Tag: quick quote

Vitor Belfort Asking For Weidman, Or Victor Of Boetsch vs. Lombard Bout, Next

With a hand injury sidelining former UFC champion Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort (21-9), the Brazilian is currently recovering and awaiting his next opponent. ‘The Phenom’ is hoping that he won’t have to wait long, and is calling on the Ultimate Fighting Championship to pit him up against either recent FUEL TV winner Chris Weidman, or […]

Vitor Belfort on the Cover of GQ Brazil – Photo via VitorBelfort.com

With a hand injury sidelining former UFC champion Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort (21-9), the Brazilian is currently recovering and awaiting his next opponent.

‘The Phenom’ is hoping that he won’t have to wait long, and is calling on the Ultimate Fighting Championship to pit him up against either recent FUEL TV winner Chris Weidman, or the victor of this weekends UFC 149 bout between Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard.

Belfort talked to Tatame.com about calling out his next opponent.

“I’m waiting for my confirmation on the Rio card, see who’s gonna be my opponent. Nobody send me anything yet. I believe I’ll get an answer on that next week”.

Hector Lombard makes his UFC debut this Saturday, putting his 25-fight undefeated streak on the line.

“He’s good, an Olympic athlete. He’s tough. Let’s wait, on looking forward (his debut),” Belfort said, weighting on Chris Weidman’s knockout win over Mark Muñoz, last week.

“Muñoz has no guard., he’s not a Jiu-Jitsu fighter. That’s a wrestler vs. wrestler matchup, who got to the top position would win. He was tagged, that’s it”.

Belfort guaranteed he’s not worried with Weidman’s game on a potential bout, guaranteeing he has the perfect answer for the American’s takedowns and ground and pound.

“I don’t care what he’s gonna do, I know what I’m gonna do: go for the knockout or the submission”.

Belfort is looking for a middleweight title rematch with UFC champ Anderson Silva, and it looks as if he thinks he can get it by defeating any of those three fighters.

Weidman’s performance last week versus Mark Munoz was very impressive, leaving many with the impression that he should be the next contender. While rumors have surfaced that UFC newcomer, and owner of a twenty-five fight undefeated streak, Hector Lombard may get a title shot should he defeat Tim Boetsch handily.

“He’s A Bully In The Ring But I Won’t Be Intimidated,” Tim Boetsch

UFC veteran Tim ‘The Barbarian’ Boetsch (15-4) is set to welcome former Bellator middleweight champion, and Octagon newcomer Hector Lombard (31-2-1, 1NC) to the promotion this Saturday in Calgary, Alberta on the main card of UFC 149. Boetsch faces a fighter currently on a twenty-five fight undefeated streak with seventeen knockout finishes on his record. […]

Tim Boetsch

UFC veteran Tim ‘The Barbarian’ Boetsch (15-4) is set to welcome former Bellator middleweight champion, and Octagon newcomer Hector Lombard (31-2-1, 1NC) to the promotion this Saturday in Calgary, Alberta on the main card of UFC 149.

Boetsch faces a fighter currently on a twenty-five fight undefeated streak with seventeen knockout finishes on his record.

‘The Barbarian’ doesn’t seem impressed, saying Lombard is a “bully in the ring but I won’t be intimated” to MMAMania.com in a recent interview.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): How would you compare Lombard’s power in his stand-up to everyone else you’ve fought in your career. You’ve fought at light heavyweight against some tough guys but he’s got a reputation as one of the heaviest hitters out there.

Tim Boetsch: Yeah, that’s certainly a concern of mine to find out how powerful he really is, but there’s a lot of rumors and sometimes people talk up their opponents too much, moreso than they really are. People talked about how strong Matt Hammil was and how freakishly powerful he was gonna be so that was in the back of my mind and even though I lost that fight, I never experienced that freakish power. I just didn’t feel it.

