We weren’t the only ones left scratching our heads when it was announced that Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier would meet at UFC 175. It’s not that we felt the fight is a squash match or anything, because Henderson’s victory over Mauricio Rua at Fight Night 38 proved that he is never one to be counted out entirely. It’s just that, well, up until the point that Hendo turned Rua’s nose into a pancake, he looked every bit as stiff and sluggish as one would expect a 43-year-old MMA fighter with nearly as many battles on his resume to look.
Couple Henderson’s recent performance(s) with the fact that Cormier is a much younger (in fight years, at least), stronger, and faster version of Rua, and that the matchup will serve as Henderson’s first sans-TRT, and you might begin to understand our surprise at the booking of this fight…
We weren’t the only ones left scratching our heads when it was announced that Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier would meet at UFC 175. It’s not that we felt the fight is a squash match or anything, because Henderson’s victory over Mauricio Rua at Fight Night 38 proved that he is never one to be counted out entirely. It’s just that, well, up until the point that Hendo turned Rua’s nose into a pancake, he looked every bit as stiff and sluggish as one would expect a 43-year-old MMA fighter with nearly as many battles on his resume to look.
Couple Henderson’s recent performance(s) with the fact that Cormier is a much younger (in fight years, at least), stronger, and faster version of Rua, and that the matchup will serve as Henderson’s first sans-TRT, and you might begin to understand our surprise at the booking of this fight…
Clearly, it would be hard to argue against giving Cormier the next title shot after Gustafsson should he defeat Henderson — that is the point of this matchup after all, right? To match Cormier up with a credible, if fading name to establish his legitimacy as a title contender? But the idea that Dan Henderson, who just broke a three-fight losing streak via an improbable comeback over a guy he already beat, seems presumptuous to say the least.
Then again, who knows? Maybe this is just one of those Condit vs. Woodley situations, where the UFC has a contender in mind and is simply sweetening the pot by giving the fight #1 contender (or in this case, #2 contender) status. The difference being that Henderson is a much more marketable fighter than Woodley, and therefore deserves a title shot where Woodley wouldn’t.
I’m not saying that it would be the craziest thing in the world to give Henderson a shot at this point in his career, especially if he is able to somehow get past Cormier. The man’s a legend, he’s earned it, yadda yadda yadda, and lord knows people are still bitter about UFC 151. Having Hendo fight Jones (if he’s still the champ after my boy Gus gets through with him*) would at least partially put that debate to rest, but can you imagine how Phil Davis is going to react to this news? Or, you know, Jones himself?
In any case, the one aspect of TRT that Belfort has remained steadfast in defending since his usage was made public was the idea that he *needed* it to compete with today’s younger fighters, who are practically overflowing with the stuff. “Basically what TRT is for me is to not be at a disadvantage,” Belfort has stated, “Low testosterone is something that can cause serious health problems and even death. You can have problems, big problems, if it’s untreated. So the treatment is for you to live longer and have a better life by having less health problems.”
OK, so Belfort basically needs TRT to survive, is what he’s saying –which, fine, we’ve heard that excuse before. But you’d think a statement like that would essentially condemn Belfort to TRT usage for the rest of his career (or life, really), because were he to suddenly stop using TRT, it would prove that he never really needed it in the first place, right?
(Just to clarify, the dude on the left is two years *older* than the one on the right. Photo via Taringa.)
In any case, the one aspect of TRT that Belfort has remained steadfast in defending since his usage was made public was the idea that he *needed* it to compete with today’s younger fighters, who are practically overflowing with the stuff. “Basically what TRT is for me is to not be at a disadvantage,” Belfort has stated, “Low testosterone is something that can cause serious health problems and even death. You can have problems, big problems, if it’s untreated. So the treatment is for you to live longer and have a better life by having less health problems.”
OK, so Belfort basically needs TRT to survive, is what he’s saying — which, fine, we’ve heard that excuse before. But you’d think a statement like that would essentially condemn Belfort to TRT usage for the rest of his career (or life, really), because were he to suddenly stop using TRT, it would prove that he never really needed it in the first place, right?
