Tag: quick quote

Rory MacDonald Knew He Was “Screwed” When Cut Occurred

This past Saturday night, UFC president Dana White revealed to the media that welterweight Rory ‘The Waterboy’ MacDonald had withdrawn from his upcoming UFC 152 bout against BJ Penn due to a bad cut suffered in training. MacDonald, who posted a picture of the cut via Twitter, needed 38 stitches to close the wound which […]

Rory MacDonald

This past Saturday night, UFC president Dana White revealed to the media that welterweight Rory ‘The Waterboy’ MacDonald had withdrawn from his upcoming UFC 152 bout against BJ Penn due to a bad cut suffered in training.

MacDonald, who posted a picture of the cut via Twitter, needed 38 stitches to close the wound which went down to the bone. The cut was caused by an accidental elbow while training at the Tri Star Gym in Montreal.

Speaking in an interview on Monday, MacDonald knew immediately that he was “screwed” as he watched the blood “spurt out.” The Canadian fighter has been given a no contact order and will need 4-6 weeks to recover before he can start training again.

“You know when you have a gut feeling when something happens?” MacDonald asked MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I felt it and then I kind of knew. I didn’t move and I hit him or whatever, and then I just kind of stopped and then I watched the blood just kind of like spurt out sporadically. And then, I know when that happens that it’s deep. It was spraying. So I just kind of sat there, I knew, I just knew that I was screwed.”

“The way this cut is, it’s a deep cut like I explained,” he said. “But, you know, if I got re-injured and re-injured and re-injured if I went in too early that could be a problem later on down in my career. So it could re-open in fights, re-open in training, It could be an issue I don’t want it to be around. My coaches and my management, we all got on the phone and we talked. They calmed me down and gave me the points, the best option was to wait.”

Both MacDonald and Penn have agreed to delay the fight, but ‘The Waterboy’ is hoping to fight in Montreal at UFC 154 in November, while ‘The Prodigy’ is looking to book the fight in October at UFC 152 in Brazil.

“I Still Think Judo Is The Coolest Sport,” Strikeforce Champ Ronda Rousey

With the 2012 Olympics well under way in London, England it’s only natural for former Olympians who have transitioned to mixed martial arts, to offer their thoughts on their respective sports. Some of those former Olympians include Bellator champ Ben Askren, Strikeforce Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier, and the new face of women’s mma, Strikeforce […]

Ronda Rousey

With the 2012 Olympics well under way in London, England it’s only natural for former Olympians who have transitioned to mixed martial arts, to offer their thoughts on their respective sports.

Some of those former Olympians include Bellator champ Ben Askren, Strikeforce Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier, and the new face of women’s mma, Strikeforce champ, as well as 2008 Judo Bronze medalist, Ronda Rousey.

Ronda has swept the world of women’s mma becoming the face almost overnight and capturing her first world title this past march with her fifth consecutive victory. When the 25-year old was asked to comment on the Olympics and the sport of Judo, it is certainly expected that she would be a little biased towards her sport, explaining how in her eyes that Judo is the “coolest sport” and offers “the best grappling for” mixed martial artists.

Here is part of the article from UFC.com.

“I think judo is the best grappling for MMA,” explains Rousey. “What people don’t realize is there isn’t only one style of judo; there are many styles of judo. In judo, I was always a very ground-oriented person and into submissions. Judo in general is one of the only martial arts that promotes good posture, which is good for striking. You don’t have to change levels when you go from striking to changing levels to go to grappling. A wrestler gets really low when they go for a takedown or they hunch over, so they telegraph that they’re going to switch from striking to wrestling. Judo doesn’t have that problem. Also, there’s the emphasis on throws with such little time on the ground. In judo, if you want to be a ground-based fighter you have to be really fast and you have to be able to transition from your throw straight into your submissions almost in mid-air because the referee will only give you a second or two. Some people choose not to develop any ground game at all in judo because of that. Whereas I chose to make myself so fast on the ground that referees couldn’t stop me. That is how my experience with judo molded my style for MMA.”

“I think people should be excited to watch judo in the Olympics because it is one of the most amazing sports in the world,” states Rousey. “People should love the sport in itself. It is the highest athletic level of grappling. I’m obviously biased, but I think judo players are the most skilled grapplers in the world. I go to judo tournaments and I see throws that I’m shocked ever happened. How could that possibly happen? You’re capable of doing so much more when somebody has ‘handles’ on them. Wrestling is a great sport and I respect it and it’s cool, but imagine if they had handles on them?! Imagine how much more cool stuff they could do if they had handles on them! That’s what pretty much judo is. We’re going to put handles on someone so that the throws can be even more dynamic and we’re also going to have submissions. I still think judo is the coolest sport, hands down.”

