Tag: quick quote

Mark Hominick Looking To Keep The Memory Of Friend Shawn Tompkins Alive By “Working For His Legacy”

Tweet For most of us, we’ve all felt the sting of losing someone close. The pain and anguish that comes with the passing of a close friend or family member. What I can’t imagine though, is how many of us would know what it’s like to lose someone who has been a mentor, a best […]

Photo via UFC.com

For most of us, we’ve all felt the sting of losing someone close. The pain and anguish that comes with the passing of a close friend or family member.

What I can’t imagine though, is how many of us would know what it’s like to lose someone who has been a mentor, a best friend, someone who has helped push you in life to succeed, making you the person you are today.

For former UFC featherweight contender Mark ‘The Machine’ Hominick (20-9) the loss of Shawn Tompkins earlier this summer, someone who has helped define his career for fifteen years, brought all of those emotions in to play for the Canadian fighter.

Tompkins helped to train Hominick, along with other members of Team Tompkins such as Chris Horodecki and Sam Stout, and it’s in an interview with Yahoo! Cagewriter, ‘The Machine’ says that it’s his “legacy” that all of them are working toward now.

“The passing of Shawn was obviously beyond a shocker. He was the best man in my wedding. He was more than just a mentor in the sport. He became a life mentor for me. That’s a huge void, but everyone on our team has stepped up. We became closer because of it, because we know we all have to step up to try to fill that void. It’s our duty to carry on his legacy: to keep training, to keep winning, to keep performing in the cage.”

“This is going on 15 years that we’ve all been together. We’re a very tight-knit group, and that’s what we’re trying to stress right now. To keep that unity. Even Shawn’s dad stepped up. Shawn’s dad came into the gym and talked to the group, and Shawn’s brothers. Just kind of letting everyone know that we’re not sitting idly by. We’re working for his legacy.”

Hominick is scheduled to face Chan Sung Jung (aka ‘The Korean Zombie) in Toronto on December 10 at UFC 140, and it will be Hominick’s first fight since losing a title bout with champ Jose Aldo last April.

Paul Daley Is Focused On Winning, But Returning To The UFC Always On His Mind

Tweet British welterweight Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley (28-1-2) is set to headline the Ringside 12 event in Montreal, Canada against former UFC vet Luigi Fioravanti (22-10) on October 1st. This will be Daley’s first return to Montreal since he was released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship after striking opponent Josh Koscheck after the bell at UFC […]

British welterweight Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley (28-1-2) is set to headline the Ringside 12 event in Montreal, Canada against former UFC vet Luigi Fioravanti (22-10) on October 1st.

This will be Daley’s first return to Montreal since he was released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship after striking opponent Josh Koscheck after the bell at UFC 113 in May of 2010. Since that time ‘Semtex’ has put a record together of 5-2 including a Strikeforce welterweight title fight with Nick Diaz in April of this year.

In a recent interview with HALO MMA (via FightNetwork.com) Daley talked about his upcoming fight with Fioravanti as well as his desire to face “top guys” wherever those fights take him in the world. He does hope though, that if he can keep impressing the fans, that it will earn him a shot at returning to the UFC.

I read recently that your return to the UFC is the central focus at the minute in your career. Is this still your primary goal?
Paul Daley: My real focus is winning first and foremost but the key is to keep winning and to keep fighting the top guys I’ve fought like Nick Diaz, Tyron Woodley, Jorge Masvidal and Daniel Acacio – and they’ve all fought at the highest level. I just want to keep fighting the best guys outside of the big show until the opportunity arises for me to get back there and make another run at it. If you’re in the UFC and you’re winning fights then people are going to watch you fight regardless of what you’ve done before in some ways.

So are there any fights out there at the minute that really appeal to you?
Paul Daley: There’s great fights all over the world to be honest with you I’ve just got to keep winning and improving and things will fall into place. I’m working hard to get better all the time and there’s sure to be more and more great fights all over the world.

Dave Herman Possible Victim Of Second Hand Marijuana Smoke

Tweet Health professionals say second hand smoke can be just as bad or worse for you than smoking itself. Well for UFC heavyweight Dan ‘Pee Wee’ Herman (21-2) it seems the doctors were right. Herman was pulled from his upcoming UFC 136 match with Mike Russow after the Texas State Commission denied him a license […]

Photo by Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports

Health professionals say second hand smoke can be just as bad or worse for you than smoking itself. Well for UFC heavyweight Dan ‘Pee Wee’ Herman (21-2) it seems the doctors were right.

