Having previously trained with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Wanderlei Silva knows what he is capable of inside the Octagon.Rua’s recent loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 139 brought up questions about the Brazilian’s consistency and longevity while competing in t…
Having previously trained with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Wanderlei Silva knows what he is capable of inside the Octagon.
Rua’s recent loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 139 brought up questions about the Brazilian’s consistency and longevity while competing in the light heavyweight division. “The Axe Murderer” said Rua was not himself against Henderson.
Silva, who is a former training partner and close friend of Rua’s, said the former Pride Grand Prix winner is not meeting expectations and needs to revitalize his training regimen in order to compete at the highest level.
“Shogun has a lot to revamp in his training. Everyone believes he can beat anyone at 100 percent, so he has to go into these fights at 100 percent,” Silva told Sherdog.com.
“I was sad about his loss,” he added.
Rua has faced criticism regarding his health since debuting in the UFC in 2007.
Rua has constantly battled through injuries, which have resulted in some poor performances and have prevented him from realizing his potential.
His injuries have ultimately limited his success in the UFC. That was evident in his title bout against Jon Jones, where Rua was coming off another knee injury and hadn’t fought since capturing the light heavyweight title nearly a year prior against Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.
Silva said if Rua is able to stay healthy and able to compete more consistently, then he will challenge for the title once again. Silva said he would favour Rua in potential rematch against the 24-year-old Jones.
“Shogun is the most talented guy I’ve ever seen,” he said. “He’s the guy to beat the champion, but he has to be 100 percent.”
Nick Diaz nominated for Stocktonian of the Year: here. Brittney Palmer officially returns as an Octagon Girl with UFC 140: here. Dan Henderson talks about Mauricio “Shogun” Rua‘s serious repercussions at UFC 139: here. Anderson.
Nick Diaz nominated for Stocktonian of the Year: here.
Brittney Palmer officially returns as an Octagon Girl with UFC 140: here.
Dan Henderson talks about Mauricio “Shogun” Rua‘s serious repercussions at UFC 139: here.
Anderson Silva has “nothing” to say about Chael Sonnen: here.
Michael Bisping plans to end Jason Miller‘s career and leave him “to be just another washed-up TV star walking around Hollywood looking like a crackhead begging for a dollar”: here.
Some of your favorite MMA stars may be wanted for heinous crimes: here.
Enjoy all of our favorite MMA ladies all dolled up at this year’s 2011 World MMA Awards below:
The vast majority may believe the UFC 139 main event bout between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson was an instant classic, but Georges St-Pierre didn’t walk away all that impressed.During an autograph session in Toronto, the UFC welterweight cha…
The vast majority may believe the UFC 139 main event bout between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson was an instant classic, but Georges St-Pierre didn’t walk away all that impressed.
During an autograph session in Toronto, the UFC welterweight champion spoke with QMI Agency about the bout some are proclaiming as “the greatest fight in UFC history.”
“I didn’t see the fight [live]. I saw it after,” St-Pierre said. “No, for me, it was not the greatest fight. It was a fight that displayed a lot of determination and heart, but I believe on the technical points, especially at the end of the fight, the guys were too tired to be able to make a display of technique. But it was an interesting fight for a lot of the fans because…it showed a lot of heart and courage.”
After dominating early, Henderson faded in the championship rounds, which allowed Shogun to secure takedowns and rack up points from top position.
Despite success in the later rounds, Shogun was obviously running on fumes as well. He sustained the mounted position for extended periods of time, but he wasn’t able to really threaten Henderson with significant damage or submissions.
While the overall bout was far from a technical masterpiece, many will likely be baffled by St-Pierre being unimpressed with such a dramatic and highly entertaining fight.
If Shogun versus Henderson didn’t impress St-Pierre, what bout has?
“In the UFC? I don’t know; Clay Guida’s fight with Benson Henderson was pretty good,” he said. “That was a good fight. It was a display of courage, determination and technique as well. So they had everything in one [fight]. At the end of the fight, they were still able to deliver, and the pace was high.”
Rick Story was on a six-fight winning streak heading into the June 26, UFC Live event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Story’s tear through the UFC’s welterweight division came to a screeching halt that night when he lost to Charlie Brenneman v…
Rick Story was on a six-fight winning streak heading into the June 26, UFC Live event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Story’s tear through the UFC’s welterweight division came to a screeching halt that night when he lost to Charlie Brenneman via unanimous decision. Story then suffered the same result at UFC 139, falling to Martin Kampmann. A somewhat troubling common thread has followed those two losses and that is, Story has followed each with an excuse as to why he lost.
Story had originally been booked to face Nate Marquardt in the main event of the UFC Live fight card. However, Marquardt was forced from the card, as well as the UFC, for having elevated testosterone levels during his pre-fight medicals.
Charlie Brenneman subsequently replaced Marquardt the day before the event took place. Brenneman had been scheduled to face TJ Grant on the same fight card, but Grant was forced from the card on June 22 due to illness.
