Tag: fighter interviews

Patrick Cote: Tim Sylvia Should “Shut the Hell up and Fight” If He Wants Back in the UFC

Patrick Cote Anderson Silva injured knee MMA photos
(“You’ve got him right where you want him, Patrick!”)

Since dropping his third straight fight to Tom Lawlor at UFC 121 and subsequently getting axed from the UFC, former middleweight title challenger (that still just seems weird to write) Patrick Cote has been quietly putting together wins under various Canadian promotions, and in fact has scored three straight over UFC veterans Kalib Starnes, Todd Brown, and Crafton Wallace.

Meanwhile, back here on Earth, Tim Sylvia has undergone one of the most obnoxious and plain bizarre campaigns to get back in the UFC that we have ever seen. He’s enlisted the help of the UG, he’s Twitter-bombed Dana White, and he’s even released a training video that was hands down the funniest two minutes this world has seen since that Leprechaun was spotted in Mobile, Alabama.

One thing Sylvia hasn’t been doing, however, is scoring convincing wins over decent opponents. And according to Cote, Sylvia, and any other ex-UFC fighters attempting to beg their way back into the promotion, need to simply “shut up and fight.”

It all started when Cote out the following Tweet amidst all of Sylvia’s UFC pandering.

“@patrick_cote: Dear Tim Sylvia, shut the hell up, win fights and stop begging, its f*cking anoying !!!”

Join us after the jump for the war of words. 

Patrick Cote Anderson Silva injured knee MMA photos
(“You’ve got him right where you want him, Patrick!”)

Since dropping his third straight fight to Tom Lawlor at UFC 121 and subsequently getting axed from the UFC, former middleweight title challenger (that still just seems weird to write) Patrick Cote has been quietly putting together wins under various Canadian promotions, and in fact has scored three straight over UFC veterans Kalib Starnes, Todd Brown, and Crafton Wallace.

Meanwhile, back here on Earth, Tim Sylvia has undergone one of the most obnoxious and plain bizarre campaigns to get back in the UFC that we have ever seen. He’s enlisted the help of the UG, he’s Twitter-bombed Dana White, and he’s even released a training video that was hands down the funniest two minutes this world has seen since that Leprechaun was spotted in Mobile, Alabama.

One thing Sylvia hasn’t been doing, however, is scoring convincing wins over decent opponents. And according to Cote, Sylvia, and any other ex-UFC fighters attempting to beg their way back into the promotion, need to simply “shut up and fight.”

It all started when Cote out the following Tweet amidst all of Sylvia’s UFC pandering.

“@patrick_cote: Dear Tim Sylvia, shut the hell up, win fights and stop begging, its f*cking anoying !!!”

Sylvia, believe it or not, did not take to kindly to Cote’s advice, and responded with the follwing trifecta of Tweets:

“win a belt then u can talk to me. Or at least try cause your English sucks so bad.” [Irony.]

“look man I don’t know y u even said anything about me I thought we got along but for some that only got a shot cause of gsp.” [*Facepalm*]

“@patrick_cote should not talk shit I have done more in and for this sport then u ever will. I got some French war guns for sale.”

Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Tim. First off, Cote and GSP are not part of the same training camp. Secondly, French war guns? WTF is that?! And are you seriously trying to win a war of the words by insulting someone’s grasp of the English language while simultaneously using y, u, and ’cause in the same poorly formed sentence? Foot, meet mouth.

Anyway, Cote was recently interviewed by MMAWeekly, where he was given more than 150 characters to defend his position. Needless to say, his side of the argument makes a hell of a lot more sense than Fatty Boom-Boom’s:

Maybe that was a little bit out of control because that wasn’t a personal attack to Tim Sylvia, but that was just begging to have a chance to go back to the UFC, for me, it’s just a shame. You can’t beg the big organizations like that.

The only thing you have to do is shut your mouth, win fights, and prove you deserve to be back in the big show by winning fights and by your performance.

Cote was even complimentary of Sylvia’s accomplishments at one point.

