Tag: quick quote

Gray Maynard Helping Jose Aldo Prepare For Chad Mendes At UFC 142 (Photo)

Tweet Former UFC lightweight contender Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard is in Rio de Janeiro for three weeks exclusively to help featherweight champ Jose Aldo prepare for his upcoming title fight with Chad Mendes at UFC 142. As a decorated wrestler in his college years, who better than him to help Aldo prepare for another Division […]

Photo via Tatame.com

Former UFC lightweight contender Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard is in Rio de Janeiro for three weeks exclusively to help featherweight champ Jose Aldo prepare for his upcoming title fight with Chad Mendes at UFC 142.

As a decorated wrestler in his college years, who better than him to help Aldo prepare for another Division I wrestler ‘The Bully’.

Maynard talked to Tatame.com about training at Nova Uniao with Aldo, as well as giving his fight prediction but you’ll have to hit the link to read those comments.

How did you end up here at Nova Uniao?
Me and Jose Aldo met few times at UFC’s backstage. But it was at UFC 136 I met him at the pre-fight press conference. I like the way he fights, and I have always admired him as a person and a fighter. He has always been nice to me and when I knew he’s fight Chad Mendes I offered him some help and he said he’d be grateful. Jose Aldo is a great guy and that’s how I end up here. I arrived yesterday and went straight to the Jiu-Jitsu classes and it was really good.

Could you tell how Jose Aldo’s takedown defenses are?
He knows how to defend the takedowns very well, I trained with him and it was hard for me to take him down. But actually I’ll stay for a short period of time, so he knows what he knows, he knows what he gotta do, but we’ve watched many of his fights and I can tell you he doesn’t need my help all that much, he’s pretty good at this. I’m just here to push him and help him with the little things and, if I’m able to, cooperate. I’ll try to tell him about my experience at college at Wrestling.

Chael Sonnen Says He Is Done With Anderson Silva, Wants Dos Santos, Jon Jones, Or GSP Instead

Tweet Hopefully most of you will remember UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen’s failed interview on the Canadian sports talk show “Off The Record” last month, which saw the former No. 1 contender walk out shortly after the interview started. Now Sonnen is back on the show, which will air today at 5PM EST (2pm PST) on […]

Hopefully most of you will remember UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen’s failed interview on the Canadian sports talk show “Off The Record” last month, which saw the former No. 1 contender walk out shortly after the interview started.

Now Sonnen is back on the show, which will air today at 5PM EST (2pm PST) on TSN’s Off The Record with Michael Landsberg. If you don’t have access to TSN, check their website (@http://www.tsn.ca/shows/otr/) later for the full episode.

TSN posted a clip of today’s episode and here is part of what Sonnen had to say.

“The bottom line is, I’m done with the guy. He and I have no business. This guys like cold product. He’s like jheri curls and Pepsi Clear. He’s yesterday’s news. I destroyed this guy back when he was tough. That was years ago. He’s so far over the hill and past his prime that it’s not worth talking about. I’m going to become the No. 1 contender on January 28th but despite what you may think, I am not going to use that voucher to fight Anderson Silva. I’ll be looking at (Junior) dos Santos, (Jon) Jones and possibly (Georges) St. Pierre. But that…I will take that voucher to Dana White and pick one of those three guys. My time with Anderson is done.”

Sonnen is currently scheduled to face Mark Munoz at UFC on FOX 2 next month in a No. 1 contenders match for Anderson Silva’s belt.

Chad Griggs Happy With UFC Conctract, Feels Promotion Is Respecting Him As A Fighter

Tweet On Wednesday, news surfaced that heavyweight ‘The Grave Digger’ Chad Griggs (11-1) had signed with the UFC, becoming the latest fighter to move from Strikeforce to the Octagon. Griggs doesn’t have an opponent yet, but told MMAFighting.com that he could make his Octagon debut at an upcoming event in March. Many critics felt he […]

On Wednesday, news surfaced that heavyweight ‘The Grave Digger’ Chad Griggs (11-1) had signed with the UFC, becoming the latest fighter to move from Strikeforce to the Octagon.

