Nicknames are truly hit or miss. From “The Axe Murderer” to “The Cheesecake Assassin,” they encompass a hodgepodge of unique personas. Some offer a brutal view into the mind of a fighter. Others make you question the evolution of the human brain. This list is comprised of those particular enigmas. Here are 10 fighters who […]
Nicknames are truly hit or miss. From “The Axe Murderer” to “The Cheesecake Assassin,” they encompass a hodgepodge of unique personas. Some offer a brutal view into the mind of a fighter. Others make you question the evolution of the human brain. This list is comprised of those particular enigmas. Here are 10 fighters who […]
The Ultimate Fighter 19 is finished up with the quarterfinals in the middleweight and light heavyweight brackets, and it’s down to the final four in each respective field. One more win gets each fighter into the finale. Sure, this season has been lackluster to say the least, but there is some viable talent in the house. […]
The Ultimate Fighter 19 is finished up with the quarterfinals in the middleweight and light heavyweight brackets, and it’s down to the final four in each respective field. One more win gets each fighter into the finale. Sure, this season has been lackluster to say the least, but there is some viable talent in the house. […]
(Now that I think about it, Rich always was something of a forward thinker when it came to MMA.)
If Rich Franklin is “a loser” by his own admission, I’d sure like to know who he considers a winner (besides Anderson Silva, obviously). The former middleweight champion has been killing it outside of the octagon lately, opening his own successful, high-end juice business and now, accepting a role as the Vice President of burgeoning Asian MMA promotion, One FC. Not bad for a guy who once *insert hackneyed Ace Ventura reference here*
While rumors of Franklin’s potential gig started floating around more than a month ago, it wasn’t until this morning that Cheryl Tay of Yahoo Sports broke the official news. ONE FC chief executive officer Victor Cui was more than elated when discussing the role of his promotion’s latest acquirement:
Rich Franklin is another perfect example – he is an icon in this industry. Everybody loves him, he is well-respected, and he will a fantastic addition to the team in terms of experience and helping the sport grow in Asia from ground up awareness.
We will continue to define his role but to me now what’s most important is finding the best people. I am aggressively hiring in all positions and looking to add another 200 staff in the near future as we grow. At the moment, we are a young company still and Rich will do a lot of different things for us, from talent management to fighter recruitment and giving seminars.
Franklin was similarly excited by the prospect of working for Asia’s fastest-developing MMA promotion, telling Yahoo that “MMA in Asia right now is at the tip of the iceberg.”
“If you were to rewind the clock,” said Franklin, “it’s like MMA in the States back in 2003. I think MMA is going to take off like wildfire here in Asia and I will be part of it.”
(Now that I think about it, Rich always was something of a forward thinker when it came to MMA.)
If Rich Franklin is “a loser” by his own admission, I’d sure like to know who he considers a winner (besides Anderson Silva, obviously). The former middleweight champion has been killing it outside of the octagon lately, opening his own successful, high-end juice business and now, accepting a role as the Vice President of burgeoning Asian MMA promotion, One FC. Not bad for a guy who once *insert hackneyed Ace Ventura reference here*
While rumors of Franklin’s potential gig started floating around more than a month ago, it wasn’t until this morning that Cheryl Tay of Yahoo Sports broke the official news. ONE FC chief executive officer Victor Cui was more than elated when discussing the role of his promotion’s latest acquirement:
Rich Franklin is another perfect example – he is an icon in this industry. Everybody loves him, he is well-respected, and he will a fantastic addition to the team in terms of experience and helping the sport grow in Asia from ground up awareness.
We will continue to define his role but to me now what’s most important is finding the best people. I am aggressively hiring in all positions and looking to add another 200 staff in the near future as we grow. At the moment, we are a young company still and Rich will do a lot of different things for us, from talent management to fighter recruitment and giving seminars.
Franklin was similarly excited by the prospect of working for Asia’s fastest-developing MMA promotion, telling Yahoo that “MMA in Asia right now is at the tip of the iceberg.”
“If you were to rewind the clock,” said Franklin, “it’s like MMA in the States back in 2003. I think MMA is going to take off like wildfire here in Asia and I will be part of it.”
Franklin made sure to confirm that, despite not having fought in over two years, there will be nothing in his ONE FC deal preventing him from fulfilling his UFC contract with a final fight, whenever that may be.
I went to speak to Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta of the UFC at the end of last year, to tell them that ONE FC was offering me a job. They told me it sounds like a really good offer and they were completely supportive, unlike what others might have thought.
