Tonight in Toronto, Canada UFC middleweight Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping will look to make what could be the biggest fight of his career official, by making weight for his UFC 152 bout with Brian Stann. A defining win for Bisping could propel him into No. 1 contender status for the 185-lbs strap, with the Brit […]
Michael Bisping
Tonight in Toronto, Canada UFC middleweight Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping will look to make what could be the biggest fight of his career official, by making weight for his UFC 152 bout with Brian Stann.
A defining win for Bisping could propel him into No. 1 contender status for the 185-lbs strap, with the Brit feeling that he holds the advantages over Stann on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
“I’m going to do a job on Brian Stann,” Bisping said. “He’s a tough fighter. But apart from that loss to Dan Henderson, I pretty much have a perfect record in the UFC. I’ve lost a couple of debatable decisions that some judges felt I didn’t win, and I just felt like the other people do. Have I been involved in a fight where I’ve been beaten to a pulp, with the blood spattering the cameras? No one’s ever seen that. You’ve never seen me beaten in my own blood. You’ve never see me leave the Octagon with a bloody scratch on me for crying out loud.”
“On Sept. 22 Brian Stann is definitely in my battlefield,” Bisping said. “There’s no guns. It’s just man on man. And I’ll be waiting for it.”
The Brit is coming off a close decision loss to Chael Sonnen at UFC on FOX 3, which had many fans and critics scoring it for ‘The Count’. Previous to that, Bisping had been on a four fight win streak with his latest victory coming last December in the TUF 14 Finale, when he finished opposing coach Jason Miller in the third round.
Bisping also spoke to FOXSports.com about maturing as a fighter, going from someone who was hated by the fans to someone they can cheer for.
Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Marleos Coenen (20-5) spoke with PunchDrunkGamer.com recently, pulling no punches when it came to UFC president Dana White and current Strikeforce women’s title holder Ronda Rousey. Coenen hasn’t been in action since this past April, when she headlined the first Invicta Fighting Championship event, defeating Romy Ruyssen by unanimous decision. […]
Marloes Coenen – image via Strikeforce.com
Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Marleos Coenen (20-5) spoke with PunchDrunkGamer.com recently, pulling no punches when it came to UFC president Dana White and current Strikeforce women’s title holder Ronda Rousey.
Coenen hasn’t been in action since this past April, when she headlined the first Invicta Fighting Championship event, defeating Romy Ruyssen by unanimous decision.
The victory came with a price as the Golden Glory product suffered a torn ligament in her finger and has been on the mend since then.
In the interview with PDG, Coenen pulled no punches when it came to discussing “Dana ‘like a god’ White, and complimenting Rousey as “a great grappler” but someone who “does lack balls.”
PDG: UFC President Dana White recently changed his mind from “Never” to “Maybe” as far as the UFC having woman’s MMA; what do think the chances are that we see WMMA in the UFC?
Marloes Coenen: Honestly, whatever. I have a contract with Invicta FC and they believe in the woman in mixed martial arts and I want to fight for GLORY as they also believe in us women in MMA. GLORY will become such a big and amazing player, I want to be a part of that. Being amongst the elite standup fighters in the world inspires me so much. If you see guys fighting like Semmy Schilt, Remy Bonjasky and Peter Aerts, you can only think about improving yourself. I’m not going to wait till Dana “like a god” White changes his mind to decide my future.
PDG: Ronda Rousey has been on a tear lately, what do you think of her as a fighter and also an ambassador of female MMA?
Marloes Coenen: She is a great grappler. The way she took out Sarah Kaufmann was amazing and so unexpected to me. But she does lack balls, she judoed at 154lbs, entered Strikeforce at 145lbs and when she had to fight Cris Cyborg she dropped to 135lbs. Using me as an example. Let me tell you this, I fought Cyborg (and will do so in the future again) and then was asked by Strikeforce to drop to 135lbs. Having said all this, career wise it was really smart of her and she deserves a master in PR. She doesn’t care how she gets there, as long as she gets there. And she’s successful at it, looking at the magazine covers like ESPN and changing Dana White’s mind.
PDG: Enlight of Cris Cyborg’s positive drug test, do you believe that you deserve a rematch or that the fight should be declared a no-contest or both? And do you think as Ronda Rousey said “That she has cheated her whole career”?
Marloes Coenen: I can be quite naive, but I knew what she was doing when I had to fight her. It was my decision to step into the cage with her. So I have to suck it up as well. It’s not me who can decide what should happen. The authorities (whoever that might be) or fans can do that, not me.
Former Strikeforce lightweight contender Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal (23-7) is looking to get back into the cage so he can support his family. Despite two events booked on Showtime this fall, ‘Gamebred’ finds himself on the sidelines and is willing to move up to welterweight if they needed someone. Speaking to MMAWeekly Radio, Masvidal discussed his […]
Jorge Masvidal
Former Strikeforce lightweight contender Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal (23-7) is looking to get back into the cage so he can support his family.
Despite two events booked on Showtime this fall, ‘Gamebred’ finds himself on the sidelines and is willing to move up to welterweight if they needed someone.
Speaking to MMAWeekly Radio, Masvidal discussed his desire to “get paid” and his willingness to compete at a higher weight.
