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Alex Volkanovski is ready for the fight of his life and is planning to usher in a new era for the UFC’s featherweight division when he takes on José Aldo at UFC 237: “Jose is a legend of our sport and a future UFC Hall of Famer,” Volkanovski penned in …
Alex Volkanovski is ready for the fight of his life and is planning to usher in a new era for the UFC’s featherweight division when he takes on José Aldo at UFC 237: “Jose is a legend of our sport and a future UFC Hall of Famer,” Volkanovski penned in a piece on Playersvoice.com. “I’ll […]
The post Alex Volkanovski Vows to Usher in New Featherweight Era appeared first on MMA News.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, just like any other major sports promotion, is susceptible to injury-plagued moments. Just like a team in the NFL or NBA can have its season hopes ruined by one misstep, an entire MMA event can be blown up due to one…
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, just like any other major sports promotion, is susceptible to injury-plagued moments. Just like a team in the NFL or NBA can have its season hopes ruined by one misstep, an entire MMA event can be blown up due to one painful moment.
Mixed martial arts is a violent sport—a sport in which the athletes must train hard in order to be ready for high-level competition. Unfortunately, the UFC cannot do more than it is to protect its champions from sudden injury. Yet, it can do more to protect its cards from falling apart when it occurs.
Injuries within mixed martial arts are going to happen. When they do, the results are going to be catastrophic at times and “minor” in others. The moments that have struck UFC 177 and UFC 178 will ring out as two examples etched in the fight community’s mind.
If the UFC expects these fighters to come in and compete as world-class athletes, then hard training is a must. This hard training will lead to accidental injuries that will keep big-name athletes from upcoming events. The UFC can respond by having a match-making system in place that would help prevent cards from being drastically weakened if major players are forced to back out.
As the UFC moves forward with having all pay-per-view events headlined by title fights, the undercard should also feature title contenders from the same weight class. What this strategy would do is allow the UFC to shift its cards around in the moment of an injury or other change. UFC 158 can be pointed to as an example of how this card structure would work.
Georges St-Pierre was set to defend his title against Nick Diaz, who had been pulled from a previous title shot at UFC 137 due to missing media requirements (via MMA Fighting). If the UFC was forced to do so again, it could have filled his spot with either Johny Hendricks or Carlos Condit, who were in the co-main event. The UFC also booked Jake Ellenberger against Nate Marquardt, both of whom could have stepped in to face other men if needed and would have kept the welterweight division moving forward that night.
Keeping key fighters active within the same time span or on the same cards would help stop injuries from ruining event expectations. This would ensure that specific fighters are training in preparation for the moment in which their number is called.
UFC 146 is another example of a card that was shaken up due to a fighter being taken off the card. When Alistair Overeem was removed because he failed his pre-fight drug test, all of the heavyweight bouts were moved around (via MMAjunkie). Frank Mir was originally supposed to face Cain Velasquez, but instead he was bumped into the main event spot against Junior dos Santos.
Ben Fowlkes of MMA Fighting reported that Mir volunteered his services once it was official that Overeem was pulled from the card. He volunteered to do so at the right moment, and the fact that he was preparing to compete already could have helped the UFC select him to take the spot. Had the company not had any other heavyweight bouts in place, the promotion would have had a much harder time finding a replacement.
Injuries are going to happen in mixed martial arts no matter what the UFC or any other promotion tries to do. However, creating a card development system that books multiple contenders on the same event will help ease the pain of replacements when needed. The UFC will never be able to prevent injuries, but being prepared to face them is its next best option.
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(This guy, a bully? Fahgettaboudit.)
If you think Nick Diaz does what he does only for attention and not just because its part of his innate Stockton charm, then consider a new interview on The Jim Rome Showfrom UFC President Dana White where he detailed what Diaz did out from under the bright lights and cameras. Remember UFC 137, where Diaz called out Georges St. Pierreafter pissing away his title shot against the champion and being forced to beat up his hero BJ Penn?
Turns out that Diaz’s best harassment of St. Pierre came outside of the Octagon.
“Nobody has talked about this, I haven’t said anything about it, but at one of the fights, the one where he really starts calling Georges out, he was chasing Georges around the hotel and like yelling at him,” White told Jim Rome.