Rousey is set to defend her title for the first time next month when she meets former champion Sarah Kaufman on August 18, 2012 at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California. Their match will headline the SHOWTIME televised card.

Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson Announces UFC Approved And “Not” Approved Coaches For TUF

Upcoming season sixteen “The Ultimate Fighter” coach, UFC heavyweight Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson revealed his assistant coaching list on Facebook on Saturday. Nelson, a former “TUF” winner himself from season ten, announced a list of “non-UFC allowed” coaches as well as a list of “UFC allowed” coaches for the reality series. Here are my Assistant/Guest […]

Roy 'Big Country' Nelson

Upcoming season sixteen “The Ultimate Fighter” coach, UFC heavyweight Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson revealed his assistant coaching list on Facebook on Saturday.

Nelson, a former “TUF” winner himself from season ten, announced a list of “non-UFC allowed” coaches as well as a list of “UFC allowed” coaches for the reality series.

Here are my Assistant/Guest Coaches the non-ufc coaches will be helping but not on the set because they are black, criminals, white, Olympian, Great TV … (disclaimer I have know idea, just opinion) NON-UFC ALLOWED Muhammed Lawal Kurt Angle Victor Conte

UFC ALLOWED Royce Gracie James Johnson Jeff Mayweather George St. Pierre Nick Diaz Nate Diaz Rashad Evans Forrest Griffin Chael Sonnen Jake Shields Gilbert Melendez Martin Kampmann Amir Sadollah Mike Pyle Gray Maynard Ron Frazier Anthony Brown, I am a student first, teacher second. Let give theses kids an opportunity of a life time. A UFC SUPER CAMP

With both ‘King Mo’ and Angle appearing on TNA (Spike TV), it’s certain that these two will be edited out for the most part and fans may catch glimpses of the two. Lawal will be playing a bigger role within Nelson’s camp, so it’s likely that he may be hanging around more in the background but I don’t expect him to have a microphone or for us to see him training any of the “TUF” competitors.

The new season of “TUF” begins filming this September under the new format of live fights every Friday night, so Nelson has a month to organize his coaches before the series hits the air.

ONE FC CEO Victor Cui Excited For “Sick” Card August 31st

On August 31st, ONE Fighting Championship will head to the Philippines for the first time with the promotions most stacked card. With fighters such as reigning DREAM champions Shinya Aoki and Bibiano Fernandes, plus a trio of Gracie’s at the event, promotion president Victor Cui can only refer to the card as “sick” and “stacked” […]

Victor Cui – ONE FC CEO and owner

On August 31st, ONE Fighting Championship will head to the Philippines for the first time with the promotions most stacked card.

With fighters such as reigning DREAM champions Shinya Aoki and Bibiano Fernandes, plus a trio of Gracie’s at the event, promotion president Victor Cui can only refer to the card as “sick” and “stacked” for their first foray into the island country.

Speaking to theScore.com, Cui wasn’t able to hold back his excitement concerning the ONE FC: Pride of a Nation card.

“Man, this card is sick,” Cui told theScore.com. “It’s stacked. I’m so excited for this night and on top of that bringing it to Manila at Smart Araneta Coliseum where Muhammed Ali fought ‘Thrilla in Manila.’ This is a historic place where they love their combat sports. Every major event in this country has been at the coliseum where we’re going. You’re talking about 16,000 people in attendance. It’s going to be sold out, guaranteed.”

“For the last 5000 years Asia’s been the home of martial arts,” he said. “Every single country in Asia has at its core a martial art. Kung fu, taekwondo, wushu — those are all Asian based. I just saw this huge opportunity to bring a world-class sport, a sport that was exploding everywhere in the world — as you know MMA is the world’s fastest growing sport — and the timing and the opportunity was right right now for Asia.”

….

“Everything ONE FC does is about showcasing the best and most talented fighters,” he said. “We have easily over 90 percent of the top MMA fighters in Asia and they are already signed to exclusive contracts with ONE FC. On top of that we have all of the fighters in all of the gyms as part of the ONE FC network. ONE FC network is a relationship of exclusive partnerships with every major event and promoter in each of the Asian countries and we have exclusive partnerships with all of the top MMA gyms producing the next wave of up and coming talent or have the top Asian fighters already. All of the fighters under exclusive contract with ONE FC or any of our partners are part of the ONE FC network and can fight in ONE FC. If you’re a fighter and signed with ONE FC, you have the chance to compete on any of our ONE FC cards, plus you can fight on any of the events in any of the ONE FC networks.”

