Filed under: UFCPat Barry could tell right away that he had a problem. He'd just floored his idol, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, for the second time in the first round of their UFC 115 bout with a beautiful right hand that landed flush on the Croatian's skull, and he knew immediately that he'd broken his hand in the process.
"The world couldn't see it because the camera wasn't close enough to my face, but as soon as I broke my hand - that was the second punch I landed that knocked him down - as soon as it happened, my lip was starting to tremble, and for two reasons. One, it hurt terribly. And two, I honestly thought that was going to be the end of my career. I never would have guessed that it was only one broken bone. I felt like all the bones in my hand were, like, entirely disintegrated."
The injured hand was a problem, Barry knew, but it wasn't the end of the world. He'd come into the fight with a game plan that hinged on two main weapons: his right hand and his right foot. At least he still had one. At least he could still kick his way to a victory even if his hand was shattered.
You know how this story goes. It's like that scene in a comedy movie where a beleaguered character remarks to himself that hey, at least it's not raining. Cue the thunder and lightning, the sudden angry downpour. Or, in Barry's case, the fractured foot.mma training
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Monday, 26 July 2010
MMA battling negative stereotypes from all directions
There are some days when UFC, Strikeforce and other mixed martial arts promotions should thank their lucky stars that the sport is still on the periphery when it comes to mainstream media coverage. If the big newspapers and television networks heavily scrutinized MMA, the sport would've had a rough go of it the last few months. While there are thousands of men and women who train in MMA, are good citizens and now have structure in their lives, there are a few nut jobs who can't be saved. For the unenlightened, Ed Graney from the Las Vegas Review-Journal points out the guys hitting general sites like TMZ and The Huffington Post that put a stain on everyone in MMA. Stigmas can be impossible to break. It's a truth those involved with mixed martial arts know well, having spent years trying to overcome the barbaric tag often assigned the sport. Graney mentions two sociopaths who made recent headlines. It is worlds away from tales such as the ones recently reported about Jason Sindelar and Jarrod Wyatt. Heard of either?Sindelar was released from a Las Vegas jail last week after being arrested in connection with the beating death of a former UNLV football player in a Strip hotel room. Prosecutors didn't file a criminal complaint. Sindelar has walked for now. [...] He supposedly has continued training in Las Vegas, but for now, calling him an MMA fighter is like calling your mailman the Postmaster General. Yet that is the level to which he has been described by many.Wyatt makes Sindelar look tame. The same goes for Wyatt, an extremely disturbed man whose murder charge was upheld by a California judge late last month. It has been reported Wyatt was under the influence of psychedelic drugs when he allegedly cut the heart out of his victim's chest, cut off the tongue and removed a majority of the face. That victim was his sparring partner.Wyatt's professional record is listed at 1-0. Translation: It appears Wyatt has more Hannibal Lecter in him than any traits of an MMA champion.MMA trainer Shawn Tompkins is irked by the insulting connections made to MMA."It's ridiculous, though, when the sport is shown in a negative way because of the actions of a few guys not known by anyone," said Tompkins, a trainer at TapouT Training Center in Las Vegas who has worked with all levels of fighters. "Just because you're wearing MMA gloves and hitting a bag doesn't make you a fighter."Good for Graney. He's one of the only sports columnists in the country who gives MMA a fair shake. He went ga-ga the next day after covering UFC 116. The Brock Lesnar-Shane Carwin main event and the guts shown by both Chris Leben and Stephan Bonnar had him stoked. Now if he and Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel could only get through to the rest of the 50-plus crowd that controls the columns around the country, the sport could take that final step into the mainstream. mma training
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Yahoo MMA's Meltzer: Brock Lesnar's UFC 87 fight his last chance? Not a chance!
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Out of all the Yahoo! Sports MMA section newly minted MMA "experts" I always considered Dave Meltzer to be the best out of the bunch as he's been around MMA for a while longer than the rest. Most of the time, if I have time, I usually just quickly scan over their MMA coverage as they're often pretty bland and biased and plain bad...cough...Kevin Iole anyone?...cough...cough.
So when Dave Meltzer's Lesnar faces must-win against Herring article showed up on Yahoo.com's front page today I had to check it out. After quickly looking at it I felt compelled to comment on some of the points and errors in his article.
"Lesnar can’t afford a second straight loss on a major pay-per-view event and still be considered a long-term main eventer."
