Tag: quick quote

Brock Lesnar Retires Following Loss To Alistair Overeem At UFC 141

Tweet Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar stepped into the Octagon for the last time as a fighter Friday night (Dec. 30, 2011), retiring after his loss to Alistair Overeem at the UFC 141 event. In the first round of their bout, Lesnar took a kick to the liver sending him to the mat clutching […]

Photo via UFC.com

Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar stepped into the Octagon for the last time as a fighter Friday night (Dec. 30, 2011), retiring after his loss to Alistair Overeem at the UFC 141 event.

In the first round of their bout, Lesnar took a kick to the liver sending him to the mat clutching his side. Overeem would swarm in for the finish with Lesnar covering up, forcing referee Mario Yamasaki to end the fight at 2:26 of the first round.

During the post fight speeches, Lesnar told color commentator Joe Rogan and the fans, that this was officially his last fight.

“My hat’s off to Alistair Overeem. I want to take my hat off to all my training partners, my wife, my family. I’ve had a really difficult couple of years with my disease and uh…I’m gonna officially say that tonight will be the last time you’ll see me in the octagon. I wanna thank everybody…the Fertittas, Dana White. Brock Lesnar is officially retired. I promised my wife and my kids that if I won this fight I would get a title shot and that would have been my last one but if I lost tonight I’d retire. Everyone you’ve been great. Alistair, it’s been a pleasure.”

Lesnar retires from mixed martial arts with a record of 5-3 pro bouts, having earned the UFC heavyweight title in his fourth match by defeating Randy Couture at UFC 91 back in November 2008. He would go on to defend that title twice more by defeating Frank Mir, at UFC 100, and Shane Carwin, at UFC 116. Lesnar would lose to Cain Velasquez over a year ago at UFC 121 and finally to Alistair Overeem tonight at UFC 141.

UFC 141 took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Alistair Overeem Wants To Assure Fans And Critics, There Are No Distractions Leading Up To UFC 141

Tweet With everything that has gone on in the past month, it’s no wonder that former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem is constantly getting asked if he feels distracted leading up to his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut versus Brock Lesnar at UFC 141. Overeem faces more media attention, at least in North America, than he […]

With everything that has gone on in the past month, it’s no wonder that former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem is constantly getting asked if he feels distracted leading up to his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut versus Brock Lesnar at UFC 141.

Overeem faces more media attention, at least in North America, than he has in the past, he is dealing with a Nevada State Athletic Commission who has saddled him with four tests for steroids, an ill mother, and the changing of gyms mid training camp so he could return to the Netherlands to be at his mothers side.

In his latest Blog for Yahoo! Sports, Overeem wants to assure all of the fans and critics, that these “distractions” do anything but pull his focus away from the fight, they instead help him to “perform” at his best.

This is a fight that deserves attention and – in answer to a question I have got a lot in media interviews – no, it is not a major distraction. For me, the more attention on the fight, the more fans who are excited, the more people watching around the world – that makes me perform.

There are lots of little distractions, but none of them will affect the result. When I’m looking in Brock Lesnar’s eyes, I won’t be thinking about missing a training session because there was a miscommunication about my drug test…

I was asked if the miscommunications with my drug test, or even the worry about my mother, will distract me. I can tell you it will not. Once I get to the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday night to fight, the one and only thing on my mind is knocking Mr Lesnar out. That is my job, that is what the last three months have been all geared towards.

When I fight, I can be very, very single-minded. The rest of the world stops turning until I win the fight.

Frank Mir Says Alistair Overeem Won’t Have The Cardio To Compete With Brock Lesnar At UFC 141

Tweet If you listened to former UFC champion Frank Mir during an interview on ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas recently, then you know who he is predicting as the victor this Friday when Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem step into the Octagon in the main event of UFC 141. Mir, who is 1-1 against Lesnar, […]

If you listened to former UFC champion Frank Mir during an interview on ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas recently, then you know who he is predicting as the victor this Friday when Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem step into the Octagon in the main event of UFC 141.

Mir, who is 1-1 against Lesnar, says that Overeem won’t be able to handle the former UFC champions pace and that he won’t have the cardio to keep up after five minutes of wrestling.

