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Exclusive Interview: Mark Hominick Reflects on Jose Aldo Fight, Potential Return Match Against the ‘Korean Zombie’

Mark Hominick MMA Live interview – Watch more Funny Videos

Three weeks after his unsuccessful bid for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 129, Mark Hominick was in London, Ontario, supporting his Adrenaline Training Center teammate James Haourt at MMA Live 1. Our own Brian J. D’Souza caught up with the local hero to get his thoughts on his last fight and his immediate future. Some highlights…

On his performance against Jose Aldo: “[He’s] one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and I wasn’t supposed to get out of the first round, and if there were 30 more seconds, I’d be wearing the belt right now. It was one of those fights that like, you go back to the drawing board and there’s a few things that could have changed, but I laid my heart out on the line, I laid it in the ring, I put everything into that fight and everybody who was there knows that, and everyone who watched the fight knows that…I almost had him finished in the fifth, and it’s just that the knockdown in the third kind of took the momentum I felt I was building, and kind of took the sail out until I had to come back in the fifth.”

Mark Hominick MMA Live interview – Watch more Funny Videos

On Aldo’s punching power: “His hands are definitely harder that I thought. He’s very heavy-handed. The first uppercut he hit me with, I knew right away that I had to respect him. And I think that kind of hindered me from throwing a lot of combinations because I didn’t want to get mixing up, I wanted to score and get out, not trading punch for punch, because someone with punching power, that’s the fight they want.”

On Chan Sung Jung calling him out: “That’s a fight that I’d love to take…and I think that’s a fight that makes sense, because he’s just coming off a big win, I came off a loss, and we’re both up there, we’re both hungry, and I think another two fights and I’ll be deserving of a shot. But I just have to go out there and prove it, and that’s what I said three years ago when I started the winning streak I was on, it was like ‘there’s no more talk, I gotta go out there and prove it,’ and that’s what I gotta go back and do now. You have to win, you have to make impressive performances, and I have to go out and do that, not talk about it.”

Exclusive Interview: Jon Jones Discusses Greg Jackson, Respect, and His Management at ‘MMA Live’

As promised, here’s Brian J. D’Souza‘s video interview with Jon Jones at the ‘MMA Live 1‘ show last week in London, Ontario. Some highlights:

On his initial decision to train with Greg Jackson: “I was watching his professionalism with Georges St. Pierre and a few other fighters, and I thought ‘man, if I could get all that brilliant energy pointed towards me, they probably could do something really special,’ and that’s what they’ve done I think…who knows what would have happened if I decided to [train] somewhere else, but Jackson’s seemed like the place for me. I remember our first meeting, they were talking about respect, and working hard, and family, and things like that, and that was something that drew me towards them.”

As promised, here’s Brian J. D’Souza‘s video interview with Jon Jones at the ‘MMA Live 1‘ show last week in London, Ontario. Some highlights:

On setting an example as a UFC champion: “My only goal is just to represent our sport in the best light, and to treat people with love and respect, and never look past anyone, and respect everyone, pretty much, and let everything else take care of itself.”

On the recent shift in his management team: “My manager’s always been Malki Kawa, despite who partnered up with us. It was always about Malki Kawa. He’s a very close friend to me, and he’s a business partner, so everything’s still smooth sailing. We’ve been doing great by ourselves and we’ll continue to do great.”

Rashad Evans Doesn’t Seem to Remember Getting Knocked Out by Lyoto Machida

(Props: MMA30tv)
This video has been making the rounds today mostly because of the part that begins at the 4:40 mark, in which Rashad Evans describes a physical encounter he had with Quinton Jackson recently at a Las Vegas nightclub. Basicall…

(Props: MMA30tv)

This video has been making the rounds today mostly because of the part that begins at the 4:40 mark, in which Rashad Evans describes a physical encounter he had with Quinton Jackson recently at a Las Vegas nightclub. Basically, Rashad approached his TUF 10 coaching rival to congratulate him on his win over Lyoto Machida (and also bust his balls a bit). The conversation took a left turn, which led to Rampage slapping Rashad in the face. Rashad returned the slap, and then security stepped in. End of story.

But the way Rashad sets up the story is a little strange. He says: "I seen him at XS, right? And I go up to him and give him his props for his win, y’know, he beat Machida, I beat Machida, and I was like ‘good job,’ you know. And I said ‘but you know, you kind of used a little bit of my strategy in that fight.’ [Rampage said] ‘Whatchu talkin’ ’bout?’ And I said, ‘well I mean, you were taking him down a lot, and you said that I wrestled you a lot, so, you said I was kinda weak for doing that, but then you go and do the same thing."

Rashad, if you’re reading this, maybe this will help jog your memory…

Exclusive: James Irvin Talks Pills, Curses, the UFC, and Getting Robbed by Ken Shamrock

("When the first thing a doctor says to you is ‘Can I get an autograph?’ it’s pretty easy to get any drugs you want." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles
Coming off a loss to Jorge Oliveira in December, James I…

("When the first thing a doctor says to you is ‘Can I get an autograph?’ it’s pretty easy to get any drugs you want." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

Coming off a loss to Jorge Oliveira in December, James Irvin returned to action last weekend at Gladiator Challenge: Young Guns 4 — and he would have gotten his much-needed rebound victory, if it wasn’t for the meddling of celebrity referee Ken Shamrock. (Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.) Freak occurrences have plagued Irvin’s career from the beginning, and that night was no different. "The Sandman" recently gave us on opportunity to chat with him about his anti-climactic match against Mike Crisman, his battle with painkiller addiction, and his plan to make another run in the UFC.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: First and foremost, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us at CagePotato. Tell me a little about the physical toll your body has taken after fighting three times in the past four months.
JAMES IRVIN: It’s been good for me. It’s tough, but I’ve been doing this for ten years. In shape, out of shape, and back into shape again. Kinda like what Chris Leben said — it keeps me sharp. I fight again on February 20th and have two fights in March, one in May. I train best when it’s intense and there’s nothing more intense than training for a fight.

