The MMA General News & Events Thread

[TildeGuy~!]

Rousimar Palhares(13-3) Vs. Mike Massenzio(13-5) has been added to UFC 142

[Bus Surfer]

UFC on FX news...

 

The first live UFC on FX event will happen in January and while an exact date and location is to be announced, there are now two fights scheduled.

 

On Wednesday, the UFC announced that Josh Neer will fight Duane Ludwig in welterweight action and Pat Barry will take on Christian Morecraft in a heavyweight scrap.

 

Under UFC's deal with FOX, the promotion will bring four live events to FOX and six to FX each year. These live cards on FX will be similar to the former "Fight Nights" on Spike/"UFC Live" on Versus events. All four fighters announced so far are coming off appearances on UFC Live cards.

 

Neer and Ludwig matchup well considering that Neer has an aggressive style and Ludwig's strength lying in his background as a Muay Thai fighter.

 

Neer (32-10-1) made his return to the UFC last month with a bloody TKO win over Keith Wisniewski. Ludwig (21-11) has won his last two fights and last competed in August, beating TUF winner 7 Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision.

 

Barry and Morecraft are heavyweights desperately in need of a win. Barry (6-4) is riding a two-fight losing streak from losses to Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve. Morecraft (7-1) was knocked out in June by Matt Mitrione and is 1-2 in the UFC.

 

From MMAFighting.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Dont know if this will be up for very long but here's the video from tonights Chael Sonnen interview with Michael Landsberg. It didn't go down to well. Landsberg's a complete cock anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_LUaHiLruE

[wandshogun09]

Haha I love that. I've never liked Landsberg, always thought he seems like a sarcastic knobhead when he's asking questions. Nice to see him out of his depth like that.

 

If he'd looked at any interview with Sonnen he must have known the kind of reaction he'd get starting off the interview by accusing him of backing out of a fight. After starting off on that note there was nothing he could have said to win Chael round. He could have said 'have a good thanksgiving' and Chael would probably have told him to fuck off, dropped his kegs and took a shit right there in front of the camera.

[Dead Mike]

Just seen on twitter that Roy Nelson & Chieck Kongo have apparently agreed to face each other.

[pryko]

Dont know if this will be up for very long but here's the video from tonights Chael Sonnen interview with Michael Landsberg. It didn't go down to well. Landsberg's a complete cock anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_LUaHiLruE

Chael has a good point really. He's asking him about the Anderson Silva fight which we've all heard him talk about before, it's well over a year old now. As mentioned he starts the conversation off all wrong by saying he "backed down" over his offer to Anderson Silva.

 

I do find Chael to be funny and entertaining, but what questions haven't been asked of him already? When people are getting an interview with him just coz it's him, but they're asking re-hashed questions all over again, they're not gonna get anything new from him are they? Him walking out like that was probably the best thing they could hope for

[Dead Mike]

Thing is journallists will want a proper interview & all they've got from Sonnen in the past is his megalolz bullshit answers. Given he's due to face Silva again in which will be a massive fight it's inevitable that the first bout will be brought up & people might want to actually talk about it as opposed to getting his usual 'I didn't get beat by Anderson

[wandshogun09]

Ok, this is a fuck of a long read but I think it's worth it.

 

Bas Rutten on a whole load of topics. Chael Sonnen, UFC's FOX deal, Shawn Tompkins' death, Lesnar vs Overeem and most interestingly Overeem's recent leaving Golden Glory and taking legal action. Bas is pissed at Alistair really good interview

 

When I scheduled an interview with former UFC and Pancrase champion "El Guapo" Bas Rutten, I expected the standard good stuff that he always provides whenever speaking with the media. Little did I realize that halfway through the interview I would step on a landmine, causing Bas to go off in a way that I've rarely heard him do in public.

 

PAUL LAZENBY: As a lot of your fans already know, your new movie "Here Comes The Boom" is now in post-production and will be released early next year. What can you tell us about your experience shooting it, and what can moviegoers expect?

