While it appears likely that Miesha Tate will be standing across the cage when Ronda Rousey makes her eventual UFC return later this year, if the emerging Hollywood actress ever fights Holly Holm in a rematch as was orig…
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While it appears likely that Miesha Tate will be standing across the cage when Ronda Rousey makes her eventual UFC return later this year, if the emerging Hollywood actress ever fights Holly Holm in a rematch as was originally intended, Holm’s coach Mike Winkeljohn is confident that the outcome will be similar to the first Rousey-Holm bout.
Winkeljohn spoke about a potential Rousey-Holm rematch during his appearance this week on Submission Radio.
“You know what, I think that Ronda knows that she’s already beaten Miesha twice. So if she’s going to come back, I think she was a little intimidated by Holly coming back and that, you know, it won’t change her fight with Ronda. I’m still very confident that if Holly fights Ronda it would be the same outcome again just because the way their styles are, and I think it will be different next time she fights Miesha. I think Miesha has improved as a fighter and I think she’s tremendous at what she does, so I love the competition and I think the fans want to see more of it, what these ladies can do.”
According to Winkeljohn, however, Rousey isn’t “anywhere close to coming back anyway.”
“I don’t think Ronda Rousey is anywhere close to coming back anyway. So hopefully Miesha is willing to pay back Holly. Holly didn’t wait for Ronda, gave Miesha a shot at it and hopefully Miesha repays the favour.”
Holly Holm is fighting Miesha Tate on Saturday, and her coach Mike Winkeljohn has a prediction for how it will finish. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Winkeljohn gave credit to Tate, but said Holm wil…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixgTAyMawG4
Holly Holm is fighting Miesha Tate on Saturday, and her coach Mike Winkeljohn has a prediction for how it will finish. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Winkeljohn gave credit to Tate, but said Holm will finish her just like she finished Ronda Rousey.
“Second round KO for Holly Holm,” Winkeljohn predicted. “Yeah a lot like [the Rousey fight]; just as dominant.”
“[Holm]’s firing on all 12. She’s a high-tech European racecar. Same going in for Ronda, I won’t lie, we were confident for that one as well. I think Holly is going to dominate the fight and do real well. There are a lot of things you need to watch for and Miesha is very strong and very dangerous in many ways, but yeah she’s [Holm] been looking good so far.
“You know, [Tate]’s number one for a reason,” Winkeljohn continued. “She’s been around for a long time and she’s pretty darn good everywhere. She hits hard; she’s tapping people out. Her wrestling is very good. You see that she’s beaten jiu jitsu people, she’s beaten wrestlers and she’s beaten strikers so she’s very good at what she does.”
UFC 196 takes place on March 5, 2016 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Winkeljohn says that Jackson’s absence didn’t affect their fighter’s performance too much, but “it could have ended up a lot worse.” / Photo via Getty)
A video emerged this week showing a controversial moment during Jon Jones‘s title-defense against Alexander Gustafsson, but it was what could be heard in the video, not seen, that raised some eyebrows. In the background, the voice of what would seem to be an athletic commission official asks another man what his name is.
That man answered, “Greg Jackson.” Jackson, of course, is well known as Jones’s head coach, but he was promptly told that his name was not on the list of approved cornermen and forced to leave the area.
CagePotato spoke with Jones’s striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn — who was also in the champ’s corner that night in Toronto, but was able to stay there for the duration of the fight — and asked him what, exactly, happened.
“Normally for title fights a fighter gets four cornermen except for in Ontario where they have always just allowed three for some reason,” Winkeljohn explained. “Heading into the fight, though, we were told that we had gotten permission to have four corners for Jon. We were all allowed to walk out and get in the corner with him and stayed there during the first round, but heading into the second round I could hear a commission inspector talking to Greg.
“I was trying to focus on the fight, on Jon, because it was a stand-up fight and I’m constantly speaking to him in code so it’s important not to have that communication disrupted. After the round, I find out that Greg was told to leave. We had permission from someone back there, but a different person — the inspector — for some reason didn’t let us. He was just doing his job as he thought he should, and you can’t blame him.
(Winkeljohn says that Jackson’s absence didn’t affect their fighter’s performance too much, but “it could have ended up a lot worse.” / Photo via Getty)
A video emerged this week showing a controversial moment during Jon Jones‘s title-defense against Alexander Gustafsson, but it was what could be heard in the video, not seen, that raised some eyebrows. In the background, the voice of what would seem to be an athletic commission official asks another man what his name is.
That man answered, “Greg Jackson.” Jackson, of course, is well known as Jones’s head coach, but he was promptly told that his name was not on the list of approved cornermen and forced to leave the area.
CagePotato spoke with Jones’s striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn — who was also in the champ’s corner that night in Toronto, but was able to stay there for the duration of the fight — and asked him what, exactly, happened.
