UFC Fight Night: Battle on the Bayou
Saturday September 17
Venue: TBA
New Orleans, LA
Airing on Spike
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Rampage Jackson Not Excited With Matt Hamill for UFC 130
by Michael David Smith
After some shuffling around of the upcoming UFC 130 fight card, Rampage Jackson has gone from taking on Thiago Silva in the co-main event to fighting Matt Hamill in the main event. He's not particularly thrilled with the change.
"Thiago Silva is the type of guy I would love to fight because he has great stand up and he comes to fight most of the time, so I was looking forward to fighting a guy like that," Jackson said on The MMA Hour. "Matt Hamill wasn't on my radar at all. I wasn't excited at all. But then again, not a whole lot gets me excited."
Jackson's comments about not being excited for the fight stand in contrast to the comments of Hamill, who said he plans to break Jackson's will. But Jackson says that the difference between their public comments is simple: Hamill needs to convince himself that he can beat Jackson, while Jackson already knows that he can beat Hamill.
After some shuffling around of the upcoming UFC 130 fight card, Rampage Jackson has gone from taking on Thiago Silva in the co-main event to fighting Matt Hamill in the main event. He's not particularly thrilled with the change."Thiago Silva is the type of guy I would love to fight because he has great stand up and he comes to fight most of the time, so I was looking forward to fighting a guy like that," Jackson said on The MMA Hour. "Matt Hamill wasn't on my radar at all. I wasn't excited at all. But then again, not a whole lot gets me excited."
Jackson's comments about not being excited for the fight stand in contrast to the comments of Hamill, who said he plans to break Jackson's will. But Jackson says that the difference between their public comments is simple: Hamill needs to convince himself that he can beat Jackson, while Jackson already knows that he can beat Hamill.
Randy Couture on Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 and Fighting Before 55,000 in Toronto - UFC 129
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture talks about his fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 and about fighting before 55,000 people at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Get more MMA and UFC news at the World's top MMA News website http://www.mmaweekly.com.
On his road back to a title, Henderson wins at UFC 129
One kick changed everything for Ben Henderson. At WEC 53 in December, the former WEC lightweight champion was two minutes away from potentially locking up a shot against UFC champ Frank Edgar. Anthony Pettis landed his "Showtime Kick" and stole the fight. As a result, Henderson became a small fish in a huge pond awaiting his debut in the UFC.
Tonight, Henderson made a statement by dominating Mark Bocek over 15 minutes to take a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards, in the pay-per-view opener of UFC 129.
Bocek (9-4, 5-4 UFC) has a sterling reputation as a ground fighter, but Henderson chose to clinch with him often. Sure the fight went the ground a few times with Bocek on top, but Henderson stayed away from danger against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.
When it was on the feet, Henderson (13-2, 1-0 UFC) was a class above Bocek. The American was very effective using a thai clinch along the cage. At times, he brutalized Bocek to the body. He also mixed in some nasty elbows and punches. An elbow towards the end of the second on the top of Bocek's head busted him open.
What’s wrong with “The Ultimate Fighter” this season?
This season of "The Ultimate Fighter" seemed to have the recipe for a perfect season: exciting fights, coaches with a planned clash for a contender's spot, and a random mix of fighters. Unfortunately, this season has just fallen flat, and the sagging ratings back that up.
What is it about this season?
Kinder, gentler Brock: In the past, Lesnar has been a ratings juggernaut. With his WWE-crafted persona and legions of fans, the man is expected to bring eyeballs to the television. Except, this is post-near-fatal-sickness-and-loss-to-Cain-Velasquez Brock. This isn't the same man who got into Frank Mir's face after beating him. He is a humbled fighter who is trying to act as a coach. Is it endearing? Yes. Does it draw big ratings? No.
Even the dramas have no drama: Lew Polley getting fired. Len Bentley standing up to Brock. Keon Caldwell leaving the show. Chris Cope possibly backstabbing his team. These are all moments that could have been memorable moments in the season, but they are only memorable for being so boring. Even at the house, someone being loud is the biggest problem that's come up. I'm not advocating making up drama, but the show has editors for this exact reason. Make it seem interesting. This is a television show, after all.
No fight-in show: One of the best changes in the show's format over the years was the addition of the "fight-in" bouts in the seventh season. Fighters had to win a fight to get a spot on the show. Those first two episodes featured tons of exciting moments and gave an idea of how a contestant was going to perform. They didn't have that this time. Instead of starting the show with a bang, it began with a whimper.
