Tag: fighter interviews

Potential Superfight Alert: Cris Cyborg Is Willing to Fight Fallon Fox

If George Shunick’s piece on Fallox Fox and transgender athletes in MMA proved anything to me, it’s that – regardless of whether you agree with Joe Rogan’s stance on the issue (or how he chose to express that stance) – Fallon Fox vs. Cris Cyborg is a fight that FANS NEED TO SEE DAMMIT. One fighter is arguably the most devastating female in MMA, yet is also constantly accused of being a man. The other fighter is undefeated, used to literally be a man, and now calls herself “The Queen of Swords” because of course she calls herself that. In fact, I’m willing to write that Fallon Fax vs. Cris Cyborg – if it were to happen – would go down as the single greatest superfight in the history of MMA, because hyperbole is a pretty rad figure of speech that we don’t use nearly enough around here.

Well, good news, fight fans: Cyborg took a break from preparing to sacrifice Fiona Muxlow to ensure a good harvest and delivering completely pointless trash talk against Ronda Rousey to offer her two cents on Fallon Fox. As ESPN’s Josh Gross recently wrote:

“She wants to be a girl. I don’t agree,” said Santos, who for the first time in almost a year and half will return to fighting on April 5. “I think you’re born a girl, you’re a girl. You’re born a guy, you’re a guy. But I don’t choose opponents. The commission needs to check and make sure she doesn’t have testosterone.

If George Shunick’s piece on Fallox Fox and transgender athletes in MMA proved anything to me, it’s that – regardless of whether you agree with Joe Rogan’s stance on the issue (or how he chose to express that stance) – Cris Cyborg vs. Fallon Fox is a fight that FANS NEED TO SEE DAMMIT. One fighter is arguably the most devastating female in MMA, yet is also constantly accused of being a man. The other fighter is undefeated, used to literally be a man, and now calls herself “The Queen of Swords” because of course she calls herself that. In fact, I’m willing to write that Cris Cyborg vs. Fallon Fox – if it were to happen – would go down as the single greatest superfight in the history of MMA, because hyperbole is a pretty rad figure of speech that we don’t use nearly enough around here.

Well, good news, fight fans: Cyborg took a break from preparing to sacrifice Fiona Muxlow to ensure a good harvest and delivering completely pointless trash talk against Ronda Rousey to offer her two cents on Fallon Fox. As ESPN’s Josh Gross recently wrote:

“She wants to be a girl. I don’t agree,” said Santos, who for the first time in almost a year and half will return to fighting on April 5. “I think you’re born a girl, you’re a girl. You’re born a guy, you’re a guy. But I don’t choose opponents. The commission needs to check and make sure she doesn’t have testosterone.

“I’m not going to judge other people. If the commission says she can fight, why not?”

The 27-year-old Strikeforce champion tested positive for steroids following her 16-second demolition of Hiroko Yamanaka in December 2011, so that quote will inspire contempt in some people. But that’s nothing new for Santos. Because of her muscular build and aggressive fighting style, she’s been subjected to cruel, crude name calling throughout her career. She said she understands what Fox must be going through in a world in which everyone with an opinion can have access to the people they’re opining about via social media.

“People tell me on Twitter: ‘I think you have a d—.’ A lot of bad things, they say. I think people have a small mind,” Santos said.

“They don’t think a girl can punch hard like a man. I think people are ignorant. People are stupid. I don’t want to be the same as people who do that.”

Far be it from me to try to make sense out of the “make sure she doesn’t have testosterone” comment. My small mind was blown at the very notion that Cris Cyborg vs. Fallon Fox may totally happen, provided that everyone can agree on a weight class. Considering that they both fight at featherweight, this shouldn’t be too hard.

Naturally, once Cyborg expressed her willingness to fight The Queen of Swords, she returned to her regular schedule of wrestling, sparring and accusing Ronda Rousey of being protected from her by the powers that be. As she told Bleacher Report:

“I don’t want to talk trash about somebody, I want to prove it inside the cage. When she was in my weight class she said ‘I want to fight Cris Cyborg’ and when I had my last fight against Hiroko (Yamanaka) I talked to Sean Shelby, the matchmaker at Strikeforce, and I said ‘I want Ronda next.’ He said ‘no, she’s not ready for you’ and after that fight she’s talking bad about me but you guys protected her,” Santos revealed in an interview with Bleacher Report

“Because after my fight I told them I want to fight her and they said no she’s not ready for you.”

