Tag: UFC 136

Melvin Guillard Wouldn’t Be Upset if Gilbert Melendez Gets Title Shot First

Filed under: UFC, NewsMelvin Guillard approaches each of his fights as if they are title fights, so the top 10 lightweight won’t sweat it if Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez ends up getting a title shot first.

After Saturday’s UFC on Versus 6, UF…

Filed under: ,

Melvin Guillard approaches each of his fights as if they are title fights, so the top 10 lightweight won’t sweat it if Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez ends up getting a title shot first.

After Saturday’s UFC on Versus 6, UFC president Dana White revealed to reporters that he’s working to bring Melendez into the UFC fold “ASAP” with the possibility of Melendez entering with an immediate shot at the belt. That’s potentially bad news for contenders in line for a chance at the winner of this Saturday’s UFC 136 title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard.

“I wouldn’t be upset,” Guillard said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I look at it like this man, Two champions from two different organizations i think they both should fight to get rid of the No. 1 [contender].”

As for why Guillard has the patience to wait when most contenders campaign or at times outright begged (Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones) for a title shot, Guillard has several reasons. Guillard understands that the fans will want to see who the true champion is between the two promotions’ titleholders.

Additionally, Guillard doesn’t mind knocking off another potential No. 1 contender. The current No. 1 contender fight pits Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson and Guillard would be interested in fighting the former WEC champ.

“It takes the heat off of me too. I rather get another fight,” the 28-year-old says. “If it has to be the winner of Guida and Ben Henderson, but right now Guida is my teammate, so I won’t fight him, but if something went wrong and Ben won, then I’d take the Ben Henderson fight next if i had to. It all has to work itself out and see what happens. we can’t really say who’s next and who’s gonna get what. Right now my main focus is on beatting up Joe Lauzon Satuday, winning that fight and I’ll move forward from there.”

He definitely wouldn’t fight Guida though, at least in the near future. Guillard, who splits his training with Imperial Athletics in Florida and Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, has trained closely with Guida under Greg Jackson.

“I wouldn’t fight my teammate unless it’s for the title,” Guillard said. “That’s the only way me Cowboy {Donald Cerrone) or Clay Guida would ever fight each other. Because at that point, it’s about us having our legacy.”

After his first-round knockout over Shane Roller at UFC 132 in July, Guillard wanted to fight Jim Miller, but when Miller ended up fighting Henderson. Guillard then sought a fight on the UFC 136 card in Texas, where Guillard considers his second home after New Orleans. Examining the list of available opponents, and especially impressed with Lauzon’s dominant win over Curt Warburton, Guillard secured the fight after pitching Lauzon to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva as well as Lauzon’s camp.

Guillard, who is ranked in the top 10 as a lightweight fighter, doesn’t believe it is a step down to fight Lauzon, who is 2-2 in his last four fights. It all goes back to him envisioning every fight as a title fight. By the time he does fight for the belt, he won’t feel any pressure.

“The 155 is a big traffic jam right now,” Guillard said. “I could care less if i’m next or after that. I’m just going to keep fighting and keep winning … To me every fight is a title fight. I treat every fight like a title fight so right now I’ve felt like I’ve defended my title five times already and I’m working on No. 6 this weekend.”

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Brian Stann Getting Much Respect Ahead of UFC 136 Contenders Bout With Chael Sonnen

Filed under: UFC, NewsBrian Stann probably should get used to this kind of treatment from his opponents.

Stann thought he had a fight against former Pride middleweight champ Wanderlei Silva earlier this year before Silva begged out – thanks-but-no-th…

Filed under: ,

Brian Stann probably should get used to this kind of treatment from his opponents.

Stann thought he had a fight against former Pride middleweight champ Wanderlei Silva earlier this year before Silva begged out – thanks-but-no-thanks. And then came Chael Sonnen, one of the most outspoken trash talkers in the sport. Sonnen fights Stann in a middleweight contenders bout Saturday at UFC 136 in Houston.

Sonnen said fighting Stann is something that simply has to be done – but admits he wishes he didn’t have to face the surging war hero, and thinks the same goes for the rest of the middleweight pack.

“Nobody wants to fight Brian, but somebody’s got to,” Sonnen said on a UFC 136 media call last week. “Our paths have to cross. We’re just in the same weight class, it’s not that big of a pool and he keeps whipping everybody. If he quit beating everybody, I wouldn’t have to fight him. But he decided to go out and become one of the top guys.”

Stann (11-3, 5-2 UFC), a former light heavyweight champion in the WEC, could punch his ticket to a title shot against UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva with a win over Sonnen, who is looking for a rematch with the record-setting titleholder.

