Cain Velasquez won’t be short of any fan support on Saturday night. The UFC heavyweight champion, who will make his first title defense against Junior dos Santos, will have a bit of a home field advantage due to the large Spanish population in Cal…
Cain Velasquez won’t be short of any fan support on Saturday night.
The UFC heavyweight champion, who will make his first title defense against Junior dos Santos, will have a bit of a home field advantage due to the large Spanish population in California.
Velasquez, a Mexican-American, became the first Mexican heavyweight champion in UFC history after he defeated Brock Lesnar at UFC 122 last year. Since then, Velasquez’s popularity has skyrocketed, and he has become one of most popular fighters within the Mexican community.
And with his fans’ support firmly behind him, Velasquez is proud and honoured to fight for his heritage.
“Thank you for all the support, especially to all La Raza out there,” Velasquez said as he addressed the fans in attendance during UFC on FOX pre-fight press conference earlier this week. “You guys make me fight harder and stronger, thank you, you guys make me proud.”
Certainly, it will take much more than just fan support to help him earn a victory over his opponent, dos Santos, who possesses arguably the best striking in the heavyweight division. Finishing five out his last seven opponents, the Brazilian is a formidable challenger for the champion.
However, Velasquez doesn’t intend on performing under expectations, and with the crowd in his corner, he feels motivated to put on an exciting fight against dos Santos.
“Whether in training or in fighting, just to know that I have people behind me, supporting me, it definitely pushes me forward,” he said. “They’re always the ones out there rooting for you and you always want to go out there represent them well.”
Clay Guida has a lot to be confident about heading into this weekend. Guida will meet Benson Henderson on UFC on FOX, as both competitors are scheduled to face off on the undercard featured on Facebook and FOX.com.Although the main event has gener…
Clay Guida has a lot to be confident about heading into this weekend.
Guida will meet Benson Henderson on UFC on FOX, as both competitors are scheduled to face off on the undercard featured on Facebook and FOX.com.
Although the main event has generated a majority of the coverage, Guida’s lightweight bout against Henderson has also been gaining quite a bit coverage in its own right, and it remains as one of the most anticipated bouts of the event.
Guida appears to be in good spirits as he prepares to be a part of history this Saturday night and he is looking forward to walking away with a victory, which he credits to having a successful training camp.
“With every camp you become more confident in your skill-set, in your coaching and in your teammates,” Guida told MMA Heat reporter Karyn Bryant. “Since starting mixed martial arts, I expect to win.”
Guida’s last performance resulted in a win over Anthony Pettis, where he utilized his wrestling skills to prevent his opponent from gaining any offense on the feet. Guida said he intends on using his wrestling against Henderson, which he points out is the strongest base of MMA, whether fans find it boring or not.
“If you look at five out of seven weight classes, five of them are wrestlers, five of them have a wrestling background,” he said. “Wrestling wins championships.”
And with a victory over Henderson, Guida will have his sights set on winning the UFC lightweight championship
UFC on Fox is quickly approaching, and I’m here to tell you what the betting odds are for the biggest fights on the card. Betting on fights can be fun and stressful at the same time. If your fighter wins, then it is an indescribable feeling of jo…
UFC on Fox is quickly approaching, and I’m here to tell you what the betting odds are for the biggest fights on the card. Betting on fights can be fun and stressful at the same time. If your fighter wins, then it is an indescribable feeling of joy, but if your fighter loses, then it feels like the world is crashing down on you.
The problem with this card is that Fox has only guaranteed to show one fight; that fight being the Heavyweight Championship bout between current Champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. The fans lucked out however, because facebook.com and fox.com are streaming all the preliminary fights.
There is some serious money to be won on this card as no fighters are huge favorites. If you have never bet on a UFC card, then this might be the card to start.
Warning: It is not my fault if you take my advice and lose all of your money. These are just some tips and predictions. All of my odds come from sportsbook.com.
Cain Velasquez will step into the Octagon on Saturday at UFC on FOX 1 to defend his UFC Heavyweight title for the first time. Velasquez captured the title by defeating Brock Lesnar in October of last year. Since that time Velasquez has been on the shel…
Cain Velasquez will step into the Octagon on Saturday at UFC on FOX 1 to defend his UFC Heavyweight title for the first time. Velasquez captured the title by defeating Brock Lesnar in October of last year. Since that time Velasquez has been on the shelf, a result of a shoulder injury sustained in the Lesnar fight. That shoulder is the biggest question heading into his fight against Junior dos Santos. Sure, Velasquez has sparred with the fellas at American Kickboxing Academy, but that cannot substitute for UFC title fight action.