You’ve been a champion in this organization; you know how things work. You’re not going to go anywhere by begging like that. I was just annoyed about begging, a lot of the begging, and I said loud what a lot of people was thinking. I have nothing against Sylvia. He’s been a great champion. He did a lot in the sport. He did a lot in the UFC. I hope he’s going to be back in the UFC. That’s not the point. The point was just about the begging thing.

It’s hard to disagree with Cote here, especially given how Dana White has shut down Tim Sylvia’s hopes before they ever grew legs. Wins, not words, earn you a place in the sport’s highest organization. Unless you are James Toney of course, in which case it’s neither.

Currently, Cote is scheduled to square off against Shooto, IFL, and KOTC veteran Gustavo Machado in Brazil this weekend, a win that could very easily earn him a call back to the UFC. Sylvia, on the other hand, has not fought since his snorefest victory over Andreas Kraniotakes at the abysmal Pro Elite 2: Big Guns event last November.

So what say you, Potato Nation? Should Sylvia squash this pipe dream altogether, or, you know, actually pick up a couple more wins before he takes to the Internet for support once more?

-J. Jones

Dana White Claims Dan Henderson Turned Down a Shogun Rematch, Is Promptly Pwned by Hendo


(That moment you realize you are a fraction of the man Dan Henderson is.) 

Few, if any, will ever be able to forget Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s epic battle at UFC 139. It was like that time you watched your dad and your friend’s dad argue over a garden hose at your local pub when you were 12, an argument that quickly devolved into chair throwing, bottle smashing, and frequent use of the “n-word” despite the fact that both participants were white. You and your friend would never be the same again, but to be fair, his dad did say he would return the hose over a week ago, so fuck him.

Now swap your friend’s dad/Shogun with Dana White, and your dad with Dan Henderson, and you’ve pretty much got the gist of these two’s ongoing series of misunderstandings. They’ve butted heads over money before, but now it seems they’ve moved into the territory of straight up verbal warfare. At yesterday’s Calgary press conference, White informed Mauro Ranallo that he had attempted to secure a rematch between Henderson and Rua, but was met with firm opposition by the inventor of the H-bomb:

Yeah, I was trying to put together Dan Henderson vs. Shogun II and Henderson doesn’t want to do the fight. Henderson wants to wait for the winner of either Jonny “Bones” Jones or Anderson Silva. He wants Anderson Silva, if Silva wins, he will make that cut. Otherwise, he wants to fight the winner of Rashad and Jones.

After hearing the above snippet, Henderson took to his Twitter account to respond, where he promptly slayed DW in less than ten words.

Join us after the jump for those ten words.


(That moment you realize you are a fraction of the man Dan Henderson is.) 

Few, if any, will ever be able to forget Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s epic battle at UFC 139. It was like that time you watched your dad and your friend’s dad argue over a garden hose at your local pub when you were 12, an argument that quickly devolved into chair throwing, bottle smashing, and frequent use of the “n-word” despite the fact that both participants were white. You and your friend would never be the same again, but to be fair, his dad did say he would return the hose over a week ago, so fuck him.

Now swap your friend’s dad/Shogun with Dana White, and your dad with Dan Henderson, and you’ve pretty much got the gist of these two’s ongoing series of misunderstandings. They’ve butted heads over money before, but now it seems they’ve moved into the territory of straight up verbal warfare. At yesterday’s Calgary press conference, White informed Mauro Ranallo that he had attempted to secure a rematch between Henderson and Rua, but was met with firm opposition by the inventor of the H-bomb:

Yeah, I was trying to put together Dan Henderson vs. Shogun II and Henderson doesn’t want to do the fight. Henderson wants to wait for the winner of either Jonny “Bones” Jones or Anderson Silva. He wants Anderson Silva, if Silva wins, he will make that cut. Otherwise, he wants to fight the winner of Rashad and Jones.

