Tito Ortiz was never one to cherry-pick opponents, but if ever a high-probability win will be handed to him on a silver platter, he won’t complain.After all, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy torched gloves with Chuck Liddell, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, F…
Tito Ortiz was never one to cherry-pick opponents, but if ever a high-probability win will be handed to him on a silver platter, he won’t complain.
After all, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy torched gloves with Chuck Liddell, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, Matt Hamill, Ryan Bader and Evans again—one formidable foe after the other.
Going 1-5-1 in his last seven trips into the Octagon, the aging veteran needs a break and another win before he retires. Another senior fighter will serve that purpose in Rich “Ace” Franklin.
Ortiz fans who have been missing his signature ground-and-pound of old must not miss this fight, if it happens.
The former UFC light-heavyweight champion will do to the former middleweight king what the Thunder couldn’t do to The Spider. That is, exploit the hefty advantage and drag and bang the other all over the Octagon.
With 15 KO wins compared to the Bad Boy’s eight, Griffin certainly has a puncher’s chance against the bigger Ortiz. However, even Walel Watson got that against Cain Velasquez, albeit with far lesser chances.
The Master’s degree-holder is “faster” and will run rings around the college drop-out to avoid the takedowns? Well, he can run, but he can’t…
It’s true that The Mask won over Chuck Liddell and Matt Hamill, who in turn both beat The People’s Champ. Ho-hum, Franklin the former math teacher must know that this so-called “MMA math” is a misnomer and it doesn’t count.
This fight is still pure speculation, regardless of Dana White‘s apparent interest in it.
Anderson “The Spider” Silva is on a 13-fight winning streak in the UFC: 8 coming by way of KO/TKO. 3 by way of Submission. 2 by Unanimous Decision. To date he has successfully defended his UFC middleweight title a record eight times. The on…
Anderson “The Spider” Silva is on a 13-fight winning streak in the UFC:
8 coming by way of KO/TKO.
3 by way of Submission.
2 by Unanimous Decision.
To date he has successfully defended his UFC middleweight title a record eight times. The only fighter to even come close to that record is current UFC welterweight champion George St. Pierre; who has successfully defended his title six times.
“The Spider” has won eight Fight Bonuses, more than any other fighter in the UFC, save for Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, with whom he shares the record.
Silva’s UFC Fight Bonuses: Knockout of the night; Rich Franklin, Fight and Submission of the night; Dan Henderson, Fight and Knockout of the night; Forrest Griffin, Fight and Submission of the night; Chael Sonnen and Knockout of the night; Vitor Belfort.
“The Spider” is set to defend his title for a record ninth time when he throws down with Yushin “Thunder” Okami on Aug. 27 at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Okami is the same fighter who defeated Anderson Silva via disqualification.
That was more than five years ago at Rumble on the Rock 8. Yushin Okami won the fight by default; whilst Okami secured top position, Silva struck Okami with an up kick to his chin (temporarily rendering him unconscious) that was deemed to be illegal. And that was the reason for his disqualification.
For Anderson “The Spider” Silva; UFC 134 is all about Revenge, Resolution, but most of all; Redemption.
The indomitable Anderson Silva is indubitably, pound for pound the greatest mixed martial artist of his aeon.
He has dominated his contemporaries and destroyed his peers, and in doing so, has achieved both an iconic and venerated status amongst the aforementioned.
His pre-eminence is admired by the fans as well, whether they love him or despise him.
Since his debut in the UFC, no fighter yet has deciphered the enigma that is Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
The UFC is the fastest-growing organization of the fastest-growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts.In the past two years, venues such as the American Airlines Center, the TD Garden (formerly the Boston Garden), Conseco Fieldhouse, the Palace of …
The UFC is the fastest-growing organization of the fastest-growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts.
In the past two years, venues such as the American Airlines Center, the TD Garden (formerly the Boston Garden), Conseco Fieldhouse, the Palace of Auburn Hills and Rogers Centre have all hosted their their UFC Events.
With the UFC recently signing a network deal with Fox, it continues to grow, and is working to be sanctioned in all 50 states, as they look to expand into international markets.
This list will cover the 10 most famous venues who have never hosted a UFC event that would make for an awesome experience.
Chael Sonnen hosted a Question and Answer Session in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this past Friday prior to UFC 133.MMA Fighting was kind enough to provide the video highlights of the entertaining session. The embattled UFC middleweight told the …
Chael Sonnen hosted a Question and Answer Session in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this past Friday prior to UFC 133.
MMA Fighting was kind enough to provide the video highlights of the entertaining session.
The embattled UFC middleweight told the crowd the top three people of all time he’d like to fight are Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and “a jerk that cut him off in traffic today.”
