Off-Topic/Minor MMA News and Notes

[desflood]

MMAweekly with its typical outstanding writing. Man those guys are good.

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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell is fighting a battle of meaning in the public eye: can one punch change everything?



Liddell, 38, built his reputation giving and taking punches. From 2004 to 2006, he cleaned out the sport’s marquee division, collecting wins against stars like Randy Couture and o Ortiz, who, like him, built the foundation for the UFC’s explosion in popularity.



But a new guard has encroached upon Liddell’s legacy, and s have begun to appear in his armor. Spearheaded by the minds at Jackson’s Submission Academy in Albuquerque, N.M., Liddell has lost to three out of his last four opponents, and his light heavyweight le to Quinton Jackson at UFC 71.



A spectacular knockout loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 88 brought the subject of retirement into sharp focus. After the fight, Liddell said he’d decide in the gym, not in the pressroom, whether to hang up his four-ounce gloves.



Nearly two months later, Liddell is sitting on the mats at training home The Pit, texting away on his beloved Sidekick. He has just celebrated his son Cade’s birthday, and is beat from a month and a half of travel.



Not a whole lot’s changed in his lifestyle. He’s still crisscrossing the country doing publicity junkets for the UFC, as popular as ever. A recent itinerary took him from the Philippines to Hawaii to Nebraska, in no particular order.



Trainer John Hackelman stands by the heavy bags in the brightly lit room, about to take a staff member to lunch. He says the conversation following Liddell’s loss to Evans was pretty short.



“Chuck, how you feeling?” he recounts. “Do you want to go on? ‘Yes.’ Alright, let’s go. I don’t think one punch – I’ll never say lucky punch because Rashad trained for that punch too long – is going to separate Chuck from his career. It landed just like Chuck knocked out many, many, many opponents and they didn’t all quit right away. It was the first time Chuck was KO’d, and I don’t think that would warrant talks of retirement.”



Liddell bristles at the idea of one fight changing everything.



“You don’t ever want to get caught like that in a fight, but it happens,” he says. “I don’t think that says I can’t perform anymore. Up to that point in the fight I was winning the fight. If he hadn’t caught me, most likely we would have gone another round and a half, or maybe I would have caught him.”



Of particular irritation are critics who say Liddell’s striking style sets him up for defeat. Outsiders have often characterized it as a “looping” punching style, focused exclusively on the knockout punch. Obviously, it’s worked for Liddell more than it hasn't. But against Evans, who used a more compact striking style, many questioned whether it was outdated.



“I think it’s unfair,” Liddell told MMAWeekly.com. “I do have some great looping punches but most of those are started off by some good straight punches, good solid punches. But I do like to throw with power, and it shows. I’ve done well with it.”



It’s a situation he has been largely immune to until now. Once unquestioned, he finds himself defending his legacy. All he wants to do is fight.



“I have one fight I get caught, and all of a sudden my striking is no good?” Liddell poses. “That’s kind of how you guys feel in the sport. You media guys, (if) you lose a fight – nobody was saying that when I beat Wanderlei (Silva). Nobody was talking about how my striking was overrated. Now eight months later, I lose a fight, and my striking is no good.”



Liddell does acknowledge his mistakes in the Evans fight, and says he’s still working on “bad habits.” In the gym, he could get away with dropping his hands, leading with body shots. As he knows now, those days are over. The key is a stricter gameplan – everything measured to maximize offense and defense.



“It’d be me changing my game plan, not my style,” Liddell says. “I mean, you’re not going to change how I punch, how I strike. (I can) change what I decide to do just like I did for Wanderlei, I planned on taking a couple of shots. That’s not changing my actual style. My style includes everything, it’s just what I decide to use in the fights.”



Hackelman says he wouldn’t want his prized student to change. At this point in Liddell’s career, there’s not much he can.



“Keeping the hands up is great to say, everybody knows they should do it, but it’s a big problem for fighters of all levels,” he says. “You could get the best fighters on the planet in boxing, kickboxing, MMA, everyone drops their hands, because of simple physics of gravity. Everyone’s going to drop their hands occasionally, and when you do, you expose certain things, so yeah, we’ll work on that. You just work on some of the things that need to be tweaked, that’s all.”



Then Hackleman goes stiff, keeling over on the mats. He gets up with a big smile. This MMA business can’t be too serious.



Liddell says he anticipates another fight in early 2009, but thinks the UFC is waiting to see how the light heavyweight picture looks at the end of December before giving him an opponent. One idea, Anderson Silva, was floated at the post-fight press conference for UFC 90. Though he doesn’t call fighters out, Liddell welcomes the idea, and says a fight with Silva would be a perfect place to showcase different skills.



“I think it would be a great fight,” he said. “I think I match up well. I hit very hard, and I’m a big 205-pounder. And he’s going to have to worry about me taking him down. I have a good shot mixed in the middle of that. So he’s definitely a guy that I would take some shots on.”



That said, Liddell only has so many opportunities to get his le back. He still burns for it, and another setback could be devastating. But another one of his patented knockouts could silence fickle MMA fans... and that's the way he'd like to go out.



