MMA Hot Stuff

UFC 109 in Review

I don't think I'm necessarily easy to please, but I really enjoyed UFC 109 this last weekend. Mind you for me it's not just about the fights. You already know the results (from my twitter account, and if you don't follow me, well you should). But fight weekends for me are about meeting the fans, interviewing fighters and their wives, helping with autograph signings and honestly, I like being a fan once in a while as well.

So, friday I had the pleasure of meeting with Tessa Marquardt (Nate's wife) while he was cutting weight. Look on MMASocialites.com for that interview. 

I attended the Q & A with Brendan Vera and Urijah Faber. I love these. So insightful and it really gives the fans an opportunity to ask just about anything you want. Nobody screens the questions. It's open mic. The questions varied from future fight/opponent questions, tattoos to SuperBowl picks. I thought it was worth noting that there were almost as many women asking questions as men. Including two little girls that were younger than 10 years  in age. One woman (who looked to be 55 years young) got up to ask Urijah a question and literally started to cry. Can't dispute the fact that Urijah gets women of all ages a little weak in the knees. (sorry the pics aren't great. there's a reason i'm not a photog):

 

I met some of the best fans.ever. They ranged from insane UFC Fight Club members to a "cute couple" from Texas. The Fight Club members have a system. I won't go into detail for fear of giving away secrets that they've worked long and hard to perfect. But I will say, if you're not currently a Fight Club member you are MISSING OUT. Not only do they have access to presale tickets but the group  are clearly friends. Going to event to event and really have their own little community. They made me feel welcome with open arms and for that I want to say: Rob, Rob, Rob, (yes there are a lot of Robs), Whitney, Chris, Kevin...thank you for a fun weekend. 

Then I met a couple that was actually dubbed "The Cute Couple" from everyone that met them. And they really are a cute couple. Coming all the way to Vegas without tickets! What are they to do? Let's just say they were taken care of and it's because they are genuinely some of the nicest people I've ever met.  

Saturday I had the opportunity to help the Fight Shop promote an autograph signing with Dethrone... We did it by doing a couple contests that included me sending a Twitter msg. The first five people that showed me the msg got to CUT TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE! People had been waiting in line for hours to meet.. Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Gilbert Melendez, Forrest Griffin, Efrain Escudero and Anthony Njokuani. But my five new twitter friends cut right to the front. VIP style. It was fun to see how personable some of these fighters were making their fans feel special.  I want to give special props to JOSH KOSCHECK and GILBERT MELENDEZ as the stand outs. They were clearly some of the fans favorites. Gilbert is showing he's a PIMP with the gold watch. 

 

Oh, and then of course the fights. So much fun. Congrats to Matt Serra, Randy Couture, Demian Maia and Paulo Thaigo. Sigh, and Chael Sonnen. Still can't believe he beat Nate. The look on Nate's face broke my heart and made me forget that I had a camera with me. Sorry, no pictures. 

Oh, and I don't remember this even being taken. And I look like I had had too much fun by this point!   

 
  
 

Forrest Griffin vs Tito Ortiz At UFC 106 CONFIRMED

My UFC wishes have come true. Well at least one of them. 

UFC 59:Reality Check included a fight between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin that was so close to call the judges called it a Split Decision but it left a lot of people talking about the decision, and wanting to see more. That was also during a time when the UFC could get by with paying Forrest $16,000.00 and Tito $200,000. That was back in April of 2006. But a lot has changed since that fight. Forrest has had some big wins and some memorable fights. Tito has fought and beat a legend (Ken Shamrock) twice, lost a few key fights and even left the UFC for a short while.  

Since UFC 59, fans have wanted to see a rematch. Today, Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports confirmed with Dana White that our wishes have come true. With Mark Coleman pulling out of UFC 106 due to a knee injury, Forrest vs Tito will be the co-main event in Las Vegas November 21st where Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar are the main event.

For me the excitement stems from knowing Forrest is coming into the fight for revenge. Whereas TIto needs to prove to everyone that he's now healthy and 'back' to his old self. He's had back surgery and hasn't fought for almost a year and half. Both fighters are coming off losses.  

If I had a big head I'd say my positive thinking had a lot to do with this announcement. If you recall, the day it was announced Mark pulled out, I tweeted that Forrest would be an ideal match up in my opinion. Oh, and yesterday I posted about a Contest/Give-Away my friends over at Lemondrop were running that would give you a chance to win a FREE AUTOGRAPHED book and photo of Forrest Griffin. I'm guessing it was just luck and coincidence. 

