(“If I could tell that young Diego Sanchez anything…anything…it wouldn’t matter because he wouldn’t have listened anyway.” Props: YouTube.com/UFC)
Thanks to his 2009 beating at the hands of BJ Penn and a shaky 2-2 stint at welterweight, UFC fan-favorite Diego Sanchez has lost a great deal of the “perennial contender” aura that he’d held during his early ascension. So is The Nightmare Dream still relevant in the year 2013? The jury is still out on that question: Sanchez made his return to lightweight earlier this year in Japan, missed weight by three pounds, then barely snuck off with a split-decision win against Takanori Gomi.
Still, Sanchez has a massive opportunity to redeem himself next month at UFC 166 when he faces former Strikeforce champ/UFC lightweight title contender Gilbert Melendez. In this new profile video, Sanchez explains how some poor personal decisions left his MMA skills fading and his bank account drained, leading to some rough times in his career. Now, he’s reunited with Greg Jackson, focused and humble, and has a wife and son to fight for. It’s the set-up to a Cinderella story. Can he scrap his way to a happy ending?
(“If I could tell that young Diego Sanchez anything…anything…it wouldn’t matter because he wouldn’t have listened anyway.” Props: YouTube.com/UFC)
Thanks to his 2009 beating at the hands of BJ Penn and a shaky 2-2 stint at welterweight, UFC fan-favorite Diego Sanchez has lost a great deal of the “perennial contender” aura that he’d held during his early ascension. So is The Nightmare Dream still relevant in the year 2013? The jury is still out on that question: Sanchez made his return to lightweight earlier this year in Japan, missed weight by three pounds, then barely snuck off with a split-decision win against Takanori Gomi.
Still, Sanchez has a massive opportunity to redeem himself next month at UFC 166 when he faces former Strikeforce champ/UFC lightweight title contender Gilbert Melendez. In this new profile video, Sanchez explains how some poor personal decisions left his MMA skills fading and his bank account drained, leading to some rough times in his career. Now, he’s reunited with Greg Jackson, focused and humble, and has a wife and son to fight for. It’s the set-up to a Cinderella story. Can he scrap his way to a happy ending?
So much of Alexander Gustafsson‘s recent success can be attributed to his decision to move his training home-base to Alliance MMA in Chula Vista, California, and work alongsidePhil Davis, the man responsible for the Mauler’s first UFC loss, back in April 2010. Davis’s influence could clearly be seen on Saturday night in Gustafsson’s markedly-improved wrestling game, as he became the first person to successfully take Jon Jones down in the UFC, and stuffed several of Bones’s own takedown attempts.
In short, Davis and Gustafsson are bros, and Mr. Wonderful took it very personally when Gustafsson came out on the wrong end of the scorecards after the five-round dogfight in UFC 165‘s main event. Davis wasn’t just disappointed by the result — he seemed genuinely shocked that the judges saw the fight for Jones. Of course, Davis isn’t exactly an unbiased observer. But he wasn’t the only one to cry “robbery” after watching the fight.
So what did you think? We have a new poll on our homepage sidebar, over there on the right: Was Alexander Gustafsson robbed at UFC 165? Submit your opinion and we’ll see how the MMA fanosphere really feels about this one. For the record, FightMetric scored it 49-48 for Jones based on striking and grappling performance totals, giving the first round to Gustafsson, scoring rounds two and three dead-even, and giving the championship rounds to Jones. Makes sense to me. That being said, if you’re an MMA judge and you submit two 10-10 rounds for the same fight, you would be put on administrative leave faster than C.J. Ross. That’s just the stupid, counter-productive way things work in the fight game. And that’s why we sometimes get scorecards that don’t reflect the reality of the fight.
So much of Alexander Gustafsson‘s recent success can be attributed to his decision to move his training home-base to Alliance MMA in Chula Vista, California, and work alongsidePhil Davis, the man responsible for the Mauler’s first UFC loss, back in April 2010. Davis’s influence could clearly be seen on Saturday night in Gustafsson’s markedly-improved wrestling game, as he became the first person to successfully take Jon Jones down in the UFC, and stuffed several of Bones’s own takedown attempts.
In short, Davis and Gustafsson are bros, and Mr. Wonderful took it very personally when Gustafsson came out on the wrong end of the scorecards after the five-round dogfight in UFC 165‘s main event. Davis wasn’t just disappointed by the result — he seemed genuinely shocked that the judges saw the fight for Jones. Of course, Davis isn’t exactly an unbiased observer. But he wasn’t the only one to cry “robbery” after watching the fight.
