Kenny Florian Opts to Improve, While Dan Hardy Would Rather Complain

Filed under: UFCJust because two men are looking at the same problem, it doesn’t mean they’re going to come up with the same answer. It’s an obvious lesson, but one we learned again this week thanks to Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian.

The (perceived) pro…

Filed under:

Just because two men are looking at the same problem, it doesn’t mean they’re going to come up with the same answer. It’s an obvious lesson, but one we learned again this week thanks to Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian.

The (perceived) problem? All these knuckleheaded wrestlers are coming into MMA, taking people down, and then just holding them there until time runs out and the judges declare them the winner.

The solution? According to Hardy we need to make some rule changes, maybe give the referees more authority to put a stop to these grapple-happy shenanigans. But according to Florian, who this week told Sherdog.com that he’s hired Boston University assistant wrestling coach Sean Gray to help him in training, the answer is to add more arrows to your own quiver rather than trying to take them out of someone else’s.

I think we already know which strategy will prove more successful.

TUF 12 Preview: ‘The Perfect Good Guy vs. The Perfect Bad Boy’

The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck could turn out to be very entertaining, but in general, we’re not expecting any surprises. The coaches already have their roles sorted out, and won’t be straying from them: Georges St. Pierre is the nice-guy champion who doesn’t let his opponents get under his skin, and Josh Koscheck is the trash-talking contender who gave up on being liked a long time ago. At this point, there’s no reason to think St. Pierre won’t dominate Koscheck in December like he did during their first meeting in 2007. But maybe Kos can take a page out of the Chael Sonnen playbook and force you to care about the rematch through the sheer power of his assholishness.

So anyway, here’s the first five minutes of next week’s TUF 12 premiere, courtesy of Spike. Koscheck vows to whip GSP’s fake ass. Dana White is so excited that he’s sweated through his Bruce Lee t-shirt. (Too early for gray, buddy.) It’ll be another "wild card" season — the setup that allowed finalist Kris McCray to fight five times in six weeks last season. Dana pumps up the cast with his usual arsenal of F-bombs. We meet the first two preliminary round fighters. And that’s pretty much it. No word on if any doors are destroyed this season, or if any raw fish is beaten off into. Okay, fine, maybe there will be a few surprises…

The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck could turn out to be very entertaining, but in general, we’re not expecting any surprises. The coaches already have their roles sorted out, and won’t be straying from them: Georges St. Pierre is the nice-guy champion who doesn’t let his opponents get under his skin, and Josh Koscheck is the trash-talking contender who gave up on being liked a long time ago. At this point, there’s no reason to think St. Pierre won’t dominate Koscheck in December like he did during their first meeting in 2007. But maybe Kos can take a page out of the Chael Sonnen playbook and force you to care about the rematch through the sheer power of his assholishness.

So anyway, here’s the first five minutes of next week’s TUF 12 premiere, courtesy of Spike. Koscheck vows to whip GSP’s fake ass. Dana White is so excited that he’s sweated through his Bruce Lee t-shirt. (Too early for gray, buddy.) It’ll be another "wild card" season — the setup that allowed finalist Kris McCray to fight five times in six weeks last season. Dana pumps up the cast with his usual arsenal of F-bombs. We meet the first two preliminary round fighters. And that’s pretty much it. No word on if any doors are destroyed this season, or if any raw fish is beaten off into. Okay, fine, maybe there will be a few surprises…

Dana White Undecided On Who Should Get Next Welterweight Title Shot After Koscheck

(Video courtesy TheMMAFix)It looks like Dana White wasn’t thrilled with Jon Fitch’s less than enthralling performance in his win over Thiago Alves at UFC 118 last month, since the UFC president has now rescinded an earlier assertion that the winne…


(Video courtesy TheMMAFix)

It looks like Dana White wasn’t thrilled with Jon Fitch’s less than enthralling performance in his win over Thiago Alves at UFC 118 last month, since the UFC president has now rescinded an earlier assertion that the winner of the bout would be next in line for a title shot at the winner of December’s Georges St-Pierre-Josh Koscheck showdown.

During an appearance on Comcast Sportsnet Washington’s The MMA Fix, White said the welterweight title picture is a bit murkier than it seemed a few weeks ago, which may be partially a result of Fitch’s conservative stall and brawl tactics he employed to decision Alves.

"I want to wait for Koscheck and St-Perre to happen and we’ll figure out who gets the next shot," White explained noncommittally.  "By then Jake Shields will have fought…Kampmann…you know…we’ll see what happens. A lot of it is timing too."

read more

Yves Lavigne Talks Controversy Over Comments: ‘Those Are Not My Quotes’

Filed under: UFCMMA referee Yves Lavigne said he wanted to clear the air regarding some inflammatory quotes attributed to him in a Canoe.com story by Vincent Morin recently, so he put it as plainly as he possibly could.

“I did not give him an intervie…

Filed under:

MMA referee Yves Lavigne said he wanted to clear the air regarding some inflammatory quotes attributed to him in a Canoe.com story by Vincent Morin recently, so he put it as plainly as he possibly could.

“I did not give him an interview on or off record,” Lavigne told Ariel Helwani during Tuesday’s episode of “The MMA Hour.” “Those are not my quotes. This is not me. Is that enough?”

Lavigne found himself at the center of the controversy after the story quoted him as saying that UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre will dominate Josh Koscheck in their rematch at UFC 124 in Montreal this December, and that Koscheck was scared to exchange punches with Paul Daley in his last fight in Montreal.

But Lavigne, who’s a regular at UFC events and may have likely been slated to work the main event bout in his home province of Quebec, insisted that he never spoke with Morin, nor does he have any idea where the quotes came from.

MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: Penn Falls Out

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Rankings, OverallWith his second straight unanimous decision loss to Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn is no longer one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

He’s long been considered one of the truly elite fighters in mix…

Filed under: , , ,

With his second straight unanimous decision loss to Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn is no longer one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

He’s long been considered one of the truly elite fighters in mixed martial arts, but the soon-to-be 32-year-old Penn has looked in his two fights this year like he has slowed down. Penn is the greatest lightweight ever to fight in MMA, but even the greatest decline eventually.

So Penn isn’t in my pound-for-pound Top 10 anymore. To find out who is, read on.

Dana White Says St-Pierre-Silva Could Happen Sooner Than Later

(Video courtesy MMAWeekly)
An interesting tidbit that came out of Dana White’s Q&A session at the UFC Fan Expo in Boston last weekend was the UFC president’s revelation that a superfight between his middleweight champion, Anderson Silva and we…


(Video courtesy MMAWeekly)

An interesting tidbit that came out of Dana White’s Q&A session at the UFC Fan Expo in Boston last weekend was the UFC president’s revelation that a superfight between his middleweight champion, Anderson Silva and welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre may come to fruition in the next year if both men win their next two fights.

When asked by a young fan why he hasn’t made the fight between the two dominant champions yet, White replied:

"Well, Georges St-Pierre is the coach on this season of The Ultimate Fighter and he’s gotta fight Koscheck. Then Jake Shields is here now, so he’s got a couple guys [to get through] before he clears out the division. We’re gonna redo Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva. That rematch is gonna happen and Vitor Belfort is still in the mix. So they got a couple guys they gotta beat before we make that fight, but I’m not opposed to making it."

Sounds like they’ve already counted Okami out of his upcoming bout with Belfort. Poor Yushin; always be the bridesmaid, never the bride.