Tweets of the Week – 12/31

What People not on Twitter are Missing. Its so cold in my house, lucky I am wrapped up in my pink snuggie to stay warm. Pink snuggie!!!!!! http://plixi.com/p/66818724 ? – Antonio Banuelos Well, It is a Classic So some girl I know just tried to tell me that when Struve got on top of me he looked like Ralphie beating up Scott Farkus in A X-Mas story? – Sean McCorkle UFC 125 Fighters Tweet-In I can’t wait to beat Tavares go home pet my dog open my Christmas presents & make a baby I have 2 appreciate my fans!? – Phil Baroni Finished my final workout before @UFC 125. Gotta tell ya I feel AWESOME!! Weight is great n ready for weigh INS mañana. ThNks 4all support!!? – Jeremy Stephens Can’t wait to weigh in! Then it will be time to do what I was born to do!! Oh yeah you know what it is!! Scrap? – Dustin Poirier You guys ready for @ufc 125?? – Diaz Brothers New Years Wishes from the Champs Im Here in vegas! Now how many other tweeps r out here ready 4 the new year, & the added bonus of ufc 125!:)?? – Dominick Cruz Off 2 Vegas!!! Happy new years…. #FB?? – Anthony Pettis Joe-Jitsu Speaks for Itself Didn’t make Fight magazines top 43 submission artists..however I did submit 2 guys in the top 20 & KOd another!! …JOE-JITSU? – Joseph Benavidez Grateful Wandy Thanks so much for all support my guys, this year 2010 be a hard year for me, but my guys never desert thanks again? – Wanderlei Silva Zing! Back at the gym training this morning. It felt very good to hit something that wasn’t the bottle. – Daniel Downes Amir Channels Derrick Zoolander I can not be the prettiest fighter, but I can not, not be the prettiest.? – Amir Sadollah Amir? He’s Imitating Zoolander. Someone please explain to me the fish lips puckered face picture. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THATS HOLY, EXPLAIN!? – Gabe Ruediger A Legend Retires Thank you to all my fans for all the great support I’m going to miss entertaining you. I’ll still be involved in the sport for life. I’m excited to continue to help the sport I love grow? – Chuck Liddell

View post:
Tweets of the Week – 12/31

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 31st, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

UFC 125 Weigh In Results

Main Event – UFC Lightweight Championship Frankie Edgar (155) vs Gray Maynard (155) PPV Chris Leben (186) vs Brian Stann (186) Nate Diaz (170) vs Dong Hyun Kim (171) Clay Guida (156) vs Takanori Gomi (155) Thiago Silva (206) vs Brandon Vera (205) ION TELEVISION PRELIMS Jeremy Stephens (156) vs Marcus Davis (156) Josh Grispi (146) vs Dustin Poirier (145) Phil Baroni (186) vs Brad Tavares(185) PRELIMS Mike Brown (146) vs Diego Nunes (146) Daniel Roberts (171) vs Greg Soto (171) Antonio McKee (156) vs Jacob Volkmann (156)

Read the original post:
UFC 125 Weigh In Results

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 31st, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Edgar: 13 and Gray Maynard

