Thanks to Twitter MMA coverage has been taken to a new level. We actually have, for lack of a better term, MMA beat reporters just like the NFL, MLB and NBA have. And now when rumors start to spread you can ask one of many excellent journalists what exactly is fact and what exactly is fiction.
Two false reports came out today both of which have been debunked.
First Bleacherreport.com (Bloody Elbow’s favorite site!) reported that Mirko suffered a bad cut during training that needed stitches.
Talk about bad luck! Just a day after the UFC announced that Ben Rothwell was forced out of his bout with Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic due to an undisclosed illness, Cro-Cop himself received a nasty cut over his eye that required stitches.
“I dont think he’s cut. I saw him yesterday and he wasn’t cut and he said he was done working out.”
“He was told by UFC official workout room had moved and he said, No problem, I’m finished. And he DEFINITELY wasn’t cut then”
“Just talked to Marshall Zelaznik of UFC International Cro Cop is fighting and nothing happened to him as far as Zelaznik knows.”
“I dont know. I saw the guy yesterday a.m. and he was fine. I just talked to head of UFC Intl and he didn’t know anything.”
Now logic would also back this report by Iole up. If he saw Cro-Cop yesterday and he was fine there is absolutely no way he’s sparring a day before the fight. That’s just insanity and MMA fighters stop sparring as long as a week before the fight. It’d have to be a freak accident to cut him that badly.
Second rumor comes from that same article. It cites a report from Fightersonly.com that the UFC offered the Cro-Cop fight to both Rampage and Randy Couture.
The UFC allegedly asked Randy Couture and Quinton ‘Ramapge’ Jackson if they would take the fight with Filipovic at short notice but both turned it down flat. Perosh – who has an 0-2 record in the UFC from 2006 – took it on two days notice on the understanding he would get a four-fight contract out of it.
Again, nothing about that paragraph makes any sense. ‘Page is fighting Rashad Evans and Randy just fought. Furthermore why would ‘Page all of a sudden fight at heavyweight? Just makes no sense. I asked Mike Chiappetta who writes for AOL Fanhouse if there was any truth to the report.
“None whatsoever. Not on 1 day’s notice and no chance to market it.”
And there you go. It seems one of the side affect of MMA’s growing popularity is websites trying to make a name for themselves by coming up with fake rumors. Thankfully we have still have credible reporters like Kevin Iole and Mike Chiappetta.
Something funny happens when you live every single day of your life covering MMA. You begin looking at every fight you see like it’s in a cage and people are trained fighters. When we saw Rick Porcello chuck Kevin Youkilis to the floor, Jason called it what it was: A judo throw. When Jorge Posada fought earlier in the year, I got a ton of crap for commenting on his unintentional sprawl.
Now, it seems like I see fights just about every week. No, I’m not talking about my raucous social life. I’m talking about MTV’s latest hit show Jersey Shore. While most of the fights get broken up pretty quickly, I was really impressed with something that happened on last week’s episode. Check out Ronnie’s skills in this little brawl:
Now, let’s take a look at what happens in this one. After the punk guy hides behind his girlfriend for about 30 seconds, Ronnie drops his quickly. Now, besides the terrible footwork, he manages to drop the guy pretty easily. After grabbing his head, Ronnie throws a pretty mean looking knee to the dome. Then, he falls into what I’m gonna call “Drunken Full Mount.” He lands some shots, but the punk guy does a good job controlling him from the bottom. What Ronnie should have done was postured up and really rained down some heavy blows.
I’m sure there will another fight on the show next week. Maybe we’ll make this a weekly thing.
I’m actually beginning to like The Outlaw. He’s a little nuts, which I can respect because I’m a couple cans short of a six pack by nature. He’s got an absurd belief in himself, which I can appreciate because I am the Lex Luthor of my own little world. However, when you refer to yourself as “Georges St. Pierre’s Kryptonite” you’ve blown a gasket. Here’s the Q&A session from UFC 107 in Memphis, courtesy of AOL Fanhouse.
Sorry, Dan. Unless you are packing actual kryptonite in those gloves, you don’t stand a chance.
Oh baby. I am pumped for this fight. It looks like Brock Lesnar will continue to be out of commission for awhile, and while it sucks for the UFC’s bottom line, we will get to see all his possible opponents go at it for a chance at the champ. Starting with this one, via MMA Weekly:
It appears the wait for a heavyweight title fight for Shane Carwin has finally been set, except it will be for an interim title, as current champion Brock Lesnar remains on the mend. Carwin will now likely face Frank Mir in an interim heavyweight title match at UFC 111 on March 27 in Newark, N.J.
The rumored bout has started to take shape sources close to the negotiations disclosed to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday night. Possibility of the bout was first reported by AOL Fanhouse.
The likelihood of this fight came about most likely in two parts following the UFC 107 weekend that just past. First, UFC president Dana White said the company was looking to make a decision in the next 6 to 8 weeks about the future of the title with Lesnar still sidelined.
