Davis is also on the heels of a less-than-spectacular (fine, let’s call it what it was, abysmal) performance — albeit in victory — over Vinny Magalhaes at UFC 159. Suffice it to say, if the thought of seeing Rashad Evans try to score 50 takedowns against Hendo at UFC 161 really gets your engine revving, then you are going to need a Valium or six to make it through the spectacle that will be Davis sauntering after Machida for three rounds attempting to do the same.
Davis is also on the heels of a less-than-spectacular (fine, let’s call it what it was, abysmal) performance — albeit in victory — over Vinny Magalhaes at UFC 159. Suffice it to say, if the thought of seeing Rashad Evans try to score 50 takedowns against Hendo at UFC 161 really gets your engine revving, then you are going to need a Valium or six to make it through the spectacle that will be Davis sauntering after Machida for three rounds attempting to do the same.
As much as it appears UFC 161 fighter Roy Nelson isn’t on Dana White’s Christmas card list, he certainly should be with his willingness to step up and help the promotion at every turn. Despite a notably rocky relationship over the past few years, Nelso…
As much as it appears UFC 161 fighter Roy Nelson isn’t on Dana White‘s Christmas card list, he certainly should be with his willingness to step up and help the promotion at every turn.
Despite a notably rocky relationship over the past few years, Nelson has always been the go-to fighter when the UFC need someone to help save a card.When UFC 160’s co-main event was in jeopardy because Mark Hunt couldn’t secure a travel visa to get into the United States, Nelson was the fighter that matchmaker Joe Silva had on speed dial in case of an emergency.
Now with UFC 161 taking more knives to the chest than a character on Game of Thrones, Nelson got the call once again to help shore up an ailing card that already lost a main event and, just a day ago, lost a co-main event fighter as well.
Nelson was offered the fight and accepted without even knowing who he’d be facing.While the arrow finally landed on Ohio fighter StipeMiocic, the call was made to several other prominent UFC heavyweights, who all politely declined to take the same position that Nelson accepted without question.
“I think I’m one of those guys that just straight fight and fight anybody.I’m always down for the UFC. If they call me up and say ‘Roy do you want to fight?’, I’m always like ‘Sure, let’s do it.‘ I don’t cry—let’s fight.I’m always down to do that,” Nelson told Bleacher Report recently.“A lot of other fighters in our business are actually more businessmen, which is smart. I am now the smartest man, and I think that’s the reason why Dana said it [(too), because I’m the UFC’s smart man.I just take any fight.While other guys in the business would be like ‘Are you kidding? I’m not going to take a fight in two weeks.Are you freaking kidding me?‘
“There’s definitely guys that called me out and turned down fights.I guess all the big wigs, who you can think of.I think D.C. (Daniel Cormier) was one of them, I think Travis Browne turned it down so he could fight (Alistair) Overeem.”
There is something to be said for playing it smart and not taking a fight on two weeks notice if a fighter is not truly ready for the battle ahead.When the fight is over, rarely does anyone remember six months or a year later the story that led up to a particular loss—they only that the loss happened.
Nelson also understands why some fighters are hesitant to take any fight, much less one against him, with only a few days to prepare.
“I understand it from a business stand point.Who would take a fight on two weeks notice?That would not be smart from a business stand point,” Nelson stated.“We make our money off of wins, and in our business, we make money off of entertainment and selling tickets and pay-per-views and stuff.I guess those guys get paid off of wins, so I guess it doesn’t make sense to put yourself in the hole to try and get a win off of two weeks of actual training.”
Nelson isn’t ignorant about the business side of mixed martial arts, but he also knows that every chance he gets to fight is a chance to get more experience and provide for his family. If his body and mind are ready for the fight, then Nelson sees no reason not to step into the fray and challenge whoever the UFC throws in front of him.
“My goal to be a fighter is to have that pretty gold strap around my waist and also take care of my family,” Nelson said.“That’s (all) anybody that gets into the fight business wants to do—the fighting part and also the business part.That’s pretty much what I want.I had a good talk with Lorenzo (Fertitta) and he wants to see me get paid the most money I can ever make in my life—he wants to see that happen. I appreciate that, Lorenzo.”
The “pretty gold strap,” as Nelson calls it, always seems to be a little further out of reach for him than other fighters, but according to UFC president Dana White, it’s not because he doesn’t personally get along with the former Ultimate Fighter winner.
It’s because he’s not facing the best heavyweights in the world.
