‘UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche’ Extended Video Preview, Featuring Henderson vs. Machida

(“Of course I’m gonna beat Liz Carmouche. And everyone that comes after her. I’m going to retire undefeated, and there’s nothing any of these girls can do about it.” Video via: YouTube.com/UFC)

And here we have the traditional nine-minute preview of the UFC’s next pay-per-view event, which goes down February 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. If you’re tired of the Rousey vs. Carmouche hype at this point (Rousey = Mike Tyson, “Lizbos,” etc.), just skip to 5:07 to see the profile of Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida, which begins by recapping the Henderson knee injury that led to the scrapping of UFC 151. At the 5:58 mark, Dana White says that if Henderson beats Machida, Henderson will get the next light-heavyweight title shot, which is direct contradiction of…ah, just forget it.

Also: Henderson hints that he’s bringing a secret weapon to this fight, but if that doesn’t work, he’ll just have to hit Machida with his right hand. (Makes sense.) Of course, Hendo vs. the Dragon is a matchup of power vs. speed/footwork, but as Henderson puts it, “we’ll see how quick this old man is too.”


(“Of course I’m gonna beat Liz Carmouche. And everyone that comes after her. I’m going to retire undefeated, and there’s nothing any of these girls can do about it.” Video via: YouTube.com/UFC)

And here we have the traditional nine-minute preview of the UFC’s next pay-per-view event, which goes down February 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. If you’re tired of the Rousey vs. Carmouche hype at this point (Rousey = Mike Tyson, “Lizbos,” etc.), just skip to 5:07 to see the profile of Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida, which begins by recapping the Henderson knee injury that led to the scrapping of UFC 151. At the 5:58 mark, Dana White says that if Henderson beats Machida, Henderson will get the next light-heavyweight title shot, which is direct contradiction of…ah, just forget it.

Also: Henderson hints that he’s bringing a secret weapon to this fight, but if that doesn’t work, he’ll just have to hit Machida with his right hand. (Makes sense.) Of course, Hendo vs. the Dragon is a matchup of power vs. speed/footwork, but as Henderson puts it, “we’ll see how quick this old man is too.”

‘The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen’ Episode 4 — Complete Video & Recap

(Props: ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ on Hulu)

With Team Sonnen up 2-0 following Uriah Hall‘s brutal knockout of Adam Cella, it’s time for Team Jones to shift the momentum before it gets out of hand — and it’s up to their #5 pick Collin Hart to save the day. Here are the brass tacks from last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which you can watch above in its entirety.

– Adam Cella returns to the TUF house, still wearing his hospital gown, and claims he has no memory of the fight. Nevertheless, he tracks Uriah Hall down in the shower and jokingly asks Hall why he hit him so hard. Hall still feels uncomfortable about the fact that he nearly ended Cella’s life. The fact that he’s naked while Cella is trying to have a conversation with him does nothing to alleviate the tension.

Kevin Casey suffered a cut over his right eye during his elimination-round fight against Eldon Sproat, and says he chose to fight Collin Hart — a wrestler — because he runs a lower risk of getting the cut re-opened against Hart than he would against a talented striker, like Bubba McDaniel, for example. So yeah, in a way he is ducking Bubba, but it makes sense from a strategic standpoint. Unfortunately, Collin vows to elbow Kevin Casey’s face in.


(Props: ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ on Hulu)

With Team Sonnen up 2-0 following Uriah Hall‘s brutal knockout of Adam Cella, it’s time for Team Jones to shift the momentum before it gets out of hand — and it’s up to their #5 pick Collin Hart to save the day. Here are the brass tacks from last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which you can watch above in its entirety.

– Adam Cella returns to the TUF house, still wearing his hospital gown, and claims he has no memory of the fight. Nevertheless, he tracks Uriah Hall down in the shower and jokingly asks Hall why he hit him so hard. Hall still feels uncomfortable about the fact that he nearly ended Cella’s life. The fact that he’s naked while Cella is trying to have a conversation with him does nothing to alleviate the tension.

Kevin Casey suffered a cut over his right eye during his elimination-round fight against Eldon Sproat, and says he chose to fight Collin Hart — a wrestler — because he runs a lower risk of getting the cut re-opened against Hart than he would against a talented striker, like Bubba McDaniel, for example. So yeah, in a way he is ducking Bubba, but it makes sense from a strategic standpoint. Unfortunately, Collin vows to elbow Kevin Casey’s face in.

– Gilbert Smith tries to start a rap-battle with Kevin Casey, and gets beat about as badly as Luke Barnatt beat him.

– There’s a power-outage, and a prank involving toilet paper. You don’t need to know details.

– Instead of shaking hands after the weigh-ins, Collin Hart sticks his middle finger in Kevin Casey’s face. The move doesn’t go over well with Team Sonnen. Collin’s only explanation is that you should respect his sleep. Uriah Hall tells Collin how disappointed he is. Uriah Hall is not the kind of dude you want to be disappointed with you.

