Tim Sylvia becomes a police officer and has a therapy session on Sherdog radio; Update: Fight versus Pedro Rizzo on 8/14
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
Update: Tim Sylvia vs. Pedro Rizzo on 8/14 in San Diego.
I was expecting kind of a boilerplate interview with the former UFC Heavyweight champion on Sherdog radio, but instead it turned out be a pretty fascinating discussion on several topics.
As you read the interview transcript, take note that he has become a police officer and is willing to listen to anyone who wants to give him advice on how he can reveal his true character to more people.
He has some funny thoughts about his fight last Friday night with Mariusz Pudzianowski.
You said “I’m back” a few times. What did you mean by that?
“Well it just means that I’m back to you know fight very regularly, you know I want to fight sometime in July, August, and get back in there, get another good fight under my belt and start looking for the big shows again.”
Where do you want to fight next?
“I’m not really sure for this next fight, but I’d like to think 2011 I’d like to be with Strikeforce or UFC.”
How do you feel you stack up against the big names in the heavyweight class now?
“I think I match up good with everybody.”
Continue reading this article here…
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Talk Radio: How would Matt Lindland do in an 8-man Strikeforce Middleweight tournament?
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
Let’s set the stage here for how this discussion came about:
- Jake Shields is likely going to sign with the UFC and it means the Strikeforce Middleweight title would be vacated. One of the hot booking ideas floated around is having an 8-man Middleweight tournament.
- Matt Lindland, who just turned 40 years old, beat Kevin Casey in a one-sided affair last Friday night at the Rose Garden in Portland on Showtime. He has said that he wouldn’t mind a re-match with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and feels that he made one (big) mistake in the fight that cost him, so he would like to atone for that loss. Lindland would also be the most experienced fighter in such an 8-man tournament, which would feature a mixture of younger names for the most part.
With that scenario painted for you, would you book Matt Lindland for the 8-man tournament? If so, what kind of seeding would you give him and who would you match him up against? (Lay out a theoretical SF 8-man Middleweight tournament on paper and tell us what kind of match-ups you envision happening.)
Robbie Lawler, who’s fought at 185 for the promotion, has the 195-pound catch weight fight against Renato Babalu on June 16th in Los Angeles. Lawler has been disgruntled in the past with the promotion, so he could conceivably bail to UFC in the future. There’s Lawler (if he stays), Mousasi (maybe), Babalu, Lindland, Jacare, Mayhem, Rockhold (maybe), and one more slot open (Villasenor?).
Continue reading this article here…
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Talk Radio: Why don’t we see 10-10 rounds scored by MMA judges?
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
From last night’s Observer radio show. There are some bombs in here that could get a rise or two out of readers.
“What happened was… seven/eight years ago there was a judge in New Jersey who scored a couple of rounds 10-10 and he’s never been seen again and every judge knows that story because they’ve all repeated it to me and so therefore they don’t judge 10-10 rounds very often.
“What was the fight, the fight in St. Louis with Shaolin Ribeiro and Lyle Beerbohm, Fancy Pants… that first round like absolutely nothing happened, for five minutes. They were in a fricking clinch against the cage and nothing happened and it was like, this was a 10-10 round and like every single judge gave it to Beerbohm because, you know… he was initiating the takedown that he didn’t get for five straight minutes, you know what I mean, whereas the other guy was defending the takedown that he didn’t get for five straight minutes WHILE NOTHING HAPPENED. No damage, no nothing. You know, it’s like… and that’s worth the same as like you know the next round where you know you lock a guy in a near submission after near submission, you know what I mean?
