Tag: Yoel Romero

Georges St-Pierre vs. Michael Bisping Talks Off; Yoel Romero to Get Title Shot

UFC President Dana White told Fox Sports Australia’s UFC Fight Week that a planned middleweight title fight between Georges St-Pierre and Michael Bisping has been called off.
According to Fox Sports Australia, White said the promotion has no interest i…

UFC President Dana White told Fox Sports Australia’s UFC Fight Week that a planned middleweight title fight between Georges St-Pierre and Michael Bisping has been called off.

According to Fox Sports Australia, White said the promotion has no interest in waiting until November to make the fight—which is when St-Pierre preferred to enter the Octagon against the current middleweight champion.

“I made this GSP fight, we did a press conference,” White said. “The thing was supposed to happen in July. Michael Bisping is going to have to defend his title now. We’re not waiting for GSP.”

Now, Yoel Romero is primed to take St-Pierre’s spot in the title bout and challenge Bisping for superiority in UFC’s most compelling division.

“(Yoel) doesn’t need to voice his opinion on why he needs a title shot,” White said. “He definitely deserves a title shot. He’s next in line, he’s the No. 1 ranked guy in the world. …

“So we’re not waiting for Georges St-Pierre anymore. We’re moving on with the division, and Yoel Romero will get the next shot.”

The title shot has been a long time coming for Romero (12-1), who has rattled off eight straight UFC victories dating back to April 2013.

The most recent came last November at UFC 205, when “Soldier of God” sent Chris Weidman packing 24 seconds into the third round of their clash at Madison Square Garden.

Bisping, meanwhile, will attempt to mount a second successful title defense after he defeated Dan Henderson by unanimous decision at UFC 204 last October following a stunning first-round knockout of Luke Rockhold to initially claim the strap at UFC 199.

As for St-Pierre, the Canadian will have to look elsewhere for a bout as he attempts to make a return to the Octagon following a near-four-year hiatus.

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Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre Off, Says Dana White

UFC president Dana White isn’t forcing the middleweight division to wait around for Georges St-Pierre. White told FOX Sports Australia late Wednesday night that the promotion will move on from having Michael Bisping defend his title against St-Pierre, instead giving Yoel Romero the next shot. “I made this GSP fight, we did a press conference. […]

UFC president Dana White isn’t forcing the middleweight division to wait around for Georges St-Pierre. White told FOX Sports Australia late Wednesday night that the promotion will move on from having Michael Bisping defend his title against St-Pierre, instead giving Yoel Romero the next shot. “I made this GSP fight, we did a press conference. […]

Anderson Silva Destroys Dana White For “Bulls***” Yoel Romero Snub

Anderson Silva is not letting up in his crusade against the UFC and Dana White. After he was denied an interim title fight with Yoel Romero at UFC 212 after his originally scheduled date against Kelvin Gastelum fell through – a fight he said he would retire if he didn’t get – Silva has tasked himself

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Anderson Silva is not letting up in his crusade against the UFC and Dana White.

After he was denied an interim title fight with Yoel Romero at UFC 212 after his originally scheduled date against Kelvin Gastelum fell through – a fight he said he would retire if he didn’t get – Silva has tasked himself with putting the UFC’s feet to the fire over fighter treatment, speaking out with a somewhat ambiguous Instagram post.

But now, “The Spider” isn’t being so cryptic. In a two-minute outburst on a live Instagram video (quotes via MMA Fighting) yesterday (Tues., May 9, 2017), Silva absolutely destroyed his longtime boss, UFC President Dana White, stating the controversial exec at least now has to give Romero the fight he deserves:

“Now the almighty one, who everybody knows who it is, has to calm down and put Yoel Romeroto fight,” Silva said of UFC president Dana White. “Now he has to put Yoel Romero to fight, and there is no excuse. He has no excuse to give. He has to put Yoel Romero to fight, because Yoel Romero is the No. 1 in the ranking, and (Michael) Bisping said he’s ready to fight. So, there’s no more talk. He has to put Yoel Romero to fight. Period.”