– The fight isn’t exactly a barn-burner. Collin imposes his will immediately, scoring a takedown off the bell — off of a failed ninja-kick — then controlling Kevin on the mat and against the fence. Collin works some knee strikes from clinch, and Kevin is completely stymied in the first round aside from a few punches he lands during a brief separation in the closing seconds. Kevin tries to get aggressive at the beginning of the second round, rushing at Collin and throwing heavy punches, but Collin snatches him up after about 20 seconds and it’s back to Clinchville. Kevin’s cut opens up and Collin takes control again with his wrestling. Collin spends the remainder of the round on top, throwing down short strikes. All three judges call it 20-18 for Collin, who immediately heads for the treadmill to get a workout in.

– Team Jones regains control of the matchups, and select Bubba McDaniel to fight Team Sonnen’s last-pick Kelvin Gastelum. Jones acknowledges that Gastelum has better wrestling, but as Bones explains, “wrestling really doesn’t win fights.” Huh. So I guess we can expect Bubba’s game-plan to consist entirely of spinning back-elbows?

Team Sonnen
Luke Barnatt – quarterfinalist, defeated Gilbert Smith
Uriah Hall – quarterfinalist, defeated Adam Cella
Zak Cummings
Tor Troeng
Jimmy Quinlan
Kevin Casey
Kelvin Gastelum

Team Jones
Clint Hester
Josh Samman
Robert “Bubba” McDaniel
Gilbert Smith
Collin Hart – quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Adam Cella
Dylan Andrews

UFC 157 Primetime: Rousey vs. Carmouche — Full Episode 1 Video

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

In advance of the UFC’s first women’s title fight on February 23rd, Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche are getting the Primetime treatment, with a three-episode mini-series introducing viewers to the fighters’ personalities and personal histories. As we learn, Rousey and Carmouche both found themselves directionless after formative experiences — the Olympics for Rousey, the Marines for Carmouche — until MMA opened new chapters in their lives. The similarities end there, pretty much. Rousey is currently living the upwardly-mobile life of a UFC champion, while Carmouche is still broke as hell, working full days at the San Diego Combat Academy just to make ends meet.

A win for Carmouche would be life-changing, and she revels in the opportunity. “I absolutely think I’m going to spoil the UFC’s plans,” she says with a smile. (Hey, whatever happened to looking out for the company?)

Even if Liz is set up as the scrappy underdog who has fought tooth and nail to get where she is, the episode makes sure to push the adversity in Rousey’s life even harder. For better or worse, the Primetime series reaches an all-time high of emotional intensity in the final segment of this episode, as Rousey describes the heart-wrenching story of her father’s suicide, then breaks down in a moment of self-loathing for telling it. “I feel like I’m prostituting his memory for my own career gain, and it makes me feel like a fucking asshole,” she says through tears. Powerful stuff. Give it a look, and you’ll see a side of “Rowdy Ronda” that you might not have known about.


(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

In advance of the UFC’s first women’s title fight on February 23rd, Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche are getting the Primetime treatment, with a three-episode mini-series introducing viewers to the fighters’ personalities and personal histories. As we learn, Rousey and Carmouche both found themselves directionless after formative experiences — the Olympics for Rousey, the Marines for Carmouche — until MMA opened new chapters in their lives. The similarities end there, pretty much. Rousey is currently living the upwardly-mobile life of a UFC champion, while Carmouche is still broke as hell, working full days at the San Diego Combat Academy just to make ends meet.

A win for Carmouche would be life-changing, and she revels in the opportunity. “I absolutely think I’m going to spoil the UFC’s plans,” she says with a smile. (Hey, whatever happened to looking out for the company?)

Even if Liz is set up as the scrappy underdog who has fought tooth and nail to get where she is, the episode makes sure to push the adversity in Rousey’s life even harder. For better or worse, the Primetime series reaches an all-time high of emotional intensity in the final segment of this episode, as Rousey describes the heart-wrenching story of her father’s suicide, then breaks down in a moment of self-loathing for telling it. “I feel like I’m prostituting his memory for my own career gain, and it makes me feel like a fucking asshole,” she says through tears. Powerful stuff. Give it a look, and you’ll see a side of “Rowdy Ronda” that you might not have known about.

Video Roundup: UFC 156 Extended Preview, George Lucas Discusses Daughter’s MMA Career + More

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC 156 goes down this coming Saturday in Las Vegas, featuring the featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar, Alistair Overeem‘s return against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Rashad Evans vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and a whole mess of supporting talent. Check out the extended trailer above, and ask yourself the following…

– How likely is it that Edgar will become the third UFC fighter in history (after Randy Couture and BJ Penn) to become a UFC champion in a second weight division?

– Is anybody buying the idea that Bigfoot’s size and power will be a challenge for Overeem?

– What would Rashad Evans need to do, hypothetically, to convince you that he deserves another crack at Jon Jones?

– The UFC injury curse has been eerily quiet lately, with very few withdrawals of marquee fighters over the past two months. So, were Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta justified in throwing those virgins into the volcano?