I'll be tweeting the event live. I'll also be scheduling meet-ups as well as a launch party for a new project. More on that to come soon.

Please follow LemondropTweets, Kevin Iole, oh and me on Twitter!

What do you think? Do you expect it to go to the ground? Will they stay standing?

Here's my bet. PPV ratings will be huge! Oh and that I will, as always, bet with my heart and not my head and lose lots of money on these fights. But one thing I can guarantee you is I'm going to have a fantastic time.

UFC Media Call Updates - Dana White talks Tito, Fedor and more!

Here are some updates from Dana White today about the UFC!

1. No deal with Fedor.

"We offered this guy an amazing deal, we were open to everything but a co-promotion".

"We tried everything to make this happen. We didn't hold back anything. To turn down a deal like this, you don't care about proving your the best in the world, you don't care about competing against the best talent, you don't care about money. Why in the world would I let these guys come in and promote wtih us?"

"Also the Fretita brothers have a gaming license, you don't just come in and jump right into it. You have to go through background checks and all kinds of sh*t, it just doens't happen."

"I went out and tried to make this happen, I did everything we could possibly do, and they didn't want to do it. They just don't want to sign with the UFC... I garauntee you he will not be offered a better deal in MMA."

"It's not about competition for this guy. The heavyweight class in the UFC is stronger than it's ever been before with Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Randy Couture, Shane Carwin..."

What does co-promote mean?

Dana essentially said that M-1 had nothing to offer. What were they going to co-promote? What would they bring to the table? Nothing. "Maybe that shit works in Russia, but it doesn't work here".

Is Dana done trying to sign Fedor?

"I want to make a deal! I wanted this thing so bad and I was so confident this was gonna happen. If they want to make a deal they can call me right now and we'll make a deal."

If co-promotion was off the table would you have a deal with Fedor?

"We'd be done. We'd be announcing a fight for him right now".

Dana reiterated MULTIPLE times, Fedor's people can call him RIGHT NOW and they can do a deal. He was miserable that this deal didn't get done. But the UFC is still open to a deal (other than co-promotion obviously).

This is great... Dana states, "I wasn't a dick at all in these negotiations. I was the nicest Dana White ever in these negotiations... we went in there to make this deal. I went down to Huntington Beach and walked into Tito's front door to make a deal. There were a lot of emotional and financial sh*t to work through. When I tell you we caved on EVERYTHING with Fedor to make this deal, I mean we caved on everything to make this deal. I can tell you that this deal didn't fall through because of me and Lorenzo."

"We have a standing offer out to Fedor. We have not pulled anything back. I'm ready to roll. The fans want to see this fight, it's my job, it's my job to make this happen."

"For anyone to call this guy the best fighter in the world is insanity. He got offered an assload of money, he can go fight in Sambo every Thursday night if he wants to. We held nothing back. The guy doesn't want to fight the best in the world".

"We have 300 guys that want to fight the best in the world 3 times a year, a guy that doesn't, f*ck him, I don't even want to talk about him anymore".

2. Vitor Belfort signs with the UFC, will headline UFC 103

"When we announced Franklin VS Henderson for Dallas, fans were pissed."

Rich Franklin VS Vitor Belfort headlines Dallas show, UFC 103

Dan Henderson is still next in line for a shot at Anderson Silva

3. UFC 101 will be free for English and Irish fans via ESPN

UFC signs a 3 year deal with ESPN for England and Ireland

Is there a bigger deal with ESPN in the US in the works?

"Once we get the right offer, we will be on network television. We haven't gotten the right offer yet."

"If we get a network deal, we're putting serious fights on TV. That's what's wrong with the boxing model. If we get a network deal, it's gonna be good for the fans, good for network, and good for the UFC."

4. Tito Ortiz joins the Conference Call and is back in the UFC!

"Tito is a guy fans still want to see fight..."

"One way or another people give a shit about him, so he's back... "

"Tito Ortiz will retire in the UFC."

Tito says:

"For me personally it was about competition. My fans deserve the best Tito Ortiz. It's not about the money, I'm fine there... Competition was my biggest factor."

"I'm healthy, I'm 100%. I'm very excited. The hell with all the money, it's about competition. I look at the past UFC champions. Forrest Griffin, I beat. Rashad Evans, they called it a draw but I felt I beat him. Machida, I gave him the best fight of anyone out there."

