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Joey Rivera: Roy Nelson Basically Felt That Doing TUF Was a Wrinkle in His Plans

It has been an up and down season 16 of The Ultimate Fighter in terms of the fights and ratings. The ratings for this season have hit a low of 624,000 viewers with a high mark of 1.1 million, which has been achieved twice with last week’…

The season overall has been averaging 863,000 viewers, which is down when they went with TUF LIVE format earlier this year when it averaged a little more than a million viewers.

The fights have been the same thing as the ratings—up and down. We see fights like last week between Roy Nelson team fighter Jon Manley defeating Shane Carwin team fighter James Chaney via submission. Then we get fights like we saw about two weeks ago between Michael Hill and Matt Secor where for the most part the fight stalled before ending in controversy when the judges announced Hill got the victory.

Episode three of TUF saw the oldest member of the show—Team Nelson’s Joey Rivera—defeat Team Carwin’s number one selection Sam Alvey by majority decision. The 32 year old who fights out of Tucson, Arizona got into MMA due to the rough atmosphere of his early days in New Jersey.

“I first started training in 1997, when I was still in high school,” Rivera told Bleacher Report. “I started in aikido and then started doing judo. I really fell in love though with grappling. It was a great way to not get in trouble and to do something for myself. My neighborhood in New Jersey wasn’t the best and grappling was a good outlet for me to get away and find something I like to do.”

Most guys who make The Ultimate Fighter usually only tryout once to make the show. Rivera, however, tried out numerous times and felt that he wasn’t going to get that break of getting on the show.

“I had actually tried out three different times,” Rivera stated. “I actually tried out for the welterweight season, the lightweight season and another welterweight season. Finally they had another tryout, which was for this current season, but I wasn’t going to go because I had felt I tried too many times. They (UFC) said I didn’t have to tryout anymore and they accepted me.

“They (UFC) took me to the interview and accepted me. It was like all the hard work is now beginning to pay off.”

Roy Nelson has been questioned by UFC President Dana White in the past regarding the way Nelson looks, his work ethic; the list goes on and on. You see some of those things on the show, such as after Rivera’s victory Nelson made his guys pick a straw and whoever drew the shortest either had to fight or pass the straw to another teammate. Julian Lane got the shortest straw and chose to fight.

Rivera says he respects Nelson as a fighter, but questions Nelson’s fight selections, training methods and his commitment to the show from the very first practice up to last week’s episode.

“We as a team are frustrated with those things and we noticed it at the beginning, from the very first practice to right now in the season,” Rivera stated. “Its not that Roy Nelson is a bad guy. I just think that he’s probably a lot better fighter than he is a coach.

“Roy Nelson is a heavyweight. The first episode he basically said that his wife was pregnant and this (TUF) was a wrinkle in his plans because he had a fight coming up in December and all this other stuff. Exactly what he said is what we are to him.

“He lives in Vegas and if you compare him to Shane Carwin, where he came and brought in Nate Marquardt, his wrestling and strength and conditioning coach. He brought a team down. In where that with Roy Nelson, he lives in Vegas and he thinks he has that luxury of going home and relaxing where these guys (Carwin’s coaches) are on the job. He plans it a little better.”

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Shane Carwin Announces Pat Barry’s Shenanigans will be Part of his TUF 16 Coaching Staff

“You think that’s funny? This motherfucker on my left THINKS HE’S A WELTERWEIGHT!”

Finding someone who still gets excited about The Ultimate Fighter is a lot like watching a guy wearing a gi or a Luchador mask in a cage fight: It’s a throwback to the days when our sport was arguably more pure and definitely more innocent. It’s oddly refreshing, incredibly confusing and somewhat disturbing, all at the same time. It’s the type of encounter that you’ll look back on a few months from now and say something like “Remember when we went to that event in the middle of nowhere and they let a guy compete wearing a Psicosis mask?” (Come on, stranger things have happened) or “Remember that night at The Korova when we met that guy who was all about TUF Live?”

That being said, TUF 16 actually looks like it has some promise. At the very least, head coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin should provide some entertaining antics and some original trash talk. The fact that the two were originally set to fight each other at UFC 125 is a nice touch, too. And earlier today, Shane Carwin told MMAJunkie.com that UFC Heavyweight and one of MMA’s most recognizable personalities Pat Barry will be a part of his TUF 16 coaching staff.

