Despite two-time UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen’s well-documented feud with Brazilian fighters, “The American Gangster” will be rooting for Vitor Belfort when he faces Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152. “Vito…
Despite two-time UFC middleweight title challenger ChaelSonnen‘s well-documented feud with Brazilian fighters, “The American Gangster” will be rooting for VitorBelfort when he faces Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152.
“Vitor’s an excellent fighter,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “It’s world champion after world champion that he fights, and this isn’t any different. It’s a good chance for Vitor, and I hope he seizes the moment.”
Sonnen has been anything but complimentary of Belfort in the past, calling him a “chicken and a liar” when he withdrew from the UFC 147 main event against Wanderlei Silva due to a broken hand.
The former two-time All-American collegiate wrestler was offered a fight with Jones after Dan Henderson was forced out of his UFC 151 title fight just nine days before the fight, but “Bones” declined a bout with Sonnen and the event was ultimately cancelled.
“The Phenom,” who hasn’t fought at light heavyweight for nearly five years, got the nod for a championship fight after LyotoMachida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua both turned down a rematch with Jones on short notice.
Sonnen made it clear he holds no hard feelings against Belfort or the UFC for the way the situation played out, but he is still critical of Jones for turning down a fight with him.
“We’re used to being attacked by competition,” he said. “We welcome it. We’re used to being attacked by the states because it’s an opportunity to go in and educate them. But what we’re not used to is being attacked from within. We’re not used to having one of our own set off a grenade and walk away laughing and never look back. It was really kind of an unbelievable experience from where I stand.”
Initially, it seemed as though Sonnen‘s scheduled return to the light heavyweight division against Forrest Griffin at UFC 155, scheduled for Dec. 29, would remain intact.
However, Sonnen indicated that may not be the case. “There’s going to be some news coming out on me soon. We’ll see how things play out. Stay tuned.”
Sonnen‘s fight with Griffin would have been a rematch from Sept. 2003, where Griffin won via first-round triangle choke.
Should that fight be off the table, a matchup with Machida could be a real possibility given the legitimate bad blood between the two fighters.
Ronda Rousey’s armbar prevented Sarah Kaufman from reclaiming a Strikeforce title, but it won’t stop the former champion from making a quick turnaround for a bout against Kaitlin Young.As reported by MMAJunkie.com, Kaufman has signed to compete for qui…
Ronda Rousey’s armbar prevented Sarah Kaufman from reclaiming a Strikeforce title, but it won’t stop the former champion from making a quick turnaround for a bout against Kaitlin Young.
As reported by MMAJunkie.com, Kaufman has signed to compete for quickly growing all-women promotion Invicta FC, though she remains under Strikeforce contract. Kaufman will make her debut with the organization at Invicta FC 3, which will take place on Oct. 6.
Young has competed on both of the previous Invicta FC fight cards, fighting to a split draw against Leslie Smith before suffering a submission loss to Liz Carmouche. Though she holds wins over Miesha Tate and Julie Kedzie, Young’s production has slipped over the past year.
Kaufman and Young were briefly booked to fight under the EliteXC banner earlier in their careers, but that bout never materialized, as the promotion disbanded. Four years later, Kaufman and Young will meet, with both fighters in search of a win to get their careers going in the right direction once again.
The bout will mark Kaufman’s second appearance outside of Strikeforce since she joined the organization in May 2009. Kaufman also looked for competition outside of Strikeforce immediately after losing the bantamweight title to Marloes Coenen, and she was able to pick up a win over Megumi Yabushita in doing so.
Kaufman will now attempt to achieve similar results after suffering the only other loss of her career in another Strikeforce title bout against Rousey.
It is anticipated that Invicta FC 3, which will be headlined by an atomweight title fight between Jessica Penne and Naho Sugiyama, will be streamed online through the promotion’s website.
Ronda Rousey’s armbar prevented Sarah Kaufman from reclaiming a Strikeforce title, but it won’t stop the former champion from making a quick turnaround for a bout against Kaitlin Young.As reported by MMAJunkie.com, Kaufman has signed to compete for qui…
Ronda Rousey’s armbar prevented Sarah Kaufman from reclaiming a Strikeforce title, but it won’t stop the former champion from making a quick turnaround for a bout against Kaitlin Young.
