ONE announcer Michael Schiavello is not a fan of how a lot of fighters in the UFC conduct themselves. Some of the bigger names to have come out of the promotion, such as Conor McGregor and Chael Sonnen, made a name for themselves off of their witty antics and brash comments. According to Schiavello, who […]
ONE announcer Michael Schiavello is not a fan of how a lot of fighters in the UFC conduct themselves.
Some of the bigger names to have come out of the promotion, such as Conor McGregor and Chael Sonnen, made a name for themselves off of their witty antics and brash comments. According to Schiavello, who recently spoke to Sherdog, this is not how “true martial artists” act:
“The name calling, the crazy stunts, throwing things through windows [and] at each other, threatening each other on Twitter,” Schiavello said. “That’s how you sell PPVs to a largely western audience, which is sad.
“Are a lot of the UFC guys fighters or martial artists? There’s a difference between the two. That’s not how true martial artists act. That’s how fighters act.”
Oftentimes, trash talk can go too far, resulting in some truly dire consequences. Immediately the issues between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor come to mind. McGregor spent weeks talking smack about the UFC lightweight champion’s country, family, and religion.
After Khabib choked the Irishman out at UFC 229, the action didn’t stop there. “The Eagle” hopped the Octagon and attacked McGregor cornerman Dillon Danis. This sparked a huge team vs. team brawl inside and outside of the Octagon. The incident was certainly not a good look on the UFC, or the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) overall.
(You cannot possibly imagine giving less of a fuck than this man. / Photo via Getty Images)
If you want to be absolutely sure that Nick Diaz will blow off a scheduled media appearance, set it up within biking distance of his house. Diaz is notorious for this sort of thing. Our old pal Ben Fowlkesonce spent three days wandering the streets of Stockton waiting for Diaz to materialize for a Fight! Magazine cover story. Before Diaz’s fight against Georges St. Pierre, UFC president Dana White revealed that Diaz had no-showed three interviews for their Countdown to UFC 158 special, and that the UFC had a camera crew “rolling around Stockton not doing a (expletive) thing.” Diaz even no-showed his own MMA promotion’s weigh-ins for God’s sake.
(You cannot possibly imagine giving less of a fuck than this man. / Photo via Getty Images)
If you want to be absolutely sure that Nick Diaz will blow off a scheduled media appearance, set it up within biking distance of his house. Diaz is notorious for this sort of thing. Our old pal Ben Fowlkesonce spent three days wandering the streets of Stockton waiting for Diaz to materialize for a Fight! Magazine cover story. Before Diaz’s fight against Georges St. Pierre, UFC president Dana White revealed that Diaz had no-showed three interviews for their Countdown to UFC 158 special, and that the UFC had a camera crew “rolling around Stockton not doing a (expletive) thing.” Diaz even no-showed his own MMA promotion’s weigh-ins for God’s sake.
It should be said that booking Nick Diaz on an interview program and expecting him to 1) appear at the scheduled date/time, and 2) give a lucid, light-hearted interview poking fun at his own persona should have been considered an impossibility to begin with. In that sense, Schiavello really has himself to blame. (See also: scorpion, frog.)
Still, let this be a lesson to any media-types hoping to get some time with MMA’s most inscrutable fighter: It’s not going to work out, and even if it does, Diaz will probably threaten to slap you. In fact, that’s a best-case scenario. So how ’bout we just agree to go our separate ways?
Upon doing a little research, we have discovered that longtime MMA announcer Michael “Good Night Irene” Schiavello is from some place called Australia. Awwstraileeyah. We’ve never heard of it either, but what you should know is that folks who hail from this…AUSTRALIA, tend to have funny-sounding voices. Not funny in a German nihilist kind of way, but funny nonetheless. At last Friday’s RFA 7 event, we found out that Schiavello’s accent becomes particularly amusing when attempting to pronounce the name of young fighter Danny Mainus.