And now that we have your attention, you might as well watch this stuff too…


(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC 156 goes down this coming Saturday in Las Vegas, featuring the featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar, Alistair Overeem‘s return against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Rashad Evans vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and a whole mess of supporting talent. Check out the extended trailer above, and ask yourself the following…

– How likely is it that Edgar will become the third UFC fighter in history (after Randy Couture and BJ Penn) to become a UFC champion in a second weight division?

– Is anybody buying the idea that Bigfoot’s size and power will be a challenge for Overeem?

– What would Rashad Evans need to do, hypothetically, to convince you that he deserves another crack at Jon Jones?

– The UFC injury curse has been eerily quiet lately, with very few withdrawals of marquee fighters over the past two months. So, were Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta justified in throwing those virgins into the volcano?

And now that we have your attention, you might as well watch this stuff too…

Here’s the trailer for Bobby Razak‘s upcoming documentary on MMA fighter Amanda Lucas, including some choice quotes from her father, Star Wars creator George Lucas.

And finally: The Diaz brothers get pulled over by officer Steven Seagal, and Ariel Helwani teleports into Johny Hendricks‘s living room. Thanks, prebek.

Watch Nick Diaz Actually Show Up for the UFC 158 Kickoff Press Conference, Right Here at 10 a.m. ET

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz will be in attendance this morning for the first UFC 158 press-conference at the Bell Centre in Montreal, hyping their March 16th welterweight title fight. According to MMAJunkie, Diaz has successfully made a flight to Montreal — yes, this is actually newsworthy — which means we hopefully won’t have a repeat of the no-shows that got him fired from UFC 137. Will Diaz be openly confrontational now that he’s face to face with his least-favorite Canadian? Or will he just do his vaguely hostile mumbly thing? Watch the headliners field questions from media in the video player above, beginning at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT, and please share your insights in the comments section.

Previously:
Of Course Nick Diaz Isn’t Returning Dana White’s Phone Calls
UFC 158 Odds: Georges St. Pierre Opens as a 4-1 Favorite Over Nick Diaz
St. Pierre Explains Why He’s Fighting Diaz at UFC 158; Hendricks to Face Jake Ellenberger


(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz will be in attendance this morning for the first UFC 158 press-conference at the Bell Centre in Montreal, hyping their March 16th welterweight title fight. According to MMAJunkie, Diaz has successfully made a flight to Montreal — yes, this is actually newsworthy — which means we hopefully won’t have a repeat of the no-shows that got him fired from UFC 137. Will Diaz be openly confrontational now that he’s face to face with his least-favorite Canadian? Or will he just do his vaguely hostile mumbly thing? Watch the headliners field questions from media in the video player above, beginning at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT, and please share your insights in the comments section.

Previously:
Of Course Nick Diaz Isn’t Returning Dana White’s Phone Calls
UFC 158 Odds: Georges St. Pierre Opens as a 4-1 Favorite Over Nick Diaz
St. Pierre Explains Why He’s Fighting Diaz at UFC 158; Hendricks to Face Jake Ellenberger

[VIDEO] GSP, BJ Penn, Renzo Gracie & Matt Serra Discuss Fight Psychology

(Props: fueltv)

Every once in a while, videos come out that you wish were a little longer. Usually, they include this chick. Others, however, contain candid and inside looks into the lives and mindsets of top fighters. A new one released by Fuel TV called “UFC Roundtable Welterweights” is one of those videos.

Our favorite fitness guru and MMA coach Jay Glazer sat down with four legends — BJ Penn, Renzo Gracie, Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra — to discuss the psychology of pre-fight moments like stare downs, warm ups, and the walk to the cage/ring. Given all the heat and history between most of these guys, it was cool to see them sit next to one another and seemingly enjoy what the others had to say.

St. Pierre, for example, waxed sports-psychologist philosophical about how he turns his fear into courage, and even his two-time nemesis Serra was impressed. Penn gushed about how Renzo was the one guy who didn’t look away from him during a stare down. I guess time and everyone being rich has a way of healing old wounds.

Elias Cepeda


(Props: fueltv)

Every once in a while, videos come out that you wish were a little longer. Usually, they include this chick. Others, however, contain candid and inside looks into the lives and mindsets of top fighters. A new one released by Fuel TV called “UFC Roundtable Welterweights” is one of those videos.

Our favorite fitness guru and MMA coach Jay Glazer sat down with four legends — BJ Penn, Renzo Gracie, Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra — to discuss the psychology of pre-fight moments like stare downs, warm ups, and the walk to the cage/ring. Given all the heat and history between most of these guys, it was cool to see them sit next to one another and seemingly enjoy what the others had to say.

St. Pierre, for example, waxed sports-psychologist philosophical about how he turns his fear into courage, and even his two-time nemesis Serra was impressed. Penn gushed about how Renzo was the one guy who didn’t look away from him during a stare down. I guess time and everyone being rich has a way of healing old wounds.

Elias Cepeda