Category: News (Page 3 of 40)

After loss to Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen should call it a career

April 28, 2013 / Drew Ellis

null Chael Sonnen has done a good job running his mouth, but now, his mouth may not be able to support his fighting career.

After losing to Anderson Silva in an underwhelming performance back at UFC 148, Sonnen was stopped in 4:33 against UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, on Saturday night at UFC 159.

Sonnen didn’t really deserve a title fight in the first place. He hadn’t fought at 205 pounds in the UFC in over six years, yet somehow got an immediate title fight with Jones.

Sonnen can sell a fight, but even his promos are outdated and tiresome. If you really want to know where Chael Sonnen gets his material, watch tapes of pro wrestling from the 90s.

I will give credit to Sonnen for being one of the best at 185 pounds, but he had no business competing against Jones on Saturday night, and with an unimpressive loss in the first round, he finds himself without any direction for his career.

A rematch with Silva isn’t in the cards and he certainly isn’t going to talk his way into a rematch with Jones after failing to put forth much offense on Saturday night.

Sonnen should do what he does best and that is sell fights, but not for himself, for the UFC. He should stick to being a broadcaster and realize that he had a successful career, despite not winning a title.

Events, Fighters, News, Results, UFC

185 pounds 205 pounds Anderson Silva Chael Sonnen Jon Jones Jones vs. Sonnen MMA Silva vs. Sonnen top 10 light heavyweights top 10 middleweights UFC UFC 148 UFC 159 ufc light heavyweight championship UFC Middleweight Championship Ultimate Fighting Championship

An interview with UFC President Dana White

April 17, 2013 / Drew Ellis

As I mentioned yesterday, I had the chance to do an interview with UFC President Dana White on Tuesday afternoon to discuss this week’s UFC on FOX 7 event.

You can read the entire interview, which was done for Bullz-Eye.com, here.

Below are a few excerpts from the interview:

One of the things I was really excited about with this deal with FOX was being able to bring big fights back to free television. That has always been my goal since we bought this company. Coming off “The Ultimate Fighter” finale last weekend, every fight was sick, it was an amazing finale. We pulled 1.7 million viewers. We were the highest-rated thing on network and cable television with males 18-34. This fight on FOX is going to be a big one. Ben Henderson is defending his lightweight title again, this time against Gilbert Melendez, who is probably the toughest guy at 155 pounds that has never had a shot in the UFC. Everybody thinks this guy might be the best in the world, so we are going to find out on Saturday.

I have been thrilled with the Strikeforce fighters. A lot of bad stuff happened at Strikeforce. A lot of guys didn’t get paid for a while and these guys are hungry. First of all, they are happy to be back fighting and getting paid to do it. These guys want to prove to the world that they can fight and become the best in the world. The UFC is the place to do that. These guys have been fighting like maniacs, and I love it.

Events, Fighters, News, Strikeforce, UFC

Benson Henderson Cat Zingano Dana White Daniel Cormier Frank Mir Glibert Melendez Henderson vs. Melendez Josh Thomson Miesha Tate MMA Nate Diaz Ronda Rousey Strikeforce UFC UFC on FOX UFC on FOX 7 UFC President

UFC President Dana White sounds off on Boston Marathon attack

April 17, 2013 / Drew Ellis

null UFC President Dana White is a busy man, but he is passionate about the things he cares about.

With the UFC set to hold its seventh event on FOX this Saturday (its third of four events in April alone), I had the chance to speak with him for an interview for Bullz-Eye.com.

The interview will come out later this week, but I wanted to post White’s thoughts on what happened on Monday at the Boston Marathon. White previously lived in Boston and is a known supporter of the Boston pro-sports teams.