That’s part of the problems with the judging, but I mean… it’s not the judges. I mean, I’m not saying like, there are judges who probably shouldn’t be judging, I mean that is true. But the big problem with the judging in MMA is not the judges — it’s the system of judging. And people go ‘oh if you got the right judges who understood the sport,’ F***! That’s a bunch, whenever I read that I go, ‘you’re fricking retarded saying that’ because the way the system works, unless you have a thing where you give out a lot of 10-10’s and a lot of 10-8’s, OK, neither of which any judge does, if you do that the 10-point must system can work. But it doesn’t work because you’re discouraged, you know, you got to practically kill a guy to get a 10-8. I mean I’ve seen some one-sided you know beatdowns and then the judges give it 10-9 and it’s like, what the hell? And you know again, 10-10 doesn’t exist for all intents and purposes I mean every now and then a judge will kind of get gutsy and do one, but it takes, you know what I mean? The system is very flawed right now and you know, generally speaking, at least most of the judged fights are not so close to where the system screws it up but you know every couple of shows you know like Tim Hague and Chris Tuchscherer, the judges got it the way it should have been but the wrong guy won because that was the way the system works where one guy won a round big and the other two rounds were close but the other guy did win both of those rounds so he wins the fight even though they got the hell beat out of him and he lost the fight, he still gets the decisions and everyone booed but the judges were right even though they were wrong and the judges would probably tell you that themselves, that like the wrong guy won but our score said this guy won and to me whenever you have a situation, and again you know it’s probably once on every other show, where… where I’ll have, you know, I’ll judge a fight and go, ‘there’s my point, this guy won by my points,’ and that’s usually the guy who wins, but I’ll tell you right now the other guy beat the other guy up in the fight, he won the fight but the scores don’t say that.”
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The heat-up for UFC Undisputed 2010 and UFC 114
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
IGN’s verdict on the new UFC Undisputed video game — good, but not great, and takes a while to learn how to really play the game well. Electronic Theatre has a more upbeat review on the game. Videogamer says the AI has been boosted significantly in this year’s version of the game.
Rampage Jackson told ESPN UK that he thinks Rashad will do ‘stupid leg kicks’ like Forrest Griffin did. Dave Meltzer says Rampage-Rashad is one of MMA’s great grudges. He has his Top 10 list of MMA grudges. Click on full-page mode to see his comments on Frank Mir’s next fight along with a prediction for who will win the Rashad/Rampage encounter.
I know Franklin McNeil draws heat for his appearances on MMA Live, but he does a good job here with this article on Dan Miller, giving you a back story on the man who will be facing Michael Bisping in the semi-main event of this weekend’s event. Miller knows that he’s fighting to keep his roster spot.
Speaking of UFC 114, Adam Hill has a preview of coming attractions with this weekend’s UFC Fan Expo. The Las Vegas Sun has more details.
Want to know how big UFC’s August 1st event will be in Utah? “This is the UFC, so it’s not an imitation, that’s for sure.” That’s from the building director of Energy Solutions Arena. Yeah, I’d say Utah is going to be a very hot crowd for the Versus taping.
Here’s the text from Dana White’s ESPN.com chat from yesterday.
Some more details about Georges St. Pierre training with Freddie Roach.
Continue reading this article here…
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Dan Patrick: So I met UFC President Dana White one time in a bathroom in New York City…
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
… and you’re going to have to read the full transcript of Dan’s interview on Monday with Dana in order to get the punchline. You can listen to the full audio interview here.
START OF TRANSCRIPT
DAN PATRICK: “He’s the President of UFC. He’s Dana White. UFC Undisputed 2010 coming out today. PPV, UFC 114 Memorial Day weekend. They had 400,000 pre-orders of this video game. He’s Dana White, joining us on the Dan Patrick Show. Dana, how are you?”
DANA WHITE: “Good, how you doing Dan?”
DAN PATRICK: “I’m doing pretty well. I was thinking of this… if I had an Octagon set up at every NASCAR track because these guys always go at it, how do you think that would work if I got NASCAR guys in the Octagon?”
DANA WHITE: “I don’t know. You know, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt the PPV numbers, I’m sure.”
DAN PATRICK: “Yeah, you can’t have them using their cars as weapons. But you get into the Octagon, but you find this with a lot of athletes that they think they can get in the Octagon and then…”
DANA WHITE: “Oh yeah. Not only athletes but you know people that I meet in the streets. People always say to me, ‘Man if I was 10 years younger.’ Yeah… heheheheheh.”
DAN PATRICK: “Any famous people want to get into the Octagon?”
Continue reading this article here…
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These things I know to be true…
By Zach Arnold | May 24, 2010
- That there remains pockets in the media who defend Tim Sylvia, his legacy, and what he’s up to now. I laid out some reasons why he has such a big image problem here.
- That both Dan Hardy & Michael Bisping seem to giving Paul Daley some sympathy after he got cut from the UFC.
- That fighters often deal with day-to-day distractions just like the rest of us.
- That there is a lot of MMA events happening all the world in strange locales, Azerbaijan, that Jordan Breen is keeping his eye on.