Herman was pulled from his upcoming UFC 136 match with Mike Russow after the Texas State Commission denied him a license after testing positive for marijuana.

The news broke Thursday morning and spread like wildfire across the net, with several sites (including this one) misquoting Herman as saying he had tested for marijuana and steroid use. Corrections were made, but the damage to ‘Pee Wee’s’ reputation was already done.

Later in the day, Herman talked to several news sites about the entire incident and gave his description of what may have happened.

“I do not smoke marijuana,” Herman told MMA Fighting. “I can’t say I’m not around it. I live in California. Pretty much everyone out here smokes weed. Maybe I need to pick my friends a little better. I don’t know.”

“When I talked to Texas they said that there wasn’t enough of the first sample to do both tests,” said Herman. “The first sample they just tested one thing and the second sample they tested something else. …They just said the first one was positive for marijuana. The second one wasn’t positive for anything.”

“I don’t think there’s anything I can really do,” he said. “Obviously, this fight’s already gone. Even if I go in today and pass everything, this fight’s already done. Pretty much I guess I just wait. They said I’ll probably have a short suspension. From researching other guys who have tested positive, the max suspension they’ve ever seen is 30 days. So I guess I wait 30 days and pass a drug test and try to get another fight lined up.”

It seems, as Herman says, that he will have to “pick my friends a little better” the next time he has a fight scheduled. Possibly secluding himself in a cave in the mountains of Utah for his next training camp. I guess we’ll have to see what sort of sentence the Texas commission implements against Herman.

Pat Barry Ready To Put 5-Foot-11 Height Up Against Stefan Struve’s 6-Foot-11 Frame This Saturday

Tweet The co-main event bout of this weekends UFC on Versus 6 card features a sort of odd heavyweight bout, as 5-foot-11 Pat ‘HD’ Barry (6-3) meets 6-foot-11 Stefan ‘Skyscraper’ Struve in the Octagon on Versus. UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson (aka UFC on Versus 6) is scheduled to take place this Saturday, October 1, […]

The co-main event bout of this weekends UFC on Versus 6 card features a sort of odd heavyweight bout, as 5-foot-11 Pat ‘HD’ Barry (6-3) meets 6-foot-11 Stefan ‘Skyscraper’ Struve in the Octagon on Versus.

UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson (aka UFC on Versus 6) is scheduled to take place this Saturday, October 1, at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The four bout main card is scheduled to air live on the Versus network in the U.S., while fans in Canada can watch on Rogers Sportsnet.

Speaking at Monday’s pre-fight press conference, Barry talked about the differences in height between himself and his opponent, as well as his preparations in facing someone who is a full foot taller.

“I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal in this fight,” Barry said of the reach difference. “Everybody Stefan comes across, fights and trains with is shorter than he is. Everybody that I come across, fight and train with is taller than I am. So this fight is going to be everything normal. How often does Stefan Struve come across someone taller than him? Not very often. And I haven’t come across many heavyweights shorter than I am. So I think this is going to be pretty normal. I’m accustomed to guys being taller than I am and Stefan is accustomed to guys shorter than he is.”

“I found a guy I call the black Struve,” Barry said. “Maurice Green, who’s 6-foot-9, he’s a guy who came in for three weeks, a wrestler turned kickboxer out of Chicago. He was a guy I brought in in order to find my range and work my distance. And then we’d have Marty Morgan, who’s 6-foot-3, stand on a stool while I threw punches and kicks at him.”

Props to MMAFighting.com for the transcription.

Be sure to check out Struve’s comments on Barry by hitting the link.

Bellator’s Bjorn Rebney Feels “Competition Breeds Expansion”

Tweet What the Bellator Fighting Championships CEO means, is that competition between his promotion and the Ultimate Fighting Championship is a good thing and that “Competition breeds more consumer interest and excitement.” Bjorn Rebney talked to Sherdog.com last weekend after the completion of Saturday’s Bellator 51 event. On Sept. 24 Bellator went head-to-head against the […]

What the Bellator Fighting Championships CEO means, is that competition between his promotion and the Ultimate Fighting Championship is a good thing and that “Competition breeds more consumer interest and excitement.”

Bjorn Rebney talked to Sherdog.com last weekend after the completion of Saturday’s Bellator 51 event.

