(Have I mentioned how the weddings themselves are yet? Because they. are. FAAAAAAAAAAABULOUSSSSS!!.)
Before we even get started, we’d like to give a big congratulations to the MMA community in general. According to the counter that hangs in the back of the office, it has been 20 business days since once of us said something both mind-blowingly ignorant and completely unprovoked via a social networking device! Twenty whole days…
(Have I mentioned how the weddings themselves are yet? Because they. are. FAAAAAAAAAAABULOUSSSSS!!.)
Before we even get started, we’d like to give a big congratulations to the MMA community in general. According to the counter that hangs in the back of the office, it has been 20 business days since once of us said something both mind-blowingly ignorant and completely unprovoked via a social networking device! Twenty whole days…
Thomson continued presenting his airtight argument on his Facebook page:
Look, I personally don’t give a shit who you marry but my question to you is, why is it okay for gays to marry and your gonna turn around and tell the guy he can’t marry the lil girl next door or the teacher she cant marry the lil boy in her class? Siblings, animals, etc. Why can’t they be happy like gay people an heterosexual people? … I’m not against gay marriage, I’m also not for it. I don’t care! I do care what it may lead to In the future once you change the definition of marriage for gay marriage. You can’t say that it doesn’t open the door way for other topics like I mentioned. I know it sounds crazy but people will bring these types of issues to the table once the definition is changed.
Right, Josh, because two consenting adults choosing to marry one another is exactly the same as an adult snatching up a minor, who isn’t legally old enough to make any life decisions of that importance, or an animal, which has no voice in the matter because it lacks the ability to effectively communicate a stance with us human beings. Your logic is flawless.
[UPDATE]
Well, well, well…it appears that Thomson is going with an even older standby for his apology than the one he used for his original argument, the classic “It was taken out of context” assertion (Via BJPenn.com):
“I am not against gay rights or gay marriage in anyway,” stated Thomson. “My comments were completely taken out of context by some members of the media and I have since removed them out of respect for anyone who may have been offended. It was not my intention to offend or hurt anyone.”
(Blatantly contradicting yourself in less than 150 characters? Dear lord, how we’ve missed this man.)
It seems like it’s been an eternity since we’ve checked in with our buddy War Machine, peddler of all things conspiracy and sexer of all things bologna. After a nasty ACL tear and a couple rough stints in the clink, the mixed martial artist formerly known as Prison Mike John Koppenhaver is finally set to make his Bellator debut on June 19th at Bellator 96. Perhaps to boost some awareness of his return, or perhaps because he is crazier than a shithouse rat, Machine has once again taken aim at one of his enemies using the power of the Internet. No, not President Obama, we’re talking about tightwad MMA sponsors, obviously.
In any case, Machine has been tweeting up a storm as of late, and his tweets contain the usual mix of hilarious ignorance and self sabotage that we have come to expect from the porn world’s most notorious bad boy. We’ve compiled our top 10 favorites (via @WarMachine170) for your viewing pleasure below. Welcome back, old friend.
(Blatantly contradicting yourself in less than 150 characters? Dear lord, how we’ve missed this man.)
It seems like it’s been an eternity since we’ve checked in with our buddy War Machine, peddler of all things conspiracy and sexer of all things bologna. After a nasty ACL tear and a couple rough stints in the clink, the mixed martial artist formerly known as Prison Mike John Koppenhaver is finally set to make his Bellator debut on June 19th at Bellator 96. Perhaps to boost some awareness of his return, or perhaps because he is crazier than a shithouse rat, Machine has once again taken aim at one of his enemies using the power of the Internet. No, not President Obama, we’re talking about tightwad MMA sponsors, obviously.
In any case, Machine has been tweeting up a storm as of late, and his tweets contain the usual mix of hilarious ignorance and self sabotage that we have come to expect from the porn world’s most notorious bad boy. We’ve compiled our top 10 favorites (via @WarMachine170) for your viewing pleasure below. Welcome back, old friend.
7, 6, 5, 4, and 3. War Machine: Future Fighter’s Union Rep
2. SMH
1. One Can Only Hope
And hot off the press…
May the Wunderbar Gods smile upon you on this day, you crazy son of a bitch. For your sake, we just hope that Evan Tanner does not have an in with those Gods.
That’s why – in many ways – it should come as little surprise that UFC Lightweight also-ran John Cholish is walking away from the sport after his loss to Gleison Tibau during last night’s UFC on FX 8.
