SI writer Chris Mannix says there are “far too many of the grappling moments” in UFC
By Zach Arnold | September 1, 2010
Josh Gross had SI writer Chris Mannix on his radio show this week. Chris is SI’s boxing and NBA top writer. UFC 118 was his first live MMA event, and as you will read after these quotes from his interview, probably his last MMA event.
How would you compare the overall feel of UFC 118 to boxing events you’ve been to?
“You know, one thing I will give the UFC is that they do a terrific job of presentation. I mean, you get to a card and it’s not just, you know, waiting for a fight and whatnot. They have great, um, you know, a montage, homages to the fighters beforehand. They give you a nice, big preview on the many flat screens they put up at the TD Garden and I’m sure they do it elsewhere as well but you get a real sort of like entertainment atmosphere at these fights and I think that’s key because, you know, these crowds aren’t just there to see the fights, I don’t think. They’re there to be entertained and I think the UFC does a great job of that.”
Wait until you read his answer about watching the Gray Maynard/Kenny Florian fight. Hint: He channels the same spirit as Bob Ryan & Mike Felger along with Gary Shaw’s mentality.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
SI’s Josh Gross discusses what’s next for BJ Penn in his UFC career
By Zach Arnold | September 1, 2010
From his SI radio show on Tuesday:
“If you want to point to one thing, really one thing that’s the difference between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn at this point in their careers, motivation. The motivation to be champion. Nothing was going to stop Edgar from fighting the fight that he wanted, nothing, and BJ Penn certainly wasn’t going to do that and he couldn’t do that. You saw BJ get frustrated over the course of the fight, you know, things that he had wanted to do, things that he had hoped to happen and he was in shape, he was ready. This is the first time, I think, the first time in BJ Penn’s career where he fought someone of his size and was dominated and I don’t know how he’s going to react to that. I talked to his trainer, Rudy Valentino, on Monday. BJ apparently was already back in the gym, doing cardio, they want to keep him in the shape that he was, they don’t want him eating and getting fat and blown up. But it’s a motivation issue, really. How’s he going to react to losing to a guy that’s his size, smaller. Really? Frankie Edgar, I mean… I was one of many people calling for him to drop down to Featherweight. Looks foolish now, perhaps, but he is as small as you get in the Lightweight division. This is not BJ Penn going up in weight and losing to larger men. This is someone who he’s fighting who is his peer, who’s smaller than him, who beat him in every aspect of the fight. I don’t know how BJ Penn reacts to that. It will be very interesting.
“There has been talk in previous losses about retirement. These are words that, he actually openly spoke out about retirement. My understanding is that he’s not saying that now. He’s gotten already past any possible point of saying I’m going to walk away from Mixed Martial Arts. So, BJ Penn fans, rejoice in that. He will fight again. What exactly his motivation is and where exactly he goes, what he accomplishes, I don’t know, but can he rebound? I mean, can he find the form that he did 9, 10 years ago when he started in this thing, when he blew through people? I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Not unless there’s a major shift in his life. He’s a father now. He’s got a young child. Married, I think married, but he definitely has a long-time girlfriend. I don’t, I just don’t see him recapturing what he had. I don’t, I think it’s very difficult if you’re a fighter, especially someone who was anointed early on as he was, The Prodigy. I mean I think says it all in terms of what people’s expectations were of BJ Penn. When you have that and all of a sudden you can’t compete at the level that you once could, mentally you can’t get up, you can’t meet the challenge in front of you… I don’t think BJ’s the kind of guy that’s going to fight until he can’t do it any more. I don’t think he’s the guy that’s going to be like a James Toney, 42, out of shape, looking for a pay day. That’s not BJ Penn. He’s never been that way, he’s always expressed the exact opposite, he doesn’t want to do that. So I’m, you know, I don’t know.