 

BAS RUTTEN: It was a very cool experience. I worked with Kevin [James] before, but never like this. This is the biggest role of my career, a really big part, and it's comedy--I LOVE comedy! On top of that, I worked with Henry Winkler, "The Fonz", who I of course watched as a kid. He's a really nice guy. And Salma Hayek, well, I knew her from the movie "From Dusk Till Dawn", all the way back. Boy, did she leave an impression! (laughs). And you know what? People are going to find out she's really funny! Tough as well, very talented, she asked me every time to show her [fighting techniques], and every fighter on the set was blown away with how fast she picked things up, it was really crazy. Her father used to be a scrapper, she told me. She's hilarious. And what to expect? People can expect a really fun family movie about MMA. They will be amazed with how Kevin James looks; he moved to 218 pounds for the movie, very impressive. He moves great, watch till you see him hit the focus mitts! We just had Rich Franklin on Inside MMA and he saw Kevin hitting the mitts and was impressed, he told us.

 

PL: I heard that Chael Sonnen had a small role in the film. In the past he has had some derogatory things to say about you. Did that result in any tension between you two on set?

 

BR: Nah, I just stayed out of his way, but on his last day, when he was done with his scene, he walked with me back to my trailer. He started talking about the time that he said those things. He said: "It was a long time ago, I did stupid stuff, I don't even know why I did it" and he apologized. You know me, I'm an easy guy, and I always liked him, I really did, so it's all good. Plus, in the past, I of course said back what I wanted! For every action there is a reaction, so it's not like I didn't respond! (laughs)

 

PL: It was recently announced that Chael will be receiving a second shot at Anderson Silva's UFC middleweight title. He came within a hair's breadth of defeating Silva in his previous attempt, how do you think he'll fare in the rematch?

 

BR: Anderson is gonna be more ready now, and he better come in shape. I mean, Chael looked freaking awesome his last fight [vs. Brian Stann]! Unreal stamina, plus he finished his opponent. That's what was missing in the past, finish capability. Let's hope he puts a bag in front of a cable machine, jumps on top, grabs a handle from the cable machine, and start punching the bag, this way he strengthens his core, gets more power for his ground and pound.

 

PL: Your new show "Punk Payback" just launched on the FOX-owned FUEL station. What can you tell us about it?

 

BR: [When] a security camera picks up something bad, whether it's a robbery, purse snatch, pick pocket or car jack, anything bad, we watch the clip. [Then] I tell the people at home what the victims should have done. And then I say: "Let's see what I would do in this situation". After that, we go on a set identical to the crime scene and reenact the whole thing with me in the spot of the victim. We let the bad guy or guys...or girls, El Guapo is not a sexist (laughs)...we let them come in, and "dengerdedengerdedeng!" I show the people at home how to take care of that situation. It's funny, "light" presented, you know, done with a smile but the techniques I use are real. If you like the Bas Rutten Street Fighting video on YouTube, you are gonna love this.

 

PL: As part of the monumental deal that UFC has with the FOX network, FUEL will be airing over 2000 hours of UFC programming in 2012. What impact do you think that deal will have on the sport of MMA? Do you feel that it will benefit your show as well?

 

BR: It's gonna do really well for MMA, more people can see it now on a MAJOR Network, that's the key here. FOX has great programming and a huge audience. Even though you think FUEL might be different from the bigger FOX stations, you will realize it's not when you see the promotion for it on FOX, or FX, or FSN. I heard 5.7 million people watched [the "UFC on FOX" special], that's a good start! They also showed the "24/7"-looking deal that told the stories of Cain [Velasquez] and Junior [Dos Santos] before the fights happened. This way, the people at home who don't know the two headliners could get familiar with them. Very smart!

 

PL: A while back, this website covered the Kim Couture scandal, in which an inept referee allowed Couture to remain locked in a choke long after she had fallen unconscious. Have you seen footage of that incident, and if so, how do you feel about the Calgary Athletic Commission, which oversaw the bout, not only choosing to take no action against the ref, but also allowing him to judge at a recent event?

 

BR: I saw that fight, but you see this everywhere, it's insane! They should "red flag" the guy. Somebody has to make a website with the referees on there who messed up big time, this way you can keep a track record of it, and then when they did it three times, force them to do a referee course. Big John has great ones! Even better would be [to make it so] every referee needs to do a course, no matter what. If you don't, then you can't referee, period. Just like you test amateur fighters to become pro, you should do this with referees as well.