First of all, Brock Lesnar hasn't been a main eventer in UFC yet. His UFC debut fight with Frank Mir felt like one though because of how much popularity he brought to the UFC from his WWE days and stellar NCAA background to go with that. He can very much afford a second straight loss on a major PPV event also because he, in my opinion, lived up to the hype of being incredibly athletic and fast for his size and most importantly that he put in some hard training and looked very very good for being so inexperienced in MMA. He handily beat on Frank Mir but got caught by a much experienced fighter in a possibly debilitating, however not quite there, submission and didn't want to risk a long term injury. He only made more MMA fans with his loss and created more hype and anticipation as to what he can really do in MMA. He is also a natural competitor and it will be very hard for anyone to turn a fight with him into a boring affair. So he can afford 3-4 more exciting losses with no problem for his UFC popularity at all. But that's not going to happen, he is not losing at UFC 87 - not to the sloppy Heath Herring.
Meltzer then proceeds to comment on the fact that because Brock Lesnar came in at a higher salary of guaranteed $250,000 a fight another loss could really ruin his UFC career.
"The others have been given lower or mid-level opponents to start out with to build their reputation. UFC decided that with what they were paying Lesnar, there was going to be no such slow grooming process."
Honestly? With how many PPV buys Brock Lesnar brought in with his first fight, $250,000 a fight is nothing to UFC at this point for a celebrity of sorts. They'd need not even 6000 extra PPV buys to recoup that salary. He brought in quite a bit more than that. Come on, they just got done paying Brandon Vera nearly the same for one of the worst fights this year against a mostly unknown wrestler.
"Texan Herring has 41 pro fights over the past 11 years, in nearly every major organization. He became a star in Japan at the age of 22, and has been in the ring with a Who’s Who list of the greatest heavyweights of all-time."
"Herring, a big star during PRIDE’s heyday in Japan when he was known as “The Texas Crazy Horse” for his unique multi-colored hair, noted he’s beaten men bigger than the 6-2 ½, 277-pound Lesnar, as well as higher credentialed wrestlers. He’s best known for a 2000 win over Tom Erikson"
"Herring (28-13), is known for being difficult to finish; he went the distance twice with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in their three meetings, after being submitted the first time. But he was beaten by his most famous opponents in Japan, by Cro Cop from strikes on the ground, and by Fedor Emelianenko due to blood."
Brock Lesnar isn't in much danger facing THIS Heath Herring. Yep. The same Heath Herring who showed his true skills against Jake O'Brian, who couldn't finish Brad Imes (where is he now anyways? Still doing gogo-platas at some tiny shows?), who questionably beat Cheick Kongo. 41 pro fights in the past 11 years and he never amounted to anything in nearly every major organization, besides amuzing Japanese fans with his stupid hair cuts. His supposed wildness or crazyness only amounts to the fact that in 11 years of fighting and training here and there, he still looks as sloppy and amateurish as he did during his "wild days" of wearing leather cloaks for his fight entrances. Lesnar will retire Herring from UFC by beating him in the first round.
Why is Meltzer talking a loss for Lesnar when he's fighting Herring? Herring hasn't submitted anyone in 5 years, let alone anybody good ever. Sorry comparing his wins over wrestlers 7 years ago doesn't make much sense. He hasn't KO'd anybody in 2 years. What he has done is get dominated on the ground by a ground game newbie Cheik Kongo and got completely tooled by a much smaller Jake O'Brian. Given all that and an enormous amount of sloppyness, Brock Lesnar's chances to lose are minimal.
Also, Nogueira submitted Herring in his second fight not first and what does "by Fedor Emelianenko due to blood" mean? I share Fightlinker's sentiments in how sad it is that Yahoo's Sports MMA has some of the biggest audience out there, especially when they often get to the front page, but their MMA coverage is being done either by very inept people with not much clue about MMA and the fact that they're very biased and often inaccurate.
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Out of all the Yahoo! Sports MMA section newly minted MMA "experts" I always considered Dave Meltzer to be the best out of the bunch as he's been around MMA for a while longer than the rest. Most of the time, if I have time, I usually just quickly scan over their MMA coverage as they're often pretty bland and biased and plain bad...cough...Kevin Iole anyone?...cough...cough.
So when Dave Meltzer's Lesnar faces must-win against Herring article showed up on Yahoo.com's front page today I had to check it out. After quickly looking at it I felt compelled to comment on some of the points and errors in his article.
"Lesnar can’t afford a second straight loss on a major pay-per-view event and still be considered a long-term main eventer."
