Tag: Interviews

Fear the Fighter President David Makdessi Talks UFC 151, Fighter Pay, and Brand

Fear The Fighter wasn’t a household name in the MMA clothing market prior to UFC 151, but it’s hard to find a fight fan who doesn’t know about the company now. You’ve already heard the narrative about how UFC 151 was cancel…

Fear The Fighter wasn’t a household name in the MMA clothing market prior to UFC 151, but it’s hard to find a fight fan who doesn’t know about the company now. 

You’ve already heard the narrative about how UFC 151 was cancelled due to an injury to Dan Henderson, Jon Jones refusing to fight Chael Sonnen, and a rather lackluster card caused the entire show to be canceled. By now you’ve already picked your heroes and villains in the story, but there is room for one more on the hero list.

Fear The Fighter clothing. 

The company made headlines almost immediately after the event was cancelled when FTF President David Makdessi tweeted that FTF would be paying their fighters their sponsorship money regardless of the show’s cancellation. A move that Makdessi said was made without consulting anyone. 

“I saw that UFC 151 was cancelled on Twitter and knew right away I had to help our guys,” Makdessi said. 

Helping out the fighters is exactly what got Makdessi into the world of MMA clothing. His brother, John Makdessi is a rising Canadian prospect that showed David how hard it is to be a fighter. 

“I was inspired by my brother John. I saw him training and realized the need for fighters to get good sponsors,” David said. 

The struggle to acquire good sponsors is one of the main driving forces for David to make the FTF brand grow. 

“You know a lot of sponsors just work with a fighter for one or two fights. That’s not what we want to do here, we want to build relationships and make the FTF family grow,” David said. 

A family-type atmosphere is the goal for David as FTF continues to grow which shouldn’t be a problem considering the company has already big name fighters under their belt like Frankie Edgar and Jake Shields. 

But don’t think just because the sun is shining bright at FTF headquarters that breaking into the UFC was a piece of cake. 

“It’s a difficult market to get in to. but obviously I know I needed to make it in the UFC. Not only for business reasons, but also to support my brother,” David said. 

What’s going to help David help his company grow is the unique style Fear the Fighter has. Take a gander at their website and you will notice a few things. Namely you don’t see the typical skulls, dragons, foil, and other items that have become the stereotype for MMA clothing. 

It’s a move David believes in and believes will pay big dividends. 

“I didn’t want people to be afraid of the people who wear our shirts. You won’t see any skulls or anything like that on our shirts. I honestly don’t believe we are in competition with any other brands because none of them are doing what we are.” 

Keeping the shirt designs clean goes along with David’s belief of getting guys who represent the words that have come to symbolize Fear the Fighter. 

“Fighters must have strength, courage, and honor to be successful. Take Edgar for example, he’s a very respectable guy who would be great to promote our brand. He has so much heart and would be great to build the FTF family.” 

While Fear the Fighter made a big splash by coming out and supporting their guys scheduled to compete at UFC 151, David hopes he can make another splash in the world of women’s MMA. As of now the company has a few women under their brand, notably Sara McMann, but David believes the idea of helping fighters extends beyond men’s MMA. 

“Fear the Fighter believes WMMA is very important. We want to help the market grow while also supporting the fighters,” David said. 

As you can see David is a firm believer in doing everything he can to help the fighters with their financial situation. But at the end of speaking to him, David had to show some support for the fans. 

“I just want to say thanks to all the fans that supported the fighters through the UFC 151 cancellation. It was nice to see fans backing fighters over a promotion,” David said. 

With a design and marketing scheme that sets them apart from virtually every other company out there, Fear the Fighter is prepared to use their good will earned by the fans to help make the FTF family encompass a wide arrange of both fighters and fans. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Exclusive: Ricardo Lamas Was Offered Fights with Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo

The life of a fighter changes constantly. You can be scheduled for a fight with one fighter one day, then the next it can be someone different due to injury or other circumstances. Ricardo Lamas, though, went from having no fight to being offered a set…

The life of a fighter changes constantly. You can be scheduled for a fight with one fighter one day, then the next it can be someone different due to injury or other circumstances. Ricardo Lamas, though, went from having no fight to being offered a set of fights.

The UFC featherweight had come off a win over the highly ranked Hatsu Hioki in June at UFC on FX 4. He was just waiting on getting his next fight. About two weeks ago, Lamas got a phone call for a fight against a former world champion.