Apparently Sonnen was not happy about how the careless driver nearly caused his passenger, Mr. Danger Waffles, to almost “come flying through the front seat.”
For those wondering, Mr. Waffles is actually Sonnen’s dog.
This was just the beginning of many outrageous comments from the outspoken West Linn, Oregon native as he took questions from fans for a good hour.
A little surprisingly, Sonnen gave some credit to team Cesar Gracie, repeatedly calling their fighters “tough” and giving them a ton of credit for how hard they work.
He also acknowledged how hard Jake Shields trained for his UFC 129 fight for Georges St-Pierre, giving the reigning welterweight champion a verbal pat on the back for beating someone with the talent and work ethic and Shields.
It did not take long for Sonnen to turn on the theatrics though.
When asked about what happened with his suspension by the California State Athletic Commission, Sonnen was anything but lost for words.
“Listen here’s what happened, I ended up in some hot water, and I had to go before…I had to go to the principal’s office, okay,” Sonnen explained.
“I was then put before 12 good men who got to decide my fate. They can choose to put me through this door and I’m going to have to go away for a while, or they can send me out the door that I walked in.”
Before the hearing was over, Sonnen, who claimed that he wore a Valor track suit and white tennis shoes and kept his mouth shut prior to this point, said he told the commission:
“Before you decide my fate with this…you can send me that way, or you can send me through that same door I jus walked in, but as a public service, I will get rid of Anderson Silva.”
In the same breathe, Sonnen added, “I will get ride of Lyoto Machida. I will take out the Nogueira brothers in the same night…personally burn Black House down…and they said ‘Mr. Sonnen…not guilty!’ brought the gavel down, and I went out and about my way.”
Sonnen than went off about how much he hates when fighters withdraw from an event, comparing it out to when people call out sick from work.
“I’m not one of these guys that when you go out to buy a ticket to see him, ‘maybe I’ll show up, then again maybe I won’t’,” Sonnen reflected.
Uncle Chael explained that some days, you’re just too sick to go work; however, he criticized how someone “could call out of work 30 days in advance.”
“Little Nogueira cancelled his fight on the Fourth of July….on the Fourth of July! How do you know you’re not going to feel good on August 6? Could one of you guys do that?”
“Could any of you guys pick up your phone, call your boss and say ‘On September 10 on not coming in,’ your boss goes ‘What are you talking about?’ and you go ‘Well, I’m not gonna feel good…I have a feeling I’m gonna have some bad chicken the night before.”
Quite an interesting analogy from Sonnen, to say the very least, and who can be surprised who took a shot at Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Sonnen took it a step further when he mentioned “Oh, everybody’s saying the UFC’s plagued with injuries…the UFC’s not plagued with injuries! The UFC’s filled with cowardly charlatans!”
Brian Stann, and of course Chael Sonnen, were two people the Team Quest standout thought would never pull out of a fight once they had already signed on the dotted line.
Then, Sonnen began to tear into one of his favorite new targets: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
Sonnen actually said that he doesn’t have a problem with Cro Cop as a person, but the fact that Cro Cop is touted as a legend.
“Mirko, time out, there’s two guys in this company that can date their fight careers back to 1997: Dennis Hallman and me,” Sonnen stated.
“I’ve been fighting more than Mirko, I’ve had more title fights than Mirko, I’ve sold more tickets than Mirko, I’ve sold more t-shirts than Mirko, and I had to carry the heavy water,” Sonnen said, referring to his time fighting in smaller promotions.
Mirko was essentially called a phony by Sonnen, since the former All-American wrestler feels that Cro Cop really hasn’t contributed anything to the sport.
Meanwhile, Sonnen took credit for getting MMA legalized in Oregon, and then criticized Cro Cop for being a high ranking government official in Croatia, a country that does not even televise the UFC.
At least as far as Chael Sonnen is concerned.
“So what in the blue hell has he done for anybody besides fall down?” Sonnen asked.
“That guy’s been dropped more times than the ball at times square, that guys hit the ground more times than the 80 second air born, you guys like that? Should I keep going?”
“That guy’s fallen down more times than an epileptic’s dropped his keys! It’s true,” Sonnen said, telling Cro Cop to go back to “fake wrasslin,” of course referring to the heavyweight’s days in Pride.
Chael then referred to his upcoming fight with Brian Stann as “the first defense of his middleweight championship,” and hammed it up from there as a young fan attempted to ask him a question.
“The people’s champion, the linear champion…undefeated and undisputed. The best there is, the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be. Thank you Brett Hart…Go ahead young man, what were you saying.”