If anything else, Carwin and company should be able to revolutionize the TUF coaches ribbing, which, let’s face it, has become pretty stale, predictable and disturbing throughout the history of the show. Looking over the rest of his coaching staff, his fighters will have one hell of a coaching staff to learn from. They’re listed for you after the jump.

“You think that’s funny? This motherfucker on my left THINKS HE’S A WELTERWEIGHT!”

Trevor Wittman: One of MMA’s most respected striking coaches, Wittman is the head coach at Grudge Training Center, which is located just outside of Denver, Colorado. Some of his pupils include Brendan Schaub, Duane Ludwig, Nate Marquardt and, of course, Shane Carwin. While he’s one of the most cheerful guys in MMA, he won’t hesitate to call out one of his fighters over their bitchassness.

Nate Marquardt: Former UFC middleweight contender, current Strikeforce Welterweight Champion. He’s coming off of a dominant performance over Tyron Woodley that won him the gold at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy earlier this month.

Pat Barry: Come on, like you don’t know…

Leister Bowling: Wrestling coach at Grudge Training Center, extremely decorated amateur wrestler. His accomplishments include 3x Colorado state wrestling champion, Colorado career/season record holder for most wins (154), pins (131) and takedowns (785), 3x NAIA All-American, 4x Central Regional Champion, 4x Great Plains Athletic Conference Champion, 2005 National Runner-Up, and the 2004 Central Regional Outstanding Wrestler.

Loren Landow: Sports performance coach. Has worked with 400 professional athletes, including athletes in the NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, WNBA and Olympic medalists.

That’s an impressive list of coaches. While we don’t have any word on who Roy Nelson’s coaches will be, we have to imagine he’ll bring in a killer jiu-jitsu specialist. And we won’t hold our breathe on Mike Dolche.

So, does this raise your interest levels for the next season of TUF?

Nate Marquardt and Top Six Fighters Who Can Cross Weight Class and Win a Title

Last week we witnessed the career resurgence of UFC and Pancrase veteran Nate Marquardt when he managed to win the Strikeforce Welterweight title against the very tough Tyron Woodley. By doing so, “The Great” was able to silence all doubters …

Crossing from one weight class to another is not a rare occurrence in MMA nowadays. Although difficult weight cut is an ideal reason, there are those who, like Marquardt, consider dropping or climbing a weight class for a golden opportunity of winning a world title.

This article lists the top six fighters who are likely to move up or down in weight class and have a good chance of winning the belt at another division.

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The New Era of Nate Marquardt

After seven years of pursuing a championship title, Nate Marquardt’s efforts have finally paid off. After more than a year of inactivity, Marquardt was not only able to capture the vacant welterweight title in his Strikeforece debut, but do so by knocking out undefeated Tyron Woodley in spectacular fashion.

Ever since his defeat at the hands of Anderson Silva in 2007, Marquardt wanted nothing more than to get back into title contention. Unfortunately, he always seemed to be just one win away from making that a reality. Matters only got worse for Marquardt when he was released from the UFC due to issues with his testosterone replacement therapy. This alone would be enough to end a fighters confidence, and therefore, his career. However, this didn’t deter Marquardt, and he pushed on. Just seven months after being released from the UFC, his determination and perseverance were rewarded with the opportunity to fight Tyron Woodley for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title.

Many people thought Marquardt would have his hands full with Woodley. After all, Woodley had a perfect 10-0 record and was an NCAA division l wrestler. In 2010, Woodley was named Strikeforce’s rising star of the year and later fought and defeated former UFC top welterweight, Paul Daley, in 2011. It was obvious that even if Marquardt was able to leave with the belt, it would be no walk in the park.

Although he took several heavy shots from Woodley early in the fight, Marquardt was able to regain his composure and impose his will, which won him the first two rounds. He dropped Woodley on several occasions and was even able to take him down. By the beginning of the fourth round, Woodley looked as if he didn’t have much more fight left in him, and that Marquardt simply sucked out all of his will. It wasn’t more than a minute later that Marquardt landed a flurry of punches and elbows that landed flush to the head of Woodley, forcing the referee to waive off the fight, and making Marquardt the new Strikeforce welterweight champion.

