With the retirement of Randy Couture following his loss to Lyoto Machida this past Saturday at UFC 129 coupled with fellow UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell hanging up his gloves recently, is there anyone on the UFC roster who could be viewed as the elde…
With the retirement of Randy Couture following his loss to Lyoto Machida this past Saturday at UFC 129 coupled with fellow UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell hanging up his gloves recently, is there anyone on the UFC roster who could be viewed as the elder statesman. Is there a fighter who the UFC can bank on to help them out of a desperate situation whether or not it benefits them personally the way Liddell and Couture did on so many occasions?
It’s very rare that an organization has a fighter who is willing to put the needs of their employer before their very own the way Couture has. When they needed a main event for UFC 105 they called on Couture to take on the much younger Brandon Vera. When Tito Ortiz bailed out of his bout with Mark Coleman, Couture stepped in despite having nothing to gain personally. When James Toney ran his mouth and belittled the sport who came through to shut the boxers mouth and prove just how different the two sports truly are?
There aren’t many fighters around today who could ever dream of becoming the icon Couture is. What is most important though is whether or not there is somebody who can be a true ambassador for the sport and follow the example “The Natural” has set during his illustrious career.
MMA H.E.A.T.’s Kayrn Bryant caught up with “Big Country” Roy Nelson at the UFC Fan Expo in Toronto for a quick Q&A session regarding his upcoming heavyweight fight with Frank Mir at UFC 130: Edgar vs. Maynard III and the secret to…
MMA H.E.A.T.’s Kayrn Bryant caught up with “Big Country” Roy Nelson at the UFC Fan Expo in Toronto for a quick Q&A session regarding his upcoming heavyweight fight with Frank Mir at UFC 130: Edgar vs. Maynard III and the secret to keeping a healthy mullet.
After almost a year of waiting for his next fight, “Big Country” makes his first octagon appearance since his fight with Junior Dos Santos in August of 2010.
Nelson engaged in a heavy-handed brawl with the TUF 13 coach, which he lost via unanimous decision but has nothing to be ashamed of.
Along with Dos Santos, Nelson put on the kind of show that both fans and UFC President, Dana White like to see and his fight before last, Nelson won the KO of the Night bonus against Stefan Struve.
On May 28, 2011, Nelson will take on former two-time UFC heavyweight, Frank Mir in a fight that many are looking forward to after Mir’s lackluster, knock-out performance against Mirko “CroCop” Filipović.
Bryant mentioned Nelson being a down to earth guy who is very “relatable” to which Nelson replied, “We all put our pants on the same way.”
She then asked Nelson what his answer is when people say that he doesn’t “look like a fighter.”
“I’m not wearing a football jersey or baseball jersey. That’s usually the look,” was Nelson’s response.
Some speculate that Nelson’s power is in his hair, much like the biblical figure, Samson.
According to Nelson, it’s all in the preparation and styling of his “spectacular” plumage. “It’s just good shampoo…a couple of combs a day. It’s just got to be healthy.”
Nelson’s mullet is healthy indeed. It looks like he’s grown it a few extra inches since his last fight. “It’s business in the front and all party in the back,” he said.
Nelson said that he enjoys “giving back to the fans” at the UFC Fan Expos. “They’re the ones that actually make our sport; no fans, no sport.”
Bryant asked Nelson if he and his upcoming opponent were “friendly.” Nelson said, that he and Mir have known each other for 11 years, that Mir and his wife come over for visits and they “talk all the time.” He even had Mir autograph a picture for him.
Nelson says that this is not a fight he especially wants, being that he and Mir are long time buddies. He compared their friendship and the fight to Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans with Nelson being Rashad and Mir being Jones.
Make sure to check back with BleacherReport.com/mma for more UFC 130: Egdar vs. Maynard III fight card news and live coverage.
At UFC 129, Mark Hominick gave Jose Aldo a run for his money even with a hematoma on his head. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to grasp the UFC featherweight title from Aldo.Hominick though, may get another crack at the featherweight title with a cou…
At UFC 129, Mark Hominick gave Jose Aldo a run for his money even with a hematoma on his head. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to grasp the UFC featherweight title from Aldo.
Hominick though, may get another crack at the featherweight title with a couple more wins under his belt after he impressed the UFC with his UFC 129 performance.
“Oh, they were thrilled. They were like, ‘Heal up and we want you back as soon as you can. In another two fights you will get another crack at the title,’” Hominick told The Fan 590 Radio on Monday. “I know some of the things I have to work on to take him out. I don’t think he would be lining up to fight me to tell you the honest truth.”
