Judging from this new article on SporTV, Anderson Silva‘s current hiatus from fighting is exactly what we thought it was — a way to avoid title defenses against low-profile contenders and hold out for something big. Namely, a superfight against UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Here’s what the Spider had to say about the fight he wants more than anything (translation via BloodyElbow):
“Regardless of who wins, even if St. Pierre loses, a fight with me can happen. A fight like this is above anything else. St. Pierre is one of the greatest of the UFC. Right now, a fight with Condit is meaningless.”
“Meaningless”! That’s heel-talk, brother! GSP was recently medically cleared to take on interim champ Carlos Condit at UFC 154 (November 17th, Montreal), and even if the Canadian legend loses that fight, it’s safe to assume that fans would still turn out in droves to see St. Pierre fight Anderson Silva sometime next year.
Here’s my only problem: If Silva is putting off middleweight title defenses against deserving contenders in order to wait for a potential match against GSP — which could be held at a catchweight below 185 pounds — shouldn’t Silva relinquish his middleweight title to do so? I’m not going to hate on Andy for making the last fights of his career count, but his pursuit of big paydays shouldn’t put an entire division on hold, right? Dana White might need to step in and regulate, or else we could eventually be looking at another ridiculous interim champion situation, and nobody wants that.
Judging from this new article on SporTV, Anderson Silva‘s current hiatus from fighting is exactly what we thought it was — a way to avoid title defenses against low-profile contenders and hold out for something big. Namely, a superfight against UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Here’s what the Spider had to say about the fight he wants more than anything (translation via BloodyElbow):
“Regardless of who wins, even if St. Pierre loses, a fight with me can happen. A fight like this is above anything else. St. Pierre is one of the greatest of the UFC. Right now, a fight with Condit is meaningless.”
“Meaningless”! That’s heel-talk, brother! GSP was recently medically cleared to take on interim champ Carlos Condit at UFC 154 (November 17th, Montreal), and even if the Canadian legend loses that fight, it’s safe to assume that fans would still turn out in droves to see St. Pierre fight Anderson Silva sometime next year.
Here’s my only problem: If Silva is putting off middleweight title defenses against deserving contenders in order to wait for a potential match against GSP — which could be held at a catchweight below 185 pounds — shouldn’t Silva relinquish his middleweight title to do so? I’m not going to hate on Andy for making the last fights of his career count, but his pursuit of big paydays shouldn’t put an entire division on hold, right? Dana White might need to step in and regulate, or else we could eventually be looking at another ridiculous interim champion situation, and nobody wants that.
Last week, we sent out a call for your most memorable MMA fighter run-in stories, and they’ve been steadily pouring in since then. Some of those stories were not entertaining on any level. But a bunch of them are really, really good, and we can’t wait to share them with you in this Friday’s CagePotato Roundtable column. Just yesterday, a dude named Tony sent in an epic tale of Bas Rutten savagely cock-blocking him with a beautiful Persian chick, and I don’t think it’ll be topped. But you can always try, so please continue to send your stories (with photographic proof, if possible) to [email protected] by Wednesday at midnight ET. Thanks!
(Let’s just say that GSP’s tastes are…specific.)
Last week, we sent out a call for your most memorable MMA fighter run-in stories, and they’ve been steadily pouring in since then. Some of those stories were not entertaining on any level. But a bunch of them are really, really good, and we can’t wait to share them with you in this Friday’s CagePotato Roundtable column. Just yesterday, a dude named Tony sent in an epic tale of Bas Rutten savagely cock-blocking him with a beautiful Persian chick, and I don’t think it’ll be topped. But you can always try, so please continue to send your stories (with photographic proof, if possible) to [email protected] by Wednesday at midnight ET. Thanks!
If you ever wanted to tie things up, Matt Hughes, now is the time.
The UFC’s Welterweight division has been going nowhere fast for quite some time now. In the time since champ Georges St. Pierre was sidelined with an injury and lengthy recovery, we’ve controversially crowned a interim king who’d prefer to sit and wait for the champion to reemerge rather than fight the rest of the weight class’s top contenders, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what an interim champ is supposed to do.
Now, finally, it looks like frustrated fans have some good news: Carlos Condit has a date with “Rush” marked on his calendar. The bad news? It’s written in pencil and we still have to wait five months to see it.
As reported by Sherdog.com, UFC 154, slated to go down on November 17th in Montreal, will feature the ‘unification’ of the two Welterweight straps. St. Pierre last defended his title against Jake Shields at UFC 129 in April of 2011. Assuming that Georges recovers in time for this scrap, will nineteen months of ring rust make for an even more conservative performance from the champ?
After the jump, Hendricks and Kampmann will vie for a title shot on the undercard.
If you ever wanted to tie things up, Matt Hughes, now is the time.
The UFC’s Welterweight division has been going nowhere fast for quite some time now. In the time since champ Georges St. Pierre was sidelined with an injury and lengthy recovery, we’ve controversially crowned a interim king who’d prefer to sit and wait for the champion to reemerge rather than fight the rest of the weight class’s top contenders, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what an interim champ is supposed to do.