“Roy loves to say I’ll never give him a title shot,” White said in the interview with Yahoo! Sports.“But dude, beat someone and then I’ll give you the shot. Roy is knocking off these guys ranked six through 10, but when he gets to fighting the top five guys, he can’t do the same thing. You’re not going to get a title shot for beating No. 6 and No. 8. You have to beat the top guys.”
Still, Nelson is the guy the UFC called to step in and fill a very needed slot on the UFC 161 card, and despite their best attempts to get a higher ranked opponent to face him, none were willing on such short notice.
Nelson doesn’t like the politics that seem to go hand-in-hand with a fighter earning a title shot in the UFC, but it’s all part of the game. Strategically, chess pieces are moved around the board, but there’s no denying that the UFC hierarchy has a full load of kings and queens and sometimes Nelson is left feeling like a lowly pawn.
“Anything can happen in MMA.You can fight for the championship, you cannot fight for the championship, they’re in the fight business and sometimes it’s about making marquee fights,” Nelson commented.“I think Dana even mentioned when Overeem lost to (Bigfoot Silva), he lost a lot of money because he lost.They have their hopes and dreams on who they want to fight and the matchups.I think Dana even mentioned Cain (Velasquez) fighting in Houston, and I think that’s because of the Hispanic (community) down in the Texas area.So I think they want Cain to win because it makes sense.
“If you have Roy Nelson as the champion, they don’t want the UFC to hit mainstream. Cause that would actually happen if Roy did (win), because there are a lot of Roy Nelson’s out there.”
Nelson certainly has endeared himself as the “every man” in the UFC.He’s not walking around with the chiseled physique that some of the other fighters wear like a badge of honor.What Nelson does so well, however, is go out and put on fights the fans want to watch, and very few times—win, lose or draw—do opponents go out of their way to ask to face Nelson again.
“I just want to go out there, and I know every time I go out there I just want to get better and better and better.If I lose, I learn from that and get better.If I win, I take that and get better,” Nelson said.“I know I can give a fight to anybody, and nobody will ever want to fight me again.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
A featured light heavyweight bout is expected to take place at UFC 163 coming up in August when former champion Lyoto Machida faces former NCAA champion Phil Davis in Brazil. The fight was reported on Monday by MMAWeekly.com, with verbal agreements in …
A featured light heavyweight bout is expected to take place at UFC 163 coming up in August when former champion LyotoMachida faces former NCAA champion Phil Davis in Brazil.
The fight was reported on Monday by MMAWeekly.com, with verbal agreements in place for the 205-pound showdown taking place on the card headlined by featherweight champion Jose Aldo facing Anthony Pettis.
Following his last fight at UFC 157 in February, which ended in a win over Dan Henderson, LyotoMachida was expected to be the new No. 1 contender for the UFC light heavyweight title.Unfortunately for him, the current champion remains Jon Jones, and their last fight ended with Machida losing by submission in one of the most memorable finishes in recent UFC history.
Machida‘s loss to Jones, coupled with a close and somewhat unexciting fight against Henderson in February, seems to have bumped him back in line in the contender’s race, but he will still get the chance to fight at home in Brazil for his next bout.
Hoping to add his own name to the list of top contenders in the division, Phil Davis jumps back into the deep end at light heavyweight after picking up wins over Wagner Prado and Vinny Magalhaes in the last year.
Davis has been looked at as one of the best prospects at 205-pounds for the last few years, with a tremendous wrestling base and ever developing stand-up skills to match his grappling.
Davis stumbled in his marquee matchup against Rashad Evans at UFC on Fox 2 last year but now looks to redeem himself against another former champion when he faces Machida in August.
The other piece of the puzzle that all but falls into place with this Machida vs. Davis matchup is the next fight taking place with the UFC light heavyweight title on the line.
For the last few weeks, all signs have pointed to a showdown between Jones and Swedish born fighter Alexander Gustafsson, with both fighters taking to Twitter to rally for the bout to take place.
With Machida now locked up for a fight of his own at UFC 163, it’s all but assured now that Jones vs. Gustafsson will be the next light heavyweight title fight to take place sometime later this year.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report
(Leites sells tickets to the gun show while Marc Ratner continues to stare at Arianny’s tits. / Photo via Sherdog)
You know, there was a time when this website thought that Thales Leites had a legitimate shot at beating Anderson Silva, or could at least give him a good fight. Neither of those things turned out to be accurate, but at the very least, Leites was a top ten middleweight who had strung together five straight UFC wins in 2007-2008, including first-round submissions of Floyd Sword, Ryan Jensen, and Drew McFedries.