- That ESPN Deportes has replaced Bellator on their network with Jungle Fight FC events.
- That discussion about negotiations for a fight between Eddie Alvarez & Gilbert Melendez is not moving the needle online. I don’t know what that says. I do think that Mr. Rebney’s comments in the article were interesting in relation to how he thinks both fighters have high name value recognition with MMA fans in the States, which unfortunately simply isn’t the case.
- That Marlon Sandro will soon, if not already, become a Featherweight that people won’t be able to ignore. Probably won’t see Sandro vs. Jose Aldo, but we could see Sandro vs. Urijah Faber…
- That this weekend’s DREAM show at Saitama Super Arena has absolutely no heat and I have no idea what the point of booking Kid Yamamoto is if they aren’t bothering to hype up his opponent (Kiko Lopez). I’m still astounded that they put Nick Diaz in a main event on a Japanese show in a building that big. He sure got punished for what happened in Tennessee… Here’s the card for this weekend’s show.
- That my thoughts and prayers are with the NOAH family right now, as grizzled old veteran Rusher Kimura died at the age of 68 this morning at 5:30 AM JST due to complications from pneumonia. Almost a year out from Mitsuharu Misawa’s death…
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Josh Barnett: “The UFC incarnation as it sits doesn’t have as long of a career in MMA as I do”
By Zach Arnold | May 24, 2010
“It’s always a promo. There’s a promo to be cut anywhere I go.”
You have a fight coming up in Australia. Who are you fighting and what’s your feeling heading into the fight?
“I got a fight in Brisbane, Australia for Impact FC against Brazilian cat Geronimo dos Santos… nah, I don’t think he’s related, I think Dos Santos, Silva, whatever, it’s just a kind of nickname you could throw a rock in Brazil and hit one of them, you know what I mean? It’s like a Smith. Impact FC, they say it’s going available on PPV. I have no idea about carriers and blah blah blah, yackety schmackety. All I care is there’s a dude from Brazil that’s going to make this big long flight to Australia and then he’s going to need help getting back on the plane.”
Continue reading this article here…
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Michael Bisping says that if Wanderlei Silva wants a re-match in the UFC, he’ll happily do it
By Zach Arnold | May 24, 2010
How are preparations going for your upcoming fight against Dan Miller? Jiu-jitsu based camp?
“Training camp has gone fantastic to be honest. Well, not really jiu-jitsu based, no, but obviously he’s a jiu-jitsu guy so I got to address that situation and we brought in a couple of guys from Brazil, Rafael and Andrew, two black belts, both of them big guys as well, black-belts and put a bit of actual jiu-jitsu pressure on. But, you know, I’m focusing on everything, my jiu-jitsu, my wrestling, my striking, you know, so between every fight I’m always trying to improve as a fighter and I feel I’ve done that.”
Miller doesn’t seem to be much of a threat standing up, given his performance against Demian Maia?
“It’s a hard one to say, you know I mean because his fight with Demian Maia he didn’t look too impressive on the feet but he was facing a southpaw, you know which always makes tricky and you know let’s be honest, he’s… I think in the fight with Demian Maia he was probably a little you know shy of the takedown, you know he probably thought Demian Maia wasn’t going to dance therefore he was probably a little more reserved with his striking you know so… based on that performance, he didn’t look too great but you know for the reasons I just said you know I’m not underestimating him.”
Continue reading this article here…
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Dan Hardy declares Josh Koscheck as a guy worthy of a beating in UFC
By Zach Arnold | May 24, 2010
How are you feeling right now coming off of your loss to Georges St. Pierre?
“I’m feeling pretty good, you know, I’ve got a little time off now so I’m working on a few things, back at Eddie Bravo’s working on my jiu-jitsu and I’m training with Mac Danzig and Chad George over at PKG (Training Center) working on my wrestling, just improving you know. I know what I’ve got to work on from the last fight, I know what I got to do to get back to the belt and to win it and that’s what I’m planning on doing.”
A couple of months of more wrestling training before the GSP fight was something that would have been good. Are you focusing more on wrestling now in your training?
“It’s nice to have some time off, yeah, I mean… the thing is people don’t realize that we fight three times a year but there’s so much other stuff to do in between the fights. You know appearances and obviously you know traveling around and you know going to shows and things. It’s difficult to really get some quality training in so now I’ve got some time off, I can really invest myself in my training and you know get back to enjoying it, you know, I mean sometimes it’s difficult to enjoy training when you have to do it and right now I don’t have to train so I’m just enjoying myself and you know, learning.”
