“I was expecting a bigger fight. I think the fans were expecting a bigger fight. I got pressed into it, and all of a sudden, it’s all over the Internet that Tito Ortiz won’t fight Machida. I’m just looking to get my final fight over with the UFC…. They said I wasn’t worth the money. I was worth no more than what I’m getting paid now, and I’m not a commodity to them anymore. I’m not as viable to them anymore. That was a sign of disrespect…. With [UFC President Dana White] in charge, I don’t think that fight will ever happen for me,” said Ortiz. “Dana has bad blood for me and nothing but bad blood…. UFC is caring so much about the brand itself. They could care less about the fighters. Fighters are a dime a dozen. They’ll keep coming. Dana is really out for himself and the company. He doesn’t give a shit about the fighters. They’re going to try and ruin me.”
– Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz confirms via FightNetwork.com that he will fight undefeated contender, Lyoto Machida, most likely at UFC 85 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 25. It’s the last fight on his current deal. And it appears that it could be his last fight inside the Octagon based on his heated remarks in this article. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has gone on record that he will only negotiate with the Fertittas because he doesn’t get along with Dana. So much for taking it right to the top … the brass appears to be towing the same hard line. No financial terms were revealed regarding how much Tito was asking to renew his contract.
EliteXC: “Street Certified” at the BankUnited Center at the University of Miami on February 16 in Miami, Fla., featuring the main event fight between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott, just got a bit more interesting.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco “Suave” Rodriguez (27-7) will take on Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (9-1), according to ProElite.com, in a match up that could decide the best heavyweight in the EliteXC organization.
Silva — who is also the Cage Rage heavyweight champion — most recently defeated Jonathan Wiezorek via rear naked choke in the first round. He has been real impressive throughout his Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) career, ending all nine of his fights in the first round. His lone loss was a questionable stoppage to Eric Pele in a Bodog event in December 2006.
EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw is high on the Brazilian, going as far to say recently that he is the best in the world.
Here’s the snip:
“I believe Silva is the No. 1 heavyweight in the world. If there is a UFC heavyweight or, for that matter, any heavyweight out there that feels they are the best then lets make a match. We can do the fight in an Octagon, in the EliteXC cage or any venue. I truly believe ‘Big Foot’ will kick any heavyweight’s butt and look forward to giving him the opportunity to do it.’’
That opportunity is one that a veteran fighter like Ricco Rodriguez has no problem stepping up to take. He has fought some of the biggest names in the MMA heavyweight world such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, Tim Sylvia, Jeff Monson, Andrei Arlovski and Randy Couture.
And he’s had success to some degree in most of those contests sans the knockout loss to Sylvia.
However, even though he just turned 30 years old there are a lot of miles on his odometer. He has struggled with his weight and substance abuse issues for the past few years. In fact, he will appear on VH-1’s “Celebrity Rehab” in the coming weeks.
The experience appears to have Rodriguez heading in the right direction, however. He recently put up a decent fight (on super short notice) against the IFL’s top heavyweight, Ben Rothwell, albeit in a losing effort at 2007 Team Championship Final. He rebounded from that defeat to pick up a technical knockout win over Kevin Filal less than three months later.
Regardless, this is definitely a great opportunity for Rodriguez and a fight in which he will not be intimidated. It’s also a great chance for Silva to get a win over a notable “big” name opponent.
Polish light heavyweight Tomasz Drwal has sustained a knee injury during training and will be unable to compete against David Heath at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” on February 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With the SuperBowl weekend pay-per-view (PPV) event just two weeks away, no middleweights are available to fill-in on such short notice. Therefore, the show will go on with just eight fights.
“A knee injury has forced light heavyweight Tomasz Drwal to withdraw from his February 2nd bout with David Heath on the UFC 81 card in Las Vegas. No replacement will be made for this fight, and UFC 81, which is headlined by the interim UFC heavyweight title fight between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira, and the UFC debut of Brock Lesnar against Frank Mir, will carry on with eight bouts.”
Drwal dropped his Octagon debut to Thiago Silva at UFC 75: “Champion vs. Champion” via technical knockout in a spirited effort back in September 2006.
It’s too bad the “Gorilla” is on the sidelines — he’s got a lot of talent and heart, which would have made for a nice undercard match up.
To check out the most recent UFC 81 fight card click here.
Tickets for UFC Fight Night 13 on April 2 at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado, go on sale this week.
It’s the first show to hit the “Centennial State” in 14 years.
