With the UFC dropping fighters like bad bean pies and more roster cuts on the horizon, you can bet that there are more than a few guys in the Zuffa stable who are feeling pretty nervous right about now.
It used to be just the fighters who put on a supremely bad performance got cut from their contracts, but not so anymore. The UFC is trimming the fat, which means plenty of able bodies may be getting the old ‘let’s just be friends’ speech from the UFC. But how will you know if you’re about to be the next one on the bread line?
Being the helpful jerk that I am, I’ve come up with a handy list of warning signs that it may be time to start looking for a new job (I’m looking at you, Marvin Eastman). Somewhere there is a strip club that’s about to get an influx of bouncer applications.
1. Someone keeps leaving a book on conversational Japanese in your dressing room.
2. The UFC begins paying your fight purses in change, and your post-fight bonuses in cases of Xyience and 40 oz. bottles of Mickey’s.
3. Every time you try and call Dana White’s cell phone, he suspiciously “can’t talk right now†because he’s just about to hop in the shower.
4. They take away your parking space and give it to Diego Sanchez, while giving you Kalib Starnes’ old spot. When you complain about how it’s all the way at the other end of the lot, they tell you not to worry because it’s “only temporary.â€
5. When you show up to film your pre-fight shadow boxing montage, the crew doesn’t even bother to make it look like it’s raining.
6. Joe Silva schedules you for a fight with the new “Ultimate Fighter†winner. Before the current season is over.
7. Instead of giving you a Hummer after a victory, you get a bus ticket and a thermos of coffee.
8. When you pass “Rampage†Jackson’s trainer in the hallway and ask him how it’s going, he pats you on the shoulder and says, “Everything happens for a reason, son.â€
9. Dana White keeps talking up this night class on air conditioning repair down at the technical college, insisting that it “never hurts to learn a trade,†before leaving you with a pamphlet and a forty-dollar check made out to the Registrar’s office.
10. You’re a wrestler whose fights always go to a judges’ decision.
Our friend Ariel at MMARated did an audio interview with Travis Lutter shortly after he was cut by the UFC, and if you’re curious about where “The Serial Killer” goes from here you should give it a listen. Lutter still sounds a little dazed by his layoff — and bitter that he was cut while other two-time-losers like Kendall Grove are still in the mix — but there were some interesting revelations. For example:
— After his dismissal, Lutter e-mailed Dana White about the $36,000 that Xyience still owes him. That e-mail has not yet been returned.
— When he said that fans of MMA suck, he was specifically referring to the ones that send him hate mail; according to Travis, the only person who deserves that kind of hate mail is Osama Bin Laden. [ed. note: I know, right? If only we had his address!]
— Since his firing, he’s been called by the IFL and HDNet/Affliction; he’d love to fight Matt Lindland.
— Lutter still doesn’t know why he gassed against Rich Franklin. He also hasn’t watched the fight yet, because he doesn’t feel like it.
— He says “y’know” more than maybe anyone else in the world, ever.
If you’ve still got love for Lutter, listen to the interview at MMARated.com.
To be honest, Jardine is taller, but I don’t think he is stronger than Wanderlei. When a fighter is bigger, it doesn’t always mean that he is stronger. Wanderlei has good training partners and some excellent sparring, some of them even taller then Jardine. We have planned well…. Wanderlei is always searching for the best training, and by that he wants the best for me. So he said to me that I will always travel to places where I can learn something to add on to his training. I am very happy to have a boss like him. By that, I have the opportunity to grow as a sport scientist. Today, I am studying a new training called HIPOXIA, which consist in a few words in a hard training with low demand of oxygen. This kind of training is developed in other sports and I am bringing it to MMA. It’s a very hard type of training because the athlete must tolerate a huge quantity of lactic acid in the blood.
Rafael Alejarra — personal strength and conditioning trainer for UFC light heavyweight Wanderlei Silva — talks about the preparation of his fighter for the fight against Keith Jardine at UFC 84: “Ill Will” on May 24. “The Axe Murderer” was first seen doing the odd-looking snorkel training on “UFC All Access” prior to his UFC 79 showdown with Chuck Liddell. He lost that fight via unanimous decision, and afterwards, admitted that perhaps he spent too much time conditioning and not enough time sparring. Let’s hope that’s fixed this time around.
Former UFC star and current Elite XC lightweight, Nick Diaz (15-7), will travel overseas to take on Inoue Katsuya (16-5-3) during the DREAM 3 event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on May 11.