Now, finally, it looks like frustrated fans have some good news: Carlos Condit has a date with “Rush” marked on his calendar. The bad news? It’s written in pencil and we still have to wait five months to see it.
As reported by Sherdog.com, UFC 154, slated to go down on November 17th in Montreal, will feature the ‘unification’ of the two Welterweight straps. St. Pierre last defended his title against Jake Shields at UFC 129 in April of 2011. Assuming that Georges recovers in time for this scrap, will nineteen months of ring rust make for an even more conservative performance from the champ?
If things go to hell and GSP isn’t fully recovered in time for the bout, look for “The Hitman” to step up and face Condit for the interim title. “The Natural Born Killer” has previously stated that he’d like a chance to avenge his last loss to Kampmann in the event that GSP’s return is delayed.
The stumbling block, besides the queue of challengers lining up to face both men is the fact that they compete in different weight classes — St-Pierre at 170 and Silva at 185. It would almost make more sense to have “The Spider” face 205-pound champ Jon Jones since they walk around at a closer weight and Silva has fought and won at light heavyweight, but “Bones” has stated that he has no interest in the fight.
One of the biggest proponents of a GSP-Silva pairing (which St-Pierre says he’s all for in the next 12 months) is UFC president Dana White, who stated this week that he would love to do the fight in St-Pierre’s home country,which would guarantee a sellout even if it was the only bout on the card.
“I want to put on big fights. I want to put on fights the fans want to see. I know how big that fight is. Imagine if we did Anderson Silva versus Georges St-Pierre anywhere in Canada, how big that fight would be. Believe me, I’d love to do it. We’ll see what happens,” he told MMAWeekly. “Obviously it’s a fight that people have been talking about for a long time. So like Georges said, first of all, he has to get healthy. Then he’s got to fight [Carlos] Condit. Anderson is fighting Chael [Sonnen], and then we’ll see where we go from there. I know that Anderson couldn’t make 170 [pounds], so it would depend on Georges moving up or those guys meet at a catchweight or something like that.”
The stumbling block, besides the queue of challengers lining up to face both men is the fact that they compete in different weight classes — St-Pierre at 170 and Silva at 185. It would almost make more sense to have “The Spider” face 205-pound champ Jon Jones since they walk around at a closer weight and Silva has fought and won at light heavyweight, but “Bones” has stated that he has no interest in the fight.
One of the biggest proponents of a GSP-Silva pairing (which St-Pierre says he’s all for in the next 12 months) is UFC president Dana White, who stated this week that he would love to do the fight in St-Pierre’s home country,which would guarantee a sellout even if it was the only bout on the card.
“I want to put on big fights. I want to put on fights the fans want to see. I know how big that fight is. Imagine if we did Anderson Silva versus Georges St-Pierre anywhere in Canada, how big that fight would be. Believe me, I’d love to do it. We’ll see what happens,” he told MMAWeekly. “Obviously it’s a fight that people have been talking about for a long time. So like Georges said, first of all, he has to get healthy. Then he’s got to fight [Carlos] Condit. Anderson is fighting Chael [Sonnen], and then we’ll see where we go from there. I know that Anderson couldn’t make 170 [pounds], so it would depend on Georges moving up or those guys meet at a catchweight or something like that.”
Don’t tease us Dana. Set a date and stick with it, like a marriage pact between aging friends. Tell them, “If you’re both champs on *insert date here*, you’re going to walk down the aisle to the Octagon together and things are going to rapidly go downhill between the two of you from there.” You have three Canadian dates penciled in this year, so it’s totaly doable.
I know you read the site Dana, even if it’s just to further build a case against us, but regardless of your MO, please make this the best New Year’s Eve event in the history of MMA.
Signed, your friends at CagePotato.
p.s. We never heard back from you if you enjoyed the Mrs. Fields brownie basket we sent you. We’re guessing you did even though you still won’t return our calls. We’re not mad, though. At least we’ll always have Boston.
(“When people started asking me if I was going to fight someone other than Georges, I was like…”)
(“…and then I was like…”)
UFC interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit made a stop by HDNet’s Inside MMA last night and revealed his intention to wait on his Team Jackson stablemate Georges St-Pierre to return from knee surgery, instead of taking a bout in the interim.
“The bottom line is, I have my heart set on fighting Georges St-Pierre. If George is back this year, even if it’s…later…even if it’s November, which is what’s being thrown out there, I’m waiting for Georges and that would be my next opponent,” Condit told hosts Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice. If, perhaps he’s not ready to fight this year — not ready to fight until 2013, I will entertain the idea of taking on somebody else.”
(“When people started asking me if I was going to fight someone other than Georges, I was like…”)
(“…and then I was like…”)
UFC interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit made a stop by HDNet’s Inside MMA last night and revealed his intention to wait on his Team Jackson stablemate Georges St-Pierre to return from knee surgery, instead of taking a bout in the interim.
