Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsMore than a year since his last time out in the Octagon, Tom Lawlor is finally healthy and ready to return at Saturday’s UFC 139. Waiting across the way from him when he walks into the middle of the HP Pavi…
More than a year since his last time out in the Octagon, Tom Lawlor is finally healthy and ready to return at Saturday’s UFC 139. Waiting across the way from him when he walks into the middle of the HP Pavilion will be Chris Weidman, a fast-rising prospect who is unbeaten and has won both of his bouts since signing with the UFC earlier this year.
For Lawlor, the matchup came as no surprise. Before Weidman was ever in the UFC, he made Lawlor’s radar after defeating his friend James Brasco in a submission grappling match at 2009. With Weidman in the nascent stages of his MMA career at the time, it was a clear stretch he was going to be a player on the world middleweight scene.
Just six fights into his career, Weidman will be at a disadvantage from an experience standpoint. With Lawlor having more time under his belt, he thinks that’s the advantage that will send him to victory.
“He’s impressive, but kind of like me, he’s still pretty young in his career,” Lawlor said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I have double the amount of fights he does. He only has six fights. So there’s a lot of things he hasn’t experienced and I think I’m going to be able to exploit some of that.”
Weidman is a former two-time collegiate wrestling All-American, and has landed six of his nine takedown attempts fighting in the UFC. Many feel that advantage gives Weidman the edge going into the fight.
In training for this bout, Lawlor traveled to Temecula, California to work for the last several weeks with Team Quest, a camp renowned for its wrestlers. While Lawlor says that wasn’t the sole reason for his work on the west coast, it will certainly come as a benefit.
“This isn’t a wrestling match,” he said. “This is a fight, or I’ll turn it into a fight. If it was a wrestling match, my money would be on him. But it’s not a wrestling match, it’s a fight … If I was a betting man, I would bet on myself.”
For Lawlor, his performance usually starts at the weigh-ins, where he’s notorious for his appearances, usually coming out dressed as a character from MMA’s past. Among his recent stage entries were Dan Severn, Harold Howard and the “Just Bleed” guy from UFC 1.
With 13 months to ponder his next time in front of the audience, Lawlor has something planned for UFC 139, and it’s something big.
“Unless they stop me right before I go out there, it’s going to be really good,” he said. “It might top all the past things that I’ve done and that’s saying a lot. I get a lot comments on the Dan Severn thing, I get a lot of comments from real hardcore fans on the ‘Just Bleed’ guy. But I really think this will take the cake. It’s going to set a new standard for weigh-ins.”
Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsThe UFC 139 preliminary fights on Spike have been reshuffled, with a bantamweight bout pitting Michael McDonald against Alex Soto moved into the two-fight showcase.
The UFC 139 preliminary fights on Spike have been reshuffled, with a bantamweight bout pitting Michael McDonald against Alex Soto moved into the two-fight showcase.
It had been previously reported that a middleweight encounter between Chris Weidman and Tom Lawlor would be included, but on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Lawlor said that information was incorrect, and a Spike representative confirmed to MMA Fighting that the fight would not be aired.
No reason was given for the change on the one-hour telecast, which is also set to feature Ryan Bader against Jason Brilz.
McDonald is considered to be one of the bantamweight division’s top prospects. Just 20 years old, he’s already competed 14 times as a pro, holding a 13-1 record. He’s 3-0 under the Zuffa banner, most recently defeating Chris Cariaso in a split decision back at UFC 130. Soto, meanwhile, will be making his major MMA debut. He’s 6-0-1 in his carer.
The Bader-Brilz bout features two fighters in need of a win, as both come into the event on two-fight losing streaks.
Meanwhile, Weidman vs. Lawlor will air live on Facebook.com.
UFC 139 will emanate from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California with a main event of Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The five-round main card will air on pay-per-view.
* UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg will also recap the historic night that was in Anaheim, Calif.
* Bantamweight Miguel Torres will talk about his UFC 139 fight against Nick Pace.
* Middleweight Tom Lawlor will preview his Saturday night fight against Chris Weidman.
* And we’ll debut a new segment called “5 Rounds,” where two MMA journalists debate five topics with yours truly serving as judge after each “round” using the ever effective 10-point must system to determine a winner. The fifth round winner will be decided by the fans via our chat and Twitter. This week, MMAFighting.com’s Mike Chiappetta and Michael David Smith will go toe-to-toe.
Of course, we’ll also be taking your calls as we recap UFC on FOX and look ahead to UFC 139, so give us a shout at: 212-254-0193, 212-254-0237 or 212-254-0714.
*** You can also stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.
* UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg will also recap the historic night that was in Anaheim, Calif.
* Bantamweight Miguel Torres will talk about his UFC 139 fight against Nick Pace.
* Middleweight Tom Lawlor will preview his Saturday night fight against Chris Weidman.
* And we’ll debut a new segment called “5 Rounds,” where two MMA journalists debate five topics with yours truly serving as judge after each “round” using the ever effective 10-point must system to determine a winner. The fifth round winner will be decided by the fans via our chat and Twitter. This week, MMAFighting.com’s Mike Chiappetta and Michael David Smith will go toe-to-toe.