We all wanna stay away from bad outcomes, and referees should make sure that doesn't happen. Thankfully the Couture fight didn't become a tragedy, since it's very hard to kill a person with a choke. I mean, the police are even allowed to use it, and you know as well as I do, they are not supposed to do anything forceful.

 

PL: You recently enrolled your youngest daughter in judo classes with Olympic Bronze Medalist and current MMA fighter "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey. How did this come about, and how is your daughter liking judo?

 

BR: Darin Harvey, Ronda's manager, is one of my best friends. Ronda is teaching privates to a 10 years old girl and heard that my daughter Bianca was that age. You know as well as I do that it's always better to teach two people, this way you can show a technique on one person and the other one can watch, so that's when she asked if Bianca would be interested. First Bianca was not, until I told her how good Ronda was and showed her pictures of Ronda, and then [bianca] was sold. On top of that, Ronda brought her pink gi jacket that she came out with in her last fight, and gave it to Bianca. That really sealed the deal. And Bianca loves it, she is very excited every time. Yesterday evening she was throwing me...I'm not kidding!

 

PL: The MMA world suffered a horrible blow last summer with the death of trainer Shawn Tompkins. Shawn was a very close friend of yours and often cited you as one of his primary influences. How has it been for you in trying to adjust to his loss?

 

BR: Just horrible. One of those situations that you don't really believe, you know? I talked to him two evenings before it happened. It was weird, he texted me with a problem, I felt it needed to be addressed, so thankfully I called him. He was out with his friend "Muscle Beach", and Muscle Beach was messed up. Shawn was not, but he said: "I have never left a man behind!" (laughs) We started right away messing around, and the problem never even came up. I told him I loved him, and when we hang up I received some more text messages that I answered, funny ones. It was weird, the last one said something like this: "I love you, Bas, Team Tompkins loves you, thanks for everything you have done for me." Wow--wild when you later find out this was the last message. I'm gonna miss him dearly.

 

PL: This December, Brock Lesnar will be returning to the Octagon after his second enforced absence due to serious intestinal problems. This time he had a section of his colon removed, but states that he's now 100%. Do you think that that's true, or will his health issues continue to compromise his performance?

 

BR: I hope not, he's gonna have a tough opponent. Brock is one of those guys who take training to the next level. I hear he is doing really good and surprising people at his gym, really getting much better. No secret here, he needs this fight on the ground!

 

PL: Strikeforce, K-1 and Dream champion (and your fellow countryman) Alistair Overeem will be battling Lesnar on December 30th with a UFC world title shot at stake. There has been a lot going on with Overeem lately, including the shocking news that Alistair was leaving the Golden Glory team and firing his managers. Have you discussed any of this with him, maybe found out his reasons for doing it?

 

BR: Oh no, you didn't go there! (laughs) I thought that if nobody asks, I won't say anything, but now that you ask me I have to! It's been bothering me a lot! OK, here I go.

 

It's a money thing. He simply doesn't want to pay the people who made him. When he lost three fights in a row...well, like pretty much 5, I mean, he lost, won, lost three times in a row, won, and lost again...and nobody wanted to have him.

 

But his management kept pushing and using the power that they have because they have other great fighters. Like, for example [they would say]: "If you want Semmy Schilt to fight, then you have to take Alistair as well."

 

It's funny how fighters think. When it goes bad with them, their team is everything to them, and they love their team. In interviews after they win a fight, they say: "I owe everything to my team". Then when the management starts to put great fights together for them, directing their careers and the fighter gets better and better, some of them simply can't handle it, and it gets to their head.

 

I had a bad feeling already when he called himself, after he won the K-1 Grand Prix, a "legend". He actually said in an interview right after he won: "I am a legend now". I don't think a fighter can ever make that comment about himself.

 

And talking about the Grand Prix, let's face it, he had a great deal of luck as well there. He fought Peter Aerts who had a WAR with Semmy Schilt [previously that night] and was completely banged up, and then he fought [Gokhan] Saki, who had a broken arm AND hand, in the finals! At that moment when you win, you should say: "I'm very happy with the result, the stars were in line for me tonight, I also got a little bit of luck". Because everybody is going to say that about you anyway, you might as well simply say it yourself to keep the people respecting you, but NOT: "I'm a legend".

 

PL: Wow, sounds like you're genuinely pissed off at Alistair about this.