“They [the UFC] offered me a fight with Frankie Edgar in December and we accepted it,” Lamas told Bleacher Report. “We were just waiting to hear back from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby as we didn’t know if they had talked to Frankie yet or not. We accepted the fight on our side and we were just awaiting confirmation.”

Things then got more interesting. The UFC announced on Thursday that Erik Koch had to bow out of his fight with UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo at UFC 153 with an undisclosed injury and Edgar would be stepping in to face Aldo. Before that announcement was made, it was Lamas who was going to face Aldo.

“They [UFC] had called me first on Thursday,” Lamas stated. “They had called me up at about 3:30 p.m. Central time and said, ‘Obviously Koch is injured and we need to know tonight if you want to take this fight with Aldo? We think you deserve it and we need to redo your contract. We need to get it all done by tonight.'”

‘We said ‘Yes, yes, yes,'” Lamas stated. “We got my contract figured out and was just waiting on a bout agreement. Then they [the UFC] called at 9 p.m. Central and said they decided to in a different direction with the fight and that’s when they decided to go with Frankie.”

Lamas, hoping to fight by the end of the year, is naturally disappointed with not getting a fight with either Edgar or Aldo. He is grateful that his employer thinks highly enough of him to consider him to fight two high-profile fighters.

“I was disappointed,” Lamas stated. “I was really excited. That’s an opportunity guys wait their entire career for. The opportunity came of out nowhere. I wasn’t promised for months to fight Aldo. It came about last second. I can also see where the UFC thinks that it is going to be a better fight with Frankie Edgar. He [Edgar] is a former world champion and he’s more well known than I am. I appreciate that the UFC offered me the fights. It means they hold me in high regard and have me in mind.”

 

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Report: Anderson Silva to Co-Star in Major MMA Blockbuster Tapped


(We’ll give Anderson this, he has an ability to facially express himself that not even Ernest P. Worrell could hold a candle to.) 

Good afternoon, Potato Nation, Danga here. As many of you may or may not have realized/elated over, I have been out of the office since last Thursday, first taking a trip down to New York City, then heading out to Boston to move into the apartment at which I currently reside. Aside from being called a “fahkin retahd” by nearly every citizen who shared the road with me, it was a relatively painless move, but one that left me without Internet access for a good three or four days, which in Internet time is roughly 6 months.

At least that was what it felt like. When I fired up my computer this morning to peruse over CagePotato and see what the MMA world had been up to in my absence, I expected to find a couple sweet knockout videos and maybe a Labor Day-themed article or two. Suffice it to say, I was shocked to find that not only had CP managed to snag a “fight scientist” to impress us with his “graphs” and “numbers” and “empirical data,” but we were even granted access to a behind-the-scenes look at a local New Jersey-based event. And elsewhere, not only had Erik Koch been replaced by Frankie Edgar against Jose Aldo at UFC 153, but Aldo had been hit by a car (which I imagined looked something like this) and promptly told the injury curse of 2012 to go fuck itself. I was less surprised to learn, however, that Arlovski/Sylvia IV ended in controversy and bitter disappointment for those involved, but the fact that Tim Sylvia was even partly responsible for actual progress in the MMA world nearly made up for all the pain and suffering he has brought upon both himself and the sport in the past few years.

Of course, today is a new day, and with it comes a bit of mixed news. Regardless of who you feel deserves the next shot at Anderson Silva, the fact that “The Spider” is turning down fights in the weight class he resides over in favor of a possible superfight against GSP is a frustrating, if not equally intriguing prospect for MMA fans to digest. But as it turns out, Silva’s absence from the octagon in the near future may also be linked to something a little harder to swallow. Mainly, movie stardom. Because according to a report from metronews.ca, Silva may be heading to England down the line to promote and star in a major-budget MMA film called Tapped.

Details after the jump.


(We’ll give Anderson this, he has an ability to facially express himself that not even Ernest P. Worrell could hold a candle to.) 

Good afternoon, Potato Nation, Danga here. As many of you may or may not have realized/elated over, I have been out of the office since last Thursday, first taking a trip down to New York City, then heading out to Boston to move into the apartment at which I currently reside. Aside from being called a “fahkin retahd” by nearly every citizen who shared the road with me, it was a relatively painless move, but one that left me without Internet access for a good three or four days, which in Internet time is roughly 6 months.