Two weeks out from UFC 125 – Edgar vs Maynard 2, & at 28 windy degrees, Winter has finally arrived in Hamilton, NJ. It’s just before 9 a.m. on a weekday when most towns outside Philadelphia, PA would be buzzing with morning rush hour traffic, but Hamilton is still kind of sleepy as one approaches a building that, with floor to ceiling windows & an industrial type entrance around back, looks more like a furniture store or new car showroom than a place where a mixed martial arts champ trains. This is RABJJ, Ricardo Almeida Jiu Jitsu, home to UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar. Inside, twelve young men, covered in various tattoos, hands wrapped & gloved, shin & foot gear strapped, headgear & mouthpieces locked in place – pace one half of the mat in anticipation of the battle they’re here for. The entire other half of the mat is left clear – an unspoken show of respect – where Almeida is pulling the gloves on the champ. Frankie’s dark hair is long & curly, & he looks exactly like Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta in Martin Scorcese’s Raging Bull. “I haven’t had time to cut it,” says the notoriously economical-with-words Edgar when someone asks if he was growing his hair long. This is Frankie’s morning session. He’ll be boxing at 3:30 p.m. with coach Mark Henry, a former boxer who owns a pizza shop in Woodbridge, NJ where Bon Jovi rocker Richie Sambora grew up. Edgar is to go ten rounds today, with one minute rest between each – a fresh opponent each round. The room is silent save for Almeida’s sing-song Brazilian-English barking instruction once in a while, & the familiar sound of Edgar’s sharp exhaling breaths with each punch & kick. If you close your eyes & just listen to the action, you’d be able to tell just how quick & explosive Frankie is by the short, quick sound of his breathing, followed by the thuds of twelve ounce gloves to the head & body. UFC welterweight Charlie Brenneman & two-time All-American wrestler Dave Esposito from Lehigh University are among the partners. Each brings a size advantage onto the mat, a deliberate strategy as Edgar prepares for a much larger opponent, particularly on fight night, where Maynard can weigh every bit of 175 or 180 after weighing in at 155. Edgar walks around at 165 after putting on some muscle specifically for this bout. “To be honest with you I’m the smallest guy wherever I train anyway,” says Edgar. “So I’m always accustomed to facing bigger guys no matter who they are.

See the article here:
Edgar: 13 & Gray Maynard

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 31st, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Gray Maynard – What Matters Is Today

Your mother always told you that you will be judged by the company you keep. If that’s true in mixed martial arts, then the resume of Gray Maynard keeps looking better & better. Frankie Edgar, Maynard’s opponent in Saturday’s UFC 125 main event, is a world champ. Nate Diaz is 2-0 with two finishes at 170 pounds since their January 2010 bout. Kenny Florian is a two-time title challenger. Dennis Siver has gone 6-2 after a defeat to Maynard. & Jim Miller has run off a six fight winning streak after losing to “The Bully.” That’s a number one contender for you, & when you consider his slate contains a host of top-notch pros, does it truly matter that he’s defeated them all by decision? “I believe that the people who talk about decisions all the time & say that this guy sucks because he wins by decision, they’ve got a rude awakening coming in the future because the gap is getting so close with the top guys,” said Maynard, unbeaten in 12 pro fights. “& nobody’s gonna quit & it’s gonna get harder to get knockouts. Everybody knows jiu-jitsu now, & it’s gonna be the small intricacies that are gonna win great fights by close margins.” Maynard has become more than adept at mastering those intricacies. Whether it’s standing or on the mat, the former Michigan State University wrestling standout has become a well-rounded mixed martial arts fighter who can beat anyone not only at his game, but at theirs. But at the same time, he’s heard the criticism for not having scored a finish since he took out Joe Veres in nine seconds back in September of 2007. “I’ve never tried to pad my record with who I choose to have for a scrap, so that could have hurt me in the aspect of not having the stuff where it’s ‘he ran through that guy, oh my God, he’s unbelievable because he tapped a guy who was in the UFC for the first time,’” he chuckles. “I don’t know what people are looking at at times. & I can understand, you’re a fan & you want drama where one guy’s knocked out almost, he pops back up, & comes back. That’s what makes TV & movies great – the drama. But for me, I’m not trying to create any drama in a fight; I’m trying to beat this guy’s ass, & that’s it.” It’s the same dilemma posed by the current reign of welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who hasn’t lost a round, let alone a fight, since 2007. ? “He’s dominating,” said Maynard of GSP. “He’s doing a great job & he’s at the top of his game. People aren’t quitting, people don’t have the holes that they had before where you could say I’m gonna exploit that because it’s a huge gap & I know it’s there. Now everybody’s well-rounded, everybody’s tough, & everybody’s getting paid pretty very good so they can train smart, & the sport’s evolving. & you’ve got to want the sport to evolve, & you’ve got to evolve too. That’s important.” When it comes down to it, Maynard is going to be Maynard, & if the Arizona native is one thing, he’s a winner, & until you can pin a loss on his record, you’re going to have to deal with him. & you don’t hear his peers complaining about him; they’re just trying to figure out the puzzle he’s presented thus far. Currently working on that formula is New Jersey’s Edgar, who Maynard defeated via unanimous decision in April of 2008. Ask Maynard about that fight & whether he thought he would be meeting “The Answer” again, & he’s honest in his respond. “I knew he was very good, but I just don’t try to look that far ahead,” said Maynard