Did all the media hype surrounding you in the fight against St. Pierre bother or distract you?
“Not at all, you know, I enjoyed it. I’ve got a lot of good e-mails from people, I got a lot of hate mail as well but that’s to be expected. But it was a tough camp but it was the first time that I had to deal with that kind of media or attention but you know it’s all part of the game and you know I enjoy it. I’ve got a big mouth anyways so I don’t mind speaking every now and then but it was good, great fun and you know something that I can look back on and enjoy and look forward to the next time.”
What’s the difference between previous losses in your career and this loss to St. Pierre?
“Well, obviously, you know the title’s fight huge and now I know I’ve been in there with GSP, I’ve been in there with the best in the game and you know I know what he can do, I know what his abilities and I know what mine are and now I know what I need to do to be up there with the best. You know, other losses in my career you know there were circumstances, there were silly mistakes I made, you know off nights every now and then. The difference with the GSP fight is that I came in in great shape, I was ready for the fight, and I got beaten fair-and-square because you know he was a better wrestler than me and you know it was refreshing because now I can go away and work on that, take positives from the fight. Before it was just a silly mistake I made and you know something that I have to regret but this fight there was a lot I gained from it.”
What did you think when St. Pierre said that you could become the champion in the future?
“It was nice, you know I mean, the thing is with GSP is he’s such a nice guy anyway. You never know whether he’s just being very complimentary or not. You know, just the fact that he said it was you know it was a nice compliment and you know it gives me you know more inspiration so you know to keep pushing forward.”
What happened with Paul Daley and where does he go from here?
“It’s disappointing, you know I was fighting, I was sitting at the side of the Octagon when it happened and you know it’s just very frustrating, I’ve known Paul for you know for a long time, you know 10 years or so now and he’s always been hot-headed you know and that what’s make him a great fighter because you know he sees an opportunity and he takes it. Unfortunately that was an opportunity that maybe he shouldn’t have taken. I mean, you know, what can you say about (Josh) Koscheck? The guy’s a [expletive]. He faked a knee and he didn’t come to fight, he came to lay on Paul and control him to a decision and you know he’s not going to win any fans like that and I think he knows that as well but he wants his title shot and he’s got it now. I think GSP’s going to give a good beating and I think there are a whole line of other people afterwards waiting to give him a beating as well. As for Paul, you know, he’s always looking on the bright side you know he’ll find something to move onto. I heard he’s signed for another fight in Australia so he’s already got things in the pipeline, but you never know, I mean this sport’s a funny game, you never know what’s around the corner so… they’ll be bigger things for Paul, he’ll come back.”
What can fans expect from you coming up in the near future?
“I know I’m going to be quite later in the year and I’m hoping it’s going to be on the UK show, UFC 120 in London I think it is, so that’s what I’m preparing for. I’m still waiting for the call from the UFC. I’ve had a few names thrown about but people don’t want to take fights at the moment… so I’m still waiting on an opponent, but I’ll be ready when the times come.”
Any targets that you are focusing on wanting to fight?
“You know, there’s really none at the moment. The UFC division’s stacked and I’ve really got not any problems with anybody. Everyone’s cool, everyone’s progressing with their careers so I just want to fight the guys that are going to get me back to a title shot. Obviously you know Koscheck’s, you know, he’s very deserving of a beating but he’s got GSP lined up next, which is unfortunate. Other than Koscheck, there’s not really anybody I’ve got my sights set on so just whoever’s next.”
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Renato Babalu: You have to ask Showtime why I can’t get booked more often
By Zach Arnold | May 23, 2010
Click on picture to listen to the interview
I bring up this interview for a few reasons. 1) It’s Renato Babalu and I followed Babalu when he first appeared in RINGS in Japan. 2) My old radio chief, Jeff Thaler, was Babalu’s former manager. 3) It is amazing how bluntly fighters under the Strikeforce banner are willing to speak out about how much the scheduling sucks for them. You don’t hear about this as often in UFC because there are so many shows and also there’s great fear that if you speak out you are one loss away from getting cut. As far as the fear factor is concerned in UFC, it is what it is.
Babalu’s English isn’t perfect but the interview is perfectly fine to listen to. I would encourage you to listen to the audio version after you read this just because I want you to hear the frustration and exasperation in his voice.
