Brock Lesnar heads into UFC 141 knowing full well that only a win against Alistair Overeem will suffice if he’s to once again vie for the title he once so proudly held. However, if he comes up short in this title eliminator bout, he should call i…
Brock Lesnar heads into UFC 141 knowing full well that only a win against Alistair Overeem will suffice if he’s to once again vie for the title he once so proudly held. However, if he comes up short in this title eliminator bout, he should call it a day and ride off into the sunset.
For someone who more or less was a novice when he made his foray into mixed martial arts back in June of 2007, the NCAA Division I wrestler has exceeded all expectations, amassing an impressive record of 5-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC.
During that period, he also won the heavyweight crown whilst successfully defending it on two separate occasions.
Nonetheless, that’s where the fairytale ends.
These are the reasons why Lesnar should retire if he loses to Overeem come UFC 141.
Filed under: UFCLAS VEGAS — By now you’ve probably heard about the run-in Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone had well before their fight at UFC 141 was ever agreed to, but if you haven’t, here’s the short version: Cerrone saw Diaz talking with his best frie…
LAS VEGAS — By now you’ve probably heard about the run-in Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone had well before their fight at UFC 141 was ever agreed to, but if you haven’t, here’s the short version: Cerrone saw Diaz talking with his best friend and training partner Leonard Garcia one day in the Ultimate Fighter gym, so he figured he’d go up and say hello.
“I see Leonard talking to him and I’m like, maybe he’s a cool dude,” Cerrone told reporters on Tuesday. “I never met him before.”
Cerrone introduced himself and offered his hand, which Diaz slapped away with a muttering curse or two, then walked off. Again, both men agree they hadn’t encountered one another before this moment, and neither had given the other a specific reason to dislike the other. So what gives?
Allow Diaz to explain it in the form of a helpful hypothetical.
“Let’s just say for a second you’re fighting some maniac from the street who’s killed 20 people and they’re just like crazy as hell, but you get a fair fight with him,” Diaz said on Tuesday. “And he’s just like, biting his arm off and talking crazy [expletive]. And then, you’re going to fight this nice guy who goes to church and comes up and [says], ‘Hey, nice to meet you, it’s going to be a good fight.’ Who are you going to feel more comfortable fighting?”
And before you ask, yes, Diaz does realize that, at least in this imagined scenario, he’s the babbling, murderous maniac. But still, you have to admit that he kind of has a point.
For years Diaz has bristled at any attempt by the UFC, which he sees as intentional, to put him in contact with people he may fight at some point. From overlapping open workout schedules that force him to catch a glimpse of other fighters, to rides to and from the airport, everywhere Diaz looks he sees this subtle brand of sabotage. Why it seems to bother him so much more than other fighters is a question for another day, but you have to admit that he’s come up with an effective way of shutting down any camaraderie before it starts.
By maintaining open hostility toward all potential opponents, Diaz said he prevents other fighters from feeling comfortable around him, which is true. From lightweights to welterweights (and probably a few guys both higher and lower on the scale), very few UFC fighters would tell you that being around either of the Diaz brothers is a comfortable experience.
The way Diaz sees it is pretty simple: “You stay on your side, I’ll stay on my side.”
Fortunately for him — or perhaps unfortunately, depending on how you think about it — Cerrone is just fine with that philosophy.
“Whatever he has to do in his mind to justify his fighting tactics, that’s what he does,” Cerrone said. “I don’t care. I could fight Leonard, you know. That’s my best friend, we’ll go in there and get paid. That’s what we do for a living. So what he has to do to get ready, whether that’s talk [expletive] or not [be] friends with people, I understand where he’s coming from.”
The question for Cerrone is, what do you do with that? While “Cowboy” said he was expecting plenty of expletives and middle fingers when he gets in the cage with Diaz, he admitted he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d react to it. After all, he’s not exactly the wholesome choir boy from Diaz’s hypothetical. Will it help him to give the vitriol right back to Diaz, or would that be playing right into his opponent’s hands?