Belfort recently spoke with UOL ahead of his upcoming rematch with Dan Henderson, and well, we’ll just allow him to spell out the terms and conditions of his TRT usage for you (translation via MMAFighting):
Belfort wants to fight the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva, who meet at UFC 168, and he would accept to stop using TRT if that’s one of the conditions on him earning the shot at the gold.
“I’ve already said that, if they agree with it, I would (stop doing TRT),” he said. “No problem at all. If they want me to get there in a disadvantage, that’s ok.
“But they already told me that’s not the problem,” he continued. “UFC told me, ‘You can’t go in there with a disadvantage.’ The thing is, I’m in normal testosterone levels with TRT. That’s the treatment. People don’t seem to understand that I’m the only guy that does blood tests. Many fighters don’t do this, many use illegal stuff and are not tested like I am. I’m tested all the time. Week after week, month after month. I have to keep the levels normal to make it fair.”
I’m not going to try and act like an expert on TRT, but doesn’t this statement strike you as a little…off? I mean, here we have been led to believe that Belfort *needs* TRT to maintain normal testosterone levels, but suddenly when a title shot’s on the line, he’s willing to drop the treatment altogether and suffer, like he said, “a disadvantage?” In the biggest fight of his life? (Potentially) against a guy who did this to him in their first fight?! DOES ANY OF THIS MAKES SENSE?!!!
Perhaps even more troubling about this statement is that Belfort seems to be operating under the belief that the UFC wouldn’t give him another title shot unless he dropped TRT. While we all know The Baldfather’s newfound stance on TRT to be rather…blunt, one would imagine that he’d want the best possible Belfort fighting were he to grant him another title shot. Then again, maybe what Belfort means by “dropping TRT” for a title shot has to do with some higher, moral reasoning (LOL!). Maybe he believes he can win the actual title without TRT but he just needed a little boost along the way. Which, if that’s the case, just makes Belfort’s insistence on using TRT in the first place all the more shady.
I don’t know, you guys. All I’ve taken away from this statement is that at some point, Vitor Belfort made a huge withdrawal at the First Bank of Lies.
In any case, the one aspect of TRT that Belfort has remained steadfast in defending since his usage was made public was the idea that he *needed* it to compete with today’s younger fighters, who are practically overflowing with the stuff. “Basically what TRT is for me is to not be at a disadvantage,” Belfort has stated, “Low testosterone is something that can cause serious health problems and even death. You can have problems, big problems, if it’s untreated. So the treatment is for you to live longer and have a better life by having less health problems.”
OK, so Belfort basically needs TRT to survive, is what he’s saying –which, fine, we’ve heard that excuse before. But you’d think a statement like that would essentially condemn Belfort to TRT usage for the rest of his career (or life, really), because were he to suddenly stop using TRT, it would prove that he never really needed it in the first place, right?
(Just to clarify, the dude on the left is two years *older* than the one on the right. Photo via Taringa.)
In any case, the one aspect of TRT that Belfort has remained steadfast in defending since his usage was made public was the idea that he *needed* it to compete with today’s younger fighters, who are practically overflowing with the stuff. “Basically what TRT is for me is to not be at a disadvantage,” Belfort has stated, “Low testosterone is something that can cause serious health problems and even death. You can have problems, big problems, if it’s untreated. So the treatment is for you to live longer and have a better life by having less health problems.”
OK, so Belfort basically needs TRT to survive, is what he’s saying — which, fine, we’ve heard that excuse before. But you’d think a statement like that would essentially condemn Belfort to TRT usage for the rest of his career (or life, really), because were he to suddenly stop using TRT, it would prove that he never really needed it in the first place, right?
