Here’s a little taste of Brock Lesnar’s appearance on ESPN’s E:60 tonight at 7 pm EST (which is like, now). The interview seems to be taking place in a barn for some reason. I’m sure it will all make sense when we see the whole thing. In other news…
- Luke Cummo was arrested and charged with “driving while impaired with drugs” in Lynbrook, New York last week. He wasn’t drunk, but was reportedly tested for a drug that officials would not name. Fightlinker says Cummo claimed, at least briefly, that he got a contact high from being in a room full of people smoking pot, and this was exacerbated by eating a bunch of chicken wings. Seriously. He’s pleaded not guilty, and we really hope he decides to represent himself in this case because that would be awesome.
- Matt Hughes says on his website that he talked to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva this week and he may finally get his shot at Matt Serra in April. He also went bowhunting and bagged a deer.
- The UFC sent out a press release today officially announcing three fights for the stacked UFC 92 event on Dec. 27. As expected, Rashad Evans/Forrest Griffin, Wanderlei Silva/”Rampage” Jackson, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira/Frank Mir are on tap. Said Evans:
“Forrest fights from the heart just like me, and everyone underestimates Forrest until they get in there with him, like me. I think he and I are going to be like Ali vs. Frazier – this will be the first time we meet, but it won’t be the last, so I want to set the precedent.”
You may have noticed Matt Hughes sitting Octagon-side at UFC 87. At least, that’s where he was for most of the night. Turns out he didn’t make it all the way through the evening, and you can probably guess why. From Matt Hughes’ blog:
I went there really to watch one fight, probably not the one you’re expecting. I went there to watch Brock Lesnar. He is so interesting because he is so athletic as well as being so powerful. So that fight went just like I thought it would, Brock took him down whenever he wanted and on the ground he did whatever he wanted. I was also there watching my buddy, Roger, but he didn’t quite look the same. I don’t think him or Kenny fought their best fight on Saturday. Roger looked to have done a few things different and I would say that he needs to go back to what he was doing before.
The last fight of the night was Georges and Fitch. Georges didn’t look as big as he has before and he seemed like he had gotten tired from the first round. Fitch had the game plan of countering Georges and you just can’t do that. You can’t counter a quicker fighter. To be honest, halfway in the third round I got up and walked out of the arena and went to my hotel. The fight wasn’t the most exciting and I wanted to get out of there before everyone else was getting up to leave.
I’m sure Hughes’ decision to walk out of GSP’s first successful title defense halfway through had everything to do with the quality of the fight and not his personal feelings about St. Pierre. Yes, the GSP-Fitch fight did win “Fight of the Night”, but hey, if you stay all the way until the end you’re going to have a hell of a time getting back to your hotel. You’re also going to have to hear the words, “…and still UFC welterweight champion” and know they aren’t talking about you. You can decide for yourself which of those two things played a greater role in Hughes’ decision to walk out.
MMA-hole: “You’re right Matt, this is *way* better than fornication!â€
I’m confused: Jens kept telling Matt he didn’t want to ride up front.
reality: According to Cecil Peoples, the kid was the bravest one on the ride.
totaldb: Next week on Extreme Baptism…
jakey: “now son, which character from pirates of the carribean do you think i am?â€
Roach: An up-close photo of Chuck Norris taking a dump.
And now, the winnah…
Ouch! That hurts: To the lifeboats! Women, children, and hasbeens first!
So O!Th, please shoot your and address and preferred format (DVD or Blu-Ray) to feedback@cagepotato.com, and we’ll get that 10,000 BC viddy right out to you. And now the favorite part of my week…tell us who should have won!
Busy week for Matt Hughes. On his website the former welterweight champ revealed that he has a totally torn MCL and a partially torn PCL. He says he’s holding off on surgery in the hopes that the tears will repair themselves.
In other Hughes news, he settled out of court with one Jed Leist who alleged that Hughes had battered and assaulted him, among other things. Sherdog has the scoop:
The suit contended Hughes and/or other unnamed defendants “grabbed and placed” Leist in a hold “as to cause injury and damage.” Hughes’ actions were “unwanted, not consented or authorized,” by the plaintiff and inflicted “over his protests,” stated the documents.