The belt that had eluded Marquardt for seven years is finally around his waist, making him the first Strikeforce welterweight champion since Nick Diaz. After his dominating performance against Woodley, in his first fight at welterweight, Marquardt has sent a powerful message to all his fellow welterweights that he isn’t a force to be taken lightly. It’s hard to imagine a fighter who could possibly challenge Marquardt for his title, let alone take it from him. If anyone poses the skill to be a champion who can defend his title a significant number of times, it’s Marquardt. With that being said, the Strikeforce welterweight division has truely entered a new era, the era of Nate “The Great” Marquardt.

Written by: Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli

Nate Marquardt: TRT or Not TRT That Is the Question

Apparently Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) is not the wonder-PED we all believed it to be. At least, that seems to be the story we are being fed in certain corners of the MMA universe, in the aftermath of Nate Marquardt’s vintage performan…

Over at MMAFighting.com, Mike Chiappetta has suggested that TRT may not be all it’s cracked up to be:

“On Saturday night, Nate Marquardt fought off of TRT. He looked powerful, explosive and seemed to carry his cardio deep into his fourth-round knockout of Tyron Woodley. And Marquardt wasn’t the only person over the last week to do so. At UFC 148, Shane Roller put TRT in his rearview mirror and still beat John Alessio.”

At the risk of appearing combative, the above reasoning is almost comically incoherent. Sure, TRT may not be equivalent to a radioactive spider bite, or exposure to gamma rays, but one needn’t transform into Spiderman or The Hulk in order to gain a competitive edge.

Mike Chiappetta is setting up a false dichotomy, as though the efficacy of TRT can only be assessed by recourse to two extremes: human or superhuman. That is not how PEDs work, nor should anyone judge the impact of PED use based on a sample of one—or two if we include Shane Roller.

Ben Fowlkes, speaking on the Co-Main Event podcast, was similarly unimpressed with the argument against the efficacy of TRT:

“Just because you are doing something that is performance-enhancing and you don’t absolutely demolish the dude, that doesn’t mean that we should just let everyone do it.”

Fowlkes goes on to discuss Debbie Dunn, the US sprinter who was recently popped for high levels of testosterone. Dunn qualified for the US Olympic team by finishing fourth in the 400m at the Olympic trials.

However, does her failure to break the world record, or even place in a medal position, render her steady diet of testosterone irrelevant? Absolutely not. We do not judge the legitimacy of a performance based on whether or not the athlete in question acquires super powers.

On the flip side of this issue, when a fighter comes off of testosterone, cold turkey, and subsequently looks better than ever, it is worth asking whether they ever really needed it in the first place.

This is particularly true in the case of TRT, given that one is expected to be on it indefinitely once the therapy begins.

One gets the feeling that some journalists want to simply move past the issue of TRT, making the case that it is perhaps not as performance-enhancing as we once thought. For the sake of the sport’s legitimacy, we cannot allow it become acceptable just because it is so pervasive.

Every time a fighter admits to being on TRT, it should be like hearing nails on a chalkboard. Its ubiquity does not justify our indifference.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Photo of the Day: Nate Marquardt’s Elbows > The Gillette Mach 3

(We believe the words you’re looking for are Like a Boss. Props to Fightlinker for the gif.)

Aside from bringing Tyron Woodley’s championship aspirations (not to mention his mother’s dramatic retelling of Big Momma’s House 4: The Skriekening) to a crashing halt, it turns out that Nate Marquardt’s brilliant standing elbow also did a fair share of damage to Woodley’s upper lip. To put it simply, the wound most closely resembles what would happen if you were to mix Ambien with PCP and attempt to dry shave in a Southwest airplane bathroom. During takeoff. With a flensing knife. Also, you’re blind. OK, so maybe that wasn’t as simple a description as it could have been, but you get the point.

Check out the nasty cut after the jump.

(We believe the words you’re looking for are Like a Boss. Props to Fightlinker for the gif.)

(Photo props go to MiddleEasy.)

It’s a good thing Woodley is into facial hair, because he is going to have a terrible case of the hair lip from this day forward.

–J. Jones