At least that was what it felt like. When I fired up my computer this morning to peruse over CagePotato and see what the MMA world had been up to in my absence, I expected to find a couple sweet knockout videos and maybe a Labor Day-themed article or two. Suffice it to say, I was shocked to find that not only had CP managed to snag a “fight scientist” to impress us with his “graphs” and “numbers” and “empirical data,” but we were even granted access to a behind-the-scenes look at a local New Jersey-based event. And elsewhere, not only had Erik Koch been replaced by Frankie Edgar against Jose Aldo at UFC 153, but Aldo had been hit by a car (which I imagined looked something like this) and promptly told the injury curse of 2012 to go fuck itself. I was less surprised to learn, however, that Arlovski/Sylvia IV ended in controversy and bitter disappointment for those involved, but the fact that Tim Sylvia was even partly responsible for actual progress in the MMA world nearly made up for all the pain and suffering he has brought upon both himself and the sport in the past few years.

Of course, today is a new day, and with it comes a bit of mixed news. Regardless of who you feel deserves the next shot at Anderson Silva, the fact that “The Spider” is turning down fights in the weight class he resides over in favor of a possible superfight against GSP is a frustrating, if not equally intriguing prospect for MMA fans to digest. But as it turns out, Silva’s absence from the octagon in the near future may also be linked to something a little harder to swallow. Mainly, movie stardom. Because according to a report from metronews.ca, Silva may be heading to Canada down the line to promote and star in a major-budget MMA film called Tapped.

Although details remain sketchy at the moment, Silva’s name, along with Lyoto Machida and retired UFC fighter Krzysztof Soszynski have been linked to “the biggest film that’s been shot in London”:

Ultimate Fighting Championship icon Anderson Silva — along with a handful of “big celebrities” — is starring in a Hollywood motion picture that will be partly produced in London over the next couple of months.

“We’re not at liberty to discuss the logistics and budgets, but we’ve been told it’s the biggest film that has been shot in London,” said Allan Ungar, director of Tapped. Other UFC stars, namely Lyoto Machida andKrzysztof Soszynski, will appear in the “Karate Kid meets MMA” full-length movie being produced by Tapped Pictures.

You may remember Silva as the star of such commercials as “Ode to the Fatburger”, “Showdown with the Swollen Sensei”, and “Holy Sh*t This Guy Speaks English!”, but a starring film role for the champ could signal the beginning of a whole new chapter in the MMA fighter turned actor saga. Hell, if Andy is able to impress, he could be starring in his own direct-to-DVD Air Force One ripoffs in less than a year’s time. We knew Silva was planning to take some time off, but who knew that he’d been bitten so hard by the Hollywood bug?

Semi-related: CagePotato has recently been granted an early screener of the upcoming film Brawler, which looks like a combination of Warrior and Bloodsport. The IMDB page summary goes like this:

Sidelined by an injury incurred while protecting his young brother, underground fighter Charlie Fontaine feels blindsided when he discovers his brother having sex on his couch with his new wife, Kat. Fueled by rage, a determined Charlie makes plans to get back in the ring and take on his brother in a fight to the death.

Being that I’ve finally seen Warrior (Spoiler: It was pretty freakin’ sweet, but you should still check out Redbelt), I figured I would possibly draft up a review of Brawler to give you MMA-movie fanatics a little perspective on the film and how it compares to its counterparts in the genre. I’ve attached the trailer below, so check it out and let me know how interested you’d be in a review of the film in the comments section.

–J. Jones

Exclusive: Jose Aldo Happy to Welcome Edgar to Featherweight Division

When news broke this week of Frankie Edgar stepping in to replace an injured Erik Koch at UFC 153, the MMA world was set ablaze. “The Answer’s” highly anticipated featherweight debut now had a date and as the buzz rang out across the MMA landscape, no …

When news broke this week of Frankie Edgar stepping in to replace an injured Erik Koch at UFC 153, the MMA world was set ablaze. “The Answer’s” highly anticipated featherweight debut now had a date and as the buzz rang out across the MMA landscape, no one was more excited about this turn of events than champion Jose Aldo.

Since claiming the gold in 2009, the Brazilian phenom has been one of the sport’s most dominant champions. At every turn, he has sought out the biggest challenges available, and when the opportunity to face Edgar arose, there was no hesitation to seize it.

He will face the former lightweight champion when the UFC returns to Brazil next month, and Aldo is eager to welcome Edgar to the weight class.

“The UFC made me very happy giving me this fight right now,” Aldo told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “It is a pleasure to fight with Edgar inside my country. I think this is going to be the fight of the year. It is a great opportunity to show everyone I’m the best. I will be looking to finish the fight at all times.”