Prior to the dismissal, Leist was seeking damages in excess of $10,000 per each charge plus attorney’s fees and additional expenses due to “severe humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress.”
The suit also claimed Leist was both partially and permanently disabled from the alleged assault.
That’s weird. Assaulting people in public for no reason doesn’t sound like something Hughes would do. Oh, wait. There’s this extra little nugget of information:
An anonymous source in the fight community who was not an eyewitness to the incident told Sherdog.com that Leist approached Hughes and asked the wrestler to put him in a rear-naked choke for a photo.
According to the source, Hughes obliged Leist’s requests for him to tighten the choke “for realism” and forced Leist to tap out. Hughes then walked away, though Leist appeared to be nearly choked unconscious.
Wow. I’d like to say the guy got what he deserved, realism included, but if they settled out of court it also sounds like he got some of Hughes’ money, which he probably did not really deserve. Just one more reason to hate the judicial system.
All this Matt Hughes talk has got me hankering for a taste of the good old days. That, and for some down home musical goodness. There’s only one way to fix both these problems at once. Highlight video!
2008 is shaping up to be the busiest and most exciting year in MMA’s history — which is a great thing, unless you’re trying to keep your top ten lists current, in which case it’s a total pain in the ass. Though there aren’t many profound changes in the latest update to our Power Rankings page, recent events have caused some fighters to drop due to losses (i.e., Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Hayato Sakurai, Masakazu Imanari) some to jump up after big wins (Wanderlei Silva, Thiago Alves, Power Rankings newcomer Gegard Mousasi), and some to secure their already impressive positions (Lyoto Machida, Urijah Faber, Robbie Lawler). Give it a look, and click on each weight class for additional notes and to leave comments. And stay tuned, as Sunday’s DREAM.4 card could produce some changes in the middleweight list, and July 21st’s Affliction event could lead to a massive re-shuffling of the heavyweight deck.
The boys over at MMA Payout report this latest nugget of information from Dave Meltzer in the newest print edition of The Wrestling Observer:
“UFC is going to do a new reality show. I don’t know the details of the show itself, but my impression is it involves Matt Hughes in a big way.”
Lord knows [...]
(“Boom! Another hit is landed…” The Pitbull mauls old-ass Matt Hughes. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)
Now that the adrenaline has subsided, we can have a normal conversation. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about since Saturday afternoon…
— Matt Hughes carved out a legendary career without ever being a particularly dangerous striker. And good for him, but the young fighters coming up these days will not stand for that shit. There’s no way you can compete at an elite level anymore without a complete game. Hughes never had one, and it’s now been fully exposed. After Alves stuffed Hughes’s takedown attempts during their fight, the former champ had no more weapons left, and it was only a countdown until the inevitable. I’m interested in seeing Hughes settle his grudge match with Matt Serra; I’m not really interested in seeing Hughes continue to be tooled by other athletic and well-rounded members of the UFC’s welterweight division.
— Michael Bisping looked deadly once again. Obviously he’d be wrecked by Silva, Franklin, or Henderson (or Marquardt on a good day), but he’d have to be the favorite against any other middleweight in the UFC. I’d guess he’s two wins away from a title shot, and luckily for him, Anderson Silva might not be around by the time he gets there. (The chatter is that Silva may move up to light-heavyweight for a marquee fight, but it’s totally unsubstantiated at this point, so don’t get your hopes up.)
— I don’t care what Jason Lambert needs to do to get down to 185 — stomach stapling, breast reduction surgery, whatever — he just needs to get there. He also needs to understand that his boxing sucks; just like in his fight with Wilson Gouveia, Lambert’s wild and sloppy haymakers led to his own damn self getting knocked out against Luis Cane. I think the biggest lesson I learned from “Bedlam” was that if there’s a noticeably out-of-shape guy fighting a guy in great physical condition, don’t bet on the fatty. (See also: Eddie Sanchez.)
