Berto (left) on his way to a unanimous decision victory over Luis Collazo
I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen this scenario play out before.
Earlier in the week, ES Boxing News caught up with two-time welterweight boxing champion Andre Berto, and spoke to the former champ about the possibility of seeing him fight MMA. The question isn’t exactly posed to Andre without merit – current Bellator fighter James Edson Berto is his brother and his sister, Revelina Berto, is trying out for the co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter – even though it quickly becomes obvious that Berto is only a (very) casual fan of the sport. As in, he admits that he doesn’t know anything about MMA weight classes and possibly has Jon Jones confused with Anderson Silva (A Jon Jones/GSP super fight?).
Despite this, Berto claims to have spoken to Dana White about competing in the UFC – an idea that White was in support of. According to Berto, White was very complimentary of his boxing career, saying that he is “one of the only guys in boxing that keeps it alive” when they spoke.
Berto (left) on his way to a unanimous decision victory over Luis Collazo
I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen this scenario play out before.
Earlier in the week, ES Boxing News caught up with two-time welterweight boxing champion Andre Berto, and spoke to the former champ about the possibility of seeing him fight MMA. The question isn’t exactly posed to Andre without merit – current Bellator fighter James Edson Berto is his brother and his sister, Revelina Berto, is trying out for the co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter – even though it quickly becomes obvious that Berto is only a (very) casual fan of the sport. As in, he admits that he doesn’t know anything about MMA weight classes and possibly has Jon Jones confused with Anderson Silva (A Jon Jones/GSP super fight?).
Despite this, Berto claims to have spoken to Dana White about competing in the UFC – an idea that White was in support of. According to Berto, White was very complimentary of his boxing career, saying that he is “one of the only guys in boxing that keeps it alive” when they spoke.
It wouldn’t be fair to compare Andre Berto to James Toney, a has-been who blatantly only wanted to compete in MMA for a quick paycheck. However, I think a comparison of his interest in MMA to Manny Pacquiao’s curiousity towards our sport isn’t too far of a stretch. Sure, it’d be fun to watch Berto step in the cage with a featherweight striker (Frankie Edgar and Leonard Garcia quickly come to mind), but there is absolutely no way that his management lets him accept an MMA fight while he’s still a relevant draw in the boxing world.
Besdies, Berto isn’t exaggerating when he says that he “definitely gets paid handsomely.” As BloodyElbow pointed out, he made $1,625,000 in his most recent fight – a unanimous decision loss to Robert Guerrero. Safe to say Dana White won’t be offering him that much money.
My personal favorite quote comes at the 4:38 mark, when Berto is asked who would win a fight between Cyborg Santos and Ronda Rousey. Berto takes a few seconds to think over the question, then replies “Cyborg’s like a dude! She’s a beast!” If you only watch one part of the interview, this is the part to watch.
So what do you think about the idea of Andre Berto competing in MMA? Would you be interested in seeing whether he could be competitive in this sport, or would he get lay-and-prayed into irrelevance? Or are we all just wasting our time discussing this, because he’ll never step foot in the cage? Let us know.
(*sniffle*…and then…and then the bad man told me that i would never amount to anything, and that I had a big, stupid face…*begins bawling hysterically*)
Tito Ortizis to conspiracy theories what Wilmer Valderrama is to “Yo Momma” jokes. A fun fact: After slipping on a patch of ice in his driveway and bruising his tailbone as a child, Tito Ortiz convinced himself that the residual water was left behind by an opposing wrestling team in an effort to take him out of the competition. Twenty-some odd years later…crab people. The HAARP Machine? Started by Ortiz to explain his loss to Frank Shamrock at UFC 22. Zeitgeist? A Tito Ortiz production attempting to write off his performance at UFC 44. And don’t even get Tito started on that completely flawed Magic Loogie theory.
Anyways, we haven’t heard much from Tito since he dropped a close decision to longtime rival Forrest Griffin in his retirement fight at UFC 148. Unfortunately, Ortiz recently emerged from hiding to take one final dump on the promotion that made him the man he is today (and a boatload of cash to boot), throwing everyone from Joe Rogan to Dana White under the bus along the way.
Video after the jump.