As reported by MMAJunkie.com, Kaufman has signed to compete for quickly growing all-women promotion Invicta FC, though she remains under Strikeforce contract. Kaufman will make her debut with the organization at Invicta FC 3, which will take place on Oct. 6.
Young has competed on both of the previous Invicta FC fight cards, fighting to a split draw against Leslie Smith before suffering a submission loss to Liz Carmouche. Though she holds wins over Miesha Tate and Julie Kedzie, Young’s production has slipped over the past year.
Kaufman and Young were briefly booked to fight under the EliteXC banner earlier in their careers, but that bout never materialized, as the promotion disbanded. Four years later, Kaufman and Young will meet, with both fighters in search of a win to get their careers going in the right direction once again.
The bout will mark Kaufman’s second appearance outside of Strikeforce since she joined the organization in May 2009. Kaufman also looked for competition outside of Strikeforce immediately after losing the bantamweight title to Marloes Coenen, and she was able to pick up a win over Megumi Yabushita in doing so.
Kaufman will now attempt to achieve similar results after suffering the only other loss of her career in another Strikeforce title bout against Rousey.
It is anticipated that Invicta FC 3, which will be headlined by an atomweight title fight between Jessica Penne and Naho Sugiyama, will be streamed online through the promotion’s website.
When you look at the current champions in the UFC, one can’t help but wonder who will be the next man to challenge.Now, the majority of the champs already have their next fight booked, but if you’re like me, you’re always looking one step further.So, w…
When you look at the current champions in the UFC, one can’t help but wonder who will be the next man to challenge.
Now, the majority of the champs already have their next fight booked, but if you’re like me, you’re always looking one step further.
So, we already know that Cain Velasquez, Vitor Belfort, Lyoto Machida, Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks, Martin Kampmann, Nate Diaz and Erik Koch are all in the title picture.
But who will be next?
Here are eight fighters that you may be surprised to know are just one win away from a title shot.
To say the last four days in the world of mixed martial arts has been chaotic is an understatement. We have never seen events transpire this way. As of last Thursday morning, UFC 151 was supposed to take place this Saturday with Jon Jones def…
To say the last four days in the world of mixed martial arts has been chaotic is an understatement. We have never seen events transpire this way. As of last Thursday morning, UFC 151 was supposed to take place this Saturday with Jon Jones defending his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Dan Henderson.
On Wednesday night, rumors started to swirl that Henderson had suffered an injury in training. On Thursday morning, the UFC sent out a press release to the media stating that Dana White would be holding a conference call at 2 p.m. ET to discuss 151.
The call took place with White saying that Henderson suffered a partially torn MCL and was out of the fight. Then, what White said after that was a shocker. The fight was offered to former two-time middleweight challenger Chael Sonnen, and he accepted the fight. But when the fight was offered to Jones, he turned it down.
After that, White announced UFC 151 was cancelled due to these circumstances.
There has been a lot of controversy as to whether Jones should have or shouldn’t have accepted the fight. We caught up with Sonnen’s head trainer Scott McQuary, who breaks everything down for us on the Sonnen side.
“I got a text from Chael on Wednesday at about 6:30 Pacific saying we are going to have an emergency meeting and to call all the coaches into my office,” McQuary stated to Bleacher Report. “We met up and we all sat down. Chael said flatly, ‘You can’t watch the Dan Henderson/Jon Jones fight next weekend.’
“We were all kind of surprised. He goes, ‘Because you are going to cornering me against Jones.’
“Just about everybody’s jaws dropped. None of us really had any idea this was coming. Obviously we were all very excited looking at the prospect of it. There were a lot of different things to think about. Eight days isn’t a lot of time. Chael hadn’t really been in the gym a lot in the last couple months. He always takes some time off like most guys do after the fight.
“But he was down for it and we were down for it. We started making arrangements right there and then. Within five minutes, we were in the ring and training. It wasn’t until later that night, I get a text from him (Sonnen) at about 11:30 p.m. Pacific that Jones said no (to taking the fight).”
McQuary didn’t mince his words to Sonnen about why Jones didn’t take the fight.
