It’s been a quiet week for fights, but the MMA world never sleeps. The news, rumours, intrigue and downright insanity never stop bubbling under the surface, and we at JOE are once again on hand sifting though the soggy vegetables to bring you only the meatiest morsels of MMA news. Dinner is served…
By Brad Wharton
Saturday:
The last seven days of MMA news kicked off with a bang last Saturday, as the UFC finally confirmed their return to Germany. Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami will headline UFC 123 in Oberhausen, although the promotion still faces a potential headache with their programming being banned from German airwaves.
In a harbinger of what was to come, news broke just hours before the UFC 118 main event that BJ Penn had only been able to train three times per week ahead of his rematch with Frank Edgar. Elsewhere in the MMA-sphere, Dutch man-mountain Alistair Overeem hinted at the possibility of a bout with an Emelianenko…just not the one people were expecting.
As the buzz reached fever-pitch in anticipation of the night’s main event, the UFC had one last surprise in store for us…a reveal of The Ultimate Fighter 12 cast. Click here to meet the cast of characters, all but one of whom you’ll have forgotten about by this time next year…
Sunday:
Well, after months of build-up, years of speculation and enough of James Toney to last us a lifetime, the boxing vs MMA spectacle is over and done with. Brad Wharton’s Sunday Supplement broke down the previous night’s action and posed the question; Did the UFC overlook Frankie Edgar in favour of a freakshow?
After revealing the TUF 12 cast the previous night, the UFC’s video production department were on overtime last weekend, churning out this rather epic promo for UFC 119.
Dana White was on fine form on Sunday, voicing his robust opinion to anyone who would listen, and probably a few who wouldn’t. Good news, he’s more than ready to make a Frankie Edgar-Grey Maynard 155lb title fight. Bad news, although he’s sold on the idea of GSP vs Anderson Silva, it’s still a long way off. In the latest episode of ‘Dana being Dana’, the UFC head-honcho had some less than complementary words for Kenny Florian, dubbing the Bostonian a choker.
Monday:
Fans of small men rejoice; Dana White has been dropping hints of a WEC version of the hit reality show The Ultimate Fighter. It’ll be like the Smurfs, but with punching.
Outside of the UFC, Sengoku Middleweight Champion Jorge Santiago put US promotions on high alert, revealing that he’s looking for a return to America following his ‘fight of the year’ against Kazuo Misaki.
Roger Heurta may not be troubling the Academy Awards committee with his star turn in the new TEKKEN movie, but he will be trying to cause Eddie Alverez some grief when the two meet up in the Bellator champ’s home state in October. Meanwhile, the Overeem/Emelianenko saga continued, with ‘The Reem’ putting rumours of a bout against Fedor’s brother Aleksander to bed, insisting that he’ll compete in the K-1 Final 16 instead. Ah well…
Finally, from a fight that won’t go down this year to one that definitely will, Georges St Pierre vs Josh Koscheck 2 was confirmed for the champ’s home turf on the 11th of December.
Tuesday:
The UK’s own Michael Bisping kicked Tuesday off with some barbed comments towards Greg Jackson and company, after learning that his UFC 120 opponent, Yoshihiro Akiyama, was training with the king of the so-called ‘hug and hope’ gameplan.
From there, Tuesday descended into bizzaro-world. First came the news that former Strikeforce title challenger Brett Rogers was taking a sabbatical to fight face-painted Native American journeyman Ruben ‘Warpath’ Villareal on tribal grounds in Canada. Okaaay. Taking the strange up a notch was this video of Shaquille O’Neil facing off with Tito ‘The Excuse’ Ortiz at the recent UFC Fan Expo.
In what was possibly the most unexpected news of the entire year, UFC President Dana White has been confirmed to speak to one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious debating societies, the Oxford Union. So you wanna be a f**kin’ scholar?
