Fighters made more money in 2013 than they ever have in MMA history, according to UFC president Dana White. Obtaining information regarding the financial handouts to UFC employees is about as easy as breaking into Fort Knox. Time and time again, fighters come forward condemning the UFC for being stingy with its wealth. During an […]
Fighters made more money in 2013 than they ever have in MMA history, according to UFC president Dana White. Obtaining information regarding the financial handouts to UFC employees is about as easy as breaking into Fort Knox. Time and time again, fighters come forward condemning the UFC for being stingy with its wealth. During an […]
(What, and miss out on all the fun times like these?)
Earlier today, we learned how fighters like James Te Huna deal with a pair of tough losses, by dropping a weight class to save their career. Now, we bring you another increasingly popularsolution amongst MMA fighters faced with temporary setbacks: The Hiatus.
That’s right, longtime UFC welterweight and one of the most exciting fighters in the sport’s history, Martin Kampmann, is taking an extended break from MMA. Having just celebrated his ten year anniversary as a professional, Kampmann told MMAJunkie radio that he needs some time to fully recover from the tough (T)KO losses he has suffered in his past two fights with Johny Hendricks and Carlos Condit, stating:
I’ve had a lot of tough fights, and even the ones I win, I sometimes make them tough for myself. I’m just taking a long break. No rush to get back in the cage. Let my body recover and get good.
I enjoy fighting, but I’ve just had my 10-year anniversary as a professional fighter. I feel a little burned out right now. That’s why I’m taking a break. I don’t want to get in there unless I feel like it. I love training, I love fighting, but I want to have the fire again to go in. If I don’t have the fire, then I think that means I need to take a break.
Personally, I feel the worst for Kampmann’s surgeon, who is definitely not going to be able to afford that four bedroom villa in the Palisades now that hismost popularclient has decided to stop visiting him every month or so. #1percentproblems
(What, and miss out on all the fun times like these?)
Earlier today, we learned how fighters like James Te Huna deal with a pair of tough losses, by dropping a weight class to save their career. Now, we bring you another increasingly popularsolution amongst MMA fighters faced with temporary setbacks: The Hiatus.
That’s right, longtime UFC welterweight and one of the most exciting fighters in the sport’s history, Martin Kampmann, is taking an extended break from MMA. Having just celebrated his ten year anniversary as a professional, Kampmann told MMAJunkie radio that he needs some time to fully recover from the tough (T)KO losses he has suffered in his past two fights with Johny Hendricks and Carlos Condit, stating:
I’ve had a lot of tough fights, and even the ones I win, I sometimes make them tough for myself. I’m just taking a long break. No rush to get back in the cage. Let my body recover and get good.
I enjoy fighting, but I’ve just had my 10-year anniversary as a professional fighter. I feel a little burned out right now. That’s why I’m taking a break. I don’t want to get in there unless I feel like it. I love training, I love fighting, but I want to have the fire again to go in. If I don’t have the fire, then I think that means I need to take a break.
Personally, I feel the worst for Kampmann’s surgeon, who is definitely not going to be able to afford that four bedroom villa in the Palisades now that hismost popularclient has decided to stop visiting him every month or so. #1percentproblems
While we’ll surely miss Kampmann’s always entertaining presence in the octagon, it’s hard to fault him for his decision. It’s quite refreshing, to be honest. As of now, Kampmann’s record reads like a who’s who of the UFC welterweight division, with wins over the likes of Carlos Condit, Thiago Alves, and Jake Ellenberger and (bullshit) losses to Diego Sanchez and Jake Shields.
Scroll on down to relive some of Kampmann’s finest moments in the octagon before the UFC inevitably forces us to pull the footage.
First, we have an upbeat, take-on-all-comers Kampmann highlight set to some terrible, Spanish pop music.
Next, we have a reflective, restrained, “In Memoriam”-esque Kampmann highlight set to some slightly better pop music. My God, can’t any of you reel makers quit being such pussies and set one of these things to some DOWN? First they change the Thursday Night Football theme to this Bollywood bubble gum garbage and now we’re soundtracking fight compilations with songs you’d hear at your 13 year-old’s semi-formal. WHERE DOES IT END?!!
