Tag: UFC News

Bisping Says He Can’t Wait To Punch “Smug Assh*le” Rockhold At UFC 199

Michael Bisping is not oblivious to the fact that he is an enormous underdog heading into his short-notice rematch with UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 next month, in fact, he’s well-aware of that fact heading into their second fight…

michael-bisping-new

Michael Bisping is not oblivious to the fact that he is an enormous underdog heading into his short-notice rematch with UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 next month, in fact, he’s well-aware of that fact heading into their second fight.

“Look, I know I’m the underdog, Luke is a great fighter, he finishes guys and he’s finished me before,” Bisping said on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com. “But, nothing about Luke scares me, it really doesn’t. I know this guy, it’s not like I’m going into unknown waters. I know exactly what to expect. Apart from that one head kick that dropped me, none of his shots hurt me at all. I believe I’m faster than him and I have the ability to beat this guy, believe you me. We trained before and I made mince meat out of him. When we fought, God bless him, he got the job done. But, every fight is different and I will approach this fight very differently. I made some mistakes in that last fight — I closed the distance then I went out of range. I was going in and out the whole time. This time, I am not going to play the long game, I can’t afford to do that. He’s going to have the better conditioning, let’s be honest. If it goes five rounds, I have to go slower, but I am going to look to take him out early by closing the distance, push him up against the fence and unleash what I got and I believe I can take him out.”

Heading into their second Octagon meeting, “The Count,” who was told it was his “destiny” to be Rockhold’s “bitch” during a recent interview with the champ, has no love-lost for the reigning 185-pound king. As he points out, he’s very much looking forward to punching Rockhold, who he referred to as a “smug assh*le.”

“He’s a smug assh*le, let’s be honest,” said Bisping. “Listen, as I said, I want the shot, want to be the champion, but I have this this inner fight in me, I pride myself in being a fighter, even in school. If there was a kid who was a couple of years older who thought he could beat me in a fight, I was like, ‘Cool, let’s go to the Castle Field and let’s figure it out. I’ve always been like that, it’s to my detriment, of course. Rockhold owns a victory over me, I want to rectify that. I want to set the record straight. Yes, I want to be the victor, world champion, but I also want to beat Luke Rockhold, it is personal to me. And when I look at him, I just want to knock that smug look off his face. I really do because you’ve never seen someone who walks around so smug. He’s just the biggest, smug prick you’ve seen in your life and I would love another opportunity to punch him in the face and be world champion at the same time.”

UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping II is scheduled for Saturday, June 4, 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Featuring a co-main event of Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber for the UFC Bantamweight Championship, UFC 199 will air live on pay-per-view.

Make sure to join us here at MMANews.com on 6/4 for the best UFC 199 live results coverage on the web!

Bisping Says He Can’t Wait To Punch “Smug Assh*le” Rockhold At UFC 199

Michael Bisping is not oblivious to the fact that he is an enormous underdog heading into his short-notice rematch with UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 next month, in fact, he’s well-aware of that fact heading into their second fight…

michael-bisping-new

Michael Bisping is not oblivious to the fact that he is an enormous underdog heading into his short-notice rematch with UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 next month, in fact, he’s well-aware of that fact heading into their second fight.

“Look, I know I’m the underdog, Luke is a great fighter, he finishes guys and he’s finished me before,” Bisping said on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com. “But, nothing about Luke scares me, it really doesn’t. I know this guy, it’s not like I’m going into unknown waters. I know exactly what to expect. Apart from that one head kick that dropped me, none of his shots hurt me at all. I believe I’m faster than him and I have the ability to beat this guy, believe you me. We trained before and I made mince meat out of him. When we fought, God bless him, he got the job done. But, every fight is different and I will approach this fight very differently. I made some mistakes in that last fight — I closed the distance then I went out of range. I was going in and out the whole time. This time, I am not going to play the long game, I can’t afford to do that. He’s going to have the better conditioning, let’s be honest. If it goes five rounds, I have to go slower, but I am going to look to take him out early by closing the distance, push him up against the fence and unleash what I got and I believe I can take him out.”

Heading into their second Octagon meeting, “The Count,” who was told it was his “destiny” to be Rockhold’s “bitch” during a recent interview with the champ, has no love-lost for the reigning 185-pound king. As he points out, he’s very much looking forward to punching Rockhold, who he referred to as a “smug assh*le.”