(*sniffle*…and then…and then the bad man told me that i would never amount to anything, and that I had a big, stupid face…*begins bawling hysterically*)
Tito Ortizis to conspiracy theories what Wilmer Valderrama is to “Yo Momma” jokes. A fun fact: After slipping on a patch of ice in his driveway and bruising his tailbone as a child, Tito Ortiz convinced himself that the residual water was left behind by an opposing wrestling team in an effort to take him out of the competition. Twenty-some odd years later…crab people. The HAARP Machine? Started by Ortiz to explain his loss to Frank Shamrock at UFC 22. Zeitgeist? A Tito Ortiz production attempting to write off his performance at UFC 44. And don’t even get Tito started on that completely flawed Magic Loogie theory.
Anyways, we haven’t heard much from Tito since he dropped a close decision to longtime rival Forrest Griffin in his retirement fight at UFC 148. Unfortunately, Ortiz recently emerged from hiding to take one final dump on the promotion that made him the man he is today (and a boatload of cash to boot), throwing everyone from Joe Rogan to Dana White under the bus along the way.
Video after the jump.
For your entertainment/convenience, we’ve provided a transcript of Ortiz’s latest conspiracy below (starts around the 4:40 mark, via GroundandPoundTV) along with our running commentary:
I thought I won the fight. When you drop a guy twice, when you take a guy down four times and you dominate by doing it…he never took me down, he never hurt me.
Fair enough; you think you won the fight, and you cited a few examples to make your case. So far, so good, although the “he never hurt me” mantra is about as used up as, well…
Go back and watch the fight. For the first time ever in UFC history, they showed strikes attempted. Not strikes landed, strikes attempted. When do you ever show someone with strikes attempted?
He never hit me, I blocked all of them. I checked all of his kicks.
Well that, that is just an outright lie. For proof of this, follow either of the links in the previous paragraph.
And I listen to Joe Rogan and it was like a one-sided fight that he was watching. I gave him shit on the phone one time because of it and when we did the podcast he kind of side-winded around it and never got to those questions. But he said, “Look at the leg kicks that Forrest is hitting him with.” I checked all of them. My shin, I had a chipped bone on the tip of it because I checked all of his kicks.
…and after [Forrest ran] out of the fight, that shows that he lost.
*checking unified rules of mixed martial arts* Nope, it doesn’t. It’s kind of like how the judges don’t pick a winner based on who raises their hands first after a fight either.
…and for Dana to go back and run and get him and to come back, there’s something fishy going on here. How does Dana know how the match is gonna turn out? I thought something was fishy about that. Was it premeditated? Was it pre………….planned out, what the answer was gonna be? If I didn’t knock him out or submit him, they knew who was gonna win. And it’s too bad for my fans.
It bothered me really bad, but I went out the way I wanted to. I went out swinging, I went out on my shield and I held my shield up like no other.
This just in: Tito Ortiz to host a seminar this summer. The topic: Using repetitive metaphors and confusing non-sequiturs to make your point.
Ortiz goes on to make his usual list of post-fight excuses: bum knee, ruptured disks, new injuries that prevented him from training, etc. before stating that “he doesn’t look for excuses.” They sure seem to find him, though.
It turns out that UFC light heavyweight Glover Teixeira has a niece who is a first grader at Sandy Hook Elementary. In a new ad for Demand Action to End Gun Violence, an organization started by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to increase gun regulation, Glover talks about his family’s harrowing experience and vaguely calls for more gun regulation.
“My niece was a first grader at Sandy Hook,” Glover says. “She survived. She was lucky. We were lucky. Her life, our kids, her future, they can’t always count on luck. We need to use our heads when it comes to guns…assault weapons are not for sport.”
We’re not going to make an argument for or against increased gun regulation, but we do find it noteworthy that MMA has apparently come so far from being considered a brutal, violent, spectacle that its participants and their profession are now being used as anti-violence figures by major groups.
Check out the ad and let us know what you think, nation.
It turns out that UFC light heavyweight Glover Teixeira has a niece who is a first grader at Sandy Hook Elementary. In a new ad for Demand Action to End Gun Violence, an organization started by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to increase gun regulation, Glover talks about his family’s harrowing experience and vaguely calls for more gun regulation.
