They don’t call Rick Story “The Horror” merely because of how it sounds when Bruce Buffer announces his name.They call him that because he represents the image of the type of fighter that most dudes want to duck; he’s a guy who can stand and bang or su…
They don’t call Rick Story “The Horror” merely because of how it sounds when Bruce Buffer announces his name.
They call him that because he represents the image of the type of fighter that most dudes want to duck; he’s a guy who can stand and bang or submit you, and he’ll throw everything he has at you in order to get a win, but you can rest assured that he won’t punk out.
That’s why he’s The Horror—he’s as intimidating as that kid from ABC’s The Middle at first glance, but when the cage door closes, he’s coming in there to stomp a mud hole in your ass and walk it dry, and he doesn’t stop unless he knows he’s got you ready to be served on a silver platter.
Hey, it did help him snap the streak of Johny Hendricks, who is/was seen as the guy to watch at 170 in 2011, and Story did call out Thiago Alves—hence his bout with Pitbull at UFC 130.
So the only question left to answer is: How can Story make it so that people finally recognize he’s as legit as Jon Fitch or BJ Penn at welterweight?
It’s time for the Rodney Dangerfield of MMA to seize his Back to School moment. In fact, come UFC 130, Roy “Big Country” Nelson is going to treat Frank Mir and the entire UFC-watching public to an extra helping of special education. On May 28, the…
It’s time for the Rodney Dangerfield of MMA to seize his Back to School moment.
In fact, come UFC 130, Roy “Big Country” Nelson is going to treat Frank Mir and the entire UFC-watching public to an extra helping of special education. On May 28, the plus-sized fighter who “can’t get no respect” is finally going to get some.
A lot of online sports books have Nelson vs. Mir as even money. But the popular favorite appears to be Mir. That could be based, in many cases, on the highly scientific revelation that—hope you’re sitting down—Roy Nelson is fat.
Yep. No getting around it. Roy Nelson is fat. He’s a fat guy. Six-feet tall, 263 pounds. Insert your own beer-gut quip here.
All joking aside, though, with this fight, which I believe Nelson will win (if you hadn’t already guessed that), he will finally prove himself a serious contender in the UFC’s heavyweight division. Fat and all.
Just look at his past. It’s practically “bulging” with victories, if you take my meaning. He has a “glut” of successes, if you will.
No one does or should confuse the defunct International Fight League’s heavyweight division with Pride, but Nelson still won that belt and defended it twice. In fact, no one else ever even held it.
Lots of noise these days about Brendan Schaub and his status as a rising star at heavyweight, and deservedly so. But at the same time, not so much noise about Nelson, who knocked Schaub cold to win season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Admittedly, outside of Schaub, Nelson doesn’t have a “ton” of high-profile scalps on his “menu” of victories. Still, you don’t get a 15-5 professional fighting record by sitting around eating onion rings, or at least not exclusively. And even in his most recent loss, Big Country was still impressive, absorbing colossal punishment in going the distance with one Junior Dos Santos.
Know how many guys have gone the distance with Dos Santos? One. That’s right: the fat guy.
But of course, Nelson is more than a great chin. He’s a great athlete, too. He’s a jiu-jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie. He has trained with the likes of Randy Couture. And he can throw some leather, too.
If you count his fights during The Ultimate Fighter, four of his last five wins were stoppages due to strikes. To be certain, he is a well-“round”ed competitor.
And yes, he does use his weight to his advantage at times. He can grapple opponents to the ground and smother them under his ample abdomen, to the point where they can probably almost taste the Whopper essence emanating from his pores.
Ugh, that was a gross image. Sorry.
Bottom line: Whether it’s a lack of great victories or just his physique, Roy Nelson has yet to earn acknowledgement as a legitimate force in the heavyweight division. Now, having won two of three fights in the UFC and earning two Knockout of the Night bonuses, how many Nelson victories need to come with a, “Well, but he’s fat” asterisk before he gets his due?
My answer: one. This one.
At UFC 130, Frank Mir will be the punchline, Roy Nelson will have his signature UFC win and people will finally be a little less apt to pick the pudgy guy last in the heavyweight division.
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.
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When Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva steps into the Octagon at UFC 132 against Chris Leben on July 2, it will be the 45th professional fight of his MMA career.Recently, the former PRIDE middleweight champion took to Twitter to inform his fans that h…
When Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva steps into the Octagon at UFC 132 against Chris Leben on July 2, it will be the 45th professional fight of his MMA career.
Recently, the former PRIDE middleweight champion took to Twitter to inform his fans that he would like another 10 fights before he retires:
“I want to make more ten fights in my career. It’s amazing, when I think about it my eyes are filled with tears,” Silva tweeted.
Since joining the UFC in 2007, Silva has fought six times and granted, he had some time off due to surgeries.
Ten more fights would see the 34-year-old Silva most likely entering his 40s before he retires.
Silva also took time to thank his fans, “Thank God because for some years now I don’t need to fight for money, I do it because I’m crazy for you. My fans are my reason [for fighting].”
Silva, who has the WandFC team and his Las Vegas training facility to fall back on, seems less than eager to head into retirement:
“You have no idea how I do feel when I am inside that [the cage]. It’s unique and intense. I’ve competed my whole life, I don’t know how it’ll be afterwards,” Silva tweeted.
Silva’s career began with a victory over Dilson Filho on Nov. 1, 1996.
As promised here is part II of the fights I believe have the most importance attached to them and should prove to be highly exciting. In the first segment I went over the bouts starting at UFC 130 this month and going through UFC 132 which takes p…
As promised here is part II of the fights I believe have the most importance attached to them and should prove to be highly exciting. In the first segment I went over the bouts starting at UFC 130 this month and going through UFC 132 which takes place in early July.
Starting with UFC 133 I will go over the top 10 bouts that will take place in the late summer/early fall period. As with anything that is planned out so many months ahead, things happen and fighters get injured, but the UFC has always been pretty good about finding suitable replacements.
UFC 134 also known as UFC: Rio has a handful of bouts that will get the fans extremely excited and ready for the fall months. So even though it will be time to say goodbye to summer, it will also be time to look forward to even more great fights. I will take a look and see what Strikeforce has planned as well.