According to the UFC, taking a position in ONE FC does not force me into retiring from fighting. It is my intention to fight my last fight and it will be my retirement fight. But I have to sit down and discuss this with everybody (at ONE FC) as well. Will it be at 185 or 205 pounds? It doesn’t matter as long as the opponent they pick makes sense to me. It must be something exciting for the fans to see.
Although “Ace” will remain stateside while carrying out most of his duties for ONE FC, he will be in Singapore all week to promote/attend ONE FC: Honor & Glory. Let’s hope he’s able to avoid another restroom mishap like the last time he was around fancy company.
With an MMA career spanning back 17 years (!) and some 35 (sanctioned) fights, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos has practically done it all. He’s fought under the Strikeforce, Cage Rage, Jungle Fight, Sengoku, and PRIDE banners. He’s competed in Pancrase, fought in a handful of the legendary Vale Tudo matches, and was one of the founding members of Chute Box, the notoriously brutal Brazilian camp of lore. On his resume you will find such recognizable names as Jose Landi-Jons, Mauricio Rua, Nick Diaz, Melvin Manhoef, Yuki Kondo…we could go on.
A fierce striker with an entertainment over all else approach to the sport, “Cyborg” has and always will represent the “old age” of MMA. He was a “fighter’s fighter” if you will, which makes his decision to step away from the sport on his own accord all the more impressive (looking at you, Big Nog). Speaking with Portal do Vale Tudo on Wednesday, Santos stated that his decision to retire was at least partially influenced by the unfavorable treatment he felt he was receiving from the Gringo Fight promotion, where he was last defeated by Melvin Manhoef in their rematch at Gringo Super Fight 10. However, at just 4-6 in his past 10 fights, it’s hard to disagree with Santos’ decision.
We hope retirement treats you well, Cyborg. Lord knows you’ve earned it.
(*raises chalice* *nods*)
Join us after the jump to once again relive Santos’ 2006 Cage Rage war with Manhoef, then pay your respects to a true legend of the game in the comments section.
With an MMA career spanning back 17 years (!) and some 35 (sanctioned) fights, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos has practically done it all. He’s fought under the Strikeforce, Cage Rage, Jungle Fight, Sengoku, and PRIDE banners. He’s competed in Pancrase, fought in a handful of the legendary Vale Tudo matches, and was one of the founding members of Chute Box, the notoriously brutal Brazilian camp of lore. On his resume you will find such recognizable names as Jose Landi-Jons, Mauricio Rua, Nick Diaz, Melvin Manhoef, Yuki Kondo…we could go on.
A fierce striker with an entertainment over all else approach to the sport, “Cyborg” has and always will represent the “old age” of MMA. He was a “fighter’s fighter” if you will, which makes his decision to step away from the sport on his own accord all the more impressive (looking at you, Big Nog). Speaking with Portal do Vale Tudo on Wednesday, Santos stated that his decision to retire was at least partially influenced by the unfavorable treatment he felt he was receiving from the Gringo Fight promotion, where he was last defeated by Melvin Manhoef in their rematch at Gringo Super Fight 10. However, at just 4-6 in his past 10 fights, it’s hard to disagree with Santos’ decision.
We hope retirement treats you well, Cyborg. Lord knows you’ve earned it.
(*raises chalice* *nods*)
Join us after the jump to once again relive Santos’ 2006 Cage Rage war with Manhoef, then pay your respects to a true legend of the game in the comments section.
Food is the most underrated, undiscussed aspect of MMA fandom. Watching other people fight requires constant sustenance. The calories you burn shadowboxing with your shirt off during commercials don’t replenish themselves, you know.
As with other aspects of the sport, eating at a high level requires loads of nuance—more than many fans are aware of. We’re experts on the topic, though, so we figured we’d drop a little knowledge today.
First off, you should only eat certain kinds of food. I missed the Donald Cerrone punch that nearly KO’d Edson Barboza because I was cutting a chimichanga. The lesson learned? Do not eat food requiring too much attention.
Food is to enhance your MMA viewing, not replace it. The food makes the event festive, but is not the festivity in and of itself, like Thanksgiving turkey. The chimichanga I ate was delicious, but cumbersome and unwieldy. I had to spend time looking down—away from the computer and television—to cut it into a more manageable size. Even then, I had to be extremely careful when lifting it into my mouth with a fork. I didn’t want chicken, cheese, refried beans, and other greasy goodness spilling onto my keyboard.
Which reminds me, if you’re going to be live-tweeting or live-blogging a fight card, you can’t eat something that makes your fingers gross and sticky. That means no ribs, and no burgers that are dripping with ketchup or other condiments. I thought Cool Ranch Doritos Tacos might be safe one Bellator event, only to find that the Cool Ranch dust was all over my fingertips. My jokes were seconds late—an eternity on twitter—and the CagePotato twitter lost out on precious engagement statistics.
