Tag: nba

UFC Champ Chuck Liddell KOs NBA Star ‘Dwight Howard’ on ESPN SportsNation

Although UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell is retired from mixed martial arts, the former light heavyweight champion still packs quite a punch.That much was demonstrated in dramatic fashion when Liddell recently appeared on ESPN’s SportsNation, wher…

Although UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell is retired from mixed martial arts, the former light heavyweight champion still packs quite a punch.

That much was demonstrated in dramatic fashion when Liddell recently appeared on ESPN’s SportsNation, where the hosts asked him to demonstrate his legendary knockout power against “Dwight Howard” of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Not the real Dwight Howard, mind you—just a cardboard cutout.

But even though the stand-in object wasn’t the actual athlete, Liddell flattened his target all the same with a monster haymaker that had the ESPN crew yelling in amazement.

Considering that Liddell has been out of action since his final MMA match against fellow former UFC champion Rich Franklin at UFC 115, “The Iceman” seems like he’s still a force to be reckoned with.

However, the real-life Dwight Howard may not have gone down as easily as his cardboard cutout.

Commonly recognized as one of the greatest young athletes in NBA history, Howard is remarkably large even by general MMA standards.

Standing at 6’11” in height and billed at 265 pounds, the current LA Lakers’ center and former Orlando Magic team member is both taller and heavier than anyone that Liddell has ever fought over the course of his entire MMA career.

Regardless, Liddell‘s fighting days are well behind him, and he’s thankfully not likely to be punching out professional basketball players at any time or place in the near future.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Champion Jon Jones Can’t Dunk a Basketball with Atlanta Hawks’ Al Horford

Just when we thought that UFC champion Jon Jones was the perfect athlete, reality comes back to smack us in the mouth with a hilarious and borderline embarrassing video involving the champ and current Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford.In the video, Jones…

Just when we thought that UFC champion Jon Jones was the perfect athlete, reality comes back to smack us in the mouth with a hilarious and borderline embarrassing video involving the champ and current Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford.

In the video, Jones stands with the former third-overall draft pick from 2007 and attempts to touch the rim of a regulation sized NBA basketball hoop. Though he is easily one of the most physically gifted mixed martial artists on the planet today, Jones’ inexperience on the court stuck out like a sore thumb as he looked like an uncoordinated second grader when he attempted to dunk the ball. 

The ball even fell off the backboard and smacked him in the face for added shame. 

“We’ve got a ways to go, man,” Horford told the camera for NBA.com while Jones laughed in the background. “We’re gonna get him right.”

Jones’ 6’4″ frame makes him one of the tallest athletes in the sport today, however it’s his tremendous 84.5 inch wingspan that makes him the longest fighter in the history of the UFC. But even given that natural physical gift, Jones certainly won’t be making the transition from the Octagon to the hardwood anytime soon.

For now, it’s probably best that he sticks to what he’s good at, which is exactly what he’ll do when he battles his former teammate and sworn enemy Rashad Evans in the main event at UFC 145 on Saturday evening, April 21st. This time he’ll be looking to be the one dealing out the humiliation instead of the other way around.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

What Jeremy Lin Reveals About UFC’s Role in Society

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin has done more than take the sports world by storm. He has shown MMA fans just how unimportant the sport is in the mainstream. However, this isn’t to the detriment of the UFC. It just shows that the traditiona…

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin has done more than take the sports world by storm. He has shown MMA fans just how unimportant the sport is in the mainstream. 

However, this isn’t to the detriment of the UFC. It just shows that the traditional ball sports still occupy a significant, crucial and massive role in American society—a role that the UFC is apparently nowhere near reaching, the deal with FOX notwithstanding.

Lin’s success story with the Knicks has swept the nation. If you walk up to a random male and say “Linsanity,” they’ll know what you’re talking about. 

All this fanfare and the guy didn’t even win a title yet. 

If you were to ask the same stranger and who Jon Jones is, you’ll likely be met with an awkward stare, even though Jones, too, is an incredible athlete. 

In fact, Jones has accomplished more in MMA (winning the UFC light heavyweight title and being the youngest UFC champion) than Lin has in basketball. Yet society doesn’t recognize him anywhere near as much. 

Even from New York, Jones doesn’t get the amount of attention that Lin does in the same media market.  

Another example is UFC middleweight standout Chris Weidman. 

Weidman grew up on Long Island, became one of the world’s top wrestlers and submission grapplers and most recently won a fight against Demian Maia on FOX in front of millions. But he doesn’t get acclaim on the level that Lin does.

Even if you combine all of the mainstream media attention ever received by Jones and Weidman it still doesn’t even come close to what Lin receives in a day.

While Jones and Weidman are lucky to get an article tucked away in the Newsday sports section for besting another man in the purest form of competition, Lin gets covers on Time magazine and Sports Illustrated for throwing a ball into a hoop.

Unfortunately, the majority of the population simply doesn’t know or care about what happens in the UFC.

While this will inevitably change, the UFC and MMA still have a long, long way to go until the sport is finally as mainstream as the other major sports. 

Once we see a fast-rising fighter get the same amount of attention that Lin is getting, then we’ll finally know that the UFC has made it. 

Until then, we can only speculate how the UFC will make that happen.

 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Agents Arrest Alleged Streaming Website Operator Bryan McCarthy

The UFC has another notch on its belt in the effort to shut down sites that illegally stream its events.

Bryan McCarthy, 32, of Deer Park, Texas, was taken into custody and has been charged with one count of criminal infringement of a copyright, acco…

The UFC has another notch on its belt in the effort to shut down sites that illegally stream its events.

Bryan McCarthy, 32, of Deer Park, Texas, was taken into custody and has been charged with one count of criminal infringement of a copyright, according to a release by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations. McCarthy allegedly operated channelsurfing.net, a site that was seized by federal authorities last month.