an elevator. The reaction to Rice’s termination has been equally celebrated and criticized, with many fans asking why it took visual confirmation (you know, besides the footage we had already seen of Rice dragging his wife out of said elevator) to prompt a decision that the Ravens should have already made. But still, the right thing had been done, so all’s well that ends well, right?

Cue Thiago Silva, a longstanding member of the UFC’s light heavyweight division whose career has been shrouded in controversy for years now. He falsified a urine sample following his fight at UFC 125, tested positive for marijuana just two fights later at UFC on FUEL 6, and failed to make weight two fights later at Fight Night 29. Most recently, Silva was arrested following an armed standoff with police in his Florida home, with accusations of everything from domestic assault to attempted murder being hurled at him by his ex-wife.

To say that Silva has become something of a liability to the UFC would be an understatement, but since all charges against him were recently dropped, many MMA fans are arguing that he deserves to continue making a living the only way he knows how. Dana White seemed to agree, stating upon Silva’s re-signing with the promotion that “He went through the legal process and came out of it untainted. He deserves to be able to make a living again. He’s back under contract.”

His place in the UFC restored, perhaps it’s time that we heard Silva’s side of the story, eh? Appearing on yesterday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Silva attempted to do just that:


(Silva posts a message to fans after news of his UFC return is made public.)

By now, you’ve all likely heard the news that Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was terminated by his team just hours after a new video surfaced showing him KO’ing his future wife during an argument in an elevator. The reaction to Rice’s termination has been equally celebrated and criticized, with many fans asking why it took visual confirmation (you know, besides the footage we had already seen of Rice dragging his wife out of said elevator) to prompt a decision that the Ravens should have already made. But still, the right thing had been done, so all’s well that ends well, right?

Cue Thiago Silva, a longstanding member of the UFC’s light heavyweight division whose career has been shrouded in controversy for years now. He falsified a urine sample following his fight at UFC 125, tested positive for marijuana just two fights later at UFC on FUEL 6, and failed to make weight two fights later at Fight Night 29. Most recently, Silva was arrested following an armed standoff with police in his Florida home, with accusations of everything from domestic assault to attempted murder being hurled at him by his ex-wife.

To say that Silva has become something of a liability to the UFC would be an understatement, but since all charges against him were recently dropped, many MMA fans are arguing that he deserves to continue making a living the only way he knows how. Dana White seemed to agree, stating upon Silva’s re-signing with the promotion that “He went through the legal process and came out of it untainted. He deserves to be able to make a living again. He’s back under contract.”

His place in the UFC restored, perhaps it’s time that we heard Silva’s side of the story, eh? Appearing on yesterday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Silva attempted to do just that:

The truth is they didn’t find no proof. I never pointed any gun at my ex-wife, I never tried to hurt (her). Everything she said was a lie. So that’s the truth. The state, they couldn’t prove another thing, so that’s the truth.

I’m just glad the truth came out. [The UFC] trust me, they knew I didn’t do nothing, so they gave me my job back. So I’m very glad for this.

Silva was then pressed further by Helwani, who mentioned that the truth *hadn’t* actually come out and that Silva was cleared on a technicality, leading the light heavyweight contender to change his tone slightly.

I don’t want to talk about that. I’m here to talk about my professional fights, my comeback to the UFC. I really don’t want to talk about my [personal] life. I think that’s not good for me. I don’t want to work with this anymore. I’m done with that.

Here the thing. I didn’t do nothing. She said I pointed a gun at her, I tried to hurt her. I didn’t point any gun, I didn’t try to hurt her, you know? I wanted divorce, she wanted money, I didn’t want to give the money, she set me up, that’s the truth.

When we first posted our thoughts on the UFC’s decision to re-sign Silva, it did not come without a fair share of criticism from you Taters. Most notably, Facebook reader Jonathan St. Louis, who offered the following rebuttal:

Ok this bothers me. Why the fuck do we care if “bad guys” fight? Aren’t we paying and cheering these guys to try and brutally knock each other out if not crank on each other’s necks and limbs? I don’t know about you but I want to see the baddest dudes at doing that regardless if they’re saints or demons…

I’ll admit that I perhaps leaped to judgement when it came to Silva’s innocence — the only details of his case, after all, were divulged by his ex-wife who has since fled the country — but only because the evidence against him seemed to be pretty condemning. Hearsay, sure, but suffice it to say, one does not typically get involved in an armed standoff with police if they are confident of their innocence.

But to Mr. St Louis’ question, I will attempt to clarify my stance. While we certainly shouldn’t expect MMA fighters to be “saints,” to say that we shouldn’t care whether or not they are acceptable human beings is missing the point of “professional” sports entirely. UFC fighters, despite what Twitter will often tell you, are professional athletes who are supposed to be held to a higher standard than your average backyard brawler. Fighters at the UFC level represent the sport as a whole, whether they choose to or not, and this accountability carries over to their personal lives. It

If it’s simply “bad guys” you want to see fighting, why even bother with MMA? Why not watch Youtube compilations of gang warfare and underground prison fights? Why even establish a unified system of rules, for that matter? If we’re all just “paying and cheering these guys to try and brutally knock each other out” (not the case), why not allow them to use whatever means possible to do so?

I’ll answer that for you: because UFC-level fighters should be able to limit the use of their skills to the cage. They compete at the highest level of their discipline (and have been for years), and that’s what MMA, like any martial art, is about at its very core: Discipline. Restraint. These fighters are supposed to understand that they possess skills far beyond the level of most “ordinary” people, and that these skills can bring tremendous harm to those around them were they to lose control. To act as if MMA fighters shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions simply because they fight for a living plays right into the notion that MMA fans are just a bunch of skinhead “Just Bleed” dude-bros of questionable character.