ONE FC: Pride of a Nation is scheduled for Aug. 31 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Manila, Philippines. The event will be carried by ESPN Star Sports in Asia and will likely stream part of the event live at OneFC.com.

Nick Diaz Ready To Return, Wants Anderson Silva Next

Following a decision loss to Carlos Condit last February at UFC 143, welterweight fighter Nick Diaz (26-8, 1NC) said that he was done with fighting. Now comes word from Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie (@graciefighter.com) that the former Strikeforce champ is ready to return to the cage and he’s hoping to do it against UFC middleweight […]

Nick Diaz – Photo via UFC.com (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Following a decision loss to Carlos Condit last February at UFC 143, welterweight fighter Nick Diaz (26-8, 1NC) said that he was done with fighting.

Now comes word from Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie (@graciefighter.com) that the former Strikeforce champ is ready to return to the cage and he’s hoping to do it against UFC middleweight title holder Anderson Silva.

For the last couple of months I’ve watched Nick begin to frequent the gym more and more. He’s training harder now than he has for many of his fights. It was obvious that training and fighting is in his DNA. It is who he is.
This week we had a great talk and he made it clear to me that he is ready to get back to the cage. Nick Diaz will return.

…..

As far as future opponents, Nick has stated that he would like to take fights “that matter”. Since GSP will be fighting Condit, he has to look elsewhere. He will respectfully ask for a fight with Anderson Silva, a fighter he respects and would like to challenge.

Silva’s camp has been speaking of a fight with GSP, possibly even at a catch weight. Nick will take that fight in a minute but has told me that should Silva decide not to drop at all, he will move up to 185lbs to face the Champ.

Diaz is also currently under suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for marijuana metabolites following the loss to Condit. Gracie also addressed this point in his announcement, saying they would challenge the NSAC in the courts to have the suspension overturned. It’s certainly worth a try, but getting the NSAC’s sentence overturned is very unlikely.

To address the NSAC suspension, I will say that we have appealed to the courts and if things go our way, it will be plausible that Nick could return as early as sometime at the end of this year.
For too long NSAC bureaucrats have acted with malicious incompetence towards the fighters. We will challenge them in court.

With Silva’s camp calling for a catchweight fight versus UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, a bout between ‘The Spider’ and Diaz could become one of the biggest fights in UFC history.

Vitor Belfort Excited To Compete In Brazil Versus Belcher, Still “Focused On The Title”

Former UFC champion Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort (21-9) has a chance to compete in front of his fellow Brazilians for a second straight fight when he meets Alan Belcher at UFC 153 this October. Belfort was supposed to have faced fellow TUF: Brazil coach Wanderlei Silva last month at UFC 147 but a broken hand […]

George St-Pierre (top) and Vitor Belfort (bottom) training – Photo via Rayalamo.com

Former UFC champion Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort (21-9) has a chance to compete in front of his fellow Brazilians for a second straight fight when he meets Alan Belcher at UFC 153 this October.

Belfort was supposed to have faced fellow TUF: Brazil coach Wanderlei Silva last month at UFC 147 but a broken hand forced ‘The Phenom’ off the card. Previous to that scheduled fight, Belfort fought last January at UFC 142 in Rio, submitting Anthony Johnson in the first round of their 197-lbs catchweight bout.

Now that his hand has healed, Belfort is looking forward to stepping back into the cage, hoping that a victory versus ‘The Talent’ will get him back into the cage with UFC champ Anderson Silva. Belfort tells Tatame.com that he’s focused on Belcher but the title is still on his mind.

“It’s a huge pleasure to fight here again, specially now that the UFC is growing a lot in my country. I always dreamed with moments like this and I’m very happy to fight in front of my fans again”, Belfort said.

Vitor believes a win over Belcher puts him closer to the title, but he prefers to focus on his next fight.

“He’s an excellent fighter, a tough guy, good in every aspect. He’s coming of a great win over Toquinho (Rousimar Palhares). I’m sure this will be a great test for both,” he said. “I’m focused on the title, but Belcher is my next fight and that’s the only thing that worries me now”.

Belfort is 7-1 in his last eight matches four of which took place inside the Octagon. The single loss, was a first round knockout defeat at the hands of Silva at UFC 126.