Little interplay between Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos: Rashad vs. Rampage. Koscheck vs. GSP. Henderson vs. Bisping. Every recent season has featured some conflict between the coaches that not only provided exciting television, but made fans more excited for their upcoming bout. Lesnar and dos Santos have said some veiled remarks when not in each other's company, but that's it.
Welterweights ... again: This is the fifth time the show featured welterweights. With heavyweight coaches of this caliber, why not feature heavyweights? They've only been on twice. Then we'd at least get the joy of pointing and laughing at their piss-poor conditioning.
Little knowledge about the fighters: In seasons past, there has been more of a focus on the fighters backgrounds. We see little glimpses of that, like Ryan McGillivray's discussion of his daughter, but they are few and far between. Without a connection to the fighters, there is no incentive to care what happens to them from week to week.
We're 13 seasons in: Anything that's been done for 13 seasons with few changes will get stale. Something needs to be done to shake the show up because the way this is heading, there is little reason to care about season 14.
With quarterfinal and semifinal fights left to go, perhaps the show will pick up and become what it could be. Do you think it will happen? Tell us in the comments or on Cagewriter's Facebook page.
Former UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar sidelined with diverticulitis again; Shane Carwin now meets Junior Dos Santos at UFC 131
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is out of his UFC 131 main event fight with Junior Dos Santos, and the man he defeated at UFC 116 will take his place in the #1 contender's fight in Vancouver on June 11.
The UFC made an announcement of the change during a media conference call on Thursday.
Lesnar's diverticulitis has re-emerged, and after getting checked out at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. this week he was forced to make the decision to pull out of the fight. Lesnar's training camp has been hampered by more symptoms, but he says it's not as severe as what hit him at the end of 2009.
The former champion spoke at length during the call on Thursday, and expressed regret that he had to pull out of the fight, but unfortunately he's dealing with a disease that doesn't really go away.
"First and foremost I want to thank the UFC, I want to thank Dana White and I want to apologize to Junior Dos Santos and Spike TV," Lesnar said. I dodged a bullet two years ago with not knowing what this was and avoiding the surgery, [but] diverticulitis is something that never goes away."
Lesnar has been able to manage the disease for the last year and a half since first being diagnosed by changing up his diet and doing what he was advised. When symptoms began popping up throughout the last three months, Lesnar went through the antibiotic regiments to take care of the infection, but it was keeping him out of the gym and not allowing him to train to his fullest capacity. Lesnar pointed to his inability to train to his fullest extent to prepare for Dos Santos in his need to pull out of the fight.
"It didn't allow me to train to my full capabilities," he said. "I was forced to go back to the doctor this week and make a decision... It's not as serious as last time, but it just didn't allow me to train the way I needed to train for a number one contender's fight... I wouldn't have been 100% on June 11 because I'm not there now. I had to make a decision this week to give the UFC enough time [to make a replacement]... It was a hard decision, I'm choked up about it."
Though he may be facing surgery at this point to take care of this illness, he made it clear that this doesn't mean he's done in the sport.
"I'll tell you one thing, I'm not retiring, this isn't the end of my fight career," he said. "I have strong faith that there's a solution to every problem, I just need to find a solution to this problem... I can't perceive this being a career-ending ordeal."
Lesnar hasn't weighed the pros and cons yet of whether he'll go under the knife for this issue, as he just met with doctors this week and has more follow ups to go through, but he says he's looking to figure out whatever will get him back into the cage.
"I have to follow up with my doctors and we need to weigh the pros and cons [of surgery]," Lesnar said. "They're waiting on a number of tests to come back so we haven't even talked about that yet. From here to June 11 I can't be ready for Junior Dos Santos, so that's the first thing I needed to address. I've got some more doctors appointments to follow up with, I don't know the risks [of surgery] but it's got to be better than what I've been dealing with for the last two years. I'm looking for the light at the end of the tunnel right now."
Lesnar expressed gratitude toward UFC President Dana White, who said his immediate concerns were all for Lesnar's health and not the event on June 11. For Lesnar, while he hated to pull out of the fight, his health is the biggest concern, and that was White's stance as well.
"Dana was first class on this thing," Lesnar said. "He's always been first class with the health and well-being of his fighters. Fighting is second to my health and that's the first thing that came out of his mouth and I greatly appreciate that."
