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Georges St-Pierre Feeling Disrespected by Nick Diaz Leading Up to UFC 137
Posted: August 20, 2011 in Uncategorized
When Georges St-Pierre faces Nick Diaz at UFC 137, the bout could well be considered the first UFC champion versus Strikeforce champion “superfight.”
True, Diaz will have relinquished his Strikeforce welterweight crown to fight St-Pierre, but why get hung up on semantics?
Diaz had run through the Strikeforce welterweight division and had few options left with the promotion after his technical knockout win over Paul Daley in April of this year.
The win gave Diaz a 10-fight winning streak and left him considering taking a boxing match rather than continuing his MMA career, due to the fact that he felt underpaid for his efforts in the cage.
The boxing talk was put to rest in June when it was announced that Diaz had signed a contract to fight St-Pierre, a fighter that Diaz had been asking to compete against for some time.
For his part, St-Pierre has also been seen as a fighter that, with a few exceptions, has cleaned out his weight division.
St-Pierre’s style has been to find his opponent’s weakness and exploit that weakness. Some fans have called the style boring, while others say it is simply smart to fight in that manner.
On the other hand, Diaz’s style is exactly the opposite of St-Pierre’s. He attempts to fight to his opponent’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.
In his bout against Paul Daley, a noted striker, Diaz went in and stood toe-to-toe with Daley, enduring some scary moments before finishing Daley at the end of the first round. Whether the style is used as a test of his talents, or if he’s just plain cocky, is up for debate.
Diaz and St-Pierre’s styles are not the only thing that are diametrically opposed; their personalities are as well.
St-Pierre is calculated in his speech, Diaz is unfiltered. St-Pierre participates in interviews as if they are just another part of his job, Diaz is aloof at best and confrontational at worst during his.
However, one thing they do share is the fact that every MMA fan has an opinion on them, their styles and their personalities.
St-Pierre took part in the UFC on FOX press conference on Thursday, August 18 in Los Angeles.
Following the presser, he spoke to MMAWeekly about his upcoming fight with Diaz. During the interview, St-Pierre addressed some of the words that Diaz had thrown in his direction and claimed that he felt a bit disrespected by him.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
UFC Going Mainstream Means Heavier Scrutiny, But Will It Change Their Act?
Posted: August 19, 2011 in UncategorizedDuarte gets big win over Gurgel, Healy wins too at Strikeforce Challengers 18
Posted: August 19, 2011 in Uncategorized
Jorge Gurgel’s been involved some of the best donnybrooks in recent memory. Tonight in Las Vegas, he tried a more measured approach but it backfired against a more precise striker in Joe Duarte. Duarte got the nod from all three judges, 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28, on his way to unanimous decision in the main of Strikeforce Challengers 18 in Las Vegas at the Palms Casino Resort.
Duarte (10-2) was expected to explode onto the scene back in 2008, but caught a bad draw on Season 8 of “The Ultimate Fighter” when he met Phillipe Nover in the round of 16 at lightweight. Nover, who eventually stormed to the finals of TUF 8, beat Duarte via choke and dumped him from the show. Twenty-five at the time, Duarte went back to work and rebuilt his reputation. Tonight, was a nice coming out party on Showtime in his Strikeforce debut.
Gurgel, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, decided to engage in a standup battle. Duarte took a few minutes to loosen up, but once he did he busted up Gurgel’s face behind a solid jab. His counters with the right hook and uppercuts hurt Gurgel. Duarte also scored four takedowns in the fight to score with the judges.
Gurgel is 14-8 and 2-3 with Strikeforce. An alum of TUF 2, Gurgel also fought seven times for the UFC.
Healy has to work for win No. 27
At Thursdays weigh-in, Pat Healy looked like a giant standing in front of Eric Wisely. Most in attendance were expecting Healy, with 43 pro fights under his belt to manhandle his opponent, but that’s not what Wisely had in mind. Healy won via unanimous decision, but Wisely made him work every step of the way.
For Healy it was his second straight win and he’s now 7-2 at lightweight. The 28-year-old has turned the corner after toiling for a longtime at welterweight against a tough slate of opponents. His experienced came through tonight against Wisely, who was in constant motion the entire fight.
Healy used his size to get the fight to the ground in all three rounds. Once he got on top, he had massive trouble settling Wisely into a manageable position. In the first, Wisely threated with an armbar and Healy never really got off. The next round was Healy’s best as he finally got to side control. In the final round, it was much of the same and Wisely fought hard from his back. Wisely is truly a featherweight, but he did enough against a big lightweight to warrant another shot with Zuffa.
Reports are emerging that UFC and FOX have made a deal.
In what would represent a major push into the mainstream for the UFC, Fox has agreed to a deal that will see the broadcast channel air as many as four MMA events per year, according to several sources. The multiyear deal would mark the first time the UFC will have consistent airtime on a broadcast network. Fox execs refused to comment on the deal, but sources with knowledge of the negotiations said bidding had gone as high as $90M per year. The Fox deal is believed to be for seven or eight years. As part of the deal, most of the weekly programming that UFC has on Versus and Spike TV will move to FX starting in January. That includes several fight cards, plus shows like the reality series “The Ultimate Fighter.” Fox-owned Fuel also will wind up with some UFC content. But rumors that Fox will rebrand Fuel as a UFC channel are not true, sources said.
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The UFC’s talks with Viacom-owned Spike ended before that. Sources said Spike ultimately passed over concern that its UFC shoulder programming stopped growing. Shows like “Unleashed,” “Knockouts” and “Countdown” averaged 1 million viewers in ’05. This year, they are averaging 492,000.
UFC’s Tito Ortiz: Potential Matchups for “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy”
Posted: August 18, 2011 in UncategorizedAt UFC 132, Tito Ortiz (16-9-1) proved to the world that he has plenty of fight left in him when he dismantled Ryan Bader.
After dropping Bader with a crushing right hand, Ortiz quickly secured a fight-ending guillotine submission.
Ortiz’ first-round submission victory helped him in returning to the win column, and he did so in impressive fashion.
When multiple injuries to main event fighters at UFC 133 left a void, Ortiz accepted UFC President Dana White‘s offer to headline the event opposite Rashad Evans.
Ortiz took the fight on short notice and appeared well-prepared for the matchup.
However, 35 days between fights proved to be too much when facing a No. 1 contender in Evans.
With Ortiz’ record now standing at 1-1 in 2011, speculation has been made as to who the former light heavyweight champion should face in his next trip to the Octagon.
Provided are a few potential matchups for “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy”.
MMAjunkie.com Radio: Brendan Schaub, Ricco Rodriguez, Frank Trigg, Joey Varner
Posted: August 18, 2011 in Uncategorized
MMAjunkie.com Radio today welcomes to the show UFC 134 competitor Brendan Schaub and Bellator 48 fighter Ricco Rodriguez.
We’re also joined in studio by MMA veteran and BAMMA 7 headliner Frank Trigg, and Xtreme Couture coach Joey Varner co-hosts the second part of the show.
MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from 12-2 p.m. ET (9-11 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio, or watch it live on select television markets as part of Fight Now TV.
Stephen Vaughan promoted fightnight at Greenbank Leisure Centre Liverpool.
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