Griggs doesn’t have an opponent yet, but told MMAFighting.com that he could make his Octagon debut at an upcoming event in March.

Many critics felt he had been brought into Strikeforce as an “easy” opponent for former WWE star Bobby Lashley in August 2010, but ‘The Grave Digger’ showed he was a very capable fighter by retiring Lashley after the second round. Griggs would then go on to win two more times, defeating Gianpiero Villante and then Valentijn Overeem in Reserve bouts for the promotions Heavyweight Grand Prix.

In the interview, Griggs discusses the negotiations between him and the UFC, saying that he feels “respected” by the Zuffa owned promotion for his abilities as a fighter.

“We’ve been talking for a while,” said Griggs. “We’ve been throwing numbers back and forth for a little while because my contract was coming close to an end, so we were trying to figure out where I was going from here. I knew they were interested, and it was just a matter of if we could get the numbers right. I think we’re both going to be happy. …I’m excited about it, but now I’ve got to get in there and prove that I deserve to be there. It’s time to put the work in and hopefully it pays off here in a few months.”

“I’m not going to try and fix anything that’s not broke. If I don’t do well we may try something else…but for now I’ll stay with what I know, and that’s fighting the big boys.”

“But it’s a plus and a minus. I’m going to a new league, so you’ve got to reestablish yourself and prove that you deserve to be there. It’s like going to a new school, I guess. You want to fit in and do well, but at the same time I think they want to see me do well and they know I put on some good shows, so they’re not sending me into the slaughter. They’re giving me some respect.”

‘The Grave Digger’ is currently on a six fight win streak, which includes the three wins in Strikeforce.

With Memorable 2011 Almost Behind Him, Frankie Edgar Looking To Move Forward After Back-To-Back Fights With Gray Maynard

Tweet For UFC lightweight champion Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar (14-1-1), most of 2011 was spent focusing on opponent Gray Maynard with the two fighting twice with one rescheduled fight date. With one meeting behind them already in Maynard’s favor, both men would square off in a very memorable “Fight of the Year” battle at UFC […]

Photo via UFC.com

For UFC lightweight champion Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar (14-1-1), most of 2011 was spent focusing on opponent Gray Maynard with the two fighting twice with one rescheduled fight date.

With one meeting behind them already in Maynard’s favor, both men would square off in a very memorable “Fight of the Year” battle at UFC 125 on January 1st, ending in a split draw. The fight would then be re-scheduled for May 9th at UFC 130 but would be rescheduled due to injuries to both fighters. Then things would finally culminate with a definitive ending at UFC 136 this past October as Edgar would finally avenge the only loss of his career by beating Maynard by fourth round knockout.

Speaking about the past year, and his upcoming title defense against Ben Henderson, UFC champ Edgar talked to Sherdog.com about moving forward with his life after a tumultuous year.

“Right now I’ve got the fight scheduled with Ben Henderson, and that’s the only guy on my mind,” Edgar stated. “The fights were great with Gray. They brought a lot out of me and matured me as a fighter and as a competitor. I’ve just got to move forward.”

“The biggest concern is always losing,” Edgar stated. “You just have to make sure you make the right decisions come game time. I know I’m going to prepare. I always prepare for every fight. I have a great team behind me and they’re going to get me 100 percent ready for what I need to do. But it’s about applying it and making sure I make the decisions at the right time. You don’t always have to be the best fighter, but you have to be the best fighter for 25 minutes.”

“I don’t know if I could top what I did (in 2011),” Edgar said. “I know that I could put on better performances for myself. For the fans that’s pretty exciting to get beat up and come back. I like to make it exciting for the fans but I like to spare my body a little bit more. I just want to improve and become a better fighter every day. If I do that I’ll be happy.”

