UFC 137: B.J. Penn Will Go Five Rounds if Paid by UFC or Cesar Gracie
(bloodyelbow.com)With the injury to Georges St. Pierre forcing B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz into the main event slot at UFC 137, there was some curiosity from fans wondering if Penn vs. Diaz would now be a five round fight. UFC president Dana White was quick to say that the fight would remain a three rounder.
For me, that was a shame. In my mind one of the UFC's most accomplished champions and the current Strikeforce champion should not be fighting a three round fight.
Diaz's manager, Cesar Gracie, was quick to start goading Penn into turning it into a five rounder. This was a smart move on his part as the one place where Diaz has the edge is in his endurance.
Penn has now responded, and he's open to the late notice change. But he wants to get paid for it (via MMA Weekly):
"I want to be compensated accordingly and that's it. I'm more than willing to do a five-round fight," Penn told MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday. "If Dana wants a five-round fight, just give me a call and we can put it together right now.
"Or if Cesar wants to make it a five-round fight and he wants to compensate me personally, he can put his money where his mouth is, it's that easy. I've been training to fight. I'm ready to fight."
Vera: Thiago Silva is just a piece of s---
(mixedmartialarts.com)About his second chance with the UFC:
“It’s like when you broke or when you cheated on up your girlfriend in middle school and she broke up with you but you know she was the perfect one but you’ll never get her back. It was exactly like that.”
On his performance in the Thiago Silva fight:
“The whole fight I just kept asking myself, what the hell is going on? Why is this? I train with Phil Davis, Travis Browne, the Noguiera brothers, Junior Dos Santos…I train with some big dudes man and nobody has ever just been able to hold me down you know?”
On Silva’s antics inside the cage:
“I think he was just celebrating, but now that I know that he was a juice monkey, for sure I think he is a piece of shit. He is for sure just a piece of shit.”
MMAPlayground Interview Series - Vol. 10 (Chris "Kamikaze" Cariaso)
(mmaplayground.com)As with any successful professional, mixed martial artists eat, sleep and breathe their craft. They put everything on the line when they wake up, hit the gym and pour their blood, sweat and tears into the sport we all love. When they enter that cage, for the fan, it's all about the entertainment, but these athletes go through the daily rigors with more in mind. For some fighters, it's a paycheck. For others, it's the glitz and glamour, but for some it's a lifestyle fueled by a deep passion and connection to the sport of mixed martial arts.
In our newest site feature, MMAPlayground would like to introduce you to some of these men and women of MMA that you may not know much about.
Our mission? To introduce. To educate. To spread the word.
Chris "Kamikaze" Cariaso is a 5-year mixed martial arts veteran and can currently be found competing in the Bantamweight division of the UFC. His current record stands at 11-3-0 with 4 stoppage victories and 7 wins by decision.
Cariaso is currently scheduled to face Vaughan Lee at UFC 138 in Birmingham, England. Read the interview below to find out why he thought he won his most recent fight against "Mayday" McDonald, what to expect at UFC 138 and more!
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MMAPG: Thank you for the interview, Chris. How’s training going for you?
CARIASO: Training is going great. I have expanded my team. I have been working with strength and conditioning specialist John Pena at Power and Physique. I have spent the last month training in Montreal with Firas Zahabi, the Tristar Team and John Chaimberg.
MMAPG: You’re currently scheduled to fight Vaughan Lee at UFC 138 on November 5th, in Birmingham, England. Can you tell us a little bit about him? He’s a relative unknown in the US. Have you been able to find much to research?
CARIASO: I don’t know much about him. There is not much video on him; just a few videos on YouTube. He looks strong and has some submission skills.
UFC 137's B.J. Penn would like another title shot, but he's not banking on it
(mmajunkie.com)The title picture is a fickle beast, and B.J. Penn isn't about to get wrapped up in it.
The former lightweight and welterweight champion said that after his near-miss with a second chance at 170-pound champ Georges St-Pierre's belt, he's taking a wait-and-see attitude about his career.
"I'm trying to fight my best, and like all fighters say, the fight's against yourself," Penn said today. "So I'm just going to try to push myself to my personal best."
Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC), who meets Nick Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in the headliner of UFC 137 on Oct. 29 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center, admits he fights himself a lot. Once a dominant force in the lightweight division, his stock took a considerable slide with back-to-back losses to current champ Frankie Edgar, and later, a draw at UFC 127 with Jon Fitch that was supposed to crown the next welterweight contender.
"For me, it's always been a love-hate relationship with MMA, and maybe with the UFC at times," Penn said. "I'd love to stick around as long as Randy (Couture) has stuck around, if I could do something like that. But it's one day, I want to fight 100 more fights, and the next day, I'm like I don't want to do this any more. I think a lot of fighters feel that way, but maybe I'm just more vocal about it."
