Tag: Ray Sefo

Vitor Belfort Wants Shawn Tompkins to Know He’s Doing Just Fine Training Without Him, Thank You Very Much

("Tell me again what it was like hanging out on the set with Hocky Balboa.")
When a story emerged last week that less than a month prior to the bout Vitor Belfort had jumped ship from training with Shawn Tompkins at TapouT Training Centre i…


("Tell me again what it was like hanging out on the set with Hocky Balboa.")

When a story emerged last week that less than a month prior to the bout Vitor Belfort had jumped ship from training with Shawn Tompkins at TapouT Training Centre in Las Vegas in favor of holding his camp for his February 5 UFC 126 showdown with UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva at Xtreme Couture, the Internet exploded with theories about the obvious fragile mental state of "The Phenom" and fans and pundits quickly began writing off the former UFC heavyweight champ’s chances in the fight.

According to Belfort, the truth is, although he returned to working under the tutelage of Tompkins for this camp, he never really actually stopped training at the Randy Couture-helmed gym.

In a recent Twitter post Vitor (who incidentally trained almost exclusively with the Xtreme Couture coaches he’s working with now like Gil Martinez and Ray Sefo for his planned UFC 122 fight with Yushin Okami that was scrapped in favor of the Belfort-Silva bout next month) wrote that Tompkins was way off in his assessment of the situation.

"I dont think I have anything nice to say other than just ignoring it all. I have the right to choose who to train with. I have loyalty and respect and that is why I didn’t hide[the fact that I was also training at Xtreme Couture] from him," Belfort tweeted. "He tooks this more personally. I made my choice and this is just his opinion of it and nothing more."

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All Heavyweight Main Card Set for Strikeforce Grand Prix Kickoff Event

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsAll five fights on Strikeforce’s February 12 World Grand Prix kickoff event main card will feature heavyweights.

In addition to the already announced tournament bouts pitting Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva and Andrei…

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All five fights on Strikeforce’s February 12 World Grand Prix kickoff event main card will feature heavyweights.

In addition to the already announced tournament bouts pitting Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva and Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov, Strikeforce has added a trio of matches, the promotion announced in a press release.

The most intriguing of the set features unbeaten Shane Del Rosario (10-0) facing Lavar Johnson (15-3).

Scott Coker on Strikeforce Tourney: ‘I Would Buy It on Pay-Per-View’

Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse ExclusiveIf you think it’s easy to set up an eight-man tournament featuring some of MMA’s most high-profile heavyweight fighters, think again.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker explained to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on …

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If you think it’s easy to set up an eight-man tournament featuring some of MMA’s most high-profile heavyweight fighters, think again.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker explained to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that simply putting together the tournament was a trial in and of itself, but the labor was made easier by one thing: the fighters’ desire to get in the cage and mix it up.

“You’re dealing with eight managers, from eight different camps, wanting eight different things,” Coker told Helwani. “But in the end, everybody wanted to fight in the tournament, and they said, ‘Sign me up.’ From Fedor [Emelianenko] to Alistair [Overeem] to, you know, Andrei [Arlovski], they all wanted to be in the tournament, because in the old days, let’s say, in Pride, the tournament was very, very popular. I think this is kind of a throwback to that era.”

Randy Couture’s Toney Mimic Ray Sefo: ‘It’s Going to End Real Fast’

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveBOSTON — Ray Sefo knows a little about the transition James Toney is making. Sefo has fought as a professional boxer, was a world renowned kickboxer, and in recent years, he’s worked hard on his MMA game, most recen…

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BOSTON — Ray Sefo knows a little about the transition James Toney is making. Sefo has fought as a professional boxer, was a world renowned kickboxer, and in recent years, he’s worked hard on his MMA game, most recently fighting for Strikeforce last September.

Sefo is also a trainer at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, as well as a key member in preparing Randy Couture to face Toney; the 6-foot, 240-pound Sefo mimicked the similarly built 5-foot-10, 237-pound Toney during Couture’s training camp. And given his own experiences going from the striking arts to the ground game, Sefo feels Toney will be woefully unprepared for the opponent that awaits him.

“I don’t think it’ll go any more than three minutes,” he said. “It’s going to end real fast.”