First of all, Brock Lesnar hasn't been a main eventer in UFC yet. His UFC debut fight with Frank Mir felt like one though because of how much popularity he brought to the UFC from his WWE days and stellar NCAA background to go with that. He can very much afford a second straight loss on a major PPV event also because he, in my opinion, lived up to the hype of being incredibly athletic and fast for his size and most importantly that he put in some hard training and looked very very good for being so inexperienced in MMA. He handily beat on Frank Mir but got caught by a much experienced fighter in a possibly debilitating, however not quite there, submission and didn't want to risk a long term injury. He only made more MMA fans with his loss and created more hype and anticipation as to what he can really do in MMA. He is also a natural competitor and it will be very hard for anyone to turn a fight with him into a boring affair. So he can afford 3-4 more exciting losses with no problem for his UFC popularity at all. But that's not going to happen, he is not losing at UFC 87 - not to the sloppy Heath Herring.
Meltzer then proceeds to comment on the fact that because Brock Lesnar came in at a higher salary of guaranteed $250,000 a fight another loss could really ruin his UFC career.
"The others have been given lower or mid-level opponents to start out with to build their reputation. UFC decided that with what they were paying Lesnar, there was going to be no such slow grooming process."
Honestly? With how many PPV buys Brock Lesnar brought in with his first fight, $250,000 a fight is nothing to UFC at this point for a celebrity of sorts. They'd need not even 6000 extra PPV buys to recoup that salary. He brought in quite a bit more than that. Come on, they just got done paying Brandon Vera nearly the same for one of the worst fights this year against a mostly unknown wrestler.
"Texan Herring has 41 pro fights over the past 11 years, in nearly every major organization. He became a star in Japan at the age of 22, and has been in the ring with a Who’s Who list of the greatest heavyweights of all-time."
"Herring, a big star during PRIDE’s heyday in Japan when he was known as “The Texas Crazy Horse” for his unique multi-colored hair, noted he’s beaten men bigger than the 6-2 ½, 277-pound Lesnar, as well as higher credentialed wrestlers. He’s best known for a 2000 win over Tom Erikson"
"Herring (28-13), is known for being difficult to finish; he went the distance twice with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in their three meetings, after being submitted the first time. But he was beaten by his most famous opponents in Japan, by Cro Cop from strikes on the ground, and by Fedor Emelianenko due to blood."
Brock Lesnar isn't in much danger facing THIS Heath Herring. Yep. The same Heath Herring who showed his true skills against Jake O'Brian, who couldn't finish Brad Imes (where is he now anyways? Still doing gogo-platas at some tiny shows?), who questionably beat Cheick Kongo. 41 pro fights in the past 11 years and he never amounted to anything in nearly every major organization, besides amuzing Japanese fans with his stupid hair cuts. His supposed wildness or crazyness only amounts to the fact that in 11 years of fighting and training here and there, he still looks as sloppy and amateurish as he did during his "wild days" of wearing leather cloaks for his fight entrances. Lesnar will retire Herring from UFC by beating him in the first round.
Why is Meltzer talking a loss for Lesnar when he's fighting Herring? Herring hasn't submitted anyone in 5 years, let alone anybody good ever. Sorry comparing his wins over wrestlers 7 years ago doesn't make much sense. He hasn't KO'd anybody in 2 years. What he has done is get dominated on the ground by a ground game newbie Cheik Kongo and got completely tooled by a much smaller Jake O'Brian. Given all that and an enormous amount of sloppyness, Brock Lesnar's chances to lose are minimal.
Also, Nogueira submitted Herring in his second fight not first and what does "by Fedor Emelianenko due to blood" mean? I share Fightlinker's sentiments in how sad it is that Yahoo's Sports MMA has some of the biggest audience out there, especially when they often get to the front page, but their MMA coverage is being done either by very inept people with not much clue about MMA and the fact that they're very biased and often inaccurate.
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Sunday, 25 July 2010
UFC 111 Fighter Bonus and Salaries/Payouts
UFC 111 Fighter Bonuses
Knockout of the Night – Shane Carwin – $65,000
Submission of the Night – Kurt Pellegrino – $65,000
Fight of the Night – Hamman and Wallace – $65,000 each
UFC 111 Fighter Salaries/Payouts
From the Nick Lembo at the NJ State Athletic Commission:
We do not release fighter purse info. for any event.
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Knockout of the Night – Shane Carwin – $65,000
Submission of the Night – Kurt Pellegrino – $65,000
Fight of the Night – Hamman and Wallace – $65,000 each
UFC 111 Fighter Salaries/Payouts
From the Nick Lembo at the NJ State Athletic Commission:
We do not release fighter purse info. for any event.