"The best fighters are in the UFC, it's the best promotion, and that's why I'm here."

"Dana and I are like boyfriend / girlfriend, Dana being the girlfriend."

"I just started working last week, I'm looking towards November / December. I want to fight before end of the year. It's up to Dana. I'm excited to be back in the UFC, and I know my fans are."

"You will never hear anything about money out of my mouth again." (WHAT???? Someone please file this quote away for future use)

How far away from title contention is Tito?

"Tito's not getting an easy road. We're talking about him fighting Mark Coleman for his first fight."

"Ring rust is real, and Tito's gonna have it..."

Will Tito and Chuck possibly fight again?

Dana says "I don't know, I just don't know. Chuck hasn't asked me for it". Tito says "I asked Dana about that when I first signed and he said "no way", so since he's now saying "I don't know" that's huge for me. Thank you!"

Does Tito have any interest in moving up to heavyweight?

"If I dominate the light heavyweight class like I once did, and have run through everyone in that weight class, then I'd consider it".

Tito wants another 4 to 5 years of competition, so he's not going to rush into a comeback. He'd love to fight in his hometown of LA, but he's not going to rush back before he's ready and risk injury that might cots him his career. He's willing to hold off another month or two if it means gaining another 4 to 5 years of competition for his career.

Does Dana think Tito is still only interested in being a movie star, and that he's not a fighter? "The best in the world to me are the guys that compete 3 times a year against the best in the world. These guys challenge themselves 3 times a year against the best in the world. Tito Ortiz, no matter what I've said about him over the years, he's got his surgery done, he's gonna come back and fight the best in the world. Tito's gonna come back right now and he's gonna go for it. He's coming into the UFC and he's gonna fight the best 205 pounders in the world. PERIOD".

Tito says... "I'm gonna get that belt back. People forget I was the longest reigning champ in UFC history."

5. Affliction Fighters

Dana mentions quite a few names of Affliction fighters that are now with Zuffa and will be going to the UFC and WEC. They are still working with 8 or 9 fighters.

Dana has no interest in Arlovski or Tim Sylvia.

6. Dan Henderson

Where does this leave the winner of Nate Marquardt and Damien Maia?

Hendo is definitely next in line for a shot at Anderson Silva, and Marquardt and Maia are in the mix. This is a good problem to have according to Dana, Silva has been so dominant for so long that it's good to have a group of guys lined up that pose a threat.

How soon will Henderson and Silva fight?

According to Dana it depends in what happens between Silva and Griffin next week. If he doesn't get too busted up, it should be fairly soon.

UFC 100 Results

UFC 100 did not disappoint, it was full of great fights, rowdy fans and a little bit of drama. Here are the results at a glance.

Jon Fitch beat Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Brock Lesnar beat Frank Mir via technical knockout at 1.48, round two

Georges St Pierre beat Thiago Alves via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-45)

Dan Henderson defeated Michael Bisping via knockout at 3.20, round two

Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Alan Belcher via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

Mark Coleman defeated Stephan Bonnar via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Jim Miller defeated Mac Danzig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jon Jones defeated Jake O'Brien via submission (D'Arce choke) at 2.43, round two

Dong-Hyun Kim defeated T.J. Grant via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

Tom Lawlor defeated CB Dolloway via submission (guillotine choke) at 55 seconds, round one

Shannon Gugerty defeated Matt Grice via submission (guillotine choke) at 2.36, round one

The drama came in a couple different fashions. Dan Henderson worked Michael Bisping and a few fans thought that last punch he landed after Bisping was already out was a bit uncalled for. If you ask me it was just his way of getting the last word in. Bisping sort of set it up by running his mouth a little too much before the fights.

I had picked Thiago Alves to beat Georges St Pierre. I really thought he was going to be the upset pick. While it did go the distance, unfortunately Thiago wasn't able to win even one round. I am happy to see he was able to go the distance and look forward to seeing their next opponents. In my opinion, the 170 lb weight class is a bit shallow compared to the other weight classes.

Yikes the drama-rama of the night award goes to Broke Lesnar (aka Nacho Libre). After beating Frank Mir Brock managed to showcase the WWE still left in him by running his mouth. He said something about a horse shoe up the bum, flipped off the 11,000 or so fans that were booing him and then proceeded to say he was going to go drink a Coors Light not a Bud Light because Bud Light won't pay him. And if that weren't enough he closed his speech by saying something about getting on top of his wife...