“It really bummed me out because when the city that you lived in gets attacked like that….you know, you think about when I lived there, we used to watch the race all the time, we would walk up and down Newbury Street. It was just a disgustingly, cowardly act. It makes me sick. To attack a race like that, where people have trained to run this thing from all over the world and their friends and family are waiting at the finish line for them, it’s just so (expletive) cowardly that it makes me sick. The one thing about the city of Boston and the United States as a whole, it’s one of those things where people will all come together, just like 9/11, and the city will bounce back. It’s just unfortunate that….not to mention that it’s the most popular marathon in the world and the oldest marathon in this country, to just do something like that is just….ugh. I can’t even put it into words without going crazy and sounding like an absolute psycho.”

I will post the rest of the interview with White later in the week.

Events, News, UFC, Uncategorized

Boston Boston Attacks Boston Marathon Dana White MMA UFC UFC on FOX UFC on FOX 7 UFC President

Women’s MMA is stealing the show in the UFC

April 13, 2013 / Drew Ellis

null Dana White once stated that he’d never have a women’s bout in the octagon that is the UFC.

White didn’t feel there was a market there.

Not only is there a market in women’s MMA, but the market is rising at a very fast pace.

Ronda Rousey put the women on the map in the UFC with her win over Liz Carmouche in the main event of UFC 157 in February. Though the fight went just one round, it was exciting from start to finish and featured great grappling and striking.

On Saturday, in the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 17, the UFC held its second women’s bout, with Miesha Tate taking on Cat Zingano.

These two bantamweights put on an even better show than Rousey and Carmouche did, going nearly 15 minutes before Zingano finished Tate with an impressive flurry of knees and elbows.

The crowd was electric for the fight, knowing the winner would face Rousey next and get a spot coaching against Rousey in The Ultimate Fighter Season 18. The two battled it out on the feet and on the ground for the entire duration of the fight. Each showed tremendous skills and a determination to win.

When the fight ended, it felt like the fans and viewers had just witnessed the main event. It is clear that the fans appreciate a good fight, and the women have been giving the fans great fights.

White isn’t stupid either. He is trying to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the women’s bantamweight division by having Rousey and Zingano coach TUF next season. With Rousey already pulling in over 400,000 pay-per-view buys, and Zingano stealing the show Saturday night, there is a lot of evidence that the UFC should look to expand its women’s crop to more divisions.

The women have showed an aggression that has been lacking in some of the marquee men’s fights as of late. The fans always want to see two fighters leave it all in the cage, and the women are doing exactly that.

I personally am excited to see upcoming women’s bouts because the bar has been set very high by Rousey and Zingano.

Events, Fighters, News, Results, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC

Cat Zingano Dana White Liz Carmouche Miesha Tate Ronda Rousey Rousey vs. Carmouche Rousey vs. Zingano Tate vs. Zingano UFC UFC 157 Ultimate Fighter women’s MMA Women’s UFC

UFC cancels UFC 151, conveniently puts all blame on Jon Jones

August 23, 2012 / Staff

null In case you have been under a rock today, UFC 151 has been cancelled.

The short story is Dan Henderson injured his knee and couldn’t fight next Saturday, prompting the UFC to offer Jon Jones a replacement opponent of Chael Sonnen. Jones, after speaking with his team, declined to take the fight on such short notice.

So, the UFC, instead of finding a new main event, or just running with the card they setup sans the main event, decided to just axe the event altogether.

In the process, they completely threw the light heavyweight champion under the bus.

Normally, I am on Dana White’s side of things. He is a hot head, no doubt, but he usually tells it like it is.

However, blaming Jones for the canceling of an event is simply a convenient way to take the blame off of himself and the UFC.

First off, canceling an entire UFC event is a big deal. It impacts the fighters, the venue, the host city and those that would be working the event.

Many fighters rely on a small paycheck from fighting on the under card simply to make ends meet. Due to the UFC’s venom spewed at Jones, many of those fighters are now taking their anger and frustration out on the champion as well.

But, let’s all take a deep breath and take into consideration two things:

Events, Fighters, News, UFC

Chael Sonnen Dan Henderson Dana White Jon Jones Jones vs. Henderson mma events mma light heavyweights UFC 151 UFC events ufc light heavyweight championship ufc light heavyweights