After hearing the above snippet, Henderson took to his Twitter account to respond, where he promptly slayed DW in less than a sentence, responding, “If dana said it then out (assuming he meant “it”) must be true. Lol..”

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the quickest way possible to piss off your boss, like a boss. If this response had a movie equivalent, it would be How to Lose a Job in Ten Words. And yet, it’s hard to deny what Hendo’s text is getting at. Dana White has led the MMA media astray on several occasions, only to pull the rug out from underneath us when the opportunity struck. You remember that whole Kimbo Slice situation? How about the fact that he was urging Wanderlei Silva to retire weeks before making him a coach on TUF: Brazil? All we’re saying is, Dana’s word is not exactly set in stone. Just ask Paul Daley. Or Miguel Torres.

But considering that Hendo has already turned down a rematch with Lil’ Nog in order to get the next shot at Anderson Silva or Jon Jones, it’s not like Dana’s accusation is out of left field either. And, let’s be honest, Hendo was definitely slowing down in the latter rounds of his UFC 139 fight with Rua, so maybe that has something to do with it. But far be it from us to call our fake dad a liar. Especially when he helped this country win the Revolutionary War.

What say you, Potato Nation? Do you think Hendo is worried a rematch with Shogun could cost him a title shot? Or is DW blowing smoke up our collective asses again?

-J. Jones

Brian Ebersole Calls Josh Koscheck “A Dick”, The Internet Nods in Agreement


(We dare you to look this man in the nipples eyes and call him a liar.) 

A few weeks ago, you may recall that former welterweight title contender Josh Koscheck had some rather hateful things to say about his former training camp, American Kickboxing Academy, when asked about his split from the organization by Ariel Helwani. To sum it up, Kos basically called head trainer Javier Mendez a fraud, and alluded that anyone over at AKA was only successful as a result of their training partners. He also vowed to never step foot in San Jose again, unless it was to open up a competing gym, preferably placed across the street and run by White Goodman. Yeah, that’s my second Dodgeball reference today. Deal with it.

Anyway, when fellow UFC welterweight and former AKA associate Brian Ebersole caught wind of this interview, he became rather irritated by Koscheck’s insolence, and proceeded to put his whole departure in perspective when interviewed by VigilanteMMA. We’re not sure if Ebersole’s attempts to tear a new asshole where one clearly already existed may result in some sort of time warp, paradox, or black hole, but check out what he had to say:

He’s always a bit flippant and disrespectful to Helwani, but this last interview was ridiculous. Bad attempts at humor and despite the line of questioning, he brought it back to the drama/breakup he had with AKA. He went well out of his way to slander Javier Mendez and the system that AKA has built. Very disrespectful. Koscheck was not a self-made UFC star, as he’d like you to believe. There are more guys than just me that remember him punching like a girl for a few years. He’s figured it out now, and punches with power, but he didn’t do that on his own. 

Join us after the jump for much, much more from this interview.


(We dare you to look this man in the nipples eyes and call him a liar.) 

A few weeks ago, you may recall that former welterweight title contender Josh Koscheck had some rather hateful things to say about his former training camp, American Kickboxing Academy, when asked about his split from the organization by Ariel Helwani. To sum it up, Kos basically called head trainer Javier Mendez a fraud, and alluded that anyone over at AKA was only successful as a result of their training partners. He also vowed to never step foot in San Jose again, unless it was to open up a competing gym, preferably placed across the street and run by White Goodman. Yeah, that’s my second Dodgeball reference today. Deal with it.

Anyway, when fellow UFC welterweight and former AKA associate Brian Ebersole caught wind of this interview, he became rather irritated by Koscheck’s insolence, and proceeded to put his whole departure in perspective when interviewed by VigilanteMMA. We’re not sure if Ebersole’s attempts to tear a new asshole where one clearly already existed may result in some sort of time warp, paradox, or black hole, but check out what he had to say:

He’s always a bit flippant and disrespectful to Helwani, but this last interview was ridiculous. Bad attempts at humor and despite the line of questioning, he brought it back to the drama/breakup he had with AKA. He went well out of his way to slander Javier Mendez and the system that AKA has built. Very disrespectful. Koscheck was not a self-made UFC star, as he’d like you to believe. There are more guys than just me that remember him punching like a girl for a few years. He’s figured it out now, and punches with power, but he didn’t do that on his own. 