As far as how he learned of the fight booking at 195 pounds versus Robbie Lawler
“It was kind of funny because Jason (Miller), he is one of my training partners. I was in the gym and he came to me, ‘Oh, Babalu, you stole my fight!’ Just joking around, just joking around. I mean I don’t know what problem he does have, but I didn’t speak anything about the fight and Jason Miller, he’s helped me to train to fight Lawler right now and it’s just, I just changed my schedule a little event. I was supposed to fight in DREAM but DREAM got canceled and they had an opportunity. I didn’t hear about the Jason Miller fight. When they offered me to fight in this way I actually wanted to fight and then I asked for 195 and Robbie Lawler agreed to fight 195, it was pretty good for me because I had been away for a long time and I’m happy because he agreed to fight, he gave me a chance to fight him. He couldn’t say no and (when) he said yes, that’s very respectful.”
Is Babalu planning a move down to Middleweight (185 pounds)?
“I’ll see how I feel and see what happens after that. I went to my doctor and he wasn’t sure if I would be healthy at 185 by the time but now as I’m losing weight and see how I feel and see you know keeping healthy, keeping shape, walking around at 210, 205, so it is a possibility that I will go down to 185.”
Impressions of Lawler after his win over Melvin Manhoef?
“Well I mean that’s what I say he’s more confident than ever. That was an amazing fight last time and on top of that I come from a loss so I’m very hungry, I’m very hungry right now to keep my career, to get back my career on the winning track and I want to give all my best that people have never seen of Babalu inside the cage.”
Why haven’t you fought in about a year?
“You should ask Showtime, you shouldn’t ask me. Yeah, that’s what happened, you know I mean I’m always ready to fight. I took some time off but I was ready since December.
“Especially because you do have a family to support and you need to work, you know, and unfortunately in this sport it’s just winners have the voice but sometimes when you are a loser you still have a family to support, especially me in my position… But besides that, I mean as I already say, they give you more time to pull your things together in training more and realize and work as an athlete, too, so I mean sometimes it’s sad but it is what it is.”
Are you a forgotten man?
“I mean, I don’t know. I have been training so all my fans want to see me fight so I’m happy with my fans and I’m going to give my best, that’s all that matters, I’m going to give my best on June 16th. What happened in the past is in the past and it’s all looking forward to see my next (fight).”
Do you plan on fighting in DREAM?
“Now, things are going to change so. I have to fight Lawler, so if I end up at 185 I’m not going to fight 205 any more. So, we’ll see what happens after this.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Heading into UFC 114, Rashad Evans’ trainer Greg Jackson is confident that his fighter is ready to deliver the goods
By Zach Arnold | May 23, 2010
In an interview last Friday with Sherdog radio, Greg Jackson was unwavering in his confidence about Rashad Evans being able to deliver the goods at UFC 114 this Saturday night in his fight against Rampage Jackson.
Jackson has not been on camera a lot for the recent UFC Primetime shows, but it doesn’t mean that he is an invisible figure in the training camps.
“Rashad’s doing his camp up [at Grudge Training Center in Colorado], it’s going really well. I’m up there a bunch myself and it’s going really, really good. You know, he’s got Mike Van Arsdale and a lot of people are up there helping him out, all our heavy guys are doing their thing there and it’s just great, it’s a great training facility. It’s one of our sister schools. We have that one and of course in New York and Montreal and we kind of cycle through them all and just have a great time doing it.”
With UFC sending video crews to tape both of the fighters camps to get footage to hype the fight up on Spike TV, Mr. Jackson is a veteran at dealing with the camera crews and tipping his hand as far as what is allowed and not allowed to air on television in regards to secret training footage.
“I mean the cameramen are old pros. They know when to film and when not to film and you know we can say, listen this is game plan stuff, this isn’t game plan stuff, so usually it’s pretty straight forward.
“Most of those guys are really good and they’re old vets and you know they’re going to get all the drama and stuff like that but it wouldn’t make any sense to have a film crew following you around, giving all your secrets away, I don’t care how much money they’re paying you and then you get your butt kicked in the fight, you know that would be not the smartest approach to combat.”
Mr. Jackson noted that because of all the experience he has had in the past dealing with UFC camera crews at gyms that it’s not a big complication as far as how the taping impacts the training schedule.
