In this episode of The Reem, Alistair Overeem does some PR work in L.A. ahead of his UFC 141 bout with Brock Lesnar this Friday and spends some time training with Mark Munoz and company at Reign Training Center.
Shame on HDNet and the Octagon Nation Tour for jacking our swagger (6:08 mark) and props to Overeem for punking the last fan in line at the signing. The dude looked like he was going to cry.
In this episode of The Reem, Alistair Overeem does some PR work in L.A. ahead of his UFC 141 bout with Brock Lesnar this Friday and spends some time training with Mark Munoz and company at Reign Training Center.
Shame on HDNet and the Octagon Nation Tour for jacking our swagger (6:08 mark) and props to Overeem for punking the last fan in line at the signing. The dude looked like he was going to cry.
What’s up with the “Chessboxing” guy? Strange vibes from him. I’m guessing being shell shocked is the least of his issues.
We also finally get to meet Alistair’s dad, who makes an appearance when he catches one of his son’s training session for the first time ever and explains that it’s too stressful to become emotionally invested in his sons’ fighting careers, so he never watches their fights. Overeem explains that he and his siblings convinced their somewhat frail looking pops to move to Holland since he had been living alone in England for the past eight years.
Joining Alistair at the “Alistair Overeem Training Center” to prepare for the fight are Todd Duffee and Jared Rosholt.
If you judge Alistair and Brock’s training partners by MMA Math (and really, who doesn’t?), neither one has a marked advantage over the other, but “The Demolition Man” may have a slight edge, depending on how you carry the 1. Rosholt’s 125-27 collegiate wrestling record is trumped by Lesnar’s teammate Cole Konrad’s 155-13 mark, while Duffee KO’ed Death Clutch hired gun Tim Hague, who choked out Brock’s striking coach Pat Barry.
Finally, the former Strikeforce heavyweight champ expounded briefly on his recent drug testing issue with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, explaining that he did what was asked of him to the best of his ability.
Twice fired UFC heavyweight Tim Hague is determined to get back to the Octagon, but his choice of opponent for his upcoming fight likely won’t garner him another invite to the big show from matchmaker Joe Silva.
Hague (13-5), who spent a week at Brock Lesnar’s Death Clutch gym to help the former UFC heavyweight champion prepare for his UFC 141 fight with Alistair Overeem is slated to take on aging UFC veteran Maurice Smith (12-13) in Brazil on January 20 under the Kumite Combate banner.
(Maurice Smith? I thought he was dead.)
Twice fired UFC heavyweight Tim Hague is determined to get back to the Octagon, but his choice of opponent for his upcoming fight likely won’t garner him another invite to the big show from matchmaker Joe Silva.
Hague (13-5), who spent a week at Brock Lesnar‘s Death Clutch gym to help the former UFC heavyweight champion prepare for his UFC 141 fight with Alistair Overeem is slated to take on aging UFC veteran Maurice Smith (12-13) in Brazil on January 20 under the Kumite Combate banner.
For those of us who thought Smith had retired, he pretty much did.
The 51-year-old, who is old enough to be Hague’s dad, hasn’t fought since 2008 when he lost to Hidehiko Yoshida by neck crank a Sengoku 3. That bout was only his third since being dropped by the UFC in 2000 after a loss at UFC 28.
Hague, 28, is 1-0 since being dropped by the UFC this time around with a win over 40-year-old 20-22-1 fighter Vince Lucero who is winless in his last 10 fights. “The Thrashing Machine” is 1-4 in five UFC starts with a win over Pat Barry and losses to Todd Duffee, Chris Tuscherer, Joey Beltran and Matt Mitrione.
Filed under: NewsUFC veteran Tim Hague will take on former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley in the main event of Shark Fights 21 on Nov. 11 in Lubbock, Texas.
Shark Fights made the fight announcement late Sunday just days after Darrill Schoonover’s departur…
UFC veteran Tim Hague will take on former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley in the main event of Shark Fights 21 on Nov. 11 in Lubbock, Texas.
Shark Fights made the fight announcement late Sunday just days after Darrill Schoonover‘s departure from the card due to injury.
Hague (13-5), who has competed five times for the UFC over the last two years, holds a notable UFC win over Pat Barry by submission. In his UFC return in January, Hague lost to Matt Mitrione by TKO and was soon after released by the UFC for the third time. Hague then bounced back in September with a submission win over Vince Lucero for Canada’s Aggression MMA promotion.