The lesson learned tonight my friends is there is always a winner and a loser. But in some cases even the winners are losers. Behavior like Brock's will only tarnish the image of a sport that has been fighting for so long to be more mainstream. It's a shame when a publication as great as MSNBC doesn't really showcase MMA and yet when it does it's highlight is Brock's bad behavior.

To be fair, Brock did apologize during his post fight interview with ESPN MMALive. I'm guessing he got a good talking to after his stupidity. I was also reminded by a fellow MMA writer who said "Don't forget he's new to the sport, give him time." Point made but Brock needs to remember he's no longer in the WWE. MMA/UFC fans are a little smarter and a smidgen classier.

I pushed UFC Fantasy all week. How did you guys do? I ended up at 112 out of 24865...

I can't wait for UFC 101. Philly bound. We should have a tweet up! Don't forget you can follow me at twitter.com/mmahotstuff

UFC 100 Predictions Lesnar vs Mir

I've been looking forward to doing these predictions for this historic event, but managed to put it off until the last minute. And now I think I know why. I'm a huge Frank Mir fan. Huge. I think it's great to see his career and personal story evolve over the past few years. And the fact that he's the only person to have beaten Brock Lesnar, well that makes me love him even more. But the truth is, while I want to see him do it again at UFC 100, I just don't think he's going to.

I've had this bad habit of making my predictions based on who I want to see win rather than who I honestly believe is going to win.

For these few of you that read my predictions you know the drill... winners in green!

Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir - Grrrrr I'm picking Brock to win this match up. I have him as winning by TKO in the 2nd round. (and I look at it this way, if I'm wrong and Frank wins well I'll still be happy because my loyal readers know how I feel about Brock (aka Nacho Libre)).

Georges St Pierre vs Thiago Alves -this is my upset pick. Hearing these guys on the media calls they have mad respect for each other and the skills they posses. It's great when two fighters go into a fight knowing it's going to be the biggest fight of their careers. While GSP is the defending champion, Thiago is the up-and-comer that wants that title more so than anyone else in that weight class right now. And the skills to make it happen.  I'm giving this fight to Thaigo by TKO in the 3rd. If it goes past the third round I think GSP would probably outlast Thiago. But I'm putting my shoe money on Thiago. Come on Thaigoooooooo! Ma'ma needs a new pair of shoes!

Dan Henderson vs Mike Bisping - This is a no brainer for me. Bisping doesn't stand a chance against Dan's wrestling skills (sorry mike). He'll never get in a position to take Dan down and when it comes to striking skills, again I give those to Dan. Dan Henderson for the win. TKO in the 2nd!

Jon Fitch Vs. Paulo Thiago  - while this will be a good fight (every fight that includes Jon Fitch is likely to be good) Jon will definitely give Paulo his first loss. Jon is also the huge favorite in this match up. I have Jon winning by rear naked choke in the 2nd.

Yoshihiro Akiyama Vs. Alan Belcher - Assuming there aren't any questionable "substances" used in this fight (that was sort of a joke), I give this fight to Yoshihiro by submission (arm bar) in the 1st. He's going to go in and get the job done early.

Mark Coleman vs Stephan Bonnar - Stephan is coming off a loss against Jon Jones (unanimous decision). I hate to say this (because I said it when he fought jon jones and see how that turned out) but I do think this will be a failry easy win for Stephan. In fact I'll say he wins by TKO in the 1st. I mean come on,  we are talking about The American Psycho!

So, tell me where you agree or disagree. Come on, I have thick skin.

Also, if you're wondering where you're going to watch the fights, check out this list of bars/restaurants showing the fight on PPV.ufc 100 ppv list

UFC 93 Recap: Hendo & Franklin Battle... Rua & Coleman Struggle

UFC 93 has come and gone, and although the card wasn't what one would consider "stellar", it certainly didn't disappoint (well, almost). So for the first time, I've decided to start handing out MMAHotStuff awards for each UFC event. Here we go!

MMAHotStuff "MVP" Award- The Irish fans. European fans never disappoint. There's really nothing cooler than hearing the entire crowd break into song while the fight is going on. If I were a fighter I wouldn't be able to contain a smile. I'm just amazed that they break into song all at once and with the same song. How do they know what song to sing? How do they all jump into it at exactly the same time? It's not like when one poor section of the stands at a baseball game tries to start a "wave" and it takes a good 5 minutes of pathetic attempt before they get it going. It's like all the entire crowd at UFC 93 was a big group of drinking buddies that knew each other. Amazing... MMAHotStuff loves the Irish fans!