“The bottom line is, I have my heart set on fighting Georges St-Pierre. If George is back this year, even if it’s…later…even if it’s November, which is what’s being thrown out there, I’m waiting for Georges and that would be my next opponent,” Condit told hosts Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice. If, perhaps he’s not ready to fight this year — not ready to fight until 2013, I will entertain the idea of taking on somebody else.”
“The Natural Born Killer” say that he hasn’t been pressured into taking a fight in the meantime, even though there are a few opponents he has his eye on.
“The UFC I think is looking at it from a business standpoint. They want to see the bigger fight, and basically the biggest fight is me versus Georges St-Pierre. That’s basically the sentiment I’ve gotten from Dana and some of the other UFC brass. I would love to fight some of these guys,” Condit explained. “There are some great contenders. Jake Ellenberger’s had a phenomenal run. Martin Kampmann just had a great fight and I would love to avenge that loss, but Georges St-Pierre is one of the top stars in the sport and a win over him would catapult me to a different level.”
By Mark Dorsey (Yeah, yeah, yeah…WE KNOW you guys want a CP app. We’re working on it. And your t-shirts are in the mail.)
Anybody who has searched MMA apps knows that there are dozens of products on the market. This may be a stretch for some of our readers, but let’s assume we all have interests outside of the MMA world. In a scenario like this, where we don’t all have the time to spend our days and nights trolling the comment section here like Xenophon, it is necessary to sort through the clutter and find the essential apps.
Not to worry, Potato Nation; we have you covered.
Cage Potato and Boost Mobile have teamed up to save you money, time and memory space by providing you with this Comprehensive 2012 MMA App Buyer’s Guide. While the odd gem may have slipped through the cracks, most of the best apps for your hard earned money are listed and reviewed after the jump.
By Mark Dorsey (Yeah, yeah, yeah…WE KNOW you guys want a CP app. We’re working on it. And your t-shirts are in the mail.)
Anybody who has searched MMA apps knows that there are dozens of products on the market. This may be a stretch for some of our readers, but let’s assume we all have interests outside of the MMA world. In a scenario like this, where we don’t all have the time to spend our days and nights trolling the comment section here like Xenophon, it is necessary to sort through the clutter and find the essential apps.
Not to worry, Potato Nation; we have you covered.
Cage Potato and Boost Mobile have teamed up to save you money, time and memory space by providing you with this Comprehensive 2012 MMA App Buyer’s Guide. While the odd gem may have slipped through the cracks, most of the best apps for your hard earned money are listed and reviewed below.
News/Analysis
MMA Underground
Developer: Adept Mobile
Price:$1.99
This is by far my favourite MMA app for a number of reasons. I go to the “Forums” section multiple times a day for a combination of behind the scenes information from people like Dana White and Joe Rogan and analysis from 16-year-old pro-wrestling converts who live in their parents’ basement. It’s that dichotomy that makes the Underground a unique app that is a must-have for the serious fan. There are some negatives. For the casual fan, the cut and paste style “News” page isn’t very comprehensive and the developers are slow to satisfy customer feedback and concerns. I also seem to have the occasional problem loading and refreshing the Forums and News. Quibbles aside, the app has a slick design and is very easy to navigate. With information on local events and an official database of over 250,000 fighters this app is worth the price for all major fight fans.
———-
MMA Junkie
Developer:FreeRange360
Cost:Free
MMA Junkie is like the Associated Press of the MMA world, shying away from editorializing and focusing strictly on news. The MMA Junkie App is a great free addition to your smartphone, giving you access to all of Junkie’s comprehensive “News” content. The app also gives to the ability to save articles to read later and to email articles to friends. The best feature is the up-to-the-minute scoring from the live shows to keep you informed of the prelims and main card if you’re not able to actually watch. The upcoming “Events” section is easy to access, and provides a decent reminder of fights to look forward to. The app is simple and well-designed just like the website and I give it a solid endorsement for both casual and hard-core fans.
———-
UFC
Developer:MobiTV
Price:Free
This functions that this app possesses have huge potential but at this point in time, there are way too many glitches to make it useful. I suppose the ability to pay $44.99 to watch a PPV event on your phone may appeal to some people who have no other choice, but the quality isn’t good enough and it’s far too small when you have the option to watch a live event on a laptop or television. The most convenient aspect of the UFC app is the alerts for press conferences and weigh-ins and the ability to watch them on your smartphone; however, I wonder how much interest the casual fan would have in these options as opposed to just getting a summary of the highlights after they’re done. The biggest problem with the app is that sections like “News”, “Fight Cards” and “Fighter Bios” have broken links and are not updated as frequently as they should be. Also, many of the “Videos” just don’t seem to load at all. This app is a huge disappointment and I expected more from the preeminent MMA organization because simply put, they really should be leading the pack like their contemporaries in other sports like the NHL and NBA.