At UFC 130, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir is set to lock horns with former IFL champion and “TUF” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson. While this may be the first time these two have met inside a UFC octagon, it isn’t the first time they have competed …
At UFC 130, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir is set to lock horns with former IFL champion and “TUF” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson.
While this may be the first time these two have met inside a UFC octagon, it isn’t the first time they have competed against one another.
In the eight-man absolute tournament at Grappler’s Quest 2003, Nelson defeated Mir by points in a grappling match.
This video should serve as a reminder that Nelson shouldn’t be underestimated in the grappling department heading into his bout with Mir.
He may not look like your average professional athlete, but “Big Country” has the grappling chops and enough striking to hang with the best heavyweights in the world.
With that said, there shouldn’t be much made of a grappling match that took place eight years ago. Mir was just beginning his MMA career, and Nelson had yet to even take a professional fight. Besides, there are more aspects to MMA than only grappling.
It’s still fun to take a walk down memory lane and see where these guys were before they became the superstars they are today.
At UFC 130, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir is set to lock horns with former IFL champion and “TUF” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson. While this may be the first time these two have met inside a UFC octagon, it isn’t the first time they have competed …
At UFC 130, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir is set to lock horns with former IFL champion and “TUF” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson.
While this may be the first time these two have met inside a UFC octagon, it isn’t the first time they have competed against one another.
In the eight-man absolute tournament at Grappler’s Quest 2003, Nelson defeated Mir by points in a grappling match.
This video should serve as a reminder that Nelson shouldn’t be underestimated in the grappling department heading into his bout with Mir.
He may not look like your average professional athlete, but “Big Country” has the grappling chops and enough striking to hang with the best heavyweights in the world.
With that said, there shouldn’t be much made of a grappling match that took place eight years ago. Mir was just beginning his MMA career, and Nelson had yet to even take a professional fight. Besides, there are more aspects to MMA than only grappling.
It’s still fun to take a walk down memory lane and see where these guys were before they became the superstars they are today.
Bleacher Report’s Bryan Levick:UFC Heavyweight Frank Mir has seen the ups and downs of his career, the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole.After everything that’s been said and done, Mir is getting ready to enter his 10th season with the UFC, thus …
Bleacher Report’s Bryan Levick:
UFC Heavyweight Frank Mir has seen the ups and downs of his career, the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole.
After everything that’s been said and done, Mir is getting ready to enter his 10th season with the UFC, thus making him the heavyweight with the most seniority.
Beginning at UFC 34 in November of 2001 where he defeated Roberto Traven with an armbar submission just 1:05 in to their fight, Mir has accrued a record of 12-5 with wins over Mirko “Cro-Cop,” Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tim Sylvia and Tank Abbott to name a few.
During that time he has been the UFC Heavyweight Champion and an Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Mir is set to turn just 32-years-old four days before his bout with former training partner and fellow Las Vegas resident Roy Nelson. So, as he embarks on the journey back to the UFC mountaintop, Mir knows he needs to be impressive over Nelson if he expects to make any progress and movement up the heavyweight ladder.
As usual, Mir is taking his opponent extremely seriously and putting in a hard day’s work each and every day he trains. Maybe that’s why he was unaware that the UFC had implemented a new policy and will be offering fighters insurance in-between fights.
He also wasn’t sure if he was getting bumped up to the co-main event now that the Edgar-Maynard bout is off due to injuries.
Bleacher Report’s Sean Smith:With his main event fight against Matt Hamill at UFC 130 drawing near, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson answered several questions regarding his preparations for his upcoming bout and other topics. Prior to signing on to fight at…
Bleacher Report’s Sean Smith:
With his main event fight against Matt Hamill at UFC 130 drawing near, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson answered several questions regarding his preparations for his upcoming bout and other topics.
Prior to signing on to fight at UFC 130, Jackson had been offered a title shot against former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. However, Jackson turned down the opportunity and faced a lot of criticism from judgmental MMA fans.