During his reign, Aldo has proven to be a difficult puzzle to solve. His unique blend of speed, power and accuracy have been a nightmare for the opposition. He’s notched impressive victories over the likes of Urijah Faber, Kenny Florian and most recently, a brutal knockout of former No. 1 contender Chad Mendes at UFC 142.

While he appreciates the skills which have allowed Edgar to be successful at 155 pounds, he doesn’t believe those advantages will be available when Edgar steps into the Octagon at UFC 153.

“I think Edgar will lose a little bit of his speed at 145 pounds,” Aldo said. “At 155 pounds, his speed made a big difference for sure, but at 145 pounds I don’t see any difference between him and the other fighters.”

At 25 years old, Aldo has already placed himself firmly amongst the sport’s best. He understands the pressures which come with being a champion in the UFC, but it is his personal level of expectation which motivates him to push further. Frankie Edgar is the next step on his journey, and he has no intention of seeing his reign as king come to an end.

“In my mind I’m always the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world,” Aldo said. “My fight with Edgar is a big challenge for me, but after him I will have another big challenger. For me, the next fight is always the biggest. Edgar is a great fighter but I’m the champion and still going to be the champion.”

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Eric Del Fierro Talks Early Days of MMA: "I Just Fell in Love with It"

Aside from crowding around the television to watch boxing with his family, Eric Del Fierro wasn’t too focused on martial arts in his youth. Instead of taking on opponents, Del Fierro dreamt of someday fighting fires. Del Fierro ended up accomplis…

Aside from crowding around the television to watch boxing with his family, Eric Del Fierro wasn’t too focused on martial arts in his youth. Instead of taking on opponents, Del Fierro dreamt of someday fighting fires.

Del Fierro ended up accomplishing his goal—the 41-year-old has been employed by the San Diego Federal Fire Department for nearly two decades. But before he fought his first fire, Del Fierro, the long-time head coach and part-owner of Alliance MMA in San Diego, was introduced to martial arts.

“I started martial arts while in the military and I just fell in love with it around the same time everyone else fell in love with it in ’93,” Del Fierro recounted.

“In ’94, I started exploring all martial arts. I trained at Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den for about two years. When that fell apart, we started doing our own thing. I just kind of bounced around from gym to gym and we, basically, taught ourselves how to fight.”

Del Fierro—who showed little interest in athletics growing up in Texas—faced an uphill battle in the world of martial arts from the very beginning. But something made him gravitate towards hand-to-hand combat.

“I just fell in love with it,” Del Fierro offered. “I fell in love with boxing, I fell in love with kickboxing—all of it. Watching mixed martial arts unfold—with jiu-jitsu, the grappling—it was entertaining to me.

“And I wanted to learn it.”

For the better part of the past two decades, Del Fierro has worked to learn more and more about martial arts and, more specifically, how it all relates to mixed martial arts.

After thousands of hours of what can only be described as on-the-job training—in which time Del Fierro studied everything from boxing and kickboxing to Kenpo karate and more obscure disciplines—he has firmly established himself in the world of martial arts.

Del Fierro, who has worked with UFC-level athletes like Joey Beltran and Phil Davis for the past decade, helped Dominick Cruz become the organization’s first bantamweight titlist in 2010. Del Fierro has also helped Brandon Vera, the founder of Alliance MMA, get within striking distance of the UFC’s light-heavyweight champion.

These days, Del Fierro doesn’t often think about where he might be without martial arts in his life. Luckily for him—to say nothing of his crew in San Diego—it doesn’t look like he’ll be without it anytime soon, either.

“As far as I know, there aren’t any old coaches in mixed martial arts,” Del Fierro said with a laugh. “So, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll be the first.”

Ed Kapp is a Regina, Saskatchewan-based freelance journalist. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations were obtained firsthand.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Tim Means Finding Peace of Mind in the Chaos of Fighting

Motivation comes in many different forms in mixed martial arts. Some fighters set out on a journey they hope will end in fame and fortune, while others find a form of primal solace in the storm of hand-to-hand combat.For UFC lightweight Tim Means, it i…

Motivation comes in many different forms in mixed martial arts. Some fighters set out on a journey they hope will end in fame and fortune, while others find a form of primal solace in the storm of hand-to-hand combat.

For UFC lightweight Tim Means, it is a step-by-step process. He’s more than content to pay his dues as he makes his way, because he knows all too well what dwells in the darkness beyond the lights.

