In a recent interview with MMAWeekly, Michael Bisping made the following statement (emphasis mine):
Obviously it would always be a dream of mine to fight Anderson Silva and be the guy to take the title, of course. Yeah I was a little disappointed and I’m not taking anything away from his win, but we all know Anderson Silva was acting like an idiot and he got knocked out. It would have been nice to be the guy that did it, so congratulations to Chris, he’s the new champion and certainly a formidable force at middleweight, but yeah, it stinks a little. I could have done that.I could have easily done that.
Now, before you start labeling Bisping a “troll,” let us first consider the man’s impeccable record when it comes to predicting how his fights will end:
– On Chael Sonnen: “I’ll start landing punches and soon he’ll fall to the floor.”
– On Brian Stann: “He won’t last as long as a virgin on prom night.”
In a recent interview with MMAWeekly, Michael Bisping made the following statement (emphasis mine):
Obviously it would always be a dream of mine to fight Anderson Silva and be the guy to take the title, of course. Yeah I was a little disappointed and I’m not taking anything away from his win, but we all know Anderson Silva was acting like an idiot and he got knocked out. It would have been nice to be the guy that did it, so congratulations to Chris, he’s the new champion and certainly a formidable force at middleweight, but yeah, it stinks a little. I could have done that.I could have easily done that.
Now, before you start labeling Bisping a “troll,” let us first consider the man’s impeccable record when it comes to predicting how his fights will end:
– On Chael Sonnen: “I’ll start landing punches and soon he’ll fall to the floor.”
– On Brian Stann: “He won’t last as long as a virgin on prom night.”
His back now against the wall, Daley has changed his tune in regards to his former promotion, thusly moving on to stage three of the five stages of grief: Bargaining. Daley first reached out to the UFC via his Facebook page:
Dana white “Paul Daley does not wanna be in the UFC”? Given the opportunity Dana , I would be right back in there, please just send me that contract.
Dana questioned about me again, Ariel saying he’s gonna get in touch with me, as we rally for a UFC return. Weather it happens or not, it’s kinda cool, that my recent performances and attitude has caught the attention of the big dogs, despite being on smaller shows.
Got an interview with Ariel Helwani tomorrow, seems talk of a UFC come back has gathered pace. Very important interview, as good a speaking with Dana himself…..oohh what to say?…Kinda nervous now….UFC Manchester? Diaz re-match, Sorry, I’ve grown up, I make weight…I’ve got a little son now…please help me feed him…
(Oh, Paul, putting on nude puppet shows for strange old men? We never thought it would come to this. Photo via Esther Lin.)
His back now against the wall, Daley has changed his tune in regards to his former promotion, thusly moving on to stage three of the five stages of grief: Bargaining. Daley first reached out to the UFC via his Facebook page:
Dana white “Paul Daley does not wanna be in the UFC”? Given the opportunity Dana , I would be right back in there, please just send me that contract.
Dana questioned about me again, Ariel saying he’s gonna get in touch with me, as we rally for a UFC return. Weather it happens or not, it’s kinda cool, that my recent performances and attitude has caught the attention of the big dogs, despite being on smaller shows.
Got an interview with Ariel Helwani tomorrow, seems talk of a UFC come back has gathered pace. Very important interview, as good a speaking with Dana himself…..oohh what to say?…Kinda nervous now….UFC Manchester? Diaz re-match, Sorry, I’ve grown up, I make weight…I’ve got a little son now…please help me feed him…
I don’t know about you, but “Help me feed my son” is my favorite form of heartstring-pulling, right up there with “Being on enter reality show here is my destiny, you guys!” Now all Daley needs to do is videotape himself selling flowers on the freeway and his audition tape will be complete!
When questioned on the potential of a Daley UFC return during the UFC on FOX 8 media scrum, Dana White was shockingly pessimistic.