If you find yourself wondering who John Cholish is, you’re far from alone. After compiling a 7-1 record in the minor leagues – including a victory on the undercard of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva – the Renzo Gracie product made his UFC debut at UFC 140, where he defeated Mitch Clarke by second round TKO. This would be the final victory of his career, as Cholish would then drop a decision to Danny Castillo during the UFC on FOX 3 undercard, lose to Gleison Tibau last night and retire from the sport. Another small fish in a big pond, whose career barely made a splash.
Perhaps fittingly, Cholish’s retirement may very well end up being the most significant part of his career. Cholish – who announced his intent to retire on Twitter shortly before the his fight – made it clear while speaking with MMAJunkie.com that the low paychecks that fighters in his position earn were his primary motivation for hanging up the gloves. Via MMAJunkie:
Cholish estimates that after training costs, his paycheck from last night’s fight wasn’t enough to break even. Photo courtesy of his Twitter page.
That’s why – in many ways – it should come as little surprise that UFC Lightweight also-ran John Cholish is walking away from the sport after his loss to Gleison Tibau during last night’s UFC on FX 8.
If you find yourself wondering who John Cholish is, you’re far from alone. After compiling a 7-1 record in the minor leagues – including a victory on the undercard of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva – the Renzo Gracie product made his UFC debut at UFC 140, where he defeated Mitch Clarke by second round TKO. This would be the final victory of his career, as Cholish would then drop a decision to Danny Castillo during the UFC on FOX 3 undercard, lose to Gleison Tibau last night and retire from the sport. Another small fish in a big pond, whose career barely made a splash.
Perhaps fittingly, Cholish’s retirement may very well end up being the most significant part of his career. Cholish – who announced his intent to retire on Twitter shortly before the his fight – made it clear while speaking with MMAJunkie.com that the low paychecks that fighters in his position earn were his primary motivation for hanging up the gloves. Via MMAJunkie:
“I’m fortunate enough that I have a job that provides for me really well,” Cholish said. “I give a lot of these guys credit that fight at this level. I think they could be compensated much better based on the income that the UFC takes in. Fortunately, I can just walk away and I’m OK with it. By no means do I mean it disrespectfully toward any other fighters because I think they do a great job. But hopefully Zuffa and the UFC will start paying them a little better.”
By the way, this job he’s referring to? Yeah, he’s a full-time energy trader on Wall Street. I know, I feel worthless now, too.
Don’t assume that the “low paychecks” he’s complaining about are simply “low for a guy who works on Wall Street.” While the amount of money that Cholish made for his losing efforts to Castillo and Tibau haven’t been disclosed, we do know that he only made $8,000 for his lone UFC victory. It’s doubtful that he earned more than that last night: Cholish estimates that after travel expenses and training costs, he lost money by competing in Brazil.
“At the end of the day, it’s hard,” he said. “I have great coaches that take time off and travel. They deserve money, as well. To be completely honest, on a fight like this, I’m losing money to come down here. Flights, hotel rooms, food – and that doesn’t even cover the cost of the time I have to pay for my coaches for training. It’s funny because people talk about the fighters, but at the same time there’s camps and coaches behind the fighters that you don’t even see. So if a fighter is having a tough time making ends meet, how do you think his coaches are doing?”
So what does Cholish offer up as a solution? The obvious answer, of course, is the formation of a fighters union. However, Cholish isn’t stupid. Because he still intends on training regularly and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of coming out of retirement (who actually does?), he says “form a union” in the most careful, “I’m not saying I’m just saying” manner possible.
“I don’t know if there is one significant answer,” he said. “And again, this is just my opinion, so there’s no right or wrong. It’s hard because you have top-level guys like Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva that have started off where we started and worked really hard to get there. So is it right for them to have to give up what they did to try and sacrifice for the greater good? It’s an individual sport, at the end of the day. It’s not like you have a whole team that can kind of step away, like in baseball, when the first union started. Only time will tell. (Zuffa is) a private company. Maybe when it goes public at one point?
I know the Zuffa higher-ups probably aren’t happy with what I’m saying, but I’d like to think I can speak for the lower portion of fighters. A lot of guys I’m sure would love to say the same thing but aren’t in a position where they have another source of income.”
Enjoy your retirement, John. You made the most out of your time in the sport, despite never making much money from it.