It is a well known fact that Ebersole has been in the MMA game long enough to train at literally every gym from here to Thailand, so it’s not like his take on Koscheck’s previous skill level is a fabrication. But it doesn’t stop there, and in fact, Ebersole cites several incidents that have led him to his current assessment of the TUF 1 alumnus, the first of which occurred during one of his recent returns to the San Jose-based gym. As he recalls:

Josh came out to AKA in 2004, but he didn’t come straight out to live in San Jose. He immediately settled into Fresno, where our manager lived in a mansion, had a private jet, and set Josh up with a cozy income-earning position coaching wrestling, privately, to groups of school-kids. Being AKA’s first All-American wrestler, he seemed to have gotten the royal treatment. That’s my view, looking back. With that, Mr. Koscheck traveled into San Jose when he saw fit.

I’m not alone in thinking he’s a dick. I revisited AKA a time or two since I’d moved to Australia. The first time, I came off of a 14-hour flight and went straight to the gym. I announced that I had a fairly serious neck injury. I had a decent spar with Fitch, who held me down and beat me up, but kept a respectable speed/intensity. But Koscheck acted like I was standing in the way of him and a paycheck. And socially, he was very abrasive per usual.

Referring to Josh Koscheck as “abrasive” is like referring to Tank Abbott as “a light social drinker,” so we’ll give Ebersole his due credit for not totally unleashing on his former training partner.

And as for AKA’s current lineup of coaches, which includes such legendary names as Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo, Ebersole couldn’t help but find Koscheck’s comments to be a bit delusional:

I think AKA has some of the most talented coaches he could have asked for.  Camarillo, BJJ/Judo Black belt. Javier was a world champion. Bob Cook was an undefeated MMA fighter and is widely regarded as Frank Shamrock’s best student. Jerome Turcan, who handled my striking development, is a multiple time French Savate Champion and a former K-1 Finalist. He couldn’t get good work in? It was there to be had. He mentioned that Javier coached him but that he didn’t learn anything. Really? I learn from BJJ blue belts whilst I travel the globe teaching and training. And you can’t learn from a former World Champion? That’s a curious comment, if you ask me, which you did.

If he had any problems with Javier, it’s because Javier was the only one that would conflict with him. Most of the coaches are very non-confrontational. Javier tells it how he sees it. Josh probably had a big problem anytime criticism came; and 90% of that would have come from Javier, because it was not in the nature of the other coaches. Not surprising that they butted heads.  And not surprising that Kos has acted like a child in regard to his life-changing plans. Disappointing to many, no doubt.  But not surprising to anyone who knows him.

I think it was pretty obvious from the start that Koscheck’s departure from AKA was much more personal than he led on, and it’s nice to hear from someone outside of the camp that this notion is probably true. Koscheck is set to take on Johny Hendricks at UFC on Fox 3 in May, but after that, who would be interested in seeing him take on Ebersole in one of those good old fashioned grudge matches the UFC loves so much? Koscheck has stated before that he thinks rankings are bullshit, so surely he’d be up for a fight against a UFC up-and-comer like Ebersole, right?

-J. Jones

[VIDEO] – War Machine’s Final 48 Hours of Freedom


(Well, at least the guy knows how to go out in style.) 

After a year long prison sentence training camp helped propel John Koppenhaver War Machine to a brilliant third round TKO over Roger Huerta last November, it saddened the world to find out that the former UFC fighter, TUF 6 star, and short lived pornstar would headed back to jail for another year, despite already being released some 8 months ago.

The unfortunate announcement came shortly after War Machine snagged a place in Bellator’s season 6 welterweight tournament, and appeared to be at least attempting to turn his life around. Needless to say, War Machine was pissed.