I’m sorry, this is about Kampmann. To the other highlight!
Enjoy the time off, Martin. Lord knows you’ve earned it.
(Playing dead: Works against bears, not against Shogun Rua. Photo via Getty.)
James Te Huna‘s 2013 got off to a rocky start. The hard-hitting slugger was paired against Canadian splitsterRyan Jimmo at UFC on FUEL 7 in February, and was favored as high as 3-to-1 over the former CP guest blogger. Early in the first round, however, Te Huna ate a vicious head kick that would have ended the night of a lesser man. Although the New Zealander would right the course and end up defeating Jimmo via unanimous decision, he would drop his next two contests to current title challenger Glover Teixeira and former champion Mauricio Rua via first round submission and KO, respectively.
While there’s no shame in losing to either of those gentlemen, Te Huna has quickly gone from one of the division’s top fighters to one who could be fighting for his job. The four fight win streak he was able to build in the wake of his UFC 127 loss to Alexander Gustafsson erased, it appears that Te Huna is opting for a favorite change-up amongst struggling MMA fighters: Dropping a weight class to save his career.
Te Huna recently sat down with The MMA Corner to discuss how his decision to drop to 185 for the first time in his career came about. The answer may surprise you (if you were in a coma all of last year):
(Playing dead: Works against bears, not against Shogun Rua. Photo via Getty.)
James Te Huna‘s 2013 got off to a rocky start. The hard-hitting slugger was paired against Canadian splitsterRyan Jimmo at UFC on FUEL 7 in February, and was favored as high as 3-to-1 over the former CP guest blogger. Early in the first round, however, Te Huna ate a vicious head kick that would have ended the night of a lesser man. Although the New Zealander would right the course and end up defeating Jimmo via unanimous decision, he would drop his next two contests to current title challenger Glover Teixeira and former champion Mauricio Rua via first round submission and KO, respectively.
While there’s no shame in losing to either of those gentlemen, Te Huna has quickly gone from one of the division’s top fighters to one who could be fighting for his job. The four fight win streak he was able to build in the wake of his UFC 127 loss to Alexander Gustafsson erased, it appears that Te Huna is opting for a favorite change-up amongst struggling MMA fighters: Dropping a weight class to save his career.
Te Huna recently sat down with The MMA Corner to discuss how his decision to drop to 185 for the first time in his career came about. The answer may surprise you (if you were in a coma all of last year):
It was a pretty embarrassing loss, and last year was a pretty bad year for me. I had a lot of issues going into my fight in London, and we tried to work some things out in my time off between fights. And then there was that embarrassing knockout to finish the year off. This year, I am excited to take on a new challenge and take on a drop to middleweight.
It’s about making a fresh new start and taking on a new challenge, and I know I’ll be able to make Middleweight. Middleweight is probably a bit more of a natural weight for me. Right now, I am always eating so that I can stay up at Light Heavyweight. I’m one of the lightest guys at Light Heavyweight, so I know that if I eat normally I’ll be able to hit Middleweight. I’ve been fighting at Light Heavyweight for my whole career, but I think that this challenge is the right move.
You can read the rest of Te Huna’s interview over at The MMA Corner. Here’s hoping that Te Huna can make the cut to 185 without winding up in the James Irvin “Skeletor Look-alike” Hall of Fame. But should Te Huna successfully (and safely) make weight, who would you like to see him paired up against for his middleweight debut, Nation?
Proclaimed “a walking miracle” by his medical team, Grice’s come back from almost certain death is inspiring to say the least, especially following a year that saw Shane Del Rosario and Leandro Souza (among others) suddenly pass away.
Oklahoma City’s News 9 recently sat down for an interview with Grice, and we’ve placed the video above. To hear him speaking so fluently after what he’s been through is simply unbelievable. Check it out, and continue to send Grice your best on Twitter.