So what did you think? We have a new poll on our homepage sidebar, over there on the right: Was Alexander Gustafsson robbed at UFC 165? Submit your opinion and we’ll see how the MMA fanosphere really feels about this one. For the record, FightMetric scored it 49-48 for Jones based on striking and grappling performance totals, giving the first round to Gustafsson, scoring rounds two and three dead-even, and giving the championship rounds to Jones. Makes sense to me. That being said, if you’re an MMA judge and you submit two 10-10 rounds for the same fight, you would be put on administrative leave faster than C.J. Ross. That’s just the stupid, counter-productive way things work in the fight game. And that’s why we sometimes get scorecards that don’t reflect the reality of the fight.
We came across video of a Fox Sports 1 documentary special on UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey this morning that you should definitely carve out some time to watch, if you’re into that sort of thing. “Breaking Ground” combines interviews with Rousey, her family, friends, coaches, and teammates with previously unreleased training footage to reveal a bit more about the young champ than we knew before.
The special details Ronda’s youth, from her early speech-developmental challenges, the sports she competed in before Judo, and her father’s tragic death, to her relocation to Los Angeles and transition into Judo under the tutelage of her world-champion mother. We also get to see that “Baby Ronda” was the same rowdy and “evil” competitor that we know and love now.
As can be expected, there are great, scary quotes aplenty from Ronda as well as her judo-champ mother, Ana Maria Rousey DeMars. Some of our favorites:
“If my mom saw me goofing around or having fun or whatever, she would grab me and she would pull me and sit me in the corner and be like, ‘shut up, sit down and think about winning.'” — Ronda Rousey
“When I was a little kid, when I thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t really think, ‘oh I want to be an accountant,’ or, ‘I want to be a dentist.’ I wanted something extraordinary, something that didn’t exist. I wanted to be a super hero.” — Ronda Rousey
“I’d go up to people at tournaments and go up behind them and just like kick them in the back of the legs and say, ‘bitch, I’m going to break your fucking arm today.'” — Mama Rousey
We came across video of a Fox Sports 1 documentary special on UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey this morning that you should definitely carve out some time to watch, if you’re into that sort of thing. “Breaking Ground” combines interviews with Rousey, her family, friends, coaches, and teammates with previously unreleased training footage to reveal a bit more about the young champ than we knew before.
The special details Ronda’s youth, from her early speech-developmental challenges, the sports she competed in before Judo, and her father’s tragic death, to her relocation to Los Angeles and transition into Judo under the tutelage of her world-champion mother. We also get to see that “Baby Ronda” was the same rowdy and “evil” competitor that we know and love now.
As can be expected, there are great, scary quotes aplenty from Ronda as well as her judo-champ mother, Ana Maria Rousey DeMars. Some of our favorites:
“If my mom saw me goofing around or having fun or whatever, she would grab me and she would pull me and sit me in the corner and be like, ‘shut up, sit down and think about winning.’” — Ronda Rousey
“When I was a little kid, when I thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t really think, ‘oh I want to be an accountant,’ or, ‘I want to be a dentist.’ I wanted something extraordinary, something that didn’t exist. I wanted to be a super hero.” — Ronda Rousey
“I’d go up to people at tournaments and go up behind them and just like kick them in the back of the legs and say, ‘bitch, I’m going to break your fucking arm today.’” — Mama Rousey
To hype up Frank Mir‘s return to the Octagon at UFC 164 this coming Saturday, the UFC has released one of Frank’s career highlights — his first-round submission victory against pro-wrestling star Brock Lesnar at UFC 81, back in February 2008. Lesnar had first dipped his toes into the MMA pool the previous June, when he swallowed up Min Soo Kim at Dynamite!! USA in Los Angeles. That was enough to earn him an invitation to the UFC, but his debut fight would not be an easy one.
Lesnar wasted absolutely no time in dumping Mir on his back and firing some nasty shots from above. Then, referee Steve Mazzagatti makes a rather controversial choice, halting the action after Lesnar lands some punches to the back of Mir’s head. Theoretically, it’s the right call to make; Lesnar clearly lands at least four rabbit-punches at the video’s 11:08-11:12 mark. But how many times have you actually seen a UFC referee enforce that rule so quickly, without previous warnings? The Mazz deducts a point from Lesnar and re-starts the action with the fighters in a standing position. It’s a lucky break for Mir, who gets a moment to clear the cobwebs.
To hype up Frank Mir‘s return to the Octagon at UFC 164 this coming Saturday, the UFC has released one of Frank’s career highlights — his first-round submission victory against pro-wrestling star Brock Lesnar at UFC 81, back in February 2008. Lesnar had first dipped his toes into the MMA pool the previous June, when he swallowed up Min Soo Kim at Dynamite!! USA in Los Angeles. That was enough to earn him an invitation to the UFC, but his debut fight would not be an easy one.