I understand that Hector’s got a lot of knockouts on his record and he’s a heavy hitter, but until I experience that power for myself, I can’t really speak to it. Oftentimes, people exaggerate just how powerful people are. I could be off on that too, Hector could be the most powerful guy in the sport. Let’s just hope he doesn’t land that punch on me. (laughs)

Matt Bishop: Where do you think you’re gonna have the best edge against Hector Lombard on the 21st?

Tim Boetsch: I think my ability to stop takedowns because oftentimes in fights, when someone puts a little bit of pressure on Hector, he shoots in for a takedown so he can relax for a little bit so he can recover. I’m not gonna give him a chance to recover. Sometimes he just walks forward because he thinks he can intimidating. He’s a bully in the ring but I won’t be intimidated. I don’t get intimidated by anybody regardless of how scary you look or how hard you punch, those thoughts just don’t enter my mind.

He’s gonna be at a disadvantage in a few areas in this fight and I look forward to showing just how much of a disadvantage he is in those areas.

Boetsch is coming off a big come-back win over Yushin Okami last February in Japan at UFC 144. The victory is the third straight for ‘The Barbarian’ since dropping from light heavyweight to 185-lbs.

TUF 16 Coach ‘Big Country’ Nelson Says Nothing Wrong With Being “Average”

It was likely a surprise to most fans when they learned that the next set of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series coaches would be UFC heavyweights Shane Carwin and Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson. The two knockout artists will coach season sixteen of “TUF” and have already begun talking trash about one another. On Carwin’s personal […]

Roy 'Big Country' Nelson

It was likely a surprise to most fans when they learned that the next set of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series coaches would be UFC heavyweights Shane Carwin and Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson.

The two knockout artists will coach season sixteen of “TUF” and have already begun talking trash about one another.

On Carwin’s personal website he stated that “(Nelson) can keep striving for being average” which ‘Big Country’ responded to on Monday during an interview with MMAFighting.com on Monday. Nelson said there isn’t anything wrong with being “average,” it’s gotten him this far and coaching on “The Ultimate Fighter.”

“It sounds like he’s a Chael [Sonnen], which is OK because I can be Anderson [Silva] and put him in his place,” he said. “I have no idea [if he’s putting on an act]. My thing is, I don’t know if he’s getting off his meds or what it is. But for me personally, it’s OK to be average. But the thing is, hard work does pay off. I’m just average and look at the s— that I’ve pulled off. I’m coaching The Ultimate Fighter.”

One issue of Carwin’s statement that Nelson did have a problem with was the insinuation of him being a jester, noting his past success in coaching fighters.

“I’ve never had any complaints about my coaching ability,” he said. “I’ve coach UFC champions and stuff before I ever started fighting.”

Strikeforce Grand Prix Winner Daniel Cormier To Fight In Sacramento On September 29th

During last weekends latest Strikeforce event, the promotion announced the date for the next (and likely last) fight for Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament winner Daniel Cormier, naming September 29, 2012 as that day. No venue or opponent was named at that time. Now Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has come out naming the ARCO Arena in […]

Daniel Cormier Heavyweight Grand Prix champion – Photo by Esther Lin for Strikeforce.com

During last weekends latest Strikeforce event, the promotion announced the date for the next (and likely last) fight for Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament winner Daniel Cormier, naming September 29, 2012 as that day.

No venue or opponent was named at that time.

Now Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has come out naming the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California as the venue and city for the event.

Coker was a guest on the ‘Inside MMA’ program and revealed the news, he did not though, name an opponent for that bout, preferring to announce that later this week. So something to look forward to from Strikeforce.

“Daniel Cormier will be fighting on September 29th, on Showtime. It’s going to be live from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento. But the opponent hasn’t been determined. We’ll probably have that figured out, probably by this week . But Daniel Cormier will be fighting on Showtime, on the 29th, in the ARCO Arena, in Sacramento.”

The Strikeforce CEO also addressed some of the issues headlining news pages around the net, offering some more insight into the deal between Zuffa and Showtime about which fighters are bound to Strikeforce.

Be sure to head over to MMAMania.com for their transcription of the rest of that interview.