More:
Gray Maynard – What Matters Is Today

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 31st, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

The Resurrection of Thiago Silva

After Thiago Silva’s last fight, against Rashad Evans at UFC 108 back in January of 2010, the crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena wondered what happened to Silva when he rocked the former champ & didn’t follow up to finish the fight by strikes. Plus, during the fight, Silva, an American Top Team member, was the victim of a wrestling clinic as he was unable to defend the takedowns of the TUF 2 winner.?? ? ?? ? The answers came later, as a serious back injury drained the Brazilian’s capacity to sprawl & to use his strength to attack aggressively during his last contest a year ago.??? ??? Silva was scheduled to return to action in August against ‘The Barbarian’, Tim Boetsch, at UFC 117, but while a few believed his back injury was only an excuse, Silva was truly forced to step back & sit on the sidelines for a greater length of time.??? ??? Now, five months after the last news on Silva & 364 days without fighting, he makes his comeback at UFC 125 this Saturday against Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera. The back injury is healed, but it’s still relevant for those who didn’t know that the Sao Paulo native lived in hell during the months he flew under the radar.??? ??? “I fought (against Evans) injured & with limited moves, mainly on the ground,” he said. “Four damn months because things got worse to a point where I couldn’t walk.” ??? & the time off faced by Silva wasn’t just an attack on his professional fighting activities. easy everyday tasks took more from him than Lyoto Machida & Evans, the only two men to defeat him. The problem reached the point where he wanted to turn nightmares into dreams, literally.??? ??? “Getting back to training wasn’t the tough part. But I got to a point where I dreamed of waking up without pain, taking my car & driving my car to ATT, to do what I was born to do,” he said. “The preparation for my next fight was complicated because I needed to re-learn how to train, conditioning my muscles while taking it easy. I even resisted engaging in sparring sessions on Tuesdays (laughs). It was 12 weeks until normal sessions.”??? ??? With his mind jumping in several directions, the word ‘retirement’ was inevitable as Silva depended solely on his wife Thaysa for 14 days when the pain was unbearable & 24 hours a day he had to be assisted in order to sleep, wake up, have a shower & eat.??? ??? “I cried due to the pain, & my poor wife, she is indispensable,” Silva said. “I asked myself on a lot of occasions, ‘What if I don’t fight anymore?’ during the terrible part of the recovering. I don’t wish this kind of pain for anyone.”??? ? But even through without the injury that harmed his performance against Rashad & sidelined him for UFC 117, Silva knows that from his last to his next match a few holes in his game needed to be covered. Comparing Vera to Rashad can focus Silva on another type of training of course, but his ability to defend takedowns needs to be sharpened for a new year, & a new Silva.? ? “I knew I need more wrestling, as heart alone doesn’t beat foes,” Silva says. “Once you have a problem & insist on fighting, sooner or later you’ll be unable to give your superfine. Close to the end of the fight against Rashad I didn’t have the power, so that that after the knockdown my arms didn’t respond to my commands, something that can’t happen against Vera. After 364 days of a layoff I’m hungry for a fight, ready to honor each second outside the Octagon & with much more will to prove that I’m genuinely a new fighter.”? ? Vera is coming from two consecutive defeats, Silva lost his last – so the pressure to a return in great fashion is on the kicks, punches & submission attempts of both fighters. The 28-year old from Brazil isn’t certain that he will be using the idea of having his back against the wall like a weapon, but his wish is to make 2011 a year to increase his victories to 15, & make it Thiago Silva’s year.? ? “I don’t count on the pressure to beat him, a fight is a fight,” he said. “I want God to keeping blessing me after this turmoil, because I’m looking to accomplish my dreams. I’m ready, focused & expecting a great victory for a new year that I want to be mine.”? ?

