The UFC heads to San Jose on April 20 for UFC on Fox 7. The fight card, like UFC on Fox 5, will be headlined by a lightweight title bout. In that bout, Benson Henderson will look to go 2-0 in UFC on Fox title fights when he puts his title on the line a…
The UFC heads to San Jose on April 20 for UFC on Fox 7. The fight card, like UFC on Fox 5, will be headlined by a lightweight title bout. In that bout, Benson Henderson will look to go 2-0 in UFC on Fox title fights when he puts his title on the line against Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.
The evening’s co-main event will feature another Strikeforce transfer who will be looking to make his mark in the UFC, as that promotion’s World Heavyweight Grand Prix champion, Daniel Cormier, meets up with former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir.
If that’s not enough champion and former champions fights for you, the promotion will also bring former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson in to meet Nate Diaz on the main card.
If you need a few more reasons to get excited for this weekend’s card, check out some of the fun facts and stats about the event.
It’s possible that UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson may be the most positive and motivated person in all of mixed martial arts. In an age when selling a fight has become an art form with masters on the microphone like Chael Sonnen landing in m…
It’s possible that UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson may be the most positive and motivated person in all of mixed martial arts.
In an age when selling a fight has become an art form with masters on the microphone like ChaelSonnen landing in main event after main event, Henderson got there the old-fashioned way—by winning fights.
Dig through archives of interviews with Henderson and you’ll see he’s rarely said a bad word, if any, about an upcoming opponent.He’s fought some notorious trash talkers in the past like Nate Diaz and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, but neither could rattle Henderson to the point where he felt the urge to respond with a venomous verbal tirade.
See, Henderson is just about winning fights.He doesn’t care about the pre-fight hype.He doesn’t care about the gold belt wrapped around his waist.He just wants to win.
“I don’t care about belts and all that stuff,” Henderson told Bleacher Report during a recent media conference call held by the UFC.“It’s nice and all that.I will take the belt and everything, but going into any fightm I don’t care if its your first fight in the UFC, your first time on the main card, your first time as a main event.It all doesn’t matter.”
This time around, Henderson faces another champion in former Strikeforce king Gilbert Melendez.For years Melendez has been regarded as the best fighter to never hold gold in the UFC, and he’s hoping to change that at UFC on Fox 7 when he faces Henderson.
Henderson, however, sees Melendez like he does any other opponent.It’s like a video game where he can see his skill set, what he does well and where his weaknesses lie, but outside of that, he’s just a nameless face standing across the Octagon from him.
It’s Henderson’s ability to take away his opponent’s identity that makes him such a dangerous fighter.He fights the fighter for his skills and never gets goaded into fighting them to prove a point or to somehow get even because of pre-fight comments that may happen.
“You just have to win,” said Henderson.“I can’t emphasize that enough.Doesn’t matter whether there’s belts on the line.Whether it’s winner go home, loser leaves the UFC or whatever that’s called. It doesn’t matter.
“All that’s just extra shenanigans to sell fights. I don’t care.I’m going to go out there and win every single fight.That’s it.”
Maybe Henderson’s approach will rattle some of the higher-ups at the UFC who sometimes need to promote a fight with a little extra pre-event chatter between opponents.There is, of course, always a promotional game in the fight business that requires the competitors to sell themselves and the show they are fighting on.
The difference that helps Henderson is that everyone loves a winner.
The talk fades away when the referee says fight.The promotion and pre-fight banter don’t matter when the cage door closes.Henderson holds court inside the Octagon, and a dominant victory will always ring louder than some bluster talking about how he’s the best.
“I’m not really too worried about proving this or that,” said Henderson.“I just want to go out there and win every fight.It doesn’t matter.There’s always going to be new and different stipulations, new and different reasons to win.
“I don’t really need ulterior motives.I’m a fairly, highly self-motivated person. I just want to go out there and win every single fight. It doesn’t matter.I don’t care who the guy is, what the extra stuff on top of it is. I just want to go win, period.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
It’s as simple as this — Saturday’s UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez card features top-ranked fighters and heavy stakes. As such, we love getting a lil’ something extra in anticipation of it. This UFC on Fox 7: Road to the Octagon documentary gives us just that, including behind-the-scenes footage with Benson Henderson (competing at a Jiu Jitsu tournament with his mom, working out with the NFL’s Larry Fitzgerald), Gilbert Melendez (at home and at work with his ex-fighter fiance and business partner, chilling with his tight-knit ‘Skrap Pack’), Frank Mir (crying, and on a flight to New Mexico to conduct the first training camp of his career away from his wife and twenty kids) and more pre-fight action from Josh Thomson, Nate Diaz, and Daniel Cormier.
It’s a good way to waste your lunch hour today — better, at least, than talking to that weird guy at the office who always just eats a can of soup for lunch, like, every day. (Seriously? Get some protein in there, you’re a grown ass man.) Anyway, watch it and tune in Saturday. It’s free, so you’ve got no excuse not to, fight fans.
It’s as simple as this — Saturday’s UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez card features top-ranked fighters and heavy stakes. As such, we love getting a lil’ something extra in anticipation of it. This UFC on Fox 7: Road to the Octagon documentary gives us just that, including behind-the-scenes footage with Benson Henderson (competing at a Jiu Jitsu tournament with his mom, working out with the NFL’s Larry Fitzgerald), Gilbert Melendez (at home and at work with his ex-fighter fiance and business partner, chilling with his tight-knit ‘Skrap Pack’), Frank Mir (crying, and on a flight to New Mexico to conduct the first training camp of his career away from his wife and twenty kids) and more pre-fight action from Josh Thomson, Nate Diaz, and Daniel Cormier.