“I think lots of interesting choices ahead. Is he fighting for himself any more? You know, he always did fight for himself, that was his motivation. He wanted to prove what he had and he did that in a lot of ways and I got some criticism, too, for the piece that I wrote afterwards saying that he’s not the best Lightweight of all time. Ummm…. maybe for this moment he still is, but he won’t go down as that. There’s no way he goes down as that. I don’t see it. His excursion up to the higher weight division in the middle of his career was a big mistake. I said that then and I say that now and I think in the end, that’s the reason why we will not have seen BJ Penn reach his max potential in the sport. Great talent. Great, great talent, but I just don’t see it.”
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MMA writers Jordan Breen and Luke Thomas are disgusted with pro-wrestling fans using MMA for validation
By Zach Arnold | September 1, 2010
From last Thursday’s Jordan Breen radio show with Luke Thomas of BloodyElbow.com, right before UFC 118 took place. The set-up here is an e-mail question about Toney and how UFC was portraying him heading into the fight. While the e-mail questioner is wrong in hindsight, the truth is that what the mail pointed out were some of the issues I had pointed out last week as far as the troubles UFC was having in getting people motivated enough to pay to see the Randy Couture/James Toney fight.
Here’s the set-up:
JORDAN BREEN: “Now, you mentioned the trash talking. I would like to read you an e-mail that I suspect might bother you. Is that OK, Luke?”
LUKE THOMAS: “I get many e-mails a day that bother me. This won’t be the first.”
JORDAN BREEN: “Uh, OK. I think it’s more targeted at a specific sensibility of yours, so… E-mailer writes: ‘It seems like the UFC might be setting itself up for an unexpected Toney face turn. He’s such a huge underdog. Instead of hyping up Toney and making it seem closer than it really is (we know how good they are at that game), they decided to almost bill it almost as a squash match. This should be a situation where Toney’s brash cockiness keeps the MMA fans against him. There’s been so much media about how badly Toney is going to get beat that he’s becoming David to Couture’s Goliath. Add the fact that Toney actually seems to be training for this fight and actually appearing to make an honest effort, you got a recipe for the aforementioned face turn in the eyes of many fans.’ Now, that e-mail uses the term face turn twice and the phrase squash match once. Are you ready to go defcon over such pro-wrestling shenanigans surrounding MMA, Luke Thomas?”
LUKE THOMAS: “I just feel sorry for people who think in those terms, that’s all I really have to say about that. You really have to be very, and I know I’m going to piss everybody off but oh well sorry, but you really got to be intellectually lazy..”
JORDAN BREEN: “Hang on! Hang on! I will not accept intellectually lazy. You are a man that came out and said that pro-wrestling fans are fat
retards. I demand, I demand… I demand a higher level of accosting on my show than saying intellectually challenged.”
This led into a 20-minute discussion on ‘hillbilly’ pro-wrestling fans and how their terminology and way of thinking should be treated the same way that air pollution should be treated. I was given a heads up about this segment last week and the reason it took me a while to get to this is because it took me about 80 minutes from start-to-finish transcribe this. Don’t say that I never love my readers or masochism or both at the same time.
I would encourage you to listen to the segment because the tone is much more cynical? accurate? scripted? than any transcript will do justice. But, now that I got your attention, view the transcript in full-page mode. 20 comments of bust on this one.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
HDNet video clip of Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki fight from Ryogoku
By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2010
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Transcript of UFC Canada boss Tom Wright’s interview with The Fight Network
By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2010
I transcribed most of the interview (but not all of it). This interview happened before the Canadian Medical Association passed their resolution calling for a ban on Mixed Martial Arts in the country.
Transcript available in full-page mode.
Continue reading this article here…
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Bob Ryan’s pseudo about-face on UFC and how “BOOORRING” MMA is
By Zach Arnold | August 30, 2010
My friend Josh Nason (JoshNason.com) alerted me to audio from Comcast Sportsnet New England’s Sports Tonight show with Gary Tanguay, Mike Felger, Dan Shaughnessy, and… Bob Ryan. They did a three-minute segment on Bob Ryan’s thoughts on UFC 118. Ryan recently wrote a column for The Boston Globe talking about his experiences at the event: Ultimately, this sport is a big hit.