“My niece was a first grader at Sandy Hook,” Glover says. “She survived. She was lucky. We were lucky. Her life, our kids, her future, they can’t always count on luck. We need to use our heads when it comes to guns…assault weapons are not for sport.”
We’re not going to make an argument for or against increased gun regulation, but we do find it noteworthy that MMA has apparently come so far from being considered a brutal, violent, spectacle that its participants and their profession are now being used as anti-violence figures by major groups.
Check out the ad and let us know what you think, nation.
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture has said that it took him some time to learn to deal with fame and people treating him differently. The multi-weight champ is one of MMA’s most recognizable faces but outside of the cage he has always seemed every bit the every man in the way he talks and interacts with fans.
Randy is well-spoken but quiet. Friendly but far from a social butterfly.
His son, Ryan, seems similar in those regards. The lightweight makes his UFC debut tonight in Stockholm, Sweden against Ross Pearson in the co-main event of the embattled UFC on Fuel TV 9 card today.
He’s following his father in the organization “The Natural” helped build but is now persona non grata in. The younger Ryan has faced extra attention heading into this fight because of the ugly falling out between his dad and UFC President Dana White.
Luckily for him, the young Couture got used to extra attention because of who his dad is, long ago. “I was a little weirded out by it at first,” he tells CagePotato.
“I had my first amateur fight, like a million other guys, but then I started getting interview requests. I didn’t expect that and it was definitely weird to do an interview for an amateur fight.”
Ryan was neither annoyed nor impressed by the attention, however. He saw it for what it was, and saw it as a learning experience. “At least I got used to it and started to learn how to deal with it,” he says.
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture has said that it took him some time to learn to deal with fame and people treating him differently. The multi-weight champ is one of MMA’s most recognizable faces but outside of the cage he has always seemed every bit the every man in the way he talks and interacts with fans.
Randy is well-spoken but quiet. Friendly but far from a social butterfly.
His son, Ryan, seems similar in those regards. The lightweight makes his UFC debut tonight in Stockholm, Sweden against Ross Pearson in the co-main event of the embattled UFC on Fuel TV 9 card today.
He’s following his father in the organization “The Natural” helped build but is now persona non grata in. The younger Ryan has faced extra attention heading into this fight because of the ugly falling out between his dad and UFC President Dana White.
Luckily for him, the young Couture got used to extra attention because of who his dad is, long ago. “I was a little weirded out by it at first,” he tells CagePotato.
“I had my first amateur fight, like a million other guys, but then I started getting interview requests. I didn’t expect that and it was definitely weird to do an interview for an amateur fight.”
Ryan was neither annoyed nor impressed by the attention, however. He saw it for what it was, and saw it as a learning experience. “At least I got used to it and started to learn how to deal with it,” he says.
“I’m a pretty quiet guy and am not naturally inclined for interviews and stuff like that. So at least I got practice early on and it isn’t like I had to learn that stuff suddenly later on at the same time I started having bigger fights.”
Today’s fight is his biggest, by virtue not just of the UFC stage but his opponent. Couture had taken steps up in competition recently as a Strikeforce fighter, facing and beating Conor Heun and KJ Noons, for example.
He says he’s treating the former Ultimate Fighter winner Pearson as if he’s the best guy he’s ever faced.
“I definitely think he’s up there with KJ,” Couture says. “Both are high level guys that have power and who have fought other really good guys.”
Many counted Couture out against Heun and Noons, and are quick to say that he’s in over his head against the much more experienced Pearson. Couture sounds dispassionate as he expresses confidence and explains that he just wants to fight the best in the world.
“I didn’t think I would have been ready this quickly [for the UFC] but things have been coming together in training and in my last couple fights,” he says.
“I’ve shown that I can take a shot, stay focused and come back. I work hard and feel that this is what’s out there for me. I feel like I’m really starting to come in to my own. This is a great opportunity. I just can’t wait to get out there and show what I’m capable of.”