Interesting, Sonnen acknowledged that Stann can beat him, and that he can beat Stann, as well as the fact that he is open to a rematch with Yushin Okami whether or not Okami beats Anderson Silva at UFC 134.
From there, Sonnen couldn’t resist taking some shots at the reigning UFC middle weight champion.
“Anderson Silva…What did he ever do? He beat up a one legged Canadian and a math teacher…he beat a bunch of guys that aren’t even good enough to be in the company anymore.”
“It’s like the UFC was his dietician and his lycopene levels were low he was fed so many tomato cans,” Sonnen stated.
For those that are not nutrition experts, lycopene is found in tomatoes, red carrots, watermelons, and papayas, and is thought to be a pigment that can help prevent certain cancers.
Sonnen wasn’t done ripping into “The Spider” just yet, mentioning that while he’s not overlooking Brian Stann, he’d love to have another bout with Silva.
“As far as the triangle, I do give him credit…I mean I’m a little bit embarrassed for him,” Sonnen began.
“Triangle chokes are the refuge of cowards. I would never stoop to that level to lock my legs around another mans head and squeeze, ya know, I only gave him that victory out of sympathy that he even tried that.”
A very odd rationale to consider, and then Sonnen concluded by saying “oh my rib hurts. Yea Anderson, I believe that. Your ribs have the same problem my hands and feet do: they’re attached to a wuss.”
Unexpectedly, Sonnen also took the time to acknowledge the accomplishments Rich Franklin.
“I also am a fan of Rich Franklin, he’s done an excellent job, he’s headlined a bunch of shows, he’s a world champion… let’s make sure I’m not delusional, Rich is very good. It’s just a fun thing to say ‘math teacher’. Who couldn’t beat up their math teacher?”
Sonnen then explained why he thinks a fight between him and Franklin is a logical one.
“But yea listen: I’ll fight Rich Franklin, sure. Matt Linland have got some history, it dates back a little bit. Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin had a fight, their was some controversy around it, and I’m from the same fold.”
“So, ya know, I think it make sense. I’ll go in there and battle Rich. I think his days at 185 are done, he bumped up to 205, he pulled off this card, that’s another guy…that pisses me off guys. That really upsets me when you won’t go fight on a card.”
Even with the vast majority of the interview transcribed, this writer strongly suggests watching the interview in its entirety.
The public service announcement has been part of American culture for decades. Popularized by the perpetually foxy Nancy Reagan in the ’80s, the PSA has taught us everything from not smoking crack to not dumping a pot of boiling oil on your face, and a whole bunch of other not’s. It has also served as a way to punish celebrities and athletes who did something incredibly stupid and got caught.
MMA fighters eventually began to get roped into this as the popularity of the sport rose; some are good, while others should be avoided as much as strangers in pick-up trucks who offer to let you see their puppy. That is why today I present to you the top eight public service announcements featuring MMA fighters. Why? Because knowing is half the battle…
8. Randy Couture VS Crystal Meth
Just say no to drugs! Randy Couture enters the battle against Methamphetamines in this PSA, because when you think crystal meth, think Randy Couture. For a video that is meant to appear sad and claustrophobic, it comes off like an amateur snuff film and loses its impact with the soft-spoken UFC veteran.
Couture has done plenty of these ads, so don’t be surprised if he pops back up on this list. Am I saying he will for sure? No, but if I did, would you stop loving me? I can’t handle any more rejection…oh man, sinking back into that pit of despair. I need some meth. But if I do that, then Randy won’t love me either. Argh, what a vicious cycle! But seriously kids, don’t do drugs. If you feel yourself losing power to your addiction, go punch a hobo instead. It’s much more fulfilling, but don’t take my word for it.
Oh, and I lied. Randy does not appear again on this list. That was the crystal meth talking.
(Look, we only have this at the top because we couldn’t find that clip of Krazy Horse telling kids to “stay in school, and don’t f*ck with drugs.”)
The public service announcement has been part of American culture for decades. Popularized by the perpetually foxy Nancy Reagan in the ’80s, the PSA has taught us everything from not smoking crack to not dumping a pot of boiling oil on your face, and a whole bunch of other not’s. It has also served as a way to punish celebrities and athletes who did something incredibly stupid and got caught.
MMA fighters eventually began to get roped into this as the popularity of the sport rose; some are good, while others should be avoided as much as strangers in pick-up trucks who offer to let you see their puppy. That is why today I present to you the top eight public service announcements featuring MMA fighters. Why? Because knowing is half the battle…
8. Randy Couture VS Crystal Meth
Just say no to drugs! Randy Couture enters the battle against Methamphetamines in this PSA, because when you think crystal meth, think Randy Couture. For a video that is meant to appear sad and claustrophobic, it comes off like an amateur snuff film and loses its impact with the soft-spoken UFC veteran.