Shoulder surgery reignites UFC fighter Rich Franklin's passion for MMA
(mmajunkie.com)At 37 years old, stuck in the purgatory of being a between-weight-classes fighter, and now on the mend from a recent shoulder surgery, Rich Franklin could easily wonder if being a UFC fighter has lost its luster.
A former no-hassles champ and the UFC's longtime consummate professional, he's found adversity around every corner in recent years.
But if you think Franklin is losing his interest in the fight game, think again. In fact, he said it's quite the opposite.
"Now that I'm injured and can't do things, it's fired me up," he today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "When you're stopped from doing something, that's when you're most hungry for it."
Franklin hasn't fought since a February loss to Forrest Griffin. Like so many of his fights since a move up from middleweight – where two losses to MMA kingpin Anderson Silva forced his departure – he found himself the much smaller fighter on event night.
Dustin Jacoby went from pro debut to UFC 137 pay-per-view slot in 11 months
(mmajunkie.com)When the squad at Fiore MMA heard Georges St-Pierre was injured and out of UFC 137, a buzz lit up the room.
Not because the UFC welterweight champ had been injured, of course, but because it meant that one lucky pair of fighters from the preliminary card would get a big promotion.
Maybe that pair would include team middleweight, Dustin Jacoby, who until the start of this month had been a sharp up-and-comer waiting for his big-show shot.
Jacoby, whose professional career started just 11 months ago, was already thrilled to have gotten a short-notice fight opposite Brad Tavares on the Facebook-streamed preliminary card of the Oct. 29 pay-per-view event. When a friend texted him late Tuesday that he'd gotten the main-card spot (and he confirmed the good news on MMAjunkie.com's mobile-phone app), life got a bit more interesting.
"It's been pretty hectic," Jacoby today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "To have an opportunity like this, it stepped everything up to a whole other level."
Jacoby (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Tavares (7-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is now the first fight of the pay-per-view card. UFC 137 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Jacoby earlier this month stepped in for an injured Tim Credeur (12-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC)
Amir Sadollah accepts full blame for recent loss, eyes January UFC return
(mmajunkie.com)Ups and downs are inherent to life, which means you're not immune if you're an MMA fighter and your name happens to be Amir Sadollah.
Since May 2010, "The Ultimate Fighter 7" winner has an even 2-2 record.
Mixed results aren't ideal in a cutthroat business. You never know what could happen following a loss. Sadollah is safe at the moment – but definitely shouldn't get too comfortable.
After all, fellow "TUF" winners such as Joe Stevenson, Kendall Grove, Efrain Escudero and Travis Lutter all currently find themselves outside the promotion looking in.
While Sadollah's situation isn't too dire, the inconsistency is still worth his upright and full attention. To address it, he looks to fight again in the near future to get back in the win column.
Coach: Werdum fighting in December, hopefully for UFC
(mixedmartialarts.com)Guilherme Cruz: Is Wanderlei training with you guys for Cung Le?
Raphael Cordeiro: He’s here, he’s practically living here. He’s done a marathon here, he’s pouring his heart out on the trainings. We’re having good results on the trainings with Werdum, Babalu, Munoz, Dida, quality guys. And he’s doing great. We’re much confident because of the work we’ve been doing here.
GC: Before Wand vs. Cung Le, Mark Munoz, another fighter from your team, fights Chris Leben. How is he doing on the trainings?
RC: He’s on fire. Mark is super dedicated, he’s a good guy, special, who’s making some room for himself in the organization. He’s one of the guys who trains the most, he’s our ‘geek’ (laughs). Sometimes he overtrains… But sometimes it’s good to make a mistake by trying to hard than not trying hard enough, right?
GC: And what about Werdum’s return? There were rumors about him signing with UFC…
RC: He’s back to the trainings, he’s making everybody laugh. He’ll probably fight in December… He’s talking to the UFC, and maybe they come up with something for December
Dustin Jacoby vs. Brad Tavares promoted to UFC 137 main card
(mmajunkie.com)Georges St-Pierre's misfortune is a gain for Dustin Jacoby Brad Tavares.
The middleweights, who had been relegated to the Facebook-streamed preliminary card for next week's UFC 137 event, have been promoted the pay-per-view main card, UFC officials today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com.
A PPV slot opened when an injured St-Pierre was forced out of UFC 137's championship headliner with Carlos Condit.
Cesar Gracie on B.J. Penn vs. Nick Diaz - 'Let's Make it Five Rounds'
(bloodyelbow.com)It looks like Nick Diaz wants to go five rounds with B.J. Penn in the new main event of UFC 137, despite Dana White stating it would only be a three-rounder on twitter earlier today. Of course, they are now in the marquee spot because Georges St. Pierre was forced out of his headlining bout with Carlos Condit due to a knee injury. As usual, Nick's manager Cesar Gracie is leading the campaign for a five-rounder, speaking to MMA Fighting about the idea:
"If they can't fight five rounds against each other, how are they going to fight five rounds against GSP?," Gracie said to MMAFighting.com on Tuesday.