After reading that column, Ryan appeared on television and jacked up the level of his column thoughts (on a 1-10 scale) to about level 12. There’s your set up point for the transcript of what was said on Sports Tonight on Monday.
CO-HOST: “What did you think? You were there. Were you a a boxing fan as a kid?”
BOB RYAN: “Yes. Oh, I grew up with the Friday Night Fights, the Wednesday Night Fights, all that stuff. Absolutely.”
CO-HOST: “Have you made the switch (to MMA)?”
BOB RYAN: “In all honesty, I’m just telling the truth. The biggest revelation I got from spending that evening at the Garden was how astonishingly BOOOOORRING this thing is. It is the most overrated… I do not remotely understand the appeal. There isn’t enough blood, there isn’t enough ACTION…”
CO-HOST: “Did you see the Marcus Davis fight, the first fight of the PPV?”
BOB RYAN: “Yeah, I saw the whole thing. That was an exception to the rule. That fight was bloody and they loved it. The fans don’t like the wrestling.”
CO-HOST: “I agree.”
BOB RYAN: “There are a sophisticated few martial arts experts who appreciate when there is a well-executed martial arts move to create a submission, yes, that is not the majority, it’s a small minority. The people want to see boxing, slugging, and they want to see when a guy gets down his face punched, that’s what gets them excited. It is the most boring nonsense. Most of the fights in the early, and granted it was described to me as batting practice, the early bouts, are guys in wrestling matches in which they were bad collegiate wrestling with nothing happening, boos raining down all over the building in the first three of the four matches. It was BOOOORRING and of course the big fight was of course, one of the two, the Toney fight which ended predictably with a boxer getting taken down and helpless. It was only his first MMA fight, I don’t think he’ll have another one of consequence because there’s no point to bringing him back for the show, he can’t do it. But, it was… I, I, I… the things you would think that would make this popular, action and stuff, IT’S BORING. IT IS BEYOND BORING.”
CO-HOST: “And, of course, the Boston College guy choked, which is NO BIG SURPRISE. They do it across all sports. … Bob, you nailed it. When they’re on their feet boxing, it’s entertaining. That first fight was unbelievable but when they’re on the mat rolling around and the jiu-jitsu, no one is paying them money for that. So if this thing can figure out how to keep their guys on their feet and just box without rules, which is really what it is, then I think they’re onto something.”
DAN SHAUGHNESSY: “I mean, I don’t understand, the tickets are so expensive and it’s a young, you know, it trends very young demographic here. Who’s going to this thing? Where are they getting the money to go this thing?”
CO-HOST: “I have to tell you, I talked to some people, they saved up for a year. People knew they were coming. Literally $300 a ticket, he saved up, put the money aside, they knew it was coming and they put the money away.”
BOB RYAN: “You get the trappings of the WWE, you get the booming music, you get the lights and the flashing and you get the videos and you get the ring girls and all that stuff and you know Buffer in the ring and a BETTER Buffer.”
CO-HOST: “Yeah, he’s a better Buffer, I agree.”
BOB RYAN: “He’s wonderful. I LOVE this guy. I would go pay to hear him announce anything.”
CO-HOST: “Wow.”
BOB RYAN: “He’s wonderful. That was the highlight of my evening, OK? It’s just… I, I, I… the things…”
CO-HOST: “When Bruce Buffer is the highlight of your evening, OK, you’re not buying (into) it.”
BOB RYAN: “The things that you would think make it have appeal aren’t there. It’s not there. I don’t understand how people can be satisfied with so little [excitement].”
Related: The fans were the real losers at UFC 118
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Media notebook: James Toney says he is open to fighting in both MMA and boxing simultaneously
By Zach Arnold | August 30, 2010
James Toney: “MMA guys got guts…boxing guys are all talk and no walk”
Read the whole article (it’s a quick read), but take note that Toney says he wants to continue doing both MMA and boxing fights and that he loved the atmosphere with the fans at UFC 118 in Boston. He was critical of where things are heading with boxing and not being able to get rabid fans. He claims that he will have a boxing match in late October.
UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell still undecided on future; return still possible
Liddell says he wants to fight multiple times, but fight only in the UFC. Dana White says that if Liddell wants to continue fighting, he would give him a release. In other words, nothing’s changed since Vancouver.
BJ Penn’s performance puts future in jeopardy
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, BJ Penn’s home area newspaper, sends a message his camp isn’t going to want to hear.
- Boston Herald: Kenny Florian defends himself from criticism by Dana White
- Night in cage all the rage — Florian answers criticism
Kenny Florian did not take too kindly to what Dana White had to say about him being a ‘choker’ this past weekend. The Herald article has more quotes from Florian about being outwrestled in fights and responding to White saying that Florian can’t win in big fights.
Former wrestlers boast versatile skill set in the (UFC) cage
This is a USA Today article about Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. To no one’s surprise, Gray thinks that Floyd Mayweather’s in-ring performances are entertaining.
This is a very interesting letter sent to The Windsor Star newspaper about the calls for MMA bans by medical communities in North America.
UFC expands presence in China, Asia
Now this is a great, informative article to check out if you are interested in just what exactly Zuffa is up to in terms of their plans to get into the Chinese marketplace.
Denver Post: Mixing it up in the gym and the ring
New amateur MMA event called the Rocky Mountain Beatdown featuring a Colorado vs. Colorado State alum theme this Friday night.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White on UFC 118: “People wanted to see this James Toney/Couture fight”
By Zach Arnold | August 29, 2010
A few takeaways from this MMAFighting.com interview:
He really, really is not happy with BJ Penn. You can always tell when he gets into that ‘this guy is evil’ mode when his voice lowers in volume. He used the same tone of voice here when talking about Penn angering him as he did when he talked about the Ken Pavia/Bellator lawsuit.
Dana also tried his best to deflect the ‘boring’ label on both Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar but it’s not going to work.
Transcript of a rather interesting interview is available in full-page mode.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Famous New Japan Pro-Wrestling trainer Kotetsu Yamamoto dies at age 68
By Zach Arnold | August 29, 2010
Kotetsu Yamamoto (photo here), a very famous trainer of fighters and wrestlers for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, died today (6:42 AM) at the age of 68 due to (what is being announced as) hypoxic encephalopathy. He died at a local hospital in Nagano.
Continue reading this article here…
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UFC: Gray Maynard won’t change ‘boring’ fight style or ‘smart’ game plans
By Zach Arnold | August 29, 2010
ARIEL HELWANI: “How would you assess your performance?”
GRAY MAYNARD: “I think it was smart. A good plan. He’s a hard guy to, you know, he wants to punch a couple, move off, back up a little bit, move forward, punch, and steal ’em. So, the plan was make him come, make him you know chase, and then the takedowns, you know if it’s there, of course.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So that was sort of how you thought the fight would play out, right?”
GRAY MAYNARD: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. He moves awkward, you know this is for lefties, this is… I had Miller, Clementi, Huerta, Nate, and now him. So they’re all, it’s just a change. You kind of have to play the move off, punch-punch, move-off because they’re trying to punch, you punch, and back out and punch so counterpunch.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “While the fight’s going on, I’m not sure if you hear the boos but I’m wondering if that, you know, comes into your mindset and makes you sort of stray away from the game plan or do you just try to block all that out?”
GRAY MAYNARD: “I don’t even hear it. I can’t, you know, I got a tough guy, I got the top guy, you got to have good game plans. You can’t play his game and I think I’ve beat the top guys. I think I’ve beat Nate, that kid’s tough. Miller, the champ now…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Huerta.”
GRAY MAYNARD: “Yeah, Huerta. All these guys, I mean that’s not an easy fight for anybody, I don’t care who you are.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So is that what you would say to people who say that the wrestling style, taking the guys down, is not exciting? Well you’re just using your bread and butter, right? That’s your strength.”