An additional thing to consider: Never eat something that will give you diarrhea. I can’t stress that enough. You don’t want to spend $60 on a PPV just to wind up giving the bathroom a new paint job and missing all the in-cage action.
So what foods are safe?
(Gobbling down buffalo wings = UFC on FOX. Being excited about iceberg lettuce = watching Fight Pass GIFs on a late-’90s Toshiba Satellite.)
Food is the most underrated, undiscussed aspect of MMA fandom. Watching other people fight requires constant sustenance. The calories you burn shadowboxing with your shirt off during commercials don’t replenish themselves, you know.
As with other aspects of the sport, eating at a high level requires loads of nuance—more than many fans are aware of. We’re experts on the topic, though, so we figured we’d drop a little knowledge today.
First off, you should only eat certain kinds of food. I missed the Donald Cerrone punch that nearly KO’d Edson Barboza because I was cutting a chimichanga. The lesson learned? Do not eat food requiring too much attention.
Food is to enhance your MMA viewing, not replace it. The food makes the event festive, but is not the festivity in and of itself, like Thanksgiving turkey. The chimichanga I ate was delicious, but cumbersome and unwieldy. I had to spend time looking down—away from the computer and television—to cut it into a more manageable size. Even then, I had to be extremely careful when lifting it into my mouth with a fork. I didn’t want chicken, cheese, refried beans, and other greasy goodness spilling onto my keyboard.
Which reminds me, if you’re going to be live-tweeting or live-blogging a fight card, you can’t eat something that makes your fingers gross and sticky. That means no ribs, and no burgers that are dripping with ketchup or other condiments. I thought Cool Ranch Doritos Tacos might be safe one Bellator event, only to find that the Cool Ranch dust was all over my fingertips. My jokes were seconds late—an eternity on twitter—and the CagePotato twitter lost out on precious engagement statistics.
An additional thing to consider: Never eat something that will give you diarrhea. I can’t stress that enough. You don’t want to spend $60 on a PPV just to wind up giving the bathroom a new paint job and missing all the in-cage action.
So what foods are safe?
We at CagePotato prefer simple sandwiches from local reputable delicatessens. A turkey sandwich with pepper jack cheese can be eaten while you look forwards at the TV screen. Pizza is alright too, though if your “ristorante” uses sauce that’s a little too acidic, you might find yourself with heart burn or indigestion while you watch the fights. Chinese? It depends. We’re not partial to anything that requires consistent looking down. If you’re eating chicken and broccoli, you have to keep looking down to put some on your fork. The more times you look down, the more likely it is you’ll miss something spectacular. Burgers can be alright so long as they’re not big and messy, though we’re not terribly partial to them. If you’re a skilled burger eater though, maybe you could give them a shot.
But we’ve only just scratched the surface. There’s still another layer of analysis and thought that must go into your choice of MMA food: What kind of card are you watching?
In the early days of MMA, you could splurge when a PPV came around because they were an event rather than a nuisance. In 2014, when oversaturation has plagued the sport to the point where the UFC holds two cards in the same day, you can’t splurge. You must consider your options carefully, and purchase food according to the level of what you’re watching. We’ve separated it into tiers.
Fight Pass Exclusive Card: DiGiorno, Tombstone, or Red Barron frozen pizzas. Yes, Fight Pass cards are usually this bad.
UFC on FOX Sports 2 Card: Dominoes, Papa John’s, Little Caesar’s, or other cardboard but still fun pizzas. Subway for sandwiches. McDonald’s or any of the usual suspects if you insist on burgers.
UFC on FOX Sports 1 Card: Five Guys, Smash Burger, or any other “real” burger chain. The “real” pizza place that sucks but stays in business because they deliver and the good pizza place doesn’t. If you’re going to deploy Chinese food, do it on a card like this. Go to the deli but get a standard sandwich lacking grandeur.
PPV with a garbage-ass main card: Save your fucking money and don’t buy any special or fun food to celebrate. Maybe get some ice cream if there’s a parlor near you and the weather permits it. Don’t spend extra cash on toppings unless you’re bringing six figures to the bank every year.
PPV with a worthy main card: Splurge. Experiment. Do whatever the hell you want. Maybe get a specialty sandwich at the deli that you normally wouldn’t get. Maybe try some Mexican takeout so long as it’s not too complicated to eat or will make you crap. It’s rare enough to have a great PPV these days, so go wild but please try to stay within the above guidelines to optimize enjoyment of the UFC PPV.
