(“I would not fight anyone here. These are my friends.”)
Anderson Silva made a stop on the Max & Marcellus show on ESPN 710 radio this morning and made some interesting comments about some of his potential future fights.
Although he mentioned his upcoming rematch with Chael Sonnen, who he says ” no respect nothing,” “The Spider” named injured welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre as his most apt opponent out of anyone in the UFC right now.
(“I would not fight anyone here. These are my friends.”)
Anderson Silva made a stop on the Max & Marcellus show on ESPN 710 radio this morning and made some interesting comments about some of his potential future fights.
Although he mentioned his upcoming rematch with Chael Sonnen, who he says ” no respect nothing,” “The Spider” named injured welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre as his most apt opponent out of anyone in the UFC right now.
“Georges is the best fighter in this sport. My opinion is it a great, great, great fight — me and Georges. I like Georges. He’s a good man. He’s a good guy for this sport, and he represents the sport [well] to all the people in Canada,” he explained. “Maybe one day this fight is the good fight.”
When asked if he might move up a weight class (like St-Pierre will likely have to do to make the fight happen) to face Jon Jones, Silva rejected the notion because “Bones” is in a different weight class. Ironic, isn’t it, since he’s willing to fight a welterweight.
“No man. I see the start…the first time that Jon Jones [fought]. I’m seeing [him like me in] my first fight. I talked to Jon Jones maybe for three or four days when we stayed together in the UFC. I told him, ‘Hey man, you’re the best; this time you need to take your focus to training. You have more and more fights a year, but you no have opponents.’ A fight with Jon Jones, this is maybe no good,” Silva stated. “I’m in a different class. In my academy we have Rogerio Minotoro [Noguiera], Rafael Feijao and Lyoto Machida. All the guys are the same class [as Jon Jones]. One day I watched the first fight of Jon Jones [in the UFC] and I said, ‘I like this guy.’ He is great. I like it. He has the old positions. I like it. I don’t know. A fight with me is just no good fight.”
Jones was on Opie and Anthony yesterday and said that he would take a fight with Silva if its what the UFC and the fans wanted. I’d link the interview and the quote, but we don’t want any more pests lingering in the comment section, so you’ll just have to take my word on it. They managed to get Dana to block us again on Twitter, so chalk one up for the nerds and outcasts of the Tweet world.
By Elias Cepeda (“I am not im-pressed wit my lack of title de-fense.”)
It’s time to strip Georges St. Pierre of his UFC welterweight championship.
Ok, perhaps not at this very moment, but come May 1, it will have been over a year since the UFC champ has defended his 170lb strap. St. Pierre hasn’t run from challenges or fights, he’s just had several consecutive knee injuries (the most recent one, a torn ACL that required surgery to repair) that have forced him to pull out of scheduled belt defenses.
Carlos Condit just won a razor-thin interim title bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 143, but would have to wait until the new year is almost over before being able to fight GSP. The Canadian says he won’t be ready to fight again until November. Unfortunately, we’ve seen these situations in the UFC before and a standard has emerged of champions needing to defend their titles at least once a year. In 2004, UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir was in a motorcycle accident that put him on the shelf. Initially, when it was unknown if and when he would return, an interim title was created and was won by Andrei Arlovski. When it was clear that Mir would go longer than a year without defending his belt, the interim champ was made the “full” champ. It wasn’t about punishing Mir, it was simply about letting the division continue, with significant matchups made and fights promoted well.
Even GSP seems to agree that he shouldn’t be considered the UFC champion while going so long without defending the gold. “The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night. I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured,” he told UFC.com shortly before UFC 143.
By Elias Cepeda (“I am not im-pressed wit my lack of title de-fense.”)
It’s time to strip Georges St. Pierre of his UFC welterweight championship.
Ok, perhaps not at this very moment, but come May 1, it will have been over a year since the UFC champ has defended his 170lb strap. St. Pierre hasn’t run from challenges or fights, he’s just had several consecutive knee injuries (the most recent one, a torn ACL that required surgery to repair) that have forced him to pull out of scheduled belt defenses.
Carlos Condit just won a razor-thin interim title bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 143, but would have to wait until the new year is almost over before being able to fight GSP. The Canadian says he won’t be ready to fight again until November. Unfortunately, we’ve seen these situations in the UFC before and a standard has emerged of champions needing to defend their titles at least once a year. In 2004, UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir was in a motorcycle accident that put him on the shelf. Initially, when it was unknown if and when he would return, an interim title was created and was won by Andrei Arlovski. When it was clear that Mir would go longer than a year without defending his belt, the interim champ was made the “full” champ. It wasn’t about punishing Mir, it was simply about letting the division continue, with significant matchups made and fights promoted well.
Even GSP seems to agree that he shouldn’t be considered the UFC champion while going so long without defending the gold. “The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night. I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured,” he told UFC.com shortly before UFC 143.