…

“She fought at 154 (pounds) in Judo, and I think who is running? It’s not me. I fight at 145, she fought at 145, who’s running from this fight? Not me,” said Cyborg. “People need to see the fact to see who’s running.”

The woman who refused to sign with the UFC is the person not running from this fight. Sure, why not? Normally, I’d mean that in the most sarcastic way possible, but since Cyborg vs. Fox would never, ever happen in the UFC, I’ll just accept those comments at face value and move on.

Now the only question is whether or not Fox is willing to step up and fight Cyborg. Will that happen or not, Potato Nation? And who would win this hypothetical superfight?

@SethFalvo

Le Secret Plan: Former Manager Says GSP Wants Diaz, Hendricks, and Silva Before Retiring


(After defeating Silva by a shocking first round KO, Rush will remove his mask to reveal that HE WAS KEYSER SOZE THE ENTIRE TIME. Photo courtesy of Fighters.com)

Earlier this week, Georges St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, wrote a column where he revealed the champion’s “secret plan” for ending his MMA career in three fights. We don’t read French (not because we can’t, just out of principle…’Merica!) so we relied on MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta to give us the details.

Patry wrote that on Jan. 11, while dining with St-Pierre and a few other friends at a restaurant in the city, the group discussed his fighting future. And during that time, according to Patry, St-Pierre discussed a “detailed” and “intelligent” plan that would take him possibly to the end of his career.

It would consist of only three fights: his Saturday night UFC 158 bout against Nick Diaz, one more title defense against Johny Hendricks, and then, the long-awaited super fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Chiappetta followed up with St. Pierre and his head trainer, Firas Zahabi, but both of their memories seemed to be fuzzy about that night, so many, many months…well, a month ago, basically. “I don’t know,” Georges told Chiappetta, “I don’t know. I don’t remember saying anything like this. I don’t think so. I’m focusing on Nick Diaz right now.”

How convenient, Georges. I’m not calling you a liar, I’d just like to know WHERE YOU KEEP THE MISSILE CODES, SECRET AGENT MAN.


(After defeating Silva by a shocking first round KO, Rush will remove his mask to reveal that HE WAS KEYSER SOZE THE ENTIRE TIME. Photo courtesy of Fighters.com)

Earlier this week, Georges St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, wrote a column where he revealed the champion’s “secret plan” for ending his MMA career in three fights. We don’t read French (not because we can’t, just out of principle…’Merica!) so we relied on MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta to give us the details.

Patry wrote that on Jan. 11, while dining with St-Pierre and a few other friends at a restaurant in the city, the group discussed his fighting future. And during that time, according to Patry, St-Pierre discussed a “detailed” and “intelligent” plan that would take him possibly to the end of his career.

It would consist of only three fights: his Saturday night UFC 158 bout against Nick Diaz, one more title defense against Johny Hendricks, and then, the long-awaited super fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Chiappetta followed up with St. Pierre and his head trainer, Firas Zahabi, but both of their memories seemed to be fuzzy about that night, so many, many months…well, a month ago, basically. ”I don’t know,” Georges told Chiappetta, “I don’t know. I don’t remember saying anything like this. I don’t think so. I’m focusing on Nick Diaz right now.”

How convenient, Georges. I’m not calling you a liar, I’d just like to know WHERE YOU KEEP THE MISSILE CODES, SECRET AGENT MAN.

Zahabi also demurred, saying, “I don’t think Georges probably said that in that way, the way it was written. I read the article. It was very strong. I don’t think Georges thinks that far ahead, honestly. He would not overlook Diaz.”