(Not only did he charge little Billy twenty bucks for the autograph, but he also spelled his name “G-o-f-u-c-k-y-o-u-r-s-e-l-f.” Image via Caraway’s Twitter account.)
Okay, let me get this sentence out of the way as quickly as possible: Even though he expressed his opinion in a profoundly stupid manner, perhaps Nate Diaz has a damn good point about Bryan Caraway being a less-than-admirable individual.
I’m not here to fault Caraway for accepting Pat Healy’s UFC 159 Submission of the Night bonus after Healy failed his drug test – even though he was obnoxiously self-righteous about it – because if my boss offered me sixty thousand dollars I wouldn’t exactly turn it down. But allegations of hitting a woman and selling drugs? That dog won’t hunt, monsignor.
(Not only did he charge little Billy twenty bucks for the autograph, but he also spelled his name “G-o-f-u-c-k-y-o-u-r-s-e-l-f.” Image via Caraway’s Twitter account.)
Okay, let me get this sentence out of the way as quickly as possible: Even though he expressed his opinion in a profoundly stupid manner, perhaps Nate Diaz has a damn good point about Bryan Caraway being a less-than-admirable individual.
I’m not here to fault Caraway for accepting Pat Healy’s UFC 159 Submission of the Night bonus after Healy failed his drug test – even though he was obnoxiously self-righteous about it – because if my boss offered me sixty thousand dollars I wouldn’t exactly turn it down. But allegations of hitting a woman and selling drugs? That dog won’t hunt, monsignor.
If you follow Caraway on Twitter, you’ve probably seen him tweet some rather unsavory stuff about Ronda Rousey. Well, those seemingly empty threats have recently taken a pretty dark turn. As Bloody Elbow reported yesterday, Cat Zingano now claims that during the weigh-ins for her TUF 17 Finale clash against Meisha Tate, Bryan Caraway deliberately elbowed her in the back of her head. In Zingano’s own words:
I genuinely like everyone until I have a reason to dislike them. I saw [Caraway] all week, I smiled and was respectful. I get Miesha and not being bff’s fight week, I’m not fighting her to make friends. But as far a corners go, good fights are the product of well coached athletes, with heart & talent.
Brian smiled back in my face then elbowed me in the head at weigh-ins. I was pissed. I considered him in that same respect. I am a fighter all the same, but that was dirty and cheap to do to anyone, let alone a girl.
They were both in on it, which makes it even more disturbing. If my husband or son ever pulled something like that, I would be their biggest problem. I won’t be bullied nor condone it.
Zingano’s nutritionist, Josh Ford, offered a detailed account:
There’s like two rows of chairs lined up and then a table where everyone is filling out their medicals. Cat and I are sitting in the front row and a couple guys from Gabriel Gonzaga’s camp are on the other side of us. We’re talking and I’m looking straight at Cat when I see this body coming down the row behind her. I didn’t notice it was Caraway but there’s plenty of room to walk by. As he gets closer to our chairs he flares his elbow out and pops Cat right in the back of the head. The first thing on my mind was, ‘that guy just elbowed her in the head!’ As I’m turning around to see who it was Cat says the same thing. I turn my head to look and it’s Caraway! And then one of the other fighters, might have been Uriah Hall, sitting there says, ‘hey! I think that guy just elbowed you in the head!’
If the move was truly intentional, that’s some bush-league bullshit at best. Yet if you’re wondering why Zingano’s camp waited until now to come forward about this incident, Ford offered this statement:
At first, my protective coaching instincts kick in and I wanna go over and say something to him but we’re backstage, it’s the UFC. I wasn’t gonna go try to make a big scene. I just thought it was crazy he would take a shot at her.
Zingano’s wrestling coach, Leister Bowling, also described restraining Cat’s husband and training partner, Mauricio Zingano, after he found out about what happened:
I didn’t let Mauricio go back there. That’s his wife, you know. I told him I’d go back and check it out. I didn’t even give him the option. He was pissed. He took it as if some guy had just elbowed his wife in the head, like any man would. Whether it was an accident or not, I don’t know. I wasn’t there. A few people said he walked out of his way to bump her.
There are two sides to every story, but so far neither Caraway nor Tate have offered any comment on the situation.
Of course, if these claims aren’t bad enough, Bellator fighter Michelle Ould will have you know that Bryan Caraway’s “too cool for drugs” image isn’t exactly authentic. Okay, that’s technically misleading. After all, Caraway only claims to be against using drugs, not selling them, and Ould is accusing Caraway of the latter.
