Tag: Luciano+Azevedo

MMA Roundtable: Does an Eight-Man Tournament Trump UFC Castoffs?

Even if the UFC and Strikeforce are sitting this weekend out, that doesn’t mean there’s no MMA for us to overanalyze. In fact, there are at least three notable events in the next two days, leaving some of us with difficult choices to make.

With that i…

Even if the UFC and Strikeforce are sitting this weekend out, that doesn’t mean there’s no MMA for us to overanalyze. In fact, there are at least three notable events in the next two days, leaving some of us with difficult choices to make.

With that in mind, I pulled MMA Fighting’s Ray Hui away from more serious work in order to make him answer some questions I had running through my mind. Join us as we break down the weekend’s action, debate which pay-per-view to buy in a perfect world, and try to calculate the odds that Antonio McKee will wrestle his way into retirement.

Shine Fights is holding a one-night, eight-man unsanctioned tournament at an Indian casino on Friday night. That means the eventual winner will have to win three (unsanctioned) fights in one night. Awesome idea or horrible idea?

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Antonio?

It’s fitting that we’ve spent so much time discussing wrestlers and wrestling on MMA Fighting this week, since tonight marks the return of Antonio McKee in a fight that he claims could be his last.

According to McKee, who has unapologetically bored M…

It’s fitting that we’ve spent so much time discussing wrestlers and wrestling on MMA Fighting this week, since tonight marks the return of Antonio McKee in a fight that he claims could be his last.

According to McKee, who has unapologetically bored MMA fans from Tokyo to New Jersey throughout his 11-year career, if his fight with Luciano Azevedo at MFC 26 goes the same way almost all of his other fights have gone (i.e. resulting in a decision victory and an anaesthetized crowd) he’ll retire.

As he told me back in July: “I said, if this fight goes to a decision and it’s a boring decision, I retire. If this fight is not the fight of the night, I retire. Basically, if I don’t go out there and put on a show, just destroy and annihilate this guy, then I’m done.”

Why? Not because he doesn’t think he can compete anymore. He’s pretty sure he can not only compete, but more or less dominate any other lightweight on the planet, even at 40 years old.

No, he says he’ll quit because he’s been waiting for the sport to evolve, and, at least as far as he’s concerned, it hasn’t.

Antonio McKee Talks Race, Retirement and Much More

Recently the Maximum Fighting Championship organization sent out a press release with a quote from lightweight champ and MMA vet Antonio McKee, who vowed to retire if his upcoming fight with Luciano Azevedo on Sept. 10 goes to a decision. This raised s…

Recently the Maximum Fighting Championship organization sent out a press release with a quote from lightweight champ and MMA vet Antonio McKee, who vowed to retire if his upcoming fight with Luciano Azevedo on Sept. 10 goes to a decision. This raised some eyebrows around the MMA world, because if there’s one thing McKee (24-3-2) is known for aside from his dominating wrestling-based style, it’s winning decisions.

McKee likes to point out that he hasn’t lost since his 2003 defeat via decision against Karo Parisyan, but during the unbeaten streak that consisted of thirteen wins and one draw, all but two of those fights went to the judges’ scorecards.

With that kind of track record, is the 40-year-old McKee really willing to wager his career on his ability to finish the very tough Azevedo, or is this all a publicity stunt? To find out, I sat down for a conversation with the always outspoken lightweight.