September 2011 MMA News Archive - Page 8

LayzieTheSavage of Middleeasy.com fame spoke with Cesar Gracie and got some choice quotes out of Nick Diaz's coach and manager. For those that haven't been paying attention, following the press conference on Wednesday, Cesar Gracie went on the defensive agreeing with the decision made by Dana White to pull Nick Diaz from the title fight with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137. In a complete 180, Gracie's interview with LayzieTheSavage takes the side of his client and student. On the current relationship with Nick: "Nick is like family. People don't understand that you can get mad, you can get mad at your brother because it doesn't mean anything. Some people read into it like I kicked him off the team. I don't care what he does in the UFC. I mean I care but I'm not going to kick him off the team over it. On the B.J. Penn fight: "This is the better fighter of the two. Georges St. Pierre is the bigger fighter of the two. He can beat people by being bigger or whatever. But this is the better fighter of the two. He's more technical. He's got a better ground game. He's got a better stand up game." On the title fight being cancelled: "I talked to Dana after he pulled the fight. I explained why it was a mistake to pull the fight. I understood. I was as mad at Nick as anybody. When I calmed down a little bit and looked at the situation, I said not only am I Nick's trainer, manager...whatever, but I'm also a fan of the sport. And I'm thinking "why is Dana punishing the fans of the sport?" Punish Nick. Fine him a nice fat hefty fine. Do whatever you're gonna do and punish him. All he did was miss a press conference. Seriously? Did one fan in this world even care? It did not make sense to me. I told them this afterwards.

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Back in August after the UFC announced that it had inked an historic deal with Fox, one of the major questions rooted from the news was whether Bellator Fighting Championships, now the assumed #2 promotion in the landscape of MMA after Zuffa acquired Strikeforce, would replace the UFC on Spike TV. In the months leading up to the deal, rumors circulated that Spike TV executives were seen at Bellator's events, and those rumors were confirmed after the UFC/Fox deal by a number of media outlets. Bellator champions Joe Warren and Eddie Alvarez have been involved in promoting future Bellator events on Spike TV professional wrestling programs. The assumptions weren't without proof. Spike TV was toying with the idea all along. Now, a report from MMAJunkie.com's Dann Stupp confirms what many of us already knew. Viacom, Spike TV and MTV2's parent company, is keen to the idea of moving Bellator to Spike TV. According to the report, a source stated, "It's going to happen. It's not 'if' but 'when.' Throw 'if' out the window. The only question is if it's next year or the year after." A deal seems clear cut considering Viacom owns both MTV2 and Spike TV, but the UFC still has the ability to thwart Bellator's efforts to make the transition. It isn't without its own consequences however: While Spike TV no longer will air live UFC events after this year, its existing contract allows it to air the UFC library (including past events, former "TUF" seasons, "UFC Unleashed" episodes and specialty programming) in 2012. However, as long as Spike TV has the rights to the content, it can't air programming - including live events - from other organizations, such as Bellator, until 2013. However, the UFC could purchase and reclaim the library if it can reach a deal with Spike TV. "If they made a decent offer, we'd probably sell," one Viacom source said. "Spike's preference next year is to have Bellator on air."

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Paul Daley today came in five pounds heavy for his co-headliner fight with Jordan Radev at BAMMA 7, but the fight will go on. The onetime Strikeforce welterweight title challenger weighed in at 176 pounds and declined to cut any more weight. Radev weighed in at 171 and after initial negotiations decided to take the fight in spite of Daley's miss. Daley was handed over a percentage of his purse for the infraction – his sixth in two-plus years – though his manager, Wad Alameddine, declined to disclose the amount docked.

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The Texas-based Shark Fights organization returns to Nevada on Oct. 15. Featuring a middleweight headliner between "The Ultimate Fighter 11" cast member Chris Camozzi and 12-time Rage in the Cage veteran Matt Lucas, "Shark Fights 20: Camozzi vs. Lucas" takes place at Laughlin's Edgewater Casino Resort and airs via three-week tape delay on FUEL TV. Bellator Fighting Championships vet Georgi Karakhanyan and Xtreme Couture prospect Jimmy Jones are also featured on the card.

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Former welterweight Dennis Hallman (43-14-2 MMA, 3-5 UFC) is cutting down (his weight, not his shorts) and now meets lightweight John Makdessi (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at UFC 140. MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed verbal agreements are in place for the December fight, which MMADiehards.com first reported. UFC officials have not formally announced the fight, which takes place Dec. 10 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The night's main card airs live on pay-per-view, though Hallman vs. Makdessi likely will be part of the preliminary card.

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An interview with Cesar Gracie regarding what exactly Nick Diaz has been up to for the past couple days and some interesting viewpoints on several topics.....

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Shortly after he booted Nick Diaz from a title fight with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that reporters would "flip out" if they knew whom he was putting opposite B.J. Penn, whose original opponent Carlos Condit was promoted to meet St-Pierre. And considering the past 48 hours, White is not too far off the mark. The UFC president today tweeted that Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) has been re-booked to meet Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 137, which takes place on Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

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While accompany his friend and training partner, Georges St. Pierre to Las Vegas yesterday for the now infamous UFC 137 press conference, French fighter, Francis Carmont, managed to also get himself a UFC contract and a fight on the same card as St. Pierre. Carmont's trainer, Eric Keefe, who works under Firas Zahabi at Tristar Vale Tudo in Montreal, revealed the news to Sherdog: According to trainer Eric O’Keefe, Carmont was in Las Vegas Wednesday with Tristar Gym teammate Georges St. Pierre for the promotion’s UFC 137 press conference, and the 16-7 fighter signed the dotted line before returning to the Montreal area on a redeye. No opponent has yet been named, but O’Keefe says that he expects an opponent to be offered in the coming days.