You see, Mainus sounds a bit like “my anus,” you dig? It’s a fact that becomes quite humorous when Schiavello says things like “There’s a cut on Mainus,” or “Mainus is ready to pounce here.” And while this kind of humor might not be up your alley if you have moved on from the 8th grade, well, you’re probably not in our target audience anyway. So check out the video above and rate it on a comedic scale of Zookeeper to The Big Lebowski in the comments section, with Zookeeper obviously being on the upper end of the spectrum. When Kevin James started talking to that monkey, you guys, I totally roflcoptered. I roflcoptered all over myself.
Now piss off, because I need to finish writing this note to pass to Patty Nelson in chemistry class (more like phlegmistry class, amiright? *receives high fives from everyone at the cool kids lunch table*) to see if she’ll go with me to the Spring semi-formal. If she denies me, I’ll just tell Tony T and Space Face Mike that she has herpes anyway.
Upon doing a little research, we have discovered that longtime MMA announcer Michael “Good Night Irene” Schiavello is from some place called Australia. Awwstraileeyah. We’ve never heard of it either, but what you should know is that folks who hail from this…AUSTRALIA, tend to have funny-sounding voices. Not funny in a German nihilist kind of way, but funny nonetheless. At last Friday’s RFA 7 event, we found out that Schiavello’s accent becomes particularly amusing when attempting to pronounce the name of young fighter Danny Mainus.
You see, Mainus sounds a bit like “my anus,” you dig? It’s a fact that becomes quite humorous when Schiavello says things like “There’s a cut on Mainus,” or “Mainus is ready to pounce here.” And while this kind of humor might not be up your alley if you have moved on from the 8th grade, well, you’re probably not in our target audience anyway. So check out the video above and rate it on a comedic scale of Zookeeper to The Big Lebowski in the comments section, with Zookeeper obviously being on the upper end of the spectrum. When Kevin James started talking to that monkey, you guys, I totally roflcoptered. I roflcoptered all over myself.
Now piss off, because I need to finish writing this note to pass to Patty Nelson in chemistry class (more like phlegmistry class, amiright? *receives high fives from everyone at the cool kids lunch table*) to see if she’ll go with me to the Spring semi-formal. If she denies me, I’ll just tell Tony T and Space Face Mike that she has herpes anyway.
How’s your day going, Potato Nation? Could it use more ego-stroking, embellished ramblings, and conspiracy theories delivered in a raspy yet soothing undertone? Well luckily for you, none other than famed mixed martial arts instructor and former movie star Steven Seagal recently sat down for the longest interview of his career to do just that.
We’re not going to spoil the interview for you, but suffice it to say, it’s classic Seagal. Over the course of fifty minutes, Seagal not only claims that he has possibly killed someone or many someones in his life, but that he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize that Al Gore received in 2007 (ironic), and knows the truth behind Brandon Lee’s death. Also, Above the Law was autobiographical.
How’s your day going, Potato Nation? Could it use more ego-stroking, embellished ramblings, and conspiracy theories delivered in a raspy yet soothing undertone? Well luckily for you, none other than famed mixed martial arts instructor and former movie star Steven Seagal recently sat down for the longest interview of his career to do just that.
We’re not going to spoil the interview for you, but suffice it to say, it’s classic Seagal. Over the course of fifty minutes, Seagal not only claims that he has possibly killed someone or many someones in his life, but that he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize that Al Gore received in 2007 (ironic), and knows the truth behind Brandon Lee’s death. Also, Above the Law was autobiographical.
But it was Schiavello, a long time friend of Overeem, who took an interesting stance on the issue, basically saying that, if a fighter pisses hot anytime other than fight week, why should they be held accountable? Here’s what he said:
You know, while we’re talking about the subject, Kenny, I just wanna chime in here on a couple things that have been playing on my mind, the last week or so, since the news of Alistair (Overeem) broke. Alistair doesn’t have a license with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), so how are they testing him in the first place when he doesn’t have a license with them? By what jurisdiction are they testing him? And ‘B,’ everyone seems to be hanging Alistair out to dry. They’ve been nailing him to the cross and crucifying him, but it’s still two months away from his fight. You know, he hasn’t technically cheated. Because, unless he pisses hot on the fight night, how could he possibly have cheated? There’s still an opportunity he can get from the 14:1 down to the allowed 6:1 level by fight time. But we’re calling him out as a cheat, two months out from a fight?