“I thought he hated this place,” said White. “I heard he couldn’t get a visa. And they’re real strict here now on visas. I thought he hated the UFC and said he’d never want to come back here and never wanted to fight here again. What changed?” ”I don’t know, man. I don’t think so.”
(Sure, “Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Champion” is a respectable title in its own right, but it just doesn’t carry as much weight at the Playboy Mansion, you know?)
If there’s one thing you can say about former UFC heavyweight champion and Depends spokesperson Tim Sylvia, it’s that the SOB is persistent. Although his once successful MMA career has become little more than a seriesof punctuatedjokes nowadays — most of which revolve around his fat, fatty, “Fatty Boom-Boom” fatness — “The Maine-iac” will simply not be denied his rightful place back in the UFC’s heavyweight division no matter how many times Dana White pisses in his cornflakes.
But the main issue preventing Sylvia’s UFC aspirations from coming to fruition is one that he doesn’t seem to realize: relevant wins. In the past few years, Sylvia has crushed a few cans (and a professional bodybuilder) in unimpressive fashion, been decapitated in 9 seconds by an aging boxer, dropped a decision to Satoshi Ishii, and been spared a loss on a loosely-defined technicality in his completely unnecessary fourth fightwith Andrei Arlovski at OneFC 5. Yet despite all this, Sylvia is still holding onto the hopes that he will end his mixed martial arts career “where it started,” which for all intents and purposes is the UFC. He spoke with MMAWeekly:
I don’t know what is going to happen in the future of the UFC heavyweight division. Ideally I would like to finish out my career where it started and that is in the UFC. There’s great fights out there for me and I’d like to put on a great show for the fans on the biggest stage there is, and that’s obviously the UFC.
And who would Boom-Boom like to face in his glorious return, you ask? For starters, Frank Mir, who infamously snatched Sylvia’s title (and his arm) at UFC 48: Payback, otherwise known as the event wherein Ken Shamrock scored his last relevant win…over Kimo. But the second name on Sylvia’s hit list (just beating out Jared from the Subway commercials because “I ate a thousand of those subs and didn’t lose a fucking pound.”), might surprise you:
(Sure, “Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Champion” is a respectable title in its own right, but it just doesn’t carry as much weight at the Playboy Mansion, you know?)
If there’s one thing you can say about former UFC heavyweight champion and Depends spokesperson Tim Sylvia, it’s that the SOB is persistent. Although his once successful MMA career has become little more than a seriesof punctuatedjokes nowadays — most of which revolve around his fat, fatty, “Fatty Boom-Boom” fatness – “The Maine-iac” will simply not be denied his rightful place back in the UFC’s heavyweight division no matter how many times Dana White pisses in his cornflakes.
But the main issue preventing Sylvia’s UFC aspirations from coming to fruition is one that he doesn’t seem to realize: relevant wins. In the past few years, Sylvia has crushed a few cans (and a professional bodybuilder) in unimpressive fashion, been decapitated in 9 seconds by an aging boxer, dropped a decision to Satoshi Ishii, and been spared a loss on a loosely-defined technicality in his completely unnecessary fourth fightwith Andrei Arlovski at OneFC 5. Yet despite all this, Sylvia is still holding onto the hopes that he will end his mixed martial arts career “where it started,” which for all intents and purposes is the UFC. He spoke with MMAWeekly:
I don’t know what is going to happen in the future of the UFC heavyweight division. Ideally I would like to finish out my career where it started and that is in the UFC. There’s great fights out there for me and I’d like to put on a great show for the fans on the biggest stage there is, and that’s obviously the UFC.
And who would Boom-Boom like to face in his glorious return, you ask? For starters, Frank Mir, who infamously snatched Sylvia’s title (and his arm) at UFC 48: Payback, otherwise known as the event wherein Ken Shamrock scored his last relevant win…over Kimo. But the second name on Sylvia’s hit list (just beating out Jared from the Subway commercials because “I ate a thousand of those subs and didn’t lose a fucking pound.”), might surprise you:
I’d like to fight a striker so that we could put on a good show. I have a good friend, Pat Barry, who is in the UFC. I think if him and I fought it would be Fight of the Night or Knockout of the Night. Someone would go to sleep and it would be Fight of the Night. We might be able to score both of them. One of us gets Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night. We’d put on a good show. We’ve had some good sparring sessions so it would be a good fight for the fans.