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Silva continued about his anger at the scenario, focusing on the fact that fighters put their time and bodies on the line to produce the show, not White. In a sense, he said, he’s actually looking to help Romero get the fight he clearly deserves, calling the UFC’s current way of booking fights a big joke:

“In a way, I helped a fellow fighter, and I think that’s what we should do,” Silva said. “It’s not about cursing at Dana White or fighting the (UFC brass). It’s not. It’s using what they are doing to us back against them. Dana, the almighty, shot himself in the foot.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Silva continued. “I don’t have any personal problem with him, but the problem is when it affects the fighters, when it affects the fighters that leave home for three months to train, who train hard, who train injured, and who make it all happen … we are the ones who make the show happen, not him. No. He sits there and only books fights and stays there, brother. The truth is that this is a big joke that is happening, and it has to stop.”

From many fans’ points of views, it would appear they at least agree with Silva on this. Middleweight champion Michael Bisping is on the sidelines waiting for Georges St-Pierre to return, allegedly sometime in October, tying up a stacked division and not defending his belt against one single top contender since he won it in June of last year.

Silva is concerned about where the company is headed, so he urged listeners to accept that the UFC is not the whole sport of mixed martial arts -a sport he dearly loves – and they need to treat their fighters better:

“This is what I love doing. That’s what I love the most in my life, but I can’t accept this bullsh*t with athletes in our division and athletes in the entire sport. People have to understand that the UFC is not a sport, the UFC is a company. The UFC is not a sport. MMA is a sport. The UFC is just a brand that produces MMA fights.

“One for all, all for one.”

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Luke Rockhold: UFC Just Chasing To Pay Off A Debt

Like many middleweight contenders, former 185-pound champion Luke Rockhold isn’t pleased with the current state of the division. Instead of fighting one of the few very deserving contenders, champion Michael Bisping will instead take on former longtime 170-pound king Georges “Rush” St. Pierre at a date and venue that has yet to be confirmed despite

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Like many middleweight contenders, former 185-pound champion Luke Rockhold isn’t pleased with the current state of the division.

Instead of fighting one of the few very deserving contenders, champion Michael Bisping will instead take on former longtime 170-pound king Georges “Rush” St. Pierre at a date and venue that has yet to be confirmed despite the fight being announced by UFC President Dana White this past March. St. Pierre hasn’t competed since scoring a highly controversial decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in 2013 and he has never competed at middleweight.

It’s understandable why the top contenders in the middleweight division would be angered by the UFC’s decision and Rockhold recently said that new owners WME-IMG are simply looking to pay off a debt after purchasing the promotion for a record setting $4.2 billion last year:

“I don’t know, man,” he told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour when asked about his situation. “You can’t predict anything these days. So, [the UFC is] just chasing to pay off a debt really, is what they’re doing, trying to put these megafights together that don’t make sense. I don’t know. You never know what they’re going to do these days. Who knows.”

Rockhold was scheduled to rematch former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza late last year, but he was forced to withdraw from that fight after suffering a knee injury.

Now, Yoel Romero is the division’s rightful No. 1-contender, while No. 3-ranked Robert Whittaker and No. 4-ranked Gegard Mousasi have been making waves as well.

As far his fighting future goes, Rockhold sounded adamant when saying that he isn’t interested in fighting unless an interim title is on the line or unless Bisping is matched against a top contender. The 32-year-old also advised Romero, Whittaker and Mousasi to follow his lead:

“If they’re not putting an interim title on the line, or if they’re not making Bisping fight a contender, I’m not fighting anybody,” he said. “And so should the rest of the division, too. What’s the point? Without me, Mousasi, Yoel, and Whittaker? I think everyone should just stand their ground, and say f*ck you. Put a title on the line or else, f*ck, you don’t even have a division.”

“I think everyone is already on strike, aren’t they?” he said. “We’re all waiting on a title. Whittaker’s down. I’ve voiced my opinion, and I think Mousasi should stand his ground too. I mean, without us you have no f*cking division. Make something happen.”

Rock hold did, however, admit that he prefers a fight with Whittaker over a fight with Mousasi if he is indeed going to return sometime soon:

“I asked for the Whittaker fight,” Rockhold said. “I think that’s a more clear cut, straight path to the title. Mousasi’s coming off…you know he looked good, against Weidman, but there was some controversy at the end. Then you got Whittaker who knocked out Jacare. It’s pretty clear-cut. You go put that guy away, and you don’t have to worry about anybody else trying to jump you.”