Admit it, ever since you saw Mirko Cro Cop taking peoples heads off in Pride, you’ve always wondered what it would be like to high-kick one of those fairground punching machines. Common sense, manners and social graces make most people think twice. Luckily, Pat Barry is a man who kicks things first and asks questions later.
Wednesday:
If you want to earn a second chance in the UFC you better win, or put on a ‘Fight of the Night’ performance in losing. Or, you could fail to make weight on the Ultimate Fighter, get kicked off the show, then when you finally get your second chance in the UFC three years later, lay down for a brutal two-minute beating. That’s the Gabe Ruediger method folks, and it works.
King Mo Lawal gave his thoughts on exactly why he lost his first Strikeforce title defence to ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante last week…he didn’t use his wrestling. Well, duh… Elsewhere, we heard for the first time from a company official that FEG, the promoter behind DREAM and K-1, is in serious financial trouble and could be on the brink of collapse. Ouch.
Finally, it was that time of the month. The 1st of September can mean only one thing; the very latest and most in-depth divisional and ‘Pound-4-Pound’ world MMA rankings were up, causing no controversy whatsoever…
Thursday:
KJ Noons is one of the only men in recent years to match Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz in the cage. Ahead of their recently confirmed rematch, Noons is attempting to match him in the trash-talking stakes as well. As if the Stockton boy wasn’t angry enough already…
Speaking of drug-addled MMA fighters, Karo ‘The Heat’ Parisyan will be welcomed back into the Octagon for UFC 123 in November, just a year after Dana White vowed that he would never fight for the promotion again. I bet Paul Daley can’t wait for May2011… From painkillers to steroids, Polish strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski was out to hype up his fast-approaching bout with Butterbean. I’m willing to bet good money that’s the only time the word ‘fast’ has been used in the same sentence as ‘Butterbean’, unless we’re talking about hotdog consumption.
Well, it seems like all the trash talk paid off for James Toney, who pocketed a cool half-a-million dollars for less than four minutes work. If I could make that kind of money laying on my back while an old man choked me, I’d move back to Amsterdam.
Sad news closed out Thursday, as Alan Belchers wife revealed that the fighter’s vision had still not returned fully following a second operation. Everyone here at JOE wishes ‘The Talent’ our best and hopes to see him back in the cage at some point.
Friday:
Friday is here again and that can mean only one thing…it’s time to open wide and say “ahhh†as Michael ‘The Doctor’ Pepper returns with another weekly dose of the Mailbag, using his surgeon’s hand to dissect the week’s hottest topics. Bob Reilly’s attempts to ban MMA, James Toney’s paycheck and Canada’s continued battle for regulation all get a thorough examination. Now breathe in and cough twice…
Speaking of everyone’s favourite boxer turned MMA fighter, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the Octagon, ‘Light’s Out’ has signalled his intention to return to the sport following his next boxing match. Somebody get Kimbo Slice on the phone…
There seems to be an ongoing theme with rookie wrestlers in MMA at the moment…first Brock Lesnar takes the equivalent of 50 sledgehammer blows from Shane Carwin, only to choke him out in the second round. Last night, Joe Warren arguably went one better, surviving a brutal 10-8 round against Joe Soto, only to knock the defending champ silly just moments into the second round. All hail the wrestling revolution!
Finally, he may have pulled out of the fight due to injury, but Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira (try saying that five time fast after a few beers) is still invested in the bout, backing the ‘more humble’ Mirko CroCop against Frank Mir. Although we’d love to see the legendary ‘Big Nog’ have another crack at Mir, a rematch of his epic come-from-behind win against CroCop has been on our wish list for years…fingers crossed folks!
Well, that’s all for another week in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. We saw an old man choke out a crazy man, a muscle man call out a fat man, a Dutch man avoid a fight with a Russian man and the world’s most entertaining MMA blogger, the inimitable Bloodstain Lane, take Golden Glory’s Bas Boon and Alistair Overeem down a few pegs. Only in MMA folks, only in MMA…