Buuuut, Zahabi went on to say that if St. Pierre did manage to pull off that trifecta in his next three fights, that would be totally badass and he’d tell the champ that he should retire, having nothing left to prove. Not like he and Georges are thinking of anything like that, of course:

I think if that happened, if Georges beat [Diaz and] Hendricks and Silva, I’d tell him, ‘Retire. It’s over. There’s nothing else to do. There’s no bigger fight. Just retire. Enjoy your life.’ Ideally, the Silva fight is the last fight of his career, win or lose.

What do you think, Nation? Is Georges looking past Diaz like he did against Matt Serra back in 2007, or is his mind simply capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, so to speak?

All of these questions will finally be answered Saturday night. You’ll probably want to spend the evening with the rest of us degenerates, drinking heavily, throwing stockton heybuddies at will, and getting all the play-by-play action and analysis through our live blog, which goes live at 10:00 PM EST.

– Elias Cepeda

Just Six Months After Retiring, Tito Ortiz is Already Discussing His Un-Retirement


(And when I say “bitch,” I mean it in the politest sense of the word possible.)

*takes a seat in rocking chair, lights up corn cob pipe*

You know, kids, there used to be a time when words like “retirement,” “marriage,” and “my totally real dead girlfriend” used to mean something. Perhaps it was just a simpler time back then, but when a man (or a woman that had somehow shoehorned her way into an office environment) gathered his co-employees around and announced that he was hanging it up, it was meant to be permanent. Bill Russell never came back. Vince Lombardi never came back. Pete Maravich tried to come back and dropped dead on the spot. Retirement was supposed to be a one way street, paved with early bird discounts, cheap medications, and eventually death. Sweet, sweet death. But then Muhammed Ali had to go and ruin everything.

*sets down pipe to chase Jehovah’s Witnesses down sidewalk*

In the past couple years, we’ve seen such notable fighters as Jamie Varner, Matt Hamill, and Chris Lytle announce their retirement from MMA. Of those three, the first two have already returned to the sport, and the latter has suggested that he would fight again under the right circumstances. And now, you can add UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz to the list of fighters who feel they might have called it a career a bit early. In an interview with BloodyElbow, Ortiz stated that he would be open to the idea of coming out of retirement, but only once all of the injuries that have plagued his MMA career since ever were finally dealt with:

Right now, I’m only four weeks out of neck surgery, and then I have to get the ACL surgery. I still need to recover from that before I start thinking about anything, and if I’ll compete again. You never know, I may come out of retirement. It’s all about how my body recovers.


(And when I say “bitch,” I mean it in the politest sense of the word possible.)

*takes a seat in rocking chair, lights up corn cob pipe*

You know, kids, there used to be a time when words like “retirement,” “marriage,” and “my totally real dead girlfriend” used to mean something. Perhaps it was just a simpler time back then, but when a man (or a woman that had somehow shoehorned her way into an office environment) gathered his co-employees around and announced that he was hanging it up, it was meant to be permanent. Bill Russell never came back. Vince Lombardi never came back. Pete Maravich tried to come back and dropped dead on the spot. Retirement was supposed to be a one way street, paved with early bird discounts, cheap medications, and eventually death. Sweet, sweet death. But then Muhammed Ali had to go and ruin everything.

*sets down pipe to chase Jehovah’s Witnesses down sidewalk*

In the past couple years, we’ve seen such notable fighters as Jamie Varner, Matt Hamill, and Chris Lytle announce their retirement from MMA. Of those three, the first two have already returned to the sport, and the latter has suggested that he would fight again under the right circumstances. And now, you can add UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz to the list of fighters who feel they might have called it a career a bit early. In an interview with BloodyElbow, Ortiz stated that he would be open to the idea of coming out of retirement, but only once all of the injuries that have plagued his MMA career since ever were finally dealt with:

Right now, I’m only four weeks out of neck surgery, and then I have to get the ACL surgery. I still need to recover from that before I start thinking about anything, and if I’ll compete again. You never know, I may come out of retirement. It’s all about how my body recovers.