Belfort recently spoke with UOL ahead of his upcoming rematch with Dan Henderson, and well, we’ll just allow him to spell out the terms and conditions of his TRT usage for you (translation via MMAFighting):
Belfort wants to fight the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva, who meet at UFC 168, and he would accept to stop using TRT if that’s one of the conditions on him earning the shot at the gold.
“I’ve already said that, if they agree with it, I would (stop doing TRT),” he said. “No problem at all. If they want me to get there in a disadvantage, that’s ok.
“But they already told me that’s not the problem,” he continued. “UFC told me, ‘You can’t go in there with a disadvantage.’ The thing is, I’m in normal testosterone levels with TRT. That’s the treatment. People don’t seem to understand that I’m the only guy that does blood tests. Many fighters don’t do this, many use illegal stuff and are not tested like I am. I’m tested all the time. Week after week, month after month. I have to keep the levels normal to make it fair.”
I’m not going to try and act like an expert on TRT, but doesn’t this statement strike you as a little…off? I mean, here we have been led to believe that Belfort *needs* TRT to maintain normal testosterone levels, but suddenly when a title shot’s on the line, he’s willing to drop the treatment altogether and suffer, like he said, “a disadvantage?” In the biggest fight of his life? (Potentially) against a guy who did this to him in their first fight?! DOES ANY OF THIS MAKES SENSE?!!!
Perhaps even more troubling about this statement is that Belfort seems to be operating under the belief that the UFC wouldn’t give him another title shot unless he dropped TRT. While we all know The Baldfather’s newfound stance on TRT to be rather…blunt, one would imagine that he’d want the best possible Belfort fighting were he to grant him another title shot. Then again, maybe what Belfort means by “dropping TRT” for a title shot has to do with some higher, moral reasoning (LOL!). Maybe he believes he can win the actual title without TRT but he just needed a little boost along the way. Which, if that’s the case, just makes Belfort’s insistence on using TRT in the first place all the more shady.
I don’t know, you guys. All I’ve taken away from this statement is that at some point, Vitor Belfort made a huge withdrawal at the First Bank of Lies.
Lyoto is on stand-by list waiting for the winner of Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen. I think it is almost impossible for Chael to win this bout, but anything may happen. A fight is a fight, but it has already been scheduled, there’s no history about it.
Lyoto is the number one contender and he is only waiting to see who is going to be the winner of this fight. He is not convinced about Jones…he is not convinced from that loss.
Lyoto is on stand-by list waiting for the winner of Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen. I think it is almost impossible for Chael to win this bout, but anything may happen. A fight is a fight, but it has already been scheduled, there’s no history about it.
Lyoto is the number one contender and he is only waiting to see who is going to be the winner of this fight. He is not convinced about Jones…he is not convinced from that loss.
The fight between Jones and Sonnen is going to happen now, it doesn’t make sense to fight Alexander. We’re almost there. If it were a little before, this fight could have already happened, but he just fought… and Dana White has made it clear that Lyoto is the number one. We’ll be waiting.
First off…not convinced? For a guy who has been on both ends of some questionable decisions in his career, you’d think Machida would at least give due credit to the guy who was responsible for turning him into the human water urine balloon pictured above. And secondly, Machida’s reasoning seems to hinge on the fact that Jones will come out completely unscathed from his fight with Sonnen on the 27th. Actually, that one seems about right.
In either case, we think it’s safe to say that the promos for Jones/Machida II are going to suuuuuuuck.
In the whole welterweight/middleweight title/super-fight mess of excitment and speculation going on right now, number one 170 pound contender Johny Hendricks is one of the few people giving real talk. “I’m not going to fight unless it’s for a belt,” Hendricks told MMAJunkie Radio Friday.
The former NCAA Division I wrestling national champion solidified himself as the number one contender to Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight crown with five straight wins, his last three against Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Martin Kampmann. Despite earning his shot, Hendricks is far from a lock to be the next one to fight St. Pierre.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva is chasing a super fight with the Canadian and St. Pierre surrogates are lobbying for his next fight to be against his rival Nick Diaz. Diaz is currently serving a suspension for testing positive for marijuana metabolites before his last fight, a loss to Carlos Condit.