And the card looks to already be stacked with some solid match ups, including the main event between lightweights (and Boston-area natives) Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon.
Here are all the particulars:
UFC Fight Club: Exclusive presale for members only begins on Sunday, January 20 at 12 p.m.
UFC Newsletter: Exclusive presale for subscribers only begins on Monday, January 21 at 12 p.m. ET.
General Sales: Seats are opened up to the masses on Wednesday, January 23 at 12 p.m. ET.
UFC Fight Night 13 tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com or StubHub.com (Note: StubHub often has seats available even if the event is “sold out.”)
There are other fantastic match ups slated for this card such as the welterweight bout between top contender Karo Parisyan and Thiago Alves (it’s not taking place at UFC 84.)
In addition, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) alums Matt Hamill and Stephan Bonnar will clash in a light heavyweight showdown during the SpikeTV special that begins at 8 p.m. ET.
For the rest of the rumored UFC Fight Night 13 fight card click here.
Many of you come home from an exhausting day at work only to find that you still need to train. Your motivation is low and your tired, you decide tomorrow will be a better day to train and take the night off. Tomorrow comes and the same thing happens you miss your workout. Here are some tips to help you survive those days so they don't become a habit and your overall downfall.
Train while watching TV an example of this would be during each commercial break do an ab routine or duck walk around the house as the commercials are on. While watching your shows lean up against a wall and go into a seated squat position and hold it for 2 minutes for starters performing 6 sets then increase your time by 30 seconds for future workouts. Training while zooming out on the TV is a great way to "temporary fix" low motivation episodes.
Written by admin on January 21st, 2008 with comments disabled.
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UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch hosted a party over the weekend up here in Toronto, Canada, for the UFC 80: “Rapid Fire” pay-per-view (PPV) event on Saturday afternoon.
Jon’s journey north was plagued with frustration because he was held up at San Jose, Calif., airport with frost on the wings of the plane. Apparently, the guy on salary whose job it is to de-ice the wings isn’t very busy down in California and was nowhere to be found.
Jon had some time to chalk it up to an experience and laughed it off when he came into the Diesel Playhouse in Toronto.
His girlfriend’s luck, however, was just a bit worse as her luggage failed to transfer with her into Toronto. Nonetheless, she was in good spirits with her arms full of shopping bags carrying a new weekend wardrobe.
Evidently she looked at this as an opportunity to do some shopping, whereas it would have ruined my weekend.
For an afternoon showing, there was a great turnout with approximately 230 fans coming out. ‘Showdown’ Joe Ferraro was the MC for the afternoon and kept the crowd pumped, showing the reason he is Canada’s leading MMA media personality.
Jon and Joe took to the stage between fights and had some question and answer periods where Jon tossed out some great advice to up-and-coming fighters.
In addition, Jon stated that because he’s had an opportunity to watch Matt Hughes and his fellow American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) member, Josh Koscheck, fight and lose to Georges St. Pierre that he has an upperhand at formulating a gameplan to beat him when the time presents itself.
Jon called out Karo Parisyan from the stage, but in the same breath gave “The Heat” the benefit of the doubt as to the reason the fight that most fans are clamoring to see didn’t happen.
There were some great giveaways provided by Staredown Fight Wear during the event as well.
Jon was a class act and signed autographs and took pictures with his fans, with many asking for the infamous ‘scowl’ for their photo opportunity.
While talking with Jon at the booth, we got on the subject of his last fight in Canada against Jeff ‘The Inferno’ Joslin at Freedom Fight 2005 in Quebec. I had spoken with Joslin only a week ago, and I had an opportunity to broach the subject with him as well.
For those who are unaware, this fight did end in controversy but both of these guys had only respect for each other. In fact, Jon admitted that that fight was the first ‘war’ he was ever in.
In addition, after Koscheck beat Joslin at the Air Force base in Miramar he called Jon and they were in agreement that Joslin was one tough guy.
Jon continued by saying that if Jeff would get healthy and get in the Octagon and rattle off a string of wins, he could see the two of them fighting for the title someday.
The next day Jon hosted a seminar at Ultimate Martial Arts in Toronto. Jon is obviously passionate about teaching what he has learned over the years. It’s part of the reason he’s so stoked about MMAInstructional.com.
He was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. and we had to basically cut him off an hour later. He focused on all points of the game, but zoned in on the importance of wrestling and the transitions and defensive positioning that a solid wrestling background provides.