Leites’s title challenge against Silva at UFC 97 was both uncompetitive and dull as hell; there was a lot of butt-flopping from Leites, and a lot of weird crap from a clearly disinterested Silva. Leites followed up the unanimous decision loss with a split-decision defeat against Alessio Sakara, and the UFC gave him his walking papers.
Since then, Leites has gone 6-1 competing for promotions like MFC and Superior Challenge, and is riding a three-fight win streak with victories over Tor Troeng, Jeremy Horn, and Matt Horwich. And so, the UFC is giving Leites another chance, three years after his last Octagon appearance, booking him at UFC 163: Aldo vs. Pettis (August 3rd; HSBC Arena, Rio De Janeiro), against former BAMMA champ Tom Watson. Watson is currently 1-1 in the UFC, and is coming off a TKO win over Stanislav Nedkov at UFC on Fuel TV: Barao vs. McDonald.
Can Leites prove his worth the second time around? Do any of you care? In other UFC 163 booking news…
(Leites sells tickets to the gun show while Marc Ratner continues to stare at Arianny’s tits. / Photo via Sherdog)
You know, there was a time when this website thought that Thales Leites had a legitimate shot at beating Anderson Silva, or could at least give him a good fight. Neither of those things turned out to be accurate, but at the very least, Leites was a top ten middleweight who had strung together five straight UFC wins in 2007-2008, including first-round submissions of Floyd Sword, Ryan Jensen, and Drew McFedries.
Leites’s title challenge against Silva at UFC 97 was both uncompetitive and dull as hell; there was a lot of butt-flopping from Leites, and a lot of weird crap from a clearly disinterested Silva. Leites followed up the unanimous decision loss with a split-decision defeat against Alessio Sakara, and the UFC gave him his walking papers.
Since then, Leites has gone 6-1 competing for promotions like MFC and Superior Challenge, and is riding a three-fight win streak with victories over Tor Troeng, Jeremy Horn, and Matt Horwich. And so, the UFC is giving Leites another chance, three years after his last Octagon appearance, booking him at UFC 163: Aldo vs. Pettis (August 3rd; HSBC Arena, Rio De Janeiro), against former BAMMA champ Tom Watson. Watson is currently 1-1 in the UFC, and is coming off a TKO win over Stanislav Nedkov at UFC on Fuel TV: Barao vs. McDonald.
Can Leites prove his worth the second time around? Do any of you care? In other UFC 163 booking news…
Two light-heavyweights in need of a rebound will also be meeting at the 8/3 card. After being out-pointed by Phil Davis at UFC 159, grappling specialist Vinny Magalhaes will return at UFC 164 against Australian fighter Anthony Perosh, who hasn’t competed since his seven-second knockout loss to Ryan Jimmo at UFC 149 last July. In 20 professional fights, the 41-year-old Perosh has never been submitted. We’re not sure if that will matter against Magalhaes, but there you go.
There was little doubt following Anthony Pettis’ first-round knockout over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone back in January that he was the new No. 1 contender in the lightweight division. The victory marked his second straight knockout win in a row (the first …
There was little doubt following Anthony Pettis‘ first-round knockout over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone back in January that he was the new No. 1 contender in the lightweight division.
The victory marked his second straight knockout win in a row (the first came over Joe Lauzon in 2012), and with Pettis already holding a win over UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, everything seemed in place for his title shot.
That was until in an unexpected move, Pettis offered to move down to the featherweight division and face champion Jose Aldo.At the time, Pettis was concerned about how long he’d have to wait to fight Henderson and thought a bout against Aldo would be something the UFC and the fans would get behind.
It didn’t take UFC president Dana White long to make the call, and just days later, Pettis had his fight with Aldo for the UFC featherweight title.
Now with a few months to go until August, when he’ll step into the cage with Aldo in his home country of Brazil as the main event at UFC 163, Pettis is still excited about the fight, but he wants to make it clear that this move to 145 pounds was all about this matchup and not to pick up the UFC title.
“Aldo’s name is what intrigues me.He’s the champ, but his name, he’s one of the pound-for-pound best in the world around my weight class,” Pettis said in a recent interview with Bleacher Report.“So that’s why this fight is so intriguing to me.”