 

BR: Of course, I see it too many times. I KNOW what Golden Glory did for him. He couldn't punch or kick when he came to them, and I mean, HE COULDN'T PUNCH OR KICK! Some fighters get big and then forget who was fighting for them when they were losing. Two months ago, he wanted to make a belt for the Golden Glory team with "FOR CHAMPION MANAGEMENT" engraved on it. Those were HIS words after they made this huge contract for him, and now he says they are morons? He used them to negotiate the best deal and when they did it, now suddenly they are morons? Explain that to me. It's unreal.

 

Also, a few months ago, when they started to get close to a good deal with the UFC, he realized that he could make a lot of money. The first thing he did was go to Cor Hemmers, his striking coach, and tried to renegotiate the 10% trainer's fee.

 

You have to understand, [a deal like Alistair's UFC contract] is a dream for trainers, because there is a possibility that they create, with the help from management of course, a fighter who can make some REAL money for them. Because let's face it, most trainers don't live in a huge house, don't drive a big car, they do it for the love of the fighter they train. They put their whole heart and soul in there.

 

When a fighter's lost three in a row, and there is no hope for him, the trainer is always there for him, helping him again and again, and the management is trying to find fights for him. Understand as well that trainers like Cor Hemmers and Martijn de Jong are busy with the fighter 24 hours a day. I talked to Cor in the past and he told me he couldn't sleep from all the tension, and about thinking: "What's the best game plan for Alistair?" Also know that when Alistair [first] came to Cor, when he would get hit, he would turn his back to his opponent and didn't want to fight! You saw that when he fought his first K-1 fight in Holland, it was very bad. And when he was losing, [his trainers] were the ones who convinced him to go heavyweight since he was cutting way too much [to make light-heavyweight].

 

PL: I guess that was when his infamous horse meat diet began, huh? (laughs)

 

BR: (laughs) I'm not gonna go in there, because that's never been proven and I always say "Only make comments like that if you know 100% it's true, not 99%". So anyway, [Hemmers and de Jong] put him back on track, they GAVE him all those skills, they were there from the beginning, and they build him to become the fighter he is now. So for a fighter to go in and trying to renegotiate the 10% trainer's fee is just absurd. Ask ANY trainer who has made a fighter from scratch if he would think that's good. Please let me know if you can find ONE person.

 

PL: You've said that Martijn de Jong is one of the people being wronged here, but I can't recall Alistair saying anything bad about him. In fact, from what I've seen it's been quite the opposite, he's been very complimentary of de Jong all through this situation.

 

BR: Yeah, he tries to let the rest of the world think that the coaches and other fighters are on his side, and that it's only the management he has problems with. But that is absolutely NOT the case. I mean, go to Cor Hemmers' gym and look at the posters with pictures of Alistair on there, see what his fellow fighters did to them.

 

And you know what he said to Martijn? I know this because I talked with Martijn personally three days ago. When he told Martijn he didn't want to pay the 10% trainer's fee--and remember, Cor and Martijn SPLIT the 10%, so it's not 20% in total--Martijn told him that he was there with him for TWELVE YEARS, and that they trained him for so long and went through the ups and downs, especially the downs. And on top of that, he said that he was Alistair's friend this whole time, and made a big contribution to Alistair's success.

 

But Alistair said: "Yeah, if we have to talk about people who contributed to my success, then I also have to mention my cleaning lady who cleans my house for eleven and a half Euros an hour."

 

OK, just think about that for a second. It's almost like it's not real. I mean, he REALLY said this! I wouldn't tell you if it wasn't the truth, you know me, Paul.

 

PL: Well, while I can't say that this doesn't sound shocking, in the 14 years that I've known you I've never heard you tell lies about anyone or even be accused of it.

 

BR: Thank you, my friend. But to continue, just the fact that he uses the words "trainer" and "cleaning lady" in the same sentence is so disrespectful. And his new offer to Martijn was LESS THAN ONE PERCENT! Plus then of course Martijn has to see if he actually gets it. I said this before--normally Golden Glory gets the money from promoters in THEIR account. THEY pay the trainers, sparring partners, the fighters and their own fee of course, and this way, everybody who needs to get paid, gets paid! Oh, and many times [Golden Glory] would pay also for extra tickets to the fight, like flights to Japan or America, for the fighter's girlfriend or other friends. They would pay their hotel room, food, everything.