“He’s a smug assh*le, let’s be honest,” said Bisping. “Listen, as I said, I want the shot, want to be the champion, but I have this this inner fight in me, I pride myself in being a fighter, even in school. If there was a kid who was a couple of years older who thought he could beat me in a fight, I was like, ‘Cool, let’s go to the Castle Field and let’s figure it out. I’ve always been like that, it’s to my detriment, of course. Rockhold owns a victory over me, I want to rectify that. I want to set the record straight. Yes, I want to be the victor, world champion, but I also want to beat Luke Rockhold, it is personal to me. And when I look at him, I just want to knock that smug look off his face. I really do because you’ve never seen someone who walks around so smug. He’s just the biggest, smug prick you’ve seen in your life and I would love another opportunity to punch him in the face and be world champion at the same time.”

UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping II is scheduled for Saturday, June 4, 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Featuring a co-main event of Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber for the UFC Bantamweight Championship, UFC 199 will air live on pay-per-view.

Make sure to join us here at MMANews.com on 6/4 for the best UFC 199 live results coverage on the web!

Soccer Star Lionel Messi Refuses To Face-Off With Former UFC Fighter For A Photo

Apparently some requests are just too much for certain athletes and celebrities. Former UFC fighter Ronys Torres has one of those stories after meeting arguably the best soccer player in the world — Lionel Messi.

Torres met with Messi and upon aski…

lionel-messi-ronys-torres

Apparently some requests are just too much for certain athletes and celebrities. Former UFC fighter Ronys Torres has one of those stories after meeting arguably the best soccer player in the world — Lionel Messi.

Torres met with Messi and upon asking the soccer star to “face-off” with him for a photograph, a pose used in many photos featuring professional fighters, the celebrity athlete refused.

“After the training, Rafinha took us to the parking lot,” Torres told MMAFighting.com. “The security guard asked me if I was a boxer because I was strong. When Messi came, another member of my gym asked Messi to pose for a face-off but he’s very shy, he didn’t want to do it.”

As Torres explained, Messi might not have agreed to that particular pose, but he did end up taking a picture with him.

“But he took a picture with me,” said Torres. “He’s a great guy.”

You can check out the photo of Ronys Torres and Lionel Messi below.

Junior Dos Santos Blasts Ben Rothwell For His “Strategically Stupid” Comment

When Ben Rothwell lost to Junior Dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86, he admitted after the fight that taking a fight against a dangerous opponent like Junior Dos Santos when he was so close to a UFC Heavyweight title shot was a “strategically stupid” mov…

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When Ben Rothwell lost to Junior Dos Santos at UFC Fight Night 86, he admitted after the fight that taking a fight against a dangerous opponent like Junior Dos Santos when he was so close to a UFC Heavyweight title shot was a “strategically stupid” move on his part. Dos Santos, however, feels that it was Rothwell’s comments that were actually stupid.

While speaking with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos addressed Rothwell’s post-fight comments.

“If you’re winning, you have to fight with anyone,” the former UFC heavyweight champion said Monday on The MMA Hour. “If you want to be the champion, you can’t pick opponents. So if he would like to be the champion, at some point he should fight against me or all the other guys. It’s part of the thing to be champion.”

By defeating Rothwell, Dos Santos picked up some of the momentum that Rothwell had built for himself, moving himself closer to another potential UFC Heavyweight title shot, which he admits is still his ultimate goal.

“The belt is always my goal, my biggest goal,” dos Santos said. “I don’t care about anything that’s happening with all the guys. Sometimes I try to be a little more aggressive with my words, but I don’t know how to do that. My main objective in UFC is to become the champion again. I know that I can do that, and I will do that, so if Dana White wants to give me a gift, give me the title shot.”

Junior Dos Santos is expected to be on the sidelines while recovering from recent surgery. It is believed, however, that he will be able to make his Octagon return by the end of the year.

Conor McGregor To Be Featured In ESPN The Magazine’s Annual “Body Issue”

Although he won’t be fighting at UFC’s landmark UFC 200 pay-per-view event in July, reigning UFC Featherweight Champion “The Notorious” Conor McGregor will still get his shine in the upcoming ESPN “The Body” 2016 issue.