UFC champ St-Pierre out of UFC 137 with injury, Diaz vs. Penn named new headliner
(mmajunkie.com)An injury has forced UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) out of next weekend's UFC 137 event and a title fight with Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC).
UFC president Dana White today tweeted the news.
A co-main event between B.J. Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) and Nick Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) has been promoted to the main event. It'll be contested at three rounds.
Sonnen hints loser-leaves-town offer off table, but promises to push for Silva rematch
(mmajunkie.com)Chael Sonnen made a limited-time offer to Anderson Silva. The loser-leaves-town fight he presented the middleweight champ is apparently off the table.
"That offer was good when I made it, but it's like any offer: They've got to expire," Sonnen said today during an appearance on "The Jim Rome Show."
But as with many proclamations given by Sonnen, it's a good bet that just the opposite is true, or the entire offer was never true.
Rich Franklin: 'Sometimes The UFC Doesn't Really Have My Back'
(bloodyelbow.com)Former UFC middleweight champion, Rich Franklin, has always been portrayed as the UFC's ultimate company man. Whether it's moving between weight classes to make way for younger, more talented fighters, fighting at catch-weights in bouts with no divisional relevance, or taking part in countless media opportunities, press tours, and promotional activities, "Ace" has always gone above and beyond to do whatever Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, or Joe Silva ask of him. This is partly because Franklin is one of the UFC's most well-spoken and highly educated fighters, and also because he has a large fan-base and appeal as the all-American good-guy fighter who's rarely in a boring fight.
St. Pierre Out of UFC 137
(mmajunkie.com)An injury has forced UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC)out of next weekend's UFC 137 event and a title fight with Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC).
Tito Ortiz Names Himself 'The People's Champ'
(bloodyelbow.com)Tito Ortiz may be 1-5-1 in his last seven bouts, but his shocking win over Ryan Bader at UFC 132 was enough to keep Tito in the UFC and just relevant enough. Tito is now set to face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 and, somewhat shockingly, is only a slight underdog (+130 to +145). It opened even closer with Ortiz only a +110 underdog.
Maybe this was based on Tito's one win in five years, or maybe it's his new status as "The People's Champion." Via ESPN:
Jon Robinson: I was at your fight against Ryan Bader and the look on your face after you won was one of such pure joy, I can't remember seeing you that happy before. What did that moment mean to you?
Tito Ortiz: It meant that everything had paid off. My whole legacy, my whole career depended on that fight. I trained really hard and had some great guys around me training with me. It was almost like winning my world title. A lot of people didn't believe in me. A lot of people couldn't believe that I was still here. I had neck surgery, lower back surgery and a lot of athletes don't compete after that. I showed that I'm able to compete against the best guys in the world, and I think that will help show people that if they believe in themselves, if they believe in their dream, they can accomplish anything. That's why I changed my name to The People's Champ. I want everyone to know that I'm here for the fans. I want them to know that they can bounce back from anything.
Danny Castillo vs. Shamar Bailey Set for UFC 139 in San Jose
(bloodyelbow.com)It appears that the fight card for UFC 139 in San Jose, California is now full with the addition of a lightweight match-up between Danny Castillo and Shamar Bailey. The UFC announced the bout via Twitter today:
Anyone wondering who @ShamarBailey and Danny Castillo @lastcall155 have agreed to fight next? Mmm how bout each other, UFC 139 #beastmode
Jorge Santiago Released by the UFC
(bloodyelbow.com)Jorge Santiago has been released by the UFC. The Middleweight fighter is coming off a loss to Demian Maia at UFC 136. Santiago made his return to the UFC earlier this year, losing to Brian Stann at UFC 130 before falling to Maia. This was Santiago's second run in the UFC as he was 1-2 in the company back in 2006.
In the years between his two UFC runs, Santiago established himself as one of the top Middleweights in the world outside of the UFC, putting together a solid 11-1 record. His major success came in Japan, where he claimed the Sengoku Middleweight championship and turned some heads with a pair of classic fights against Kazuo Misaki. His work in Japan earned him a lot of respect, and many fans were excited about his return to the UFC.
Lindland: I've got the gameplan for Chael to finish Silva in 3 rounds
(mixedmartialarts.com)JS: Haha, sounds sensible. Now you’ve gone on record as stating that Anderson is already attempting to shirk Chael. If the fight eventually materialises, how would Chael fare in the rematch?
ML: I think the rematch would look just like the first one, except I’ve got a game plan for Chael to finish him before the end of the third round. So, yeah it’ll look similar to their first encounter, but with some additional techniques and strategy, it won’t make it to the championship rounds.
JS: WOW, ok. Just trying to probe a little further, would these additional techniques involve wrestling submission holds or BJJ?
ML: (Sounds jokingly astounded) BJJ submissions? We are not Brazilians. We are Americans. You understand that right? Why would we be working BJJ? We do not employ BJJ. We employ American wrestling submissions.
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