Far be it from us to knock an Olympic wrestler for his lack of work ethic, but we’ve begun to notice an alarming and depressing trend in the MMA career of Henry Cejudo. Mainly, that he has more or less flaked out of his last four scheduled fights under the Legacy Fighting Championships banner, and even worse, the fights he actually did show up for in that time, he did at a significantly reduced payrate due to his inability to make weight.
Could it be that Cejudo has some dire life circumstance to tend to, like Rousimar Palhares and his sick mother? It’s possible, but the much more likely scenario is that Cejudo lacks either the time or the commitment to make 125 lbs, even as far out from the fight as he is, and has withdrawn in a last ditch attempt to save his rapidly descending reputation in the MMA world.
(Photo via The Gazette.)
Far be it from us to knock an Olympic wrestler for his lack of work ethic, but we’ve begun to notice an alarming and depressing trend in the MMA career of Henry Cejudo. Mainly, that he has more or less flaked out of his last four scheduled fights under the Legacy Fighting Championships banner, and even worse, the fights he actually did show up for in that time, he did at a significantly reduced payrate due to his inability to make weight.
Could it be that Cejudo has some dire life circumstance to tend to, like Rousimar Palhares and his sick mother? It’s possible, but the much more likely scenario is that Cejudo lacks either the time or the commitment to make 125 lbs, even as far out from the fight as he is, and has withdrawn in a last ditch attempt to save his rapidly descending reputation in the MMA world.
For the youngest American wrestler to win a gold medal in Olympic history, weight-cutting issues seem especially uncharacteristic. Wrestlers have long been lauded for their almost unparalleled discipline when it comes to cutting weight — just look at how Daniel Cormier was able to make the drop to light heavyweight after years of weight mismanagement — and for a guy of Cejudo’s caliber, it’s simply inexcusable.
But sadly, it appears that Cejudo’s professional career has been on a downswing ever since his comeback attempt in the 2012 Olympic Trials, where his lack of motivation was immediately noticeable to those who knew him best (via BloodyElbow):
Between the 2008 Olympics and the 2012 trials, Cejudo was off the mat for almost two and a half years. He did not engage in training for a second Olympic title until February of 2011. This is an awful long time, particularly considering that all of Henry’s strongest competition was spending that time competing for world championships.
When Henry first came back to training he announced his intent to train at the regional training center (RTC) at The University of Iowa with Coach Terry Brands.
Terry Brands is a distinguished figure in the wrestling world. Brands has won world championships, an Olympic bronze medal, and as an Olympic Training Center resident coach he was largely responsible for molding Henry Cejudo into an Olympic champion. Terry and Henry had grown close during Cejudo’s gold medal run and a number of publications describe Brands as a father figure to Henry.
When considering a athlete/coach relationship woven so tightly, it was particularly alarming to hear reports in July of 2011 that Cejudo left the Iowa RTC due to Brands disapproval over the time Henry was spending in his commercial ventures.
After leaving Iowa, Cejudo briefly trained at Ohio State’s RTC, but citing homesickness, Henry left to spend the bulk of his Olympic trials preparation residing in Arizona and away from any elite wrestling training sites. Almost all wrestlers serious about qualifying for an Olympic team reside at a regional training center or the Olympic Training Center in Colorado (or both). Cejudo spent his crunch time preparation for the trials working out at The Training Room, a strength and conditioning facility in Scottsdale run by Brian Davis, a former NFL defensive back. (when asked about Cejudo’s preparations for the trials, Davis’s response was somewhat…odd.)
Henry’s unusual choices in training arrangements, when combined with the mixed results at the only three competitive wrestling events he attended before the trials, led some in the wrestling world to doubt if he would even be in attendance in Iowa City for the Olympic trials.
It was at those Olympic Trials that Cejudo would be defeated by top-seeded Nick Simmons in the semifinals before throwing his shoes into the crowd, a symbolic gesture of his retirement from wrestling at just 25 years of age.
So what has been behind Cejudo’s fall from grace? Some say that he has become too preoccupied with the public persona he has built over the years, and the litany of high-profile endorsement deals, book deals, and even play deals that have followed. Others say that the neuro-linguistic programming outfit Cejudo has become involved with, Champion by Design, has all but brainwashed the kid with new-age, self-help gobbledygook.
It’s hard to tell, but one thing’s for certain: Cejudo has dropped out of yet another fight, and is well on his way to becoming perhaps the biggest bust in MMA history. And what a shame it would be for a self-described, “kid who grew up in poverty, a son of Mexican immigrants that came to the United States with a dream.” Not that success in a mid-level MMA promotion is comparable to Olympic glory, but still, it would have been nice to see what could have been.
