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Lyoto Machida Believes Different “Shogun” Rua Fought Jon Jones

It wasn’t long ago that everyone and their favorite keyboard (yes, including us), were falling over themselves to toss a heaping ton of praise on Jon Jones, after he demolished “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March. After all, the 23 year-old-phenomenon hardly broke a sweat while dismantling the man that had beaten the man. […]

rua machida

It wasn’t long ago that everyone and their favorite keyboard (yes, including us), were falling over themselves to toss a heaping ton of praise on Jon Jones, after he demolished “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March. After all, the 23 year-old-phenomenon hardly broke a sweat while dismantling the man that had beaten the man. Remember the heralded Machida Era? And how Rua ended it with a series of ‘nighty-nighty’ right hands?

While there’s no questioning the fact that Jones is quickly approaching ‘baddest dude on the planet’ status, you don’t have to be a member of the “Shogun” Boosters Club to concede that Rua didn’t exactly look like his old self in the fight. The guy did spend almost a year on the DL with yet another knee injury. Well, Lyoto Machida recently offered his opinion to Sherdog.com on how Rua looked against Jones, and not surprisingly, he didn’t see the same dude that beat him down last May.

“Shogun is a tough guy…I know Shogun has more to show than that. Maybe he failed to bring his game or maybe he felt the pressure of defending the belt for the first time. As I’ve said before, there are other factors we don’t know about, other factors that may have interfered. They changed opponents on him. That can interfere with a fight. I have no doubt he could have fought better. I’m sure if Shogun was the same fighter he was when we fought in Los Angeles the fight would have been much more difficult for Jones…”

Guess we’ll get a better idea on this when Rua rematches Griffin this August.

Vitor Belfort Still Waiting to Hear on Opponent

Many throughout the MMA world were a buzz with the prospect of Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva II going down this summer, but as we’ve documented here with as little effort as possible, Wandy is now fighting Chris Leben. So, where does that leave Vitor? One would think that the UFC is looking to get […]

Many throughout the MMA world were a buzz with the prospect of Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva II going down this summer, but as we’ve documented here with as little effort as possible, Wandy is now fighting Chris Leben. So, where does that leave Vitor? One would think that the UFC is looking to get the machine-gun like striker a bout lined up for its upcoming, August 27^th card in Brazil, as Belfort is kind of a big deal there in case you didn’t know. (See Belfort vs. Silva 1 regarding striking metaphor…) Speaking to Tatame Magazine, Belfort updated the publication with the following, regarding where the UFC big wigs apparently are in terms of his schedule / opponent.

“Lorenzo (Fertitta) called me and said he’s trying to find me an opponent, but it’s hard to do it. Wanderlei (Silva) challenged me and then started talking thing on the internet, so I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m ready, my dream is to fight at UFC Rio. I believe the fighters found out that I’m hungrier than ever to fight”.

Yes, you would think Belfort’s gotta be ‘starving’ in terms of throwing down again, as despite all the fanfare that surrounded his UFC return in 2009, he’s only fought once since blasting through Rich Franklin at UFC 103. Of course, his last bout in February against Anderson Silva, didn’t exactly go as planned. It will be interesting to see, though, who the UFC tries to line him up against. Will it go with a striker that will stand and trade with Belfort? Or will they go the wrestler route and run the risk of a smother fest?

Michael McDonald Returning at UFC 133 to Fight Nick Pace

If you missed Michael McDonald’s recent UD win over Edwin Figueroa, you have not fully experienced the wonders of MMA…For those of you that did catch their amazing Fight Night 24 tilt, you should be happy to hear that McDonald will be returning at UFC 133, to face fellow bantamweight prospect Nick Pace.
No date or […]

If you missed Michael McDonald’s recent UD win over Edwin Figueroa, you have not fully experienced the wonders of MMA…For those of you that did catch their amazing Fight Night 24 tilt, you should be happy to hear that McDonald will be returning at UFC 133, to face fellow bantamweight prospect Nick Pace.

No date or location for UFC 133 has been officially announced, but the word on the world wide web is that it will take place August 6^th in Philly.

Two middleweight bouts have also been confirmed for UFC 133, as Rafael Natal will take on Riki Fukuda and Jorge Rivera will throw down with Alessio Sakara.

Alan Belcher Hoping to Return in September

Right now, much of the hullabaloo in the UFC middleweight division is, as always, circling around the division’s champ Anderson Silva, and just what’s in store for the demigod. Dana White has confirmed that Silva will in fact face long time contender Yushin Okami on August 27th, but after that, then what? (Yes, nearly everyone […]

Right now, much of the hullabaloo in the UFC middleweight division is, as always, circling around the division’s champ Anderson Silva, and just what’s in store for the demigod. Dana White has confirmed that Silva will in fact face long time contender Yushin Okami on August 27^th, but after that, then what? (Yes, nearly everyone thinks he will win). Will he rematch the last dude to make him look mortal? Chael Sonnen? Or will the UFC finally put together the heralded, ‘OMG’ super fight with GSP? After all, there’s no one else in the middleweight division right?

