If any of you were questioning Gilbert Melendez’s decision to remain off Strikeforce’s final card in January, maybe now you can see his motivation. In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Dana White revealed that “El Nino” would “probably” receive an immediate title shot when he makes the trip over to the UFC, a statement that will more than likely be responsible for hundreds of conspiracy theories regarding the legitimacy of Melendez’s recent injuries. Of course, this came just before The Baldfather lamented about how bad Strikeforce fighters have had it since the UFC absorbed the promotion (presumably while mimicking Shooter McGavin), so perhaps we should take his statement with a grain of salt:
(Melendez will) probably come right in and get a title shot. Again, we’ll see.
What has happened to the fighters in Strikeforce is horrible. The way this thing went down is horrible, and they’ve been very patient. What’s happened over there has been completely s—ty.
Right, and we’re sure Hitler felt awfully bad about the living conditions at Auschwitz as well. “No veigh? Zey don’t even get a nice cot to szleep on? Zose bastards!” We’re not comparing Dana White to Hitler, we’re just saying.
If any of you were questioning Gilbert Melendez’s decision to remain off Strikeforce’s final card in January, maybe now you can see his motivation. In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Dana White revealed that “El Nino” would “probably” receive an immediate title shot when he makes the trip over to the UFC, a statement that will more than likely be responsible for hundreds of conspiracy theories regarding the legitimacy of Melendez’s recent injuries. Of course, this came just before The Baldfather lamented about how bad Strikeforce fighters have had it since the UFC absorbed the promotion (presumably while mimicking Shooter McGavin), so perhaps we should take his statement with a grain of salt:
(Melendez will) probably come right in and get a title shot. Again, we’ll see.
What has happened to the fighters in Strikeforce is horrible. The way this thing went down is horrible, and they’ve been very patient. What’s happened over there has been completely s—ty.
Right, and we’re sure Hitler felt awfully bad about the living conditions at Auschwitz as well. “No veigh? Zey don’t even get a nice cot to szleep on? Zose bastards!” We’re not comparing Dana White to Hitler, we’re just saying.
On a serious note, this statement is interesting for a multitude of reasons, the first of which being how unknown a guy like Melendez is to casual fans, who are the only people the UFC seems interested in promoting fights for nowadays. As Melendez has stated in the past, the “Champion vs. Champion” angle is one that the UFC could easily market, but I mean, Melendez isn’t even coming off a loss for Christ’s sake, and now you’re gonna say he’s title shot worthy? Bitch please; I think we all know that Tiequan Zhang is the next rightful challenger to the lightweight throne.
Are you Taters excited at the idea of Henderson/Melendez, or do you think he should be given a tune up fight first?
(The best way to stop Cheick Kongo from kneeing you in the jewels? Turns out, it’s a simple jab. Who woulda thunk it?)
As is the case for approximately 95% of the UFC’s current roster, Mark Hunt was forced to pull out of his last scheduled fight (against Stefan Struve) due to injury. But while he’s been quietly recuperating his knee and enjoying his current, not to mention improbable 3 fight win streak in the UFC, he’s apparently also been thinking about leveling the score with some of his former foes. Mainly, that of Alistair Overeem, who defeated Hunt by first round keylock when the two clashed back in June of 2008 at DREAM 5. It was Hunt’s third straight loss to come via form of arm-lock, but it certainly wouldn’t be his most painful.
In either case, it appears that Hunt may have heard through the grapevine that Alistair stated he would prefer to fight as soon as he got his license back, title shot or not, and figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Those two birds being a bit of redemption and possibly the next heavyweight title shot. He told The MMA Hour:
If they’d like to get me a fight I’d like to get a rematch with Alistair Overeem, you know, when he comes back from his injury or from whatever, his hiatus. You know? I’d like to have my rematch with him. I’d be willing to fight next year so it doesn’t matter. If he gets a title shot, that’s good on him.
We hate to sound like a bunch of little schoolgirls but OMG JOE SILVA BOOK THIS FIGHT WE’LL LUV U 4EVER PLZZ!!
(The best way to stop Cheick Kongo from kneeing you in the jewels? Turns out, it’s a simple jab. Who woulda thunk it?)
As is the case for approximately 95% of the UFC’s current roster, Mark Hunt was forced to pull out of his last scheduled fight (against Stefan Struve) due to injury. But while he’s been quietly recuperating his knee and enjoying his current, not to mention improbable 3 fight win streak in the UFC, he’s apparently also been thinking about leveling the score with some of his former foes. Mainly, that of Alistair Overeem, who defeated Hunt by first round keylock when the two clashed back in June of 2008 at DREAM 5. It was Hunt’s third straight loss to come via form of arm-lock, but it certainly wouldn’t be his most painful.