Shortly after Caraway accepted the bonus money, Ould had this to say on her Twitter page:
“Dude use to sell my ex roommate PED’s – but he hates weed – go figure.”
“Every1 either knows or has heard about it-it’s not a shocking secret or anything. Just shoulda kept that fake opinion quiet n takn the $” (Source)
“Has nothing 2 do w/attention. Just think it’s wrong Nate & Pat r dealin w consequences like men while this brats on his soapbox of denial” (Source)
While both stories make Caraway sound despicable, keep in mind that we don’t have his version of what happened during the first accusation, and the second is essentially “Person on the Internet makes unfalsifiable claim.” That being said, have these incidents changed your perception of Caraway? And what kind of punishment – if any – do you think he should receive for elbowing Zingano?
Regardless of how you feel about the whole Pat Healy situation (it’s some bullshit) or Bryan Caraway’s subsequent anti-marijuana rant, it would be hard to argue that Nate Diaz expressed his opinions on the situation correctly when he called Caraway a “Fag” for “taking” Healy’s SOTN bonus. Whether he meant to offend the LGBT community or not when he typed it (our guess is that he didn’t, which his manager has also *attempted* to affirm), he probably should have known that, as a public figure, you can’t so much as call someone “lame” in the public forum without incurring the wrath of all the stump-footed people you offended shortly thereafter. It’s the world we live in, for better or for worse, and it’s also why a “Code of Conduct” was recently established in the UFC.
The fact that UFC fighters have been fired over similar (albeit much more offensive) tweets in the past should have raised some red flags, which is maybe why Diaz deleted his original tweet, then reworded it to his liking before posting it yesterday. Unfortunately for Diaz, the UFC has responded quickly and harshly, stating the following:
We are very disappointed by Nate Diaz’s comments, which are in no way reflective of our organization. Nate is currently suspended pending internal investigation and we will provide further comment once the matter has been decided.
We are going to fine, suspend or cut him. One or two of those three will happen.
(Let’s just say that Diaz’s apology is still in the early draft stage.)
Regardless of how you feel about the whole Pat Healy situation (it’s some bullshit) or Bryan Caraway’s subsequent anti-marijuana rant, it would be hard to argue that Nate Diaz expressed his opinions on the situation correctly when he called Caraway a “Fag” for “taking” Healy’s SOTN bonus. Whether he meant to offend the LGBT community or not when he typed it (our guess is that he didn’t, which his manager has also *attempted* to affirm), he probably should have known that, as a public figure, you can’t so much as call someone “lame” in the public forum without incurring the wrath of all the stump-footed people you offended shortly thereafter. It’s the world we live in, for better or for worse, and it’s also why a “Code of Conduct” was recently established in the UFC.
The fact that UFC fighters have been fired over similar (albeit much more offensive) tweets in the past should have raised some red flags, which is maybe why Diaz deleted his original tweet, then reworded it to his liking before posting it yesterday. Unfortunately for Diaz, the UFC has responded quickly and harshly, stating the following:
We are very disappointed by Nate Diaz’s comments, which are in no way reflective of our organization. Nate is currently suspended pending internal investigation and we will provide further comment once the matter has been decided.
We are going to fine, suspend or cut him. One or two of those three will happen.
While it would perhaps be a bit over-reactionary should the UFC decide to actually cut Diaz for his tweet, you can’t exactly claim to be shocked by the backlash Diaz has received in the time since. Again, it’s the world we live in, and as with Healy’s case, you simply gotta play by the rules. Diaz’s tweet wasn’t “stupid” as we so eloquently deemed it because it offended anyone — whether accidentally or otherwise — it was stupid because Diaz knew that writing it would result in the punishment he currently faces and had a mountain of evidence to confirm it. It’s not a matter of political correctness, it’s a matter of common sense.
We have no idea what the UFC is hoping to uncover with an “internal investigation” of a goddamn tweet, but if this plays out at all like the Matt Mitrione situation, Diaz will likely receive a suspension shorter than most layovers at Logan International and we can go back to acting like this thing never happened.
In any case, we’d be lying if we said our interest wasn’t starting to peak for the inaugural WAR MMA card.
Feel free to start speculating how much Diaz gets fined for this, or what his inevitable apology to the LGBT community will sound like, in the comments section.
Feel free to start speculating how much Diaz gets fined for this, or what his inevitable apology to the LGBT community will sound like, in the comments section.
