Despite the increasing amount of evidence that suggests it, we still aren’t buying into the idea that Gina Carano might actually return to MMA. We’ll continue to use her tentative connection to the sport as a justification to cover her burgeoning movie career, because deal with it, but the idea of seeing Carano return to the octagon, let alone against a legitimate killer in Ronda Rousey under the UFC banner? Come on, son.
During her recent appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, however, Carano hinted that a return to the ring (as it’s called in Long Island-based, high-end jewelry store commercials) is quickly becoming more than an outside possibility. In addition to telling Arsenio that she is meeting with Dana White and the UFC next week (!), Carano discussed how, despite her decision to initially step away from the sport, her passion for MMA never truly left. I can only assume that she simply neglected to mention “Except for those 5 minutes I spent in the cage with Cris Cyborg“:
There’s not a workout that I go through that I’m not fighting somebody in my mind and it’s never gone away. I love it. It’s something I can do that makes everything else disappear. I dream about it, I just didn’t know if I was ever going to get placed with the opportunity to make a comeback. So I’m either going to do it now or I’m gonna retire and say, ‘I’m never gonna do it.’ So now is the moment.
To recap: Arsenio Hall is still on TV, Gina Carano might fight again, and Robbie Lawler just narrowly fell short of capturing the welterweight title. In 2014. Where’s the reverse button on this time machine, amiright?
Despite the increasing amount of evidence that suggests it, we still aren’t buying into the idea that Gina Carano might actually return to MMA. We’ll continue to use her tentative connection to the sport as a justification to cover her burgeoning movie career, because deal with it, but the idea of seeing Carano return to the octagon, let alone against a legitimate killer in Ronda Rousey under the UFC banner? Come on, son.
During her recent appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, however, Carano hinted that a return to the ring (as it’s called in Long Island-based, high-end jewelry store commercials) is quickly becoming more than an outside possibility. In addition to telling Arsenio that she is meeting with Dana White and the UFC next week (!), Carano discussed how, despite her decision to initially step away from the sport, her passion for MMA never truly left. I can only assume that she simply neglected to mention “Except for those 5 minutes I spent in the cage with Cris Cyborg“:
There’s not a workout that I go through that I’m not fighting somebody in my mind and it’s never gone away. I love it. It’s something I can do that makes everything else disappear. I dream about it, I just didn’t know if I was ever going to get placed with the opportunity to make a comeback. So I’m either going to do it now or I’m gonna retire and say, ‘I’m never gonna do it.’ So now is the moment.
To recap: Arsenio Hall is still on TV, Gina Carano might fight again, and Robbie Lawler just narrowly fell short of capturing the welterweight title. In 2014. Where’s the reverse button on this time machine, amiright?
According to second-hand accounts, the fight started when Silva — perhaps enraged by a recent tweet — took a swing at Sonnen, who then shot in and took Wandy down. As they scuffled on the floor, a member of Team Wanderlei clocked Sonnen in the head. That last detail was confirmed by Dana himself:
“While they were fighting, one of Wanderlei’s guys sucker punched Chael. It went on for a while.”
Of course, this might be the best publicity possible for TUF Brazil 3, which you probably won’t watch because it’ll air on Fight Pass. As White put it:
“It’s on a reality show; it’s good and it’s bad,” said White. “A fight didn’t need to break out between these two for people to be excited about this fight (after the show), because these two have been at each other’s throats.”
Though Sonnen or Silva haven’t released any public statements about the incident yet, Sonnen recently shot a promo for TUF Brazil 3 where he described the unique experience of shooting a reality show with the Axe Murderer:
(Yep. True professionals limit their smashing to reality-show sets. )
According to second-hand accounts, the fight started when Silva — perhaps enraged by a recent tweet — took a swing at Sonnen, who then shot in and took Wandy down. As they scuffled on the floor, a member of Team Wanderlei clocked Sonnen in the head. That last detail was confirmed by Dana himself:
“While they were fighting, one of Wanderlei’s guys sucker punched Chael. It went on for a while.”
Of course, this might be the best publicity possible for TUF Brazil 3, which you probably won’t watch because it’ll air on Fight Pass. As White put it:
“It’s on a reality show; it’s good and it’s bad,” said White. “A fight didn’t need to break out between these two for people to be excited about this fight (after the show), because these two have been at each other’s throats.”
Though Sonnen or Silva haven’t released any public statements about the incident yet, Sonnen recently shot a promo for TUF Brazil 3 where he described the unique experience of shooting a reality show with the Axe Murderer:
“Wanderlei has been an experience, to say the least. I compare him to an onion – you peel him back, and there [are] layers. You know the cartoon where the guy gets super angry and runs out of ideas and then smoke starts coming out of his ears? That’s happened with Wanderlei a couple of times out of nowhere.
“I feel like if all the teams get together, and all the coaches get together, we can get him through this. He reminds me of that feisty grandpa you see at the holidays. Even though he’s old and a little bit broken down, he’s still got some spirit. He’s still got that spunk in him that you would miss. And I think that’s what Wanderlei brings to this whole thing. If we can all just help him and get him through this and to our fight, I’ll be like the bridge that gets him from that point to retirement — which is where he’s headed.”