It’s a good way to waste your lunch hour today — better, at least, than talking to that weird guy at the office who always just eats a can of soup for lunch, like, every day. (Seriously? Get some protein in there, you’re a grown ass man.) Anyway, watch it and tune in Saturday. It’s free, so you’ve got no excuse not to, fight fans.
Currently looking for his third straight title defense in the UFC lightweight division, pound-for-pound great Benson Henderson is set to welcome former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez to the Octagon this Saturday night on FOX.It’s Henderson’s sec…
Currently looking for his third straight title defense in the UFC lightweight division, pound-for-pound great Benson Henderson is set to welcome former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez to the Octagon this Saturday night on FOX.
It’s Henderson’s second championship appearance on live television and arguably his toughest test to date. He’ll have to be on top of his game to out-pace, out-hustle and out-duel the always formidable boxing of “El Nino.”
For Melendez, this is his first shot to show the world that he belongs in the big show, fighting in the big fights. He’ll finally get a shot to translate his elite skills from Strikeforce to the UFC.
Warranting an early setback from either Henderson or Melendez, this five-round battle should be epic. Here’s how the initial head-to-toe breakdown pans out.
The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale fight card is under way. The full results will be updated below as the fights take place: Urijah Faber vs. Scott Jorgensen Kelvin Gastelum vs. Uriah Hall Cat Zingano defeats Miesha Tate via TKO at 2:55 of Round Three Trav…
The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale fight card is under way. The full results will be updated below as the fights take place:
Urijah Faber vs. Scott Jorgensen
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Uriah Hall
Cat Zingano defeats Miesha Tate via TKO at 2:55 of Round Three
Travis Browne defeats Gabriel Gonzaga via knockout at 1:11 of Round One
Robert McDaniel defeats Gilbert Smith via submission at 2:49 of Round Three
Josh Samman defeats Kevin Casey via TKO at 2:17 of Round Two
Luke Barnatt defeats Collin Hart via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Dylan Andrews defeats Jimmy Quinlan via TKO at 3:22 of Round One
Clint Hester defeats Bristol Marunde via TKO at 3:53 of Round Three
Cole Miller defeats Bart Palaszewski via submission at 4:23 of Round One
Maximo Blanco defeats Sam Sicilia via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Daniel Pineda defeats Justin Lawrence via submission at 1:35 of Round One.
Next week, the UFC will head north to San Jose, Calf. for UFC on Fox 7, a card that will feature a title unification bout as its main event. In the headlining fight, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will meet Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.
Who will walk away with the title in San Jose is just one of the many questions facing the UFC heading into next week’s event.
(Shown wearing the t-shirt of a band that would obviously approve of limiting self-expression.)
It’s no exaggeration to say that Dana White was upset by Matt Mitrione’s appearance on “The MMA Hour” this Monday. I’m not just writing about, you know, his rant against transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. I’m writing about Matt Mitrione simply agreeing to be on the show.
While addressing reporters at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 7 media conference call, Dana White discussed his stance on Mitrione’s controversial statements. And while he was obviously upset with Mitrione for referring to Fox as “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he seemed to be more annoyed over the fact that “Meathead” was giving what he deemed to be an unnecessary interview. Via MMAmania:
It’s one of those things, it’s just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn’t even need to be doing an interview. And I’m going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.
What was the point of that interview? There’s no point in it. Now it’s causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn’t fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside.
(Shown wearing the t-shirt of a band that would obviously approve of limiting self-expression.)
It’s no exaggeration to say that Dana White was upset by Matt Mitrione’s appearance on “The MMA Hour” this Monday. I’m not just writing about, you know, his rant against transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. I’m writing about Matt Mitrione simply agreeing to be on the show.
While addressing reporters at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 7 media conference call, Dana White discussed his stance on Mitrione’s controversial statements. And while he was obviously upset with Mitrione for referring to Fox as “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he seemed to be more annoyed over the fact that “Meathead” was giving what he deemed to be an unnecessary interview. Via MMAmania:
It’s one of those things, it’s just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn’t even need to be doing an interview. And I’m going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.
What was the point of that interview? There’s no point in it. Now it’s causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn’t fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside.
White’s comments create an interesting conundrum for his fighters: Title shots are being given to the mostpopularfighters – regardless of where they stand in the division – yet fighters are also expected to limit their opportunities to talk to the media. The number of fights you win doesn’t matter nearly as much as the number of tickets you can sell (ask Johny Hendricks), but if you’re coming off of an impressive victory – like Matt was – you’re supposed to decline these “pointless” opportunities to gain new fans. Also, if you’re a relatively unknown prospect who just scored an impressive victory on the preliminary card, you’ll probably be passing up the only opportunities you’ll have to talk to the major media outlets. Deal with it.
The joke of it all is that some of the UFC’s most popular fighters have given some pretty “pointless” interviews in order to build their own fan-bases. Did the world need to read about how Rampage Jackson felt about video games? Or did we need to hear Dan Hardy explain his tattoos to appreciate him as a fighter? Or was Chuck Liddell debating who would win a fight between a gladiator and an Apache warrior really that important? Maybe not in a direct sense, but the freedom that fighters have had to be themselves while talking to the media has been part of the appeal of being an MMA fan for me. I doubt I’m in the minority here.
This isn’t to say that Dana White had no reason to be upset with Matt Mitrione for his over-the-top comments, but rather, that blaming the timing of the interview is not the right solution. Restricting when fighters can give interviews simply because one fighter said something really stupid is no different than the knee-jerk “Let’s create a law to regulate _______” discussions you’ll hear after a tragic news story. Hopefully the UFC does not crack down on when and where fighters can give interviews.
It’s possible that UFC lightweight champion 