“Brock doesn’t shoot that low. He’ll put his forehead in your chest, and he’s going to run you through. If he’s not able to take you down with that initial blast, he’s going to run you against the cage. Then he’s going to rip your legs out from under you. Now, you should have gotten taken down in the middle of the area, but instead, you’ve been taken down against the cage [where it is more dangerous]. Speaking from experience, that sucks.”

“Now, you have a guy who is not a black belt in jiu-jitsu and who is not a wrestling All-American who is going to be able to get back to his feet, so what does he do?” Mir said.

“Are you going to try to tell me he’s going to wrestle with a national champion wrestler for five minutes? His cardio is going to suck [after wrestling with Lesnar for a while]. I’ve seen guys with muscles like that, and that’s why he slows down,” said Mir.

UFC 141 goes down on Dec. 30, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner between Lesnar and Overeem will move on to face Junior dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight title.

‘War Machine’ Cleaning Up His Image, Ready To Show The World He Can Be “An A-Level Fighter”

Tweet Welterweight fighter, and recent Bellator Fighting Championships signee, Jon ‘War Machine’ Koppenhaver (12-4) is ready to push his limits as a fighter and not as the “wildman” antics most fans know him for. ‘War Machine’ stepped out of prison this past fall after a spending a year in the county jail. The fighter got […]

Welterweight fighter, and recent Bellator Fighting Championships signee, Jon ‘War Machine’ Koppenhaver (12-4) is ready to push his limits as a fighter and not as the “wildman” antics most fans know him for.

‘War Machine’ stepped out of prison this past fall after a spending a year in the county jail. The fighter got back into training and took on a very tough opponent for his first fight, meeting Roger Huerta in a welterweight bout in November in Pharr, Texas. Koppenhaver earned a third round TKO stoppage utilizing his size over Huerta to control the fight.

Over the past year, Koppenhaver has seen many of his friends find success in the cage, and armed with a new Bellator contract he wants to do the same.

Talking as a guest on the Sherdog Radio Network, ‘War Machine’ is refocused and ready to “clean up” his image to show the world he is an “A-level fighter.”

“I don’t want to go back there,” he said. “I don’t want to be away from my sport and my friends and my family. Jail’s for losers, man. There’s nothing to do in there. All you do is sit in there and rot. It’s a waste of life. I’m definitely staying on the right track. That’s not a place for me. It’s not a place for any human being.”

“I missed it so much,” Machine said. “I saw all my friends out there fighting. My old roommate was Dominick Cruz. While I was in jail, he became a UFC champ. I used to live with that guy, and we were both broke bums. To see my friends like that become UFC champs and all my friends out there winning and even my students out there fighting and winning, it makes you miss it so much more. It makes you just want to really push it to your own limit…”

“I’m really trying to get back,” he said. “I think I’m an A-level fighter. I’m going to scare away big corporate sponsors and I’m going to scare away leagues like Bellator and the UFC or whoever if I’m doing that kind of stuff. That’s why, man. I want to put that behind and just clean my image up.”

UFC Pres Confirms Duane Ludwig As Fastest KO; NSAC Sticking With Eleven Second Time

Tweet On Christmas Eve, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White Tweeted (@DanaWhite) that message, confirming UFC veteran Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig(21-11) as the record owner for the fastest knockout in the promotions history at four seconds. Ludwig finished opponent Jonathan Goulet back in January 2006 with one punch at a UFC Fight Night 3 event in […]

On Christmas Eve, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White Tweeted (@DanaWhite) that message, confirming UFC veteran Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig(21-11) as the record owner for the fastest knockout in the promotions history at four seconds.

Ludwig finished opponent Jonathan Goulet back in January 2006 with one punch at a UFC Fight Night 3 event in Las Vegas.

Despite that bit of good news, the Nevada State Athletic Commission isn’t changing it’s mind and is keeping the official end of the bout at eleven seconds.

“The ruling is that it stays at 11,” NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “There’s no legal avenue to overturn it.”

