The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off next week, and Spike has released this eight-minute preview to give you a lil’ taste — and already, we can see it’s not business as usual. TUF 14‘s much-ballyhooed elimination fights took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, which is quite a step up from the cheaply-assembled TV set the guys usually fight in. For the first time in TUF history, viewers will be able to vote on the season’s best knockout, submission, and fight, with the recipients all scoring $25,000 checks at the TUF 14 finale. Also, the cast includes a pair of brothers, bantamweights Josh and BJ Ferguson. Tune in next Wednesday at 9 p.m. to see how it all shakes out…
The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off next week, and Spike has released this eight-minute preview to give you a lil’ taste — and already, we can see it’s not business as usual. TUF 14‘s much-ballyhooed elimination fights took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, which is quite a step up from the cheaply-assembled TV set the guys usually fight in. For the first time in TUF history, viewers will be able to vote on the season’s best knockout, submission, and fight, with the recipients all scoring $25,000 checks at the TUF 14 finale. Also, the cast includes a pair of brothers, bantamweights Josh and BJ Ferguson. Tune in next Wednesday at 9 p.m. to see how it all shakes out…
Tito Ortiz‘s matchup with Ryan Bader at UFC 132 this Saturday didn’t come without a price. When the Huntington Beach Bad Boy begged for another fight following his loss to Matt Hamill last October, the UFC eventually gave in, but not under the same terms of his former contract. As Ortiz explained to Ariel Helwani:
“I guess it was negotiation on their part of paying me less. And I took it. I want to compete. And that shows how much I want to compete, to take a big, big, big pay cut. It is what it is, man, I’m gonna fight my ass off on Saturday night and I get my contract back, and I’ll be fighting some more.”
For reference, Ortiz earned a $250,000 salary for his last two losses against Hamill and Forrest Griffin, and $210,000 for his previous three fights against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Chuck Liddell; those figures don’t include points on the pay-per-view revenue that may have also been included in his contract. Early next week, we should have a clearer sense of just how “big, big, big” that pay cut was.
Ortiz also discussed the full-frontal Twitter photo that was allegedly sent from his phone by a hacker earlier this month. Here’s how it went down, to Ortiz’s best understanding…
Tito Ortiz‘s matchup with Ryan Bader at UFC 132 this Saturday didn’t come without a price. When the Huntington Beach Bad Boy begged for another fight following his loss to Matt Hamill last October, the UFC eventually gave in, but not under the same terms of his former contract. As Ortiz explained to Ariel Helwani:
“I guess it was negotiation on their part of paying me less. And I took it. I want to compete. And that shows how much I want to compete, to take a big, big, big pay cut. It is what it is, man, I’m gonna fight my ass off on Saturday night and I get my contract back, and I’ll be fighting some more.”
For reference, Ortiz earned a $250,000 salary for his last two losses against Hamill and Forrest Griffin, and $210,000 for his previous three fights against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Chuck Liddell; those figures don’t include points on the pay-per-view revenue that may have also been included in his contract. Early next week, we should have a clearer sense of just how “big, big, big” that pay cut was.
Ortiz also discussed the full-frontal Twitter photo that was allegedly sent from his phone by a hacker earlier this month. Here’s how it went down, to Ortiz’s best understanding…
“Someone got on my damn phone and put a nekkid picture of me…FBI called me, we talked, we tried to find it out, what it was, I was at a Starbucks and I left my phone down, and I left it there and totally forgot, came back, and it was at a different table, and what can you do, man…I guess it was one of those pictures that I probably shouldn’t have sent to Jenna before, and left it on my phone, I probably should have erased it. I guess I could uphold it and be proud of it. I hope I didn’t offend anybody. But at the same time, personal life won’t be on Twitter ever again.”
According to our sources, there was an unexplained 11-minute gap in the security camera footage at the Starbucks in question that matches up with the time Ortiz spent taking a dump in the bathroom. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this vast conspiracy.
(Wanderlei Silva: You couldn’t last five minutes in this man’s world.)
UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, and in case you’re feeling some MMA fatigue after five consecutive weeks of events, let us remind you — this card has the potential to be a real son-of-a-bitch. Familiarize yourself with the lineup here, and get your juices flowing again by watching some career highlights from the fighters on the card. Enjoy…
(Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine, UFC 110, 2/21/10)
(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver, UFC 86, 7/5/08)
(Wanderlei Silva: You couldn’t last five minutes in this man’s world.)
UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, and in case you’re feeling some MMA fatigue after five consecutive weeks of events, let us remind you — this card has the potential to be a real son-of-a-bitch. Familiarize yourself with the lineup here, and get your juices flowing again by watching some career highlights from the fighters on the card. Enjoy…
(Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine, UFC 110, 2/21/10)
(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver, UFC 86, 7/5/08)
(Wanderlei Silva vs. Kazushi Sakuraba, PRIDE Total Elimination 2003, 8/10/03)
(Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock 2, UFC 61, 7/8/06; fight starts at the 10:18 mark)
(Carlos Condit vs. Renato “Charuto” Verissimo, Rumble on the Rock 8, 1/20/06)
(Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz, WEC 26, 3/24/07; click image to go to video)
(Shane Roller vs. Thiago Tavares, UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann, 3/3/11)
(Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin, UFC Fight Night 11, 9/19/07)
(Anthony Njokuani vs. Chris Horodecki, WEC 45, 12/19/09)
(Legal Disclaimer: Actual Bud Light contest winners will not be nearly as attractive as the people featured in this commercial. Props: officialbudlight)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza to Defend Strikeforce Title Against Luke Rockhold (5thRound)
– UFC 131 Tickets ‘Cannibalized’ by Vancouver Canucks NHL Finals Run and More (MMA Mania)
– Shane Carwin on Dos Santos: I’m Going to Knock Him Out or Tap Him Out and Feel No Remorse For It (LowKick)
– Downes, Cope, and Kingsbury Top TUF 13 Finale Medical Suspensions (Five Ounces of Pain)
– Fight Journal: ‘Mayhem’ Miller Edition (MMA Fighting)
– Now You Can Watch Hector Lombard Give Joe Doerksen a Harry Potter Scar (MiddleEasy)
– “Combate Extremo” CEO Michael Shoffner talks about MMA in Mexico (TheFightNerd)
(Legal Disclaimer: Actual Bud Light contest winners will not be nearly as attractive as the people featured in this commercial. Props: officialbudlight)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza to Defend Strikeforce Title Against Luke Rockhold (5thRound)
– UFC 131 Tickets ‘Cannibalized’ by Vancouver Canucks NHL Finals Run and More (MMA Mania)
– Shane Carwin on Dos Santos: I’m Going to Knock Him Out or Tap Him Out and Feel No Remorse For It (LowKick)
In an unofficial sequel to “People Like That Get Slapped,” Ariel Helwani attempted to interview Quinton “Rampage” Jackson yesterday, and barely escaped with his life. After some warm-up insults about Helwani’s tie and shoes, Jackson realized who he was talking to, and the vibe immediately became hostile. Apparently Jackson didn’t appreciate that Helwani asked him about “Queen Mo” during a recent MMA Hour appearance — while Rampage was eating, no less — when ‘Page just wanted to discuss his UFC 130 fight against Matt Hamill. Plus, his peoples told him that Ariel had been hatin’.
Ariel offers to squash the beef at the 2:52 mark. Unfortunately, that phrase means the exact opposite in Memphis than it does everywhere else, and Jackson raises up on Ariel, who does his best to change the subject. Rampage gets upset again later when Helwani brings up nutritionist Mike Dolce, who wasn’t with Rampage for this training camp. (“I’m fighting Matt Hamill, I’m not fighting Mike Dolce. What’s Mike Dolce got to do with me winning or losing a fight?”)
The interview ends in a more cordial fashion, but Jackson clarifies that if it wasn’t for his friend Anthony Evans, who’s a friend of Ariel’s, “I probably would have smacked the shit out of you.”
In an unofficial sequel to “People Like That Get Slapped,” Ariel Helwani attempted to interview Quinton “Rampage” Jackson yesterday, and barely escaped with his life. After some warm-up insults about Helwani’s tie and shoes, Jackson realized who he was talking to, and the vibe immediately became hostile. Apparently Jackson didn’t appreciate that Helwani asked him about “Queen Mo” during a recent MMA Hour appearance — while Rampage was eating, no less — when ‘Page just wanted to discuss his UFC 130 fight against Matt Hamill. Plus, his peoples told him that Ariel had been hatin’.
Ariel offers to squash the beef at the 2:52 mark. Unfortunately, that phrase means the exact opposite in Memphis than it does everywhere else, and Jackson raises up on Ariel, who does his best to change the subject. Rampage gets upset again later when Helwani brings up nutritionist Mike Dolce, who wasn’t with Rampage for this training camp. (“I’m fighting Matt Hamill, I’m not fighting Mike Dolce. What’s Mike Dolce got to do with me winning or losing a fight?”)
The interview ends in a more cordial fashion, but Jackson clarifies that if it wasn’t for his friend Anthony Evans, who’s a friend of Ariel’s, “I probably would have smacked the shit out of you.”