“Normally for title fights a fighter gets four cornermen except for in Ontario where they have always just allowed three for some reason,” Winkeljohn explained. ”Heading into the fight, though, we were told that we had gotten permission to have four corners for Jon. We were all allowed to walk out and get in the corner with him and stayed there during the first round, but heading into the second round I could hear a commission inspector talking to Greg.
“I was trying to focus on the fight, on Jon, because it was a stand-up fight and I’m constantly speaking to him in code so it’s important not to have that communication disrupted. After the round, I find out that Greg was told to leave. We had permission from someone back there, but a different person — the inspector — for some reason didn’t let us. He was just doing his job as he thought he should, and you can’t blame him.
“Luckily, it didn’t affect the fight too much, but it could have. What Greg and I usually do anyway is, if it’s a stand up fight, I go in the cage in between rounds and if it’s a grappling one he goes in. So, Jon didn’t even notice in between rounds because he expected to see me in there with him, because the fight was happening on the feet for the most part. When Greg goes in the cage he has a calming effect on fighters so he does that and then I give some tactical advice. It could have ended up a lot worse. Greg was able to send over his thoughts and coaching to the other coaches from where he was sitting. It could have been worse but we don’t want it to happen again.”
As for the close fight itself, we asked Winkeljohn what he thought of it. On Monday I’d written that Jones finally encountered some difficulty beating an opponent with his flat-footed, one-strike-at-a-time style of fighting. Coach Winkeljohn rejected the idea that Jones always fights flat-footed and said that the champ hurt one of his feet early in the fight and it made things a lot more difficult from then on out.
“Well, Jon checked a kick in the first and hurt his foot. That made it harder for him to stay on his toes, and he fought flat-footed after that. It made it harder to get in and out of things,” the coach explained.
It looks like Gustafsson will not get the automatic rematch he’d hoped for now, but Coach Winkeljohn seemed fine with the idea when asked. “Personally, I would like to see the rematch,” he told us.
“Because I think everyone would see a different Jon Jones.”
Coaches and fighters from Jackson’s MMA say they were stunned last week to find out that an up-and-coming amateur fighter who had been training at the gym in Albuquerque since last summer was a wanted man who was on the run from kidnapping and domestic abuse charges in Colarado.
According to the complaint filed last July, Tyron Wright allegedly kidnapped an ex-girlfriend who he handcuffed and tortured. Besides assaulting her, White is also accused of heating up a knife on his stove and burning the victim with it.
Coaches and fighters from Jackson’s MMA say they were stunned last week to find out that an up-and-coming amateur fighter who had been training at the gym in Albuquerque since last summer was a wanted man who was on the run from kidnapping and domestic abuse charges in Colarado.
According to the complaint filed last July, Tyron Wright allegedly kidnapped an ex-girlfriend who he handcuffed and tortured. Besides assaulting her, White is also accused of heating up a knife on his stove and burning the victim with it.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/CLVRTV)
A Ring of Fire vet, Wright trained at Grudge Training Center in Colorado for several years alongside big names like Shane Carwin, Brendan Schaub and Nate Marquardt and was likely put in touch with Jackson’s by Trevor Whitman. It’s interesting that investigators took so long to find him since someone at Grudge likely would have known he was there and probably would have filled the cops in if they had bothered to visit the gym.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/Stocktonheybuddy)
Wright will be extradited back to Colorado to face felony charges of aggravated assault, willful assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping.
Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveGreg Jackson may be committed to staying neutral when former teammates Jon Jones and Rashad Evans fight over the UFC light heavyweight belt, but striking coach Mike Winkeljohn is making no such promise.
A former kickboxing champion who has for the last four years taught striking out of Jackson’s Albuquerque, New Mexico-based gym, Winkeljohn said he doesn’t feel the need to stay out of the forthcoming title fight.
“I’m positive I’m going to be working with Jon Jones because, well, the kid didn’t do anything wrong,” Winkeljohn told MMA Fighting. “We have a good relationship.”
As for Evans? He might feel as though he’s been betrayed by the Jackson’s MMA team, but the way Winkeljohn sees it, Evans is expecting a loyalty that he hasn’t demonstrated himself.
Filed under: UFC, NewsNEWARK, N.J. — Jon Jones has a specific fight day ritual. He likes to visit a spot with some natural beauty to feel the energy of nature. It’s supposed to be a peaceful time, a way to collect his own power and find his focus.
NEWARK, N.J. — Jon Jones has a specific fight day ritual. He likes to visit a spot with some natural beauty to feel the energy of nature. It’s supposed to be a peaceful time, a way to collect his own power and find his focus.
On Saturday afternoon, his peaceful spot turned to chaos. Jones found himself in the middle of a robbery, and along with coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, helped apprehend a thief.
Jones recounted the story in brilliant style following his star-making UFC 128 championship win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, capping off a day that can only be classified as epic.
NEWARK, N.J. —