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Evans on Jones: “If pushed, he will quit. I see his heart.”

Tim — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:18:52 +0000

As former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans prepares for his upcoming main event fight against Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2, it’s clear he still has his sights firmly set on the man currently holding the title, Jon Jones.

There has been no love lost between the two former teammates, and on a Chicago radio appearance Tuesday night on WSCR 670 AM, Evans reacted with some of his strongest words to date about “Bones.”

After host Laurence Holmes brought up Jones’ recent quote about Evans having no chin, Evans responded:

You know he’s just a young dude that thinks he can whup me, but he knows what happened in training, he knows what happened, and obviously he’s not trying…he’s not in any hurry to fight me or it would have happened already.

After being pressed by Holmes to expand on what took place in their training together, Evans continued:

There was a couple times where, you know, I was able to pretty much just do what I want. He was my little brother, you know? Sometimes he was my son. He was underneath me. And that’s the truth of the matter. One time we were training and he begged me to get up off of him and stop smashing him up because he couldn’t get up…And I told him at the time I said “If you quit now, you’re going to quit in a fight,” and I made him work his way back up…That’s his heart. If pushed, he will quit. And I know how to make him quit and he knows that. I see his heart.

Holmes asked Evans if he’d look forward to a title fight with Jones if he can defeat Davis.

Yeah, I would love it, I would love it because I would love nothing more than to put him in his place, and just let him know that [he] didn’t respect the process of how things should be done. He’s very disrespectful so he needs to learn from it

The entire interview with Evans on 670AM the Score in Chicago can be found here in hour three of the podcast.

UFC and Fox Agree to Multi-Year TV Deal

Tim — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:45:04 +0000

UFC president Dana White often promises “huge announcements” that don’t always deliver. This time however, the announcement was monumental. Fox has agreed to terms with the UFC on a seven-year televison deal, putting the world’s number one MMA promotion on a network known for broadcasting big events.

The deal is said to be at a minimum of $90 million per year, though Fox has hinted that the figure is actually higher.

The deal includes four “major” shows per year on Fox, with six additional live shows on FX. Additionally, The Ultimate Fighter will feature live fights on Friday nights, instead of the traditional tape delayed fights the program normally shows. Other programming such as the UFC Unleashed series as well as UFC Countdown shows will also air on FX as well as Fuel TV.

The first event of the partnership will take place on November 12th. While future shows will feature a full 4-5 televised fights, this show will only last one hour and will feature two televised fights. A full undercard will take place and likely will be streamed on Facebook. No main event has been announced for this card.

A large amount of promotion for the following week’s UFC 139, which features Cain Velasquez defending his heavyweight championship against Junior Dos Santos, will likely take place.

The first UFC on Fox event will take place on the same night as Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, but the two shows will not go head-to-head. The UFC has stated that they will be off the air before the boxing main event begins.

The landmark deal will also enable the UFC to maintain most of the control on their programming, something that has always been a sticking point in negotiations with networks. White believes that this will give the company an opportunity to freshen up all aspects of the broadcast.

I look at this Fox deal as a fresh start for us, so I want to change everything. I want to change the look of the pay-per-view, graphics, show openings on our Fight Nights.

White stated that this deal is what he and the UFC have always wanted, a chance to be on a network with other big events and a mainstream appeal:

This was what I always wanted. This is what I always felt was the pinnacle for us here in the United States, to get a deal with Fox. Not just to be on the No. 1 network in the country but to be on a network with all the other real big sports.

It may have taken a while to get there, but White and Zuffa have finally reached that pinnacle.

Zuffa Buys Strikeforce

Tim — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 01:30:18 +0000

Generally, Saturday is not a huge news day in the MMA community. Yesterday was definitely the exception, as we learned that Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the UFC, purchased the number two MMA promotion, Strikeforce.

UFC president Dana White announced the news in a video interview with MMAfighting.com’s Ariel Helwani. Although it appears many of the details need to be ironed out, White confirmed that the two organizations would be operated separately, at least for the time being. White said that Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker would continue to run Strikeforce, and that there would be no cross-promotional fights initially, although he clearly left the door open to that happening in the future.