“The nice thing about these guys is that we’ve had the cameras around and this kind of stuff for a while so we’re pretty good at it. When Georges has it at Montreal and now Rashad’s had it in Denver, we’ve had a bunch come into New Mexico before documentaries and stuff like that so we’re pretty good at it.”
Admittedly, he watches the Primetime shows to get a feel for what Rampage Jackson is up to in training.
“You do (watch) just to get into intel to see what they’re working on and of course it’s going to be edited, they’re not going to show you everything they’re working on but you can kind of see the timing and what they’re doing sparring, so absolutely you want to get your intel with any source that you can.”
One of the hottest topics going into the fight has to deal with the racial remarks both men have made in media circles to hype up their UFC 114 fight. Jackson doesn’t see the trash talking as anything new or as any sort of statement on race relations in 2010.
“You probably have to ask Rashad [if it’s personal], but I do know that you know it is a tool that has been used by a lot of people before. Muhammad Ali being the most notable calling different people an Uncle Tom or you know especially when the Floyd Patterson fight back in the day so, calling into question how you conduct yourself within your ethnicity I think is a very old tactic, nothing new but you’d have to ask Rashad as to how personal that actually is.
“It’s a tool to get in his head. … And again you have a kind of a tradition of that kind of stuff, you know accusing someone of not being a true Mexican or whatever it is that you can do to kind of get under their skin, so I don’t think it’s a race relations thing at all. But again that’s just one man’s opinion.”
Jackson also doesn’t think that Rashad Evans is taking the insults hurled at him personally and doesn’t expect it to effect Rashad’s fight performance on Saturday night.
“Rashad’s so smart, I mean, people don’t really I don’t think understand how smart this guy is. He’s really sharp. He knows better than to let him get emotional about it or heated about it and I think he’s going to be all business when it comes fight time and do his thing. I’m not worried at all about him like you know getting drawn into ‘I’m going to knock Rampage out in 15 seconds!’ That’s just not in his mentality. He’s a real sharp, careful guy.”
The fight between Evans and Jackson was supposed to happen last December at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee — Rampage’s old stomping grounds. Instead, he took a role in the A-Team movie and admittedly showed up last February in Australia not in the best of shape (at around 250 pounds). Mr. Jackson told Jack Encarnacao that you have to be ready for anything in the fight game and that includes fights getting canceled and fighters having to train for the same opponent twice in a row.
“I wish I could say that it’s a unique situation but unfortunately that’s the fight game, you know, it happens more than you might think. You get ready to fight a guy, something happens, you fight another guy, then you go back to fighting that guy, and you know that’s pretty much par for the course. That’s part of the fight game. You know I always joke like that these Rocky movies, everything goes so smooth even if they lose, it’s all right, that’s just never the way it works out in real life. It’s always you know a kind of bumpy road getting anywhere you want to go so it’s basically that’s the fight game. That’s the part they don’t tell you about.”
Nonetheless, Mr. Jackson is gearing up to prepare for Rampage’s A-game and is not thinking about Rampage as being rusty or not in prime fighting condition.
“No, because you can’t go in thinking that way. I mean it’s completely pointless. If he’s not the best Rampage ever that will make our strategy that much easier. If he’s the best Rampage ever then it’s business as usual. But our mentality going in there, you cannot be ‘oh, well, this guy’s had a year off’ as soon as you go in with that you’ve already won the fight instead of actually having to fight the fight and that’s really dangerous and so we never think that way, it’s never even on my mind as a trainer. I think he’s going to be the Rampage that we’ve ever, ever seen and I hope he is because we have the best Rashad that’s going to be performing that night, so you never want to go in there with those kind of things. That’s more for the fans to speculate about, you know what I mean, when you’re a professional and a trainer and a fighter you can’t get into that kind of stuff, it puts you in the wrong mentality, if that makes any sense.
“I’m one of those guys that it’s kind of like my job to worry. So it all worries me because I want to make sure that we’ve addressed all the contingencies that can happen or as many as we can anyway. He’s a powerful striker. He has pretty good wrestling, you know he’s savvy, he’s smart, he’s a vet, he knows how to even if he’s losing a round how to relax a little bit and come back, so there’s a lot of stuff, a lot of tools that he brings that I really actually have a lot of respect for him. I think he’s great. So, it’s just trying to cover all those bases and making sure that we don’t get caught doing something dumb. That’s the big part of my job.”