UFC President Dana White was asked about immediately rematching Condit and Diaz at the UFC 143 post-event presser and said, “I don’t know. That’s crazy. That’s crazy.” Then again, he said it with a grin on his face. One has to guess that White wouldn’t mind another grudge match that features lots of Nick Diaz doing this in the lead up promotion.
But the only reason an immediate return bout for Condit and Diaz would be “crazy,” is if it wasn’t for the UFC welterweight belt. Condit having to beat Diaz twice for a shot at St. Pierre smacks of unfairness.
But take St. Pierre out of the immediate title equation, because he, like past injured champions, is not able to defend his title within a year, and you’ve got Carlos Condit as the defending UFC welterweight against his new shit-talking nemesis who just went blow for blow with him in a close five-rounder.
Automatic title rematches after close bouts are almost the norm in the UFC. See Randy Couture versus Pedro Rizzo in 2001, Lyoto Machida versus “Shogun” Rua in 2009 and 2010, and Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard in 2011. The only reason most haven’t been calling for the same to happen with Condit and Diaz is that there is currently the pesky matter of multiple champions.
Before UFC 143 the welterweight division had a love triangle of GSP, Diaz and Condit. Hell, St. Pierre was even a central character in Condit and Diaz’s Primetime special. After their close stand-up battle last weekend, and with GSP still unable to fight, we’ve basically got the same top three guys in play. It would be unfair to expect Condit and Diaz to go the better part of a year without the wages another fight would earn them while everyone waits for St. Pierre to heal up. And having either or both of them fight other men could just confuse the title picture further and push the rivalries that we’ve come to care about these past few months to the back burner.
White has said that Diaz fighting Koscheck next is interesting to him, but would it be to that many others? I, for one, am more interested to see if Koscheck can actually earn a win against someone like Mike Pierce after a gift decision Saturday. And with his wrestling Koscheck would have a good shot at beating Diaz, placing him closer to a third fight with St. Pierre that no one without a curly bleached FresnoFro wants to see. I’d much rather see Josh Koscheck and Javier Mendez square off after recent events.
St. Pierre is the best welterweight the UFC has, but unfortunately injuries have taken him out of the game for the time being. He can’t defend his title the way champions have historically had to, or in a manner that even he feels is sufficient.
Don’t make Condit sit out almost a year without earning a purse, the guy has a wife and kid to take care of, after all. Give the man the title he’s earned by winning against the number one contender and by essentially being on call for big fights for the last seven months and then let him earn his paper by taking on the man who made the “Natural Born Killer” turn to masterful tactics over his usual reckless abandon.
With Condit vs. Diaz II, the fans would have another evenly-matched blockbuster on their hands between two men who will start to resent each other more and more with each passing day. Would it suck for St. Pierre? Absolutely, but it wouldn’t be unfair to him.
Here’s an added bonus: Think St. Pierre doesn’t go for the finish anymore? Imagine the aggressive riddum he’d bring when he returns to bear on the man who holds the belt he never technically lost.
If you need a reminder how Saturday night’s main event between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz came to be, “FightArtsFandom” AKA, Will Banh has crafted this succinct little animated video to refresh your memory.
If you need a reminder how Saturday night’s main event between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz came to be, “FightArtsFandom” AKA, Will Banh has crafted this succinct little animated video to refresh your memory.
(Georges is so pumped to fight Diaz, he wears his fight gear while he hobbles around outside all of the local Stockton head shops.)
With all of the criticism Georges St-Pierre has gotten the past few years for his conservative style of fighting, sometimes people overlook just how much the dominant UFC welterweight kingpin purveys the blueprint of how a champion should act both inside and outside of the Octagon.
In a recent interview he did for UFC.com, St-Pierre said that because he hasn’t been active lately due to a pair of knee injuries, he doesn’t consider himself to be the UFC welterweight title holder anymore and that he will need to beat the winner of the interim title bout between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit Saturday night to once again become the champ.
(Georges is so pumped to fight Diaz, he wears his fight gear while he hobbles around outside all of the local Stockton head shops.)
With all of the criticism Georges St-Pierre has gotten the past few years for his conservative style of fighting, sometimes people overlook just how much the dominant UFC welterweight kingpin purveys the blueprint of how a champion should act both inside and outside of the Octagon.
In a recent interview he did for UFC.com, St-Pierre said that because he hasn’t been active lately due to a pair of knee injuries, he doesn’t consider himself to be the UFC welterweight title holder anymore and that he will need to beat the winner of the interim title bout between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit Saturday night to once again become the champ.
“The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night. I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured. The winner of this fight on Saturday will be more than just the new number one contender, but he won’t be the new champion either,” St-Pierre explains. “The winner of this fight will have to beat me to become the true world champion and I will have to beat the winner of this fight in order to call myself the best in the world again.I like the format where the winner of this fight will have to fight me and I have to fight the winner to truly become the UFC champion. That is what the UFC is about,that is competition. This is fair to all of us, we have to beat each other to be the undisputed champion.”
“Rush” also reiterated his statement that he’s cheering for Diaz to win because he wants to pay the former Strikeforce champion back for a series of insults he’s slung at him the past few months.