Lesnar wasted absolutely no time in dumping Mir on his back and firing some nasty shots from above. Then, referee Steve Mazzagatti makes a rather controversial choice, halting the action after Lesnar lands some punches to the back of Mir’s head. Theoretically, it’s the right call to make; Lesnar clearly lands at least four rabbit-punches at the video’s 11:08-11:12 mark. But how many times have you actually seen a UFC referee enforce that rule so quickly, without previous warnings? The Mazz deducts a point from Lesnar and re-starts the action with the fighters in a standing position. It’s a lucky break for Mir, who gets a moment to clear the cobwebs.
That is, until Lesnar punches Mir to the mat — or did Mir fall down on purpose, to bait him? — and gets back on top. As Brock fires down punches, Mir establishes guard, then wraps up Lesnar’s leg when Lesnar makes the mistake of standing up. Mir grabs a kneebar, and Brock taps.
For those MMA fans who felt that a pro-wrestler could never be competitive in “real fighting,” it was a satisfying moment to see the big man toppled. But Lesnar was far from finished: He dominated Heath Herring in his next UFC fight, TKO’d Randy Couture to become the UFC heavyweight champion (!), wrecked Frank Mir in a rematch at UFC 100 that took in 1.6 million pay-per-view buys, and defended his belt for the second time in a classic comeback-fight against Shane Carwin at UFC 116.
Eventually, diverticulitis and an inability to hang with dangerous strikers sent Brock packing back to the WWE. But from 2008-2010, Lesnar really was the “Next Big Thing” in MMA, and Frank Mir deserves much of the credit for putting him over.
(Shogun vs. Sonnen/Dana White media scrum video, via KarynBryant.)
Uriah Hall isn’t the first TUF finalist to terrify his housemates and then fall apart as soon as a paying crowd is watching him. Remember when Vinny Magalhaes was (allegedly) the second coming of Royce Gracie? Or when TUF 8‘s lightweight finalist Phillipe Nover was supposed to be the next Anderson Silva? And when was the last time you heard the name “Tommy Speer“?
After two official fights in the Octagon, it’s looking like Hall may join the ranks of TUF‘s all-time greatest flashes-in-the-pan. Just ask UFC president Dana White, who verbally buried Hall following his decision loss to John Howard at UFC Fight Night 26, saying that Hall simply doesn’t have the mentality to be a fighter:
“I love Uriah Hall. I have a great relationship with this kid. He’s one of the nicest human beings you can ever meet. He’s not a fighter, man…If I could take Brad Pickett‘s brain and heart and put it inside Uriah Hall’s body, holy shit there’d be some damage done. Because Uriah Hall has all the physical attributes to be amazing. He’s got speed, he’s got power…he’s just unbelievable. He doesn’t have what it mentally takes to fight here. You know what I mean?
“That was the high-five competition. Listen, you’re a nice guy, I get it. We’re not here to fuckin’ high five, we’re not here to shake hands. You can do all that shit when the fight’s over. You’re here to fight.”
White wasn’t prepared to make any decisions about Hall’s future so soon after the fight, but later on during the media scrum, he dumped more hate on the affectionate nature of Howard vs. Hall (skip to the 6:50 mark of the vid):
(Shogun vs. Sonnen/Dana White media scrum video, via KarynBryant.)
Uriah Hall isn’t the first TUF finalist to terrify his housemates and then fall apart as soon as a paying crowd is watching him. Remember when Vinny Magalhaes was (allegedly) the second coming of Royce Gracie? Or when TUF 8‘s lightweight finalist Phillipe Nover was supposed to be the next Anderson Silva? And when was the last time you heard the name “Tommy Speer“?
After two official fights in the Octagon, it’s looking like Hall may join the ranks of TUF‘s all-time greatest flashes-in-the-pan. Just ask UFC president Dana White, who verbally buried Hall following his decision loss to John Howard at UFC Fight Night 26, saying that Hall simply doesn’t have the mentality to be a fighter:
“I love Uriah Hall. I have a great relationship with this kid. He’s one of the nicest human beings you can ever meet. He’s not a fighter, man…If I could take Brad Pickett‘s brain and heart and put it inside Uriah Hall’s body, holy shit there’d be some damage done. Because Uriah Hall has all the physical attributes to be amazing. He’s got speed, he’s got power…he’s just unbelievable. He doesn’t have what it mentally takes to fight here. You know what I mean?
“That was the high-five competition. Listen, you’re a nice guy, I get it. We’re not here to fuckin’ high five, we’re not here to shake hands. You can do all that shit when the fight’s over. You’re here to fight.”
