With UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald just days away from his next fight, it’s certain that for most fighters, a roller coaster of emotions and thoughts run through ones mind as the moments count down to fight day. For MacDonald, as the time winds down he finds his “focus becomes more intense” as he plays through […]
Rory MacDonald
With UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald just days away from his next fight, it’s certain that for most fighters, a roller coaster of emotions and thoughts run through ones mind as the moments count down to fight day.
For MacDonald, as the time winds down he finds his “focus becomes more intense” as he plays through the upcoming fight.
This Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia ‘The Waterboy’ get’s set to meet Che Mills in the co-main event of UFC 145.
MacDonad offers some last minute thoughts on the upcoming fight in his latest blog at Sportsnet.ca.
When I’m actually walking to the Octagon on fight night, my focus becomes more intense and I’m thinking more about specific techniques and moves I plan to use. Everything becomes more defined and accurate at this stage. Rather than just a fight, it becomes a test of technique, and I’m strategizing, going over in my head what tricks I can use to get the better of my opponent as quickly as possible.
There won’t be any negativity in my head at this point. No doubt, anxiety or fear. I don’t allow any of that stuff to enter my head. If anything, this is the most confident and self-assured I have ever been in my life. You have to be, moments before you step in the Octagon and fight. You have no other choice.
As far as the fight is concerned, I hope to achieve what I always hope to achieve. I plan on showing techniques that I’ve been working hard on in the gym and, as always, try to project a better version of myself than the fans saw last time I fought.
UFC veteran Matt ‘The Immortal’ Brown (13-11) is set to face promotion sophomore Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson (6-0) this weekend on the preliminary card of the UFC 145 pay-per-view event. Fans will get a chance to see the two fight on the FX broadcasted prelim card on April 21, 2012 from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, […]
Matt 'The Immortal' Brown
UFC veteran Matt ‘The Immortal’ Brown (13-11) is set to face promotion sophomore Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson (6-0) this weekend on the preliminary card of the UFC 145 pay-per-view event.
Fans will get a chance to see the two fight on the FX broadcasted prelim card on April 21, 2012 from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Brown is looking to build on a recent second round TKO win over Chris Cope this past February by earning a second straight victory by defeating ‘Wonderboy’ this Saturday.
Despite an impressive kickboxing pedigree on paper, Brown tells UFC.com that he isn’t impressed calling Thompson’s kickboxing “overrated” feeling that his opponent is facing a “true fighter” for the first time in his career.
“He brings a lot of techniques that are not seen every day and he does them very well,” admits Brown. “It’s like I’ve said from the beginning, I don’t think he’s faced the best guys in his kickboxing career or in MMA. He hasn’t faced nobody really tough. I think his kickboxing is overrated – all the hype – and he’s overrated altogether. This I think will be the first time he’s facing a true fighter and a true professional. I’m coming in and looking to put it on him and looking to break him and see if he can handle a real fight.”
To put it mildly, Brown believes there are mitigating factors that favored “Wonderboy,” like Thompson’s wealth of experience coupled with (Dan) Stittgen taking the fight on short notice. “Even if he had a full training camp, your first UFC is scary s**t and Thompson is not the kind of guy you prepare for in a week or two,” explains Brown, who is an Octagon veteran that has never been knocked out and won’t be fazed by fancy records or famous training partners. “The guy came in on short notice, it was his first UFC fight, he probably had never seen Stephen Thompson fight before, he probably had Googled his name and seen 60-0 kickboxing, trained with GSP, blah blah blah, and all the hype. He was probably scared out of his mind. Believe me, the UFC is an intense experience.”
“I want to show the world that his kickboxing ain’t what everybody makes it out to be. I think my Muay Thai is better than his kickboxing. I’ve said it before, I think Muay Thai beats Karate nine out of 10 times and I’m set out to prove that when we get into the cage.”
With his legal troubles behind him, Brazilian middleweight Maiquel ‘Big Righ’ Falcão (29-4, 1NC) made his return to the lime light returning to American soil to face French fighter Norman Paraisy in the opening round of Bellator’s Season Six Middleweight Tournament. Falcão would go on to earn an exciting unanimous decision win a month ago […]
Maiquel Falcao
With his legal troubles behind him, Brazilian middleweight Maiquel ‘Big Righ’ Falcão (29-4, 1NC) made his return to the lime light returning to American soil to face French fighter Norman Paraisy in the opening round of Bellator’s Season Six Middleweight Tournament.