Former Judo Olympian Ronda Rousey Happy With Her New Career

With the Summer Olympics fast approaching, one might think that former Judo bronze medalis, and current Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey would be itching to compete once again for her country against the worlds best. Rousey grew up around Judo with her mother, Ann Maria Rousey DeMars, becoming the first (and currently only) American […]

Ronda Rousey

With the Summer Olympics fast approaching, one might think that former Judo bronze medalis, and current Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey would be itching to compete once again for her country against the worlds best.

Rousey grew up around Judo with her mother, Ann Maria Rousey DeMars, becoming the first (and currently only) American to win at the World Judo Championships, back in 1984. Eventually Ronda would follow in her mothers foot steps, competing around the world for many years finally making it to the Olympics in 2008.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China Rousey would became the first American to win an Olympic medal in Women’s judo since the sport was added as official sport back in 1992.

Speaking to Tatame.com Rousey tells them that she is happy with her current career as a mixed martial artist and has no regrets of leaving the mat for the cage.

“The success is really a journey, it’s not a destination. I had that problem with Judo, when I was so focused on the destination that I didn’t care if I was miserable. I mean, I cared, but I thought that was how I was supposed to be. I’m not willing to be miserable for four years. I wouldn’t be sitting around like ‘oh man, I wish I could go back four years so I could be in there too’”.

The Olympic Games are scheduled for London between July 27th and August 12th, bringing many athletes to England. Being there once, when the event was held in China, four years ago, Ronda avoids comparisons between the Olympic medal and the Strikeforce belt.

“They’re both equal, just different”, sums up. “The Olympic medal I felt like it was more that I was coming to peace with myself and getting some closure on my Judo career and everything that just happened. I had an unconventional upbringing, so I had to do Judo. At the end of the fight I would go like kiss the mat and laugh. Everyone was like “that’s so weird. Why is she doing that? It’s like middle-eastern thing”. I just kinda knew that was the last time I would be there. I was really like kissing goodbye. I just knew deep down it wasn’t for me anymore”.

Rousey is currently scheduled to defend her title for the first time on August 18 when she faces former title holder Sarah Kaufman in the main event of the Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman event at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California on SHOWTIME.

Dong Hyun Kim UFC 148 Injury A Muscle Spasm According To Translator

This past Saturday night, UFC welterweight Dong Hyun ‘Stun Gun’ Kim (15-2-1, 1NC) suffered a first round TKO loss to Demian Maia on the main card of UFC 148. To many it appeared that the South Korean fighter injured his rib during a takedown forcing an end to the match at 47-seconds of the first […]

Demian Maia (left) wrestles Dong Hyun Kim during their welterweight bout at UFC 148 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 7, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Josh Hedges via UFC.com)

This past Saturday night, UFC welterweight Dong Hyun ‘Stun Gun’ Kim (15-2-1, 1NC) suffered a first round TKO loss to Demian Maia on the main card of UFC 148.

To many it appeared that the South Korean fighter injured his rib during a takedown forcing an end to the match at 47-seconds of the first round.

According to Brian Rhee, translator and manager to Chan Sung Jung, the injury was a “severe muscle spasm” that actually began several seconds earlier while Kim and Maia were in the clinch along the fence on the other side of the cage from where things ended.

Posting the news on the Underground Forums, Rhee offered this explanation to fans.

KZ and I went to the hospital yesterday to meet with Stun Gun’s team and heard the whole story. The injury actually occurred about 30 seconds into the fight when the fighters were on the opposite side (from where the fight ended) of the octagon. Maia had one of Stun Gun’s legs, which is a position that he actually likes.

As they were tied up, somehow Stun Gun got a muscle spasm in his side. He told his corner that something was wrong.

Kim defended Maia’s takedown attempts for a while, but by the time they got to the other side of the Octagon, he was in too much pain.

The position in which the injury happened is the kind that happens in training all the time, but for some reason it caused a severe muscle spasm this particular time. It truly was a freak accident.

It’s a terrible way to lose a fight and Stun Gun is really bummed out about it. I’m sure he’ll be back and going strong soon enough, though! Phone Post

Thanks to Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com for the update.