You just never know exactly what to expect when you party with Don “The Predator” Frye. So stay on your toes. Three bits of advice, never offer him a Bud Light because you’re the only one drinking that garbage. Never ever look him in the eye, he reads …
You just never know exactly what to expect when you party with Don “The Predator” Frye. So stay on your toes. Three bits of advice, never offer him a Bud Light because you’re the only one drinking that garbage. Never ever look him in the eye, he reads your soul like a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. And three, never ever steal his seat. You will get owned.
A few other words of Predator wisdom include but are not limited to, it is not MMA it’s NHB, no holds barred. Don’t call it ground and pound, just don’t. And for the sake of all that is holy, I say again do not look the man in the eye.
Hurtsbad MMA had staff on site as an unfortunate incident took place after a young boy, too big for his own britches, made the ill advised mistake of challenging Frye for his throne.
Onlookers tried to warn the child but he swore he had the baddest rear naked choke in the business and would slap a choke on Don that would put his over Tank Abbott to shame.
In the words of a famous fuzzy green Jedi master, “Mmm, sadly mistaken you were young Padawan.”
The only reason the child was not eaten alive on the spot was because Frye had just consumed a healthy portion of chops that would make you want to smack yo mamma.
So the runt will live to fight another day but maybe it is in his best interest to start running like Forrest Gump and never stop before Don gets his second wind.
The dust has settled for me and UFC 131 was a large success in Vancouver over the past seven days. When I touched down on the beautiful place I called home for five or so years in my college days the city was a buzz with Stanley Cup fever. It was there…
The dust has settled for me and UFC 131 was a large success in Vancouver over the past seven days. When I touched down on the beautiful place I called home for five or so years in my college days the city was a buzz with Stanley Cup fever. It was there in the air and with flags draped all over cars and the city. I was envious. I live in Toronto and I am a Leaf fan, need I say more? I knew my friends who are Canuck fans would be boasting and strutting and walking the walk.
I was there to bask in the vibe for a week, visit my dad, show my girlfriend the sights and cover UFC 131. Not a bad week in my opinion. I was pumped up for the event but I quickly realized that the city was pre-occupied and it didn’t have the lust and fury for this event that Toronto had in April. You really can’t compare the two because the one in Toronto was the city’s first but it was clear the people of Vancouver had other things on their minds.
As the days went by and the events leading up were held the fans did come out and the buzz close to the event was certainly there. Here are some highlights from the week.
I have shaken a lot of fighters hands over the years, at various events and shows, but this was the first time a fighters hand and grip were something to comment on. Shane Carwin has got some set of mitts on him. I know that is no secret with his oversized gloves and all but his hand crushed mine. He was no match for JDS, and watching that fight was pure poetry. I’ve never seen such a big man like JDS stick and move and shuck and jive like a middle or welterweight boxer. And people say boxing is dead. You want to see world class boxing, watch MMA and specifically JDS.
Time to eat some crow as I was giving it to the UFC match makers for having Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman on the main card of the event and having Canadian Krzystof “The Polish Experiment” Soszynski far down on the card comparatively. Well, the KSOS-Massenzio fight was a tough one to watch, and the Einemo-Herman fight was named “Fight of The Night” so I was wrong on that one.
The press conference kicked off with some yahoo at the back of Robson Square yelling out a question and comments about an incident that happened the last time the UFC was there. It’s not even worth mention here because it had nothing to do with the UFC, but I wanted to comment on how they handled it, Dana White and the UFC Press team were calm and cool, and they know how to run a first class event
Watching the fights ringside was again an awesome experience and a highlight was obviously a Sam Stout knockout for Team Adrenaline, my favorite team of fighters. Mark Hominick and Chris Horodecki were on hand during the week to support Stout, and they held a fundraiser with coach Shawn Tompkins to raise money in support of a center for abused women in Vancouver. These guys are the best of the best inside and outside the cage.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Feature Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA
The main event of UFC 131 between Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and Shane “The Engineer” Carwin stood up to the hype.During 15 minutes of the seemingly one-sided beat-down delivered by JDS on Carwin, there were numerous highlights.First, Carwin has an iro…
The main event of UFC 131 between Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and Shane “The Engineer” Carwin stood up to the hype.
During 15 minutes of the seemingly one-sided beat-down delivered by JDS on Carwin, there were numerous highlights.