(Ain’t no tantrum like a Big Rigg tantrum)
In the whole welterweight/middleweight title/super-fight mess of excitment and speculation going on right now, number one 170 pound contender Johny Hendricks is one of the few people giving real talk. “I’m not going to fight unless it’s for a belt,” Hendricks told MMAJunkie Radio Friday.
The former NCAA Division I wrestling national champion solidified himself as the number one contender to Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight crown with five straight wins, his last three against Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Martin Kampmann. Despite earning his shot, Hendricks is far from a lock to be the next one to fight St. Pierre.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva is chasing a super fight with the Canadian and St. Pierre surrogates are lobbying for his next fight to be against his rival Nick Diaz. Diaz is currently serving a suspension for testing positive for marijuana metabolites before his last fight, a loss to Carlos Condit.
“I really want a belt. They don’t come around that often, and I feel like I’ve done enough to earn a shot, and that’s pretty much all I’m thinking of right now. I’m training for a five-round fight, and that’s it,” Hendricks continued.
For all the wrestler turned KO artist cares, St. Pierre, Silva and Diaz can do whatever they want with one another, but after they are done he will make sure that he is waiting in the wings for whomever is welterweight champion. “Nothing else matters but the belt,” he believes.,
“My last three fights were guys in the top five, and I finished two of those three fights. I stated my claim. My stock’s really high right now, and the only thing left is to get a shot at that belt.”
What do you think, nation? Is Hendricks right to sit out until he gets his shot at St. Pierre? And what do you think the chances are Diaz will skip ahead in line now that we have the Chael Sonnen modern precedent of getting title shots immediately after losses?
(One of these guys will likely get the winner of Showtime-Bendo II)
The UFC held a press conference in New York City today for the May 5 UFC on Fox 3 show, which we would have covered live, had they not rejected our credential application AGAIN. Thankfully we still have access to these things via YouTube.
Probably the most interesting tidbit to come out of the event was Dana White’s assertion that the winner of the Jim Miller-Nate Diaz bout would likely be the next in line for a title shot after Anthony Pettis.
It makes sense, even though Nate is only 2-0 in his current run as a lightweight and Jim lost his last bout against Ben Henderson. When you look at the fact that Diaz beat Melvin Guillard and Donald Cerrone as a lightweight, has only lost to Gray Maynard, Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson in the Octagon at 155 and he has never been finished and that prior to losing to the current champ, Miller had only ever been defeated by Frankie Edgar and Maynard, it makes sense.
Really, besides giving Edgar another shot — which he really should have to earn, considering he lost fair and square to Henderson — who else deserves a crack at the belt?
Tickets for the May 5 event, that takes place in New Jersey at the Izod Center, go on sale tomorrow.
Check out the full vid of the presser after the jump.
(One of these guys will likely get the winner of Showtime-Bendo II)
The UFC held a press conference in New York City today for the May 5 UFC on Fox 3 show, which we would have covered live, had they not rejected our credential application AGAIN. Thankfully we still have access to these things via YouTube.
Probably the most interesting tidbit to come out of the event was Dana White’s assertion that the winner of the Jim Miller-Nate Diaz bout would likely be the next in line for a title shot after Anthony Pettis.
It makes sense, even though Nate is only 2-0 in his current run as a lightweight and Jim lost his last bout against Ben Henderson. When you look at the fact that Diaz beat Melvin Guillard and Donald Cerrone as a lightweight, has only lost to Gray Maynard, Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson in the Octagon at 155 and he has never been finished and that prior to losing to the current champ, Miller had only ever been defeated by Frankie Edgar and Maynard, it makes sense.
Really, besides giving Edgar another shot — which he really should have to earn, considering he lost fair and square to Henderson — who else deserves a crack at the belt?
Tickets for the May 5 event, that takes place in New Jersey at the Izod Center, go on sale tomorrow.