“My timetable is still the same,” he said. “I want to make another run at it. I think another loss could put an end to making a run for it, cause I think that would put me way too far out of le contention. Now, I still feel like I get a few wins, get a le, get a few defenses, maybe. So we’ll see.”

A wall of text hits you for 10,000 damage. You die.

[Evan]

A wall of text hits you for 10,000 damage. You die.

^ did not date until after high school.

[desflood]

Practically, but... stole it from probably the only clever person on Sherdog.

[Evan]

Practically, but... stole it from probably the only clever person on Sherdog.

Who needs sherdog when you have.......

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma....splash&forum=1

[desflood]

Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight compe or, Hermes Franca, was arrested last night by the Jupiter Police Department in Jupiter, Fla for a DUI offense as confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by members of the police force on Thursday morning.

Authorities could not release much more information than what was listed on their official police blotter confirming Franca’s arrest.

According to the report, Franca was arrested at 2:38am by an officer who suspected the fighter was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

It was also listed that this was Franca’s first offense.

While officials of the Jupiter Police Department could confirm the arrest, they had no information about his detainment or release from being held from the arrest.


From mmaweekly.com

[LEONARD]

Shonie Carter accidently ended up in Turkey…hahahaha
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma....1367470&page=1
http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/11/...rground-forum/

[LEONARD]

BJ training for GSP (video)
http://mmamania.com/2008/11/05/bj-pe...-ufc-94-fight/

[dbreiden83080]

Well he's lifting but he's still not watching his diet or doing much cardio.. On BJ Penn.com when they follow him around all the time he is always eating some sort of nasty junk food. His face is quite heavy in that video..

[Evan]

Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight compe or, Hermes Franca, was arrested last night by the Jupiter Police Department in Jupiter, Fla for a DUI offense as confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by members of the police force on Thursday morning.

Authorities could not release much more information than what was listed on their official police blotter confirming Franca’s arrest.

According to the report, Franca was arrested at 2:38am by an officer who suspected the fighter was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

It was also listed that this was Franca’s first offense.

While officials of the Jupiter Police Department could confirm the arrest, they had no information about his detainment or release from being held from the arrest.


From mmaweekly.com

Update

**UPDATE** MMA Rated has an update:

Reed Wallace, who represents Franca at the Florida-based White Chocolate Management, told MMARated.com that his client was not under the influence.

“He was very tired when he was driving and was falling asleep at the wheel,” Wallace said. “He did not take any drugs or alcohol.”

Wallace attended last night’s WEC 36 in Hollywood, Fla., with Franca.

“(The police) released him on his on own recognisant,” Wallace said, “which means they probably realized he was not under the influence. If he was, they would have set bail.”

[Evan]

Japanese MMA is such a joke.

Gomi-Kitaoka and Santiago-Misaki le fights headline Sengoku 7

Gomi loses a tournament meant to award the winner a le shot and they still force him into a le shot.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/13187/gomi...7.mma#comments

[dallaskd]

Santiago-Misaki is a good fight though...

[desflood]

Hopefully, this is all purely innocent on Hughes' part (even if I don't like him):

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/11/7...-with-racist-t

[desflood]

If anybody's interested, Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be a guest on mmaweeklyradio tonight.

[Evan]

Hopefully, this is all purely innocent on Hughes' part (even if I don't like him):

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/11/7...-with-racist-t

3 things...

1. I bet he signs 100 t-shirts an hour at mma events and takes 100 pictures.

2. He's a country boy but he isn't an idiot.

3. KOS called him a "white boy" so this could be in response to that.

[Evan]

And here we go..........

Not a big deal.

This photo was taken on April 5th, 2008, when Matt did an appearance at Dale’s Harley-Davidson, in Mt. Vernon, IL. I run Matt’s website and I was there taking pictures of the event. This photo was from early on in the day and some guy brought the shirt to Matt, asked him to sign it and take a picture with it. Matt was on his way to the autograph table, so he signed it and took the picture on the move and I doubt he even looked at the shirt any longer than it took to find a blank space to sign his name. The only reason I remember it so well was I noticed the “SS” symbol and thought to myself, “Uh-oh, this could be a problem.” It was a busy day, so I never brought it up and it seemed like such a small issue as the months went by.

Again, Matt has absolutely no affiliation with this group, he was just asked by a fan to sign the shirt and take the photo and he did. Matt has no connections whatsoever with white supremacist groups.

For more photos from that event, you can see his blog entry about it below:
http://www.matt-hughes.com/blog/2008...rley-davidson/

He’s clearly wearing the same shirt in this photo as he was at that event. If you want to confirm my iden y, you can email me at [email protected]

Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com

by [email protected] on Nov 7, 2008 2:00 PM PST reply reply

[Evan]

We are also aware that the photo is being used by this group on their website as an endorsement of this shirt. We are trying to contact them to remove it immediately and if they do not comply then we will pursue legal action against them.