I’m starting to think that Sonnen probably shouldn’t have taken this gig. “Feisty grandpa” or not, you never want to mess with a dude who wants to smell your blood.
(Update: UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Henderson 2 will take place at the Nelio Dias Gymnasium in Natal, and will be aired live on FOX Sports 1. By the way, March 23rd is a Sunday. The event isn’t happening on Saturday because FS1 is airing a motocross event that day. Seriously.)
Rua has gone 2-2 since that night, including savage knockouts of Brandon Vera and James Te-Huna (“The Old Shogun is back! PRIDE neva die!”) and losses to Alexander Gustafsson and Chael Sonnen (“Shogun is finished! PRIDE die, maybe!”). Meanwhile, Henderson has only tasted defeat over the past two years, eating three straight losses against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Vitor Belfort. Hendo’s losing streak led the UFC to make him a borderline-insulting lowball offer during his recent contract negotiations, but apparently the two sides have come to terms.
So are you psyched to see these two living legends do battle once again? Or did you satisfy your PRIDE fanboy fix the first time?
(2011′s Slobberknocker of the Year is getting a sequel. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)
(Update: UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Henderson 2 will take place at the Nelio Dias Gymnasium in Natal, and will be aired live on FOX Sports 1. By the way, March 23rd is a Sunday. The event isn’t happening on Saturday because FS1 is airing a motocross event that day. Seriously.)
Rua has gone 2-2 since that night, including savage knockouts of Brandon Vera and James Te-Huna (“The Old Shogun is back! PRIDE neva die!”) and losses to Alexander Gustafsson and Chael Sonnen (“Shogun is finished! PRIDE die, maybe!”). Meanwhile, Henderson has only tasted defeat over the past two years, eating three straight losses against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Vitor Belfort. Hendo’s losing streak led the UFC to make him a borderline-insulting lowball offer during his recent contract negotiations, but apparently the two sides have come to terms.
So are you psyched to see these two living legends do battle once again? Or did you satisfy your PRIDE fanboy fix the first time?
We all probably think our bosses are full of shit to some extent, but saying it in public isn’t the smartest idea. Nate might be accompanying Nick at the welfare office sooner rather than later. However, knowing Dana White, it’s possible that he’s making the whole thing up. Maybe Nate will pull the “I don’t have a manager” card like his brother did late last year? There’s a lot of uncertainty and speculation around the issue. The only sure thing is that Khabib Nurmagomedov still not fighting a legit top-10 opponent sucks. He’s 21-0 and just came off a dominant unanimous decision win over Pat Healy. He needs to fight a top guy at this point or else he’s just wasting his time. But if Dana White is telling the truth, fighters are avoiding Nurmagomedov like thugs avoid bodyguard Ken Shamrock.
He’ll continue to sit on the sidelines for now. We’ll have more updates as we get them.
UPDATE: Nate Diaz’s manager Mike Kogan claims that the fight not coming to fruition is the UFC’s fault. “There are conditions that we asked for that were turned down by the UFC, so the fight didn’t happen,” he told MMAmania. Diaz himself, however, adopted a less diplomatic stance…
(“Alright fellas, now let’s go eat!” — Matt Serra, pretty much any time of day. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)
It’s been over three years since the UFC produced a pay-per-view that earned more than one million buys, but it appears that UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2 has ended the drought. According to Dave Meltzer, UFC 168 broke the seven-figure threshold, selling up to 1.1 million PPVs.
A small handful of UFC shows have crept into 900k+ territory since July 2010 — all headlined by superstars like Lesnar, St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva — but no others managed to score an even million until UFC 168, which could go down as the second-most-successful UFC PPV of all time. I guess MMA fans didn’t mind paying that extra five bucks after all.
(“Alright fellas, now let’s go eat!” — Matt Serra, pretty much any time of day. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)
It’s been over three years since the UFC produced a pay-per-view that earned more than one million buys, but it appears that UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2 has ended the drought. According to Dave Meltzer, UFC 168 broke the seven-figure threshold, selling up to 1.1 million PPVs.
A small handful of UFC shows have crept into 900k+ territory since July 2010 — all headlined by superstars like Lesnar, St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva — but no others managed to score an even million until UFC 168, which could go down as the second-most-successful UFC PPV of all time. I guess MMA fans didn’t mind paying that extra five bucks after all.
Last month, longtime UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre dropped a bombshell on the MMA universe: He’s had enough. After nine consecutive title defenses and 21 total UFC fights, St-Pierre announced his retirement from the sport. While the door wasn’t completely shut on a potential return, GSP is no longer an active mixed martial arts fighter, for […]
Last month, longtime UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre dropped a bombshell on the MMA universe: He’s had enough. After nine consecutive title defenses and 21 total UFC fights, St-Pierre announced his retirement from the sport. While the door wasn’t completely shut on a potential return, GSP is no longer an active mixed martial arts fighter, for […]