Falcão would go on to earn an exciting unanimous decision win a month ago at Bellator 61, in a bout that saw him calling out Paraisy throughout the fight to stand and trade punches.
‘Big Rig’ is now set to face Russian middleweight Vyacheslav Vasilevsky this Friday at Bellaor 66 in the tournament semifinals.
Speaking to Tatame.com, Falcão talked about his opponent, cutting weight from 214-lbs plus more so be sure to check out the article by hitting the link.
Here is a portion of that interview.
Now you’re fighting Vasilevsky on the semifinals. What do you know about his game and how was your preparation for the fight? I don’t know a lot about him, just his name which is actually hard to pronounce (laughs). Just like I did on my first fight, I leave all the game plan and preparation to Brigadeiro, who besides my manager is my coach. I train what he tells me to train and I do what he tells me to do. I guess it worked quite well on the first time and I’m doing the same on the semifinals.
About your weight, you had to suffer a lot last time but lost it in the last minute. How are things this time? It’s always a suffering, there’s no other way. I go from 214lbs to 185lbs, so it’s always hard, but every time I fight I cut weight and it won’t be any different now. I’ll make it to the limit and I’ll be just fine on the following day.
What can we hope of you in this fight? You can hope to see a complete fighter in Maiquel Falcao this time and I’m very focused on winning. I’ve been improving many aspects of my game and I can say that now I’m dangerous. I’ll give everything I’ve got in that cage and I’m only leaving with my ticked stamped to the finale. I count with the Brazilian support. I’ll be there representing our country.
Recently UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones let it be known that he would no longer be sponsored by FORM Athletics after the company closed it’s doors, and that he would be sponsored by the Ultimate Fighting Championship itself for his upcoming UFC 145 bout versus opponent Rashad Evans. Jones spoke about the sponsorship deal […]
Jon Jones & Rashad Evans – UFC 145
Recently UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones let it be known that he would no longer be sponsored by FORM Athletics after the company closed it’s doors, and that he would be sponsored by the Ultimate Fighting Championship itself for his upcoming UFC 145 bout versus opponent Rashad Evans.
Jones spoke about the sponsorship deal recently (quote MMAWeekly.com).
“We came up with a strategy to keep it clean and be sponsored by the UFC itself. I’m glad the UFC wanted to work with me as well, and I think that they trust that I’ll never make them look bad. You never have to worry about me with a DWI (driving while under the influence) or doing something crazy,” Jones explained.
“I think I’m a good company guy. The UFC asks me to do anything and I always do it, and I never tell them no for anything. I’ve had to do more marketing than any other fighter because I say no to absolutely nothing. I don’t think most champs are like that.”
Now saying all of this, one might expect Evans to be severely put off after having your opponent sponsored by the same promotion that both of you work for.
Not so say’s Evans, who spoke about the sponsorship deal as a guest on The MMA Hour (@MMAFighting.com) on Monday. Reading what ‘Suga’ has to say though, it’s certain that there is some underlying animosity there.
“I guess it is what it is,” he said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “It seems they got their guy that they’re going to get behind, I guess. I can’t really say too much about that. I just got to go in there and do what I need to do. I can’t really worry about that. I can’t really worry about who they favor or who they may like. It doesn’t change anything.”
“If they’re sponsoring him, it may seem that way,” he said. “But you know, honestly, it doesn’t matter if they favor him or not. They have guys they want to get behind, so if they want to get behind him, that’s on them. It doesn’t bother me though.”
The two fighters are set to meet this Saturday (April 21, 2012) in the main event of UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Following Saturday night’s (April 14, 2012) UFC on FUEL TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva event promotion president Dana White was put to task reference the current Twitter campaign, #RallyForMikeHunt, to get UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt a title shot versus champion Junior dos Santos. Speaking to the media at the post fight press conference, White stopped the […]
Mark Hunt – UFC 144 – Photo by Al Bello/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Image
Following Saturday night’s (April 14, 2012) UFC on FUEL TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva event promotion president Dana White was put to task reference the current Twitter campaign, #RallyForMikeHunt, to get UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt a title shot versus champion Junior dos Santos.