In either case, it appears that Hunt may have heard through the grapevine that Alistair stated he would prefer to fight as soon as he got his license back, title shot or not, and figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Those two birds being a bit of redemption and possibly the next heavyweight title shot. He told The MMA Hour:
If they’d like to get me a fight I’d like to get a rematch with Alistair Overeem, you know, when he comes back from his injury or from whatever, his hiatus. You know? I’d like to have my rematch with him. I’d be willing to fight next year so it doesn’t matter. If he gets a title shot, that’s good on him.
We hate to sound like a bunch of little schoolgirls but OMG JOE SILVA BOOK THIS FIGHT WE’LL LUV U 4EVER PLZZ!!
It may have only taken Overeem a little over a minute to dispatch Hunt the first time they met, and you have to wonder whether or not Overeem would follow a very similar gameplan were these two to fight again, but if there’s even a chance that we can see two PRIDE legends slug it out for the right to the next heavyweight title shot, then we’re all for it. Obviously, the UFC is eyeing Overeem as the next title contender, but on the off chance — and by “off chance,” I mean “with 100% certainty” — that either Junior dos Santos or Cain Velasquez are injured in their upcoming rematch at UFC 155, pitting Overeem against Hunt is basically a win-win. For hardcore fans at least.
On one hand, if Overeem is able to easily dispatch Hunt again, he will at the minimum be given a fight to shake off any ring rust he might have acquired in his time off and cement his status as the #1 contender, whatever that means these days. On the other, if Hunt is able to emerge victorious, it would set up one of the most inconceivable career comeback stories in MMA history. If the UFC couldn’t make some money off of that — which, let’s be honest, is the only thing they’re interested in when it comes to title shots — they should fire their marketing department immediately and hire this guy.
Since Overeem was popped for steroids and cost us one of the greatest fights of 2012, he might as well make it up to both the fans and the UFC in 2013 by accepting this rematch. I know that line of logic doesn’t make any sense, BUT I WANNA SEE THIS FIGHT GOD DAMN IT.
Yesterday, the UFC and FOX held an open media conference call, which featured UFC President Dana White, middleweight contender and FOX analyst Brian Stann, and Fox Sports Media Group Co-President Eric Shanks taking questions prior to this weekend’s UFC on FOX event. Among the questions to come up was one regarding the likelihood of the Nate Diaz/Jim Miller winner receiving the next title shot at 155 pounds. True to form, Dana White did not beat around the bush, declaring that to be true for at least half of the participants involved:
Should Diaz win, Diaz is definitely getting a title shot. Should Miller win, Miller’s probably going to be a fight or two away.
White when on to state that the same applied for Johny Hendricks should he get past Josh Koscheck on Saturday, whereas our boy Fraggle would have to get a couple more wins under his belt. Considering that both Koscheck and Miller recently suffered losses to the current champions of their respective weight classes (twice over if your Koscheck), this seems to make sense.
Yesterday, the UFC and FOX held an open media conference call, which featured UFC President Dana White, middleweight contender and FOX analyst Brian Stann, and Fox Sports Media Group Co-President Eric Shanks taking questions prior to this weekend’s UFC on FOX event. Among the questions to come up was one regarding the likelihood of the Nate Diaz/Jim Miller winner receiving the next title shot at 155 pounds. True to form, Dana White did not beat around the bush, declaring that to be true for at least half of the participants involved:
Should Diaz win, Diaz is definitely getting a title shot. Should Miller win, Miller’s probably going to be a fight or two away.
White when on to state that the same applied for Johny Hendricks should he get past Josh Koscheck on Saturday, whereas our boy Fraggle would have to get a couple more wins under his belt. Considering that both Koscheck and Miller recently suffered losses to the current champions of their respective weight classes (twice over if your Koscheck), this seems to make sense.
Diaz is only 2-0 since returning to lightweight, but his victory over Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 was so utterly dominant that it set a record for strikes landed in a three round fight. A win over Miller would provide all we need to know about Nate’s future at 155 *cough* can he defend a takedown? *cough*. Miller recently bounced back from a unanimous decision loss to current champ Ben Henderson by submitting Melvin Guillard in January, but we all know that he needs at least eight victories in a row to earn a title shot, so it’s gonna be a while.
Speaking of win streaks, if Hendricks is able to best Koscheck, it would be his fourth victory in a row and eighth out of the nine fights he has had while under the UFC banner, so a title shot seems justified at this point. Koscheck, on the other hand, has scored two straight against Matt Hughes and Mike Pierce, but his aforementioned pair of losses to Georges St. Pierre doesn’t really give him anywhere to go at the moment. Then again, who knows who will be the champ after GSP/Condit goes down, whenever the hell that may be.
You can listen to the conference call in its entirety here.
So what do you think, Potato Nation? Does Diaz deserve a shot? And if so, how do you think he’d fare against Henderson, or Frankie Edgar for that matter?
Make sure to swing by CagePotato this Saturday, as we’ll be liveblogging all the action starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. WT.
