Alistair Overeem and Travis Browne are set to meet this Saturday at the inaugural UFC on Fox Sports 1 fight card. The matchup is between the No. 5-ranked and No. 8-ranked heavyweight respectively.
The winner will move in to title contention, and that i…
Alistair Overeem and Travis Browne are set to meet this Saturday at the inaugural UFC on Fox Sports 1 fight card. The matchup is between the No. 5-ranked and No. 8-ranked heavyweight respectively.
The winner will move in to title contention, and that is a big reason why this fight is the co-main event of the evening.
Travis Browne rebounded from his only professional loss, to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, with an impressive KO over Gabriel Gonzaga at The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale. The win moved his record to 14-1-1, and garnered him the Knockout of the Night bonus.
Overeem will be returning to action for the first time since his loss to Silva at UFC 156. This is his chance to lay claim to a title shot with an impressive win.
With a lot riding on this fight, each man will look to throw heavy leather in order to win by KO. Here is your breakdown of the big heavyweight showdown.
Urijah Faber is a leader through and through.
Back when the lighter weight classes were all but cast aside on the grander MMA landscape, “The California Kid” was the lone fighter drawing attention below the 155-pound line. The long-reigning WEC feather…
Back when the lighter weight classes were all but cast aside on the grander MMA landscape, “The California Kid” was the lone fighter drawing attention below the 155-pound line. The long-reigning WEC featherweight champion was the king of the “little blue cage” and helped open the doors for a new era of fighter to make their mark on the sport’s biggest stage.
While Faber’s time as a champion would come to an end before the WEC/UFC merger in 2011, his leadership talents never missed a beat. In his hometown of Sacramento, Calif., the 34-year-old former title challenger was mentoring a new batch of future contenders who were about to break through.
Faber’s Team Alpha Male squad has produced two perennial title challengers in featherweight Chad Mendes and former No. 1 bantamweight contender turned flyweight threat Joseph Benavidez. All three have competed for titles in their respective weight classes over the past two years, and are building up tremendous momentum in route to another opportunity in the near future.
While Team Alpha Male has already established itself as a force to be reckoned with inside the cage, Faber believes the success is going to continue for many years to come.
“We have good leadership on the team. It starts with myself, and how I approach things,” Faber told Bleacher Report. “Then like-minded people join the group and we feed off one another. It’s kind of funny when you talk about missed opportunities for UFC titles. It wasn’t all too long ago the UFC brought in 125-, 135- and 145-pound divisions. We’ve already had these title shots and we aren’t going anywhere. We are super deep in our lineups. We are four and five guys deep that can compete at a world-class level in any of those divisions.
“You are talking about guys who have only lost title fights and are young guys at that. Joseph and Chad are still young in their careers, and I still have plenty of years left in mine. We all live healthy lifestyles. Danny Castillo has been on a tear, as well, and he’s one of the main guys on our team.
“We weren’t planning on losing any of these fights, and on top of that we brought in a new coach in Duane Ludwig who is inspiring and is a great addition to the group. It brings a great energy to the gym and is extremely motivating.”
“These title shots are not going to stop,” he added. “We are going to be getting title shots for the next 15 years if everything goes the way I want it to.”
After a decade competing at the highest level of the sport, most fighters would be winding things to a close, but Faber is far from the norm. The Sacramento-based former title challenger has built a storied career and has continued to hover on the title radar every step of the way.
His two most recent victories have come in dominant fashion over two established veterans the likes of Ivan Menjivar and Scott Jorgensen. He faces Yuri Alcantara this weekend at UFC Fight Night 26: Shogun vs. Sonnen, and a victory for Faber in Boston will put him on the doorstep of another title shot at 135 pounds.
While another championship opportunity would be nice, Faber doesn’t concern himself too heavily with what will come next. His main focus these days is to keep the momentum rolling and enjoy being in a position to capitalize on opportunities after 10 years competing inside the cage.
“It feels great to be a decade into my career and still rolling,” Faber said. “Especially these days with so many naysayers. There is the Internet, social media and all of these new reporters that want to jump into the game and they think they know what they are talking about.
“All I can do is shut out the negativity, embrace the positive vibes, train and perform the way I know I have to, and silence the naysayers by doing. I’m not a talker…I’m a doer. That’s what I’m going to continue to do. Each year is a new year that brings new opportunities and I’m right here ready to seize them.