One aspect of Rampage’s arsenal that Rashad Evans will have to address is his ability to box.
“No, you can’t you obviously can’t avoid it, you’re going to have to play that game at some point but I’m pretty confident in Rashad’s kickboxing ability. I think that he’ll be able to do just fine. He’s definitely skilled enough and talented enough and fast enough to do what he needs to do to stay out of trouble up there. Rampage’s an excellent boxer, it’s true, but Rashad’s really good too and I’m always going to bet on my guy.
“There a lot of options that we have and we will try to have a good plan and a back-up plan and a back-up plan so we should be all right with those kind of situations and just make sure that we can get done what we got to get done.”
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Fans, fighters, and insiders gather at Queen’s Park in Toronto for MMA Day
By Zach Arnold | May 23, 2010
I know that Showdown Joe Ferraro was very instrumental in hyping up the event on all the media platforms he is on. Here is an event report on MMA Day, including comments from Joe himself. CBC News filed a report from the event. TSN also filed a report along with The Toronto Star. The Toronto Sun mocked the size of the MMA Day rally at Queen’s Park in Ontario on Saturday, but came out in support of MMA in the province. Here’s a fairer article from the Sun on the event, along with a video news package.
Josh Gross was in attendance last night at Mott Gym in San Luis Obispo for an MMA event called Fight for Wrestling, which was a fundraiser to help save the school’s wrestling program. Wrestling programs are getting cut at a lot of schools due to budgetary concerns, so we may start seeing more events like this. Stephen Neal of the New England Patriots was in attendance along with Urijah Faber. John Hackleman’s son fought on the undercard.
BJ Penn is in Canada this weekend for an autograph & book tour session. The article linked is worth a read because Penn talks about the process that he went through in having the book written, along with his probation stint from a few years ago.
The Washington Post has an article on last night’s UWC event from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia that drew an estimated crowd of 4,000. Jordan Breen watched the show and you can read his thoughts on the fight by clicking here.
With Bellator coming to San Antonio this week, the local newspaper has a long article talking about Bellator’s future and long-term prospects. John Whistler of the San Antonio News-Express is the newspaper’s long-time boxing writer.
Today is feeling like the calm before the storm, as this coming week will be a flurry of activity in preparation for UFC 114. The top fight on that card is so strong, but there are only so many stories you can write about it. Perhaps some interesting stories regarding the undercard will develop or progress… like an interview with John Hathaway, who is facing Diego Sanchez. Sanchez’s move back up to 170 pounds (Welterweight) is certainly an interesting move.
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Talk Radio: Why is the media making such a big deal out of the racial remarks made by UFC stars Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans?
By Zach Arnold | May 22, 2010
My reaction can be viewed in full-page mode at the bottom of this posting. The question is not one raised by me, but raised on talk radio. Trust me, after you read my response, you won’t confuse the headline with my personal opinion on this matter.
This passage comes from Sherdog’s radio show yesterday:
LOTFI SARIAHMED: “I mean I think it’s interesting, I kind of sit back, relax, and I just kind of laugh at the whole thing because it’s good to know that both Rashad and Rampage aren’t just putting on a show for the sake of putting on a show, they’re not a fan of each other, they genuinely do not like each other and I appreciate that as opposed to just putting on a show for the sake of putting on a show. I mean I’ve read a whole of bunch of different stories about how maybe this is in bad, maybe they’ve gone too far… no, not really. I don’t think so. I’ve gone through everything that they’ve said, I know the back-and-forth, this is what it is, I say bravo, it’s all in good fun. Not a big deal. By the end of this, one side of the other will give the winner respect begrudgingly if nothing else. but I have no problem with either side. I think I kind of look back and laugh.”