But as for Sonnen’s famous mouth, which was on full display prior to his fight against Silva last year, Stann isn’t surprised it didn’t come out for this fight.

“I told everybody from the start I didn’t think (the trash talk) was going to happen,” Stann said. “I said this a couple times. I believe Chael is very genuine when he says if he has a problem with somebody, he’ll speak it. If he doesn’t have a problem with somebody, he won’t. … And I wouldn’t have taken it personally, anyway. I really think that our skill sets and the way that we fight has generated all the hype it needs.”

Stann has won three straight fights, all in dominating fashion. After a decision loss to Phil Davis at UFC 109, in which he was taken down all three rounds and dominated on the ground, Stann has been on a tear.

He submitted Mike Massenzio and UFC on Versus 2 last year, winning Fight of the Night. In January, he ran through Chris Leben on his way to a first-round TKO. The only other fighter to stop Leben with strikes? Anderson Silva. And in May, at UFC 130, Stann picked up another Fight of the Night check with his second-round TKO of the highly touted Jorge Santiago.

The UFC putting Stann in position to earn a title shot seemed natural. And Stann found out that at this level of the game, options for opponents start to thin out.

“This is the first fight where I just got a phone call and was told who I was fighting,” Stann said. “Normally, there’s a process, and my manager throws out a couple names and (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva throws out a couple names. We were in that process, and all of a sudden after UFC 132, when Chris Leben knocked out Wanderlei Silva, it was 48 hours later that I got a phone call: ‘This is who you’re fighting. Here’s the bout agreement.'”

But even though Sonnen has admitted to a bit of reluctance to fight Stann, who has become one of the UFC’s biggest fan favorites, Stann doesn’t think Sonnen will hold anything back on Saturday night.

“I don’t think it’s something where Chael’s going to go lay on me Saturday,” Stann said. “I still fully anticipate the best Chael Sonnen in the Octagon, and a guy who’s going to to double-leg takedown me and try to push my head right though the canvas.”

To prepare for Sonnen’s elite-level wrestling, something he struggled with against Davis, it’s not surprising that Stann has been working on his own wrestling game. The Greg Jackson-trained fighter has honed his entire game in Albuquerque, N.M., but it’s wrestling he’s had to work on the most.

“What happens in fighting is, early in my career I had a very limited skill set,” Stann said. “But I was very comfortable with that skill set, so I could fight 100 miles an hour. When you can go somewhere where you’re introduced to 1,000 new skills, you become OK at all 1,000 of them and you try to do way too much in the cage and you fight now at 70 miles an hour. It took me some time to get comfortable with all these new skills, and now I can go 100 miles an hour again. … I’ve been training in wrestling for a long time now, but since that Phil Davis fight it’s been something I’ve spent most of my time on over the last three or four fights.”

If he can succeed against Sonnen where Silva failed for four and a half rounds last year (though a Silva rib injury also may have played a part in that), Stann could get his own shot at gold.

Stann and Sonnen fight on the main card of UFC 136 on Oct. 8 at the Toyota Center in Houston. The pay-per-view is headlined by a pair of title fights – the lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, and a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Kenny Florian.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

UFC 136: Melvin Guillard, Jose Aldo and the Hardest Hitter in Every UFC Division

In MMA, there is nothing more exciting than the flash knockout. Fans may love fighters for their impressive grappling skills or technical prowess on the feet, but no one can deny they look most forward to watching guys who can end a fight in an instant…

In MMA, there is nothing more exciting than the flash knockout.

Fans may love fighters for their impressive grappling skills or technical prowess on the feet, but no one can deny they look most forward to watching guys who can end a fight in an instant.

With Melvin Guillard running through the lightweight division and taking out fighter after fighter by knockout, it only seems fair to highlight him and the other heavy hitters in the UFC before his fight at UFC 136 this weekend.

Begin Slideshow

Dana White: UFC 136 Video Blog Day 1

Let the festivities begin.The infamous pre-fight video blogs, hosted by UFC president Dana White, has now arrived.White takes us behind the scenes to the Denver, Colo., pay-per-view event, which took place just a couple of weekends ago. The m…

Let the festivities begin.

The infamous pre-fight video blogs, hosted by UFC president Dana White, has now arrived.

White takes us behind the scenes to the Denver, Colo., pay-per-view event, which took place just a couple of weekends ago. The main event featured a light heavyweight showdown, pitting the legendary Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against champion Jon Jones, who successfully defended his strap.

This video shows fighters post-fight behind stage, specifically Cole Escovedo (suffered a TKO loss to Takeya Mizugaki), Nate Diaz (who dominated former PRIDE star Takanori Gomi) and Aaron Riley (who suffered a nasty broken jaw in his lightweight scrap against The Ultimate Fighter vet Tony Ferguson)—among others. 