Yes, Michael, we are calling him a cheat. Probably because he fucking cheated.
Check out the video, along with Mark Hunt’s reaction to the news, after the jump.
(Overeem likes his pecs like his K-1 trophies: abnormally large.)
But it was Schiavello, a long time friend of Overeem, who took an interesting stance on the issue, basically saying that, if a fighter pisses hot anytime other than fight week, why should they be held accountable? Yeah, it sounds as bad as it is:
You know, while we’re talking about the subject, Kenny, I just wanna chime in here on a couple things that have been playing on my mind, the last week or so, since the news of Alistair (Overeem) broke. Alistair doesn’t have a license with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), so how are they testing him in the first place when he doesn’t have a license with them? By what jurisdiction are they testing him? And ‘B,’ everyone seems to be hanging Alistair out to dry. They’ve been nailing him to the cross and crucifying him, but it’s still two months away from his fight. You know, he hasn’t technically cheated. Because, unless he pisses hot on the fight night, how could he possibly have cheated? There’s still an opportunity he can get from the 14:1 down to the allowed 6:1 level by fight time. But we’re calling him out as a cheat, two months out from a fight?
Yes, Michael, we are calling him a cheat. Probably because he fucking cheated. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.
You see Michael, just because someone isn’t cheating at the exact time of their scheduled fight doesn’t mean that they should be allowed to freely and openly cheat in the off-season without repercussion. It’s like saying that someone shouldn’t be able to get a DWI if they aren’t holding a beer in their hand the moment a cop pulls them over. Would that be awesome? Of course, but it would result in a hell of a lot more accidents and deaths on the highway. Just like allowing certain fighters to use PED’s during training and step into the octagon against fighters who, you know, actually have some moral compass and want to try and win the natural way would result in the same. And let’s not even delve into how easy it is to cycle off steroids when one knows the test is coming. Bas Rutten backs this argument, so there is really nothing left to say.
But perhaps no criticism of Overeem’s horse-flavored piss was greater than that of Mark Hunt. As we all know, Hunt has been rallying to replace Overeem against Junior Dos Santos via Twitter-blitzkrieg lately, and has received widespread support from the MMA community, so perhaps his recent statements on The MMA Hour had ulterior motives behind them. In either case, when asked his thoughts on Overeem’s positive test, he went as far as to question the validity of Overeem’s entire career:
Drugs in all sports is a big problem. It’s a cutthroat business, people take this shit just to get by. I don’t use that shit, but when Alistair takes that shit or whoever takes it they just screw themselves out. Like when Barnett screwed himself out of the fight with Fedor. But who am I too judge anybody. I don’t take that shit and no one else should. If they do, that’s on them, Alistair got caught,that’s his problem and now he’s dealing with it and everything that Alistair has done is meaningless now. At the end of the day he just got caught cheating, so what’s the deal? I lost to him, so did he use that shit when I was fighting him? That’s on him, he has to live with that shit not me. It’s not my position to judge him, he has to look himself in the mirror. At the end of the day, I don’t give a crap who’s taking what. The steroids are not going to help them when I hit them. Take as much as you like, I don’t care.
It’s safe to say that if you haven’t gotten behind the #RallyforMarkHunt campaign yet, you can eat a bag of dicks. Other notable reactions from around the MMA world include:
Former UFC fighter Jason High, who tweeted: “LMAO…Overeem. Almost as surprising as the Cyborg incident. *looks for sarcasm font*”
Roy Nelson, who took the sarcastic approach: “yea! just found via internet that I PASSED MY DRUG TEST! It was close but I passed. #Nodoubts@ufc@danawhite“
And Joe Duarte, who went with a classic standby: ” ‘It wasn’t me, it was the horses, I swear!’ – Alistair Overeem”
(Pat Barry lets a seven-year-old haul off on his face for four minutes. This is basically what I imagine Pat’s sparring sessions with Brock Lesnar looked like. Props: LIAM_B)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…
(Pat Barry lets a seven-year-old haul off on his face for four minutes. This is basically what I imagine Pat’s sparring sessions with Brock Lesnar looked like. Props: LIAM_B)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…