JACK ENCARNACAO: “Yeah, laugh for sure, that’s got to be the sane and logical reaction to some of this stuff, I mean the fact that I’ve seen some of the things that were said twisted into like questions of perception and potential concern. It’s just like, wow, where have you people been? How do you get people to come to fights? You talk at each other like this and that’s not to suggest that that’s the only reason these two guys are using the verbiage and using the insults and using the kind of stinging diatribes they are against each other just to build up a fight, but it’s definitely part of the equation. They also happen to not really like each other and I think you know to some degree it’s mind-boggling that some people are acting like they’ve never heard trash talk like this before. You know, just watch a Muhammad Ali documentary one day, see some of the things he used to say about some of his foils you know back in the day, want to talk about race relations? Some of the things he said about Joe Frazier and the such, it’s a time-honored tradition to approach things like this. And what Rashad said, Lotfi, and I guess I’m interested in your response. I mean, one of the things he said that kind of raised some questions, Franklin McNeil of ESPN was on the conference call, he used as far as I can tell by reading the transcript the words ‘detriment’ and ‘advantageous’ and asking Quinton a question and Rampage came back and said you know why you got to be using big words and stuff like that and it was laughed off and Rashad actually piped up and he said, ‘you know that’s what I can’t stand about Rampage’ is that he perpetuates the stereotype that Black people can’t (use) big words, don’t want to understand big words, and in fact Rampage is pretending that he doesn’t understand the words when in fact he does. Glorious stuff in terms of like a real direct you know out-of-the-ordinary insult hurled there at Rampage but interesting stuff nonetheless, Lotfi. What do you think about race relations Vis-à-vis the UFC 114 main event?”
LOTFI SARIAHMED: (Laughs) “We’re not going to exactly break ground here in regards with this tête-à-tête, I mean c’mon, let’s be honest here. This is, I mean, this is just funny more than anything else. People need to take it for what it is. There are no race relations. There is no big statement being made here, I mean Rampage is he perpetuating anything big? I mean probably, whether or not he believes it, who cares? Whether or not he is actually that way, who cares? Whatever. I mean these are two fighters who are going at it and part of their job is to sell a fight and whether or not this is, again, I think this is 100% legit. We’ve gotten e-mails from people showing pictures in Australia when they went nose-to-nose and there were no cameras involved. So, I mean, there is… it does seem like it’s legitimate, but I mean in terms of any bigger statement that they’re making here, c’mon guys.”
JACK ENCARNACAO: “Well, yeah, it’s certainly piped up that way. Later on that I should note that Rampage pretty much said you know, even if I do those two words, it’s part of my whole shtick, it’s my routine, it’s what I find funny to react to people who use words like that as I did, but you know that gets lost in the shuffle.”
A couple of minutes later after discussing the “Black-on-Black crime” remark…
LOTFI SARIAHMED: “Black, orange, green, blue, purple, white, whatever… I mean, these are two guys, part of what these two guys are doing is selling a fight. Part of what these two guys are doing is trying to get out there and get people interested enough to say, hey, make sure you tune in because I’m going to knock this guy’s head off. I’m going to take this guy’s head off his shoulders and punt him into the first row, that’s what I’m going to do. And then you say that just because you’re going to sell the fight. And now just because race is involved people are going to get all touchy about it. I mean, listen, does racism exist? Of course racism exists. Racism is rampant in a whole of lot of different places. Not here. Let’s relax and keep things in mind, keep things in perspective.”
JACK ENCARNACAO: “Yeah, for sure, for sure. It’s a very lighthearted, I think, discussion. I don’t know, some people might take it ultra seriously. I can’t say that I’ve seen that perspective out there but you know people have brought it up, people try to raise it as something significant and something worth debating or at least worth looking at and considering and as Lotfi says, you know of course the key part of all this is building a fight, pumping up that buy rate so they can collect a bigger paycheck at the end of the road at the other end and it appears to be working. The rating for episode two this week of UFC Primetime had 875,000 viewers, that’s a drop from the all-time record 1.2 million of the premiere last week and when I say all-time record I mean not just Primetime but any Countdown show actually eclipsed the record which was 1.1 million average viewers for the premiere of the UFC 100 preview show which featured the unforgettable scene where Brock Lesnar took down a door so this fight definitely reaching out there and definitely getting into the ether and getting into the public consciousness I think to a greater degree than most fight hype and we may be looking at a very nice PPV number, probably the highest of the year this year and probably only second to the Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin that we’ll see here in 2010 if the interest in the Primetime show is any indication. This Primetime show of course this series has benefited tremendously from coming on directly after The Ultimate Fighter which always does serviceable ratings and this season has done actually quite well and outperformed in terms of how convinced people are that public interest has waned in the show and the format has stale, it continues to do very solid and very stable numbers on Spike and in the end provides a great entree for the 11 PM EST premiere of Primetime these past two Wednesday nights. The final episode to come next Wednesday and the PPV next Saturday.”
As for my personal reaction…
Continue reading this article here…
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