Additionally, we get up close and personal with the aforementioned Jackson, as he gets his severe eye laceration stitched up, where during the minor surgery, White stops by to congratulate Jackson on earning “Fight of the Night” and talks shop about his next fight.

And since it’s worth mentioning, former NBA powerhouse Shaquille O’Neal—who’s long been a UFC supporter—makes his own cameo.

The UFC exec in White goes on to make the bold prediction that this particular video blog could be “the best” in the organization’s history.

Enjoy. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

MMA Monday Headlines with Mercedes Terrell and Jade Bryce Playing in Your Hot Tub

Don Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson set for UFC 141 in the Las Vegas, December 30th. Dana White gives In-Depth interview on his childhood, acquiring the UFC promotion and respecting Donald Trump. Lyoto Machida tweets.

Don Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson set for UFC 141 in the Las Vegas, December 30th.

Dana White gives In-Depth interview on his childhood, acquiring the UFC promotion and respecting Donald Trump.

Lyoto Machida tweets he is likely not fighting for rest of 2011.

Dana White says Brock Lesnar is 100 percent healthy and quite pleasant these days.

Dana White admits to inviting Kurt Angle to fight in TUF 10 but Angle did not pass his medicals.

Countdown to UFC 136 airs tonight on Spike TV.

Jorge Masvidal still plans fight with Gilbert Melendez on December 17th despite announcement that Melendez will be leaving Strikeforce for UFC ASAP.

UFC 136: Brian Stann on Chael Sonnen, Anderson Silva and Jones vs. Evans

Brian Stann is only one fight away. Should Brian Stann defeat Chael Sonnen this coming Saturday at UFC 136 in Houston, he will be the next man up for the UFC middleweight championship held by Anderson Silva. Silva also happens to be the longest reignin…

Brian Stann is only one fight away.

Should Brian Stann defeat Chael Sonnen this coming Saturday at UFC 136 in Houston, he will be the next man up for the UFC middleweight championship held by Anderson Silva.

Silva also happens to be the longest reigning titleholder in UFC history.

“We’re all in this to be champions,” Stann told Bleacher Report’s Gary Herman. “It’s amazing what he’s done. Anyone who can win that many fights consecutively in the UFC? It’s just incredible.”

Silva has won all 14 of his UFC fights. Silva’s most difficult fight was over Stann next’s opponent, Chael Sonnen.

Unlike the Sonnen vs. Silva build-up, Sonnen has shown admiration for Stann. Stann is also a fan of Sonnen’s.

As a result, Sonnen did not use his sharp wit to help build the matchup. Sonnen publicly said that Stann would not be his first choice of opponents but that the two have to fight because of their standing near the top of the UFC middleweight division.

Stann will not let that respect get in the way of his MMA goals.

“No, it’s a competition” Stann said, when asked if it is more difficult to fight someone he knows well. “I don’t want to have to fight any of my friends, but it’s a competition. It has nothing to do with what kind of person they are.”

 

 

“It’s just like playing basketball with one another. You compete and then you become friends again after.”

Stann’s preparation for the Sonnen fight has taken place at Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, NM. Jackson’s MMA is the same place where light heavyweight Jon Jones and current No. 1 contender Rashad Evans first crossed paths.

Jones and Evans have developed a very public rivalry since Jones first stated that he would be willing to fight Evans. Evans was caught off guard, and in direct contrast to Stann’s views on fighting a friend, Evans was disappointed that his alleged friend Jones challenged him.

Evans has since left Jackson’s MMA, and he is now looking forward to the title fight with Jones.

“I’m friends with both guys,” Stann said of the two top light heavyweughts. “Without a doubt, I miss training with Rashad. In fact, he trained with my last opponent. It’s very unfortunate that it happened.”

Stann believes the media played a major role in the feud.

“I think so many people wanted that fight to happen,” Stann said. “Many people were interviewing Jon Jones about Rashad. It created a situation.”

Like Jones, Stann has shown tremendous progression in his MMA career. Starting as a light heavyweight in the UFC, Stann had a pedestrian 2-2 record. However, since dropping to middleweight, Stann is 3-0, with all stoppages.

Stann believes Jackson’s MMA is responsible for a lot of the growth.

“Now, I really feel comfortable with these skills that I’ve learned over the past few years,” Stann said. “I can fight at a much faster pace because I’m not thinking so much while I’m in there.”

Stann will need to have a lot of confidence in order to be successful in the fight. He is currently listed as a +200 underdog to Sonnen.

“Everything is the best it’s been as far as my technique so I’m ready to fight,” Stann said. “It’s definitely my toughest test to date.”

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com