Hominick took the fight to Aldo and in the fifth round made an impressive comeback to try and sway the judges in his favor. Hominick though lost to Aldo by unanimous decision and is now out for a little bit while he heals.
Hominick’s performance took place at home in Canada in front of 50,000 at Roger Centre in Toronto.
“It was just a constant stream [of cheering], that’s what I was hearing. It just made me try that much harder. I think I proved there is no quit in me,” Hominick said. “I know I was supposed to go in there and I wasn’t supposed to make it out of the first round, but I was just trying to finish him. I wanted that belt so bad.”
Now, though, Hominick must move on from his great performance last Saturday night and find a new opponent.
“[I’m going to] just take [on] a guy who’s maybe coming off of a win because I’m still in contention. I don’t think that fight puts me on the bottom of the pile. I’m still up there with the performance I put in,” Hominick said. “Jose Aldo hasn’t lost in five years. He’s never been in any type of trouble in any of his fights and I almost finished him. I took him to his limits. People know that I’m for real and I just have to go out there and prove it again.
“Honestly, I think 30 seconds more and I could have finished the fight. I wasn’t stopping and he was fading. But again, the bell rang and he won, so I have to go back to the drawing board and come back stronger.”
Gray Maynard will face Frankie Edgar for Edgar’s UFC lightweight title at UFC 130 on May 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be Maynard’s third bout against Edgar. The first time the two met, in 2008, Maynard proved victorious, defeating Edgar by u…
Gray Maynard will face Frankie Edgar for Edgar’s UFC lightweight title at UFC 130 on May 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be Maynard’s third bout against Edgar. The first time the two met, in 2008, Maynard proved victorious, defeating Edgar by unanimous decision.
The two battled again at UFC 125 on January 1 of this year, and fought to a five-round majority draw. The draw resulted in Edgar retaining the UFC title he won from BJ Penn at UFC 112. The loss and draw with Maynard are the only two blemishes on the record of Edgar (13-1-1).
Maynard ran up his impressive record of 10-0-1 (one no contest) facing some strong lightweight fighters. “I fought who they wanted me to and I asked for the top guys,” Maynard told MMAFA.TV. “If you look at it now, in the top 10, I’ve fought about four of them: (Jim) Miller, Edgar, Nate (Diaz), (Dennis) Siver. I’ve never had an easy fight. I don’t like to explain that because either you know it or you don’t.”
Maynard does not see Anthony Pettis, the last WEC lightweight champion, as having the same pedigree as he does.
“Let’s look at who he’s fought. Ben Henderson is the best name. And I don’t mind fighting him; I don’t care if I win the belt and then I have to take him on,” Maynard continued. “But for me, guys like Miller, Melendez and all of these guys who have been on the f***ing grind, fighting the best competition for the past few years…that’s what I look at.
“Who have you fought? I don’t care about how good you looked when you fought a scrub. That doesn’t matter. If a guy isn’t good then you’re not supposed to look good. And for me, (Pettis) has fought one good guy in Ben, and he isn’t proven yet. He’s tough as hell, but we’ll see.”
Pettis is currently scheduled to meet Clay Guida on June 4 during The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 finale show. If he is able to get past Guida he will be next in line to fight for the UFC lightweight title.
When talking about his January 1 fight with Edgar, Maynard thinks he knows where things went wrong. “I’m still kind of new to all of this,” he said. “What happened when I caught Frankie in the first round, that’s never happened to me before so I didn’t know what to do. Next time I will. It’s a learning process and I’m still learning.”
The lightweight contender also spoke about his relationship with Rashad Evans, a fighter he roomed with during his college wrestling days at Michigan State University. “A lot of people have Rashad wrong. He’s the most down-to-earth guy, unbelievably nice,” Maynard said. “Rashad is my boy and he’s a real person. I like real people. I hate fake people. Absolutely hate them.”
UFC 130 will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 28, the main card will be broadcast on pay-per-view beginning at 9:00 pm ET.
After a couple of lacklustre decision wins harmed Anderson Silva’s reputation and back to back losses saw Fedor Emelianenko plummet down the rankings, there is one name at the top of almost everyone’s pound-for-pound list. That man is Canadian mixed ma…
After a couple of lacklustre decision wins harmed Anderson Silva‘s reputation and back to back losses saw Fedor Emelianenko plummet down the rankings, there is one name at the top of almost everyone’s pound-for-pound list.
That man is Canadian mixed martial artist Georges St-Pierre, but while he made the seventh successful defence of his welterweight title against Jack Shields at UFC 129, the performance raised more questions than answers.
