Sunne MuayThai

UFC Quick Quote: Michael Bisping would 'definitely' beat Chael Sonnen in five-round fight
04/18/2012
"I think Chael will out-wrestle Anderson and beat him this time, and then I'll get the rematch with Chael considering how close our fight was. If I had Chael over five rounds, I'd definitely beat him. In that last fight, I'd have stopped him in the fourth for sure. He was spent after trying to submit me in that third round. Towards the end of that round I was raining down shots on him."

– Speaking to Your MMA, England's most popular mixed martial arts (MMA) export and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 winner, Michael Bisping, believes he would have defeated Chael Sonnen at the conclusion of their UFC on Fox 2: "Evans vs. Davis" co-main event battle this past January if he had two more rounds with which to work. Sonnen defeated "The Count" via unanimous decision in a very close affair, which earned the top 185-pound contender his long-awaited rematch against bitter rival and current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Bisping hopes to get another crack at the sharp-tongued trash talker if he defeats Tim Boetsch at UFC 148 and if Sonnen indeed gets past "The Spider" at UFC 147 on June 23, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bisping, for one, believes that Sonnen has what it takes to defeat Anderson, should he choose to utilize his wrestling skills, much like he did in their first encounter at UFC 117. Sonnen came up short in his quest for gold as Silva submitted him with less than two minutes remaining in the contest. Bisping also believes that the outcome of a rematch between he and Sonnen will be different, too. Anyone (dis)agree?

UFC 145 fight card: Miguel Torres vs Michael McDonald preview
04/18/2012
Two of the UFC's top bantamweights will wage war this Saturday night (April 21, 2012) as former WEC champion Miguel Torres battles top prospect Michael McDonald on the UFC 145 main card in Atlanta, Georgia.
Miguel Torres is the former WEC bantamweight champion and is trying to regain that glory. He's gone 2-1 since signing up with the UFC but has yet to really leave a noticeable mark in the promotion, even briefly being released for some twitter mismanagement. In McDonald, "Angel" sees a tremendous opportunity to leap back into elite status if he can perform like he's capable.
Michael McDonald is one of the youngest and most promising talents in the UFC. Still just 21 years old, he's got serious power in his hands and has that terrific well-rounded game to fall back on. He's worked his way up and now is ready for the big-time. This is his first big shot at taking it to the next level.
Will Torres finally be able to get back in title contention? Can McDonald take the leap into the top rungs of the division? What's the key to victory for both solid bantamweights on Saturday night?
Let's find out:

