Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceBoxer Jeff Lacy has signed a contract to square off against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in the boxing ring this fall, but Diaz’s participation could be dependent on what Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC,…
Boxer Jeff Lacy has signed a contract to square off against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in the boxing ring this fall, but Diaz’s participation could be dependent on what Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, decides to do about his immediate future in MMA.
While boxing promoter Don Chargin told MMA Fighting on Friday that both Diaz and Lacy have signed bout agreements to face one another in a boxing match later this year, Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, said Diaz has a contract with Chargin, but has yet to sign a specific bout agreement for this fight.
“Nick has a signed contract but is waiting to sign an actual bout agreement,” Gracie wrote in a text message on Friday afternoon. “We are only waiting to see if Zuffa is serious about a Diaz-GSP fight.”
Boxing promoter Chargin, however, sees it slightly differently.
UFC welterweight champion appears to be making a full recovery since suffering an eye injury in his title bout against Jake Shields at UFC 129. The champion complained about having blurred vision in between rounds during his bout, and although St-…
UFC welterweight champion appears to be making a full recovery since suffering an eye injury in his title bout against Jake Shields at UFC 129.
The champion complained about having blurred vision in between rounds during his bout, and although St-Pierre picked up the victory via unanimous decision, the injury affected his performance.
Since retaining his title, St-Pierre has kept a low profile and hasn’t conducted any interviews regarding his injury, but the French-Canadian seems to be in good spirits as he updated his fans on the status of his eye via Twitter.
“My medical condition is called Hyphema. My vision is still blurry and my eye sensitive but the blood in my eye has now been absorbed,” St-Pierre tweeted earlier today.
“My retina is [find] as well and my vision will come back to 100%!!! Can’t be more happy!!”
According to a medical website WebMD, a Hyphema is caused when there is bleeding in front of the eye between the cornea and iris.
As a result, St-Pierre will recuperate for the next week before he can resume training.
At UFC 129 last Saturday, underrated welterweight Jake Ellenberger stepped in on two weeks notice to fight Sean Pierson. Ellenberger showed that taking a fight on short notice was no problem for him, as he knocked Pierson out in the first round. He sho…
At UFC 129 last Saturday, underrated welterweight Jake Ellenberger stepped in on two weeks notice to fight Sean Pierson.
Ellenberger showed that taking a fight on short notice was no problem for him, as he knocked Pierson out in the first round. He showed how his striking has improved since his last fight as he caught Pierson with a beautiful counter left hand that ended the Canadian’s night early.
However, the punch that gained Ellenberger the victory would bring about some down time as he broke the fourth metacarpal in his left hand that required him to get surgery this week.
Ellenberger stated that the surgery went well and he should be back to training in six to eight weeks.
With the victory, Ellenberger has now won four consecutive fights over top fighters such as John Howard and Mike Pyle. Ellenberger finds himself close to breaking into the top 10 in the welterweight division and has said that he wants to fight the biggest and the best the division has to offer.
Although Ellenberger cannot immediately get back to work, according to MMAWeekly, he already knows who he wants to be his next opponent, recently defeated No. 1 contender Jake Shields.
“I would love it. I would still love that fight,” Ellenberger said about Shields. “It’s definitely up to the UFC, you know Joe (Silva) and Dana (White), what they want to do, but yeah if I could pick who I fight it would definitely be (Jake Shields).”
Shields, like Ellenberger, also fought at UFC 129, but received a different result than Ellenberger.
Shields was dominated by welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in route to a decision loss where Shields was not able to utilize his strength, his jiu-jitsu.
GSP stuffed all of Shields take down attempts and forced the American to beat him in a stand-up brawl, which Shields could not.
Ellenberger has known to be critical of Jake Shields in the past, however, he knows that the former Strikeforce Middleweight champion is still very dangerous, which is why he wants to fight him.
“I definitely still think Shields is on that level; he’s a top guy.” he said.
“Fighting a guy like GSP, that’s a tough feat in it’s own, but Shields is still a top ten guy in the division. I’m ready, I really feel I’m ready.” Ellenberger said.
As “The Juggernaut” recovers from his recent injury, he will await the call on who his next opponent will be. Whether it is Shields, or another top welterweight, Ellenberger will be ready.