GRAY MAYNARD: “He could barely hit me, you know. I hit three, four that dazed him a little bit. I just chose it. I can do anything. It’s just whatever… like, my last three, Nate, Huerta, Miller, it was all standing. I took ’em down maybe once.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Going into the Nate fight, there was a lot of talk that if you’d win that fight you’d get a title shot. Obviously that didn’t happen. Are you 100% certain that you’re getting a title shot now?”
GRAY MAYNARD: “Yeah, I’m 100% certain. Against Nate, I didn’t hear nothing like what [Dana] said and in my mind, I think they kind of had it planned because I know Edgar, he was done in December so they knew he was there and let’s go. So, I knew that there was a chance probably that it could happen but then there’s a chance that they chose him.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And are you ready for a title shot? I mean in your career do you feel as though you have the tools now to win the title and go on a serious run?”
GRAY MAYNARD: “I’ve beat all the top guys. I’m ready! Any time, I’m prepared, any time. This is my dream. This is what I want. This is what I want and I’ve worked my ass off.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Finally, you a little emotional? Because you’re finally getting that shot that you thought you maybe deserved a couple of fights ago. How are you feeling internally?”
GRAY MAYNARD: “It hasn’t hit me yet, but I’m all right. Just, I’m going to go drink a Bud Light and check out these fights, I guess.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thoughts on the aftermath of UFC 118
By Zach Arnold | August 28, 2010
Shaquille O’Neal challenges Choi Hong-Man to an MMA fight, says that’s the one MMA fight he wants
Let’s start with Nate Diaz. He was a minor favorite going into his fight (-200) and I was surprised. The key to beating him is to overpower and out-wrestle him, which are not features that Marcus Davis possesses. The Davis bandwagon was growing in the last couple of days and I wasn’t sure why. Diaz did exactly what I expected him to do and he put it all together. Good for him. Nice win.
Dan Duggan: Tough go for Marcus Davis; Maine man not cut out
Watching Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner was horrible. One of the most painful fights I’ve seen in a long time.
The one fight I picked incorrectly on was the Gray Maynard/Kenny Florian bout. We know the book on Florian now and the book says that he can be overpowered and dominated. Just like Sean Sherk in the past, Gray Maynard did the same thing here. I like Kenny, but I’m willing to slot him in the 2nd tier of UFC LWs for now. As for Maynard, he’s a unique fighter in that every time he wins a fight, he loses more and more fans. After Maynard won, I immediately felt that we were going to end up seeing Maynard/Edgar II.
ESPN: A frustrated Kenny Florian
Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda… the less said, the better. Maia’s stuck right now in the MW division.
What can I say that hasn’t already been said about the Couture/Toney fight? I laughed when I saw ESPN running a breaking news banner on the result of Couture choking out Toney. Reportedly, Toney got paid $750,000 for the fight. (That’s appalling, if true.) Easiest money he’ll make in his life. The only aspect of this fight that intrigues me is to see how angry some boxers are getting about Couture winning and now challenging MMA guys to get into the boxing ring.
- Franklin McNeil (ESPN): Toney taught cruel lesson by Couture
- Chris Mannix (SI): Lackluster debut proves Toney’s finished and little else
Watching Joe Silva crack a smile at cage side when Couture did the low takedown on Toney was funny. He was almost bursting out in laughter.
Main event… I picked Edgar by decision and he won 50-45 on the cards. He’s just quicker and smarter than Penn. I know everyone wants to write their eulogies for Penn as an elite fighter, but time to give Frankie credit for the wonderful showing he put on tonight. There were local sports reporters who noted that during the third round of the fight, fans were heading to the exits (ala Sarah Kaufman’s fight in San Jose a while back). Edgar may have gained some respect tonight, but not a lot of fans. He was getting a lot of boos mixed in with Jersey Shore wisecracks. If UFC is going to headline a PPV with Edgar/Maynard II, they will desperately need a strong undercard to support it. On MMA Live, Maynard described his fight as ‘one of my easiers.’ Yes, he said easiers.