(“I think putting ourselves in dangerous situations makes our lives exciting.” / Photo courtesy of Denise Truscello @ WireImage via Getty)
By Ben Goldstein
With her fight against Kathina Catron leading off the Invicta FC 5 prelims this Friday, we called up CP’s favorite (and only!) sponsored fighterRose Namajunas to get to know the woman a little better. So what did she have to say about pre-fight nerves, Pat Barry, and mean-mugging strangers at the grocery store? Read on and find out. And be sure to follow Rose on twitter @RoseNamajunas for more updates from her life.
CAGEPOTATO.COM: First of all, who gave you the nickname “Thug”?
Rose Namajunas: My neighborhood friends. When I was little, I was the only white girl, I was smaller than everyone else, and for some reason I just acted harder than everybody else — just fearless, you know? So they kind of dubbed me that because of the intimidating scowl I always had on my face. That’s what gave me that name.
I’ve noticed that scowl before your fights, and even in your weigh-ins. Do you have to get yourself into that Thug-mode — is it a separate persona — or are you that intense all the time?
That’s just one aspect of my personality. I have a playful, fun-loving side, and I also have a very sensitive and emotional side to my personality. But it’s definitely one of the main things that most strangers will pick off of me from a first impression, that I really come off as this intimidating type of person. Like I said, it’s just one aspect of my personality, but I’m always practicing a staredown with strangers. Even going to the grocery store, I might mean-mug somebody just to see if I get a weird feeling from them. It’s practice. And I think that’s one thing that fighters don’t really practice that much, is their intimidation and their mind games, and the intimidating looks that you can give to people. It really can win or lose you the fight if you have that down. Mike Tyson was phenomenal at that game, of intimidating his opponents — he won the fight before it even started.
Has a stranger ever tried to fight you because you were looking at them funny in the grocery store?
(“I think putting ourselves in dangerous situations makes our lives exciting.” / Photo courtesy of Denise Truscello @ WireImage via Getty)
By Ben Goldstein
With her fight against Kathina Catron leading off the Invicta FC 5 prelims this Friday, we called up CP’s favorite (and only!) sponsored fighterRose Namajunas to get to know the woman a little better. So what did she have to say about pre-fight nerves, Pat Barry, and mean-mugging strangers at the grocery store? Read on and find out. And be sure to follow Rose on twitter @RoseNamajunas for more updates from her life.
CAGEPOTATO.COM: First of all, who gave you the nickname “Thug”?
Rose Namajunas: My neighborhood friends. When I was little, I was the only white girl, I was smaller than everyone else, and for some reason I just acted harder than everybody else — just fearless, you know? So they kind of dubbed me that because of the intimidating scowl I always had on my face. That’s what gave me that name.
I’ve noticed that scowl before your fights, and even in your weigh-ins. Do you have to get yourself into that Thug-mode — is it a separate persona — or are you that intense all the time?
That’s just one aspect of my personality. I have a playful, fun-loving side, and I also have a very sensitive and emotional side to my personality. But it’s definitely one of the main things that most strangers will pick off of me from a first impression, that I really come off as this intimidating type of person. Like I said, it’s just one aspect of my personality, but I’m always practicing a staredown with strangers. Even going to the grocery store, I might mean-mug somebody just to see if I get a weird feeling from them. It’s practice. And I think that’s one thing that fighters don’t really practice that much, is their intimidation and their mind games, and the intimidating looks that you can give to people. It really can win or lose you the fight if you have that down. Mike Tyson was phenomenal at that game, of intimidating his opponents — he won the fight before it even started.
Has a stranger ever tried to fight you because you were looking at them funny in the grocery store?
Well, that’s the one risk you have you have to constantly take. Playing the staring game with strangers, you never know who you’re going to run into. I mean, you might run into me, you never know! It’s definitely a risk doing that with strangers, but you know, we take a risk going into the cage. So if you win that staredown with a stranger, then you know you’ve won. And if they flip on you and go crazy, then, you know…that sucks. [laughs]
Your second professional fight is just two days away. Between weight-cutting and travel, how difficult is fight week for you?
I don’t know if I would say the difficulty level is higher or lower. You know that it’s crunch time, and you know that there are a lot of things to do in one week. The physical stress is a lot less, but the mental stress is way more. You’re not banging up your body, you’re not breaking your body down to zero energy level, but all the interviews and media that you have to do takes a toll on you mentally, and so does the anticipation. You know that it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming, and it just increases towards the day of the fight.