MMAHotStuff "Corner Man of the Night" Award- Without a doubt, this goes to Phil Baroni for his work in Mark Coleman's corner. Coleman was on the verge of collapse at the end of the first round, and Baroni probably knew it. Telling Coleman to "slip the jab and counter" or "set up your shots with some punches" probably wasn't going to get him anywhere, so Baroni stuck with the inspiring "great fucking fight... this is a great fucking fight!", which actually seemed to work. He would sprinkle in a few comments like "I know you're tired, he's tired too", but mostly he just kept saying "this is a great fucking fight". At first I was perplexed with this approach, but then I began to find it actually somewhat endearing. Great fucking job Baroni!

MMAHotStuff "This is painful to watch" Award- Hands down, Shogun VS Coleman. They easily snatched this award away from Horn VS Palhares who were the early front-runners. I'll give Coleman some leeway here as it was his first time down in the 205 lb class, and it couldn't have been an easy cut for that monster of a man, but Rua has no excuse. I know he states that he was sidelined for many months due to knee injury, and that fighting is different than training, but could he really not come in shape? And how many chances did he need to put Coleman away before he finally did? Rua's inability to put Coleman away when Coleman looked as gassed as an obese 3rd grader after running his first mile in PE class was pathetic, and only prolonged the agony of the fight. This was about as tough to watch as Dick Clark on his annual NYE Celebration show. Perhaps Shogun could take a lesson from Ryan Seacrest on how to jump in and put an end to the agony.

MMAHotStuff "Did he see the same fight I saw?" Award - This award goes to judge Chris Watts, who scored the fight 30-27 Franklin, giving all three rounds to Franklin. Now I wouldn't necessarily disagree if Franklin had been given the victory because it was a close fight, but to give all three rounds to Franklin??? What fight was he watching? By the way, judges, you know you did a bad job scoring the fight if the fighter you just gave three rounds to rolls his eyes in confusion when your scoring is announced.

So there you have it... the first ever "MMAHotStuff Award" presentation. What do you think? Any awards I missed?

UFC 93: Henderson VS Franklin; Rua VS Coleman to kick-off 2009!

Today the UFC announced that it will kick off 2009 in Dublin, Ireland with a card featuring Dan Henderson VS Rich Franklin and also Mauricio "Shogun" Rua VS Mark "The Hammer" Coleman.

Henderson and Franklin will meet in the main event for a light heavyweight showdown. Both fighters are coming off big wins, both at UFC 88. Henderson picked up his first win in the Octogon with a hard fought 3 round unanimous decision over a dangerous ground fighter in Rousimar Palhares. Although Palhares is not a well known fighter he presented a tough challenge for Henderson.

Franklin also picked up an important victory at UFC 88, knocking off Matt Hamill for his first fight back at the light heavyweight division. Franklin showed a disciplined game as he kept the fight standing and stayed away from Hamill's dangerous takedowns.

This will be a great fight! Both are true veterans and former champions, and both are well liked by the fans. I can't wait to see these two go to war, but am going to need to take some time to seriously analyze this match-up before making a prediction.

UFC 87: Card Updates

The UFC has released some more fights for UFC 87: Seek & Destroy on August 9th!

As we had reported earlier, Mark Coleman had to pull out of his match-up with Brock Lesnar due to knee injury, and his replacements had not yet been determined. It has been announced that Brock Lesnar will now be facing Heath Herring in the heavyweight fight.

This is quite an interesting match-up as Herring is coming off a big win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 82, and brings a TON of experience into the cage.

Read more....

UFC 87: Coleman out due to injury, St. Pierre VS Fitch is on!

Today the UFC has announced an addition to the UFC 87 fight card, as well as a change in the previously reported match-up. The anticipated bout between Brock Lesnar and Mark Coleman is off, as Coleman had to withdraw due to a reported knee injury. A new opponent for Lesnar is expected to be announced soon.

An exciting addition to the card has also been announced, as Georges St. Pierre will make his first title defense

UFC 87 Confirmed: Heavyweights Lesnar & Coleman share the spotlight with Lightweights Huerta and Florian

The UFC has confirmed two bouts for UFC 87: Seek And Destroy, to take place on August 9th at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.