ESPN announced on Monday that…

conor-mcgregor-espn-body-is

Although he won’t be fighting at UFC’s landmark UFC 200 pay-per-view event in July, reigning UFC Featherweight Champion “The Notorious” Conor McGregor will still get his shine in the upcoming ESPN “The Body” 2016 issue.

ESPN announced on Monday that McGregor would be appearing in their annual “Body Issue,” a yearly collection of famous athletes either nude or semi-nude.

Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey appeared in the issue last year, gracing the cover of the special edition magazine. UFC stars Miesha Tate, Jon Jones and Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino are among the other MMA fighters who have appeared in the magazine in the past.

According to reports, this year’s ESPN “Body Issue” will be released on June 20th, and the magazine will hit newsstands on July 8th.

The official ESPN Twitter account sent out the following tweet on Monday to announce the news:

Roy Nelson Wants Title Shot Against Stipe Miocic, Says UFC “Owes Him”

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When Stipe Miocic beat Fabricio Werdum to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil earlier this month, it inspired fellow UFC Heavyweight Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

Roy Nelson spoke about watching Miocic win the heavyweight title from Werdum during his appearance on “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com last week.

“All I know is that Stipe gave me inspiration because if Stipe can be that UFC champion, and they actually gave him a title shot, then I’m like, ‘Ah, I do have a chance,'” Nelson told show-host Ariel Helwani.

“Big Country” continued, talking about the style that Miocic used to beat Werdum, referring to it as “point fighting,” a style he felt Miocic also used to win a unanimous decision over him when they fought inside the Octagon.

“He did the point fighting with me too,” Nelson said. “He ran. You can actually see him, you know, like the people who are track stars. But I would love to fight Stipe again, especially now, because he’s the champ, and with a full camp. I would love a full camp.”

Before he can challenge Miocic for the title, Nelson must first get through his next challenge, UFC Heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis. According to “Big Country,” Lewis reminds him of an old Fedor Emelianenko.

“The one thing about Derrick is that he reminds me of a bigger version of Fedor, like when he gets that ground-and-pound going he’ll just beat you up,” Nelson explained. “And then, the one thing is that he’s calm, cool and collected when you take him down, and you know, he just muscles back up and puts the wrath on. The one thing I like is that he comes to fight. That’s what makes him fan friendly.”

Nelson concluded, “Stipe has the belt, then Stipe. I just think the UFC owes it to me to give me a full camp to beat him up. But I’m not worried about that right now. All I care about is Derrick.”

Roy “Big Country” Nelson fights Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 90 on July 7, 2016. UFN 90 is headlined by a UFC Lightweight title fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Eddie Alvarez.

roy-nelson

When Stipe Miocic beat Fabricio Werdum to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil earlier this month, it inspired fellow UFC Heavyweight Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

Roy Nelson spoke about watching Miocic win the heavyweight title from Werdum during his appearance on “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com last week.

“All I know is that Stipe gave me inspiration because if Stipe can be that UFC champion, and they actually gave him a title shot, then I’m like, ‘Ah, I do have a chance,'” Nelson told show-host Ariel Helwani.

“Big Country” continued, talking about the style that Miocic used to beat Werdum, referring to it as “point fighting,” a style he felt Miocic also used to win a unanimous decision over him when they fought inside the Octagon.

“He did the point fighting with me too,” Nelson said. “He ran. You can actually see him, you know, like the people who are track stars. But I would love to fight Stipe again, especially now, because he’s the champ, and with a full camp. I would love a full camp.”

Before he can challenge Miocic for the title, Nelson must first get through his next challenge, UFC Heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis. According to “Big Country,” Lewis reminds him of an old Fedor Emelianenko.

“The one thing about Derrick is that he reminds me of a bigger version of Fedor, like when he gets that ground-and-pound going he’ll just beat you up,” Nelson explained. “And then, the one thing is that he’s calm, cool and collected when you take him down, and you know, he just muscles back up and puts the wrath on. The one thing I like is that he comes to fight. That’s what makes him fan friendly.”

Nelson concluded, “Stipe has the belt, then Stipe. I just think the UFC owes it to me to give me a full camp to beat him up. But I’m not worried about that right now. All I care about is Derrick.”

Roy “Big Country” Nelson fights Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 90 on July 7, 2016. UFN 90 is headlined by a UFC Lightweight title fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Eddie Alvarez.