Tag: quick quote

Patrick Cote Excited To Face A “Dangerous Striker” Like Cung Le For His UFC Return

On Thursday, it was announced that former UFC middleweight contender Patrick ‘The Predator’ Côté (17-7) would be returning to the UFC after four straight victories outside of the Octagon. Côté is set to replace Rich Franklin who steps up to face Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147 in Brazil, while ‘The Predator’ meets Franklin’s original opponent […]

Patrick Cote

On Thursday, it was announced that former UFC middleweight contender Patrick ‘The Predator’ Côté (17-7) would be returning to the UFC after four straight victories outside of the Octagon.

Côté is set to replace Rich Franklin who steps up to face Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147 in Brazil, while ‘The Predator’ meets Franklin’s original opponent Cung Le.

The French-Canadian, who maintained his ties with the UFC by acting as the French commentator during live events, was a guest of “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” on Thursday, along with Le to talk about their upcoming bout.

(Listen to the Podcast by pressing play above)

“I’m pretty excited, especially that they’re bringing me back at a big show, a big fight against a dangerous striker, a dangerous opponent in Cung Le,” the Quebec-native Cote told The MMA Show. “I can’t ask for a better thing.”

“He’s pretty good,” Cote said of Le. “He’s a very dangerous striker, a southpaw guy. He’s more of a kicker than a boxer but he’s well rounded on his feet. He’s a really high-level kickboxer and I’m looking forward to banging with him.”

“I think, in my mind, I’m a more powerful striker than him,” the French Canadian said. “But he’s very unorthodox, has some weird angles, and weird stuff with spinning back kicks and all these things, so for sure I have to be very aware about that, I have to be very careful about not letting my feelings take over my gameplan. I’m very happy to be back in the UFC but I have to do the right thing.”

“Me and Joe Silva, we’re close,” Cote said. “The UFC and I, we have a good relationship. I’m still working with them as a French commentator, I’m the official voice of the UFC in French. As for fighting, we’ve been talking for a couple months, but I had to put a couple wins under my belt and finish guys, and that’s what I did the last two fights.

“But for sure the fans did help me to get back in the UFC with all the support on Twitter, and I’m very thankful of that.”

Three of Côté’s four wins came against former UFC fighters, including his most recent victory, a first round knockout finish of Gustavo Machado in Brazil this past March at a AFC 2 show. In the UFC ‘The Predator’ holds a 4-7 record in his four stints with the promotion.

With Decision Win At UFC 146, Mike Brown Reconsidering Retirement Talk

Former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown (26-8) had talked about retiring following his fight with Daniel Pineda this past weekend at UFC 146 in Las Vegas. The 36-year-old fighter earned a unanimous decision victory over Pineda on the preliminary portion of the pay-per-view event Saturday night. Speaking on Monday as a guest on the podcast […]

Mike Brown earns a win over Daniel Pineda – Photo by Donald Miralle via UFC.com

Former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown (26-8) had talked about retiring following his fight with Daniel Pineda this past weekend at UFC 146 in Las Vegas.

The 36-year-old fighter earned a unanimous decision victory over Pineda on the preliminary portion of the pay-per-view event Saturday night.

Speaking on Monday as a guest on the podcast “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo”, Brown says he’s still undecided about retirement and that he “felt so good” in his fight against Pineda that “it’s going to be a hard decision” on whether he retires or not.

“I’m still thinking about it. Going into the fight, I thought there would be a high chance of finishing with this one. My body hasn’t been feeling that great and I’ve been having medical issues. When I had the bad streak my body was shutting down. Out of nowhere, nothing’s really changed, I’m just coming out of it.

“I had planned on retiring but I felt so good, and it’s going to be a hard decision. I’m going to sit down the next couple weeks and think about it.”

Hit the link above to listen to the podcast, which also includes guests Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Brazilian MMA journalist Marcelo Alonso, AKA’s Javier Mendez, Bellator Season Six lightweight tourny winner Rick Hawn, and United Glory Commentator Stephen Quadros.