Of course, we’ll also be taking your calls as we recap UFC on FOX and look ahead to UFC 139, so give us a shout at: 212-254-0193, 212-254-0237 or 212-254-0714.
*** You can also stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.
Thanks to everybody who submitted questions to Dan Severn last week! Today’s installment of Dan’s no-holds-barred Q&A column is loaded with classic stories and grown-man wisdom, so get comfortable and read on. You can support the MMA living legend by visiting DanSevern.com and Dan’s Facebook page, and you can support us by kicking in a few bucks to CagePotato’s Movember Team Page. Keep growing them mo’s, and post your latest moustache photos on our Facebook wall…
skeletor asks: Did you ever feel bad during the no holds barred/no weight classes days destroying guys that were so much smaller then you?
Dan Severn: I never felt bad because of size difference but I did sort of feel bad in general because it was not in my nature to be violent. For example, when I had Oleg Taktarov in the cage and was dropping knees on him, and he couldn’t defend himself. The match wasn’t being halted and he didn’t have the rational mindset to tap out. Even my first loss against Royce Gracie, I was staring right into a man’s soul realizing what crude submissions that I knew weren’t working and recognizing that I was going to have to strike this guy. So I struggled more with my conscience then I ever did with an opponent. I think I am cut from a different cloth than a lot of different fighters who came from checkered pasts and were used to getting into fights. I wasn’t used to that. For instance, if you look at the fight between me and Ken Shamrock, he was adopted and grew up on the mean streets fighting. My upbringing was completely different. I don’t really understand that mentality.
When I was inside Royce’s guard, from my perspective I was in the dominant position because as a wrestler, I was used to being on top. As I am fighting I can see Royce looking over to his father in his corner, and I could see exactly what was going through his mind. His mind was saying, “Hey dad, I’m hanging in here but if you want to throw in the towel, I wouldn’t hold it against you.” Helio actually had the towel in his hand and lifted his arm up a little bit and then shook his head no. I remember thinking, you old bastard…you would sacrifice your kid for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Thanks to everybody who submitted questions to Dan Severn last week! Today’s installment of Dan’s no-holds-barred Q&A column is loaded with classic stories and grown-man wisdom, so get comfortable and read on. You can support the MMA living legend by visiting DanSevern.com and Dan’s Facebook page, and you can support us by kicking in a few bucks to CagePotato’s Movember Team Page. Keep growing them mo’s, and post your latest moustache photos on our Facebook wall…
skeletor asks: Did you ever feel bad during the no holds barred/no weight classes days destroying guys that were so much smaller then you?
Dan Severn: I never felt bad because of size difference but I did sort of feel bad in general because it was not in my nature to be violent. For example, when I had Oleg Taktarov in the cage and was dropping knees on him, and he couldn’t defend himself. The match wasn’t being halted and he didn’t have the rational mindset to tap out. Even my first loss against Royce Gracie, I was staring right into a man’s soul realizing what crude submissions that I knew weren’t working and recognizing that I was going to have to strike this guy. So I struggled more with my conscience then I ever did with an opponent. I think I am cut from a different cloth than a lot of different fighters who came from checkered pasts and were used to getting into fights. I wasn’t used to that. For instance, if you look at the fight between me and Ken Shamrock, he was adopted and grew up on the mean streets fighting. My upbringing was completely different. I don’t really understand that mentality.
When I was inside Royce’s guard, from my perspective I was in the dominant position because as a wrestler, I was used to being on top. As I am fighting I can see Royce looking over to his father in his corner, and I could see exactly what was going through his mind. His mind was saying, “Hey dad, I’m hanging in here but if you want to throw in the towel, I wouldn’t hold it against you.” Helio actually had the towel in his hand and lifted his arm up a little bit and then shook his head no. I remember thinking, you old bastard…you would sacrifice your kid for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
bgoldstein asks: Can you please explain what you’re wearing in this picture?
This was for the Arnold Shwarzenegger Classic. That is actually body paint, as I was dressed up as one of the Predators. There was something going on in which they were honoring Arnold and they had the different characters that he had gone up against and I was in this tanning salon supplies booth and they asked if they could airbrush me to be the Predator. It was probably one of the kookier things that I’ve been involved with in terms of standing there in my trunks and letting someone airbrush paint me in front of everyone. Later in the evening, there was an event in which they brought up the various Predators on stage as a tribute to Arnold. It was kind of cool because they did such a good job — it looks like I’m actually wearing a costume.
Luiz Alexandre asks: When you are not fighting/coaching/giving seminars, what do you do to chill out?
I play a mean game of ping pong. It seems that at all the different wrestling camps that I attended, there would always be ping pong tables set up. So once training was done and you were just sitting around trying to kill time, there was always ping pong to play. We’d always set up tournaments with the other campers. Actually my kids are pretty good ping pong players as well. That comedy movie Balls of Fury that came out a few years ago is one of my favorites. I’m more of a physical type of game player than a video gamer. I do like the new version of the Wii games because it gets people moving instead of being sedentary — something that I have against the boob tube, computers, and hand-held devices which have literally helped contribute to the U.S.A. becoming one of the most obese countries on the planet. We are the land of plenty, which is good, but at some point you’ve got to learn to say no.
bgoldstein (again) asks:How did you feel when Tom Lawlor came out dressed as you for the UFC 113 weigh-ins?