Miguel Torres
Record: 40-4 overall, 2-1 in the UFC
Key Wins: Takeya Mizugaki (WEC 40), Nick Pace (UFC 139), Antonio Banuelos (UFC 126)
Key Losses: Joseph Benavidez (WEC 47), Demetrious Johnson (UFC 130), Brian Bowles (WEC 42)
How he got here: Miguel Torres got his start on the local Indiana circuit where he beat the ever-living tar out of everyone in his path. He got off to a ridiculous 31-1 record before ever leaving the state and avenged his only loss to Ryan Ackerman. During this period, he sought out Carlson Gracie and became one of his top proteges, earning a black belt which only added to his legend at the time.
Torres finally fought in the WEC where he dominated early, defeating champion Chase Beebe for the title and then defending the strap three times which had him in consideration for the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Unfortunately, the powerful Brian Bowles stopped the Torres hype train in its tracks and then a follow-up submission defeat at the hands of Joseph Benavidez put the now-former champ in a career crisis.
The Mexican-American fighter left his Indiana gym to train at TriStar in Montreal, and while the gameplans helped him bounce back with two straight wins, they also took away his infamous tenacity. He dropped a close decision to Demetrious Johnson last summer and after defeating Nick Pace in a bounce-back fight, he would be cut from the promotion for an insensitive post on twitter.
Torres apologized and was brought back into the fold and now he's being rewarded with a very high-profile fight this weekend.
How he gets it done: Torres needs to use his best natural advantages in this fight. He's one of the tallest (5'9) and has the longest reaches (76") in the UFC bantamweight division, although he takes away some of that with how he hunches over during his fights. "Angel" has been putting some time in working his jab at TriStar Gym in Montreal and if he can establish it early against McDonald, he can keep his youthful opponent at bay and set up stronger attacks later in the fight.
A big here will be for Torres to take what McDonald gives him and try not to force anything. His biggest failings have come when he's tried to hard and left huge openings, most notably against Bowles. McDonald has some serious power in his fists and if Torres doesn't utilize his range effectively, he's going to be able to get inside and connect with power.
If the fight does get inside, Torres needs to utilize his elite grappling skills. He's been working his wrestling the hardest of everything so hopefully he can use that knowledge to stay on top instead of working from bottom as he seems to be so accustomed to. If he does find himself on bottom, Torres needs to work his sweeps instead of his submissions as it's unlikely he catches the very wary McDonald from his guard.
Michael McDonald
Record: 14-1 overall, 3-0 in the UFC
Key Wins: Chris Cariaso (UFC 130), Alex Soto (UFC 139), Edwin Figueroa (UFC Fight Night 24)
Key Losses: Cole Escovedo (PFC 13)
How he got here: Michael McDonald got off to an incredible early start in his mixed martial arts career. He debuted professionally in 2007 at just 16 years old and crushed everyone in his path. In his first year, he went 6-0 with six first round stoppage victories. This earned him a step up in competition although it may have been too much, too fast as he suffered his first career defeat at the hands of former WEC champion Cole Escovedo.
"Mayday" bounced back by defeating former WEC title challenger Manny Tapia and then avenging his loss to Escovedo, knocking both men out while fighting for the Tachi Palace promotion.
He made his WEC debut at just 19 years old, earning a victory over Clint Godfrey via submission in the first round and the hype really starting building. He had a rough go of it in his first two UFC bouts, winning hard-fought decisions over lesser competition although he got back on track at UFC 139 with a blistering clean 56 second knockout of Alex Soto.
Now he's geared up for what is by far the biggest test of his career.
How he gets it done: While McDonald is very well-rounded, it's his hands which are going to be the difference in this fight. Miguel Torres is better than him in terms of submissions and sweeps on the ground so I wouldn't recommend him taking the fight there unless he hurts "Angel" first.
McDonald has serious power in both fists and he's got a very quick first step. The biggest key for him is to find a way to get inside Torres' reach and connect solidly on the former champion's jaw. Footwork is going to be incredibly important as McDonald already has speed, so it'll be all about position.
I don't expect Torres to be winging haymakers, but if McDonald can sidestep a big straight right, cut inside and blast Torres with his power, that could be all he needs. This is a huge fight for him so if he has Torres hurt even the slightest, he needs to go for broke and get that finish.
Fight X-Factor: The biggest X-Factor for this fight is how the bright lights are going to affect McDonald. He looked great in his last fight with the first minute knockout, but he was a bit shaky in his first two Octagon appearances. This is such a tremendous opportunity and the stage is so big that there are serious concerns that the pressure of the moment and the leap in competition could get to him.
Torres isn't at the same level he once was, but he's definitely no joke. McDonald needs to be at his absolute best if he is to beat the former WEC champion and if he allows the significance of the fight to affect him in the slightest, it could be his undoing.
Bottom Line: Torres hasn't been the most exciting fighter in the past year, but McDonald is the type of opponent that is really going to push him. "Mayday" is not going to sit on the outside and get jabbed to death like Antonio Banuelos. He's not going to defend submissions for 15 minutes like Demetrious Johnson and he's not going to miss weight and look sluggish like Nick Pace. This is a talented young man who's going to bring it to Torres and force him to battle it out for up to 15 minutes. I have a very good feeling about this fight.
Who will come out on top at UFC 145? Tell us your predictions in the comments below!

Poll
Which bantamweight will enter title contention with a victory on the UFC 145 main card this Saturday night?

Michael McDonald

Miguel Torres

  6 votes | Results

Värm upp med asiatiska Champions League
04/18/2012
Värm upp inför kvällens semifinal i Champions League med att se och spela på den asiatiska varianten under för- och eftermiddagen. Unibet direktsänder en hel radda matcher. Bara att logga in i bettingklienten för att se och spela live på matcherna!

UFC Quick Quote: Jon Jones will fight any 'weak-hearted' steroid abuser any day
04/17/2012
"I've never seen anyone here at Jackson's MMA participate in any type of steroid use. I don't know anybody on our team that could possibly be taking steroids. And as far as Alistair Overeem, that's really his problem. Steroids is unfortunately a part of all sports and he was just the one that got caught…. It's really not my world, I'll compete against someone on steroids any day. I believe in some cases that people who abuse steroids have weakness in their hearts, you know, they don't believe in working hard. I'm not against steroids, I think in some cases you need steroids, like if you're an older gentlemen, or you have some type of illness or something like that, but when an athlete abuses it, I mean that's their business."