Wanderlei Silva Says Vitor Belfort Was Too Scared To Fight

Former PRIDE champion and current coach of the first international “TUF” series, “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil”, Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva was very critical of former opponent Vitor Belfort after it was announced that ‘The Phenom’ had broken his hand while training. The two “TUF Brazil” coaches were scheduled to meet in the main event […]

Wanderlei Silva – Photo via UFC.com

Former PRIDE champion and current coach of the first international “TUF” series, “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil”, Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva was very critical of former opponent Vitor Belfort after it was announced that ‘The Phenom’ had broken his hand while training.

The two “TUF Brazil” coaches were scheduled to meet in the main event of UFC 147 next month in Brazil, but with Belfort out the UFC is searching for a new opponent for Silva.

Wanderlei took to Twitter (@wandfc) to call out Belfort saying it was an amateur move to break his hand while training, saying that the former UFC champ was too “scared” to face him in the cage.

“(Fighting me) with one hand (laughs)? We are professionals. It’s a great irresponsibility not to be careful on training, a great disrespect towards the fans. I’m really sad. I’m ready to knock you out, you have nowhere to run. This fight is happening. I guess you got scared of me. Nobody trains so hard that breaks his hand. We use the best equipments, gloves, bandages”, affirmed the coach of the blue team at TUF, who complemented.

“If you were scared, you shouldn’t have accepted it. If you really got it broken, it’s amateurism and if you didn’t, you’re scared. In both scenarios, it was irresponsible of you towards the fans. Pardon the word, but I’m pissed with your amateurism. A main event on the biggest event of the world and the guy shows up like that”.

Props to Tatame.com for the translation.

Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller Explains The Incident Backstage At UFC 146

This past weekend, middleweight fighter Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller suffered a second straight loss in the Octagon, losing to C.B. Dollaway at UFC 146. At the post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White announced to the media that he was releasing Miller and that the fighter was also involved in a situation backstage after the […]

Jason 'Mayhem' Miller UFC 146 walkout – Photo by Donald Miraelle for UFC.com

This past weekend, middleweight fighter Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller suffered a second straight loss in the Octagon, losing to C.B. Dollaway at UFC 146.

At the post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White announced to the media that he was releasing Miller and that the fighter was also involved in a situation backstage after the bout.

“Something happened backstage afterwards…’Mayhem’ is done.” When asked to elaborate further White responded “Just some [expletive] I don’t want to talk about.”

On Monday, Miller was a guest of MMAFighting.com’s show the ‘MMA Hour’ and he explained exactly what went on, saying it was something that actually happened before he even walked out for his fight.

“It was my mask,” Miller said. “Burt suddenly started yelling about my mask. I had a gas mask for the troops underneath my paper bag, and Burt started telling me right as I’m walking out for the fight. I’m trying to get focused instead of arguing about a paper bag. Maybe it was my fault for, I don’t know, I thought we had an understanding once I start walking out to the cage that now I’m working, but obviously we’re not on a playing field of mutual respect.

“I wish I would have heard about it before so it would be easier to deal with. But here I am walking to the cage, and suddenly I started getting yelled at. I’m like ‘what, I’m trying to focus here.’ Things don’t always go the way you want. That’s life and you have to deal with it.”

In the interview, Miller also stays true to his promise that he made before the fight that if he lost to Dollaway he would retire. Read Miller’s comments about retirement by hitting the link above.

UFC 146 – Stefan Struve Will Wait For His Opportunity To Finish Lavar Johnson This Saturday

Like the rest of the UFC 146 main card, heavyweight Stefan ‘Skyscraper’ Struve (23-5) has had a change in opponents having originally been scheduled to face Mark Hunt, but will now face late replacement Lavar ‘Big’ Johnson at the Las Vegas event. Despite the late change of opponents, Struve is just as excited for this […]

Stefan Struve – photo via UFC.com

Like the rest of the UFC 146 main card, heavyweight Stefan ‘Skyscraper’ Struve (23-5) has had a change in opponents having originally been scheduled to face Mark Hunt, but will now face late replacement Lavar ‘Big’ Johnson at the Las Vegas event.

Despite the late change of opponents, Struve is just as excited for this bout with Johnson as he was with Hunt. The 6’11″ fighter feels that he holds a significant advantage due to his reach and submission skills.