Speaking of fights, your last one ended after an inadvertent illegal knee to the head of your opponent. As a result, Ken Shamrock ruled the fight a No Contest. What really went down in the cage?
Honestly, three weeks ago Ken turned down a fight with me, so as soon as I saw that he was going to be the ref I had a bad feeling. He kept coming back to the locker room to give us his version of the rules like this was my first rodeo. As for Crisman, I beat the brakes off this fool. I KO’d the guy and walked away before Shamrock even got there, and two minutes later, he says I illegally kneed him and it’s a no contest. It’s cool. I don’t have a scratch on me, and [Gladiator Challenge promoter] Tedd Williams says I can rematch Crisman in May.

Exclusive: Jake Shields Doesn’t Feel Like the Underdog Going Into UFC 129 Fight With GSP

Jake Shields talks UFC 129 vs Georges St. Pierre – Watch more Funny Videos
By CagePotato contributor Brian J. D’Souza
The April 30th UFC event at the Rogers Centre in Toronto will play host to pound-for-pound king Georges St. Pierre, a Fren…

Jake Shields talks UFC 129 vs Georges St. Pierre – Watch more Funny Videos

By CagePotato contributor Brian J. D’Souza

The April 30th UFC event at the Rogers Centre in Toronto will play host to pound-for-pound king Georges St. Pierre, a French-Canadian superstar who helps move everything from action figures to videogames for his UFC bosses. Jake Shields hasn’t quite reached that level of mainstream acclaim, but when he faces off with GSP at UFC 129, he’ll be carrying a 15-fight win streak thanks to an arsenal of tools that could be the wildcard against an experienced champion who has yet to show any stylistic weaknesses nor signs of decline.

Catching up with Shields during a tour of Ontario, the friendly Cesar Gracie team member seems to effortlessly surmount a packed schedule of seminars, media appearances, interviews, photo shoots and autograph requests with a smile and his positive attitude. A former welterweight champion in Elite XC and middleweight champion in Strikeforce, Jake wants to add the most important belt to his collection — the UFC 170-pound title.

Shields won’t play into a war of words with St. Pierre in the grand tradition of B.J. Penn, Dan Hardy and Josh Koscheck. “He’s a great guy. I don’t know him that well, so I’d have no reason to suspect him as being fake,” Shields says.

As he once told FIGHT! magazine’s Danny Acosta, “When you’ve been in fights, fighting 10 people at once, people with knives and bats and guns and whatnot, it definitely takes fear away in the cage,” however, on this day, Shields shied away from elaborating too much on his tumultuous youth.

Rich Franklin: The CagePotato Retrospective Interview

("When you put your focus on one thing, you tend not to focus on the journey. Once you get there, it’s not going to be as big of a deal as you thought it was going to be.")
This Saturday, Rich Franklin will step into the Octagon for the 18t…

("When you put your focus on one thing, you tend not to focus on the journey. Once you get there, it’s not going to be as big of a deal as you thought it was going to be.")

This Saturday, Rich Franklin will step into the Octagon for the 18th time to face Forrest Griffin in the co-headlining feature of UFC 126. During his 12-year career, Ace has experienced everything from championship glory to bitter defeat, and now stands as one of the sport’s most revered statesmen. “I think that what people will remember me for is that I’m a tough competitor who’s put on entertaining fights for the fans all these years," Franklin tells CagePotato. "And I’m happy with that kind of legacy.”

Rich was generous enough to give us some phone-time recently, and instead of asking him about his gameplan for Forrest, we discussed Franklin’s career as a whole, from the moment he decided to pursue MMA as a full-time job, to the fight that changed his life, to every other notable moment that helped forge the fighter he is today. Let’s begin…

The Early Days, 1993-1999
Rich Franklin: “I started training in traditional martial arts in 1993, then I saw the first couple UFCs and started doing some jiu-jitsu. I was training at a Royce Gracie chapter here in Cincinnati, and the guy who was leading my class was a blue belt. By today’s standards, if the best you had in your area was a blue belt, you’d be way behind the times, but in 1994 it was a big deal to have that kind of a resource. So I was doing jiu-jitsu, working with kickboxing coaches, and of course I’d been watching the UFC, learning off instructional tapes and all those kinds of things.

I started fighting at these little local amateur shows out in Richmond, Indiana, and clearly at that point in time, I was just light-years ahead of the competition that was showing up at the event. The promoter told me, ‘These are amateur events, I don’t really have anybody for you to fight.’ But there was a gentleman there who said, ‘You know what, I run a pro show, and I’ll pay you to fight." And he offered me 200 bucks. I was like, ‘Wow, I can make money fighting? This is great. I’m gonna make 200 bucks." I was bankin’.

RICH FRANKLIN (5-0) vs. AARON BRINK (7-4) — Franklin’s first regional title fight
IFC: Warriors Challenge 11, 1/13/01
Result: No contest due to accidental injury, after Brink’s leg slipped through the cage.