‘Mayhem’ Miller Takes Responsibility For “Colossal Failure” Versus Michael Bisping At TUF 14 Finale

Tweet Coach for “The Ultimate Fighter” season fourteen, Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller (24-8) was highly criticized for his poor performance against opposing coach Michael Bisping at the TUF 14 Finale earlier this month. Bisping would earn a third round TKO finish over a sloppy and exhausted ‘Mayhem’ in Las Vegas. UFC president Dana White called it […]

Photos by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC for UFC.com

Coach for “The Ultimate Fighter” season fourteen, Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller (24-8) was highly criticized for his poor performance against opposing coach Michael Bisping at the TUF 14 Finale earlier this month. Bisping would earn a third round TKO finish over a sloppy and exhausted ‘Mayhem’ in Las Vegas.

UFC president Dana White called it “the worst standup I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen worse standup.”

Miller has been relatively quite since that fight but has now responded to his critics and fans. In his latest post on his website (mayhemmiller.com), ‘Mayhem’ takes responsibility for the “colossal failure” saying he is now in Holland working on his kickboxing.

Dana White was right. He made some disparaging comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense in round one and I locked up after that. I didn’t perform to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn’t a UFC caliber performance, and I’m not happy about it- I won’t, however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because that is not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep and make something positive out of it…

I made a lot of mistakes in this story- during the camp, during the fight- but the key to living life is learning from your mistakes and making positive change. I feel very positive right now, and I hope you feel the same way, I would be absolutely nothing without persistence and positive thinking, and if there is anything i want you to take from my blog it is that mentality. I will continue on this amazing journey, looking to make the most epic stories that I can.

Currently I’m in Holland, working on my kickboxing with Siyar Badaharzada (@siyarthekiller) and one of the greatest MMA trainers in the world, Martijn De Jong (@martijndej) as well as teaching here in Europe.

‘Big Nog’ Admits It Was A Mistake To Go For The Submission Against Mir At UFC 141

Tweet Brazilian heavyweight Antônio Rodrigo ‘Big Nog’ Nogueira (33-7-1) was looking forward to his rematch with Frank Mir at UFC 140, having lost their first meeting almost three years earlier at UFC 92 by TKO. Nogueira wanted to even the score to show the world that Mir had only beaten a fighter recovering from a […]

Brazilian heavyweight Antônio Rodrigo ‘Big Nog’ Nogueira (33-7-1) was looking forward to his rematch with Frank Mir at UFC 140, having lost their first meeting almost three years earlier at UFC 92 by TKO.

Nogueira wanted to even the score to show the world that Mir had only beaten a fighter recovering from a Staph infection.

It may have looked to Nogueira that he was about to make it one fight apiece in the opening minutes of their rematch, having put Mir to the mat with some heavy punches. Instead of trying to finish with his fists, ‘Big Nog’ tried to finish the fight with a rear-naked choke, which proved to be his undoing. Mir would recover, securing Nogueira’s arm in a Kimura submission and eventually breaking the arm to end the fight in the first.

In a message on his personal website, Nogueira admitted it was a mistake to attempt the submission, promising to keep on fighting for years to come.

“Last Saturday I fought and lost via submission for the first time in my career, it was a bad feeling, but it’s part of the sport. Everything that happens in a fight is quick and the fighter acts most based on his instincts and reflexes than on his mind. I knew I made a mistake as I tried to submit on a fight where I could have won by KO. But when Frank Mir was practically knocked out I heard the judge as me to stop punching him at the neck and that exactly when I tried to choke him. Mir put himself together and must be congratulated for submitting me. I checked the videos and I wasn’t hitting him on the neck, but on Mir’s side of the head, which is allowed”, revealed Rodrigo, who’s now focusing on recovering to overcome the most exceptional obstacle of his career.

“But I’m not here to apologize. I lost, I’ll recover from my arm injury and then move on, probably on the second UFC Rio of 2012. The good thing about the loss was that I got many supporting messages, and I really thank the great treatment that the boss (Dana White) gave me, yet in Canada. Dana used to tell me “Nog we’re not sparing any help, you’ll have the best experts so you comeback soon and well”. I’m sure I’ll still fight for many years , I fight because I like it to and I feel I’m in one of the best moments of my career”, concluded the athlete.

Transcription provided by Tatame.com