And now that War Machine’s days are truly numbered, he decided to sit down with MMA Uncensored Live for a lengthy interview, which will air this Thursday at 11 p.m. on Spike TV.

Check out a video preview of the interview after the jump.


(Well, at least the guy knows how to go out in style.) 

After a year long prison sentence training camp helped propel John Koppenhaver War Machine to a brilliant third round TKO over Roger Huerta last November, it saddened the world to find out that the former UFC fighter, TUF 6 star, and short lived pornstar would headed back to jail for another year, despite already being released some 8 months ago.

The unfortunate announcement came shortly after War Machine snagged a place in Bellator’s season 6 welterweight tournament, and appeared to be at least attempting to turn his life around. Needless to say, War Machine was pissed.

And now that War Machine’s days are truly numbered, he decided to sit down with MMA Uncensored Live for a lengthy interview, which will air this Thursday at 11 p.m. on Spike TV.

Check out a video preview of the interview below.

A few highlights:

“There’s fight or flight. My nature is to fight, you know, I don’t flight.”  [If we’ve preached one thing to you, War Machine, it’s proper grammar and syntax. Come on man!] 

“I’m a professional fighter, but I’m still a human.” [True. Your name, however, states otherwise.] 

“I’m not a monster.” [Again, the name.]

“Every time I’ve ever been in trouble, to be honest, I still think I did the right thing, every time. [We feel you there.] 

-J. Jones

[VIDEO] – War Machine’s Final 48 Hours of Freedom


(Well, at least the guy knows how to go out in style.) 

After a year long prison sentence training camp helped propel John Koppenhaver War Machine to a brilliant third round TKO over Roger Huerta last November, it saddened the world to find out that the former UFC Fighter, TUF 6 star, and short lived pornstar would headed back to jail for another year, despite already being released some 8 months ago.

The unfortunate announcement came shortly after War Machine had snagged a place in Bellator’s season 6 welterweight tournament. Needless to say, War Machine was pissed.

And now that War Machine’s days are truly numbered, he decided to sit down with MMA Uncensored Live for a lengthy interview, which will air this Thursday at 11 p.m. on Spike TV.

Check out a video preview of the interview after the jump.


(Well, at least the guy knows how to go out in style.) 

After a year long prison sentence training camp helped propel John Koppenhaver War Machine to a brilliant third round TKO over Roger Huerta last November, it saddened the world to find out that the former UFC Fighter, TUF 6 star, and short lived pornstar would headed back to jail for another year, despite already being released some 8 months ago.

The unfortunate announcement came shortly after War Machine had snagged a place in Bellator’s season 6 welterweight tournament. Needless to say, War Machine was pissed.

And now that War Machine’s days are truly numbered, he decided to sit down with MMA Uncensored Live for a lengthy interview, which will air this Thursday at 11 p.m. on Spike TV.

Check out a video preview of the interview below.

A few highlights:

“There’s fight or flight. My nature is to fight, you know, I don’t flight.”  [If we’ve preached one thing to you, War Machine, it’s proper grammar and syntax. Come on man!] 

“I’m a professional fighter, but I’m still a human.” [True. But your name, however, states otherwise.] 

“I’m not a monster.” [Again, the name.]

“Every time I’ve ever been in trouble, to be honest, I still think I did the right thing, every time. [We feel you there.] 

-J. Jones

Turns Out, Nearly Having Her Arm Ripped Off STILL Didn’t Squash the Beef Between Meisha Tate and Ronda Rousey

(Once again, we must turn to Rowdy Roddy Piper to lead by example.) 

Although moments were tense in the aftermath of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey’s brutal first round, title-earning armbar over Meisha Tate, it seemed as if the two competitors had finally found, at the minimum, a newfound respect for one another. Sure, Ronda still referred to Meisha as “fake,” but it seemed like these two had perhaps found a common ground. A close friendship and some drunk photos of them making out seemed to be on the horizon, at least to us.

How optimistic ignorant we were.