Josh Gross (SI): BJ Penn’s future is dim
Overall, a lackluster showing tonight from UFC but the week in Boston was a huge success. Talked to some friends who live in the area who said that UFC dominated the advertising on TV, billboards, taxis, stores, and anywhere you could go in terms of ad spots, posters, and so forth. I think a lot of eyes were opened this weekend by the UFC in terms of how they do business, what the whole package entails, and why they are good at what they do.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Boxer Chris Arreola says ‘boxing vs. UFC’ theme is disrespectful, challenges Brock Lesnar to fight him in a boxing ring
By Zach Arnold | August 28, 2010
FightHub TV has a compilation of thoughts from various personalities in the boxing world about tonight’s UFC 118 fight James Toney and Randy Couture. The one who seems the most annoyed by it all is Chris Arreola, who sounded disgusted about the whole situation.
GARY SHAW
Good idea for James Toney? “Look, I don’t plan anybody’s life out. If James wants to, and I like James a lot, if he wants to try MMA, then God Bless. But he needs to be in against the Kimbo Slices, the guys where he stands and he uses his skills as a boxer. He’s way too old to develop all the skills of these real good MMA guys. Impossible.”
RICARDO MAYORGA
“He’s got a right to fight. A great opportunity to fight in the UFC and I’m happy for him. He was a great champion.”
VICTOR ORTIZ
“It’s interesting, bro. James is no joke, man. I don’t really know. I have nothing to say on that. They’re just two different sports, man. I can’t really combine them.”
Do you think he could have some success? “Throwing punches, why not? I mean, shoot, anything’s possible, bro. It’s a fight, man.
JIMMY LENNON JR.
How do you comment on a situation like that? “Ooh. You know… I’m the last person who wants to insult James Toney. First of all, I hate to admit it, but when he fought Holyfield and Holyfield was doing quite well then and he just destroyed Holyfield. I was embarrassed that I thought, Holyfield, I joined a lot of other people. So I tend to not bet against James Toney. Also, he’s a friend of mine and he gives me a hard time if I ever say anything negative about him. But you know any boxer who goes into MMA has an obvious, huge disadvantage. I mean, let’s not fool ourselves at all. Because we know a good grappler is just going to take him, a submission artist, so it all has to do with the takedown defense. Can you learn that in a short amount of time? No. I mean, I just don’t see how any boxer can do that. If they had a great background in wrestling as a youngster or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu somehow, perhaps. But… it’s, you know, I think we all know that’s an uphill battle.”
CHRIS ARREOLA
Opinion on Toney in UFC? “You know… I wish him all the luck, man, but it’s two different beasts, you know? It’s very… I don’t even know what to say, man. I do wish him the best. It’s two different beasts, man, it’s going to be hard for him to adjust to the MMA style, all the grappling, all the styles that they have to do. You could do the same, you bring an MMA fighter in the boxing ring, he won’t last. And it’s the same in the cage if you bring a boxer to a cage, I don’t know how he’s going to do, man. I wish him all the luck. On the stand-up, he’s the best, he’s going to be the best in MMA. So people ain’t going to want to stand up with him. They’re going to try to take him to the ground so I hope he’s got all that ready to go, man, but you know I wish him all the luck, I like the dude. I still believe he’s a great boxer and he still has a chance to do something in the Heavyweight division.”
Boxing community pumped for the fight: “Yeah, you know, of course I got his back regardless, man, but you know I kind of feel it’s kind of… it’s kind of disrespectful, man. What’s going to happen, like, let’s just say you know it doesn’t, he doesn’t succeed in every MMA person is going to be like, see, he can’t cut it, he couldn’t cut it, every guy that knows MMA is going to be saying that boxing is nothing compared to MMA. You know, let’s do the same. Why don’t you bring Brock Lesnar in the boxing ring with myself or any of the Klitschko Brothers. Bring Brock Lesnar into boxing, let’s see what happens to him. He’ll get knocked the [expletive] out. It’s two different beasts, man, you can’t compare one to the other, it’s apples and oranges.”