Well there is another dude, who yes, most wouldn’t pick to beat Silva, but he could possibly give the champ one hell of a fight and that’s Alan Belcher. Remember him? The guy with the Johnny Cash tattoo that’s won five straight fights? (Eff that, you know he beat Yoshihiro Akiyama). MMA Weekly recently ran a story reporting that the bruising middleweight is finally set to return to action, after recovering from an eye injury that nearly ended his career. Belcher’s manager, Malki Kawa informed the outlet that:

“It looks like Alan will probably make his return sometime in September, is what I’m hoping for. It’s the date that we kind of targeted as the date that he wants to come back,”

That’s good news, as there’s no question that Belcher is one of the division’s more entertaining fighters, who in addition, likes to stir the pot occasionally with an interesting quote or two. Now, Belcher will need to get a couple big wins under his belt upon his return, but if he does, he could be right thick in the title mix no?

Vitor Belfort Warns Wanderlei Silva to “Talk Less and Fight More”

There’s no shortage of ‘this I gotta see’ fights on Wanderlei Silva’s horizon right now, which any true fan of caged violence understands is pretty sweet. Not only is Silva scheduled to fight Chris Leben on July 2nd, which of course should be fantastic, things are getting nastier between him and Vitor Belfort.
Now, if you’ve been following […]

There’s no shortage of ‘this I gotta see’ fights on Wanderlei Silva’s horizon right now, which any true fan of caged violence understands is pretty sweet. Not only is Silva scheduled to fight Chris Leben on July 2^nd, which of course should be fantastic, things are getting nastier between him and Vitor Belfort.

Now, if you’ve been following the drama between Silva and Belfort, then you know they aren’t exactly bestest buddies, and that both have apparently agreed to a rematch. That said, Silva reportedly wanted to throw down with Leben first, a desire which, while Dana White obviously got over his initial disapproval, isn’t sitting too well with Mr. Belfort. Speaking to Tatame recently, Belfort directed this ‘advice’ in Wandy’s direction, when asked for his thoughts about Silva’s decision to fight Leben.

“Well, my friend, what can I do? The thong is a men’s whip and he needs to learn to talk less and fight more. But, what I can do, right? That’s life, bro, I don’t care about it, I’m focused for my next challenge. I don’t care about names, I don’t pick my opponents, and I always focus 100% in my next fight, independently of who I’ll fight with.”

Okay…not sure where the thong thing is coming from in this particular instance, but Vitor must think Silva is ducking him. In a way, Silva is, but just for the time being, as clearly he must view Leben as somewhat of a needed tune-up fight. Regardless, things are looking up for “Axe Murderer” fans, although, is anyone else wondering if Leben could play the spoiler here?

“Minotauro” Nogueira Still Says Anderson Silva Fighting Yushin Okami; Moving to 205

Yushin Okami’s performances may not always wear out the edge of your seat, but really, what does the dude have to do to get a title shot? This is a man, a rather large and strong one at that, who has won ten times in the Octagon and is coming off wins over Mark Munoz […]

Yushin Okami’s performances may not always wear out the edge of your seat, but really, what does the dude have to do to get a title shot? This is a man, a rather large and strong one at that, who has won ten times in the Octagon and is coming off wins over Mark Munoz and Nate Marquardt. That’s not a bad way to go about becoming a contender, but despite Okami’s accomplishments, he’s still waiting to face Anderson Silva (yes, that DQ thingy aside).

So, when recently Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira told Tatame magazine that Silva was going to fight Okami at the upcoming August 27^th UFC in Brazil, the news may not have sent every MMA fan into thrilled hysteria, but it kind of made sense. Then, MMA Junkie cited sources who said the reports were “premature,” no doubt sending Okami’s booster club members into further despair. Well, in a more recent story from Fighters Only Magazine, the outlet is reporting that Nogueira has once again stated in another Brazilian mag that, yes, Silva is fighting Okami this August.

“The mystery about the UFC Rio card that takes place on Aug 27th starts to be unfolded. I have information in which my friend and current biggest phenomenon Anderson Silva will make the main fight of the event versus Japan’s Yushin Okami,”

Now hold on for the real WTF? news. Nogueira apparently went on to say that Silva could be moving to light-heavyweight, because of the lack of contenders available to him at 185. Say what? Aside from the rematch with Chael Sonnen, which everyone and their dog wants to see, hasn’t Anderson consistently said lately he’s not doing 205 anymore?