View original post here:
The Resurrection of Thiago Silva

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 30th, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Gray Matters – Part Three

Nearly fight time. We had the great press conference yesterday in the lobby of the MGM Grand. There were a ton of fans there too. I don’t truly feel any extra pressure. The actual belt is just a belt, but what it means is you’re the superfine, the top of the heap. By beating BJ Penn twice, Frank Edgar has shown that he’s the superfine guy in the world. He had his chance to prove that & he took that chance. But he’s only human; I beat him before & now it’s my turn on Saturday night to prove that I am the superfine. That’s the whole goal from day one. It’s not like I’m trying to do this for the cash or the belt; it’s just the chance to compete & be on top of the world in something I love doing. That’s the whole goal for me. I’m a guy who motivates myself. I motivated myself to be the superfine when I was in wrestling; There was no money in wrestling so why you trained your ass off was to prove you are the superfine. I think this mentality will help me in my entire career. If you fight for money, eventually you have enough money to where you don’t truly want to go to the gym & get beat up twice a day. If you fight for the belt, what happens if you don’t get the chance to fight for the belt for some reason or something happens in your career where you don’t have the belt? For me, I train to be the superfine in what I do. Always. This is a career for me; winning a belt on one night will be great, but beating everyone in the UFC, proving it over & over, that’s my ultimate goal. I’ve trained for five very hard rounds. I always train for that, title fight or no title fight. Edgar has the experience of going five rounds in his last two fights, & he’s made other improvements since our last fight, but ultimately, as an athlete & a competitor, I just believe in myself. I know whatever happens, I’m not going to break mentally, I’m not going to back down – that’s never happened to me in over 100 competitive matches or fights in mixed martial arts. But I don’t think this fight will go five rounds. I’d love to knock opponents out. I had a 9 second KO (over Joe Veres) in one of my first UFC fights in 2007. I loved the feeling & want to do it again, especially in such a great fight as this weekend’s. In the gym, I can’t wait to hit the bags, to spar & work on my body. I just love striking. No disrespect, just business, I want to knock Frank Edgar out cold. Standing with him & exchanging with him in the center of the Octagon would be a great late Christmas gift to the fans & that’s what I want to do. I think Frankie is going to want to trade with me more, try to avoid going to the ground, try to use his very good upper body movement on the feet & jab & move. I am still a work in progress, but that work in progress has gotten me to 11-0 & a shot at the gigantic title in the whole sport. But I am working very, very hard, every day, to get better & give the fans something special on New Year’s Day. For more information on Gray, visit www.graymaynard.com Read Part One Read Part Two Gray Maynard was talking with Ant Evans

Read this article:
Gray Matters – Part Three

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 30th, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Edgar’s Road to 125 – Part Three

In Las Vegas, fight night is a couple days away & I can’t wait to get in there. The whole fight week preparation makes the anticipation build for me. It’s such a waiting game & you try to keep a level head & keep focused, & when you get into the cage, it’s like ‘ah, I can finally let it all out now.’ There’s nothing that truly triggers the switch into fight mode, it’s just my will to win that makes me want to compete hard & fight hard. A lot of people think you have to be angry or hate your opponent to fight hard, but that’s not the case for me, & I don’t think it is for Gray either. Gray & I come from wrestling backgrounds & we compete. Sometimes we compete against our friends, & that’s what it is. It’s definitely a fight & you have to come in there expecting to take damage & do damage, but realistically, it’s still a competition. You want to bring the attitude of a fight into it just so you have that chip on your shoulder, but there’s no animosity for me. In fact, I kinda go in there doubting myself a little bit because it keeps me on my toes. I always believe in my skills, but I never think I’m gonna have such a strong edge in one area because that might slow me down. I like to think that this guy’s a lot better than he can be because it’s gonna keep me quick & keep me aware. So we survived the Blizzard that hit Jersey, got into Vegas, took care of our business with the UFC, & since then it’s been smooth sailing. When I’m on jeetbuzz apk for the fight, I’ll train at night, close to the time when I think I’ll be fighting. In the mornings I try to run outside & try to get that air & sun in. Friday morning I’ll cut the little bit of weight that I have to. There’s not a lot, so it’s more of just a run through with my team. I’ll hit pads with sweatpants on & when I’m done with that, weigh in, & then relax. Saturday morning I’ll get in the Octagon, & Saturday night it’s go time

Visit link:
Edgar’s Road to 125 – Part Three

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 30th, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Chuck Liddell – A Tribute to a Fighter