Do you agree with Rockhold’s comments and who would you like to see him fight next?

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Dana White Says Anderson Silva Should Retire If He’s Waiting for Title Shot

Anderson Silva has threatened to retire if he isn’t granted an interim title fight against Yoel Romero on June 3, but UFC president Dana White doesn’t sound ready to give in to the Brazilian’s demands.
Speaking to TMZ on Friday, White sa…

Anderson Silva has threatened to retire if he isn’t granted an interim title fight against Yoel Romero on June 3, but UFC president Dana White doesn’t sound ready to give in to the Brazilian’s demands.

Speaking to TMZ on Friday, White said Silva isn’t going to get an interim title shot.

“Obviously he wants an interim title,” White said. “Obviously we’re not going to do an interim title. He’s coming out publicly—you know my philosophy on that. If you ever say the ‘R’ word, you should probably do it anyway, you know. If you’re ever considering retirement, you should probably do it.”

During an appearance on the MMA Hour on Monday, Silva was adamant that he wanted an interim title fight against Romero at UFC 212 after Kelvin Gastelum was pulled from their scheduled bout following a failed drug test.

“I’m not going to fight Yoel Romero in Brazil for nothing,” Silva said, per ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto. “Yoel Romero is not going to come to Brazil for nothing. I talked to Yoel’s team, and we are on the same page. Let’s go fight, but for an interim title—because this makes sense.”

But with the UFC seemingly not budging, Silva, 42, had some heated words for management.

“This is perfect bulls–t,” Silva said, per MMAFighting.com’s Marc Raimondi. “I’m tired. I’m so tired. I’m respectful long time. Everything, I never talk about bad situations in UFC. … I think I’m done. I fight for long time in my life. And I’m tired, bro. I’m so upset. I have my legacy, I have my story. It’s very frustrating, because this is the second time I’m not fighting in my country.”

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Roy Nelson Absolutely Destroys Anderson Silva’s Title Shot Haters

Not surprisingly, there are a ton of skeptics about longtime former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s ultimatum that he needs an interim title fight against Yoel Romero at June 3’s UFC 212 or he’ll retire. True, the legendary “Spider” may only be 1-4(1 NC) in his last six octagon bouts, but while that’s hardly the

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Not surprisingly, there are a ton of skeptics about longtime former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s ultimatum that he needs an interim title fight against Yoel Romero at June 3’s UFC 212 or he’ll retire.

True, the legendary “Spider” may only be 1-4(1 NC) in his last six octagon bouts, but while that’s hardly the resume of a title contender, we’ve seen that pure meritocracy is rarely the way UFC title shots are handed out anyhow. The entire scenario could have been avoided altogether if A.) current champ Michael Bisping would simply fight the No. 1-ranked Romero like most fans think he should and B.) Silva’s original opponent Kelvin Gastelum hadn’t been pulled from the card for failing a USADA drug test for marijuana metabolites.

Bisping is fighting former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (or so we’ve been told) at a yet-to-be-determined date sometime later this year, a bout that “The Spider” feels is simply disrespectful to all middleweights in the stacked UFC 185-pound landscape. While there are certainly more deserving contenders on paper as Silva isn’t exactly on fire, he did get a win, albeit controversially, over Derek Brunson in his last appearance at UFC 208.

All the fans who have cried out that him earning a title shot would be a similar scenario, however, were dealt a sobering dose of facts by UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson, who pointed out a long list of UFC fighters who actually earned a title shot coming off a loss:

Ouch. Framed in that sense, Silva’s call for an interim title shot doesn’t seem all that outlandish, especially when you consider that the onetime-invincible Silva may still be the UFC’s biggest star with Conor McGregor on the sidelines trying to box Floyd Mayweather and Ronda Rousey almost assuredly retired.

And win or lose, he’s a fighting champion who actually called out  man who absolutely no one seems to want to fight right now in “The Soldier of God” just 11 months after he fought light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier on an unprecedented three days’ notice at last year’s UFC 200.

Love him or hate him, Silva is a gamer, and the UFC simply needs him during arguably the worst start to a year they’ve ever seen with both pay-per-view and TV ratings tanking in a major way under new ownership.

There’s no real reason not to make this fight, and as Nelson pointed out, a bunch of well-known UFC combatants have “earned” a title shot for much less.

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