Lashley (6-1) recently inked a multi-fight deal with the Texas-based Shark Fights promotion and will be making his debut with the company on the Nov. 11 card. He fought once prior this year, beating John Ott by decision at Titan FC in March. In an appearance earlier this month on The MMA Hour, Lashley spoke of his intention to return to the big leagues.
“I want to get some fights in and I want to really prove myself in front of these guys,” Lashley said to host Ariel Helwani. “So that I can have that door open and maybe go back with Strikeforce or maybe talk to Dana White later on and get up there and do some big things and show what I’m really capable of doing.”
Filed under: UFCOn paper, Pat Barry looks exactly like the kind of fighter who ought to be cut from the UFC. But in a sport where meaningful stats are hard to come by, the record books only tell a fraction of the story, which is good news for “HD.”
On paper, Pat Barry looks exactly like the kind of fighter who ought to be cut from the UFC. But in a sport where meaningful stats are hard to come by, the record books only tell a fraction of the story, which is good news for “HD.”
Barry is 3-4 in the UFC, but he could easily be 6-1 or 5-2 or 4-3. And I don’t just mean that in the purely speculative, hypothetical sense, the way the flap of a butterfly’s wings could have resulted in the Nazis winning World War II. It doesn’t take a gigantic mental leap to imagine a world where Barry has a winning record in the UFC. All it takes is a look at his losses and a little bit of sympathy.
Fortunately for Barry, it’s the way he’s gone about losing that has earned him the sympathy, which explains why he’ll likely keep his job with the UFC at least a little while longer.
Consider Barry’s first three defeats in the Octagon. After a successful debut at UFC 92, he dropped Tim Hague in the opening seconds of their UFC 98 bout, only to get carried away in search of the finish and ending up in a guillotine choke. He rebounded with a knockout of Antoni Hardonk, then broke his most valuable appendages on Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s head before succumbing to a sloppy rear-naked choke.
Then, of course, came his infamous near-knockout (or, if you prefer, actual knockout followed by brilliant recovery) of Cheick Kongo in a bout that ended with one of the most spectacular comebacks in MMA history. Unfortunately for Barry, it also ended with him on his back, looking up at the lights.
You tweak one or two things in each of those three losses — a more patient attack, sturdier bones, the lack of a miraculous recovery — and Barry might be one the most successful UFC heavyweights of the past two years.
In fact, the only one of his losses that you can’t explain away with some minor blunder or bizarre misfortune is his most recent loss via submission to Stefan Struve this past Saturday night. That one was utterly and purely Barry’s fault, and this time inexperience and/or hyper-aggression weren’t plausible scapegoats.
Not that it should matter, at least in theory. There are plenty of UFC fighters who never caught many breaks but still got cut once the losses piled up. Regardless of whether Barry could have won those fights — or even should have — he didn’t. And in the end, isn’t that what counts?
Judging by UFC president Dana White’s reaction, the answer is: sometimes, but not always. Following the UFC on Versus 6 press conference, White explained that he was in no hurry to cut Barry because he “always brings it.”
In other words, he’s a kickboxer with an exciting style and an engaging personality, plus fans like him, so he gets a little more slack. It’s the Dan Hardy rule. Most guys can’t lose three fights in a row and remain on the UFC roster (some, like Gerald Harris, can’t even lose one). But if the UFC likes what you bring to the table, you might get a fourth and fifth chance to halt a losing skid. It’s one more reminder that this sport isn’t just about winning and losing — it’s also about selling tickets.
In some cases, that results in some truly forgettable missteps (see also: Kimbo Slice). But in Barry’s case, it makes for a welcome reprieve. Sure, he has some gaping holes in his game and he’ll never be UFC champion — or, most likely, even a serious contender — but he’s talented and he’s fun. Even when (especially when?) he loses it makes for a memorable night, and he’s always competitive, especially when the UFC is kind enough to keep him away from the heavyweight division’s better grapplers.
If Barry were a wrestler with poor striking rather than a striker with poor submissions defense, he’d be cut by now. It wouldn’t matter how much fun he was to interview or how narrow his defeats were. In that sense, keeping guys like Barry and Hardy around promotes a certain kind of fighting, and it’s the kind the UFC thinks it can most effectively sell to fans.
But Barry (and, to some extent, Hardy as well) is a case where this system actually feels just. He’s not a bad fighter; he’s just unlucky. He needs work on his ground game, but at least he never bores you. Even with a 3-4 record in the organization, he’s the best losing heavyweight in the UFC.
Of course, if he doesn’t want to find out just how much slack the UFC is willing to cut him, he’d better pull to .500 very, very soon. Winning may not be everything, but it’s still the most noticeable thing.