“And that is what I’m working on,” Cerrone said. “I don’t know. Do I get mad at him? Do I use what he’s been doing all week, slapping my hand, against [him]? I’ve got to figure that out.”
The failed introduction was still fresh in Cerrone’s mind when he was offered a fight with Diaz, he said. He hadn’t yet returned to his locker room when a UFC official mentioned Diaz’s name as a possible next opponent, and his reaction was immediate: “Cool, let’s go.”
Only now that the simmering hostilities are about to give way to the sanctioned brutality they both get paid for, what is Cerrone supposed to do about Diaz’s unique approach to relationships with colleagues? Even if you don’t want to be the guy’s friend, does that mean you have to give him what he wants and be his enemy? Is it smart? Is it helpful?
At that, even “Cowboy” shrugged.
“I do not have an answer for it yet,” he said.
Maybe it’s the kind of thing you have to find out for yourself on fight night. Maybe once it starts, how you react to it isn’t even entirely up to you.
Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting ExclusiveThere comes a time for professional athletes when they start to get asked about how much longer they will continue competing. It’s different for everyone. It might be brought on by a lack of success or injury or …
There comes a time for professional athletes when they start to get asked about how much longer they will continue competing. It’s different for everyone. It might be brought on by a lack of success or injury or age. And usually when the question comes, it never lets up, until reaching the point where not a single interview goes by without being asked about the possibility of retirement.
That’s about the stage that’s been reached by Vladimir Matyushenko, the veteran UFC light-heavyweight who will turn 41 years old just five days after his UFC 141 bout with fast-rising prospect Alexander Gustafsson.
It’s a question Matyushenko has every intention of deflecting as long as possible. And why shouldn’t he? The UFC light-heavyweight has won five of his last six fights, including two in a row by knockout. His most recent, a 20-second KO of Jason Brilz in April, was the second-fastest finish of his 14-year career.
But his age combined with his resume and win streak put him in a unique situation. Is he a contender, a gatekeeper or somewhere in between?
The Friday night bout with Gustafsson is at least a step forward in determining the answer to that question. Matyushenko (26-5) himself won’t discuss his place in the UFC without a bit of prodding. Focused solely on what’s directly in front of him, he knows it’s not quite worth the energy to think about any extraneous minutiae. But if you ask more than once, he does admit he still harbors championship dreams.
“Yes, I definitely do,” he told MMA Fighting. Then he adds, “It’s always in the back of my head.”
He says that as if to point out that he’s not overlooking the task in front of him, but that goes without saying for one of MMA’s true pros. So focused was he on UFC 141 that the holiday season ceased to exist for him. For Matyushenko, there was no shopping, no binging and no problems. He didn’t even buy his wife a gift.
“But she’s happy, so I’m happy,” he said.
Indeed, all of his attention has been on Gustafsson, who at 24 years old, is just four years older than Matyushenko’s son Roman. Aside from one blip on his record in a submission loss to Phil Davis, Gustafsson (12-1) has impressed many with his rapidly maturing game. All four of his UFC wins have been by finish, and he’s only been to a decision once in his career. In his last bout, Gustafsson thrashed Matt Hamill, sending him into retirement following a second-round TKO.
Count Matyushenko among those who have been impressed by the Swede’s recent tear. Matyushenko described him as tall, young and athletic.
“In a way,” he said, “he looks like a white Jon Jones.”
Of course, Matyushenko already had the real Jon Jones experience in a fight that led to the most lopsided loss of his career. Jones won by TKO in just 1:52 of the first round. So why will this time around be different?
He said that he’s learned to adapt with the changing nature of MMA. He pointed to fighters like Jones, Anderson Silva, and Junior dos Santos who emphasize technique over brawling but still fight in exciting fashion. Attempting to reinvent and refine the “Janitor” has helped keep things fresh.
“The best fighters are not just bulky, strong guys,” he said. “They’re fast and athletic. You have to train, to move. You can’t stand in front of people like that. Everything is changing and I’m changing with it. I’m getting prepared for that. I’m not in the gym fooling around. But that’s the learning process. That’s what actually keeps me going. I don’t like doing the same thing over and over. I like change.”