In an interview last year with BabesofMMA, you mentioned that you’ve struggled with nerves before a fight. How badly does that still affect you, and what do you do to calm yourself down?
Well, here’s the thing — I think any fighter who says they don’t get nervous is either lying because they want to look tough, or they don’t really care about it and probably shouldn’t be doing it. If you’re not nervous before something, then you don’t care. I put everything into fighting, and for me to invest everything emotionally, physically, and spiritually into this increases my nerves because I want to do well. And also, you never know what’s going to happen. You know how good you are, and you want to focus on yourself, but no matter who you’re fighting — no matter what size they are, no matter what their record is — they’re always the scariest person at that time, and then afterwards it’s like, “Oh well, nevermind.”
I think another myth is that the more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it. But in each fight I’ve had, I get more and more nervous because the pressure keeps building and building, and it’s a new challenge every time. It never gets easier, and I think that’s just something you have to accept over time. But that’s why we do it. If there’s no build up to it, then it doesn’t make it exciting, and I think putting ourselves in dangerous situations makes our lives exciting.
I know you’ve been an athlete and martial artist most of your life. Was there a specific moment that inspired you to get into MMA?
One thing just led to another. My family has always been involved in sports. My grandfather was a professional wrestler and a champion in Lithuania for many years. I have a second cousin or aunt, or whatever you want to call it, she’s a professional basketball player, and all my family is involved with different things like art and music. Sports always played a major role in my life, but martial arts were always there since day one. I started going to Duke Roufus’s gym and I met Pat Barry, and Anthony Pettis was coming up at the time, Eric Schafer was in the UFC, and the UFC was growing and growing, and I realized that I could do something great with this and it didn’t just have to be a hobby for me.
I’ve been splitting up my training camp between Minnesota at the Academy, and Trevor Wittman’s gym at Grudge Training Center in Colorado. I train with Kaitlin Young a lot of the time. We have Mike Richman, who’s gonna have his Bellator fight against Frodo [Khasbulaev] this Thursday, and then we’ve got Jacob Volkmann who’s a phenomenal wrestler. We’ve got all these names coming out of the Academy that I train with, and obviously all the legends that came from there, like Sean Sherk and Dave Menne. Back in Colorado I train with Cat Zingano, and she’s a frickin’ beast. She’s taken me down a thousand million times, she’s a super stud wrestler, and that’s not even her number one strength. I mean, her striking is great too, she just comes forward fearlessly. And there’s a ton of other girls that I train with in Colorado; I normally don’t get that many females to train with. But on top of that, you know, Trevor Wittman is a great coach, and Greg Nelson and obviously Pat are my main coaches who really push me to the next level.
You had your pro debut in January at the last Invicta event. Tell me a little about the experience of being on an all-female card. Was it more comfortable for you, or did you prefer being one of the few female fighters at those King of the Cage events you used to compete on?
Invicta doesn’t ignore the fact that we’re females and we’re different. I mean, we need to actually do our hair and get it braided, and we need to take pregnancy tests, just the little things like that, they acknowledge it and pay attention. But they also treat us like queens. And it’s just a level of professionalism that they have. I’m really appreciative of everything they’ve given me.
Your opponent on Friday, Kathina Catron, is also relatively new in her career. How much do you know about her, and what are your thoughts on her?
I think she has more experience than I do, so she has that edge on me, but I’ve always been the less-experienced fighter in all of my fights. I’ve also been the smaller fighter in all of my fights — I’ve fought up a weight class in all my amatuer fights even though I was way smaller, and I still came out on top, so I think I have that advantage of being able to overcome the obstacles. [Catron] does have more finishes than I do, so I think she’s going to come out in the fight really gutsy and wild, and I think she won’t be afraid to take any risks.
Now, I believe that I’m better all around, standing and on the ground. I think that she’s a well-rounded fighter, and that can be good in some instances, but sometimes when you’re a well-rounded fighter you get too comfortable in just letting the fight go wherever it goes, and for me, that’s not what I want to do. I want to take the fight to where I want it to go. I want to make a game plan and take it to where she’s uncomfortable and finish it.
