Wednesday, 01 June 2011

  • What you need to know from this week on “The Ultimate Fighter”

    If Season 13 of "The Ultimate Fighter" has been missing anything, it's a bit of that pizazz from Brock Lesnar's WWE days. The former WWE champ still hasn't gone back to his roots, but between Chris Cope's Ric Flair-like "wooos" and Junior dos Santos screaming "what" like he was watching "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Episode 9 felt like being at a wrestling event.

    It also turned out to be about and looking past an opponent and weak excuses.

    Cope is supposedly the weak link on the show, but he proved everyone wrong again by pulling the upset on Team dos Santos' No. 1 pick Shamar Bailey.

    UFC president Dana White called it before the fight saying Bailey looked one-dimensional in his opening round win and was overlooking Cope. Cope wasn't exactly Mr. Aggressive, but he successfully defended against nine takedown attempts and gassed Bailey on his way to a surprising 20-18 win.

    Dos Santos was shocked.

    "That [decision] was terrible for me," dos Santos said. "I looked at Dana and said 'what?'"

    Bailey was also in disbelief saying, "he fought well, but I don't know about that. You can't win backing up the whole time."

    White seemed pleased that Cope got the decision and wasn't hearing Bailey's lame excuse during a one-on-one conversation shortly after the fight.

    "I just want to let you know I took a risk," Bailey told White. "I wanted to show you I could bang and not just wrestle. I left it in the hands of the judges. I could've took the easy way out and just took him down."

    White quickly pointed to Bailey that he did try to take Cope down throughout the fight and had zero success.

    There was no controversy in quarterfinal fight No. 1. Knowing that Ramsey Nijem is a strong wrestler, Brock Lesnar worked with Clay Harvison on his takedown defense. Harvison was drilled hard on getting out of the clinch.

    Practice didn't make perfect. He was taken down just 10 seconds into the fight. When he tried to get back up he left his back exposed. Nijem worked to get the hooks in, then flattened out Harvison before locking on a rear-naked choke. It was all over in 56 seconds.

    Next week it looks like Tony Ferguson goes psycho in the TUF house. He also faces Ryan McGillivray while Zach Davis battles "Cold Steel" Chuck O'Neil.

    Mac Danzig  Karen Darabedyan Viacheslav Datsik Marcus Davis  Tony DeSouza 

  • Pettis interview: Lightweight contender isn’t even thinking about a title shot

    Anthony Pettis has had it with the title fight discussion. The high-flying lightweight has been disappointed too many times to count and isn't going to stress over the UFC giving him his shot. When it happens, it happens.

    "For me I just gave up on that whole little guaranteed title shot picture," Pettis told "The MMA Insiders" show on ESPNRadio1100 in Las Vegas. "Nothing is guaranteed in this sport. I'm just going to keep fighting my fights and line them up."

    Before UFC 125 in January, Pettis, the former WEC lightweight champion, thought he was guaranteed the winner of the Frank Edgar-Gray Maynard fight. When the fight ended in a draw, UFC management initially said Pettis was still going to get Edgar. The next day, after some reflection, Dana White announced that Edgar and Maynard would meet again, and Pettis would have to wait for a true to winner to emerge.

    Pettis was teased a bit again in early May. When Frank Edgar dropped out of the third Maynard fight, the UFC offered Pettis the fight and he accepted. That proposed fight lasted less than 24 hours when Maynard pulled out. That's sparked a little war of words between Maynard and Pettis.

    Maynard, a veteran of eight UFC fights, said Pettis beat several scrubs and questioned the level of competition in the WEC.

    Pettis told "The MMA Insiders" that Maynard is wrong and way off base.

    "I think WEC fighters are more versatile fighter than the UFC guys," Pettis said. "The UFC guys are more wrestlers, boxers. The WEC guys are all over the place."

    On Saturday in Las Vegas, Pettis fights in the main event of the Season 13 "Ultimate Fighter Finale." Give him credit for taking the fight. The match against Clay Guida is really a no-win situation and he knows it.

    "The MMA Insiders" airs each Friday night from 6-7 p.m. PT on ESPNRadio1100/98.9. FM.

    Jeff Joslin Scott Junk  Martin Kampmann Denis Kang Georgi Karakhanyan

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

janetepaxton

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