Looking into the mirror in his locker room right after his futile and adrenaline-challenged (spectator-wise, that is) attempt to wrest the UFC Welterweight Title from champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, Jake Shields must have thought, &ldquo…
Looking into the mirror in his locker room right after his futile and adrenaline-challenged (spectator-wise, that is) attempt to wrest the UFC Welterweight Title from champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, Jake Shields must have thought, “Do I look like the beaten fighter?”
It would’ve been no surprise, really. Everybody who saw the still-champion’s face and then the challenger’s immediately post-fight, when the winner was being proclaimed, would’ve thought the same for the latter.
It may have rightfully mattered to the judges that St-Pierre landed more punches, whereas Shields solidly delivered only around three or four—with one arguably a legit razor-sharp jab or eye poke.
But it appealed to everyone’s sense of irony that Rush appeared more likely to get rushed to the hospital while Shields seemed primed to party after their fight.
Count in also the sense of humor, tinged with sarcasm, shared by MMA fans. Last but not least, count the sense of outrage coming from St-Pierre’s severest critics—mixed feelings over their frustration but at the same time vindication that, per their gripe, he just ain’t got no more fin in him.
Shields survived Martin Kampmann, Dan Henderson and recently St-Pierre’s standup assault and even made a mess of the Welterweight Champion’s face.
He must have pondered and convinced himself—as he surveyed his comparatively unmarked facial topography—that it’s seriously time to level up, load and unleash his long dormant striking artillery.
With that realization, expect a more aggressive and dangerous Shields on his feet in his next fight or two. (Perhaps more than St-Pierre?)
Thanks to St-Pierre for unwittingly providing the impetus that is finally making his last challenger a complete fighter.
True champions truly bring the best out of their challengers and eventual conquerors.
I think we have Manny Pacquiao’s future MMA equivalent lurking here somewhere…for those interested in Philippine MMA, check out here the official website of our country’s premier MMA organization, the Universal Reality Combat Championship and our top MMA online forum at PinoyMMA.com.
In the main event last Saturday, fans saw Georges St-Pierre defend his welterweight title against Jake Shields. The bout was mostly a striking battle that saw GSP take the decision.According to Fight Opinion, Cesar Gracie was surprised at how wel…
In the main event last Saturday, fans saw Georges St-Pierre defend his welterweight title against Jake Shields. The bout was mostly a striking battle that saw GSP take the decision.
According to Fight Opinion, Cesar Gracie was surprised at how well Shields fared when the fight was standing.
Gracie commented, “I thought Jake probably performed the best out of everybody because it looked to me like, you know, he…if that fight kept going, Jake wins, is what it looked like to me. He hurt St. Pierre, broke his nose, popped his eye, and I was really surprised how well he did standing with the guy.”
Gracie credits a change in coaches for the improvement. “I got him with a new boxing coach, this guy named Mario, and the guy really tuned up Jake’s game. He was throwing a great jab. He landed the right hand a couple of times really hard and I really think it caught GSP off-track to see how good Jake has come along in the stand-up department.”
The game plan for the fight however was to take the fight to the ground, “Actually, we did want that fight on the ground because I truly believe that Jake is superior on the ground than GSP and I think even GSP believes that, so that’s why you saw him not really wanting to engage.”
Unfortunately for Shields, his improved striking was not enough to earn him the victory. Shields now waits to see who his next opponent will be in his quest to gain another title shot.
GSP is also waiting to see who the next challenger to his title will be. Much of the hype points to Shields’ teammate and current Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz.
The fast-moving mixed martial arts world offers fighters, fans and media no shortage of talking points every month. Like every other major sport, there’s plenty for the optimists and cynics to take away. Here’s a look at the good, the bad a…
The fast-moving mixed martial arts world offers fighters, fans and media no shortage of talking points every month. Like every other major sport, there’s plenty for the optimists and cynics to take away. Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly for April 2011.
The Good
Little Guy Gold
April 30 will be remembered for UFC 129, a landmark UFC from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. The record-breaking attendance (55,724) and live-gate ($12.075 million) coupled with all fights being broadcast for the first time ever is an important milestones considering the sport’s origins as a blacked-out product that was hemorrhaging money.
Setting a precedent for successful stadium shows will surely propel the UFC and MMA forward just like the UFC Primetime hype series quietly finding its way on to ESPN 2. But the real victory of UFC 129 was the inaugural 145-pound title clash between champion Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick.