First, Carwin has an iron jaw and is capable of enduring a hellacious beating.
With the will of a champion, “The Engineer” continued to press forward against JDS, even though his strikes were off point and his takedown attempts failed to secure any control.
Secondly, the main event highlighted the fact that dos Santos is clearly the No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight championship. As Joe Rogan eloquently states, JDS “is a bad man.”
There is no denying this light-hearted moniker for the Brazilian, dos Santos is an extremely talented mixed martial artist with explosively fast hands and a potentially unmatched boxing prowess within the division.
The thorough annihilation of Carwin by dos Santos has provided “Cigano” with a slight betting edge over current UFC heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez.
It is rare for Las Vegas to side with the contender, especially when, on paper, both Velasquez and dos Santos are almost evenly matched.
Comparing each heavyweights body of work inside the Octagon, JDS is 7-0 with four stoppages by (T)KO. Similarly, Velasquez is 7-0 with six victories by (T)KO.
Clearly, both fighters possess knockout power and the ability to dominate their opponents.
Is there a disparity between the level of competition that would provide dos Santos with the edge in the eyes of bookies?
“Cigano” has defeated the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve, Mirko Cro Cop, Gabriel Gonzaga, and most recently, Shane Carwin. An elite stable of high caliber of fighters have suffered defeat at the hands of the hard-hitting Brazilian.
Defeating a potentially lower level of competition as compared to JDS, Velasquez has secured victories over Cheick Kongo, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and in his last fight, Brock Lesnar, to win the heavyweight strap.
Viewing their fighting resumes, dos Santos has seemingly defeated tougher competition. With that said, Velasquez has little control over who he fights. And, as a champion should, has defeated each and every opponent the UFC has placed in front of him.
With each fighters body of work eerily similar, is the fact that Cain Velasquez is recovering from shoulder surgery the rationale behind his underdog status?
Surgeries performed on today’s elite athletes are technologically advanced. Whereas athletes would typically need over one year to rehabilitate from an ACL tear, because of modern medicine, those athletes are performing in a little over eight months.
Additionally, baseball players who require Tommy John surgery come back throwing harder than prior to being placed under the knife.
Would I expect Cain Velasquez to suffer any long-term effects from his shoulder surgery? Personally, no. He is provided the best surgeons and will endure the highest level of physical therapy to guarantee that his shoulder can compensate for the demands of being an ultimate fighter.
Therefore, both fighters possess an impressive Octagon resume. Both fighters are tremendously gifted on their feet and can finish a fight with one punch. And both fighters will enter the cage on October 8th at UFC 136 completely healed and fully prepared for a heavyweight showdown for the championship.
These facts are indisputable. So why is Junior dos Santos the betting favorite over Cain Velasquez?
I honestly do not have a sound rationale as to why Vegas is favoring the challenger.
Without an answer, I ask you the knowledgeable Bleacher Report readers to justify why Junior dos Santos is supposed to beat Cain Velasquez and proudly adorn the UFC heavyweight championship.
Please provide me with your rationale so that I may have some clarity on this decision by the bookies.
In all likelihood, there were two No. 1 contenders crowned on Saturday night at UFC 131.Obviously, in the main event, Junior dos Santos confirmed his status as the No. 1 contender to Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, as the injured c…
In all likelihood, there were two No. 1 contenders crowned on Saturday night at UFC 131.
Obviously, in the main event, Junior dos Santos confirmed his status as the No. 1 contender to Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, as the injured champion was brought into the Octagon to congratulate the TUF 13 coach on his win and set the matchup for later this year.
Also, with Kenny Florian’s success in his featherweight debut with a unanimous decision victory over Diego Nunes, all signs are pointing to a matchup with Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship.
Mark Munoz didn’t earn a No. 1 contender spot for his middleweight victory over former top contender Demian Maia, but the former NCAA Champion wrestler sent a strong signal that he’s heading in that direction in one of the night’s best fights. Furthermore, a quick survey of the UFC landscape at 185 pounds shows that Munoz’s time as a contender could be coming sooner rather than later.
The most recent middleweight rankings published at Sherdog.com naturally listed UFC titleholder Anderson Silva as No. 1. Following “The Spider,” the remainder of the top 10 doesn’t include much in the way of fighters that Silva hasn’t beaten.