UFC 131 will go forward with Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos in the night's main event, and the winner will take on UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez this fall.
Penick's Analysis: This is the second major loss of a main event this week, and this is really unfortunate news for Lesnar. He sounded hopeful on the call that he'll figure out a way to get through this, and made it clear that he's not retiring, but this illness hitting him again is bad news. The worst part of this for the UFC is that all this time has been built up on the fight between Lesnar and JDS through the Ultimate Fighter, and now it's not happening. But Carwin will make for a very tough and deserving challenger for that spot himself, and it will still be a big heavyweight fight. This is a huge blow to the UFC in the short term, but the most important thing is that Lesnar gets himself taken care of. This is an awful loss, but his health is the most important thing, and I just hope he can this thing taken care of and get himself back into the cage.
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The UFC made an announcement of the change during a media conference call on Thursday.
Lesnar's diverticulitis has re-emerged, and after getting checked out at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. this week he was forced to make the decision to pull out of the fight. Lesnar's training camp has been hampered by more symptoms, but he says it's not as severe as what hit him at the end of 2009.
The former champion spoke at length during the call on Thursday, and expressed regret that he had to pull out of the fight, but unfortunately he's dealing with a disease that doesn't really go away.
"First and foremost I want to thank the UFC, I want to thank Dana White and I want to apologize to Junior Dos Santos and Spike TV," Lesnar said. I dodged a bullet two years ago with not knowing what this was and avoiding the surgery, [but] diverticulitis is something that never goes away."
Lesnar has been able to manage the disease for the last year and a half since first being diagnosed by changing up his diet and doing what he was advised. When symptoms began popping up throughout the last three months, Lesnar went through the antibiotic regiments to take care of the infection, but it was keeping him out of the gym and not allowing him to train to his fullest capacity. Lesnar pointed to his inability to train to his fullest extent to prepare for Dos Santos in his need to pull out of the fight.
"It didn't allow me to train to my full capabilities," he said. "I was forced to go back to the doctor this week and make a decision... It's not as serious as last time, but it just didn't allow me to train the way I needed to train for a number one contender's fight... I wouldn't have been 100% on June 11 because I'm not there now. I had to make a decision this week to give the UFC enough time [to make a replacement]... It was a hard decision, I'm choked up about it."
Though he may be facing surgery at this point to take care of this illness, he made it clear that this doesn't mean he's done in the sport.
"I'll tell you one thing, I'm not retiring, this isn't the end of my fight career," he said. "I have strong faith that there's a solution to every problem, I just need to find a solution to this problem... I can't perceive this being a career-ending ordeal."
Lesnar hasn't weighed the pros and cons yet of whether he'll go under the knife for this issue, as he just met with doctors this week and has more follow ups to go through, but he says he's looking to figure out whatever will get him back into the cage.
"I have to follow up with my doctors and we need to weigh the pros and cons [of surgery]," Lesnar said. "They're waiting on a number of tests to come back so we haven't even talked about that yet. From here to June 11 I can't be ready for Junior Dos Santos, so that's the first thing I needed to address. I've got some more doctors appointments to follow up with, I don't know the risks [of surgery] but it's got to be better than what I've been dealing with for the last two years. I'm looking for the light at the end of the tunnel right now."
Lesnar expressed gratitude toward UFC President Dana White, who said his immediate concerns were all for Lesnar's health and not the event on June 11. For Lesnar, while he hated to pull out of the fight, his health is the biggest concern, and that was White's stance as well.
"Dana was first class on this thing," Lesnar said. "He's always been first class with the health and well-being of his fighters. Fighting is second to my health and that's the first thing that came out of his mouth and I greatly appreciate that."
UFC 131 will go forward with Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos in the night's main event, and the winner will take on UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez this fall.
Penick's Analysis: This is the second major loss of a main event this week, and this is really unfortunate news for Lesnar. He sounded hopeful on the call that he'll figure out a way to get through this, and made it clear that he's not retiring, but this illness hitting him again is bad news. The worst part of this for the UFC is that all this time has been built up on the fight between Lesnar and JDS through the Ultimate Fighter, and now it's not happening. But Carwin will make for a very tough and deserving challenger for that spot himself, and it will still be a big heavyweight fight. This is a huge blow to the UFC in the short term, but the most important thing is that Lesnar gets himself taken care of. This is an awful loss, but his health is the most important thing, and I just hope he can this thing taken care of and get himself back into the cage.
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