“Having fun is very important and I kind of got away from that for awhile. Right after The Ultimate Fighter, I had a big opportunity taken away from me when [Dominick] Cruz and I were supposed to fight. I started dwelling on stupid little things like money and missed opportunities, and I had to get myself out of that head space right away. I had to realize how lucky I am and how fun this career is. I had to make sure I was getting out to the ocean and enjoying life instead of dwelling on the things that didn’t happen. That’s no way to live. It’s no way to better your career. Now, I’m always reminding myself on what I need to focus on, and that is enjoying life.
“I’m just going to keep rolling and that is where my head is at,” Faber added. “I know there are opportunities out there, and they are there because I’ve been working hard and performing. I’m going to continue to do that.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
Fox Sports 1 will launch on August 17, with a big part of their opening day programming being dedicated to the UFC and their show, UFC Fight Night 26, from Boston on Saturday night.
The new all-sports destination is Fox’s answer to other networks like …
Fox Sports 1 will launch on August 17, with a big part of their opening day programming being dedicated to the UFC and their show, UFC Fight Night 26, from Boston on Saturday night.
The new all-sports destination is Fox’s answer to other networks like ESPN, and the UFC will play an integral part in the move with a ton of original programming and a slew of live event cards filling many hours on the station.
The only problem right now is Fox Sports 1 still hasn’t secured broadcasting deals with many of the top cable and satellite providers with time counting down until Saturday’s launch date.
UFC president Dana White addressed the issue as much as he could during a media conference call on Monday, leaving his faith in the executives at Fox to get a deal done in time for all major distributors to have access to Fox Sports 1.
“This is what these guys do, this is what Fox does—they build networks and they negotiate with these different systems,” White stated. “A lot of times these things go right down to the wire. Am I worried about it? Not one bit. I’m not worried about it, I’m not thinking about it, it’s not my concern. I have no control over this thing, it’s not what I do, so whatever happens, happens this week.”
According to a report from Sports Business Daily on Monday, seven distributors, including Comcast, Cablevision, Charter, Cox, Verizon, AT&T and Suddenlink, have reached deals with Fox to carry Fox Sports 1 from the day it launches. Those seven companies make up about 45 million subscribers.
The problem is Fox still hasn’t secured deals with three of the largest carriers including DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable. Those three alone make up for 54 percent of the subscriber based television market.
Now, it has to be noted that many of the deals between networks and distributors often go down to the wire with contracts being secured sometimes hours before a broadcast happens.
In 2011, DirecTV and FX went to battle over broadcast rights with both taking to the airwaves and the internet to air out their grievances. DirecTV had until Nov. 1 to settle the issue, or FX would have been taken off their satellite package. With just hours to go until the deadline, executives from FX and DirecTVreached an agreement on a new deal.
On the bad side, however, there is still an ongoing battle currently between CBS and Time Warner Cable where their negotiations broke down so badly that the cable provider yanked the stations along with Showtime networks (who are owned by CBS) from their network.
Time Warner removed CBS and Showtime on August 2 and, as of now, the blackout remains in effect. The 10-day battle continues with both parties still in negotiations to try and resolve their issues.
So at this point, it’s unknown if Fox Sports 1 will launch without those three providers, but all hope is not lost because these kinds of negotiations are common and often come down to the last minute.
Fox Sports 1 launches on Saturday, August 17 so there’s still time to get the deals done as negotiations continue between all parties.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston didn’t come without a lot of headaches for the promotion, including a new showdown with the culinary union, based out of Las Vegas, that continued their vendetta against the company’s owners.
When the card was first announc…
UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston didn’t come without a lot of headaches for the promotion, including a new showdown with the culinary union, based out of Las Vegas, that continued their vendetta against the company’s owners.
When the card was first announced, the UFC encountered a new issue that they didn’t experience in 2010 when they visited Boston for their debut in the city. A law was enacted that fighters had to have social security numbers to be able to participate on the card, and while foreign fighters were eligible to receive temporary numbers, it still created a logjam of issues to take care of for a show filled with international talent.
Fighters like Canadian Nick Ring even had to be removed from the card when he was unable to secure the proper documentation to fight in Boston.
In addition to that, the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission then received a grievance from Unite Here, a union group that includes Culinary Union 226—a Las Vegas-based union that has been going after the UFC for years due to the company’s owners also possessing Station Casinos, the largest non-unionized gaming facility in the area.
The commission opted to hold a special meeting after the complaint was filed against main-event fighter ChaelSonnen about whether or not he should be issued a fight license to compete in the state. The argument against disallowing Sonnen to fight in the state was about his money laundering conviction that he has on his record, as well as alleged “derogatory” remarks about women and other nationalities.
Sonnen admits that the entire situation could have been a major distraction to him had he known about it.
