(Rumble poses next to a normal-sized human being. Photo via KnoxxGear.)
By Ryan Ventura
For a long time, many fans have felt that Anthony Johnson was too big to be playing around in the welterweight jungle. But now they get their wish and he is making the jump to the middleweight division to face ‘The Phenom’ Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, January 14th in Rio. “I still want to fight at 170,” said Johnson “but I’m excited about making the jump to 185 and we’ll see what happens after this fight is over.”
In a way, this opportunity to fight the legendary Vitor Belfort is coming full circle for Anthony Johnson. The two first met after Anthony’s very first professional Mixed Martial Arts bout back in 2006. “I knocked out my opponent in one minute and nine seconds. Vitor happened to be in the crowd, Shogun Rua was too. After the fight, Vitor gave me props and shook my hand. I never thought I’d be fighting a man who I shook hands with many years ago. I’m a fan of Vitor Belfort and always will be. It’s going to be fun fighting him.”
(Rumble poses next to a normal-sized human being. Photo via KnoxxGear.)
By Ryan Ventura
For a long time, many fans have felt that Anthony Johnson was too big to be playing around in the welterweight jungle. But now they get their wish and he is making the jump to the middleweight division to face ‘The Phenom’ Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, January 14th in Rio. “I still want to fight at 170,” said Johnson “but I’m excited about making the jump to 185 and we’ll see what happens after this fight is over.”
In a way, this opportunity to fight the legendary Vitor Belfort is coming full circle for Anthony Johnson. The two first met after Anthony’s very first professional Mixed Martial Arts bout back in 2006. “I knocked out my opponent in one minute and nine seconds. Vitor happened to be in the crowd, Shogun Rua was too. After the fight, Vitor gave me props and shook my hand. I never thought I’d be fighting a man who I shook hands with many years ago. I’m a fan of Vitor Belfort and always will be. It’s going to be fun fighting him.”
Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit was pissed off at having to step aside and allow Nick Diaz to take his place in an eventual fight with UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre on Super Bowl weekend. Personally, I don’t think an…
Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit was pissed off at having to step aside and allow Nick Diaz to take his place in an eventual fight with UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre on Super Bowl weekend.
Personally, I don’t think anyone will blame Condit in the slightest for his ire at having been shelved to make way for Diaz.
Even though most know the details by now, here goes.
First there was the St-Pierre vs. Diaz clash scheduled for UFC 137 that was upended when the latter failed to turn up for several press junkets.
Dana White then relegated Diaz to the co-main event with B.J. Penn as his new opponent.
Condit was then installed as a worthy adversary for St-Pierre.
The winner of the Diaz vs. Penn bout was more or less guaranteed a shot at the winner of St-Pierre vs. Condit.
As fate would have it, a spanner was thrown in the works—St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) suffered a knee injury during training, and Condit’s proposed bout with the former went up in smoke.
Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) sat back and willingly bided his time for the opportunity to finally throw down with St-Pierre once he’d recuperated—that would’ve been on Super Bowl weekend.
UFC 137 came, and Diaz (26-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC), who many thought hadn’t a cat in hell’s chance against Penn, proved them wrong in their ensuing battle and viciously upended the Prodigy.
Everything was running smoothly after that, then hey presto! Diaz takes to the mic and issues a challenge to St-Pierre, who was in attendance that night.
St-Pierre, incensed and somewhat emotional at the time, accepted the challenge.
St-Pierre went even further, having a one-to-one with White.
This is what White said after UFC 137, “[St-Pierre] said, and I quote – you’re going to think I’m full of [expletive], but this is the truth – I quote, ‘He’s the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.'”
Regardless of St-Pierre venting his indignation, White had two options—accept or decline.
White chose the former. On White’s part, it was good business and a great financial move for the UFC hierarchy to boot.
Condit has now been shafted twice, none of his own doing.
The catalyst to Condit being made the pasty is a result of three individuals, but most of the blame falls on White and St-Pierre.
On the one hand, you have the UFC boss, whose mantra I assume is “It’s not personal; it’s just business.”
This is understandable but in some regards, immensely flawed—White reneged on his promise to Condit.
On the other hand, there’s St-Pierre, who knew he had obligations to fight Condit.
He also knew how much the fight meant to him, but in the heat of the moment he let his anger, emotions and his ego get the better of him.
Condit has begrudgingly stepped aside.
Underneath, however, I would imagine that Condit is seething with rage at White’s shenanigans, but his most venomous fury ultimately lies at the feet of St-Pierre for denying him a shot at UFC glory.
Condit mightn’t have openly voiced his feelings, but believe me, deep down he is one pissed off fighter.
Over the years, one of the most exciting things about each new season of The Ultimate Fighter is who the coaches for the season are. Many times the coaches’ fight is used to determine who the number one contender is, other times the fight is for a titl…
Over the years, one of the most exciting things about each new season of The Ultimate Fighter is who the coaches for the season are. Many times the coaches’ fight is used to determine who the number one contender is, other times the fight is for a title; either way the fights have had major effects on whatever division the coaches are in.