Not only do we completely disagree with everything they stand for, but this “endorsement” was not obtained in a legal manner, because they are using Matt’s image without permission.

Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com

[Evan]

If nothing else, it shows a slight lack of judgement on your and his part. Right?

by lbk on Nov 7, 2008 2:38 PM PST

yes, it does; but when you consider the sheer number of “third party” shirts, books, pictures, etc. that people bring to Matt to sign, it would be almost impossible to inspect everything that is put in front of him.

by [email protected] on Nov 7, 2008 2:49 PM PST

[Evan]

This story Desflood quoted hs gotten crazy...I suggest everyone read the comments. Good fun.

The website that showed that pic has responded in the comments section..

Matt Hughes is not a racist or a member or supporter of the White Boy Society. Matt Hughes autographed 3 t-shirts for us and then we asked him to stop and pose for a pic for our website which he did then was rushed away to sign more autographs. The picture was taken at Dales-Harley Davidson in Mount Vernon, IL.

This was the one and only time anyone from the White Boy Society had ever met with Matt Hughes. We were proud of our autograph and posted it on our website. So you can end your witch hunt and false accusations about Matt Hughes.

For another thing we are not racist or a supremacy group. Our website does not degrade any other race. We are about pride, heritage and ancestry. Every other race is encouraged to show pride in their race but if white people do it you call us racist.
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You Have Yom Hashoah You have Ma’uled Al-Nabi You have the NAACP. You have BET. If we had WET (White Entertainment Television) . We’d be racists. If we had a White Pride Day .. You would call us racists. If we had White History Month We’d be racists. If we had any organization for only whites to “advance” OUR lives, We’d be racists. We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that? If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships … You know we’d be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US , yet if there were “White colleges” , THAT would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, blacks believed that they were marching For their race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, You would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you’re not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer Shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society . You call him a racist. I am proud white biker. But, you call me a racist.

by White Boy Society on Nov 7, 2008 6:16 PM PST

[Evan]

When last we saw Ortiz, he was at the October 4 EliteXC show announcing that he was going to sign a contract with the organization soon. EliteXC is now finished, but Ortiz isn't finished saying he's close to signing a deal.

In an appearance at last weekend's Rumble in the Park in Fresno (broadcast today on HDNet's Inside MMA), Ortiz said, "It's either going to be with the UFC or it's going to be with Affliction, but guaranteed, you guys will see me fight -- no matter what -- by July."

Ortiz also mentioned that he had back surgery last month, which he deemed successful. He also said it was the same surgery that Nate Quarry had, and Quarry was out of action for 15 months after his back surgery. So Ortiz is very optimistic if he thinks he can guarantee that he'll return just seven months after the surgery.

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^^^via Bloodyelbow

No way do we see him by July if he just had back surgery.

[dbreiden83080]

Yeah no way by July. o is 33 that is not old for MMA. Best for him to stay on the sidelines until he is healthy. Whenever he fights again he has to win and look good. I want to see him back in the UFC but only if he can get himself back to a compe ive level. I was watching some of his old fights recently, and his explosion is just not there like it was. He needs to try and get as healthy as he can.. His name will always get him fights but he has to start winning agian..

[Evan]

Yeah no way by July. o is 33 that is not old for MMA. Best for him to stay on the sidelines until he is healthy. Whenever he fights again he has to win and look good. I want to see him back in the UFC but only if he can get himself back to a compe ive level. I was watching some of his old fights recently, and his explosion is just not there like it was. He needs to try and get as healthy as he can..

Could not agree more. Why shouldn't he stay on the sidelines for a year...

There are so many things he can do to keep his name in the media as long as he doesn't just use it as a platform to complain about money. 10/10 times the athlete loses that argument with the fans unless its a massive injustice.

..........he has to start winning agian..

Assuming he can at least get 80% healthy I don't see any reason why he can't! I would love to see him start kicking butt. As much as Dana publicly doesn't like o I guarantee he would love to see it too.

[Evan]

o on Inside MMA......

Dude's hair is a few inches long and he looks like a frosted tip version of Eddie Munster..

Oh and Jason Von Flue is still fighting and got liver kicked. give.it.up

Desflood if y'all are still cable free you can subscribe to inside mma on itunes and see highlights and some full length shows. Very cool.

[dallaskd]

Or just watch Inside MMA on sherdog

[djohn14]

Paulo Filho has agreed to vacate the WEC Middleweight le after his unanimous-decision loss to Chael Sonnen at WEC 36. Filho's manager, Ed Soares, has confirmed that Filho plans on shipping the le to Sonnen as soon as possible. The fight was scheduled to be for the le, however Filho failed to make weight so it was changed to a three round non- le fight. Filho had promised Sonnen before the fight that if Sonnen won, Filho would give him the le.

[dbreiden83080]

Picked up UFC 86 on DVD today and it is excellent. 2 discs, great bonus features, behind the scenes, they threw in the countdown show, plus i love that event itself. Page and Forrest easily one of the best MMA fights ever.. Highly recommend picking it up..