Speaking to the media at the post fight press conference, White stopped the campaign cold by saying a fight between the two would just not happen for next months UFC 146 event.
“They can keep rallying. It ain’t going to happen… I have apologized and praised Mark Hunt for what he’s accomplished in the situation he was in. And I think this fight with Struve is a good fight for him. If he beats Struve, he’ll break in and start fighting some of the top five heavyweights in the world. Anything can happen in a fight, but in all reality, it’s not fair to Mark Hunt either, to throw the guy right in there with Junior Dos Santos for a title shot. The guy worked his way up, he beats Struve, he fights somebody in the top five. I guarantee you this, he beats Struve, his next fight will be someone in the top five that can get him closer to that title shot.”
Hunt will meet Struve at the upcoming UFC 146 show set for May 26, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The ‘Super Samoan’ has won three straight in the Octagon, defeating Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell and Chris Tuchscherer in that span.
When you are the champion of one promotion the world’s top promotions, it is inevitable that you will get asked how you might match up against champions from rival organizations. For Bellator bantamweight champ Zach ‘Fun Size’ Makovsky (14-2), who defends his title this Friday (April 13, 2012) versus Eduardo Dantas, he isn’t ready to […]
Bellator Bantamweight Champ Zach Makovsky
When you are the champion of one promotion the world’s top promotions, it is inevitable that you will get asked how you might match up against champions from rival organizations.
For Bellator bantamweight champ Zach ‘Fun Size’ Makovsky (14-2), who defends his title this Friday (April 13, 2012) versus Eduardo Dantas, he isn’t ready to sing his own praises just yet but matched up versus UFC champ Dominick Cruz, he feels he’s got a “pretty good chance” of beating ‘The Dominator.’
Makovskky is a former NCAA Division I wrestler who has used his skills to become the first Bellator bantamweight champion by winning the inaugural tournament back in October 2010. Since then he has gone on to win two more times in non-title fights, making this fight in Atlantic City at Bellator 65 his first title defense.
Speaking on The Verbal Submission show at MMAMania.com, Makovsky offers his thoughts on how he’d match up versus Cruz, training with the likes of Frankie Edgar and Eddie Alvarez, plus a lot more. So be sure to hit the link to read the entire interview, or press PLAY to listen to the podcast.
Gerry Rodriguez: The champion of the UFC, Dominick Cruz, is a pretty big dude. How do you think you would match up with him?
Zach Makovsky: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. He’s obviously I think the best guy out there right now. He’s been beating everyone and beating everyone pretty handily. He continues to improve in all areas. His fight against Demetrious Johnson was different in that he had to focus more on his ground game which looked very good. There’s really not many holes in his game. I think someone who can take him down and control him there is gonna give him problems but it seems every time he’s taken down, he pops up pretty quick. I don’t know how I’d do. I think I have a skillset where if I take him down and keep him there, I’d have a pretty good chance.
Ben Thapa: When you did train with Eddie Alvarez and so on, is there something you noticed that they’re particularly good at that you need to catch up to or were you almost there and they were just more established?
Zach Makovsky: There’s definitely things that Frankie Edgar and Eddie are better than me at but it plays into their style too. If they’re good at some things, that’s more how they fight and how they approach their fight. Like Eddie is much better than me at stepping in and landing solid shots in combinations but he also gets hit more than me so it’s kind of a trade-off where I’m trying to pick up stuff from them but not like steal it outright. I want to figure out how to work it into my style. I really think Frankie’s movements and takedowns are awesome and when Eddie steps in to hit you, that’s good too but I’m trying to figure out how to work that in from my style. I’m always trying to learn from everybody I see.
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): When you close your eyes and picture victory against Dantas, what do you see?
Zach Makovsky: I see a tough fight especially in the first two rounds. I think I’m gonna slowly wear him out and control the fight. I think he’s gonna be really hard to finish. If I had to guess, maybe a unanimous decision but I think maybe a late finish with a submission in the fourth round.