Once again, you gotta love Sylvia’s enthusiasm, which is bordering on delusional at this point. The only people he has been putting to sleep lately are his fans, yet he still fancies himself a feared striker and a FOTN contender. It’s like he never even saw his fights with Assuerio Silva, Jeff Monson, Brandon Vera, or his third fight with Arlovski, and that was some forty pounds and six years ago.
His UFC hopes aside, Sylvia is scheduled to face 6-1 prospect Tony Johnson at the upcoming One FC 6. It’s a win that would make a stronger argument for a potential return to the UFC than Sylvia has been able to make since his departure, so let’s hope he’s been cranking out the girly push ups and Evanescence tunes to prepare for it.
(Lyoto sees that you see what he did there, and will not let it affect his afternoon beverage of choice.)
Whenever one of my boxer-pilates-yogacise students approach me about dropping my bi-weekly class at the Y because it is “too intense” or “too racist” or “makes no Goddamn sense,” my answer is always the same: “Give it a fortnight, young grasshopper, then decide. Also, can I borrow some bus fare?” Because a lot can change in a couple weeks, simply put, and I wouldn’t want any of my students saying something they regretted and earning an eternal enemy in the process.
At the bare minimum, it’s a philosophy that former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida can appreciate. Because roughly two weeks ago, “The Dragon” stated through his management that it “didn’t make sense” for him to fight the #2-ranked contender Alexander Gustafsson despite being called out by him, what with a guaranteed rematch with Jon Jones looming on the horizon and all.
Unfortunately for Machida, Jones is going to spend the next 6 months recovering from the toecapitation he suffered against Chael Sonnen last weekend, and has stated that he would prefer to face Gustafsson when he returns from his layoff. And wouldn’t you know it, Machida has suddenly changed his tune on the whole Gustafsson issue, but only because Jones is injured, we assure you.
A video of Machida’s post-being-called-out callout of Gustafsson is after the jump.
(Lyoto sees that you see what he did there, and will not let it affect his afternoon beverage of choice.)
Whenever one of my boxer-pilates-yogacise students approach me about dropping my bi-weekly class at the Y because it is “too intense” or “too racist” or “makes no Goddamn sense,” my answer is always the same: “Give it a fortnight, young grasshopper, then decide. Also, can I borrow some bus fare?” Because a lot can change in a couple weeks, simply put, and I wouldn’t want any of my students saying something they regretted and earning an eternal enemy in the process.
At the bare minimum, it’s a philosophy that former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida can appreciate. Because roughly two weeks ago, “The Dragon” stated through his management that it “didn’t make sense” for him to fight the #2-ranked contender Alexander Gustafsson despite being called out by him, what with a guaranteed rematch with Jon Jones looming on the horizon and all.
Unfortunately for Machida, Jones is going to spend the next 6 months recovering from the toecapitation he suffered against Chael Sonnen last weekend, and has stated that he would prefer to face Gustafsson when he returns from his layoff. And wouldn’t you know it, Machida has suddenly changed his tune on the whole Gustafsson issue, but only because Jones is injured, we assure you.
So there you have it, Jon. If you won’t fight Machida again, he’ll make damn sure that there are no viable contenders left in the light heavyweight division for you to face in his absence. It’s a strategy that has been shockingly effective thus far.
(I can’t tell you what my strategy was going in, nor can I tell you who the UFC would like me to face next. All I can tell you is that I’m just a man looking for the bastard children who took me Lucky Charms.)