BABALU’S BOXING TRAINER JUSTIN FORTUNE
“Randy’s tough. He’s a tough natural [expletive] Light Heavyweight at 205 pounds and he fights Heavyweight. He lives clean, he diets well, he knows what he’s doing, he’s an Olympian, he’s beaten… Jesus, this guy can fight. And his hands have picked up decently, not to the level of James Toney but then I don’t think James has ever experienced someone like Couture. If he gets a hold of you, if he grabs you, you’re done. This guy’s a wrestler. When wrestlers [expletive] grab a hold of you, they’re strong motherf******, dude. That’s all Randy does, he’s a wrestler. It’s tough to say, with 4 ounce gloves if James gets one on his chin because James is ridiculously accurate, you know I think it’s trouble for Randy but if Randy kicks him and takes him to the floor, it’s all over for James. General consensus is that most people think James has jumped out of his league on this one, but you know… 4 ounce gloves, anything can happen as we say, so…”
PEPPER GOMEZ
“James Toney’s fighting MMA… James Toney’s the best boxer I’ve ever met in my life. He has 75 fights, he has 72 wins, OK? He’s a great world champion. He’s a Middleweight to Heavyweight, no one could touch him. Fighting Randy Couture, Randy Couture is a great MMA guy. James… I don’t know. I hope for the best because James is a [expletive] great guy. If you meet James Toney you’ll like him, he’s a good guy. I heard he’s doing good in jiu-jitsu. Kick ass, James, show him what boxing’s all about. James is the best.”
SHANE MOSLEY
“I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s good and I can’t wait to see what happens. So, good luck to him!”
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kenny Florian breaks down Gray Maynard’s boxing game and why it’s good
By Zach Arnold | August 27, 2010
Pro MMA Radio with Larry Pepe and Steve Cofield of Yahoo Sports have teamed up to share audio from Larry’s radio show. Here’s a quick transcript of what Kenny Florian had to say about his upcoming fight with Gray Maynard, with a focus on the technical side of the game here.
LARRY PEPE: “So, getting ready for Gray. He asked to fight you. Does that provide some extra motivation for you?”
KENNY FLORIAN: “Oh, definitely. You know, I think that whether it’s Gray trying to get more attention for himself or whether he’s starting to believe his own hype, I definitely sense a certain cockiness and a certain um… you know, a different attitude than what he’s displayed in the past and I’ve been there, I’ve been there, we fall victim to it and I think that he’s overlooking me, I think he’s already looking toward the title. He already has a win over the current champion, Frankie Edgar, and that’s good confidence. Confidence is good but when you get cocky I don’t think that’s good and I think he’s definitely on the cocky side and I don’t think he’s faced someone like me, I tell you that right now, I don’t think he’s faced a fighter like me at this point in my career and he’s faced good guys but I know I’m going to surprise him. I don’t think he’s going to expect what he’s going to see on Saturday night.”
LARRY PEPE: “Well, to your point about maybe crossing over to the cocky side, you might be referring to comments like he’s not worried about your striking and there’s no part of your game that he doesn’t think he can beat. Does that mean he thinks he’s a better Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guy than you?”
KENNY FLORIAN: “Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know, it’s confusing, you know. I, myself, I respect Gray as a fighter. I know, I know that he can beat me, I understand that just because of his style and man, anyone in the Lightweight division can beat anybody on any given day, I understand that, we all are going to have our bad days or good days and just the set of skills that Gray has in there, I know he’s capable of being one of the best in the world. He is. He’s proven that. And, uh, you got to respect someone’s skills. If he doesn’t respect my skills, he’s going to be in trouble. It’s going to be another one of those things where ‘uh, I don’t understand what happened, Kenny got lucky or I made a mistake and I’ll be back and better than before.’ It’s just… I don’t get that and I know it’s created a lot of motivation for me and, you know… if Gray’s thinking all these things, then I can’t wait to go out there and see how he responds. I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be a great fight. It’s one of my toughest challenges for sure and man, I’m very excited.”