Wednesday afternoon marked the end of an era in UFC & mixed martial arts history, as Hall of Famer & former light heavyweight champ Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 41. Fittingly, the end came in Las Vegas, where he had made his name as a fighting icon, a mohawked bearer of destruction who terrorized the 205-pound weight class for years. Thankfully, Liddell will still remain in the UFC as the organization’s Executive Vice President of Business Development, but for the moment, it’s time to reflect back on the fighting career of “The Iceman” with a host of his defining moments & what he meant to the sport he helped build into the juggernaut it is today. *** The first time I ran into Chuck Liddell, it was at the then-customary rules meeting before his can 2001 bout with Kevin Randleman. There were no camera crews following him, no flock of reporters jotting down his every word – he was just another fighter in a room full of them, competing in a sport that wasn’t even back on pay-per-view yet. My nephew, who was shooting pictures for me at the time, thought there was nothing cooler than the tattoo on the side of Liddell’s head – the kanji symbols for “place of peace & prosperity” – & not only did he photograph it, he went on to have a casual conversation with him about everything but fighting. That was more than nine years ago. The day after the rules meeting, Liddell knocked out former UFC heavyweight champ Kevin Randleman in 78 seconds, & it was the beginning of his transition from California cult hero to worldwide mixed martial arts superstar. Today, everyone knows who Chuck Liddell is; camera crews follow him around, flocks of reporters jot down his every word, but remarkably, he remains the same person he was in 2001. Sure, the bank account’s bigger, the clubs are nicer, & the trappings of fame more expensive – both literally & figuratively – but of anyone in professional sports today, Liddell has remained true to what got him here in the first place. “I’ve got a lot of friends that I’ve hung out with for 10-15 years that still hang out with me, & I don’t think they’d let me start acting like a jerk,” he told me in 2006. “They knew me when I was the guy going to college & working behind the bar. Plus I still live in the same small town, & things like that (celebrity) aren’t truly that great a deal around here. I think I’m a normal guy, & I try to be as normal as I can.” That’s rare in a day & age where image & spin is everything. Liddell went through his 12 year career with the same Mohawk, the same trainer (John Hackleman), the same friends, & the same attitude. Of course, on this side of the Octagon, years of covering Liddell had its challenges, but while hearing him simply state that he just loves to fight & loves knocking people out will never allow him to fill up notebooks like a Bernard Hopkins, that, frankly, was part of his appeal. Liddell has always boiled fighting down to its bare essence. For him, when he stepped into the Octagon, it was a fight – not a chess match, not a clashing of styles or comparison of techniques. He was going to hit you, you were going to try to hit him, & more often than not, you were going to fall down. It was a fight, plain & easy, & no one wanted to win that fight more than him. “From chess to checkers when I was a kid, I’ve always been competitive,” he said in 2003. “I hate to lose. I hate to lose at anything. I’ve gotten a lot better about mellowing out about fun games, but there was a time when I’d get pissed about everything. Whether it was shooting pool or anything, I just hated losing. I’ve kind of moved that focus & tried to keep it to my professional life.” That was bad news for the men he faced in the Octagon. After a 2003 that saw losses to Randy Couture & Quinton Jackson sandwich a win over Alistair Overeem, Liddell went on an over three year tear from 2004 to 2007 that not only established him as the game’s unquestioned superstar, but as the most terrifying light heavyweight in the game. Strangely enough though, as Liddell’s fame grew, the respect he received (& still receives) from his peers never waned. Liddell was a true fighter’s fighter, & that’s an accolade you can’t buy or receive from newspaper clippings or television appearances. “I think the reason people like me is because I’ll fight anybody, anywhere, I don’t talk bad about people that don’t deserve it, & I’m not a guy who’s out there trying to trash talk & make a name for myself,” said Liddell in 2006. “I earned the name that I have – I went out & fought for it.

