A rivalry concludes next month, as UFC champion Jon Jones meets ex-training partner Rashad Evans in Atlanta, Georgia. Although the title will be defended, both of these men are also fighting for pride.UFC 145 will solve a long-standing feud between the…
A rivalry concludes next month, as UFC champion Jon Jones meets ex-training partner Rashad Evans in Atlanta, Georgia. Although the title will be defended, both of these men are also fighting for pride.
UFC 145 will solve a long-standing feud between the two former friends. Both men used to train with world renowned trainer Greg Jackson at his gym in New Mexico. That was the case, until Rashad Evans dropped out of a title fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua due to injury, creating an opportunity for Jones.
Jones won the title and the rest is history. Words have been exchanged and both have made their beef known with one another.
It is time to settle this beef at UFC 145. This event will show us who the better man is.
By all accounts, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal had a pretty rough Tuesday.Lawal was first fined $39,000 and suspended for nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission during a hearing just a stone’s throw from the old Las Vegas Strip. This was a kick…
By all accounts, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal had a pretty rough Tuesday.
Lawal was first fined $39,000 and suspended for nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission during a hearing just a stone’s throw from the old Las Vegas Strip. This was a kick in the pants for a guy who, by his own admission, has had more than 16 knee surgeries (with over $100,000 in medical bills) to treat the lingering staph infection that almost took his leg and his life.
During the commission meeting, Lawal was asked by commissioner Pat Lundvall if he “speaks or writes English.” Keep in mind that this question, innocent or not, came nearly seven minutes into the commission meeting, so Lundvall was well aware that Lawal spoke English.
In all likelihood, Lundvall was simply trying to establish, for the record, that Lawal understood English. This is common practice in hearings like this one. But you also cannot fault Lawal for receiving the comments with a hint of racism.
Look, Pat Lundvall is not a racist. Is she a terrifying woman, akin to the scariest teacher you ever had during your middle school years? Yes. I’ve been to plenty of NSAC meetings, and Lundvall always managed to scare me just by showing up. She can be rude and condescending, but she’s not a racist.
So yes, I can understand why Mo lashed out the way he did.
I’m not sure why he was released from Strikeforce, however. These incidents involving Twitter never seem to have much of a center mass. Forrest Griffin made rape jokes, but a simple explanation allowed him to keep his job. Miguel Torres? Not so much.
Dana White himself regularly calls people much worse names than the one Lawal called Lundvall.
Is it because Lundvall is a public official? If that’s the case, shouldn’t the same grace extend to Steve Mazzagatti?
A lot of this can be solved with a comprehensive Twitter policy. As of right now, there are no concrete rules as to what you can and cannot say on Twitter. UFC officials urge fighters to “use common sense” during meetings at the annual Fighter Summit in Las Vegas, but it’s becoming quite apparent that “using common sense” isn’t going to be a great rule of thumb going forward.
It’s quite easy to avoid stepping over the line when you know your job is in jeopardy if you do so. It becomes immensely difficult to avoid that line when it’s a nebulous, moving object.
The UFC is a very smart company, and they are privately owned. They are allowed to hire and fire whomever they want, whenever they want and for whatever reason they want. If they believed King Mo crossed a line yesterday in directing his wrath at Lundvall, fine. That’s their prerogative.
But it’s past time to make this thing easier on the fighters. If you’re going to encourage off-center Twitter behavior with financial rewards, you need to lay down some very specific ground rules governing what they can and cannot say.
That way, when you bring down the hammer for dumb social media comments, you’ll at least have a reason.
The UFC is putting the best of the heavyweight division on its upcoming UFC 146 card in Las Vegas, and to headline the event, reigning heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will take on former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem in what should …
The UFC is putting the best of the heavyweight division on its upcoming UFC 146 card in Las Vegas, and to headline the event, reigning heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will take on former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem in what should be a very memorable fight.
Overeem will enter the bout with a 36-11 record, including 15 knockouts and 19 submission wins. His opponent is also a finisher with 10 knockouts in 15 fights.
“This is a fun one,” White said of the main event at the UFC 146 press conference. “Again, the card is stacked with great heavyweight fights. I love this main event with Alistair and Junior dos Santos. Junior dos Santos has been knocking everyone out, except for Roy, and Alistair looked so good in that fight versus Brock Lesnar so, interesting fight.”
Dos Santos is coming off his impressive knockout victory over Cain Velasquez while Overeem was last seen defeating and retiring Lesnar.
After a rough stretch of fights in 2006 and 2007, Overeem made the move to the heavyweight division where he has since gone on to become both a K1 and MMA champion. His wins include those over Lesnar, Brett Rogers, Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum and Todd Duffee.