Submissions being Johnson’s achile’s heel after suffering his last two defeats by submission, as well as Pat Barry’s close call on the ground at UFC on FOX 3 versus Johnson earlier this month.

Struve tells UFC.com that like his bout with Barry, he plans on using his reach to keep Johnson at bay and when he gets his chance, the fight will be over.

“He (Johnson) has looked impressive in his first two fights in the Octagon, but I’m gonna look even more impressive next week,” said Struve. “I want to thank him for stepping up on such short notice, but he’s gonna face the best Stefan Struve you’ve seen so far….”

“I won’t have to think twice about it,” he laughs. “I think I have a huge advantage on the ground, and I’m just gonna have to use my reach and the height advantage I have in my favor, and I think if I do that well, then there should be no problem. If you look at the fight I had with Pat Barry, I used my reach, stayed away from his hands, and waited for my chance. And when I got my chance, the fight was over….”

“If we land a good shot, it’s good night, and that’s always exciting,” said Struve. “With all the different kinds of heavyweights on this card, there’s so much for the fans to look out for, and anything can happen at any given moment. With the heavyweights, it’s like they say, ‘don’t blink, you might miss something.’

The two fighters will open the pay-per-view card for UFC 146 which is scheduled for May 26, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Only Good Things Can Come From This Fight,” Jamie Varner On His UFC return

Former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner (19-6-1, 2NC) has seen some highs and lows over his career from capturing the World Extreme Cagefighting title, to being cut from Zuffa just before the merger after a 0-3-1 run. Now Varner has a chance to return to the spotlight this coming weekend in Las Vegas after replacing […]

Jamie Varner

Former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner (19-6-1, 2NC) has seen some highs and lows over his career from capturing the World Extreme Cagefighting title, to being cut from Zuffa just before the merger after a 0-3-1 run.

Now Varner has a chance to return to the spotlight this coming weekend in Las Vegas after replacing an injured Evan Dunham against the undefeated Edson Barboza who is 4-0 in the UFC and holds three straight “Fight of the Night” bonuses to his credit.

Varner talks to UFC.com about the journey he made to get back to this point and what he found out about himself.

“When you’re on top for so long and when you hit bottom, you forget what it was like to be hungry, you forget what it is like to be down there,” tells Varner. “Since I’ve been gone, I’ve been able to get in touch more with reality and become a lot more grateful for the things I had, the things I lost. I think the biggest difference in me is my appreciation for all the people that have supported me, that have been around me, all the opportunities that I have been given, and the ability to fight for Zuffa. During that time off, I found out that I wanted to be a fighter. I wanted to be a competitor. Before, I was so sick of fighting, so sick of training. Realistically, 2010 was the worst year in my professional career and I guess it’s because I didn’t want to fight anymore. I took it for granted and I just didn’t enjoy it and I lost the love for it. I think taking some time off and losing everything really made me appreciate what I had. It helped me find myself, I re-centered myself, I put myself around the right people, and now I’m back. I’m ready and I feel good. I think the biggest change is my overall happiness. I don’t need to fight to be happy, but I like to fight and it makes me happy.”

…

“Edson Barboza is a freak,” affirms Varner. “He’s fast, athletic, strong. What I know about Edson are his four fights in the UFC and he’s tough and a scary fighter. Evan Dunham is an absolute stud and I wish him a speedy recovery, but I am really grateful for the opportunity I have been given and to try to fill his shoes. Those are some big shoes to fill. Edson is extremely tough and it’s a short notice situation, but I feel like I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I go out there and fight Edson and lose to him, what’s it to lose to Edson Barboza? But if I go out and beat him, that catapults me right back to the top. That would put me in as a top five or top 10 lightweight in the UFC. Only good things can come from this fight. My goal is to make it as hard on him as possible. If he puts his hands down for a second, I can hurt him. I have that one punch that can end the fight and we’ve seen that before. I always have a puncher’s chance, but I think my overall preparation and mindset will be what carries me through this fight, whether it is Fight of the Night, a quick knockout or submission. I want to put on a show to show everyone why I was the WEC lightweight champion and to show why people can believe in me again.”

Varner meets Barboza on the FX broadcasted preliminary portion of UFC 146, scheduled for May 26, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.