See the article here:
Chuck Liddell – A Tribute to a Fighter

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 30th, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Pettis To Sit Cageside For Title Fight

Being famous for an astonishing, almost fantasyland kick is nice, & when Anthony Pettis’ career is over someday, that can be what many people superfine remember him for. But that’s not how the 23-year-old phenom wants to be defined. Already in possession of a WEC belt, the Milwaukee native now covets the UFC title & the legacy & prosperity that would come with it. Pettis’ rapid ascent toward the top of the 155-pound division has earned him the right to sit cageside for Saturday night’s main event between UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar & No. 1 challenger Gray Maynard. Asked to predict a winner, the flamboyant fighter (fittingly nicknamed “Showtime”) was understandably somewhat wishy-washy. But under pressure to make a pick he squeezed out a half-hearted prognostication. “I’m going to go with Gray Maynard,” said Pettis, 13-1. “If he can get him down & bully him like he did the first fight then I think Gray Maynard can take the fight. But Frankie has some momentum behind him.” That was Pettis commenting on the same night earlier this month when he dethroned Benson Henderson for the WEC crown. More than a week later, however, Pettis was back on the fence. “I don’t know, this fight is hard to call,” he said. “Frankie Edgar against BJ Penn, he looked like a whole new Frankie Edgar. But Gray Maynard is a huge 155er who just imposes his will. His nickname (“The Bully”) fits him well. Either guy I fight will be a tough fight. I’m just getting ready for another wrestler. “A lot of people say I would match up better with Edgar. I mean, I think it would be a higher-paced fight. But they are the champ & the No. 1 contender so I’ve got my work cut out for me with either guy.” Pettis hopes to achieve bigger & better things in 2011, but the rising star will be hard pressed to outdo the massive very good fortune that engulfed him in 2010. Few fighters experienced a more banner year, as he racked up a 4-0 record, gained national exposure courtesy of being featured on MTV’s “World of Jenks,” & won a world title with arguably the most clutch – & most spectacular – flying kick? that mixed martial arts fans have ever seen. I must confess that I can replay Pettis’ running, off-the-cage kick against Benson Henderson over & over & over again, without it ever diminishing my sense of marvel. I’ve replayed & studied the maneuver more than any other I’ve witnessed in the cage, & judging from a YouTube video of the maneuver, there are millions more who feel the same way I do. “That particular kick comes from my traditional martial arts background,” said Pettis, who at the behest of his late father began studying Tae Kwon Do at 7 years old. “That just came off the top of my head. I wasn’t planning on throwing that kick (against Henderson). That was instinctive, man. We didn’t practice that before the fight, it was just one of those things.” Pettis said that when he went back to his corner at the conclusion of the fourth round, he mistakenly thought he had just finished the third round. So, headed into the fifth & final round – with the fight up for grabs – head coach Duke Roufus set his fighter straight: This is it, kid. Last round. “S—! I got to get after it,” Pettis thought to himself. “My dream is five minutes away. I gotta get after it & make it happen.’” With less than 90 seconds left, & Pettis arguably losing the fifth & decisive round, he charged forward, went airborne, bounced off the cage on one leg! … & unleashed the mother of all high kicks. & actually landed it flush across Henderson’s face. “It was a title fight & there was a lot at stake & that’s one of those kicks where you can get yourself in trouble if you miss,” he said. “It was a clutch kick that just happened at the right time.” It was a kick that has caused Pettis’ popularity to skyrocket, a kick so wondrous that reporters & fans are still trying to figure out what in the heck to call it. Some have stayed easy, dubbing it a “superkick.” Others have called it a “Matrix” kick. I like to call it the “Holy S&$%# Kick,” since I literally & instinctively started writing expletives on my computer screen while writing about the fight live from Glendale, Ariz., earlier this month. Holy (expletive of your choice) is the first thing that jumped into my mind, & I’m one of those guys who tends to think that our first reaction to a situation is usually the right one. In the days following his sweetest victory, Pettis would soon learn that while he hasn’t changed much, other people’s reaction to his presence has. He returned to Milwaukee even more recognizable & beloved than before. His cell phone answering machine was overwhelmed with messages, & flooded with hundreds of text messages. After fighting five times in the past 12 months, Pettis took a well-deserved break, booking a four-day cruise to the Bahamas. “It was my first time there,” he said. “It was crazy, all the workers & a lot of other people in recognized me in the Bahamas. They said, “You’re the guy that did the kick off the cage …” It was crazy. I didn’t even know they watched WEC over there. When I went through Customs they were trying to take pictures with me.” Roufus calls his prized protégé a “Latin GSP,” comparing Pettis to current UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre in athleticism, work ethic & determination. Indeed, Pettis has come so far, so quick.