“Georges thought he was going to try to fight him in the hotel. He was just waiting for the elevator doors to open and see Nick Diaz…he was really messing with Georges bad at the fight, like trying to fight him at the hotel. That really pissed Georges off.”
For all the wonderful, riotous moments he’s given us in the ring, Diaz’s most violent moments often seem to come outside of it and soon become the things of legend thereafter. What long-time fan of the sport can ever forget the accounts of Diaz starting a brawl with Joe Riggs in the hospital they were taken to after fighting one another at UFC 57?
(This guy, a bully? Fahgettaboudit.)
If you think Nick Diaz does what he does only for attention and not just because its part of his innate Stockton charm, then consider a new interview on The Jim Rome Showfrom UFC President Dana White where he detailed what Diaz did out from under the bright lights and cameras. Remember UFC 137, where Diaz called out Georges St. Pierreafter pissing away his title shot against the champion and being forced to beat up his hero BJ Penn?
Turns out that Diaz’s best harassment of St. Pierre came outside of the Octagon.
“Nobody has talked about this, I haven’t said anything about it, but at one of the fights, the one where he really starts calling Georges out, he was chasing Georges around the hotel and like yelling at him,” White told Jim Rome.
“Georges thought he was going to try to fight him in the hotel. He was just waiting for the elevator doors to open and see Nick Diaz…he was really messing with Georges bad at the fight, like trying to fight him at the hotel. That really pissed Georges off.”
For all the wonderful, riotous moments he’s given us in the ring, Diaz’s most violent moments often seem to come outside of it and soon become the things of legend thereafter. What long-time fan of the sport can ever forget the accounts of Diaz starting a brawl with Joe Riggs in the hospital they were taken to after fighting one another at UFC 57?
White also continued to push the “dark side of GSP” narrative with this story, saying that “When [St. Pierre] was younger he used to get bullied. That’s what got him into martial arts. He just has this crazy thing about bullies and he thinks Nick Diaz is a bully.”
White went on to say that, when he spoke with the champion last week, GSP told him, “‘Dana, you have no idea what I’m going to do to this kid, I wanna make him retire.’”
We rarely recommend that anyone listen to Jim Rome, but to check out all of White’s fascinating interview with him, click here.
…And oh yeah, there were indeed scheduled open workouts in advance of UFC 158 today. Georges St. Pierre showed up for his, Nick Diaz did not.
St. Pierre was not impressed. Neither was White.
Johny Hendricks, however, was ecstatic, we assume. $200 says Hendricks is going to try and lure Nick into a room full of primo bud and lock him in there tomorrow so that Diaz misses the press conference and Johny gets to replace him against St. Pierre.
Most MMA fights are about two people utilizing their techniques, their discipline and other talents to see who comes out on top. They indulge themselves in interviews on their opponent whether it will be a fight between two respected fighters or if the…
Most MMA fights are about two people utilizing their techniques, their discipline and other talents to see who comes out on top. They indulge themselves in interviews on their opponent whether it will be a fight between two respected fighters or if there is bad blood between them. It is all about building the hype.
Then they will talk about how they will win their fight whether it be by a spectacular knock out or a beautiful submission. The hype is partly what makes the fight exciting.
Once the fight starts, it is all business. All the talking is now replaced with action. With No. 1 UFC Welterweight Contender, Nick Diaz, the hype and talking doesn’t stop, but neither does the action.
Nick Diaz has been calling out UFC Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre for some time now. Before Georges was placed on the shelf due to a serious knee injury last year, the fight between GSP and Diaz was suppose to happen.
Instead we ended up with Condit vs Diaz for the Interim Welterweight Championship, which was a great match, but it didn’t quite have the electricity of a GSP vs Diaz fight.
Even while GSP was on the injured list, Diaz was still talking trash to him. GSP took Condit to a five round beating in his last fight and Diaz still continued the trash talking.
That is how Nick Diaz is. He is a trash talking fighter that can back it up with a sick ground game to go along with an unorthodox, yet effective, stand up game.
Just like his little brother, Nate, Nick has that unique stand up game in which he doesn’t throw all of his power into one punch. Instead he will unload with a barrage of what UFC commentator Joe Rogan calls “50% punches”.
Combine those punches with the fact that Diaz is a cardio freak and you have someone that will not stop until your face is messed up.