“I respect Carlos Condit, but I want Diaz to win. It will be a weird feeling, sitting at the Mandalay Bay wanting Nick Diaz to win. I want this fight with Diaz so badly, as badly as I wanted the title shot when I got down on my knees. I am not personal friends with [Carlos], but I know him a little and he’s a great person. I know a lot of people who know him well because we train with the same people, but I have only spoken with him a few times. He is a true mixed martial artist. I feel bad, it is weird that I want him to lose, but I have never wanted to fight anyone as much as I want to fight Diaz,” he says. “I have never asked Dana White for anything, but I did ask to fight Nick Diaz. I was [crushed] when I had to pull out of this weekend’s fight hurt, but I am determined to get back to the Octagon as soon as possible to fight this guy. He needs to hold up his part and beat Carlos Condit on Saturday to make this fight happen.I am very nervous that Carlos Condit will win on Saturday night, and that I won’t be able to fight Nick Diaz this summer. Carlos Condit is a very good fighter, he can strike, he is aggressive and he has submissions. He has been very impressive and is the type of fighter who gets better and better the more confident he gets.”
With Diaz, St-Pierre says, he has to expect the unexpected, like a fight in a hotel lobby, which he says he’s prepared for since Nick has been known to start trouble with opponents in the past. He points out that he relishes the opportunity to teach the Stockton native some respect and how to carry himself as a fighter, he’s prepared to
“I don’t truly hate him as a person. I don’t know that he is a bad guy, but I hate what he brings to the sport with the disrespect and the unprofessional things he says and does. It is sort of a professional hatred. He has been nothing but disrespectful and arrogant towards me. During UFC 137 [week] I felt like I had to walk around Las Vegas with my fists ready [to punch Diaz] because every time I came across him he wanted to fight there and then. Every time the elevator opened [in the hotel] I needed to be ready to fight in case he stepped in. I was on edge all week. This guy is crazy. I am used to hearing [smack] talk from opponents, Matt Serra did it, Dan Hardy did it, and Josh Koscheck did it, but with Diaz he has taken it to another level. He and his coach [Cesar Gracie] have called me a coward and tried to disrespect my accomplishments. All that has done though is make me determined to beat him up. He will bring out the best in me, I will be 100 percent focused, like a bomb-expert defusing a time-bomb. When my back is against the wall and I have no choice but to win, when I cannot lose to this person under any cost, that is when I am most dangerous. Also, as champion, I believe Diaz deserves the fight for the title. Style-wise, he is a very tough match for me and the fans deserve to see the fight they really want to see.”
As far as his rehab from recent knee surgery, St-Pierre says he is progressing well, but fell short of giving a projected date for his return.
“I am ahead of schedule. I can already train and even kick but I am remaining calm and not rushing. I won’t train properly until July, it is a matter of discipline not to force my knee to go harder than it can heal. No athlete wants to sit on the sidelines, especially when you are the champion and you must watch two others fight for the interim championship belt,” he says. “I will watch on Saturday and go home very motivated to rehab on Monday morning but I must be disciplined and I must continue to rehab at the pace I am doing.”
Most of the bouts slated for the event will be moved to the April 21 card which will take place in Atlanta at the Philips Arena.
The semi-complete Canadian-steeped card lacked the drawing power that a championship fight would bring, so rather than put on a less than impressive event for it’s only showing in Quebec it looks like they’ve decided to wait until a better line-up is available. Itseems likely that the UFC is banking on adding a unification bout between GSP and the winner of the Carlos Condit versus Nick Diaz interim welterweight title bout next month to the line-up when the Octagon returns to La Belle Province before the end of 2012. St-Pierre, who underwent surgery last month to repair a knee injury he sustained while training, announced yesterday that he should be back training in July and back in action by winter.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/HDNet)
Here are the fights that will likely be moved to Atlanta:
Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills
Travis Browne vs. Chad Griggs
Mark Bocek vs. Matt Wiman
Mark Hominick vs. Eddie Yagin
Brendan Schaub vs. Ben Rothwell
Mac Danzig vs. Efrain Escudero
John Makdessi vs. Anthony Njokuani
Chris Clements vs. Keith Wisniewski
Gina Carano‘s debut film, Haywire (which was said to be written and made for her by renowned director and MMA fan, Steven Soderbergh) had its red-carpet premiere this weekend. Access Hollywood was out seeking some.
Gina Carano‘s debut film, Haywire (which was said to be written and made for her by renowned director and MMA fan, Steven Soderbergh) had its red-carpet premiere this weekend. Access Hollywood was out seeking some good Gina Carano acting reviews from her co-stars. Such positive comments about Carano included, “She’s a proper fighter” said Ewan McGregor and “She’s maybe the second best athlete that I ever worked with” said Channing Tatum.
We are pretty proud of our beautiful Gina Carano who is again helping to bolster the MMA sport by starring in her own mainstream action film and we’re also proud because we’re 97 percent sure that she doesn’t take steroids. After the video, check out Carano’s date to the premiere. Think he could have worn a suit, eh? What a scrub.