Although there are still many questions left to be answered, this seems to be a win-win for MMA fans. They have the number two promotion in the world now being run by the most successful promotion in MMA, and the possibility of mega-fights between Alistair Overeem and Cain Velasquez, or Gilbert Melendez and Frankie Edgar is closer than ever.

However, the affect on fighters could be a different story. Several of the fighters on the Strikeforce roster have a poor relationship with Dana White and the UFC, including welterweight contender Paul Daley, heavyweight GP participant Josh Barnett, and the former number one heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. How these fighters and others fit into the long-term Zuffa plan remains to be seen.

Most in the MMA community eventually expect the UFC to shut down Strikeforce once the TV deal with Showtime expires. Then, they could take the fighters that have fulfilled their contracts with Strikeforce and sign them to deals with Zuffa Inc., and dump some of the fighters they don’t want. The expanded roster and staff would allow the UFC to dramatically increase the number of shows they hold on a yearly basis, perhaps holding one show per week as White had mentioned previously.

It should be noted that when the UFC initally purchased PRIDE in 2007, White insisted that the two promotions would be run separately, but that plan was quickly nixed. The WEC was run separately after it was purchased by the UFC in 2006, but was dissolved into the UFC earlier this year.

More details should emerge from a press conference scheduled for Monday, and hopefully we’ll get further answers on what the future holds for both organizations. However, one thing is clear. With the purchase of Strikeforce, Zuffa Inc. and Dana White now control the majortiy of the North American MMA landscape.

UFC Does Big Business in February

Tim — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:57:02 +0000

The month of February has proven to be a box office bonanza for the UFC. February 5th’s UFC 126 drew a gate of $3,605,725 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. This was up sharply from the gate for UFC 125, which was $2.17 million.

Also last week, the UFC announced that April’s UFC 129 was a complete sell-out. The event, which will take place at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, will be the first for the UFC in the city. Originally set for a configuration of 42,000 seats, the UFC added 13,000 additional seats when the first allotment sold out so quickly. Preliminary estimates peg the gate figure at nearly $11 million, which will blow away the previous gate record for a UFC event of $5.4 million from UFC 66. UFC 129 features one of Canada’s most popular athletes, Georges St. Pierre, in the main event as he defends his welterweight title against Jake Shields.

UFC President Dana White estimates that the event could bring $40 million in revenue for the city of Toronto. These figures will be followed closely by both sides of the ongoing battle to get MMA sanctioned in New York. While White has often maintained that an event in New York City would bring huge revenues to the city, opponents of the fight believe this is not the case. If UFC 129 does indeed draw the revenue that White believes it will, it will give solid financial evidence that sanctioning MMA in New York could indeed bring a financial windfall to the city and the state.

Finally, White stated today that over 17,000 tickets have been sold for UFC 127, set to take place in Sydney, Australia on February 26th. He also said that they’ve added seats in the venue since UFC 110, the last time they held an event there. UFC 110 drew an estimated $2.5 million gate.

It’s clear that February has been a great month for UFC business, and if the UFC 126 Pay-Per-View numbers come in strong as expected, it could turn out even better.

Chael Sonnen Suspended for 1 Year After Positive Drug Test

Tim — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 04:06:04 +0000

UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has been suspended for one year by the California State Atlhletic Commission for testing positive for steroids after his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 117. Sonnen has 30 days to appeal the decision. Here is part of the press release from the CSAC:

The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) has suspended the license of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Chael Sonnen, after Sonnen tested positive for steroids, a banned substance.

A sample from Sonnen’s August 6 drug test came back with a high T/E (testosterone-to-estrogen) level, which is indicative of anabolic steroid use. CSAC learned of the results September 2 and ordered a second test, which also came back positive for steroid use. CSAC received test results from the second sample on September 14 and suspended Sonnen two days later. He is suspended for one year. Sonnen has 30 days to appeal the decision.

Sonnen and Silva engaged in a memorable battle at UFC 117 in August, with Sonnen controlling the first four rounds before being submitted by Silva halfway through the fifth round. Sonnen was ahead on all three scorecards, and was set to take home a unanimous decision victory and the UFC middleweight championship prior to getting caught in the final round.

