Tag: podcast

WSOF President Ray Sefo Promises To Keep Fighters Busy

World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo has promised to keep fighters signed to the promotion busy fighting in their cage, and if it’s not possible, he’ll release them so they can go fight somewhere else. The question surfaced on Tuesday during an interview on “The MMA Hour with Mauro Ranallo” when it came to […]

World Series of Fighting president Ray Sefo – image via WSOF

World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo has promised to keep fighters signed to the promotion busy fighting in their cage, and if it’s not possible, he’ll release them so they can go fight somewhere else.

The question surfaced on Tuesday during an interview on “The MMA Hour with Mauro Ranallo” when it came to former WEC champ Miguel Torres, who is also contacted to the Texas based Titan Fighting Championship promotion.

This attitude towards fighters is quite the opposite from other promotions such as the Chicago based Bellator promotion, who is currently in a contract dispute with fighter Tyson Nam. Nam, signed with the promotion but never competed inside their cage, recently knocked out Bellator bantamweight champ Eduardo Dantas in Brazil at a Shooto Brazil 33 event.

“Our contracts are definitely exclusive. The only person who has a leeway in his contract is Miguel Torres because he has one fight left with Titan FC. We’ve had friendly discussions with them and they were really accommodating and helpful in the sense that we could sign Miguel and in return we would allow them to fight his last fight in his hometown. That’s the only exceptions we’ve made, because are contracts are exclusive. We’re going to keep our fighters busy and if we can’t, we’ll release them because we won’t hold them back from making money.”

WSOF will hold it’s first event on November 3rd in Las Vegas, which will be aired live on the NBC Sports network. The promotion is hoping to hold tournaments in the bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions.

Also featured on the podcast was Renzo Gracie as well as Tuesday’s UFC 152 media conference call.

UFC Champ Jon Jones Working On His Punching Power

Despite all of the controversy surrounding the cancellation of UFC 151, the promotions light heavyweight champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is busy preparing for his next fight later this month against Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC 152. According to Jones coach Mike Winkeljohn, the champ is working at improving his punching power in […]

Jon Jones on the cover of UFC magazine

Despite all of the controversy surrounding the cancellation of UFC 151, the promotions light heavyweight champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is busy preparing for his next fight later this month against Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC 152.

According to Jones coach Mike Winkeljohn, the champ is working at improving his punching power in order to land the one-punch knockout.

Winkeljohn was a guest on ‘The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo‘ during Thursday’s live podcast talking about his fighters preparations for Toronto.

“(Jon’s working on) staying calm and believing. Throwing the strike to put someone to sleep versus throwing the strike to throw the strike. That’s what we’ve been working on and everyone needs to work on it. But when there’s so many skills these guys have to work on — striking, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, clinch — you need to stop and believe what you do will work for you every time you do it, and it will play out in fights.”

Also featured on the podcast was Team Nogueira wrestling coach Eric Albararcin.

Jones faces Belfort on September 22, 2012 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario in the main event of UFC 152.

Despite Upset Win Over Bellator Champ, Tyson Nam In Legal Battle With Promotion

Despite an upset win over Bellator bantamweight champ Eduardo Dantas this past weekend at a Shoot Brazil 33 event, fighter Tyson Nam (12-4) now finds himself in a legal battle with the Chicago promotion. With a first round one-punch knockout win over Dantas, Nam should be fielding offers from all kinds of promotions to compete […]

Tyson Nam

Despite an upset win over Bellator bantamweight champ Eduardo Dantas this past weekend at a Shoot Brazil 33 event, fighter Tyson Nam (12-4) now finds himself in a legal battle with the Chicago promotion.

With a first round one-punch knockout win over Dantas, Nam should be fielding offers from all kinds of promotions to compete under their banner. Unfortunately because of a previous contract with Bellator from earlier this year, one that never actually saw Nam fight for the promotion, the Brazilian finds himself in limbo as Bellator is invoking their right under the previously signed contract to “match” any offers given to Nam.

Speaking on “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” on Tuesday, Nam detailed his legal battle with Bellator.

“On paper it’s one of the biggest upsets in all of MMA. But I myself know where I come from up in Portland. We train with guys that fight in the UFC, Bellator and Strikeforce. All I needed was one shot and they gave it to me and I shocked the world.

“Now, Bellator’s trying to hold me back with this contract matching. But they cut me back in the middle of June. They promised me a spot in the season seven bantamweight tournament, and they also promised me a non-tournament fight under Bellator. I never once fought for them, and my agent found me a fight outside of Bellator. I beat their champion and now they want to put legal actions on me.”

Also featured on the podcast were SI.com’s Jeff Wagenheim, Roufusport coach Duke Roufus, pro-wrestler Harry Smith, and boxing analyst Eric Raskin.