“For me, the question is how is Dos Santos going to deal with the kicks and the knees and the elbows,” White continued. “Since he has been in the UFC, I’ve never had to see him deal with that, the stuff that he is going to have to deal with from Alistair Overeem, fought a pretty one-dimensional fight. He’s Chuck Liddell-like. He’s defending the takedown and drops bombs, but he’s never dealt with anybody who tries to throw kicks and knees, works the clinch like Alistair Overeem does. I’m really curious to see how Junior dos Santos plans on dealing with that.”
Other main-card bouts, all of which feature heavyweights, include Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir, Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane del Rosario, Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve and Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva.
If anyone was wondering if Nelson would be dropping to 205, he’s not. Having gone 1-3 in his last four bouts, this is a must-win for him, and it’s also a very serious test against one of the division’s biggest fighters.
“I’m done with it,” White said of trying to convince Nelson to drop to light heavyweight. “I’ve been encouraging him to shave his face and cut his hair too, but he doesn’t want to listen to that either.”
Despite losing and taking tremendous amounts of punishment against Werdum, Mir and Dos Santos, Nelson was never stopped. His 16-7 record shows him losing six fights by decision and only one by knockout, which came when he was dropped by Andrei Arlovski in 2008.
White admits Nelson is a good fighter, but it’s for the wrong reasons.
“I’m cool. I like him,” White continued. “He’s a tough guy with a ton of heart, goes in there and gives it his everything. My thing is, I’d love to see him take this thing serious. When you got a chin line that, and a heart like that, you can’t deny the guy has a great chin, a great heart. He can knock people out too. If he really could get to 205, he’d be a force.”
UFC 146 will be available on pay-per-view on May 26.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship officially kicked off preparations for UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Overeem with a press conference in Las Vegas. The featured bout will put UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos against former K-1, DREAM and Strikefo…
The Ultimate Fighting Championship officially kicked off preparations for UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Overeem with a press conference in Las Vegas. The featured bout will put UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos against former K-1, DREAM and Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem.
The UFC Heavyweight division has been in a state of flux in recent years. With a limited talent pool, putting on top-draw fights between fighters not named Brock Lesnar has proven difficult. However, with the addition of Overeem and other transplants from the Strikeforce brand, the division appears to be on its way to the forefront.
I would be lying if I said that just watching the faceoff yesterday didn’t get me pumped up for this main event. If for some strange reason you need a reason to get excited for this fight, here’s a few to help you along the way.
Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Other times it just squeaks and squeaks, grating on anyone unlucky enough to be in earshot. Other times still, the whole wheel comes off after a prolonged state of squeaky disrepair. These days, coming off a…
Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Other times it just squeaks and squeaks, grating on anyone unlucky enough to be in earshot.
Other times still, the whole wheel comes off after a prolonged state of squeaky disrepair.
These days, coming off a loss and with one foot out the door of the UFC after a very bitter Twitter tirade, it’s hard to see Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as little more than a squeaky wheel in the form of a once-great champion.
For Rampage fans it’s been a tough transition to sit through, forced to watch a man who was once as dangerous as any in the game turn into a one-dimensional brawler passed by in a sport that gives little wiggle room for a man with a one-track mind.
He’s gone from slamming and slugging his way to violent KOs and unifying the PRIDE and UFC titles to bickering with Dana White because wrestlers want to wrestle him for a big win instead of letting him knock them senseless for the sake of excitement.
The game has changed, and Rampage isn’t down with it.
Unfortunately, that attitude has hurt—and will continue to hurt—his legacy as a great in mixed martial arts. There was a time when people loved him for his performances and capacity for carnage, but those people are dwindling. Only the staunchest supporters are still pumping ‘Page’s tires, while the vast majority are just tired of his complaining.
He doesn’t like his fights, he doesn’t like the pay, he doesn’t like the fans (unless they’re cheering for him) and he doesn’t like the UFC.
It’s hard to take for most. It’s hard to watch a man undo with his mouth what he built with his athletic ability.
There’s hope for a man who says some stupid things or makes some stupid decisions early on in his career. Look at Nick Diaz, who went from loathed misanthrope early on to wildly popular anti-hero the more people got to know about him. However, with the mileage Jackson has and the fact he’s admittedly closer to the end than the beginning, such actions are damaging.
The closer he is to the end, the more Rampage risks leaving a foul taste in the mouth of the MMA community. If this is how he’s going to go out, spouting garbled jabs at a company that has been nothing but supportive of him, it’s likely to overshadow some of his greatest accomplishments.