I laughed and thought it was really funny. It’s cool to know that people respect me and impersonation is a part of that. The fact that he chose to wear the small shorts and the mustache and do that signature scream that I do, I thought it was great. I actually had quite a few friends send me the link to this when it happened.
BuckWild asks: Was there ever someone you were afraid of that you had to fight? Even a little?
I was probably more afraid in my younger days but fear was never really something I struggled with. I was calm…perhaps too calm. Big John McCarthy refereed some of my early matches and before the fights he would always go over the rules with each of the fighters backstage. So when he asked us in the cage if there were any questions, he usually didn’t expect fighters to have any last-minute questions. However, when he asked me I would always try and say something corny like, “Where did all that money go that my parents paid for piano lessons?” He said that when he heard it, he looked back but he could not believe that it was me who said it because I had my game face on.
The next time I came up I said, “You know I wouldn’t need to do something like this if you’d just give me the winning lottery numbers.” Each time, I had my one liner in there which was one of the ways that helped to keep me relaxed. I got to know Big John and his wife Elaine McCarthy pretty well — she was the travel agent for the UFC back when Art Davie and Rorian Gracie owned it — and during one of the matches I actually started having a conversation with Big John. He told me later that I was one of the scariest guys he’d ever met because I was carrying on like it was no big deal. There are referees and rules and regulations so there really isn’t a lot to worry about.
Situations outside of competitive sports can be scarier sometimes. I’ve actually been in more confrontations in the last 17 years or so than I had in the previous 17 years. That’s because I do a lot of appearances at sports bars and they tend to have a patron there who may have had too much to drink and they start being ignorant. There were probably three occasions where a drunken person was being rude enough that a fight could’ve actually happened. However, what I did to either defuse the situation or let them know my intentions, I would whip out my business card, write down the number to the UFC and hand it to them. I’d simply tell them that I’d never fought for free and I didn’t plan on starting any bad habits now. I’d say the nice thing about fighting me in the UFC is that there are rules, a referee and you won’t be more than 40 feet away from a medical practitioner at any time. I’d tell them that if this was going to go down right now without a referee and rules, you are going to want to make sure you at least have medical attention. Luckily, I never had to fight anybody because I guess that they could see I was a man of my word!
Brad Falk asks: What’s the best way to kill a bear?
I don’t think a person is going to be able to kill a bear using their bare hands. So either it has a heart attack in the process of it killing you or it chokes and dies as its eating. One way or another, it’ll get you. I’ve never heard of a human being victorious over a bear in hand-to-hand combat. My advice to you, Brad, is to stick to the city, don’t wander into the woods.
Man, it would have been awesome if we thought of this idea beforeHalloween. Ah well. Check out the gallery after the jump for 15 classic examples of MMA fighters playing dress-up before hitting the scale. Enjoy.
Man, it would have been awesome if we thought of this idea beforeHalloween. Ah well. Check out the gallery above for 15 classic examples of MMA fighters playing dress-up before hitting the scale. Enjoy.
(The UFC is calling this ‘a potential Fight of the Night’)
A welterweight scrap between Martin Kampmann and Rick Story has been added to UFC 139, which is scheduled for November 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
(The UFC is calling this ‘a potential Fight of the Night’)
A welterweight scrap between Martin Kampmann and Rick Story has been added to UFC 139, which is scheduled for November 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
0-2 in his last two outings after being on the wrong end of two razor-close decisions to Jake Shields at UFC 121 and Diego Sanchez at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann, “Hitman” will be looking to get back into title contention and into the win column by decisively beating Story. He feels that he won both of his last two fights, which will likely motivate him not to leave things to the judges the next time.
“The Horror,” who is also coming off of a loss — his first since 2009, won’t be giving up a win easily. He was upset by late replacement Charlie Brenneman who stepped in for Story’s original opponent at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry, Nate Marquardt, who was denied a license for the June event in Pittsburgh due to elevated levels of testosterone. Prior to that Story, who replaced injured Anthony Johnson on the card against Marquardt, defeated former number one UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves by unanimous decision at UFC 130 one month earlier.
The card will be headlined by a heavyweight title bout between champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos and will likely feature the return of Josh Koscheck who has been sidelined while rehabbing a broken orbital bone he suffered in his UFC 124 welterweight championship bout with Georges St-Pierre in December. Also on the card will be a bantamweight bout between Brian Bowles and Urijah Faber, a middleweight bout between Chris Weidman and Tom Lawlor and a lightweight bout between Gleison Tibau and Rafael dos Anjos.
———- UFC 139: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos
November 19, 2011
HP Pavilion
San Jose, California
Heavyweight Championship Bout
Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos
Brian Bowles vs. Urijah Faber
Chris Weidman vs. Tom Lawlor
Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story