“I’m a fighter and I’ve been fighting for a long time. I have common sense,” Jackson said. “I knew Shogun was going to have ring rust after taking a long time off after injury. There’s no way I could’ve took the fight on like four or five weeks notice. It’s no secret that I put on weight in between fights. I wouldn’t have even been able to make weight, so it would’ve been stupid for me to even try to do that.”
In his most recent fight, Jackson won in a controversial split decision against Lyoto Machida. Initially, Jackson seemed surprised by the decision, but “Rampage” expressed a different opinion on the UFC 130 conference call.
“I’m always surprised when judges give me a decision,” he said. “That’s one reason for the reaction with me being really silly, but I watched the fight. I think I did just enough to win.”
During his training camp for Hamill, Jackson has been without nutritionist Mike Dolce, who has provided a lot of help with Jackson’s weight management in the past. Despite the absence of Dolce, Jackson appears comfortable with his weight and condition.
The undisputed champ of the mixed martial arts world these days, Jon “Bones” Jones was in my neighbourhood yesterday appearing at the MMA Expo Show as part of MMA Live 1 London. Bones talked to all his fans, signed every autograph and posed for every p…
The undisputed champ of the mixed martial arts world these days, Jon “Bones” Jones was in my neighbourhood yesterday appearing at the MMA Expo Show as part of MMA Live 1 London. Bones talked to all his fans, signed every autograph and posed for every photo request made, in a pure display of how star athletes should treat the fans that come out to see them.
As I stood there and waited for a word with the champ, he spoke pleasantly to everyone that came up to him. The MMA Expo was holding a jiu jitsu competition in the main bowl and I could hear Jones ask each little guy that came up to him if they were competing today, because he was excited to catch some of the action.
Imagine how jacked up these kids were to know that Jon Jones was interested in watching them grapple. After his appearance session was done, Bones was kind enough to speak with me on one condition.
“Can we go out there and do this because I want to watch some jiu jitsu?” he asked. Well who am I to argue with the champ?
Right before we went out, his manager had already told me, “Sure, you can have a minute, but no Rashad questions, and no injury questions.” I soldiered on.
DW: So Jon, with the new announcement involving Twitter bonuses, and as a martial artist, do you see that Twitter is a good thing?
JJ: Absolutely, it gives the fighter a real opportunity to connect with and also reward fans through Twitter.
DW: And for you, you know, going from a hero recently and now you seem to be taking some heat on the airwaves and twitter heat, how are you doing there? Are you ok dealing with that?
JJ: Oh for sureman. You know, I look at those people and I feel that they are upset or talking about Bones you know, the character, they aren’t talking about me the person. My friends and family all know me and that’s the important thing.
DW: Speaking of that, who would win a fight in your family? Your family dinners?
With that question I got a chuckle out of Jon’s manager and a weird look and smile from Bones but also a quick and honest answer.
JJ: Arthur. Yeah, I would say he would probably still be the man. He’s big man, he still wrestles. He’s a tough guy I would say. He’s strong and could hold me down.
DW: But you have the strikes though right?
JJ: Yeah, I have the strikes for sure.
I was expecting Bones to say he himself is the toughest and would win, but his brother Arthur is a defensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, as well as an accomplished wrestler. Now I know Jones can be beaten, and I know the man he thinks can do it.
DW: So Machida or Rampage? What do you think?
JJ: It doesn’t matter to me at all, they are both tough fighters and I’m here to fight the best.
DW: And you were just here for UFC 129 as well, did you enjoy the week?
JJ: I had a great time man, I love Canada and all the fans.
DW: Will you please push to be a headliner up here so we can see it live?
JJ: I’ll fight anywhere man. Wherever they want me to go I go.
Jon Jones is a champion who clearly knows how to be a champion. He was a pleasure to talk to, even though he is an absolute nightmare to fight.
I want Jones vs. Machida soon, and I’m greedy—I want the fight in Canada so I can try to see it live.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Correspondent for Bleacher Report. (Also a Correspondent for MMACanada.net.) All quotes were obtained first-hand.
Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy was just another fighter in a long line of fighters calling out the UFC’s Michael Bisping a few weeks ago. However, in the past few days, the bad blood has reached a high point between Kennedy and Bisping. In …
Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy was just another fighter in a long line of fighters calling out the UFC’s Michael Bisping a few weeks ago.
However, in the past few days, the bad blood has reached a high point between Kennedy and Bisping.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, Matt Bishop picked Kennedy’s brain about why he has made this feud with “The Count” personal.
While this writer strongly suggests reading the interview in its entirety, the highlights from the conversation are plentiful.
Talking about Bisping’s most recent fight with Jorge Rivera at UFC 127, “The Hero” proclaimed:
“So I was watching that fight and dude, my blood just turned cold when I watched him knee Jorge in the head and then I watched him walk over to the corner and spit on them. I’m a martial artist, I’m a professional athlete, I’m a soldier and everything about that fight was disrespectful to everything I stand for.”
Just in case Kennedy was not clear enough with that statement, he added:
“He is everything I’m against. He cheats. And when I say cheats, I hate all cheaters. I hate guys that use steroids, I hate guys that grease, I hate guys that throw illegal punches, or say they got kicked in the groin so they can get a break, guys that throw illegal knees to the head. I hate them across the board equally.”
Still curious if Kennedy thought Bisping’s illegal knee to Rivera’s head was intentional?
“But the worst situation is when the cheater wins and now it’s like every single fighter out there is like, ‘Oh, I can knee a guy in the head and get a slap on the wrist and then I can go back in there and win the fight.’ That’s idiotic, it’s offensive and I personally take it as a big stain on the whole entire sport.”
Ouch, and Kennedy was not even close to done pouring the fuel on the fire from there.
Responding to Bisping’s comments to MMA Fighting (where he told Kennedy to go f**k himself), the Bronze Star recipient said it was going to take a lot more than that to rile him up:
“I’m an eight-year Green Beret, Ranger, sniper. I’ve been told a lot worse things to my face, so I’m not afraid to hear about it. I’d never say that to another person, I’d never say that to another colleague, I’d never say that to another fighter. So yet again, it’s just a demonstration of his character.”
When Bishop asked why Bisping had gotten under Kennedy’s skin to this extent, he responded:
“I don’t think there’s anybody in the sport that’s ever blatantly cheated as clearly as he has and then walks away with the win from it.”
Kennedy then basically said that he has a problem with everything Bisping says and does, as well as the way he fights.
With that in mind, how did Kennedy react to the possibility that Bisping is still a frontrunner to coach season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and fight for a number one contender spot at the conclusion of the show?
“That’s absolutely asinine. He cheated! He should be punished. He then spit on the corner. He should be banned! He shouldn’t be rewarded! It doesn’t make any sense.”
All right, so it’s probably safe to say Kennedy will not be TiVoing too many episodes of TUF next season if Bisping does indeed end up as a head coach.
Kennedy also went on to say that he had a real problem with guys in MMA “misbehaving and getting rewarded for it”.
“Here’s the problem, you know. Let me give myself a mohawk, dye it red and go out there and talk some smack and then I’ll be fighting for six figures. Or let me illegally knee a guy in the head, spit on his corner and then give me a spot on ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’”
Clearly, Kennedy is not a big fan of UFC welterweight Dan Hardy either. He then clarified this discontent by adding:
“And then we’ll take Brian Stann a Silver Medal recipient, a war hero, a Marine captain. He’s had like 10 fights under the Zuffa banner between the WEC and the UFC but he’s fighting a newcomer to the promotion in Jorge Santiago. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Kennedy concluded this point by saying “let’s reward those that deserve rewarding”.
Is Tim Kennedy vs. Michael Bisping a real possibility for the first crossover fight between Strikeforce and the UFC?
Given the hype both fighters are giving it right now, coupled with the fact that Kennedy is willing to donate his fight purse to charity, this match up seems to be a distinct possibility in the near future.
At UFC 130, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir is set to lock horns with former IFL champion and “TUF” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson.
UFC Heavyweight 