“It confused me more than it upset me. I didn’t know much about it,” Sonnen said during a media conference call on Monday. “I got a text message the day of a hearing that was scheduled by the commission, so I didn’t know about it and I didn’t have any time to prepare. I got a text message, I called in, I was there to answer questions, I wasn’t asked any questions, I was on the phone for less than a minute.
“I was very happy that the commission saw it that way, but yeah, it was something that could have caused me a great deal of stress had I known about it.”
UFC president Dana White‘s long-standing grudge with the culinary union has been well documented over the last few years. The unions have played a major part in preventing the UFC from receiving the proper legislature to get MMA sanctioned in New York State, and now this is just another case where the union is throwing their weight around.
Like anything else, White says it all really comes down to money.
“For the simple fact that they’re spending their union members dues to try to hurt the UFC, which has nothing to do with the union members or whatever it might be. It’s so transparent and just so ridiculous,” White stated. “For instance, what they do is they use different organizations on serious issues. Whether it’s women or gay rights or whatever it may be, they use these different organizations to try to get what they want, and what they want in Station Casinos.
“If they get Station Casinos it’s another $10 million a year to the union. So they’ll use any dirty tactic, and spend as much money as it takes, to try and get Station Casinos.”
That ongoing effort was only the latest in a series of issues the UFC had with their upcoming show in Boston. As much as White loves his hometown, he finds it hard to believe he’ll bring the UFC back there again any time soon.
“I’d be a liar if I said no,” White answered when asked if the entire ordeal surrounding this show could prevent the UFC from returning.
“It’s a great place to go hang out with my friends and eat, but not a great place to put on fights.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Alistair Overeem made a statement in his UFC debut, earning a first round TKO victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in December 2011. The win made Overeem an automatic title contender, and sent Lesnar into retirement.
Overeem’…
Alistair Overeem made a statement in his UFC debut, earning a first round TKO victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in December 2011. The win made Overeem an automatic title contender, and sent Lesnar into retirement.
Overeem’s title shot hopes were dashed when he failed an out-of-competition drug test. The failed drug test put Overeem on the shelf for nine months.
When he returned he was confident, some would say too confident, that he would walk through his opponent Antonio Silva and reclaim his lost title shot.
Silva had other plans, and he was successful in turning those plans into reality, knocking out Overeem early in the third round of that February 2013 fight.
Overeem (36-12-0-1) will make his return to the Octagon on August 17, facing Travis Browne (13-1-1) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 26.
On Monday, Overeem participated in the media call for the event. Speaking about the Silva fight, and if the knockout loss meant anything more to him than just a number in the loss column, Overeem said, “I took some time off, to think about everything, but I’m not a person that gets depressed. I just think of what’s next.”
Some would say that Overeem will be under additional pressure when he faces Browne. After all, he went from retiring a former champion to being knocked out by an opponent that he was a -315 favorite to defeat. Overeem isn’t looking at things that way, “I’m not really thinking about all that stuff. I just focus on my own thing, which is getting back on track, getting the workouts in, and assembling a new team. I don’t really focus on what other people think or what’s going to happen after this fight or the fight after. It’s up to the gentlemen of the UFC to decide what they’re going to do next.”
Overeem’s tone was missing a bit of the swagger he had in the lead up to the Silva fight. There were no boasts from Overeem, no dismissive comments toward his opponent. It was as if Silva, in sending Overeem crashing to the mat, did him a favor. The loss may have been a wake up call of sorts for the former Strikeforce champion.
“I’ve just been really focused on my own development. I made a lot of changes in the camp, in the preparation, in the whole process. So, I’ve just been focused on myself and for me it’s just important to get that win. I put 100 percent effort into that, into my preparation.”
Focus and preparation were two things that were clearly lacking when Overeem faced Silva. We’ll find out on August 17 if including those two important items in his current camp will yield a more positive outcome.
*All quotes obtained first hand by Bleacher Report.
Chael Sonnen will make one more appearance at 205 pounds before returning to the middleweight division for what could be his final run at a UFC championship.
At UFC Fight Night 26, Sonnen will meet Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of the UFC deb…
Chael Sonnen will make one more appearance at 205 pounds before returning to the middleweight division for what could be his final run at a UFC championship.
At UFC Fight Night 26, Sonnen will meet Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of the UFC debut event on Fox Sports 1. Both Sonnen and Rua lost their last fights and are hoping to get back into the win column this Saturday.
In July, Sonnen announced on Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight that his bout with Rua would be his final showing in the light heavyweight class before returning to a 185-pound division that saw him compete for a title on two occasions.
Will Sonnen carry some momentum into his transition?
It’s time to take a look at whether Sonnen or Rua is more likely to have their hand raised this weekend.