Whether the lights are the ones flickering late nights in the gym or those hanging above the sport’s biggest stage, Means nearly lost his life battling his way through the shadows. It has been a tumultuous journey and with newfound direction in his life, Means has no intentions of slowing down.

“Every day I find peace in fighting,” Means told Bleacher Report. “I’m so blessed to have a job where I can vent every day’s frustrations and get them out. It’s amazing that mixed martial arts has blown up and I have a career I love.

“I started out as a kid that wanted to fight. I needed a way to vent my anger because I was fighting in school. I never did well with bullying and I was one of those kids who would fight at the drop of a hat. I really want to find a way to mold that and one day I opened the phone book. I got into mixed martial arts with Tom and Arlene Vaughn.

“Rather than keeping it in the ring, I was going out and getting into street fights. I was taking fights without training and took a couple early losses because of it. I ended up getting myself shot and smashed in the face with a shovel.

“Around the time I got shot, I was starting to build a little bit of a name for myself in MMA. But when I was shot, I didn’t rehab it. Rather than doing the right type of rehab, I started partying and doing drugs. I ended up becoming addicted to meth and went to prison. I went through that process, got out and this is where we are at now. Five years ago to where I’m at now is amazing.”

Following his release from incarceration, Means dove back into mixed martial arts with a reinvigorated passion for the sport. Over the next four years, he tore up the regional circuit and smaller promotions as he amassed an impressive record going 13-1-1 during that stretch.

He began to build momentum in his career. Means captured the King of the Cage lightweight title by defeating Tye Brown and following that victory, the call he had been waiting for finally came.

The UFC tapped Means to compete against Bernardo Magalhaes at UFC on Fuel in February. It was the biggest opportunity of his career and he capitalized on the moment, working behind an aggressive attack which pushed the pace from bell to bell.

“I felt great going into Omaha,” Means said. “My coaches and team had done a great job of getting me prepared to fight at that level. I had just won the King of the Cage 155-pound title and the call couldn’t have come at a better time for us. I was in shape. I went in with a bunch of confidence and had a nice little win streak going. I just couldn’t have come at a better time.

“My striking coach Arlene does a great job of building me mentally. We want to get in there, get guys out and not go to the judge’s scorecards. It fits right right into my personality. I feel I’m the most aggressive 155-pound fighter out there, but I attack smartly. The goal is to take somebody out and move on to the next fight. Once the cage door shuts, I’m a different person.”

While Means made good in his debut against Magalhaes, it was the 66-second destruction of Justin Salas in his next outing which made UFC fans sit up and take notice. From the opening bell, Means unleashed a ferocious attack on Salas.

After rocking and dropping his opponent, Means displayed a razor-sharp killer instinct as he finished the fight. It was a solid victory, but the fashion in which it was earned put Means on the radar. Even though so much journey remains, Means plans to prove himself to the UFC fans every step of the way.

“I just want fans to give me the opportunity and I don’t want them to judge a book by its cover,” Means said. “I don’t have all the muscles or that cool-looking physique stuff, but I come into that Octagon looking to take people out. My demeanor alone shows that. I want fans to give me the opportunity and watch me fight. You don’t have to like me a person or anything like that, but we are in the fight game. I’m going to lay it all on the line, win or lose. 

“I’m going to bring a street fight to the cage. It’s a more technical form of street fighting, a little more thought out, but it’s a fight. I have to hurt them before they hurt me. It’s survival up until that point. You have to prepare yourself for battle and that’s how I train every day. I’m willing to prove I belong and get in there and throw down. I’m willing to do the work to get everyone to recognize my name.”

His next bout was originally scheduled to come against Abel Trujillo at UFC 151. When the ill-fated card was officially cancelled, it appeared the bout went into the ashes along with the event. Fortunately for both fighters the bout was salvaged and placed on the UFC on Fox 5 card which will take place in Seattle at the end of the year.

Where other fighters on the card have publicly voiced their anger and concern how everything went down in regard to the cancelled event, Means put his nose back to the grindstone and went back to work.

“It’s on to the next one,” Means said. “I’ve learned to become a very patient person. I have a great team and coaching staff behind me. I’m developing as a fighter and maturing as a person. This is just another obstacle I have to get past.

“I like to fight. I need to build that experience. I need to get my time in the cage with the lights on me and people watching. In order to do that, my team has to keep me busy and in doing so, I can get that experience. I’m already back in the gym and training hard for Dec. 8.”

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com