All of this seems to have come about after ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung’s seven-second knockout of Mark Hominick at UFC 140 earlier this month. At the press conference White called it the fastest KO in the promotions history, tying Todd Duffee’s seven-second knockout of Canadian heavyweight Tim Hague at UFC 102.

Reporter Ariel Helwani put White on the spot saying that Ludwig was actually the one to unofficially hold the record, leaving the UFC president little choice but to check into the matter.

Back in 2006 at UFN 3, Ludwig finished opponent Jonathan Goulet in four-seconds, but due to a time-keepers error the bout was recorded as an eleven-second finish instead. ‘Bang’ dropped Goulet with a single right hand, sending his opponent falling to the mat.

Ludwig talked to MMAFighting.com about the NSAC decision, which sits fine with him as long as the UFC and fans know that he owns the fastest KO.

“A lot of people still don’t even know that the UFC has these athletic commissions, that they’re governed by a third party,” he said. “And of course, we know that the commissions sometimes make questionable calls, so I think the more credible source is the UFC anyway. I’m a hundred percent fine with the UFC being the one to make it official. I’d prefer that, actually.”

“Every athlete is always looking for a way to separate himself from the pack. This is a record that will probably never be [broken]. It never happened before, and it’ll probably never happen again. It’s definitely a cool thing to have next to your name,” he said, adding, “It’s also a good story to tell the kids. When I’m old and telling that story I can joke with them and go, you better go to bed because I can knock you out in four seconds.”

Former UFC Heavyweight Tim Hague Comments On Training With Brock Lesnar & Cole Konrad

Tweet Canadian heavyweight Tim ‘The Thrashing Machine’ Hague (13-5) jumped on the UnderGround forums yesterday to talk about training with the Team Deathclutch team alongside former UFC champ Brock Lesnar and Bellator champ Cole Konrad. During his week in Minnesota Hague says he was Lesnar and Konrad’s “bitch” during the training sessions but enjoyed every […]

Canadian heavyweight Tim ‘The Thrashing Machine’ Hague (13-5) jumped on the UnderGround forums yesterday to talk about training with the Team Deathclutch team alongside former UFC champ Brock Lesnar and Bellator champ Cole Konrad.

During his week in Minnesota Hague says he was Lesnar and Konrad’s “bitch” during the training sessions but enjoyed every minute of it.

Here’s what he had to say about the whole experience.

“Was pretty surreal. Best training, and best group of guys I’ve ever trained with. Merry Christmas UG. WAR LESNAR. Because I need to get better at everything, and being able to work with Pat Barry and Cole Conrad 1 on 1 was unreal. Working MMA with Brock and 5 other legit UFC level HW’s every day is something I don’t get up in Edmonton. I’m not gonna give away any of his strategy, but he is scary strong, and scary conditioned, and if he gets the jump on a takedown, you’re going down, or you’re blowing out a knee or something haha. I got invited back for a full camp, and i’m chomping at the bit to make that happen. I just went there for a week to be a hw dummy for Brock and the guys, I was slightly outta shape, but know what i have to do to be better next time. I wasn’t paid or nothing, didn’t ask to be and felt like I should have paid them to be there. I don’t know who’s better, they both made me their bitch on the mats, and Cole’s boxing is great as well. Don’t wanna say who’s all there training. Brock hits hard, and i think he was taking it easy on me cause it was the end of the workout and i was gassed. He got mount on me and fed me some shots that were nasty. I’m sure he was going easy. I know i can only get better training there and I’m on top of the world that I got invited back for a full camp. I cant say much about his game, or his strengths/weaknesses. Had to sign a non disclosure clause. But I will say he was champ for a reason, and I found out.”

Hague has made five appearances in the Octagon going 1-4. He is currently lives and trains in Edmonton, Alberta with a first round win this past September at an Aggression MMA show.

Lesnar, of course, meets Alistair Overeem in a No. 1 contender bout this Friday (30 Dec. 2011) in Las Vegas. With the winner going on to face Junior dos Santos for the UFC title.

Konrad is waiting to see which Season Five Tournament heavyweight will challenge him for the Bellator title as Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos await a date for their rematch.