Filed under: UFCOn paper, Pat Barry looks exactly like the kind of fighter who ought to be cut from the UFC. But in a sport where meaningful stats are hard to come by, the record books only tell a fraction of the story, which is good news for “HD.”
On paper, Pat Barry looks exactly like the kind of fighter who ought to be cut from the UFC. But in a sport where meaningful stats are hard to come by, the record books only tell a fraction of the story, which is good news for “HD.”
Barry is 3-4 in the UFC, but he could easily be 6-1 or 5-2 or 4-3. And I don’t just mean that in the purely speculative, hypothetical sense, the way the flap of a butterfly’s wings could have resulted in the Nazis winning World War II. It doesn’t take a gigantic mental leap to imagine a world where Barry has a winning record in the UFC. All it takes is a look at his losses and a little bit of sympathy.
Fortunately for Barry, it’s the way he’s gone about losing that has earned him the sympathy, which explains why he’ll likely keep his job with the UFC at least a little while longer.
Consider Barry’s first three defeats in the Octagon. After a successful debut at UFC 92, he dropped Tim Hague in the opening seconds of their UFC 98 bout, only to get carried away in search of the finish and ending up in a guillotine choke. He rebounded with a knockout of Antoni Hardonk, then broke his most valuable appendages on Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s head before succumbing to a sloppy rear-naked choke.
Then, of course, came his infamous near-knockout (or, if you prefer, actual knockout followed by brilliant recovery) of Cheick Kongo in a bout that ended with one of the most spectacular comebacks in MMA history. Unfortunately for Barry, it also ended with him on his back, looking up at the lights.
You tweak one or two things in each of those three losses — a more patient attack, sturdier bones, the lack of a miraculous recovery — and Barry might be one the most successful UFC heavyweights of the past two years.
In fact, the only one of his losses that you can’t explain away with some minor blunder or bizarre misfortune is his most recent loss via submission to Stefan Struve this past Saturday night. That one was utterly and purely Barry’s fault, and this time inexperience and/or hyper-aggression weren’t plausible scapegoats.
Not that it should matter, at least in theory. There are plenty of UFC fighters who never caught many breaks but still got cut once the losses piled up. Regardless of whether Barry could have won those fights — or even should have — he didn’t. And in the end, isn’t that what counts?
Judging by UFC president Dana White’s reaction, the answer is: sometimes, but not always. Following the UFC on Versus 6 press conference, White explained that he was in no hurry to cut Barry because he “always brings it.”
In other words, he’s a kickboxer with an exciting style and an engaging personality, plus fans like him, so he gets a little more slack. It’s the Dan Hardy rule. Most guys can’t lose three fights in a row and remain on the UFC roster (some, like Gerald Harris, can’t even lose one). But if the UFC likes what you bring to the table, you might get a fourth and fifth chance to halt a losing skid. It’s one more reminder that this sport isn’t just about winning and losing — it’s also about selling tickets.
In some cases, that results in some truly forgettable missteps (see also: Kimbo Slice). But in Barry’s case, it makes for a welcome reprieve. Sure, he has some gaping holes in his game and he’ll never be UFC champion — or, most likely, even a serious contender — but he’s talented and he’s fun. Even when (especially when?) he loses it makes for a memorable night, and he’s always competitive, especially when the UFC is kind enough to keep him away from the heavyweight division’s better grapplers.
If Barry were a wrestler with poor striking rather than a striker with poor submissions defense, he’d be cut by now. It wouldn’t matter how much fun he was to interview or how narrow his defeats were. In that sense, keeping guys like Barry and Hardy around promotes a certain kind of fighting, and it’s the kind the UFC thinks it can most effectively sell to fans.
But Barry (and, to some extent, Hardy as well) is a case where this system actually feels just. He’s not a bad fighter; he’s just unlucky. He needs work on his ground game, but at least he never bores you. Even with a 3-4 record in the organization, he’s the best losing heavyweight in the UFC.
Of course, if he doesn’t want to find out just how much slack the UFC is willing to cut him, he’d better pull to .500 very, very soon. Winning may not be everything, but it’s still the most noticeable thing.
Filed under: UFCThis is the UFC live blog for Matt Mitrione vs. Tim Hague, a heavyweight bout on tonight’s UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event in Fort Hood, Texas.
Former NFL player Mitrione (3-0) will try to stay undefeated against Canadian Hague (12-4)…
Former NFL player Mitrione (3-0) will try to stay undefeated against Canadian Hague (12-4), who is coming off KO wins against Zak Jensen and Travis Wiuff.
UFC
On paper, 
This is the UFC live blog for