There was something incredibly familiar about Conor McGregor from the moment he started mean-mugging Marcus Brimage at the UFC on FUEL 9 weigh-ins. His brash arrogance, his complete lack of respect for his opponent’s game, hell, even his body type was positively…Diazian. And although his actual respect for Brimage in his post-fight interview and snappy attire at the post-fight press conference were anything but, we couldn’t help but be reminded of Nick Diaz while McGregor was explaining how dire his financial situation was before earning a $60,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus last weekend:
I’m just happy I won $60K. I’m just thinking on what I’m going to spend it on. I’ll buy myself a car anyway. A nice car, may be some suits or something. Custom made suits, I don’t know.
Just last week I was collecting the social welfare, you know what I mean? I was in there saying to them like, ‘I don’t know what going to happen. I’m signed to the UFC. I don’t know what….blah, blah, blah. But now I supposed I’m gonna have to tell them to f— off!
I didn’t have money before this… I was collecting 188 Euro ($245) a week off the social welfare. And now here I am, with like 60gs bonus and then my own pay. I don’t know what the f—s going on to be honest, right?
Granted, it’s not exactly “I didn’t go to school for buying a house” levels of silliness, but you’ve got to…respect is the wrong word here…appreciate (?) the guy who openly admits to being on welfare literally seconds before sharing his plans to purchase custom tailored suits. Like Old Dirty Bastard before him, Conor McGregor will be an OG until the day he dies.
A full video of the UFC on FUEL 9 press conference is after the jump.
(I can’t tell you what my strategy was going in, nor can I tell you who the UFC would like me to face next. All I can tell you is that I’m just a man looking for the bastard children who took me Lucky Charms.)
There was something incredibly familiar about Conor McGregor from the moment he started mean-mugging Marcus Brimage at the UFC on FUEL 9 weigh-ins. His brash arrogance, his complete lack of respect for his opponent’s game, hell, even his body type was positively…Diazian. And although his actual respect for Brimage in his post-fight interview and snappy attire at the post-fight press conference were anything but, we couldn’t help but be reminded of Nick Diaz while McGregor was explaining how dire his financial situation was before earning a $60,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus last weekend:
I’m just happy I won $60K. I’m just thinking on what I’m going to spend it on. I’ll buy myself a car anyway. A nice car, may be some suits or something. Custom made suits, I don’t know.
Just last week I was collecting the social welfare, you know what I mean? I was in there saying to them like, ‘I don’t know what going to happen. I’m signed to the UFC. I don’t know what….blah, blah, blah. But now I supposed I’m gonna have to tell them to f— off!
I didn’t have money before this… I was collecting 188 Euro ($245) a week off the social welfare. And now here I am, with like 60gs bonus and then my own pay. I don’t know what the f—s going on to be honest, right?
Granted, it’s not exactly “I didn’t go to school for buying a house” levels of silliness, but you’ve got to…respect is the wrong word here…appreciate (?) the guy who openly admits to being on welfare literally seconds before sharing his plans to purchase custom tailored suits. Like Old Dirty Bastard before him, Conor McGregor will be an OG until the day he dies.
A full video of the UFC on FUEL 9 press conference is below.
(“When I first started The Blackzilian Reverse Diet, I was just a scrawny welterweight fighting in the sport’s highest promotion. But just LOOK AT ME NOW!)
It would be no hyperbole to say that The Blackzilians are less a training camp and more a black hole (PUNS!) of suckitude that is slowly draining the last remaining scraps of talent from its fighters before it inevitably spits them out as empty, dry husks void of any discernible skills whatsoever. Alright, there may be a little hyperbole in that statement, but to say that the members of The Blackzilians have been underperforming since the camp was established in 2011 is no exaggeration. Alistair Overeem just had his head treated like a speed bag at UFC 156, Rashad Evans just put on his worst performance in years (at the same event, no less), and Melvin Guillard has dropped 4 of his past 5 fights including an inexplicably timid performance in what was supposed to be a grudge match against Jamie Varner at UFC 155.