The UFC has announced a deal with FOX, which will change the format of The Ultimate Fighter to now include live fights and follow the coaches as they prepare for their fight at the end of the season.
After UFC 137, Diego Sanchez called out BJ Penn in hopes of coaching against him on the next season of TUF. Sanchez has been wanting to coach on the show that pushed him into the spotlight years ago when he won on the original season, something many fans would like to see.
So with that in mind, I made this list of dream coaching matchups by weight class. This isn’t done in reality as matches that could happen any time soon, but matchups that fans would like to see.
Getting new people into MMA and teaching them about the sport is easy if you do it right.How do you do it right? You show them the right fights.Of the thousands of MMA fights there are dozens upon dozens that can be shown to a non-MMA fan in order to c…
Getting new people into MMA and teaching them about the sport is easy if you do it right.
How do you do it right? You show them the right fights.
Of the thousands of MMA fights there are dozens upon dozens that can be shown to a non-MMA fan in order to convert them over to the light side of the force.
Converting fans has special relevance in light of the UFC‘s nearing debut on FOX. It’ll be important to give the new “recruits” a proper grounding in what the sport means and what a good fight is.
What are some of the best MMA fights to illustrate key points as well as entertain? Read and find out!
Another busy week wrapped up in the MMA world with the UFC announcing plans for upcoming cards and the new year. Middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva’s next opponent will be the man who nearly dethroned him at UFC 117, Chael Sonnen.Although Carlos …
Another busy week wrapped up in the MMA world with the UFC announcing plans for upcoming cards and the new year.
Middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva’s next opponent will be the man who nearly dethroned him at UFC 117, Chael Sonnen.
Although Carlos Condit will no longer be fighting for the welterweight title at UFC 143, the contender will take on former title-challenger Josh Koscheck at the February event.
In 2012, the UFC’s preliminary card bouts will no longer stream on Facebook and will instead be shown on the cable network Fuel TV.
Additionally, a former Strikeforce champ is suing his former management, as well as a Bellator champ returning to action.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, you can follow Rob on Twitter @RobTatumMMA.
With the explosion of attention Nick Diaz has recently gotten, his manager and trainer Cesar Gracie has become more of a figurehead in MMA as well.The reason, of course, is Diaz’s well-publicized aversion to media commitments, which leaves Gracie…
With the explosion of attention Nick Diaz has recently gotten, his manager and trainer Cesar Gracie has become more of a figurehead in MMA as well.
The reason, of course, is Diaz’s well-publicized aversion to media commitments, which leaves Gracie shouldering the load as his star pupil prepares for a much-anticipated showdown with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.
The reason that fight is happening? Gracie’s willingness to push Diaz into saying the occasional crazy thing. In this case, calling out GSP.
Now, make no mistake, calling out St-Pierre is a double-edged sword.
It’s genius, because it ensures Diaz will get a title shot and the payday that comes along with it. It also makes him one of the most marketable antiheroes in MMA given his willingness to speak without a filter and prod opponents into fighting out of anger instead of fighting with a game plan.
But it’s also not the smartest thing in the world to put heat on the usually mild St-Pierre. Every time someone does, they end up seeing a version of the champion that’s hungrier and more motivated than usual, and that utterly decimates particularly mouthy opposition.
Look at the past.
Josh Koscheck talked a whole bunch of (often poorly conceived) trash during their run as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, and St-Pierre beat him all over the Octagon. He smashed Koscheck so badly that he couldn’t take an airplane out of Montreal for medical reasons, and has permanent nerve damage in his face.
B.J. Penn wasn’t shy with his thoughts on St-Pierre going into UFC 94, and the result was a pounding so ugly that Penn’s corner wouldn’t let him continue after the fourth round. Arguments persist to this day about GSP greasing, but the reality is that Penn was outclassed regardless, and if they were to meet again, you can rest assured the fight would be no closer.
Matt Serra said some interesting things going into the rematch between the two, where GSP was hunting to get his title back. I believe “Frenchy” was one of the slurs thrown out there. Not wise at the best of times, less wise fighting a Quebec-born martial artist in Quebec. Serra couldn’t get out of Round 2.
So it is that it becomes hard to believe this call-out is in the best interest of Nick Diaz inside the cage. He already has a considerable wrestling disadvantage to overcome, as well as St-Pierre’s capacity to play it safe and win on points, which flies in the face of everything Diaz stands for and is likely to frustrate him.
If you motivate St-Pierre by lipping him off and calling him out, history suggests that it’s going to make life that much harder on you.
At the end of the day though, good idea or not, this fight was the one the world wanted to see at 170 lbs. and calling out GSP was the only way it was going to happen. It pits one of the most exciting fighters in the sport against a champion who has been criticized for being overly safe, and that matchup creates a dynamic that people will want to watch.
Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit was pissed off at having to step aside and allow Nick Diaz to take his place in an eventual fight with UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre on Super Bowl weekend.