If Velasquez is not 100 confident in that shoulder or if it gets tweaked early, he will be in trouble, unable to execute his wrestling and forced to hold back on his strikes. If that happens, Junior dos Santos, recognized as one of the strongest boxers in the UFC will look to use his skills to turn the lights out on the champion.
If Velasquez is confident that his shoulder is 100 percent he will be able to use his wrestling skills to the fullest, negating the striking skills of dos Santos. If Velasquez can get the fight to the ground, his wrestling is accomplished enough that he should be able to hold dos Santos down and use his ground and pound to end the fight.
With all that being said, I do think that Velasquez went about his shoulder rehab in the proper way, giving himself more than enough time to know that it is 100 percent ready to go. I see the title remaining in the hands of Velasquez via a third round TKO.
When the UFC makes its network television debut on Saturday night, there will be a very familiar face taking his rightful spot inside the Octagon. No, it’s not UFC President Dana White nor is it UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez or challeng…
When the UFC makes its network television debut on Saturday night, there will be a very familiar face taking his rightful spot inside the Octagon. No, it’s not UFC President Dana White nor is it UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez or challenger Junior Dos Santos.
The man that has become just as recognizable and almost as popular as any mixed martial artist to have ever fought in the UFC is referee “Big” John McCarthy. Known for his trademark, “Let’s Get it On,” call that he bellows before the beginning of every fight he officiates, McCarthy was chosen by the California State Athletic Commission to act as the third man in the most important fight in the organizations history.
Ever since his career as a referee begun back in 1993, McCarthy has been witness to some of the most grueling, competitive and important fights the sport has ever seen. So it was only natural that he got the call to work the bout from the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. His popularity has transcended throughout the lean years of the sport and remains clearly evident as the sport has grown.
It comes as no surprise to many that his name conjures up emotions from many of the hardcore fans who remember McCarthy just as well they remember any fighter who has stepped inside the cage over the years. He routinely receives just as loud if not louder ovations the very fighters he is in charge of. Ask anyone familiar with McCarthy and they will tell you it is well deserved.
McCarthy along with Loretta Hunt put together a book based upon his experiences inside and outside of the Octagon. Appropriately entitled, “Let’s Get It On- The Making of MMA and its Ultimate Referee,” was released on September 1st and is a must read for any mixed martial arts fan, especially the newer ones who are interested in learning about the early days of the UFC.
“The book starts off with how I grew up and how I went into certain directions,” McCarthy told Bleacher Report. “There are a few chapters on my life, the LAPD, how I got involved with Rorion Gracie and how MMA began. How the Gracies tried to integrate their teachings from Brazil into the US.
Then it goes into the making of the UFC, how and why things came together as they did. A lot of it was done to give credit to people who have done a lot to bring the sport to where it is. It wasn’t written to thank anyone for anything they did for me in particular. You have two types of MMA fans, the newer fans brought along on The Ultimate Fighter and the old die hard guys who have been there from the very beginning.
Those guys have a pretty good idea of how and who were instrumental in putting this thing together. They may not know how Art Davie and Bob Meyrowitz were involved other than Meyrowitz sold the company to Zuffa. They aren’t familiar with Jeff Blatnick, who was an Olympic Gold Medalist in Greco Roman Wrestling, and how he lent credibility to the sport.
Here was a guy who went up against the naysayers and said this sport isn’t bad, it’s good. It’s full of great athletes. He never got credit for that or how he helped implement certain rules and the current judging system. It’s not the Medias fault, but everyone gives credit to Dana White, but he’s not the guy who came up with it. He’s done a great job promoting the sport, but long before Dana knew what the sport was there were guys working hard to make this work and they deserve credit.
Loretta Hunt wanted me to write this book for awhile about the history and why things happened and I kept telling her no. Finally she said there are too many people who have been passed by and no one will ever know about their contributions until someone talks about it. For those reasons alone, it was worth it to write the book.”