The two were preliminarily scheduled for a high profile rematch in early 2011, but this suspension has shelved those plans. Vitor Belfort will now get the next shot at Silva, while Nate Marquardt will replace Belfort against Yushin Okami in the main event of UFC 122.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Josh Gross, CSAC executive director George Dodd said that Sonnen told him the day before the fight during drug testing that he used “an illegal performance enhancing drug” during training. However, Sonnen didn’t include the information on the pre-fight medical questionnaire or submit documentation about the drug he took.

Sonnen is expected to discuss the situation on ESPN 2’s MMA Live, which airs at midnight on Thursday.

Penn vs. Hughes III Scheduled for UFC 123

Tim — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:40:03 +0000

After dropping his second consecutive decision to Frankie Edgar at UFC 118, B.J. Penn decided to take a fight in the welterweight division. His opponent will likely be a familiar one, as according to various reports, Matt Hughes will take on Penn at UFC 123 in November. This will be the third fight between the two legends, and will serve as the rubber match as each fighter has one win apiece.

Hughes impressively stopped Ricardo Almeida in the first round of their contest at UFC 117. After the fight, he indicated that he planned to take the Fall and Winter months off, but apparently, a third fight against Penn was too tempting to pass up.

Penn dropped a shocking decision to Frankie Edgar at UFC 112, losing the lightweight title he had held for over two years. He was the heavy favorite heading into the rematch at UFC 118, but was dominated by Edgar en route to a unanimous decision loss.

Hughes and Penn first faced off at UFC 46, with Penn choking out Hughes in the first round to win the welterweight title. The rematch took place at UFC 63, as Hughes stepped in for an injured Georges St. Pierre. Hughes won via TKO in the 3rd round to win back his welterweight title. Penn dominated much of the first two rounds of that fight, but tired in the 3rd as Hughes took control. Penn claimed a rib injury suffered late in the 2nd round contributed to the defeat.

UFC 123 is expected to take place in Detroit, Michigan on November 20th. Though not officially signed, the rumored main event is a light heavyweight fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

UFC Heavyweight Shane Carwin Linked to Convicted Pharmacist in Steroid Case

Tim — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:52:23 +0000

According to a report on Alabama Live, former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin was a recipient of steroids from supervising pharmacist J. Michael Bennett, who was sentenced Friday to a four-year prison term after being convicted of “participating in a nationwide conspiracy to illegally sell anabolic steroids.”

From the report:

Prosecutors referred to Bennett, 44, and the others in a sentencing memorandum as a “drug dealers in lab coats.” They contended that Bennett played a key role in an enterprise involving rogue doctors and health clinics across the country who used the compounding pharmacy to supply healthy adults with dangerous steroids.

Some of those substances were veterinary drugs approved only for use in livestock.

“These are steroids for horses and cows, not for young people and humans,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Dobbins said.

According to court records, Applied Pharmacy Services shipped 762,388 dosages to 17 doctors and clinics from April 4, 2004, until Aug. 30, 2006. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Mobile contends that does not include many other doctors and clinics that they say participated in the conspiracy.

Those performance-enhancing drugs ended up in the hands of users ranging from professional athletes to teenagers looking to build body mass. Prosecutors cited 22 professional athletes who obtained steroids from Applied Pharmacy Services during the time Bennett worked there.

Carwin was among seven athletes who Dobbins named in court as being recpients of steroids with Bennett’s signature. Other athletes named include professional wrestler Kurt Angle as well as former WWE wrestler Bob Howard, a.k.a. Bob Holly.

According to this chart from the sentencing memorandum, a “professional fighter” with the initials “S.C.” received “Trenbolone, Testosterone, Stanozolol injectable, and nandrolone” between January and August 2006.

Carwin has not yet commented on the story, but is expected to issue a statement later today.

Strikeforce Champ Shields Near Deal With UFC

Tim — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:43:06 +0000

Current Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields is close to finalizing a deal with the UFC according to various reports. Shields has been in negotiations with the UFC since his last title defense in April against Dan Henderson.

UFC president Dana White has not hidden his desire to get Shields into his promotion, mouthing “He’s mine” while sitting next to Shields at the WEC 48 pay-per-view. Strikeforce initally expressed hope that Shields would resign with the organization, but sensing the inevitable, they released Shields from his contract on June 30th, leaving the UFC as Shields’ only suitor.