Shane Carwin Details His Reasons For Feuding With Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson

If one would describe either heavyweight Shane Carwin (12-2) or Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (17-7), trash talker would probably be one of the last acronyms one would use as both fighters, at least on the surface, appear to be genuinely nice guys. Put the two of them together as opposing coaches for this falls upcoming […]

Shane Carwin

If one would describe either heavyweight Shane Carwin (12-2) or Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (17-7), trash talker would probably be one of the last acronyms one would use as both fighters, at least on the surface, appear to be genuinely nice guys.

Put the two of them together as opposing coaches for this falls upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and that ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ attitude appears to have been set aside.

Speaking to MMAWeekly Radio, Carwin offers up his reasons for feuding with Nelson, pointing to his own fierce competitive nature as well as ‘Big Country’s’ underachieving as a fighter.

“Roy’s a great fighter, don’t get me wrong, very talented, could he be more talented? I think so. If he took things more serious.”

“Listen, he’s a tough guy with a ton of heart. He goes in there and he gives it his everything. My thing is I’ve always said to him, I’d love to see you take this thing seriously and rip off some weight,” said White in March of this year. “When you’ve got a chin like that and a heart like that, you can’t deny the guy’s got a great chin, a ton of heart and he can knock people out. If he really could get to 205, he’d be a force at 205. He’d be a scary dude. He’s got great wrestling, awesome submissions, great chin, a ton of heart, and has knockout power.

“Who knows what Roy Nelson could really achieve if he applied himself.”

“…He plays this like he’s this average guy and honestly I don’t think the guy’s ever had a normal job.”

Carwin and Nelson are expected to square off on December 15, 2012 in the Finale for “The Ultimate Fighter” season 16 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lyoto Machida Willing To Take Another Fight Before Title Shot, Wants To Be 100% Prepared

When UFC President Dana White named former light heavyweight title holder Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida (18-3) as champion Jon Jones next opponent for UFC 152 on September 22nd, everyone thought it was pretty much a done deal. The issue with that plan was that Machida and his camp wanted more time to prepare for any […]

Lyoto Machida – Photo via UFC.com

When UFC President Dana White named former light heavyweight title holder Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida (18-3) as champion Jon Jones next opponent for UFC 152 on September 22nd, everyone thought it was pretty much a done deal.

The issue with that plan was that Machida and his camp wanted more time to prepare for any possible rematch versus Jones.

As we now know, Vitor Belfort will be the man to face Jones in Toronto, Canada leaving Machida’s status as the next in line up in the air.

Speaking to MMAWeekly.com Radio, Machida’s manager Ed Soares explained his fighters side of things, noting that the Brazilian is willing to go through another opponent to get back at the belt.

“I know that in Lyoto’s heart and in his mind, he believes he can still be the light heavyweight champion of the world. So if he’s going to take this chance, and he’s going to take this opportunity to fight against Jon Jones, he wants to make sure he puts his best foot forward and be 100-percent. Because if he loses, it’s not just like he’s losing another fight. He really has to sit back and reinvent himself and figure out what am I going to do.”

“…So I said, ‘We’d be willing to take the fight in October in Brazil because that would technically be five weeks of preparation, so that would be two or three weeks after with five weeks of preparation leading into the fight,” Soares revealed.

“So we were willing to do that, but unfortunately that didn’t work for them.”

“If he has to take another fight before the title fight, that’s okay too,” Soares said. “But one thing that we want to know is we want to make sure that he’s 100-percent prepared for this next title shot.”

Miesha Tate Looking For Rematch With Ronda Rousey, Hoping To Hand Champ First Loss

Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha ‘Takedown’ Tate (12-3) is hoping that she’ll get a chance to one day avenge her title loss to Ronda Rousey by handing the current champ her first loss. Before that can happen, both fighters will have to defeat their respective opponents this weekend in San Diego, California as part […]

Miesha Tate

Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha ‘Takedown’ Tate (12-3) is hoping that she’ll get a chance to one day avenge her title loss to Ronda Rousey by handing the current champ her first loss.

Before that can happen, both fighters will have to defeat their respective opponents this weekend in San Diego, California as part of the Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman show.

Tate was a guest on “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” on Thursday to talk about her fight this Saturday.

“I think emotion had a huge part of (the first fight) and I didn’t realize it until after the fight. A fire came over me and I wanted to win that fight so badly and I became overzealous and I fought Ronda with too much emotion. I’m still a young fighter. It’s my 26th birthday on Saturday as well. I’m still learning a lot and that fight was a learning experience for me and it taught me a lot. I think next time when she doesn’t have that mental manipulation over me (the fight will be different). I’m not bothered by Ronda anymore.

“I have to admit I really want to be the first one to beat Ronda. For my own selfish reasons, I want Ronda to (beat Sarah Kaufman) to benefit myself. I want to be the first person to beat Ronda. Am I completely over the first fight? No, I don’t think I ever will be over it completely. It still bothers me a little bit, but I’ve learned to turn it from a negative energy into a positive energy.”

Tate is set to take on Julie Kedzie in the headliner of the preliminary card, while Rousey faces another former champ in Sarah Kaufman.

Also featured on the podcast was Strikeforce middleweight Derek Brunson.