 

When the UFC said that they wanted to give the check directly to the fighter and not to the management, I already felt the problem coming. I right away thought: "Nobody is gonna get paid". You can actually find that in my long tweet about Golden Glory in the past that many people read. I wrote it when it happened, and sure enough, that's what happened, nobody got their money.

 

Well, I take that back. From the first check that Alistair personally got, he did pay his trainers 1.5% instead of the 10% that they should have got! So, as example, if the 10% trainer's fee would have been $20,000, Alistair paid $2,500 and still owes $17,500. Meanwhile, the management and sparring partners never got anything at all!

 

And people wonder why Golden Glory wants it first in their account--well, there you have it, so that EVERYBODY who helped the fighter gets paid! They [allowed direct payment to the fighter] ONE time and it went right away wrong, also with another fighter on that card by the way, so the proof is in the pudding.

 

Martijn also should have gotten a percentage of the sponsor money, but didn't get anything from that as well. Needless to say, after the "cleaning lady" comment and the "less then 1%" offer, Martijn declined to be [Alistair's] trainer in the future.

 

Listen, if you leave your old crew, and have a NEW trainer, who comes in NOW after all the real work is done, then YES, you can make a different deal with him, which is exactly what Alistair did now. And since he knew that his management and the Golden Glory guys were not gonna take his new deal, he simply left them and came up with this whole story that's unfolding now.

 

And I am 100% sure, if he wanted to renegotiate the 20% management fee that he was paying before, [Golden Glory] would have done that in an instant. They would have understood that with a big contract like this, they could take a lesser fee if he really thought they didn't deserve it.

 

But instead he complains in public about paying 35% of his money, which is another thing! People say, "Oh, 35% is a lot of money, he shouldn't do that!" First of all, it's 30%. He ASKED to make it 35% to get a break on TAXES...but that's another crazy story. But it's 30%, ALWAYS been 30%

 

With my job now, any TV, movie, commercial, or whatever I do, I am out 30% right away from management, agent, and lawyer fees. But they make sure my life is good, and that I don't make a mistake, so I happily give them that money, and you know what? It's tax deductible! And another thing, EVERY actor pays the same percentage.

 

Alistair says he wants to come and live here in California. Really? And do WHAT after he stops fighting? What if he starts losing? Acting? TV, movies, commercials? How on earth is he gonna do that? He doesn't want to pay 30%! And these people who he has to hire, like an entertainment manager, an agent and a lawyer, who didn't even help him before now, they will still want him to pay 30%. I wonder how he's gonna justify what he's doing [to his former trainers and management] when he starts having to pay 30% to new people? Just food for thought for the future.

 

PL: So, going back to my original question, have you actually discussed this stuff with Alistair himself?

 

BR: Alistair actually called me to explain his side of the story. The only thing I told him was: "If I was you, I would read all the e-mails [that your trainers and management] send to you, because everything is in there. They did NOT try to scam you." He said: "Yeah, but there was talk about a lot of money that they would get half from." This is an outside payment, by the way, not part of his contract or a signing bonus or anything. It was supposed to go half to him, with a group of people who helped him a LOT in the past each getting a share of the other half. He said: "I found out by accident, by accident"--he said it twice--"that they would get half, and we are talking about a lot of money."

 

I said: "I know what money you talk about, because [Golden Glory] even told me, and they NEVER told me to not to tell you about it. So again, if I were you, I would read the e-mails, it's all in there."

 

But once a fighter has it in his head that he is being screwed, people around him fuel those thoughts. They say: "Yeah, don't pay 30% to the trainers, management and sparring partners. YOU made them, not the other way around." And these are people who weren't there when Alistair had his bad streak, the 5 losses in 7 fights. No, a bunch of these guys showed up when he started winning.

 

And if you say that many times enough to a fighter, then eventually they start thinking like that. And he actually said this to his management last month: "I made the team. Because of ME, the team is so good". Well, if he still thinks that after reading everything I just said to you, then I am actually happy that [he and Golden Glory] broke up, because that is NOT a friend or team member.

 

PL: How much money are we talking about?