It all started when Meisha, who may still have to undergo surgery for the damaged ligaments she suffered in the fight, mind you, requested a rematch with the newly crowned 135 lb. champion, stating the following:

I, personally, would love the opportunity to have a rematch. I think at a high level, it takes one mistake. Anyone can make a mistake at any moment and someone’s able to capitalize on that. I don’t feel that Ronda proved anything other than what she’s already (proved) — that she has one thing that she’s great at. Really phenomenal at. But everything else, I could beat her. Give me another shot. I think it was competitive. I think for the most part I was probably winning. And I think at a competitive high level, one day one person could beat the one person, and the other day the other person would beat the other person.

This statement is…let’s call it ballsy, to say the least. And let’s not get into the fact that, “I think for the most part I was probably winning,” just surpassed Judo Gene LeBell’s “nice big dinner” line as the most hilariously confusing sentence in the history of the English language. A hell of a lot of conviction there.

Well believe it or not, Ronda caught wind of Meisha’s statements, because the Internet is a surprisingly crowded place. And wouldn’t you know, she was not too pleased by them.

Hear what she had to say after the jump.


(Once again, we must turn to Rowdy Roddy Piper to lead by example.) 

Although moments were tense in the aftermath of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey’s brutal first round, title-earning armbar over Meisha Tate, it seemed as if the two competitors had finally found, at the minimum, a newfound respect for one another. Sure, Ronda still referred to Meisha as “fake,” but it seemed like these two had perhaps found a common ground. A close friendship and some drunk photos of them making out seemed to be on the horizon, at least to us.

How optimistic ignorant we were.

It all started when Meisha, who may still have to undergo surgery for the damaged ligaments she suffered in the fight, mind you, requested a rematch with the newly crowned 135 lb. champion, stating the following:

I, personally, would love the opportunity to have a rematch. I think at a high level, it takes one mistake. Anyone can make a mistake at any moment and someone’s able to capitalize on that. I don’t feel that Ronda proved anything other than what she’s already (proved) — that she has one thing that she’s great at. Really phenomenal at. But everything else, I could beat her. Give me another shot. I think it was competitive. I think for the most part I was probably winning. And I think at a competitive high level, one day one person could beat the one person, and the other day the other person would beat the other person.

This statement is…let’s call it ballsy, to say the least. And let’s not get into the fact that, “I think for the most part I was probably winning,” just surpassed Judo Gene LeBell’s “nice big dinner” line as the most hilariously confusing sentence in the history of the English language. A hell of a lot of conviction there.

Well believe it or not, Ronda caught wind of Meisha’s statements, because the Internet is a surprisingly crowded place. And wouldn’t you know, she was not too pleased by them. When asked for a response to Tate’s claims during a recent interview with BloodyElbow, Ronda responded with a shake of her head and the following verbal beatdown:

It just kind of makes her sound dumb. Everyone knows that I wanted to armbar her, and there was nothing she could do to stop me, even with months of preparation. I think that proves a lot. It’s like she’s not even looking at the actual situation. I don’t know what match she was watching, to really think that. One of those pieces of advice that my mom tells me all the time is, ‘Never listen to your own press.’ The second I got out of that cage, my coach was already telling me a million things I did wrong. It just seems tome like she must be surrounded by a bunch of “yes men” all the time, saying stuff like, ‘Oh yeah, you were winning. You were totally dominating.’ If I was her, I would look at that match, look at what I did wrong, and try to fix it next time, and not be like ‘I was totally winning before I lost.’ 

Ronda went on to say that she would gladly accept a rematch with Tate, as long as it happened this weekend, and with the same referee as in their first contest. OK, so maybe those last two bits were made up.

Given Tate’s probable layoff, coupled with the general belief that Sarah Kaufman will be getting the next crack at Rousey, it doesn’t look like these two will be seeing one another in the ring anytime soon. However, I leave you with two pieces of evidence that argue that this fight should never, ever, happen again.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

-J. Jones