On Sept. 24 Bellator went head-to-head against the UFC 135 broadcast, Rebney knows that it’s a one-sided war but it’s the time slot MTV2 has given him so he’s left to compete for the attention of the same audience who tune in to watch the UFC events.

Bellator 51 featured the opening round of the Season Five Bantamweight tournament, and unlike the UFC 135 ppv card which featured two relatively boring heavyweight bouts, the main card of the Canton, Ohio show featured two exciting knockouts one of the flying-knee variety.

“That is a tough head-to-head, but you have to look at it this way,” Rebney said. “You have to look at it from a competitive perspective that — and I know this is a different sport — if you track the expansion of the World Wrestling Federation before it became the WWE, their greatest growth curve came from when there was competition with WCW. Competition breeds expansion. Competition breeds more consumer interest and excitement.”

“I say we put on a good card, and that’s all that matters,” Rebney said. “I’m not one for a lot of hyperbole. I’m not like your old school Bob Arum [or] Don King, where I’m pitching, pitching, pitching. I really truly believe that the [four tournament winners] that were sitting off to my left are four of the best 135-pounders in the world.”

The viewer numbers for Bellator 51 should be in on Monday or Tuesday, and it will be an indicator of how well the upstart promotion did in competing with the UFC Juggernaut.

This coming weekend, Bellator 52 will feature the next round of Season Five Quarterfinal bouts as the heavyweights step into the cage in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Bellator 51: Alternate Wilson Reis Was Waiting To Be Called Up For Bantamweight Tourny

Tweet With Joe Soto out of the Bellator Season Five bantamweight tournament after a loss at a Tachi Palace Fights 10 event, alternate fighter Wilson Reis (12-3) was more than happy to step in as a replacement. Reis is set to face fellow Brazilian Eduardo Dantas (10-2) this Saturday at Bellator 51 as part of […]

With Joe Soto out of the Bellator Season Five bantamweight tournament after a loss at a Tachi Palace Fights 10 event, alternate fighter Wilson Reis (12-3) was more than happy to step in as a replacement.

Reis is set to face fellow Brazilian Eduardo Dantas (10-2) this Saturday at Bellator 51 as part of the opening quarterfinal bouts of the 135 lb tournament. The event is set to take place Canton Memorial Civic Center in Canton, Ohio with the main card airing live on MTV2.

As part of MMAMania.com’s “Know your Bellator” series, Reis was featured as part of their latest interview to talk about stepping in as Soto’s replacement and meeting Dantas in the tournament.

You were not originally in the Bellator season five bantamweight tournament and you got the late invite to step in for Joe Soto. How excited were you to get that call and be back in a tournament with Bellator?
Wilson Reis: I was very excited. I was definitely waiting for that call and I was the alternate. I had high hopes that I was gonna get in. I was kinda thinking I’d get in because I knew what kind of condition Joe Soto was in and I was definitely happy to get his spot. I was gonna be in the tournament last year, I wanted to make the cut to 135 but they didn’t have the same feeling towards me dropping down as they do now. I should have fought at 135 before but I gave it a try at 145. I did good, had nine fights at 145 and went 6-3 but now I’m very excited to fight 135 now.

You briefly mentioned your upcoming opponent, Eduardo Dantas. He’s one of the highest rated prospects at 135 in the entire world. How excited are you to be stepping in there against such a tough guy in the first round of this tournament?
Wilson Reis: Very excited man. Very excited. To be my first fight at 135, it’s a very nice fight. I think with this tournament though, there’s no easy opponents and Bellator always puts tough guys in front of you in the tournaments. There’s no easy fights. Every fight is gonna be a war and especially as we keep moving on. Eduardo Dantas is a Brazilian guy. He’s a cool guy. It’s gonna be an exciting fight for our country and I excited to step up against him.

He trains out of a really tough gym in Brazil, Nova Uniao, one of the best in the world. So you’re training in Philly as well as with Dominick Cruz in California and he’s training with Marlon Sandro and Jose Aldo. You are both training with the absolute elite.
Wilson Reis: Oh yeah man. We’re in the game and training camp and preparation is where you win and lose the fight really. I have the pleasure of having great corners and great coaches around me and so does he. The Nova Uniao camp is one of the best camps for lightweights and lower in Brazil in all of MMA. We’re both gonna be ready for this.