Having collected just one win in the past six years, it’s safe to say that Ortiz has yet to come to the conclusion that his buddy and fellow UFC HOFer Chuck Liddell has: It’s not a question of whether you still want to compete or not, it’s a question of whether you still can. And for a guy who exaggerates his injuries as bad as Ortiz does, it would be best to assume that the former LHW champ is being optimistic over realistic here. This notion would be driven home when Ortiz declared that he would come out of retirement “without hesitation” to fight, you guessed it, Frank Stallone Shamrock, the notorious UFC castaway who punched Ortiz into submission way back at UFC 22. On my personal list of fantasy fights, that rematch is just below Michael Bisping vs. Fedor on Zeus’ shoulders, and they can both punch but only Zeus can kick.

Of course, Ortiz didn’t state outright that he planned on coming out of retirement, and in fact seemed to be leaning towards the opposite. Mainly, towards that of his budding career in fighter management, which has already gotten off to a great start:

Right now, the number one priority for me is to run my businesses. I want to show that I’m a great businessman. I’ve shown that through my clothing company, and now I want to focus on my management company. I want to focus on my family and give my children all the things that I never had. Right now, the chances of me coming out of retirement are about 1 in a million.

I’m sick of surgeries. I don’t want to have to worry about possibly getting paralyzed or sustaining some lifelong injury. I have three kids I have to take care of. I have a family to take care of. That’s the number one thing in my life. I was able to make a lot of money with the UFC, and I’m so thankful to them for that. I worked very hard to get to where I am today, and I just want to be the father that I never had growing up.

Oh, Tito, you sly dog you. First you tell us it’s just a matter of some nagging injuries needing to be addressed, and now all of a sudden you’ve got this “family” and these “health concerns” to worry about? Well, you’ll excuse me, but I ain’t buying it. Start the twitter-bombing campaign now, Potato Nation: ORTIZ vs. (Frank) SHAMROCK II at UFC 157!! WHO’S WITH ME?!

–J. Jones

Quote of the Day: Chael Sonnen’s Epic Trolling of Lance Armstrong Almost Came to Legal/Physical Blows


(Takes one to know one, we guess.) 

I’m pretty sure the amount of irony present in the whole Chael Sonnen/Lance Armstrong beef is giving me cancer. Here you have an MMA fighter on PED’s who called out a cyclist of all people for using PED’s just weeks before said MMA fighter was busted for PED’s. Then, said MMA fighter denied that he ever claimed the cyclist was on PED’s, only to come out years later demanding a personal apology from the cyclist, who it turns out was actually on PED’s all the while. It was an act that required a huge set of balls to commit to, yet was pulled off by a guy whose balls are apparently so small that he needs testosterone injections just to survive, again, because he used PED’s in the past. “Pot, meet kettle,” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

In either case, Sonnen recently appeared on his favorite venue for trolling the MMA world, The Jim Rome Show, and picked up where he left off in regards to the now disgraced cyclist, even delving into how Armstrong had threatened to sue him for his statements at one point:

Why are they calling him a bully? That’s what I can’t wrap my mind brain around. Lance is a dweeb, the only thing he’s missing is the tape on the glasses and the high water pants. That guy couldn’t get respect at the local Honky Tonk in my hometown. He threatened to sue me so I threatened to kick his ass and the whole thing went away.


(Takes one to know one, we guess.) 

I’m pretty sure the amount of irony present in the whole Chael Sonnen/Lance Armstrong beef is giving me cancer. Here you have an MMA fighter on PED’s who called out a cyclist of all people for using PED’s just weeks before said MMA fighter was busted for PED’s. Then, said MMA fighter denied that he ever claimed the cyclist was on PED’s, only to come out years later demanding a personal apology from the cyclist, who it turns out was actually on PED’s all the while. It was an act that required a huge set of balls to commit to, yet was pulled off by a guy whose balls are apparently so small that he needs testosterone injections just to survive, again, because he used PED’s in the past. “Pot, meet kettle,” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

In either case, Sonnen recently appeared on his favorite venue for trolling the MMA world, The Jim Rome Show, and picked up where he left off in regards to the now disgraced cyclist, even delving into how Armstrong had threatened to sue him for his statements at one point:

Why are they calling him a bully? That’s what I can’t wrap my mind brain around. Lance is a dweeb, the only thing he’s missing is the tape on the glasses and the high water pants. That guy couldn’t get respect at the local Honky Tonk in my hometown. He threatened to sue me so I threatened to kick his ass and the whole thing went away.