Long before he was working inside the cage as a referee, McCarthy was a Los Angeles Police Officer who was chosen by the brass to try and come up with a better way to subdue assailants other than the use of batons. Little did he know just how far that training would take him and how much different his life would become.
“The way that I met Rorion Gracie was because of the LA riots that occurred after the Rodney King ruling,” explained McCarthy. “The LAPD wanted to teach officers a better way to control someone other than using the baton because it’s pretty stupid that the only option an officer has it to hit someone with a steel pipe. It’s not a good idea, so they put together a Martial Arts Review Committee made up of a lot of great martial artists from Southern California.
I happened to be one of the officers on the committee and was introduced to Gracie. I began working out with him and he and Art Davy were putting together a show called War of the Worlds. Art had gotten a gentleman by the name of Campbell McClaren to buy into the idea. McClaren was part of Semaphore Entertainment Group. Bob Meyrowitz put some money down and they changed the name to The Ultimate Fighting Championships.
As a police officer my job was to teach other cops the curriculum the department came up with to subdue suspects. They needed to have a set of rules in place so if someone went to trial they prosecutors could show that the officers stayed within the guidelines taught to them. The reason I got into MMA was because of the police department.”
McCarthy has seen it all take place inside the Octagon. He has officiated thousands of bouts and countless championship fights. He has outlasted some of the best fighters and bore witness first hand to displays of true heart, grit and gutty determination. From the classic back and forth battles to the one sided beatdowns, McCarthy has some great memories of a sport he truly loves.
“I was happy to be part of all of it to be honest with you,” said McCarthy. “I loved being a referee, I still do and that’s why I’m still doing it now. I learned to not walk away from something you love or you will be miserable. All the fights I was part of are memorable to me, are there some that hold a bit more significance than others? Sure there are, I thought UFC 40, when Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz fought for the first time was special.
If you had been part of the UFC and understood how things were before it was sold to the Fertittas, you would appreciate how far it had come. It was dying and when they bought the company they put a lot of money into it. The Fertittas deserve a ton of credit and people don’t really give it to them. Dana is the front man that they wanted, but it was Lorenzo and Frank who put up a lot of money.
They put themselves far into a hole and that’s a hard place to be no matter how much money you have. They stood by it and when UFC 40 with Ken and Tito rolled around, that was a time when I really looked at it and thought it could make it. Before that there were many times when I thought it was going to die. This sport is going to die, it’s not catching on. At UFC 40 I remember standing in the ring and looking around feeling the electricity that I thought it was going to make it.
The sport wasn’t going to be pushed to the side like I thought it would so many times. Doing the first fight with Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 was awesome. Being involved with Randy’s fight against Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 which was at the time was the biggest crowd in North American History. That was phenomenal, just having the crowd on its feet for the entire fight was amazing. So yes, there have been some special moments for me.”
The UFC is putting all of their momentum gained over the past 10 years on the line on Saturday night when UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos compete in the first UFC fight on network television.With that comes nervous energy,…
The UFC is putting all of their momentum gained over the past 10 years on the line on Saturday night when UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos compete in the first UFC fight on network television.
With that comes nervous energy, and UFC president Dana White has a lot of it with the fight only being a couple of days away.
“This is all about the heavyweight championship that night,” White replied to a question about whether or not any preliminary bouts would be seen on the televised portion. “I’m a mess over this thing. I’m a mess.”
White has good reason to be nervous about how the sport will be received by the majority of the general public. It all comes down to the lone fight on the televised card between Velasquez and dos Santos and how the two heavyweights perform.
Velasquez enters the fight with a 9-0 record, including wins over Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Ben Rothwell. Dos Santos comes into the fight with an unbeaten UFC record, which includes victories over Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum, Shane Carwin and Mirko Cro Cop.
Many anticipate this to be one of the most evenly matched heavyweights fights in the history of the sport.
“Saturday is our test-run,” White continued. “The show that we have been doing for 10 years, I’m in there rehearsing walk-ins and going through all the stuff, and we’ve been doing it for 10 years. Now, you can imagine what’s going through my head. We’re partnering with FOX. They’ve got their piece of this thing, and we’ve got our piece, and we’re blending them together. I don’t know. It’s crazy.”
It’s all part of a seven-year deal, and first impressions are the most important for White and the premier MMA organization.
Cain Velasquez won’t be short of any fan support on Saturday night.