He won’t be remembered as a great champion, but rather as a great champion who ended up leaving the promotion after legal troubles, a fake retirement and some outrageous tweets. There will always be that baggage.
All this shows is that the road has been rocky from Jackson in the UFC. Perhaps that unsteady terrain is why this particular wheel is squeaking so much.
The thing about the squeaky wheel is that no one ever remembers its years of service carrying around cargo or passengers, they remember the incessant, annoying squeaking at the end. Nothing else.
That’s not great news for Jackson, or for his legacy.
Sean McCorkle does not want a rematch. In the most high-profile win of his career, McCorkle tapped out former Pride and now UFC star Mark Hunt. The fight lasted only 63 seconds. “Mark Hunt is the only guy I fought that I didn’t talk trash a…
Sean McCorkle does not want a rematch.
In the most high-profile win of his career, McCorkle tapped out former Pride and now UFC star Mark Hunt.
The fight lasted only 63 seconds.
“Mark Hunt is the only guy I fought that I didn’t talk trash about,” McCorkle (16-2) said. “I was a huge fan of him. It was surreal to fight him.”
Since losing the fight, Hunt has been on a three-fight winning streak. The former K-1 star defeated Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell and Cheick Kongo in succession.
“Everybody now is like, ‘you wouldn’t want a rematch?'” McCorkle said. “You’re darn right I wouldn’t want a rematch. What would I have to gain from a rematch? I already beat Mark Hunt, and you’re not going to take it away.
“I’m proud of beating him.”
The fight marked McCorkle’s debut in his short-lived UFC stint. Even after defeating Hunt, the entertaining McCorkle only lasted two more fights with the promotion. He was stopped in both losses.
First, Stefan Struve defeated McCorkle by TKO. Then, Christian Morecraft won by submission.
“I did look really, really bad in the Morecraft fight,” McCorkle said. “He surprised me. I was stunned Morecraft tried to kneebar me. Everything I saw said he had no ground game. I mean, that would be like Brock Lesnar trying a flying triangle.”
Morecraft later got the submission win with a guillotine. A few weeks later, McCorkle’s manager, Monte Cox, got the call from Joe Silva.
“I was completely shocked,” McCorkle said. “The release came about a month after I lost. Chris Tuchscherer was 1-3 in the UFC, and he never officially was released. I think he retired.
“Even now, Christian Morecraft is 1-3 in the UFC, and they didn’t cut him, and he’s been knocked out three times.”
McCorkle was pushed up the card very quickly by the UFC. After defeating Hunt, he was in the co-main event of UFC 124 against Struve.
“I thought everybody over there liked me,” McCorkle said. “Obviously, I say controversial stuff, but it’s never with bad intentions.”
Since being dropped from the UFC, McCorkle has done very well. He’s won six straight fights in the past year, although none of the wins were against known fighters.
His last fight win was a one-minute win against Richard White on March 9 at Bellator 60.
If he continues to win, the question will begin to arise about coming back to the sport’s top promotion.
“I don’t know if I want to make a push to get back into the UFC,” McCorkle said, “or see what Bellator says.”
Should he come back to the UFC, McCorkle already knows who he wants to fight.
“I’d like to fight Nogueira or Cro Cop,” he said, before adding his own spin. “I want one of the big names on the downside of their career.”
McCorkle expanded on why he’d be successful against one of the older legends.
“I’d beat Cro Cop. Mark Hunt beat Cro Cop, and I beat Mark Hunt.”
Now, McCorkle prepares for his next fight on the local circuit. He’s taking on Brian Heden in the main event of the upstart WMMA promotion out of Texas (not be confused with WAMMA).
McCorkle believes that WMMA has a chance to be successful.
“WMMA is talking about putting on a lot of shows,” he said. “They’re having the event at a place that holds 12,000 people, and they’re pricing tickets at $4 each. They’re trying to fill the building. They seem like they really get it.”
The promotion’s debut will be available on pay-per-view March 31. Unfortunately, not many companies have been successful going the PPV-only route.
“Eventually, they’ll have to be on TV,” McCorkle said of WMMA. “This fight is on pay-per-view, but I’m not sure how many pay-per-views anyone can sell.”
McCorkle sees UFC’s recent deal with the Fox networks as a potential springboard for other promotions.
“With the UFC becoming more mainstream on television, there are going to be other networks that want that programming,” he said. “WMMA could fill the void.”
As for the fight with Heden, McCorkle is confident about the result.
“I’m going to stop him in the first round by submission.”
Sean McCorkle does not want a rematch.