Look, I get it and I’m kidding but Lance did do some bad stuff and he was a jerk about it. Yeah, he hit me up with the whole ‘I’m gonna sue you’ routine and I hit him back with the whole ‘I’ll kick your ass’ routine. That’s it, that’s where it ended. I thought he was going to go through with the lawsuit but he did not.

So there you have it, Potato Nation: Oregon is apparently such a backwards, underdeveloped state that it still has local Honky Tonks at which the townspeople must throw down to earn respect. That’s what we were supposed to take away from this, right?

You can listen to Sonnen’s entire interview here, and we’d highly recommend it. Sonnen barely lets Rome get the introduction out of the way before he starts attacking Armstrong for using PED’s “to do something that my six year-old niece does up and down the driveway every day,” and it only gets more entertaining from there.

Hopefully the 17th season (!!!) premiere of The Ultimate Fighter tonight won’t absolutely suck, because Sonnen has simply put too much effort into his convoluted attempts at hyping the season up to let it go unnoticed.

–J. Jones

Is Junior dos Santos Looking Past Cain Velasquez?

(Caution: This conference call was apparently recorded in a tin can headed straight for Pluto. Adjust speakers accordingly.)

For a guy who is supposed to be defending his title against Cain Velasquez in just over a week at UFC 155, heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos still seems awfully focused on Alistair Overeem, the man he was set to face back at UFC 146 before…well, you know. During the UFC 155 media call (full audio above), dos Santos touched on the respect he had for Velasquez as a professional, but not without taking a dig at Overeem in the process:

I prefer to fight against clean athletes and real professionals. Cain Velasquez is one of these guys. He’s a real professional fighter and that’s a good challenge for me. I know he’s very tough and I know how hard I have to train to face him. And the OTHER GUYS, they just say things, but there’s nothing behind the words. Guys like me and Cain Velasquez, we are made at the gym. Guys like the OTHER GUY there, they are made in the laboratory.

Ahh…the Lord Voldemort approach of anonymity. Touche, Junior.


(Caution: This conference call was apparently recorded in a tin can headed straight for Pluto. Adjust speakers accordingly.)

For a guy who is supposed to be defending his title against Cain Velasquez in just over a week at UFC 155, heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos still seems awfully focused on Alistair Overeem, the man he was set to face back at UFC 146 before…well, you know. During the UFC 155 media call (full audio above), dos Santos touched on the respect he had for Velasquez as a professional, but not without taking a dig at Overeem in the process:

I prefer to fight against clean athletes and real professionals. Cain Velasquez is one of these guys. He’s a real professional fighter and that’s a good challenge for me. I know he’s very tough and I know how hard I have to train to face him. And the OTHER GUYS, they just say things, but there’s nothing behind the words. Guys like me and Cain Velasquez, we are made at the gym. Guys like the OTHER GUY there, they are made in the laboratory.

Ahh…the Lord Voldemort approach of anonymity. Touche, Junior.

All kidding aside, Junior has repeatedly stated that he would have preferred to face Overeem next instead of rematching Velasquez, even begging Dana White for the fight at one point. And while he was able to dispatch Velasquez with ease the first time around, does anyone think he might be looking past Cain here?

And while we’re talking UFC 155, we’d like to throw a little feeler out there for you guys to stew over. Greater chance of ending in a knockout: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez or Leben vs. Brunson?

–J. Jones

Quote of the Day: TUF 16 Finalist Mike Ricci Wanted to Sue the Show “For Psychological Damages”

*Super Friends announcer voice* MEANWHILE, IN THE DINING ROOM…

If you thought watching the sixteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter was hell, just wait until you hear how bad it was to be one of the show’s participants, and a winning one at that. As finalist Mike Ricci will tell you, TUF 16 wasn’t exactly Dancing With the Stars, where everyone got to take their perfect-bodied Ukranian supermodel partner home and have their way with them (although to be fair, the above video makes the case that there certainly was a lot of banging going on). No, TUF was much, much uglier. In fact, during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Ricci admitted that he hated his time on the show so much — despite being a finalist, mind you — that he wished he could sue the show for the “psychological damages” he suffered:

It was an absolute nightmare, I wanted to sue for psychological damage, I wasn’t the same person. I actually thought I had a case, ‘I’m not the same person, I can do this and win.’ But, I felt like don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into I knew how I was going to react. Even some of the producers in the house toward the end were like, ‘Geez, you’re the most institutionalized fighter we’ve ever seen, we’ve done 11 seasons and we’ve never seen anyone like you, you’re like a robot now. 