In the build-up to the fight the talk was of whether Shields would be able to utilize his superior ground game against St-Pierre. The answer was an emphatic “no,” the challenger was totally unable to execute his game plan yet never looked like getting stopped by the supposedly superior striker.
There were, of course, extenuating circumstances. St-Pierre was deprived of the vision in his left eye at some point in the third round and was forced to live with this not inconsiderable impediment for the remainder of the fight. He never looked like losing though, he seldom does, the problem for an increasing number of fight fans is his inability to finish fights against patently inferior opposition.
It is difficult to escape the suspicion that, were St-Pierre to throw caution to the wind in search of a fan-friendly KO, more often than not he would be successful. Doubtless master tactician and trainer Greg Jackson would argue that, at an elite level of competition, risks of this nature are as likely to result in failure as reward.
Had the reigning welterweight champion decided to push the pace, he could probably have finished the fight long before the bell rang at the end of the fifth and final round. He would, however, have run the risk of offering his opponent an opportunity to take the fight to the floor, arguably the only place where Shields stood a chance of actually winning.
If the mark of a champion is measured only by the quantity of his successes than the low risk Jackson formulated strategy which is repeatedly employed by St-Pierre is clearly the right one. If, however, you subscribe to the notion that fighters have an obligation to entertain then it is easy to find fault with the tactics of arguably the most proficient exponent of mixed martial arts on the planet.
In most sports teams which entertain, such as Barcelona’s current crop of footballers, are held in particularly high regard. However, first and foremost fans crave success and will accept it at any cost, regardless of which methods might have been used to acquire it.
Fighting is a little bit different. While the Rogers Centre in Toronto might have been packed with partisan Canadians who were all there to see their idol win, the UFC’s audience is mainly made up of spectators who simply want to see a good show and are more concerned with the performances than the results.
St-Pierre got the right result but he could not put in a performance to match. It was a similar story in his last three fights: Josh Koscheck, Dan Hardy and Thiago Alves were all dominated but in every instance the result was ultimately left in the hands of the judges.
Becoming a UFC champion is no easy task and remaining at the top of the sport for an extended period of time, as St Pierre has successfully done, is an achievement of epic proportions. He has won contest after contest in the Octagon but, due to a string of uninspiring one sided decision wins, he is gradually losing the battle for hearts and minds outside it.
The UFC has created an environment in which winning is absolutely everything. A couple of losses is often more than enough for a fighter’s contract to be unceremoniously cancelled and, at an elite level of MMA, the margins between success and failure are razor thin.
St Pierre is a winner, there is no doubt about that but he is not, at present, an entertainer. He certainly has it in his arsenal to finish fights in spectacular fashion but, for whatever reason, he chooses not to attempt to do so.
The UFC’s welterweight champion is determined to to go down in history as one of the sport’s all time greats. The question is if results alone will be enough to secure St Pierre’s legacy or whether it will be forever tarnished by the less than swashbuckling style with which he has achieved many of his wins.
In the main event last Saturday, fans saw Georges St-Pierre defend his welterweight title against Jake Shields. The bout was mostly a striking battle that saw GSP take the decision.According to Fight Opinion, Cesar Gracie was surprised at how wel…
In the main event last Saturday, fans saw Georges St-Pierre defend his welterweight title against Jake Shields. The bout was mostly a striking battle that saw GSP take the decision.
According to Fight Opinion, Cesar Gracie was surprised at how well Shields fared when the fight was standing.
Gracie commented, “I thought Jake probably performed the best out of everybody because it looked to me like, you know, he…if that fight kept going, Jake wins, is what it looked like to me. He hurt St. Pierre, broke his nose, popped his eye, and I was really surprised how well he did standing with the guy.”
Gracie credits a change in coaches for the improvement. “I got him with a new boxing coach, this guy named Mario, and the guy really tuned up Jake’s game. He was throwing a great jab. He landed the right hand a couple of times really hard and I really think it caught GSP off-track to see how good Jake has come along in the stand-up department.”
The game plan for the fight however was to take the fight to the ground, “Actually, we did want that fight on the ground because I truly believe that Jake is superior on the ground than GSP and I think even GSP believes that, so that’s why you saw him not really wanting to engage.”
Unfortunately for Shields, his improved striking was not enough to earn him the victory. Shields now waits to see who his next opponent will be in his quest to gain another title shot.
GSP is also waiting to see who the next challenger to his title will be. Much of the hype points to Shields’ teammate and current Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz.