There hasn’t been any trash talk between you and Katrina leading up to this fight. Do you think you’d ever trash-talk another fighter to create buzz around yourself, or call a fighter out to get her attention? It seems to work for some people.
If it happens, it happens — it’s not going to be forced or planned. I’m not opposed to it. But if it turns into one of those things where, “Okay, I’m going to do this for attention or to get the media to bite into it,” then I’m not going to do it because I never want to do anything forced; I want to just go with the wind. I feel really comfortable for this fight. There are obstacles that I’ve had to overcome, but all and all, everything’s falling into place, and I’m not gonna create any type of bad blood that’s not there. I don’t really know [Catron], I don’t even think about her that much. I just know that she’s an opponent and I have to take care of business and do what I gotta do, and if we happen to talk afterwards that would be cool. We’ll probably run into each other before the weigh-ins or something, and it might be fun, we’ll see.
By the way, how did Pat Barry charm you into being his girlfriend?
Well, he’s kind of irresistible! I was going to the gym every day and keeping to myself, not really talking to anybody. But he has a knack for charisma, and he’s a very charming man. His smile…I don’t know what it was, but when he walked past me, I felt some type of surreal feeling that I can’t really explain in words. But I still kept to myself regardless of that feeling, and over time, he began to gain my trust and vice versa. He always tells the story about how we first met, and that’s when I punched him in the face, and he fell in love at first punch, I guess you could say. And it was the same with me; when I first saw him, I knew something was special about him.
(Dating sites are such a scam. You make plans to meet up with the chick in the photo, and when you show up, it’s Pig Blood City. / Photo via Rose’s Facebook page)
(“Laid up” takes on a whole new meaning when you’re a UFC champion.)
According to his website, Dominick Cruz is “a professional mixed martial artist and UFC champion.” However, according to his MMA record, Cruz has been anything but since October of 2011. The ironic thing? Cruz’s website has not been updated since his coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighter 15, wherein he suffered the ACL injury that has kept him out of action ever since.
But if you were hoping that Cruz would give us a timetable for his return following his second ACL injury last December, you better think again. And while you’re at it, you should just stop asking Cruz about the issue altogether if you happen to be a member of the MMA media (you know, those people who get fancy lanyards at UFC events), because he will wait until 2020 to return to action if he damn so pleases (via Sherdog radio):
I’m not gonna let media or anybody else push me on a date. ‘Give us a date. That’s all we want. We want a date, Dominick. Give us a date to look at!’ I can’t. I want a date. I don’t have one. I’m listening to my doctors because if I don’t do that, I get hurt again. The focus is ‘pull the reigns down’, pull the reigns on myself. Don’t let myself go in there too soon and just do the work I can with the UFC, with my sponsors, do everything I can on Fuel TV and say to the fans I will be back. I’m coming back. I’m working hard. No date yet but I’ll give it out when I have it. I promise.
(“Laid up” takes on a whole new meaning when you’re a UFC champion.)
According to his website, Dominick Cruz is “a professional mixed martial artist and UFC champion.” However, according to his MMA record, Cruz has been anything but since October of 2011. The ironic thing? Cruz’s website has not been updated since his coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighter 15, wherein he suffered the ACL injury that has kept him out of action ever since.
But if you were hoping that Cruz would give us a timetable for his return following his second ACL injury last December, you better think again. And while you’re at it, you should just stop asking Cruz about the issue altogether if you happen to be a member of the MMA media (you know, those people who get fancy lanyards at UFC events), because he will wait until 2020 to return to action if he damn so pleases (via Sherdog radio):
I’m not gonna let media or anybody else push me on a date. ‘Give us a date. That’s all we want. We want a date, Dominick. Give us a date to look at!’ I can’t. I want a date. I don’t have one. I’m listening to my doctors because if I don’t do that, I get hurt again. The focus is ‘pull the reigns down’, pull the reigns on myself. Don’t let myself go in there too soon and just do the work I can with the UFC, with my sponsors, do everything I can on Fuel TV and say to the fans I will be back. I’m coming back. I’m working hard. No date yet but I’ll give it out when I have it. I promise.