Much more from this interview is after the jump.

*Super Friends announcer voice* MEANWHILE, IN THE DINING ROOM…

If you thought watching the sixteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter was hell, just wait until you hear how bad it was to be one of the show’s participants, and a winning one at that. As finalist Mike Ricci will tell you, TUF 16 wasn’t exactly Dancing With the Stars, where everyone got to take their perfect-bodied Ukranian supermodel partner home and have their way with them (although to be fair, the above video makes the case that there certainly was a lot of banging going on). No, TUF was much, much uglier. In fact, during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Ricci admitted that he hated his time on the show so much — despite being a finalist, mind you — that he wished he could sue the show for the “psychological damages” he suffered:

It was an absolute nightmare, I wanted to sue for psychological damage, I wasn’t the same person. I actually thought I had a case, ‘I’m not the same person, I can do this and win.’ But, I felt like don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into I knew how I was going to react. Even some of the producers in the house toward the end were like, ‘Geez, you’re the most institutionalized fighter we’ve ever seen, we’ve done 11 seasons and we’ve never seen anyone like you, you’re like a robot now. 

Now I know what you’re thinking, “How will Danga shoehorn a Shawshank Redemption reference into the next couple sentences?” Truth be told, I thought about it. Hell, I even wrote a couple quotes down. But I’m not going to do it, Nation, because I honestly feel for Ricci here and wouldn’t want to reduce his plight to a few lines from a film, albeit a great one at that. Because CagePotato is kind of like the TUF set, if you replaced wannabe fighters with wannabe writers. In here, we’re important men, we’re educated men. On the outside, we’re nothing, just a bunch of used up cons-DAMN IT.

Anyway, Ricci also claimed that it was the time away from his family and friends that truly made the experience unbearable. Again, I just want to clarify that we’re talking about the favorite to win the season here:

I was taken away from my family and from my friends and from life, you literally, you vanish, you’re gone, there’s no sign of you whatsoever. Its almost like to everyone in the outside world you’re dead and you’re gone. There’s no sign of you whatsoever. And, things like for instance I didn’t know what was happening with my people on the outside, it was upsetting, people had gotten new jobs or changed their hairstyle or experienced different things I missed out on, it just upset me. It still upsets me to this day.

OK, Ricci, now I’m kind of glad I went the Shawshank route when breaking down your case. If the sacrifice you had to make in order to launch your career – the career you chose, by the way – was to miss out on a friend getting a haircut or telling you that they now work at the Jiffy Lube instead of the Outback’s Steakhouse (quite a career change, I realize), then I’d say you’ve got fuck all to complain about. For Christ’s sake, Michael Chiesa lost both his father AND his home last season, and cried about it for approximately five seconds. But yeah, continue to talk about the dark, depressing loneliness that eats at your soul because you missed out on a trip to Fantastic Sam’s.

So why, one would ask, would Ricci choose to partake in such a venture, knowing full well how grueling TUF can be from the 15 previous seasons that documented this exact process?

I feel it was an opportunity for me to get ahead and go faster than I would have by the usual route, fighting your way up on undercards. I know that it was a lot of work that was going to be crammed into a short amount of time, but if I looked good and was successful … I feel like I brought in just as much exposure and gone as far forward fighting four fights for TUF than I would have four fights outside of TUF. But the time status is those four fights could be in a year, and I did it all in the span of a summer. That’s why I did it.

So there you have it, in order to become semi-famous in one’s trade, one might be forced to neglect their tanning regimen for a few months. No wonder Colin Fletcher is one of the TUF: Smashes finalists, dude must have been neglecting his G.T.L. for years now.

–J. Jones