The second part was Mir’s first round destruction of Cheick Kongo at UFC 107, putting the former champion squarely in the sights of another run at the title belt.
It looks like all the pieces of the puzzle have fallen together and Carwin vs. Mir is now a reality.
I really like this fight. As said above, Mir’s enhanced striking really looked good against Kongo. I really do believe that between that and the extra 25 pounds of muscle he’s added in the last few months, that he is ready to compete with any heavyweight in the world. That means you, Brock.
However, Frank Mir himself called Carwin a better version of Lesnar. Shane is a solid 265, has great wrestling and packs the hardest punch in all of MMA. His striking is nice and tight, and I just don’t see Mir achieving a takedown on him.
As you can probably tell, I like Carwin in this one, but it will be a damn good fight.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the first UFC fighter has chose to leave the MMA paradise of the Zuffa companies and fight for Strikeforce. Former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson has signed with the San Jose based company, according to Ariel Helwani of AOL Fanhouse:
After months of speculation, Dan Henderson has finally agreed to sign with Strikeforce. FanHouse has learned that the 12-year veteran, who was last seen knocking out Michael Bisping at UFC 100 in July, recently came to terms with the San Jose-based organization on a multi-fight agreement.
At this time, it is unknown when and where Henderson will make his debut for Strikeforce.
Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole first reported the possibility of Henderson signing with Strikeforce in October, but at Strikeforce’s CBS event in Chicago last month, the former PRIDE middleweight and light heavyweight champion told FanHouse that he had not come to terms with the organization yet.
Henderson returned to the UFC in September 2007 following Zuffa’s purchase of PRIDE. He lost a light heavyweight title unification bout against Rampage Jackson at UFC 75 and then a middleweight unification match with Anderson Silva at UFC 82. Following those back-to-back losses, he would go on to win his next three UFC fights against Rousimar Palhares, Rich Franklin and Bisping.
Recently, Henderson had publicly talked about being frustrated with the fact that he didn’t receive a middleweight title shot following his victory over Bisping and that he was hoping for a bump in salary.
Henderson really doesn’t have much to complain about in the money department. For his fight against Bisping at UFC 100, he made 100,000 dollars in addition to another 150,000 in bonuses. How many UFC fighters can walk away from any one event saying that they made 250,000 dollars? Not a whole lot of them that’s for sure.
As far as what this means for the MMA landscape, It’s really nothing but good things. Right now, we are in the teenage years of the sport, and the UFC has dominated those awkward, growing years. However, that doesn’t mean that some legit competition won’t make Dana and the boys all that much better.
As for Strikeforce, I’m happy it exists because it is another place besides the highly politicized UFC for fighters to make money. This signing really makes their explosion onto the UFC’s level. Remember the key thing here is that this isn’t a guy that the UFC didn’t want. Hendo chose to sign with Strikeforce. He turned down an offer from the UFC in order to do so.
Will this lead to an exodus of fighters from the UFC? Probably not. However, it’s good for fighters to know that there is somewhere that they can go even if Dana doesn’t want them.
Possible opponents for Henderson include Gegard Mousasi, Jake Shields, and of course, Fedor. All three of those are good fights, and we’ll breaking them all down coming later today.
One thing is for sure: I wouldn’t want to be working in the UFC headquarters today.
The UFC’s welterweight bad boy will get his chance to avenge the worst loss of his career at UFC 109. MMA Weekly says:
It may not be a title shot, but UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck will get his shot at revenge when he rematches the last fighter to defeat him. He returns to action on Feb. 6 at UFC 109 in Las Vegas to face Brazilian fighter Paulo Thiago.
The bout was first announced by AOL Fanhouse and later independently confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight.
Always a busy fighter, Koscheck stepped up on short notice to take a fight at UFC 106 against rising star Anthony Johnson and did not disappoint. Despite a few fouls in the fight from both competitors, Koscheck showed good stand-up and a return to his wrestling roots as he out-grappled and eventually submitted Johnson in the second round.
The fight earned Koscheck a big notch in the welterweight division, not to mention bonuses that night that totaled $140,000. Following the win, he called for a title shot and blasted current top contender Dan Hardy for not doing enough to earn a shot at the 170-pound title.
Josh Koscheck is coming off to straight wins where he finished opponents in impressive fashion. After defeating Frank Trigg at UFC 103, he stopped Anthony Johnson at UFC 106 despite being poked in the eye during the fight. By choking Johnson out, Koscheck put himself all that much close to the championship picture.
As for his opponent, Paulo Thiago is 1-1 since defeating Kos. Josh’s American Kickboxing Academy teammate Jon Fitch got some revenge against Thiago at UFC 100, and Paulo got back to his winning ways by defeating Jacob Volkmann at UFC 106.
Here’s the skinny: Koscheck is a top-five welterweight. Thiago isn’t. Look for Koscheck’s revenge to come swiftly as he finishes Thiago and puts himself in the title picture.
February 19, 2010, at 5:00 pm
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