This latest announcement gives the fighters just about 10 days to prepare for the showdown; however there’s no telling how long both of them have known about the fight. In fact, Diaz was in talks to take on Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud Marcelo Garcia on this same card prior to this most recent news.
Diaz will look to rebound from his loss to KJ Noons for the vacant EliteXC lightweight title back in November 2007. It’s been a long strange trip back to action for him ever since — he had surgery on the scar tissue around his eyes to prevent cuts (he’s a bleeder) and the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) yanked him off a recent card at the last minute under very bizarre circumstances (centering mostly around his medical marijuana card).
He is slated to take on Muhsin Corbbrey during the EliteXC show in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 14.
Inoue is a Japanese fighter who has spent most of his time competing in the Pancrase organization. In more than 20 professional bouts he has never submitted an opponent or been submitted himself. That could all change; however, if Diaz decides to leverage his strengths.
Sometimes he just doesn’t do that.
DREAM 3 will feature the second round of the 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix tournament, as well as the return of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Should be a nice card. DREAM 3 will air LIVE on the HDNet network at 3 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 11.
Two more fights were recently added to the under card portion of Elite XC’s “Saturday Night Fights” at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on May 31, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com.
In a 140-pound scrap, Philadelphia Fight Factory standout Zach Makovsky (3-1) will take on American Top Team product Andres “Gigetto” Soares (5-1).
Makovsky was choked out January 25 at the ShoXC Challenger Series event in Atlantic City, N.J., by Wilson Reis — a world class Brazilian jiu-jitsu player. Before losing that fight, Makovsky had won three tough decisions to start his MMA career.
He is a former Division I collegiate wrestler from Drexel University where he was victorious 72 times — good enough for 18th on the all time Drexel win list.
The Brazilian-born Soares trains with some of the best fighters in the world at American Top Team. He is always ready to fight and brings and aggressive submission style attack to the cage. “Gigetto” is on a four fight win streak … all first round submissions, including a win only two weeks ago over Jason Spearman at Battle Cage Extreme 4.
Also added to the card is a lightweight showdown between two winless, yet talented fighters. Mike Groves (0-1) — also a Philadelphia Fight Factory trainee — will take on Joe Sampieri (0-2) — a Muay Thai specialist.
Groves lost his debut last October to undefeated Pat McGreal at Combat In The Cage. He boasts a strong boxing and wrestling background. There is a lot of buzz about his potential in the Philadelphia area, and he’ll be looking to rebound from the setback suffered at the hands of McGreal.
Sampieri is the Muay Thai coach at Renzo Gracie’s jiu-jitsu academy in New York so he is obviously talented on his feet. He has had a rough start to his MMA career, dropping a unanimous decision to current IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz in his debut last April, followed by a first round submission (rear naked choke) loss to Jason Palacios four months later.
All the under card bouts will be streamed live for free on ProElite.com. The main card will begin at 10 p.m. on CBS, featuring a heavyweight showdown between Kimbo Slice and James Thompson, as well as a 185-pound tilt between EliteXC Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith.
Since all you guys did was bitch about it last time, we’re going to leave the decisions in your hands from now on. Below were our favorite comments from this week. Take a moment to digest them and then vote for your favorite in our new homepage poll on the right. The winner gets a Triumph United t-shirt of their choice. Okay? And the nominees are…
“The first time I ever saw Kimbo I was surfing for porn and I saw his various appearances @ inthevip.com. If you told me that a couple years later that dude would be on the cover of ESPN, I’d call you crazy. Actually I’d say I didn’t know who he was and deny the fact I was looking at porn.” — Jeff on Kimbo’s ESPN Cover Shoot
“When discussing Mark Hunt, it’s customary to precede his name with ‘noted fatty fatty fat fat’ so that people remember which out-of-shape guy you’re talking about.” — Jemaleddin on Quote Stew: Bisping, Quarry, Hunt + More
“I think Chris Leben is showing a lot of growth here as a human being….and I also think he will make a fine prison prostitute….that guy is going to earn somone a lot of soups and cigarettes.” — BIG CHRIS on Chris Leben in Jail, But Only on a Technicality
“The Mad Monkey, is this the one that had pinpoint bleeding all over his freshly waxed unibrow in the serra/gsp pre-fight family interviews? You want to get that done 24 hrs in advance buddy (not that I would know anything about it).” — tony@rbd on Nick Serra, The Mad Monkey
“these arent rankings. these a fans thoughts on who they think is good. iv never seen so much crappy rankings by a nuthugging blog before. garbage.” — clitwizard on ‘Power Rankings’ Update of DOOM!