Matyushenko is well accustomed to changing scenery. In a career that began in 1997, he’s competed in multiple promotions and under various rule sets that predated modern MMA. When he began his career, he wore wrestling shoes in the cage. At various times, he fought a 25-minute round, went the distance with Tito Ortiz in a five-round decision loss when Ortiz was the long-reigning champ, and later captured the IFL light-heavyweight championship.
Unlike some others, Matyushenko wasn’t left behind when the sport began evolving. Showing his ability to adapt, he went 13-3 from 1997 through 2004, and has a 13-2 record since the start of 2005.
Despite a solid and consistent career, he never quite earned the accolades or name recognition enjoyed by some other 40-something MMA stars that have come before him like Randy Couture and Dan Henderson — names that Matyushenko mentions when discussing his own longevity.
That is at least partly because a major belt has eluded him. Despite all the accomplishments on his resume, that omission is one that he hopes to rectify. Even nearing 41, he believes he still has the time to do it.
“One fight at a time, but my goal is to kick some ass,” he said. “Right now, my goals are simple: to make weight and go fight.
“My weight division is pretty stacked,” he continued. “There are a lot of guys doing well. I’m not kidding myself saying I’m going to be champion next month. If it’s going to happen, it’s a long way to go, but it’s possible. Anything is possible.”
Funny thing about Matyushenko: when he got his “Janitor” nickname, it was back when he was a teenager wrestling internationally, and he beat Olympic gold medalist Kevin Jackson. Just beforehand, Matyushenko had been cleaning the mats, and a U.S. team member told Jackson he’d gotten beat by the janitor.
So there are two constants in Matyushenko’s career going forward. One is the retirement question that doesn’t seem likely to disappear even if he continues making younger fighters wilt under his pressure. And the second is being underestimated. From teen upstart to respected veteran, he’s done nothing but excelled.
Filed under: UFCLAS VEGAS — For two guys who are supposed to fight each other at UFC 141 in a few days, Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar sure don’t seem to want to admit that they’ve been thinking about the other. In fact, if you believe Overeem, he’…
LAS VEGAS — For two guys who are supposed to fight each other at UFC 141 in a few days, Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar sure don’t seem to want to admit that they’ve been thinking about the other. In fact, if you believe Overeem, he’s actually watched far fewer Lesnar fights since agreeing to the bout than he did when he and the former WWE star were in completely different organizations.
After a light workout at the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter gym here on Tuesday, Overeem said he’d been “a fan of [Lesnar’s] fights” since back when the big man first came on the scene.
“He was one of the fights I would watch,” Overeem said. “…Because his fights, he is a figure that attracts attention. His fights are entertaining. He does bring it. He does always go for the kill.”
Only now that he’s had the last couple months to study up on Lesnar’s seven-fight career, suddenly he’s lost interest. He hasn’t watched any footage of his Friday night foe to prepare for this particular bout. So he says, anyway.
Describing film study as something he decides to engage in or ignore based “on emotion,” Overeem told members of the media that he simply hasn’t felt like watching Lesnar’s old bouts.
“Sometimes I feel like it and I’ll do it,” Overeem said. “Sometimes I won’t feel like it.”
Kind of a strange way to approach pre-fight preparation, but if you dig a little deeper you get an answer that makes a little more sense. Or rather, you get two contradictory answers, neither of which gets you any closer to figuring out what the Dutch heavyweight is thinking.
For starters, he explained that while he sometimes likes to look at film and “check up on things” before a fight, he opted not to do it this time because “I think when you look at Brock, it’s pretty straightforward what he’s going to do.”
This was an explanation that made sense, at least until he followed it up by saying that the danger of watching too much footage is that you end up ill-prepared for any non-straightforward tactics.
“Sometimes, like, you’re caught up in, is he going to take you down?” Overeem said. “You don’t want to get caught up in that movement. Because maybe he’s going to stand up and trade punches.”
In other words, Overeem doesn’t need to study film because he already knows what Lesnar will do, but he also doesn’t want to make the mistake of assuming that he’ll do it. Got that?