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-BJ Penn via twitter

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The injury bug has hit Nick Catone once again. "The Jersey Devil" has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 136 fight against Aaron Simpson due to an undisclosed injury, sources close to the fighter confirmed with MMAFighting.com. The 30-year-old, who has only fought once since January 2010 due to several different injuries, including a serious back injury, most recently defeated Costantinos Philippou at UFC 128 in March. No word on the severity of his most recent ailment or who will replace him against Simpson.

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Unless you've been under a rock all day, you're probably aware of the Nick Diaz situation by now. He was removed from his UFC 137 welterweight title fight with Georges St. Pierre because he missed two press conferences and went MIA. Well, he's alive and well and chose to make a Youtube video to explain himself. Sort of. He doesn't address at all why he missed the press conferences, but he says he's ready to fight. About 16 times. He filmed the video while driving, on the way from San Francisco back to Stockton. He says he was trying to get on a plane to go to the press conference. He started by saying that he thinks Carlos Condit getting the fight with GSP is "ridiculous". He went off after that: "Funny, one second I'm about to come into some money, do a little boxing, you know, f*uckin, probably lose some teeth. But um, I'm ready to get paid, ya know. So, I'll fight whoever, whatever, anything ya know. I'd definitely rather fight GSP of course. Ya know, I was ready to do some boxing, and they didn't like that. So they got me outta that, and they got me in the fight with GSP for the same money, or more money, or whatever. But now it looks like they get to save money, and I don't get paid, and I'm locked in a new contract. All these dealmakers making deals. All I know is I'm ready to fight. I'm sorry I didn't make it to the beauty pageant. But, ya know, I've never not showed up to a fight. I've never backed out of a fight in my life, that's not what I do. So I just wanted to throw that out there."

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Of all the phone calls he had to make following Nick Diaz's no-show of a press conference in support of UFC 137, Dana White wasn't thrilled about informing B.J. Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) that he had poached the fighter's original opponent, Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC), to headline opposite welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre. "B.J. doesn't know anything," White said today following a sudden announcement that Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) had been bounced from his fight with St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC). "I'm sure I'm going to have one seriously pissed off Hawaiian to deal with."

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Coming out of today's bombshell announcement that Carlos Condit would be replacing Nick Diaz to face Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight title at UFC 137, several questions immediately began to surface. One of the big ones - how would Greg Jackson, trainer to both St. Pierre and Condit, handle this situation? Now, just a few hours after the big news, we have our answer. Jackson will not train or corner either man. He spoke to Ariel Helwani at MMA Fighting to clarify: Teammate protocols are pretty clear in this situation so everybody knows what happening. I step out, the other coaches -- John [Danaher], Phil [Nurse] and Firas [Zahabi] -- will take care of GSP and probably [Mike] Winkeljohn and some of the other guys here will take care of Carlos. But I step out of it, so I won't be cornering either guy. They'll fight each other. Those are the new teammate protocols. We knew this would be coming -- it will probably be coming again --but this time we are very well prepared.

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UFC president Dana White said he's perfectly within his rights to cut Nick Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) from the contract he inked just three months ago. But he is unsure whether he'll do so. "I'm still blown away by this thing," White today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I've got to take a couple of days and figure this thing out." As of now, the executive is still dealing with the fallout from Diaz's absence. The former Strikeforce welterweight champion today no-showed his second consecutive press conference to promote UFC 137, which prompted White to remove Diaz from a welterweight title fight with champ Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) and slot former WEC champ Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in his place.

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Count UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) among those shocked by Nick Diaz's press conference no-shows. "I don't understand how someone can not show up to an opportunity like this," St-Pierre said during a Wednesday press conference at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center. "I just can't believe it. It's amazing. I don't know what to say. It's crazy." But now that the former Strikeforce champ has been yanked from a planned UFC 137 title shot, St-Pierre said he believes new opponent Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) now presents a stiffer test.

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Two big men and former champions are headed to Toronto for a long-awaited rematch. UFC officials today announced that verbal agreements are in place for a heavyweight fight between Frank Mir (15-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) and fellow ex-champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-6-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC). The fight takes place at December's UFC 140 event.

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Nam Phan (16-9 MMA, 0-2 UFC) will get the opportunity to avenge a highly controversial loss to fellow featherweight Leonard Garcia (15-7-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC). With would-be opponent Matt Grice scratched from the card due to injury, Phan instead will meet replacement Garcia next month at UFC 136. Officials today announced that verbal agreements are in place for the rematch.

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Nick Diaz simply won't play the game. He was banished once before by the UFC and it looks like its happened again to the elite welterweight. During a UFC 137 press conference this afternoon in Las Vegas, Dana White announced Diaz has been dropped from the Oct. 29 main event. He's been replaced by Carlos Condit, who will face UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

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After replacing injured Josh Grispi, Nam Phan now finds himself without an opponent. UFC officials announced overnight that fellow featherweight Matt Grice suffered an undisclosed injury and is off the UFC 136 fight card. Officials are searching for a replacement for the fall fight card, which takes place Oct. 8 at Houston's Toyota Center.

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It's a busy day at the Zuffa offices. On the heels of a few massive announcements already made today, UFC president Dana White just announced that Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes have agreed to meet in the co-feature of this month's UFC 135 event. Koscheck is a late replacement for Diego Sanchez, who was forced to withdraw from the matchup with a broken hand.

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