If you don’t want to get beat up by Diaz standing up, do you take a gamble and take the fight to the ground with a Jiu Jitsu wizard? It is almost a lose/lose situation.
The result equals a mangled face and bruised ribs for the opponent. For Diaz, it is a win. Just ask UFC legend BJ Penn. I have never seen Penn get beaten up the way Diaz beat him up at UFC 137. It was hard for me to watch because Penn is one of the fighters I looked up to when I competed.
And the trash talking to GSP still continued for Diaz.
Diaz finally got what he wanted when St-Pierre expressed himself about the Stockton Native during an interview. The Canadian born fighter stated on how he is offended on how Diaz is and that he deserves a beating and that you will see a Dark Side of the Welterweight Champion.
Dark Side? Does that mean we will see an angry GSP?
The last time a fighter got under the skin of the Welterweight Champ it was in December of 2010 at UFC 124 when he fought Josh Koscheck. Georges busted him up for five rounds with some wicked jabs that resulted in a fractured orbital bone in Koscheck‘s face.
Georges was mad, but he has never been this mad.
Last year, I wrote an article about Diaz and GSP. The article was about Diaz and could he be the one that brings out the finisher in GSP?
I still hope that happens. I want the GSP that made my idol, Matt Hughes, verbally tapout. I want the GSP that broke the nose of Sean Sherk.
I want the GSP that finishes fights in spectacular fashion.
Well those are my thoughts. Now it is time to hear yours. Did Nick Diaz make the biggest mistake of his life by awakening the Dark Side of St-Pierre? Will we see the GSP that finishes fights? Or is this all part of Diaz‘s plan to use Georges’s anger to throw him off his game?
This Saturday in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, we will find out.
Until then, this is Balistik signing out.
PEACE OUT
“MMA ALL THE WAY”
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Nick Diaz hasn’t spoken to Dana White regarding UFC 158, even declining to answer his boss’ calls and texts.”Nick Diaz doesn’t return my calls, my texts, nothing,” the UFC president told Middle Easy. “You don’t have to call me, you don’t have to text m…
Nick Diaz hasn’t spoken to Dana White regarding UFC 158, even declining to answer his boss’ calls and texts.
“Nick Diaz doesn’t return my calls, my texts, nothing,” the UFC president told Middle Easy. “You don’t have to call me, you don’t have to text me, but you do have to show up to the press conference,” he said.
Sadly, this kind of behavior isn’t new.
Diaz was scheduled to face UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137, but he no-showed two press conferences for the event. It was Diaz‘s disappearance at the second presser in Las Vegas that earned the ire of Dana White.
It was a conundrum. Diaz‘s manager, Cesar Gracie, even called White during the press conference. Meanwhile, Nick Diaz released a bizarre YouTube video of himself driving around and muttering.
White ultimately took Diaz‘s title shot away and awarded it to Carlos Condit.
However, St-Pierre ended up injuring his knee and was unable to fight. Instead, Diaz was given a fight against BJ Penn and promoted to the main event.
Hopefully, White’s recent words on Diaz aren’t prophetic of yet another ditched press conference.
“I would be blown away if he did it twice. It just wouldn’t be a good move,” White said regarding Diaz no-showing UFC 158 media obligations.
“[Diaz] isn’t a fan of the pre-fight promotion, but you have to do it. You have to do it. Whether you’re Nick Diaz or Anderson Silva, whoever you are, it’s in your contract,” he said.
If Diaz again decides to leave members of the press gawking at his empty chair, White won’t pull any punches.
“You can actually be cut. We can cut you for that,” said White. “I proved that you will be punished if you don’t show up to those things, if you don’t do it. You either won’t fight the big fight that you were supposed to fight or you’ll be cut.”
Nick Diaz simply must attend his media obligations this time around. The fate of a highly anticipated fight (as well as a big payday for the UFC) is resting on his shoulders.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
(So I sez to da brod, “Chael sent me,” and she just hands the needles right ova!!)