But Overeem isn’t the only one who’s playing it close in the days leading up to the fight. Lesnar admitted to watching fight footage of Overeem, who he claimed not to know very well at all until the fight was announced, but said he mainly looks for tendencies rather than specific attributes. And anyway, Lesnar added, he pretty much assumes the guy must be good if he’s fighting in the UFC.
“This is a guy who’s threatening, obviously. You don’t get into this company and get into this division if you’re not a threat. This isn’t bingo hall fighting, your local fights…It’s the real thing and anything can happen.”
Lesnar, as it turned out, was far more interested in talking about his life as a farmer than a fighter. He blissfully described ten-hour days in a combine as if they were a soothing vacation, and — who knows? — maybe they were, at least for Lesnar. After all, when he’s locked in a combine with only the radio and his own thoughts he doesn’t have to hear all our incessant questions about why he’s still doing this or whether he’s thinking of giving it up soon, the way he did with the WWE and the NFL.
Somewhat understandably, he’s also getting a little tired of those questions, especially after he endured a surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon and still turned right around and got in the gym to prepare for this fight.
“I don’t know why people question the desire. I mean, for [expletive]’s sakes, what do I gotta go through? What do I gotta do? …I don’t know. I love what I do and I’m here.”
And that guy he’s going to fight on Friday night? Yeah, he’s here too. They might not want to think very much about the other right now, but in a few days it’s going to be more or less unavoidable.
MMA Fix brings you our exclusive UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem Open Workouts photo gallery featuring Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Nate Diaz. Photos by Silton Buendia.
MMA Fix brings you our exclusive UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem Open Workouts photo gallery featuring Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Nate Diaz. Photos by Silton Buendia.
Nam Phan burst onto the UFC scene in the fall of 2010 as a member of Josh Koscheck’s team on the 12th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” during which time he became the first person to ever beat the master of the “McKenzietine,” Cody McKenzie, and almos…
Nam Phan burst onto the UFC scene in the fall of 2010 as a member of Josh Koscheck’s team on the 12th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” during which time he became the first person to ever beat the master of the “McKenzietine,” Cody McKenzie, and almost knocked off Georges St-Pierre’s top pick Michael Johnson in the semifinals.
Since the show, Phan is 1-2 with a loss to Mike Brown and a win and a loss to Leonard Garcia, though many people believe he won both of those fights.
In his second fight with Garcia on the main card of UFC 136, Phan and Garcia got into a slugfest that saw about as much defense being shown as there’d be in a New York Knicks game. The brawl earned both men fight-of-the-night honors as Phan won by unanimous decision.
If Phan wants to have any chance of beating Jim Hettes on December 30, the black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and karate will need a completely new gameplan.
Hettes comes into the fight with a perfect 9-0 record, with all of his victories coming by way of submission. Six of his wins have come within one round, and back in August he submitted fellow “TUF” Season 12 alum Alex Caceres with a rear naked choke.
Hettes will be one of Phan’s biggest tests to date, and a game plan like the one he showed at UFC 136 may very well earn him his third official loss in his last four fights.
To beat someone like Hettes, Phan will need to work on his ground game. Avoiding the ground for 15 minutes against someone like Hettes will be near impossible, and Hettes will look for the submission finish the second the fight goes to the ground, as he’s used five different submission variations to finish fights.
Nam Phan has the tools to be a contender at 145 pounds. Now he just has to use them right.
LAS VEGAS — By now you’ve probably heard about the run-in 
There comes a time for professional athletes when they start to get asked about how much longer they will continue competing. It’s different for everyone. It might be brought on by a lack of success or injury or age. And usually when the question comes, it never lets up, until reaching the point where not a single interview goes by without being asked about the possibility of retirement.
LAS VEGAS — For two guys who are supposed to fight each other at 
Nam Phan burst onto the UFC scene in the fall of 2010 as a member of Josh Koscheck’s team on the 12th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” during which time he became the first person to ever beat the master of the “McKenzietine,” Cody McKenzie, and almost knocked off Georges St-Pierre’s top pick Michael Johnson in the semifinals.