Couture has done plenty of these ads, so don’t be surprised if he pops back up on this list. Am I saying he will for sure? No, but if I did, would you stop loving me? I can’t handle any more rejection…oh man, sinking back into that pit of despair. I need some meth. But if I do that, then Randy won’t love me either. Argh, what a vicious cycle! But seriously kids, don’t do drugs. If you feel yourself losing power to your addiction, go punch a hobo instead. It’s much more fulfilling, but don’t take my word for it.
Oh, and I lied. Randy does not appear again on this list. That was the crystal meth talking.
7. Rich Franklin wants you to support veterans and rock out
This one is actually very well-made, and I have no humorous or offensive comments to add to it. I will say that it made this top ten list purely because “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult is the background music. How many other PSA’s can claim that they have a soundtrack that is not a few sad piano notes with Sarah McLaughlin mournfully singing about Angels. Screw that. Rich Franklin, rock on!
6. Andrei Arlovski knocks out dog fighting
Have you ever wanted to hear Andrei Arlovski talking seriously with lullaby music in the background? I know you have, and this video finally delivers on that. “The Pitbull” talks about the dangers of dog-fighting accompanied by his actual pitbull, Maximus. Arlovski makes some great remarks about the topic and does his best to push through the dialogue, which probably had to be edited together very tightly to deal with his English-speaking abilities — hence all the b-roll footage — but it’s a good PSA nonetheless, and on an important topic.
Many other MMA fighters worked to fight against dog fighting, including Cung Le, Josh Thompson, “Razor” Rob McCullough and Brett Rogers. None were as incoherent as our favorite fighter from Belarus.
5. VOTE!
I am jealous of other states. Here in New York, MMA is the equivalent of two roosters pecking at each other while people place bets. In other places, it is widely accepted as part of the lifestyle and culture. Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller joined up with several UFC fighters in this 2008 campaign video to attract younger viewers to vote. Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, and even UFC President Dana White all have their voices heard in the video, although the fighters only say one line, which is a very forced “vote” muttered from each of them.
This one lands high up on the list just for having so many UFC fighters in it, as well as utilizing a ton of licensed Zuffa footage of those fighters pounding their opponents. Only in Nevada can we get awesome political ads like that, because according to New York lawmakers, this stuff is too violent and brutal. Frikkin’ stupid politicians.
Smack that “next page” link to learn about street-fighting laws, seatbelt usage, and…cigarette-eating?
Hopefully for Jon Jones’ sake the UFC fighter film curse doesn’t extend to him.
As we mentioned over the weekend, the UFC light heavyweight champion told Karyn Bryant last week that he was at Warner Bros. for a meeting to discuss the possibility of starring in one of the company’s upcoming films. Looking back at his fellow UFC fighters’ track records after starring in movies, “Bones” might want to think long and hard about whether or not he wants to become an actor at this point in his career.
An explanation after the jump.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAHeat)
Hopefully for Jon Jones’ sake the UFC fighter film curse doesn’t extend to him.
As we mentioned over the weekend, the UFC light heavyweight champion told Karyn Bryant last week that he was at Warner Bros. for a meeting to discuss the possibility of starring in one of the company’s upcoming films. Looking back at his fellow UFC fighters’ track records after starring in movies, “Bones” might want to think long and hard about whether or not he wants to become an actor at this point in his career.
Here’s the proof:
• When The Scorpion King 2 was released in 2008, Randy Couture lost back to back fights to Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Sure, he beat James Toney the same month that The Expendables was released, but since that one was more like a light sparring session we’ll look at the Machida fight as being the one that counts.
• Chuck Liddell dropped two straight to Quinton Jackson and Keith Jardine after The Life and Death of Bobby Z was released in 2007 and lost three in a row to Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua and Rich Franklin after Drillbit Taylor hit theatres in 2008.
• After Cyborg Soldier was released, Rich Franklin lost to Dan Henderson.
• Quinton Jackson lost to Rashad Evans after Never Surrender was released. He won his first fight after the release of A-Team, but the split decision over Lyoto Machida was hotly contested and could have just as easily have gone to “The Dragon.”
• Tito Ortiz lost his next two fights and Chuck Liddell lost his UFC interim light heavyweight title bout to Randy Couture after Cradle 2 the Grave hit theatres in 2003.
• Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since appearing in Zombie Strippers in 2008.
• Keith Jardine lost four in a row and was dropped from the UFC roster after Crank: High Voltage came out in 2009.
Tito Ortiz was never one to cherry-pick opponents, but if ever a high-probability win will be handed to him on a silver platter, he won’t complain.