To say that it has been a disturbing week in the world almost does too much justice for the term “disturbing.” It has been an abhorring week. There have been two cases of zombie-like acts of cannibalism reported in the past few days alone. Two. If you can stomach it, see for yourself what the human race is still capable of. Being a bit of a paranoid, Burt Gummer-esque survivalist at heart, upon hearing this news, I immediately took to the stocked gun cabinet that rests in the dining room of my countryside abode, stepped outside, and began target practicing on squirrels, chipmunks, and whatever else happened to cross my path. Because this is how it begins, people. You know, the stuff those guys in face paint and textiles told us would happen so many years ago. And I hate to be a dick, but I warned you fuckers. Many, many times. And you just didn’t want to listen.
Self whoring aside, I’d like to think that when the news in the real world gets me down, I can always turn to the world of MMA/combat sports for a little bit of solace, be it in the form of a fantastic knockout, a discussion with friends, or a news story that makes me smile from ear to ear. So you can imagine my disappointment when I came across yet another story of a mixed martial artist, this time Frank Mir, hopping on the TRT bandwagon.
I’ll admit, I found it a little odd when Frank told Ariel Helwani that he didn’t want to discuss the matter in the interviews leading up to his UFC 146 clash with Junior Dos Santos, because let’s be honest, when is there ever something that Frank Mir doesn’t want to talk about? BloodyElbow’s Brent Brookhouse seems to agree with this sentiment, and Mir’s avoidance of the issue makes so much more sense in retrospect.
(So I sez to da brod, “Chael sent me,” and she just hands the needles right ova!!)
To say that it has been a disturbing week in the world almost does too much justice for the term “disturbing.” It has been an abhorring week. There have been two cases of zombie-like acts of cannibalism reported in the past few days alone. Two. If you can stomach it, see for yourself what the human race is still capable of. Being a bit of a paranoid, Burt Gummer-esque survivalist at heart, upon hearing this news, I immediately took to the stocked gun cabinet that rests in the dining room of my countryside abode, stepped outside, and began target practicing on squirrels, chipmunks, and whatever else happened to cross my path. Because this is how it begins, people. You know, the stuff those guys in face paint and textiles told us would happen so many years ago. And I hate to be a dick, but I warned you fuckers. Many, many times. And you just didn’t want to listen.
Self whoring aside, I’d like to think that when the news in the real world gets me down, I can always turn to the world of MMA/combat sports for a little bit of solace, be it in the form of a fantastic knockout, a discussion with friends, or a news story that makes me smile from ear to ear. So you can imagine my disappointment when I came across yet another story of a mixed martial artist, this time Frank Mir, hopping on the TRT bandwagon.
I’ll admit, I found it a little odd when Frank told Ariel Helwani that he didn’t want to discuss the matter in the interviews leading up to his UFC 146 clash with Junior Dos Santos, because let’s be honest, when is there ever something that Frank Mir doesn’t want to talk about? BloodyElbow’s Brent Brookhouse seems to agree with this sentiment, and Mir’s avoidance of the issue makes so much more sense in retrospect.
Here’s a video of the interview for those of you too lazy to click a link. The topic in question comes up around the 1:12 mark.
And like Brookehouse also stated, I’m not going to rant about this revelation. I will say, however, that I’m not buying it. I was always weary in regards to which fighters, if any, truly needed testosterone replacement therapy to compete in the first place, and now that these exemptions are seemingly being handed out as easily as medicinal marijuana cards in California, I’m officially calling bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the use/legalization/mass distribution of the sticky-icky, but trying to convince me that professional fighters (especially massive heavyweights like Mir) are somehow lacking testosterone simply ain’t gonna happen. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably. Ignorant? Sure, but that’s just my view. I’m not saying it’s the correct one, but I am saying that Keith Kizer already predicted that more and more fighters would be applying for these “exemptions” once they became available.
Don’t think I fail to see the irony in following up a statement about how I won’t rant…with a rant.
But as it is, creator and host of Pro MMA Radio, Larry Pepe, was the first to break the news, when he tweeted the following:
NSAC’s Keith Kizer confirmed to me that Frank Mir met all requirements for & received TUE for TRT for UFC 146 fight against JDS.
Again, I’d like to ask what exactly these requirements are, but if it takes half as long to explain as it does to hand out a year suspension for marijuana metabolites, which is a long God damn time, then I’ll pass.
And speaking of our favorite ADHD patient, today’s second sickening revelation comes during the fallout of Nick Diaz’s aforementioned suspension.