Chael Sonnen came in at No. 2, and while there’s undoubtedly interest for a return engagement between Sonnen and Silva after the Spider escaped at UFC 117, that remains on hold while Sonnen’s fighting future remains up in the air. Yushin Okami is No. 3, and will have his chance to take the title on August 27 in Rio de Janeiro. After Okami, it goes like this:
The No. 4 man on the list is Nate Marquardt, who lost to Silva at UFC 73, and is making his welterweight debut later this month against Rick Story. Strikeforce champ Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is No. 5 on the list, and while the UFC has brought over one Strikeforce titleholder to challenge its champion in the form of Nick Diaz, the MMA world isn’t necessarily screaming for a battle between Souza and Silva.
Maia, of course, was beaten and shown up by Silva at UFC 112, and has been pushed further back in the line than his No. 6 spot by his loss to Munoz on Saturday night. The No. 7 man, Jorge Santiago, fell a bit with his loss to Brian Stann two weeks ago at UFC 130, and No. 8 Vitor Belfort is coming off his loss to Silva at UFC 126. No. 9 Michael Bisping is nowhere near a title shot, and the No. 10 man is Bellator champ Hector Lombard, the only one of the bunch not under Zuffa contract.
This doesn’t mean that Munoz should necessarily be next in line for a title shot if Silva retains against Okami at UFC 134, but if a rematch with Sonnen or the much-talked-about super fight with Georges St-Pierre isn’t up next, Munoz might be the most attractive option, possibly with one more win under his belt. And one more fight could be perfect for some of the UFC’s business plans.
Earlier this year Dana White spoke of bringing The Ultimate Fighter to foreign countries, and said that a Philippines edition of the show would be first later on this year. We haven’t heard much about those plans since then, but there’s certainly been plenty else to talk about, and when the UFC does bring its hit reality show to the Philippines, is there any doubt that the “Filipino Wrecking Machine” would be a natural choice as one of the coaches?
As for the other coach, that would need to be determined. Sherdog is recommending Brian Stann as Munoz’s next opponent, but if TUF is going to the Philippines, Stann wouldn’t be the right foil for Munoz, and even if the reality show isn’t in the picture, a title eliminator between Stann and Munoz might not be the right way to go. The winner of the Chris Leben-Wanderlei Silva bout at UFC 132 could be the right way to go, or the winner of UFC 133’s battle between Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
These are the sorts of decisions that Joe Silva gets paid to make, and he’s certainly got his work cut out for him. In the meantime, it’s clear that in Mark Munoz, the UFC has a bona fide star on the rise.
As someone who lives only an hour-and-a-half away in the state of New Jersey, I’ve been happy to know my state at least was smart enough to legalize the fastest growing sport in the country.But, New York is like my second home and living there as a stu…
As someone who lives only an hour-and-a-half away in the state of New Jersey, I’ve been happy to know my state at least was smart enough to legalize the fastest growing sport in the country.
But, New York is like my second home and living there as a student in college has been amazing. It still perplexes me to this day that the great state of New York has been so stubborn, so ignorant of the sport of MMA and what it represents not only to the people, but to the economy that has taken so many hits and left so many people’s lives in shambles.
Earlier this year UFC president Dana White commissioned a study to see exactly how much money this sport would bring in to the state of New York.
The study by HR&A found that holding a UFC event in New York City would bring $23 million in new net economy for the city. Not only just in New York City would they hold an event, but in if they held one in Buffalo, a UFC event would generate $5.2 million in economic activity.
So to turn a blind eye to this economic impact is wrong. The assemblymen who turn this down because they’re “serving the betterment of their people” are really flat out dumb.
If you want to help better your people, legalize a sport that would pump millions of dollars into the economy. What wasn’t said was the amount of money the other promotions, smaller but yet would make an impact nonetheless, would bring into the state of New York.
Think about it people, how insane would an event at Madison Square Garden be? Imagine it, New Year’s Day, Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans in a battle of the New Yorkers for the light heavyweight title.
Not to mention all the other fighters who would beg to be on this card. If you thought wanting to fight on the UFC in Rio card was in big demand, imagine the first card in the sports capital of the world.
Now it is very easy for me to stand out here and say, “Legalize MMA you idiots!” seeing as I train in and love the sport of MMA. I couldn’t be happier. The sport teaches a lot, and it is what the people who say the sport is wrong that need to take a class and see what this sport is really about.