That’s not to say that The Blackzilians are doing everything wrong, it just appears that they are relying on the pure talent of their fighters to lead them rather than a team of disciplined coaches. But in light of the recent criticisms aimed at the camp from news outlets across the MMA blogosphere, whateverweight Anthony Johnson — fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Andrei Arlovski at WSoF 2 — told MMAJunkie that said criticisms are “unfair.” Here’s why:
Every team has losses. Losses don’t define who you are.
People always want to talk about the losses, not the wins. Everybody talks about Rashad’s loss. Everybody talks about Alistair’s loss. But Vitor Belfort is one of my training partners. He just high-kicked Michael Bisping (for a knockout win). You all talked about that for five minutes. You’re all still talking about the losses we had. What about the wins we had?
True, Anthony, we should be talking more about the wins you guys had. The problem is that those wins are coming fewer and farther between than with the guys over at Team Hammer House.
(“When I first started The Blackzilian Reverse Diet, I was just a scrawny welterweight fighting in the sport’s highest promotion. But just LOOK AT ME NOW!)
It would be no hyperbole to say that The Blackzilians are less a training camp and more a black hole (PUNS!) of suckitude that is slowly draining the last remaining scraps of talent from its fighters before it inevitably spits them out as empty, dry husks void of any discernible skills whatsoever. Alright, there may be a little hyperbole in that statement, but to say that the members of The Blackzilians have been underperforming since the camp was established in 2011 is no exaggeration. Alistair Overeem just had his head treated like a speed bag at UFC 156, Rashad Evans just put on his worst performance in years (at the same event, no less), and Melvin Guillard has dropped 4 of his past 5 fights including an inexplicably timid performance in what was supposed to be a grudge match against Jamie Varner at UFC 155.
That’s not to say that The Blackzilians are doing everything wrong, it just appears that they are relying on the pure talent of their fighters to lead them rather than a team of disciplined coaches. But in light of the recent criticisms aimed at the camp from news outlets across the MMA blogosphere, whateverweight Anthony Johnson — fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Andrei Arlovski at WSoF 2 – told MMAJunkie that said criticisms are “unfair.” Here’s why:
Every team has losses. Losses don’t define who you are.
People always want to talk about the losses, not the wins. Everybody talks about Rashad’s loss. Everybody talks about Alistair’s loss. But Vitor Belfort is one of my training partners. He just high-kicked Michael Bisping (for a knockout win). You all talked about that for five minutes. You’re all still talking about the losses we had. What about the wins we had?
True, Anthony, we should be talking more about the wins you guys had. The problem is that those wins are coming fewer and farther between than with the guys over at Team Hammer House. With the exception of Johnson, only two guys in the camp are currently above .500 since joining. And while Belfort’s recent success can be partially attributed to his new camp — if they were the ones who suggested he get on TRT, we guess — some of The Blackzilians’ hottest prospects (Ryan Jimmo, Siyar Bahadurzada, etc.) are all coming of losses that came after they joined the camp. A simple inconvenience or a sign of things to come?
In either case, it appears that at least one member of The Blackzilians, UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard, is fed up with the lack of results, as he recently announced that he will be returning to Team Jackson, whom he compiled a 5-0 record with during his stint with the team in 2010-early 2011. Guillard tweeted the news yesterday:
Im no longer a blackzillian I went back to where I belong Jackson’s:-):-):-):-):-)
During his time with Team Jackson (whom he joined prior to his UFC 109 bout with Ronys Torres), Guillard showcased a newfound grappling prowess and an overall smarter approach to the game that he had in years past. The fact that he can’t even spell the name of his now former camp correctly just goes to show where Guillard’s heart is truly at.
So, Potato Nation, are we not giving The Blackzilians the respect they deserve, or does Guillard’s departure signify that the camp is truly not up to the standard set by that of its fellow camps?