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"The Sunday Junkie" deadline reminder, win a free Fighters Only subscription!
As a reminder, submissions for the upcoming edition of "The Sunday Junkie" are due Sunday at 10 a.m. ET.
All topics - including tonight's Strikeforce Challengers 9 event, the rash of recent UFC bookings, and the newly announced UFC 119 and UFC 120 events - are open for
discussion. The person who sends in the submission we deem the best -
based on timeliness of subject, clarity and overall persuasiveness -
will be invited onto MMAjunkie.com Radio to discuss the topic.
Each winner will also receive a free year's subscription to Fighters Only, the world's leading MMA and lifestyle magazine!
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All topics - including tonight's Strikeforce Challengers 9 event, the rash of recent UFC bookings, and the newly announced UFC 119 and UFC 120 events - are open for
discussion. The person who sends in the submission we deem the best -
based on timeliness of subject, clarity and overall persuasiveness -
will be invited onto MMAjunkie.com Radio to discuss the topic.
Each winner will also receive a free year's subscription to Fighters Only, the world's leading MMA and lifestyle magazine!
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Josh Barnett plans to violate Geronimo dos Santos in Australia
Josh Barnett is fighting Brazilian heavyweight Geronimo dos Santos at the newly minted Impact Fighting Championships in Australia this weekend. Skip to the 1:20 mark of this interview to hear Barnett say that he is going to "anally rape" dos Santos if possible. Josh Barnett is a smart guy. Though he has made some stupid mistakes, he generally carries himself as an intelligent man. He definitely seems way too intelligent to resort to making comments about sexual violence to make people want to see him fight. But with language like that used to describe a legal prizefight, is it any wonder that 67 percent of New Yorkers don't want our sport in their state?mma fight
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Coker looking at best matchup for the fans, Fedor v. Overeem
Scott Coker and Showtime can't win for trying. The Strikeforce CEO seems to have everything backfire on him. First it was Jake Shields downing prize free-agent Dan Henderson and grabbing the Strikeforce middleweight title. Now Shields is off to the UFC as a free agent. Next up was Fabricio Werdum pulling the upset on Fedor Emelianenko. Instead of the fight drawing a huge audience in primetime on CBS, the broadcast was on Showtime. Worst yet, it's ruined the drive for the fight everyone wants to see, Fedor against Alistair Overeem. Or has it? Coker is starting to show a "screw it" attitude when it comes to Fedor's final fight with the promotion. It sounds like he's ready for a fight against Fedor's management team with M-1. They immediately asked for a rematch against Werdum. Meanwhile Coker told Sherdog Radio, not so fast my friends, and sounds like he's ready for a fight.Coker told the Sherdog's "Beatdown" show:"We just saw Fedor fight Werdum. I’m not saying we couldn’t do the rematch first. I’m just saying there are a couple of options on the table and the other option would be to fight Alistair … but until we sit down with M-1, these are all just the options … For me, the times have changed and it’s going to be an interesting negotiation now." Coker reiterated his interest in pushing Fedor in a different direction. "My feeling is maybe Fedor should fight Alistair Overeem and whoever wins that fight gets to fight Fabricio Werdum. Alistair vs. Fedor? I’d love to see that fight happen."It's a brilliant idea. Make the fight the fans want to see and maximize your audience before Fedor leaves the promotion. Other bloggers aren't so keen on Werdum being left out in the cold. A nameless post on Cage Potato flipped out on Coker.Look genius, everybody would like to see Fedor vs. Overeem happen, but unless you want your titles to lose all significance and your matchmaking to devolve into utter chaos, you probably shouldn't have Fedor challenge for Overeem's belt after getting subbed in 69 seconds. The Strikeforce titles will lose their significance? With the majority of fight fans, do they have any now? Casual fans, the ones you need to pull in a gigantic audience in Fedor's final fight with the promotion, care about these belts? You know the answer. Nothing against the fine folks with Strikeforce, but their belts are viewed no differently than the WBC, IBF, WBA, etc. in boxing. Quick! Name what belt Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will fight for if their fight goes down on Nov. 13? Exactly. No one cares. We just want to see the best fight the best. Congrats to Werdum for pulling off the upset of the century. It's the fight business, money drives the whole thing. Coker, put together Fedor vs. Overeem and we'll all be there. The folks upset that it's "not right" can boycott. I'll put my feet up on your empty cageside seat. Thanks.mma training
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