Training in this sport I’ve learned discipline, I’ve cleaned up my eating habits of McDonalds every other day and cut out soda completely (Imagine how much of my life I saved with just that), and I’ve learned how to effectively defend myself if, god forbid, someone attacks me.
This sport reaches a lot more outside of the cage then people think. It reaches inside the person and changes their life for the better. Sure you get punched, kicked, kneed, elbowed and put in awkward positions where you look around and go, “What the heck just happened?”
The fact here is to anybody who thinks the legalization is a bad idea, go check how many have died in MMA, how many have suffered serious injury and how far the sport has come since the days where it was considered “human cockfighting.”
Then go and compare all of those stats to that of boxing and tell me the difference. If boxing has acceptance, why not MMA?
So with only a little bit longer until the fate of the legalization is confirmed, I suggest to those who consider this sport “barbaric” to learn a little something about it before criticizing it. It may change your mind.
Every MMA fan will watch Georges St-Pierre versus Nick Diaz on Oct. 29 this year—from the opposing camps of those in favor or disfavor, each expecting eventual justification for his biased point of view.Again, the disagreement could be summarized…
Every MMA fan will watch Georges St-Pierre versus Nick Diaz on Oct. 29 this year—from the opposing camps of those in favor or disfavor, each expecting eventual justification for his biased point of view.
Again, the disagreement could be summarized into these two polarities:
“Yes, it’s a UFC champion vs. Strikeforce champion event, and Diaz poses a real threat and will take the bore out of GSP.”
“No, Diaz is a ‘paper champion’ and must earn more credibility by beating worthier opponents, before facing the pound-for-pound contender GSP.”
There may be other opinion strands flowing and entangling in this debate, but the above contradictory statements basically sum them up.
Okay, maybe fans will watch with different levels of enthusiasm.
Some will take the hype for a joy ride while others will shrug it off as just another walk in the MMA park.
Still, I’m confident every MMA fan worth his salt will watch this fight.
Maybe you’ll indulge in it, with eyes and mouth wide open and drooling, over a fight that may last inside the first five minutes or persist till the 25th.
Or, maybe you’ll watch with a smirk on your face in front of the TV set, while doing something else of more import on that precious Saturday night.
Whatever the case, you’ll watch and wait to finally exclaim, “See, my like-minded intelligent brothers and I were right all along.”
And, if you’re just someone who’s sitting idly somewhere along The Great Divide separating the gabbing loggerheads, then you’ll watch because you love this sport or just for the hell of it.
But before anything else (and forgive me for sounding like a party pooper), here’s a factual and grim reminder on why we should pray and cross our fingers for that fight to actualize, courtesy of Trent Reinsmith:
Here are fights that had to be scrapped as of late:
UFC 130: Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard—both fighters injured
Cody McKenzie vs Bart Palaszewski—both fighters injured
Brad Pickett forced to withdraw from bout with Miguel Torres
TUF Season 13 Finale: Jonathan Brookins forced to withdraw from bout with Jeremy Stephens
Court McGee forced to withdraw from fight against Jesse Bongfeldt
Rani Yahya forced to withdraw from fight against Dustin Poirier
Anthony Perosh forced to withdraw from fight against Krzysztof Soszynski
Mac Danzig forced to withdraw from his fight against Donald Cerrone
UFC Live: Martin Kampmann forced to withdraw from his fight against John Howard
Anthony Johnson forced to withdraw from his fight against Nathan Marquardt
UFC 132: BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch—both forced off card
Evan Dunham forced to withdraw from his fight against George Sotiropoulos
Cub Swanson forced to withdraw from his fight against Erik Koch
Who’s next?
In life, crazy things happen. In MMA, crazier things happen or don’t happen.
Another thing is, after his major screw-up of a (mis)calculation, the preacher now claims that the world will really, really end this October 21.
Naah, the senior guy had too much coffee or something stronger.
Whatever it was, it made him too addled and amnesiac, forgetting or missing the part where the book says the world will end only after “GSP Vs. Anderson Silva.”
You just never know exactly what to expect when you party with Don “The Predator” Frye. So stay on your toes. Three bits of advice, never offer him a Bud Light because you’re the only one drinking that garbage. Never ever look him in the eye, he reads your soul like a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. And three, never ever steal his seat. You will get owned.