While he was the Strikeforce middleweight champion, Shields is a natural welterweight. He took fights at middleweight in Strikeforce because there weren’t many matchups for him at welterweight. He is expected to compete in the welterweight division in the UFC, and many reports indicate that the UFC is planning a fight between Shields and welterweight contender Martin Kampmann. Kampmann is 4-1 in his past five fights, with the only loss coming to Paul Daley at UFC 103.

Shields is 25-4-1 in his MMA career, and has notable victories over Henderson, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, Carlos Condit and Yushin Okami. Shields has won his past 14 fights, and would instantly become a top challenger to Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title. The 31-year old Shields holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from Cesar Gracie, and also boasts a strong amateur wrestling background.

In his last contest against Dan Henderson, Shields came back from being rocked in the first round to dominate the fight en route to a unanimous decision victory over the former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion. After the fight, Shields and “Mayhem” Miller got into a shouting match which led to the brawl between Miller, Shields and his teammates at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu which was captured live on CBS television.

Lesnar vs. Velasquez Slated for UFC 121 in Anaheim

Tim — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:35:42 +0000

After UFC president Dana White shot down rumors that UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar would next defend his title against Cain Velasquez at UFC 119 in Indianapolis, many wondered when the fight would take place. That speculation can end as White confirmed that Lesnar will face Velasquez at UFC 121 in Anaheim this October.

Lesnar and his wife are expecting their second child soon, and he was hesitant to jump right back into another training camp so quickly. The scheduled October fight will give the champion some time off with his family before he has to start another training camp.

The UFC was anxious to get the Lesnar/Velasquez fight signed due to the layoff that Velasquez has already had. He last fought at UFC 110 in February, where he was very impressive in stopping former champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the 1st round via TKO. The win improved Velasquez’s record to 8-0, including a 6-0 run to begin his UFC career.

The Lesnar/Velasquez fight is an interesting contest on paper. Velasquez was an excellent wrestler at Arizona State, and was named an All-American after both his Junior and Senior seasons. He also has shown progressive improvements in his striking game, battering both Ben Rothwell and Nogueira in his last two outings. His conditioning was tested in a three-round unanimous decision win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 99, so he probably won’t gas out as quickly as Shane Carwin did.

Another difference between Velasquez and Carwin is their size. Whereas Carwin was almost as big as Lesnar when the two fought, Velasquez will come into the fight at a 20-25 lb disadvantage. He was asked about trying to get a little bigger before the Lesnar fight, but Velasquez maintains that his normal weight of 240-245 is his optimal fighting weight, and that he’s not concerned about a size differential in the title fight.

UFC 121 is scheduled to take place on October 23rd in Anaheim, CA.

Mir/Nogueira II To Headline UFC 119

Tim — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:12:00 +0000

The UFC has confirmed that a rematch between heavyweights Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will headline UFC 119, scheduled to take place in Indianapolis, Indiana in September.

The two previously clashed at UFC 92 in December of 2008, where Mir shocked many by battering Nogueira over two rounds before getting the TKO victory. After the fight, Nogueira revealed he had been battling a nasty staph infection prior to the contest, and while showing respect to Mir for the victory, made it known that he would like a rematch down the line. It finally comes in late September.

It will be interesting to see how Mir comes into this contest. After his loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 100, Mir decided that he needed to add bulk to compete with the bigger heavyweights. After weighing close to 245 for his fight with Nogueira, Mir came into recent fights against Cheick Kongo and Shane Carwin at close to 265 pounds. Despite the added bulk, Mir still looked noticably smaller than Carwin prior to the fight, and Carwin was able to use his superior strength to hold Mir against the cage while delivering punishing blows. Mir has said recently that he will likely try to shed most of the muscle mass he added in the past year, and will likely try to get back to around 245 pounds.

This fight is a must-win for both fighters to remain relevant in the UFC’s heavyweight division. Even the winner will have a hard time getting back in line for a title shot, but for the loser, the chance may never come around again.

In the co-main event of the evening, Nogueira’s twin brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, will face off against Ryan Bader in a light heavyweight contest. Rogerio is coming off a surprisingly difficult split-decision win over Jason Brilz at UFC 114 in May. Bader is an impressive 11-0 in his career, and is 4-0 in the UFC. He most recently beat Keith Jardine via KO at UFC 110 in February. The winner of this contest will be in prime position for a future title shot.