White wasn’t prepared to make any decisions about Hall’s future so soon after the fight, but later on during the media scrum, he dumped more hate on the affectionate nature of Howard vs. Hall (skip to the 6:50 mark of the vid):
“[Howard] usually doesn’t fight that way. That’s not how he fights. It’s like, Uriah’s so nice, that he makes the other guy really nice. ‘This is a really nice guy, I really get the feeling that this guy doesn’t want to punch me in the face or do me any harm. I’ll high-five him. We’re both getting paid tonight, let’s just high five for three rounds if that’s what we’re gonna do.’ You know what I mean? You’ve seen that before, you’ve seen when guys get into that whole high-fiving thing and they kinda get…you’re in a fight. You’re here to use your martial arts to win this competition and move forward. You’re not here to high five and hug.
“That’s great, one of the things I love about this sport is the sportsmanship that is displayed sometimes before, during, and after a fight. But it gets to a point where it gets ridiculous. And that’s not what people are sitting home to watch, that’s not what people paid to come into this building to watch, two guys hug and high five for fifteen minutes.
“It’s a mental thing. He was this killer on TUF, and then he comes into the big show where it really matters and this is going to make your livelihood and everything else, and he turns into this different person — this super nice guy. He was telling me after the Kelvin [Gastelum] fight, he’s like, ‘You know, I just really like him, he’s a really nice guy.’ OK, well that really nice guy just took every fucking thing you ever wanted. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? Do you get that? Does that make sense to you? And I guess it doesn’t make sense to him.”
We didn’t appreciate all the lovey-doveyness during Howard/Hall either, but you have to admit — the match contained more “Oh shit, what if that landed??” moments than any other fight in UFC history. So what do you think of Dana’s assessment? Does Uriah Hall run into a mental block when the pressure’s on? Does he lack a true killer instinct? Or do his tricks simply not work against higher-level opponents?
It’s kind of scary how quickly Chael Sonnen can flip the switch from normal human being to his pro-wrestling alter ego (“Chael Mysterio”?) — but we all caught another glimpse of it on Saturday night, following his unexpected guillotine-choke finish of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC Fight Night 26. First, Sonnen shouts out his grandmother and friend who are both fighting cancer, while rocking a shiny pink ribbon on his walkout shirt. And then…bang. It’s time to cut that promo:
“I’m the man of the hour, Joe, too sweet to be sour, what you see is what you get, and what you don’t is better yet. I’m the women’s pick I’m the men’s regret, and if you went against Chael Sonnen you made a bad bet. Now… [*hold for applause*]
“Right here, on the UFC’s new home, FOX, Sports, 1, Wanderlei Silva [*hold for applause/boos*]…six feet tall and 205 pounds, boy, until I met you I didn’t know they could stack crap that high. [*hold for applause. At this point, you really expect Jim Ross to say ‘my goodness’ from the broadcast desk*]
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I will let you know when I’m done, Joe, I just got done with a world champion, if you don’t think I won’t add a middle-aged comedian just for the goddamn pleasure of it, you better think again. Wanderlei Silva, three months, you and the bad guy!”
Last night, Silva tweeted that the UFC hasn’t called him yet to set up the fight, while Vitor Belforttried to score the matchup for himself. We’ll see which Brazilian earns the pleasure of fighting the American heel, but in the meantime, Sonnen is a hot commodity again.
Highlights from Sonnen’s win against Rua are after the jump…
It’s kind of scary how quickly Chael Sonnen can flip the switch from normal human being to his pro-wrestling alter ego (“Chael Mysterio”?) — but we all caught another glimpse of it on Saturday night, following his unexpected guillotine-choke finish of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC Fight Night 26. First, Sonnen shouts out his grandmother and friend who are both fighting cancer, while rocking a shiny pink ribbon on his walkout shirt. And then…bang. It’s time to cut that promo:
“I’m the man of the hour, Joe, too sweet to be sour, what you see is what you get, and what you don’t is better yet. I’m the women’s pick I’m the men’s regret, and if you went against Chael Sonnen you made a bad bet. Now… [*hold for applause*]
“Right here, on the UFC’s new home, FOX, Sports, 1, Wanderlei Silva [*hold for applause/boos*]…six feet tall and 205 pounds, boy, until I met you I didn’t know they could stack crap that high. [*hold for applause. At this point, you really expect Jim Ross to say ‘my goodness’ from the broadcast desk*]
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I will let you know when I’m done, Joe, I just got done with a world champion, if you don’t think I won’t add a middle-aged comedian just for the goddamn pleasure of it, you better think again. Wanderlei Silva, three months, you and the bad guy!”
Last night, Silva tweeted that the UFC hasn’t called him yet to set up the fight, while Vitor Belforttried to score the matchup for himself. We’ll see which Brazilian earns the pleasure of fighting the American heel, but in the meantime, Sonnen is a hot commodity again.
Highlights from Sonnen’s win against Rua are after the jump…
