Brock is Back! – ESPN Interview

January 21st, 2010

@DanaWhite: BROCK IS BACK!!!!!!!!
- via Twitter this morning

UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar did an interview with Dana White on ESPN’s Sports Center to talk about his health scare. A hole in his stomach threatened his career, but he’s back and ready to defend his belt against the winner of the Shane Carwin v Frank Mir fight on March 27th.

Overheard on Twitter

@ElixThexAce: @ShaneCarwin You want to fight Brock more than any other HW including Frank Mir?

@ShaneCarwin: @ElixThexAce yes he is the first opponenent I ever looked forward to punching in the mouth.

Frankie Edgar Next in Line to Fight BJ Penn

January 13th, 2010

In a recent interview, Dana White told MMA Fighting that Frankie Edgar would challenge BJ Penn for the title.

Check out MMASucka.com’s Interview with Frankie Edgar (full audio).

The fight is likely to happen at UFC 112.

If you’re gonna fight BJ, you gotta be the best you can, so I’m just trying to improve my skills all around…
- Frankie Edgar

Top MMA Stories

January 12th, 2010

Get inside the stories, connect the dots. This regular blog roundup series shows you the big-picture of the hottest MMA news.

UFC Fight Night 20 Results

More judging controversy erupted over the Aaron Simpson win vs Tom Lawlor. Either way, they each walked away with a $30,000 fight of the night bonus.

@JoeLauzon Congrats to Aaron Simpson but I thought @lawlormma won that fight! Rd 2 decided it… But I thought Tom had it! #UFC #MMA
- Joe Lauzon via Twitter

Probably in the next year, year and a half, we’ll bring a big pay-per-view there.
- Dana White

After his win at Fight Night 20, will Gray Maynard be next in line to challenge BJ Penn?

According to Sports Illlustrated’s Josh Gross via Twitter:

@5thRound Edgar’s management said nothing was done, and Maynard’s performance could determine opponent. I’m hearing it’s Edgar regardless.

WEC Results

Legal MMA in New York? It’s Only a Matter of Time

There’s a lot of talk about legalizing full contact fighting in New York, a lot of it spurred by this film:

Georges St. Pierre, Olympics and UFC 111

For all the talk flying around the blogs, GSP is playing down his Olympic ambitions and focusing on his upcoming fight against Dan Hardy at UFC 111. It sounds like an Olympic push is unlikely for the time being.

Rashad Evans Controversy

I have never seen Evans, or some of the other fighters that are supposed black belts, actually show us a glimpse of this technical ability. The ability to pass guard and set up submissions is something we have never seen from Rashad.
- Reverend Turk Vangel

I don’t really feel that I owe this explanation to anyone. Rashad is a talented athlete and a world-class wrestler and the transition from wrestling to jiu-jitsu was natural for him. I can only speak about my training with him, but of course his jiu-jitsu training began long before our work together.
- Rolles Gracie

TUF 11 News

More Dana White

Rampage Jackson

Quinton Jackson got three years probation for leading cops on a chase through Southern California when he hit rock bottom after losing his title to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86. This news broke after he took time out of fighting to play an important role in The A-Team movie.

I will never see that judge in a courtroom again. … I don’t see myself doing anything crazy again. … I want to be a positive role model.
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Other MMA News

UFC’s Dana White and James Toney Meeting Video

January 10th, 2010
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Here’s what really happened in the meeting with Dana white and James Toney. From my perspective, it sounds like Dana is giving Toney an opportunity to be taken seriously. Questions like “Have you ever been kicked in the leg?” are feeling out his preparedness to go toe-to-toe with a full contact fighter.

I don’t see any evidence here that Toney is really prepared for this challenge. Is Toney’s handler really under the misguided impression that a boxer can be prepared to defend himself competently against a kick boxer or a real take-down and submission artist, or ground-and-pound master in only three months?

If Toney has been training with a competent MMA camp – I want to hear about it.

MMA Blog Roundup

January 6th, 2010

To say that the past week or two has been busy for MMA news and blog discussion would be an understatement.

With several major events, including the Fighters Only World MMA Awards, and UFC 108 (click that link for results) featuring a much talked about “Cursed” fightcard, the rumor mills have been buzzing, and bloggers have been blogging like crazy. Just in case you couldn’t keep up (who has the time to wade through hundreds of great posts?) we here at FightCaps have brought you some of our favorites.

Unlike most fans, we eat, sleep, and drink MMA full-time, and our boss doesn’t yell at us when we get caught reading MMA Blogs. So here you go. Hopefully we can boil down all the news so you don’t get in trouble at work. Well, actually, we are probably just going to suck you deeper into your MMA blog addiction, but if the boss comes around, here are some double-leg takedown techniques to get you out of hot water.

UFC 108

 

Future Fights

UFC 11 Poster

 

Final Round

We’re not done, yet. Here are some other interesting posts and rumors. Apparently the UFC hasn’t learned anything from the Music industry’s failed attempts to sue customers into submission on the piracy front. A message to Dana White – instead of suing, make it easier to legitimately purchase content online, and put the same budget into marketing that. You’ll see much better results. Look at how bands are bypassing traditional major label channels to sell content directly to consumers online. Some are having huge success, and banking in the box office.

Here’s an idea: Team up with digital movie theaters to broadcast live PPV events around the globe, sell online live PPV to anybody with an internet connection, release the undercard fights FREE via YouTube and other online outlets, and sell digital downloads of the feature fights after the event is over. Wrap it all up with a box set collector’s edition featuring DVD, poster, and commentary for fans who want merch to remember the event. Then rake in the cash when all the free online content pulls more fans into the live events next time around.

If you’re still not satisfied, check out Sherdog’s Weekly Wrap: Dec 26 -Jan1.

Did I miss your favorite blog or your favorite recent post? Post a comment… I’m tapping out for now…