The first sub-155-pound title bout in UFC history delivered a Fight of the Night performance that outshined the headlining welterweight title tilt between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields. Aldo and Hominick were a difficult act to follow with their highly competitive bout, proving 2011 has seen (and announced) significantly stronger cards thanks to the arrival of featherweight and bantamweight divisions from the UFC’s sister promotion, the WEC.
Twenty-five tireless minutes pushed the champion to the limits as Hominick lived up to “The Machine” moniker, battling through an unsightly hematoma and the judges score cards for a valiant fifth-round comeback that put Aldo in danger.
With the UFC’s first sub-155-pound main event slated for UFC 132 on July 2 between UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, Aldo and Hominick’s co-main event scrap on the biggest UFC card set a high standard for any division. As the Octagon permeates mainstream sporting culture, the full-throttle fighting of lighter weight competitors—and the international markets like Mexico, Japan and China that can bring—will only accelerate the UFC’s upward trajectory.
Cross Promotion Possibilities
On April 9, Strikeforce Lightweight Gilbert Melendez and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz successfully defended their belts with emphatic first-round finishes. The performances took on a life of their own because talk surrounding Strikeforce-UFC title versus title bouts was at an all-time high since UFC President Dana White was cageside, scouting the new talent available to him through Zuffa’s acquisition of the San Jose-based promotion.
Diaz’s name polluted post-UFC 129 talk as the next opponent for Georges St-Pierre in a champion versus champion welterweight super-fight. Melendez will be compared to the winner of UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard’s third contest as the UFC’s top 155-pounder later this month.
Alistair Overeem versus Cain Velasquez at heavyweight and now, mutual interest expressed in the media between UFC 205-pound kingpin Jon Jones and his Strikeforce counterpart Dan Henderson are dream fights driving the conversation in the MMA world.
The UFC featured champion versus champion bouts when Dan Henderson, a two-division PRIDE titleholder, returned to the UFC in late 2007–early 2008, but PRIDE had two other high-demand champions—Fedor Emelianenko and Takanori Gomi—that never challenged the UFC’s divisional kingpins.
Champion versus champion bouts in MMA have failed to materialize more often than not despite constant clamoring for them over the last decade due to lack of cross promotion. Expect the performances of champions in either promotion to continue drumming up the war cry from fans to seize this rare opportunity as the UFC’s monopolization of the elite talent in MMA phases out the need for such demand.
The Bad
Judging
This category can find its way onto this list every month, but April was a particularly unkind calendar on the scorecards.
Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren’s Greco-Roman takedowns found him reversed before his non-title clash with Andre Galvao hit the mat on April 16. On the ground, Galvao’s jiu-jitsu dragged Warren through disadvantageous positions that were disregarded by judge Chuck Wolf when he gave Warren the round. The intricacies of jiu-jitsu were not the only point missed by Wolf as Galvao damaged Warren with knees in the second frame while thwarting all but one takedown attempt—again, the round went to Warren.
Real judging criteria would account for more than forward motion and takedowns, but unfortunately, fighters and fans are burdened with 30-27 scores that miss more than one point of what criteria should determine the outcome of an MMA fight.
Gegard Mousasi’s undeserved draw with Keith Jardine kept the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion from another win the week prior to Warren’s disputed (albeit not undeserved) decision. Mousasi should have emerged victorious on April 9, yet he walked away wondering, like so many other fighters have, why judges exist if they can’t make sound judgments.
It may be just another fight for judges randomly assigned by state athletic commissions, but it’s more than that to the fighters—it’s their career, and livelihood, and should be treated with that respect by those shaping its decisions.
Full Tilt Poker Shut Down
Bottom line: Anytime a major sponsor is cut out of MMA, fighters lose a much-needed revenue source.
The Ugly
The best way to dismiss concerns related to accepting a short notice bout is to make it short. On 17 days notice, UFC welterweight Jake Ellenberger agreed to meet Sean Pierson at UFC 129. A short, thudding left hook-straight right combo left Pierson defeated on the canvas—the only Canadian on the card to be knocked out in front of his home countrymen.
Danny Acosta is the lead writer at FIGHT! Magazine. Follow him on twitter.com/acostaislegend
Boxer Jeff Lacy has signed a contract to square off against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in the boxing ring this fall, but Diaz’s participation could be dependent on what Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, decides to do about his immediate future in MMA.