To prepare for Aldo and the featherweight division, Pettis will do a test weight cut down to 145 pounds in about a week to see how his body reacts to the extra 10 pounds he’ll need to shed.Pettis says he’s not too worried about the weight but wants to test things out just to see how he feels.
Assuming everything goes well, Pettis will then begin his full training camp to get ready for the showdown with Aldo in August.
The fight with the UFC’s top featherweight also gives Pettis the chance to face another top-level striker, something he says he’s not really had since signing to the WEC back in 2009.
“My whole career I’ve been fighting wrestlers,” Pettis stated.“If you look back, all of my fights have been against wrestlers.Give me some strikers in front of me and you see how I perform.Another great reason why I chose to fight Aldo: He’s a great fighter, he’s a stand-up guy and he’s going to test me.”
As elated as he is to face an elite stand-up fighter, Pettis was quick to point out, however, that as good as Aldo is, he won’t be able to hang with the former WEC champion once the fists and feet start flying.
“I feel like my stand-up’s something he’s never seen,” Pettis said.“He’s not going to be able to find training partners that can do what I do.I’m used to the leg kicks.I’ve been kicked there since I was five, so I feel like my range is longer than him. I’m bigger than him, I can match him in speed and power and I’ve got a style like nobody else’s.”
If the fight with Aldo goes well, Pettis has made no bones about his desire to eventually move back to the lightweight division and settle things with Henderson in that division as well.For now, his focus can only be on Aldo, but there is no denying he will be a lightweight again one day.
“Aldo’s in my way, I can’t really think about ‘let’s move back to 55.’Let’s see what happens at 45 first and then I’ll make my decision from there,” Pettis stated.“155 is my home.I’ve got a guy like Aldo in front of me, that’s enough for me to focus on.Jose Aldo is next and that’s all I’m focusing on.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
(Also temporary? Pettis’ time as a Cake Boss Intern.)
It is no understatement to say that the upcoming featherweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and Jose Aldo has divided, confused, and outright angered many fans of the sport. It’s a fight that is all but guaranteed to wind up on your best-of-the-year list, sure, but it’s also Pettis’ first fight at featherweight, as well as Aldo’s second straight title defense against a guy who built his reputation in an entirely different weight class. It’s at this point that we’d normally reference Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones, the baffling randomness at which title shots are being handed out, the fragility of human life, etc. But we’re tired, you guys. Damn tired…*cries into shot glass* *drinks own tears*
And now, adding to the confusion is none other than Pettis himself, who recently stated in an interview with The NY Post that his drop to featherweight “isn’t permanent.” Uh….the fuck?
A lot of things led to my cutting down to 145. I was tired of waiting for a 155 pound title shot.
It’s not a permanent weight cut (to featherweight). But a striker like myself and Aldo, it doesn’t really matter what weight class it happens at. It’s going to be fireworks either way.
(Also temporary? Pettis’ time as a Cake Boss Intern.)
It is no understatement to say that the upcoming featherweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and Jose Aldo has divided, confused, and outright angered many fans of the sport. It’s a fight that is all but guaranteed to wind up on your best-of-the-year list, sure, but it’s also Pettis’ first fight at featherweight, as well as Aldo’s second straight title defense against a guy who built his reputation in an entirely different weight class. It’s at this point that we’d normally reference Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones, the baffling randomness at which title shots are being handed out, the fragility of human life, etc. But we’re tired, you guys. Damn tired…*cries into shot glass* *drinks own tears*
And now, adding to the confusion is none other than Pettis himself, who recently stated in an interview with The NY Post that his drop to featherweight “isn’t permanent.” Uh….the fuck?
A lot of things led to my cutting down to 145. I was tired of waiting for a 155 pound title shot.
It’s not a permanent weight cut (to featherweight). But a striker like myself and Aldo, it doesn’t really matter what weight class it happens at. It’s going to be fireworks either way.
So to sum things up, we now have a natural lightweight with no plans of remaining at featherweight fighting for the featherweight title against the most dominant featherweight in MMA history, who will in turn receive a lightweight title shot should he beat the lightweight #1 contender in a featherweight title fight. Oh yes, and that lightweight/apparently featherweight #1 contender is also the last man to beat the current lightweight champ, who will instead face the winner of the upcoming fight between the #3 and #7 ranked lightweights. Who is the #2 ranked lightweight, you ask? That would be the guy currently fighting for the featherweight title.
As much as it appears UFC 161 fighter Roy Nelson isn’t on 