 

BR: I don't wanna go there. I just talk about what I know is 100% true, because I knew this when this all happened. I don't even wanna know how much he could make, but I guess it's enough to make him turn on his friends who were there from the beginning for him, through thick and thin, ups and downs, and especially the downs.

 

But hey, he's not the only one, there are many fighters who, when they made the switch to the UFC, or any other organization that would pay them "real" money, suddenly left their coaches and management who were there from the beginning. I'm not gonna mention names, but there are many of them, I talked about this in the past, including two other guys from Golden Glory. My question is: where are they now? Because suddenly their careers went down, injuries started to come out of nowhere, and now it's over. They call that "karma".

 

The last thing I say about this: Alistair never complained before about the 30%. NEVER. Because he knew what [Golden Glory] did for him. And now when he makes it big, now suddenly it's too much? Now suddenly they don't deserve that? That's "Scrooge stuff" right there.

 

And you know what? He didn't make this money yet, he has to win first, and now he stepped up in the competition. The guys he beat were all let go from the UFC, which means they lost there, and now he has to fight the guys who beat his old opponents. What will he do without a team as strong as Golden Glory, who did everything for him? When everything settles down, when he starts reminiscing about the good things, and starts thinking about stuff like I just wrote about, well, good luck with the fight preparation.

 

OK, enough, I don't wanna talk about it anymore. For any other interviewer who reads this, this is it, nothing more, so please don't contact me...well, it depends on what's gonna be said now of course. I still have something else I might be sharing, depends on what happens. I will let you know.

 

But this is my side of the story and both Alistair and I know this is 100% the truth. He hurt my friends emotionally, and then on top of everything he starts writing bad about THEM?! Wow. Cor Hemmers even had to go to the hospital with heart problems TWICE since this whole thing has started, and he never had any problems like that before. And Ron Nyqvist, my good friend, was really emotional about it. He said to me: "I don't care about the money Bas, you know that, it's really not about that. He just really hurt us all. The whole team, everybody." I could hear it in his voice, it got to him, it really did, and that's why I tell you this.

 

PL: Wow. I'm almost out of breath after hearing all that. Bas, I can't thank you enough for your candor and your time.

 

BR: No problem, vato. I had to get this off my chest, it was really getting to me, but now it is out there. I will let you know if I want to say any more, but for now, I have said my piece on the matter. But if you think THIS is a lot, wait for what Golden Glory has to say, all the discussions he had with them, favors, anything, they have a lot. But that's between them, I wasn't there, so it's for them to say.

 

sauce - http://www.paullazenby.com/

[wandshogun09]

Just to add to that interview, it seems Bas isn't the only one who's pissed off with Overeem

 

[wandshogun09]

Cheick Kongo vs Mark Hunt looks like happening for UFC in Japan in Feb

 

 

And King Mo is rumoured to be on his way to the UFC and fighting on the next FOX show in January. He's tweeted that he's fighting on that date. He also tweeted that it won't be against Rampage though cos Rampage vs Forrest Griffin 2 is meant to be planned.

 

I like these developments

[jimufctna24]

If I was a betting man I would look to bet on Hunt, he will ne a massive underdog and unless Kongo has enough common sense to use his underated offensive wrestling and GnP, Hunt may turn back the years and knock him out.

 

If Rampage is motivated enough to train hard after the Jones fight he should beat Forrest by TKO.

[Swift89]

Jim Miller vs Melvin Guillard will be the main event of the first FX show.

[TildeGuy~!]

Jim Miller vs Melvin Guillard will be the main event of the first FX show.

 

Good fight that.

 

The winner would be right back in contention for a title shot along with the Diaz/Cerrone fight.

[ajmcstyles]

bit off topic but still MMA, anyone notice Sports Direct are selling BAMMA and WEC shirts now?

[Egg Shen]

Cheick Kongo vs Mark Hunt looks like happening for UFC in Japan in Feb

 

 

And King Mo is rumoured to be on his way to the UFC and fighting on the next FOX show in January. He's tweeted that he's fighting on that date. He also tweeted that it won't be against Rampage though cos Rampage vs Forrest Griffin 2 is meant to be planned.

 

I like these developments

Id rather see Mo-Rampage than a second fight with Forest.

 

I like Hunt-Kongo though, what a difference a year has made to Mark Hunt!