“I would even be willing to do 170, if they needed a 170-pounder. I’d be willing to jump up to 170. For 155, I’d be able to make it depending on how short of notice,” said Masvidal.
“I’m going to start training now for November just in case something happens and they need a 155-pounder or 170-pounder, I might even make myself available for 185 if they need me, and they take care of me. I’ll go up to 185 and kick somebody’s ass.”
If a fight doesn’t happen by the end of the year, Masvidal is afraid he might have to go back to a past life he thought he left behind long ago.
The Strikeforce lightweight was once well known in the YouTube world as a street fighter who competed in the same type of competitions as former UFC competitor Kimbo Slice.
“Check me out on YouTube. Keep your eyes posted, I’m about to do a street fight,” said Masvidal. “A couple hundred dollars and I’ll be right back in the street with some Air Force 1?s still whooping some ass, I’m telling you. I’m like three days away from it.”
Masvidal bounced back from a decision loss to Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez by winning a split decision over Justin Wilcox in Oregon this past July.
UFC flyweight, and former bantamweight title challenger, Demetrious Johnson is certainly one of the quickest fighters competing at 125-lbs and is certainly something that Joseph Benavidez (16-2) has game planned for when the two meet next weekend. Benavidez, who earned his way into the UFC flyweight final by stopping Yasuhiro Urushitani via TKO last March, […]
Joseph Benavidez
UFC flyweight, and former bantamweight title challenger, Demetrious Johnson is certainly one of the quickest fighters competing at 125-lbs and is certainly something that Joseph Benavidez (16-2) has game planned for when the two meet next weekend.
Benavidez, who earned his way into the UFC flyweight final by stopping Yasuhiro Urushitani via TKO last March, feels he has the tools to deal with ‘Mighty Mouse’s’ speed telling host Mauro Ranallo, on Friday’s podcast of “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo“, that “I can negate his speed with all my other advantages.”
“I’m a practical guy. Demetrious is faster than me, and I’m not fooling myself by saying I’m faster than him. Just knowing he’s the faster fighter, I need to go in and look at other things. I don’t think his speed advantage is so drastic that it can overcome all the advantages I have. It’s a tiny little speed advantage that he has. It’s not like I’m a slow guy — I’m right there, he’s not going to make me look slow. I think I can negate his speed with all my other advantages and I think I’m better in the majority of places. He has a speed advantage — like, way to go.”
The two battle this Saturday for the inaugural UFC flyweight strap in the co-main event of UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort, which is set for September 22, 2012 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Also featured on the podcast is boxing analyst Scott Christ.
During a UFC luncheon on Thursday, an annoyed UFC president Dana White stated that since former champ Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida (18-3) turned down a title rematch with Jon Jones, that he would have to face Dan Henderson (29-8) next, and that the matchup would be Henderson’s punishment for not telling promotion officials about his […]
Dana White taking phone call at UFC 137 press
During a UFC luncheon on Thursday, an annoyed UFC president Dana White stated that since former champ Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida (18-3) turned down a title rematch with Jon Jones, that he would have to face Dan Henderson (29-8) next, and that the matchup would be Henderson’s punishment for not telling promotion officials about his knee injury until it was too late.
MMAFighting.com was on hand and transcribed some of White’s angry comments.
“[Machida] should have taken the fight. We’ve seen it, history always repeats itself. Look how long it took Rashad (Evans) to fight for the title again. So you wanted to fight Jon Jones, you climbed up to the title fight and you don’t take it. Now you’re fighting (expletive) Dan Henderson. Now you might not even get to the (expletive) title again. You lose to Dan Henderson you’re not anywhere near Jon Jones,” White said.
He added, “You jump on opportunities when they’re available. You get a shot at the title, the biggest money fight you can be in, the highest profile fight you can be in. And if you win that (expletive) fight, the whole world changes overnight.”
Facing Jones instead will be Vitor Belfort who takes on the light heavyweight title holder next weekend on Sept. 22 in Toronto, Ontario in the main event of UFC 152.
White gave no suggestion as to the date for the potential matchup between Machida vs. Henderson, but ‘Hendo’ was targeting a year-end return for his next fight.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2) had been sidelined with a knee injury for most of the past year, but is now back training 100% and the French-Canadian “can’t wait” to get back into the cage and assert his dominance at 170-lbs. The time St-Pierre took off certainly helped him recover physically, but also mentally, […]
Georges St-Pierre
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2) had been sidelined with a knee injury for most of the past year, but is now back training 100% and the French-Canadian “can’t wait” to get back into the cage and assert his dominance at 170-lbs.
The time St-Pierre took off certainly helped him recover physically, but also mentally, and in a recent interview on “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo“, the champ explains his eagerness to fight again.
“I’m 100 percent and I can’t wait. I’m very anxious to be back. (The time off) helped me fix a lot of my personal life and a lot of my training life. I’m happy again. I feel like I’m more happy than I ever was and I’m more hungry to be back. I recently moved closer to TriStar Gym to a better and more comfortable place. Before I was driving 40 minutes twice a day to get to the gym. Now, I have much more time to recover in between training and it’s going to make a difference.”
St-Pierre will certainly face interim title holder Carlos Condit next, with the two meeting at UFC 154 this November in Montreal.
Also featured on the podcast along with GSP are UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and Blackzilian manager Glenn Robinson.