(snip)
LARRY PEPE: “Gray also talks about enjoying breaking someone’s will. have you ever felt that your will was broken in a fight?”
KENNY FLORIAN: “I’ve never been. Never been broken in a fight, even when I’ve been taking a beating and even with the Sean Sherk fight with my very limited skills and the situation that I was in physically, I was never broken. I always believed to the last second that I was going to win that fight and that was a five-rounder, you know. For me, Gray’s never, he’s never encountered that type of pressure, he’s never encountered when someone’s got him beaten down and he’s never experienced anything like that. He’s always been the aggressor, he’s always been the bully. It’s easy to have fights like that when you’re winning the fight the whole time, it’s easy. But how is he going to respond when he’s getting beaten down? How’s he going to respond when he’s hurt and he gets hurts again and he’s losing every minute of every round, what’s that going to feel like that for him? He’s never experienced that and I’m looking forward to bringing it to him. I don’t care what he’s going to do to me, he’s got to care about what I have to do to hm.”
(snip)
LARRY PEPE: “When you look at the rest of Gray’s game, how do you size that up? Because his striking looks powerful but not technical and we haven’t seen much from him in terms of [jiu-jitsu], so when you look at those aspects of the game, we know he’s a good wrestler. How do you size up the rest and how do you put a perspective that in 7 wins in the UFC, 6 have been by decision, 2 by split decision, so he’s kind of the opposite of Kenny Florian.”
KENNY FLORIAN: “Yeah, and that’s why it’s such an intriguing match-up I think. He has the ability to stifle anyone’s offense and that’s why it’s an intriguing match-up and why it’s a different match-up for me stylistically being completely honest. He’s got a polished style of wrestling, he likes to no pun intended, bully his opponent around and look for nice power doubles and high crotch to doubles and he’s very good there once he gets in on your legs so, um… the goal is to really stop him and then the other aspect of the game, you know what, I kind of disagree with you on the boxing. He definitely is powerful but I wouldn’t say he’s completely, you know, I wouldn’t say he’s technical I guess but he definitely is well-trained. He’s well-trained in the boxing, you could see that he gets it. He gets it as far as his foot work, he gets it as far as his ability to want to counter, boxing I don’t think he’s there yet and I don’t think he’s as there as much as he thinks he is with his boxing but he’s on the right track, you could see that, Gil Martinez who’s training him has done a very good job as far as changing that aspect of his game. He tries to throw a lot of lead hand rights against a southpaw, he’s faced a lot of southpaws at this point so he’s going to feel like he knows what he’s doing in there with me. He knows where to go as far as throwing the strikes, where his feet needs to be, he seemed very well-trained in that aspect so in boxing I still consider him pretty dangerous. On the ground, he’s never been submitted, not since The Ultimate Fighter any way and he’s very good at staying out of submission, very good at just controlling his opponent, his ground ‘n pound is very good but like you said he’s not the kind of guy who’s dangerous as far as he’s going to be looking for these crazy angles to knock you out and he’s got his knockout power through 15 minutes and he’s got these unbelievable submission holds, he’s not that kind of guy. He’s a guy who’s for most people I think they consider Gray Maynard a very boring fight.”
LARRY PEPE: “Do you consider him a boring fighter?”
KENNY FLORIAN: “Um, for me, I’m always interested in the technical aspect. I love it. I love seeing it, regardless of what they’re doing out there so I mean I don’t think he’ the most exciting fighter. I don’t jump up and down when there’s a Gray Maynard fight going on but I do respect his skills. I think what he does out there is very, very good. If he’s winning fights against the guys that he’s winning against, he’s got to be damn good and I’ll watch him fight but… yeah, I’m not jumping up and down to watch a Gray Maynard fight.”
LARRY PEPE: “Unless he’s fighting Kenny Florian, right?”
KENNY FLORIAN: “Right, right, exactly, then I’ll jump up and down.”
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