“I said he (Jones) was a chicken,” McQuary stated. “I said he’s not taking this because he could lose. It’s stating the obvious. Anybody can lose, but I think he felt he had a pretty good chance to lose.”
Even after Sonnen found out, the Sonnen camp was still holding out hope all the way until Dana White announced the card was cancelled.
“If you look at Chael’s Twitter account, where he was tweeting to Jones and asking him, ‘Hey you got 30 minutes before Dana’s conference call to be a champion or a coward.’
“Obviously he was trying to bring him on to take the fight, poking away at him to get him to do it and even offered his purse as well. I don’t know what else Chael could have done. We held out hope for a last-second Hail Mary that Jones would have some cojones and step up to the plate. When Dana made the announcement, that sealed it for us.”
White stated in the conference call that Jones had talked to his head trainer Greg Jackson, who advised Jones to not take the fight due to having only three days to prepare for the fight.
Jackson also said to MMA Weekly in an interview that Sonnen had been training with Dan Henderson to prepare for Jones and felt Sonnen would have an advantage in the fact they had been working together. McQuary states that is the furthest thing from the truth.
“Chael was not training with Dan Henderson,” McQuary stated. “he had spoken on the phone with Dan a little bit, but no training whatsoever. Chael took some time off after the Anderson (Silva) fight to mentally and physically recover. It’s exhausting going through a camp like that. I can tell you completely that Chael hadn’t stepped into the gym until two weeks ago. He did three training sessions in those two weeks, and they were pretty light for him or anybody. He barely broke a sweat.”
A lot of people have been critical of Jackson giving that advice to Jones. McQuary feels that some trainers have more influence over fighters than others, and it makes Jackson look bad in this situation.
“It depends on the fighter,” McQuary stated. “In this case I think everybody has an influence. Trainers have more influence than others. Those guys (fighters) have a mind of their own. They have the right to free choice. If you give that power over like Jon Jones did to Greg Jackson, whether he was advocating responsibility or passing it off. I don’t know if that’s a completely smart decision. I think Greg Jackson is coming across as an extremely cautious coach that fights not to lose where Chael fights to win.”
It has been a criticism in the past of Jackson and his style of how he prepares his fighters. McQuary says just look at the fights.
“I think it plays a very protective way of winning and keeping a good record,” McQuary stated. “Greg has been criticized by other people in the past for doing just that. Having his fighters not necessarily going after the finish and utilize the other tools they have and taking risks. This is just another example to me of him trying to keep his fighters from taking any risks and protecting what they have.”
“Unfortunately you’re not going to be known as a legend that way,” McQuary stated. “You have to put it out there and you have to remember where you came from. A lot of these guys got their start or are getting into the UFC by taking a short-notice fight against somebody who was skilled and ready.”
People have wondered what Sonnen would have done if he was in the position that Jones was in. McQuary feels there would be no doubt at all.
“Absolutely without a doubt, in a heartbeat,” McQuary stated. “I wouldn’t even have to say anything. Chael steps up to the plate every time. He would have no doubt in his mind about the fight. Chael backs up what he says and follows it through with action.”
Title implications in the light heavyweight division will be felt at the next UFC on Fox, when former champion Mauricio Rua meets up with hot, up-and-coming Swede Alexander Gustafsson on the main card.Each man has a chance to be in the title picture. R…
Title implications in the light heavyweight division will be felt at the next UFC on Fox, when former champion Mauricio Rua meets up with hot, up-and-coming Swede Alexander Gustafsson on the main card.
Each man has a chance to be in the title picture. Rua, who won his last fight in the last UFC on Fox headliner against Brandon Vera, is one of the top fighters at 205 pounds and has a chance to get the title shot with a win.
Gustafsson, who has looked stellar as of late, is on a solid winning streak as of right now. He may be a win or two away from a title shot.
Here is a head-to-toe breakdown of this important matchup.
Ronda Rousey’s armbar prevented Sarah Kaufman from reclaiming a Strikeforce title, but it won’t stop the former champion from making a quick turnaround for a bout against Kaitlin Young.
To say the last four days in the world of mixed martial arts has been chaotic is an understatement. We have never seen events transpire this way. As of last Thursday morning,