We’ve spent the past 20 years trying to convince casual audiences that MMA is not “human cockfighting” or a gladiator sport perpetrated by the most reprehensible of people, and you want to trade all that in because “LOL who gives a shit let’s get to the BROOTAL KO’s!!” Please, Jonathan, I beg you to reconsider your borderline insulting understanding of the sport and its fanbase.

It would be far too easy to turn a blind eye to the personal lives of these fighters while continuing to reward them in the cage, but that’s simply not how the working world works. Not only does signing these “bad guys” open up the UFC to widespread criticism from those the sport is trying to gain legitimate acceptance from, it provides groups like The Culinary Union with even more ammo for their relentless anti-UFC campaigns. Let me ask you this, Jonathan, would you be opposed to the idea of the UFC re-signing War Machine, or Josh Grispi? Or the Ravens re-signing Ray Rice? Something tells me you would, even if you won’t admit it.

In short, why should we care if MMA fighters are good people? Because good people are the ones who deserve our attention, our devotion, and our praise. Good people are the ones who deserve the spotlight and all the benefits that come with it. A corny sentiment, surely, but one that also aligns with, you know, the basic tenets of humanity and all that.

But some of you Taters were right: Silva has been cleared of all charges, and for all we know, is completely innocent in the matter. But one’s professional life is often mirrored by their personal life, or vice versa, and given the amount of strikes Silva has accumulated in his UFC career, it’s growing increasingly difficult to understand why he has been deemed such a necessity to the UFC’s roster. It doesn’t help that his plan for addressing his sketchy past equates to banking on the fact that we will all forget about it.

I don’t care what people think. I’m going to do my job. I’m going to keep focusing on my training, and that’s it. They will forget. They always do. 

–J. Jones

TIL That War Machine Once Abandoned Ken Shamrock’s 17 Year Old Daughter in Mexico [VIDEO]

Leave it to Ken Shamrock to add a whole ‘nother chapter to the increasingly morbid saga that is the life of Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver.

Koppenhaver, who was captured by US Marshals last week while hiding out in Simi Valley, California, has something of a history of violence and general sketchiness when it comes to women, you see. He’s been arrested what feels like a dozen times now for starting bar brawls, crashing a porn star’s birthday party (with his fists), and most recently, brutalizing girlfriend Christy Mack in particularly heinous fashion. He will more than likely assault a fellow inmate and/or have sex with deli meat within the following weeks, and is overall just a terrible, terrible human being who deserves none of our sympathy.

But what I (and therefore you Taters) have been wondering in these troubling times is: What does Ken Shamrock have to say about all this?

Well, strap in brothers and sisters, because shit’s about to get weird…

Leave it to Ken Shamrock to add a whole ‘nother chapter to the increasingly morbid saga that is the life of Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver.

Koppenhaver, who was captured by US Marshals last week while hiding out in Simi Valley, California, has something of a history of violence and general sketchiness when it comes to women, you see. He’s been arrested what feels like a dozen times now for starting bar brawls, crashing a porn star’s birthday party (with his fists), and most recently, brutalizing girlfriend Christy Mack in particularly heinous fashion. He will more than likely assault a fellow inmate and/or have sex with deli meat within the following weeks, and is overall just a terrible, terrible human being who deserves none of our sympathy.

But what I (and therefore you Taters) have been wondering in these troubling times is: What does Ken Shamrock have to say about all this?

Well, strap in brothers and sisters, because shit’s about to get weird…

In a recent interview with News Diamant, Shamrock opened up about his history with Koppenhaver and how if he ever saw him again he would break his neck. Why? “Issues.”

The thing that’s sad about this is, I started Jon. When he first came into MMA, I’m the one that broke him into it in San Diego. I had issues with him. My 17-year-old daughter and Jon was 20-something years old, well he took her to Mexico and left her over there. He then ended up disappearing and I haven’t seen him since.

He’s always been hiding from me because he knows if I see him I’ll break his neck. He’s always had an issue with this and the guy needs help. He doesn’t need to do it by himself, he needs to, by the court, be put into some sort or rehab so he starts understanding. Because it doesn’t have anything to do with him naturally, it’s when he starts partying and out doing things he shouldn’t be doing.

Ok, I’m going to go ahead and call Shammy’s parenting skills into serious question here. I know hindsight is 20-20, but please, could someone with a child in their teens explain to me the circumstances in which they would allow their 17 year-old daughter go to Mexico with a 20-something MMA fighter? It’s almost as if Ken learned nothing about the dangers that lie south of the border from his star-making turn as Coach Ramsey in Scarecrow Gone Wild. 

“The World’s Most Dangerous Man” also weighed in on whether or not he thought “Dog the Bounty Hunter” would catch “War Machine” and this is already the greatest sentence I have ever written:

I don’t know if Dog will find him. I hope he does. If he does, he needs to watch himself, because Jon is a loose cannon. If they do find him they need to make sure they take every precaution as possible and not worry about [Jon’s] safety, worry about their own. 

But if they don’t catch him, somebody will turn him in. You can’t go around this long and be hiding in different places without somebody saying something. And the right thing to do is, is not to hide this guy. I’m telling you, he’s bad news.

Glad you could clear that up, Ken.

Check out a video of Shamrock’s interview above (which also features Rashad Evans and Wanderlei Silva‘s thoughts on Koppenhaver), then pray to God your son or daughter is never caught within 20 miles of a Koppenhaver or a Shamrock.

–J. Jones