About 30 eager up and coming Canadian fighters were there to take in what Jon was teaching. MMA Fight Gear Canada provided all of the students with a personalized autographed picture of Jon.
Jon was a fantastic guest, and we’re looking forward to having him back in the future. Jon left the seminar to head home just as a fresh blanket of snow began to cover everything. On that note, we may have him back when it’s a bit warmer next time.
Before leaving he was good enough to sit through one last interview. During this discussion he talked about the injury to Akihiro Gono, which has forced him out of an upcoming bout with Jon at UFC 82 on March 1.
We asked him about his thoughts on a replacement, including Marcus Davis. Not surprisingly, Fitch said he wouldn’t want the fight unless Davis would be at his best, saying seven weeks between fights could be not enough time for him to “decompress” and be in top form.
To check out the entire video interview click here.
Sean McManus is the Director of Media Relations for MMACanada.net. For more information on the MMA scene up in Canada check out MMACanada.net.
Randy Couture has resigned. Andrei Arlovski has one fight left on his current deal. Gabriel Gonzaga is a one-kick wonder. Mirko Cro Cop is lost. Brandon Vera just lost.
What’s all that mean?
It means that Fabricio Werdum — with his technical knockout of Gonzaga at UFC 80: “Rapid Fire” this weekend — perhaps locked up a title shot against the winner of the interim championship between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” on February 2.
Uh-huh — the same man who was berated for his lackluster losing performance against Arlovski at UFC 70: “Nations Collide” during his Octagon debut in April 2007.
What a difference one fight — and a wild set of circumstances — makes.
Make no mistake: Werdum is a top-ranked fighter. He is without question among the ten best in the sport in the weight class. It’s just odd that he perhaps has a chance at the crown with just two UFC fights to his credit (one of which he lost).
Furthermore, he’s not been heavily marketed nor do most casual fans even know he exists.
But again, it’s apparently slim pickins’ in a division that seemed to undergo a nice renaissance just about one year ago. The only other options include the winners of the bouts between Cheick Kongo-Heath Herring and Frank Mir-Brock Lesnar.
If Mir and Sylvia both win then that rematch seems to make the most sense — Mir broke Sylvia’s forearm in a fight for the championship in 2004. However, the likelihood of that happening is far from guaranteed.
With an impressive win Lesnar could be another option, but he’d get owned on the ground against a Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud like Nogueira. The UFC wouldn’t want to jeopardize his broad appeal, either. Lesnar can put butts in the seats if he racks up some wins.
Might as well cash-in while it’s possible.
The best option, however, is to line up Werdum against either the winner of the Cheick Kongo-Heath Herring or Frank Mir-Brock Lesnar fights to determine a number one contender.
Or just pray Couture accepts the fight instead (he will be offered it).
With a sensational win over Joe Stevenson at UFC 80: “Rapid Fire” this weekend to capture the vacant lightweight title, BJ Penn (12-4-1) punched his ticket to meet up with former divsion champion, Sean Sherk (32-2-1), most likely at UFC 85 on May 24 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC President Dana White confirmed the obvious match up during the post event press conference, according to MMAWeekly.com.
Sherk was sitting alongside announcers Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg during the main event this weekend in Newcastle, England. He became visibly agitated when after the fight Penn informed him and the crowd that he was a “dead man.”
In fact, Sherk entered the Octagon to get some camera time and was met with a chorus of boos and the chant of “steroids.”
That’s because Sherk was recently stripped of his belt after the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) detected elevated levels on Nandrolone (an illegal steroid) in his system following his win over Hermes Franca at UFC 73: “Stacked” in July.
He now has the first chance to dethrone the charismatic and super talented Hawaiian champion.
Penn looked in spectacular form against Stevenson and displayed impressive skills in all facets of the game. Clearly, he is the more well-rounded fighter.
Sherk, on the other hand, is incredibly strong, can fight for days, and has proven that if he can get the takedowns that he can control a fight.
He had Franca — an extremely experienced Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist — on his back for most of their fight. And Sherk did a solid job of defending submissions from that position.
Hopefully, the Penn-Sherk fight does not mirror the Sherk-Franca fight, however. While both fighters demonstrated great skill and technique, there is nothing quite like seeing a fight that takes place all over the Octagon.
Just ask the fans at the Metro Radio Arena — the up-and-down battle between Penn and Stevenson had them on their feet.
Now that’s a fight … take note Sean Sherk.
UFC 85 also features rumored bouts between light heavyweight contenders Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva, as well as a clash between Tito Ortiz and Lyoto Machida.