See original here:
Pettis To Sit Cageside For Title Fight

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 30th, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Christmas Shopping With "The Crippler"

Just two weeks before his next fight, Chris Leben is inside a Honolulu shopping mall doing some Christmas shopping with his girlfriend – a stark contrast to the last time he was this far off from a fight – when he was standing inside the Octagon going toe-to-toe with Aaron Simpson in the TUF 12 Finale. “Yeah, but this is just as stressful,” laughs Leben over the phone, the sounds of holiday shoppers & Christmas tunes dominating in the background. For fans who have been following Leben’s career since he exploded onto the UFC scene during the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, if you had told them that just over five years later the crazy drunk guy from the show would be in the middle of a career resurgence & on his way to a title shot they would say you were crazy. Yet here we are going into UFC 125 on January 1, 2011, & Leben (21-6) is coming off a three fight win streak heading into a match with Brian “All American” Stann (9-3). After a career that has been dead & resurrected time & time again, Leben’s business inside the Octagon is finally on solid ground. But for the man fighting out of Hawaii, it’s never truly been about what the fans or the reporters say. “I never truly worried that much about everybody saying, ‘I’m left, I’m right, — I’m up, I’m down.’ I never pay attention to that. I just keep doing what I do, & that’s training,” he said. “I never truly worry about where my career is going until the night of the fight. I’ve trained with guys like Matt Lindland, Evan Tanner, Chael Sonnen, Randy Couture & I’ve watched their careers go sometimes high, sometimes low, so I know it’ s the nature of the business. That’s just the way it works out.” This past summer, Leben weathered an early onslaught from a very tough Aaron Simpson, TKO’ing the exhausted former Arizona State University wrestler in round two, & then just 14 days later, he stepped in for an injured Wanderlei Silva to take on Japanese superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama, whom he submitted in round 3 with a triangle choke. “I was stoked to get the Akiyama fight,” he said. “At first I told Joe Silva I had doubts about taking the fight, but then Dana called & you just don’t say no to Dana,” he said. “I don’t truly care about what the win did for my career per se. Financially, I was able to buy my mom a house, which is something I’ve always wanted to do, so for that, I’m extremely grateful. Those are the rewards for me, that feeling of security.” In October, Leben was arrested on suspicion of DUI, & he has a court hearing in February. “The UFC called & they were concerned but it’s all still in the works so I can’t talk too much about it,” he says. “The UFC has always been fantastic to me. I think it goes back to being that guy on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ you know. But I think a lot of us from that first season, Forrest (Griffin), Stephan (Bonnar), Josh (Koscheck), Kenny (Florian) – a lot of us have been taken care of pretty well.” In Stann, Leben faces a fighter who is just beginning to discover what it feels like to fight in a lower weight division, making the cut for the first time from 205 pounds to 185 pounds in his last fight against Mike Massenzio, where he recorded his first ever submission victory. Stann, the former WEC light heavyweight champ, has heavy hands & has knocked plenty of guys out in his relatively short career. “I have a lot of power in my hands too,” says Leben. “I’ll take that gamble with Stann any day of the week. I’ll roll those dice for sure.” & though Leben respects Stann, he believes the Marine Corps vet is a bit of a setback considering the man he finished at UFC 116, Akiyama, got to fight consummate contender Michael Bisping next. But as is his custom, Leben doesn’t complain about much; he just shows up to work. “I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me; I’m a fighter. That’s what I do,” he said, before taking control of this interview the way he’s taken control of his last three fights. “Are we about done here?” he asks. “My girlfriend is flipping out.” Let’s hope for Stann’s sake, Leben comes solo to the MGM Grand Garden Arena, because if his girlfriend has any say over the matter, Leben will look to finish the fight as quickly as possible.

See the article here:
Christmas Shopping With "The Crippler"

Filed under: MMA news | Posted on December 30th, 2010 by Jacob | No Comments »

Bodog.com

Categories

Archive

Links