Brenneman took the fight to Story and walked away from the CONSOL Energy Center with the win. After the loss, Story offered the following, “It was a completely different game plan that we had to adjust to on short notice. I was training kickboxing for a taller Muay Thai type striker with Jiu-Jitsu, not a shorter aggressive wrestler. I should be able to do better against takedowns against wrestlers because my background is wrestling, but Charlie did well and he came out in top.”
As excuses go, it’s not the worst, but it’s still an excuse. If you look at the other side of the coin, Brenneman didn’t even have a fight booked when he stepped in to face Story. Story, at the very least, had been ready for a fight the next day.
Brenneman essentially came in thinking he wasn’t even on the card and took a fight against a fighter that he too hadn’t been training for, the difference being that Brenneman overcame both of those obstacles and won.
Fast-forward to November 19 and Story is again the one standing with his hand by his side watching his opponent, Martin Kampmann, getting his hand raised in victory. Following the most recent loss, Story took to twitter to proclaim, “I wanted to apologize to all of my fans for my last performance I ruptured my bursa sack and tore my meniscus in the second round. I lost all strength and made it difficult to fight.”
It should be noted that the UFC 139 medical suspensions did not mention any injury to Story other than a chin laceration.
The takeaway from both of these post-fight statements seems to be that Rick Story’s opponents didn’t defeat him, but the circumstances defeated him. These statements are insulting to his opponent’s victorious performance and reek of poor sportsmanship. Story’s excuses are unnecessary at best and a slap in the face to Brenneman and Kampmann at worst.
It needs to be said that Story is not the only fighter that has used this tactic; we have seen it many times in the past. Story is just the fighter with the latest incident of throwing this type of nonsense out there and we all know that he will not be the last.
This type of excuse making really needs to stop, in all sports, for it belittles the victor and demeans the one making the excuses.
At UFC 139 Stephan Bonnar issued two apologies. One was to Josh Koscheck about a shirt he had made that had offended the welterweight fighter.This was warranted as no matter how much it might have been silly for Koscheck to be offended by the shi…
At UFC 139 Stephan Bonnar issued two apologies. One was to Josh Koscheck about a shirt he had made that had offended the welterweight fighter.
This was warranted as no matter how much it might have been silly for Koscheck to be offended by the shirt, it still is up to Bonnar to mediate such disagreements instead of possibly being sued over them, as Koscheck had threatened.
The other apology was to the fans for not making an exciting fight.
This one was not necessary at all and should never have been made because honestly, the fans shouldn’t expect such fights from Bonnar every time.
Fans have a belief about the “American Psycho” and that is that he will just brawl with technique and thoughts of winning coming second.
And that is ridiculous.
Bonnar’s job is to win fights. Being exciting and winning bonuses for fight of the night might keep him in the cage a little longer, but it comes down to being the best in the cage. To do that, sometimes you can’t put on a thrilling performance. Just a dominant one.
Bonnar is at a stage where this might be his last run in the cage. If he doesn’t prove himself to be dominant force, he won’t get a shot at being champion.
With his commentating for the company and his post-Ultimate Fighter shows that appear on the website, it’s safe to say he will always have a place in the UFC, but it will not always be in the cage.
Instead of an apology Bonnar should stop doing what he did in his pre-fight promo. He came off as a fighter who just wanted to swing for the fences, but at the same time came off as fake macho persona.
Instead of trying to appease the fans and give them what they want Bonnar should just tell them that he is going to dominate while trying to look for the knockout or submission if he can get away with it. That he wants to be a champion before he retires because that is why he got into fighting to begin with.
It sends a false message to the fans and it continues to give fans a fake reason to watch Bonnar. They should be willing to watch him because he is a talented fighter who can not only win fights, but do it emphatically.
And as for the fight he had at UFC 139?
It actually was thrilling from a technical standpoint with him using a bit of technical boxing and quite a bit of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to win.
That may help him to lose some casual fans, but only the ones that are never happy unless it ends up being a toe-to-toe war, even when it doesn’t need to be.
And if Bonnar wants to win, he doesn’t need that—and he shouldn’t be sorry about it.
As the premier MMA promotion in the world, it sometimes comes as a shock to many that the UFC has a number of recognizable, popular journeymen fighters.In boxing, the thought of a journeyman fighter being on the main card of a PPV event or the headline…
As the premier MMA promotion in the world, it sometimes comes as a shock to many that the UFC has a number of recognizable, popular journeymen fighters.
In boxing, the thought of a journeyman fighter being on the main card of a PPV event or the headliner of a live cable TV card is absurd. By contrast, the UFC not only properly employs its loyal journeymen, but some, like Stephan Bonnar, are promoted as if they were world champions or contenders themselves.
In some people’s minds, if a fighter isn’t working his way towards a title shot, then he should be cut from the UFC or retire, but here are six fan-favorites who would beg to differ.
Having previously trained with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Wanderlei Silva knows what he is capable of inside the Octagon.