Proclaimed “a walking miracle” by his medical team, Grice’s come back from almost certain death is inspiring to say the least, especially following a year that saw Shane Del Rosario and Leandro Souza (among others) suddenly pass away.
Oklahoma City’s News 9 recently sat down for an interview with Grice, and we’ve placed the video above. To hear him speaking so fluently after what he’s been through is simply unbelievable. Check it out, and continue to send Grice your best on Twitter.
There are rumors that UFC 172, scheduled for April 12, might go down in Baltimore. The event also is purportedly being headlined by a title fight between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Glover Teixeira. The champ and Charm City have a connection. Though Jones is a native of upstate New York, his older […]
There are rumors that UFC 172, scheduled for April 12, might go down in Baltimore. The event also is purportedly being headlined by a title fight between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Glover Teixeira. The champ and Charm City have a connection. Though Jones is a native of upstate New York, his older […]
MMA podcasts are a dime a dozen. MMAFighting has one. Sherdog has one. BloodyElbow pays a lunatic to drive around in a Ford Fiesta and rant about stuff, which is kind of the same thing. Hell, even we used to have one, until Dana White & Co. shut us down for being “too real” and “too in your face.” At least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves. But thankfully, the short list of MMA podcasts worth listening to (mainly, The Co-Main Event Podcast and The Joe Rogan Experience) is about to get a little longer, Nation.
A few days ago, UFC fighter, grizzled badass and 2014’s surefire welterweight champion, Matt Brown, announced (via the UG) that he was starting a podcast to keep himself busy while rehabbing his back. Appropriately dubbed the Legit Man Shit Podcast — not to be confused with Alpha Male Shit — and featuring Brown’s friends Jeremy Loper (radio host) and Travis “The Terror” Clark (pro fighter), the Legit Man Shit Podcast debuted on New Year’s Eve with special guest Dorian Price.
If you don’t know much about Brown and his cohorts, then prepare yourself for an hour of hilarious, borderline sexist musings such as,“If you can’t rip somebody’s face open with elbows, it is not Muay Thai” and “If I’ma pay 60 dollars for a pay-per-view to watch women fight, they should at least be topless.” Brown also shares some MMA tales from “before the sport got all pussied up” by things like “sanctions” and “rules”, so head over to the podcast’s SoundCloud page and check out episode one before Brown is inevitably stifled by his superiors like every forward-thinking philosophizer before him.
MMA podcasts are a dime a dozen. MMAFighting has one. Sherdog has one. BloodyElbow pays a lunatic to drive around in a Ford Fiesta and rant about stuff, which is kind of the same thing. Hell, even we used to have one, until Dana White & Co. shut us down for being “too real” and “too in your face.” At least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves. But thankfully, the short list of MMA podcasts worth listening to (mainly, The Co-Main Event Podcast and The Joe Rogan Experience) is about to get a little longer, Nation.
A few days ago, UFC fighter, grizzled badass and 2014′s surefire welterweight champion, Matt Brown, announced (via the UG) that he was starting a podcast to keep himself busy while rehabbing his back. Appropriately dubbed the Legit Man Shit Podcast – not to be confused with Alpha Male Shit — and featuring Brown’s friends Jeremy Loper (radio host) and Travis “The Terror” Clark (pro fighter), the Legit Man Shit Podcast debuted on New Year’s Eve with special guest Dorian Price.
If you don’t know much about Brown and his cohorts, then prepare yourself for an hour of hilarious, borderline sexist musings such as,“If you can’t rip somebody’s face open with elbows, it is not Muay Thai” and “If I’ma pay 60 dollars for a pay-per-view to watch women fight, they should at least be topless.” Brown also shares some MMA tales from “before the sport got all pussied up” by things like “sanctions” and “rules”, so head over to the podcast’s SoundCloud page and check out episode one before Brown is inevitably stifled by his superiors like every forward-thinking philosophizer before him.
Whether you agree with or appreciate Brown’s Diaz-esque brazenness and southern-ish drawl, I think we can all agree that it will be a goddamn tragedy if Don Frye doesn’t become an integral part of this podcast in the immediate future.