– The hot topic over the last few weeks, other than the highly-anticipated Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans title fight at UFC 145 this weekend (April, 21, 2012), has undoubtedly been steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), thanks in large part to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and his failed pre-fight random drug test. Though the majority of critics and fighters who aren't on any PEDs feel that anyone using illegal substances has an unfair advantage, UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones views it as a weakness and he has no qualms taking advantage of said weakness by fighting them anytime, anywhere, as he recently told Cagepotato.com. A steroid-free "Bones" isn't completely against steroids, as long as it's for a medical reason and the individual is knocking on senior citizen status. Athletes doing it, however, is a whole other deal, and at the end of the day, it's their business and their problem. Anyone surprised by the reigning 205-pound champion's non-hesitation and willingness to step up against steroid abusing fighters?

UFC 145 fight card: Mark Hominick vs Eddie Yagin preview
04/17/2012
Two battle-tested veterans will duke it out in the featherweight division this Saturday night (April 21, 2012) as former title challenger Mark Hominick takes on Hawaiian Eddie Yagin on the UFC 145 main card in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hominick is now far-removed from his dramatic UFC 129 performance against Jose Aldo where he nearly stole the show in the fifth round and is now reeling after an embarrassing seven second knockout loss at the hands of "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung last December. He needs this victory to get back on track perhaps more than in any fight in his MMA career.
Eddie Yagin had a strong run to earn his invite into the UFC, but he certainly didn't show it in his debut last September, dropping a complete snorefest to Junior Assuncao in Denver. If he wants to stick around in the promotion, he's going to have to prove he can be considerably more exciting than that and there's better way to prove it than against a high caliber opponent like Hominick.
Will "The Machine" terminate Yagin's UFC career? Or will "The Filipino Phenom" continue Hominick's streak of horrible luck? What's the key to victory for both men this Saturday night?
Let's find out:
Mark Hominick
Record: 20-10 overall, 3-2 in the UFC
Key Wins: George Roop (UFC Fight for the Troops 2), Leonard Garcia (WEC 51), Yves Jabouin (WEC 49)
Key Losses: Jose Aldo (UFC 129), Chan Sung Jung (UFC 140), Hatsu Hioki 2x (TKO 28, TKO 25)
How he got here: Mark Hominick got his start fighting on the local Canadian circuit and was the featherweight king, winning and defending the TKO featherweight title a total of four times. He put himself on the radar when he upset top five lightweight Yves Edwards in his UFC debut.
The Canadian would stumble against grappling experts, Hatsu Hioki, Rani Yahya and Josh Grispi and after over a year away from the sport, "The Machine" came back with the vengeance of The Terminator. He ripped through the WEC featherweight division with a four fight winning streak that included the likes of current UFC fighters Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin and Leonard Garcia.
Hominick would crush training partner George Roop in less than 90 seconds with a ferocious TKO to set up a title fight with Jose Aldo at UFC 129 earlier this year. Despite getting leveled early and suffering from perhaps one of the worst hematomas of all time, he battled back and won the fifth round convincingly. He lost his title shot, but his comeback spirit won over a plethora of new fans and he took home a $129,000 "Fight of the Night" bonus.
In his Octagon return, however, he was destroyed by Chan Sung Jung in just seven seconds after losing his composure with his opening attack. He desperately needs to get back on track against Yagin on Saturday night.
How he gets it done: Hominick needs to learn from his last fight and go back to what has always worked for him, which is being a composed and technical striker. He rushed in recklessly and paid the price.
Hominick is a battle-tested veteran of the sport and he's mastered one part of his game, his boxing. He has crisp hands and his pure punching prowess is on the level with any featherweight in the world right now. As long as he can utilize proper footwork, he should be able to pick Yagin, but he can't lose his composure.
"The Machine" needs to get this fight where he has the most potential to do damage, and that's up close and personal. If he can keep this fight in the pocket, he will have the perfect opportunity to inflict damage to the head or body with his powerful precision striking.
He needs to take what Yagin gives him in this fight and if Yagin is content to stay on the outside and be passive, then simply pushing forward cautiously and working from the outside is more than enough. What he can't afford to do is dive in again.
Eddie Yagin
Record: 15-5-1 overall, 0-1 in the UFC
Key Wins: Joe Soto (Tachi Palace Fights 10), Casey Olson (PFC 13)
Key Losses: Junior Assuncao (UFC 135), Rich Clementi (XC 2)
How he got here: A native of Hilo, Hawaii, Eddie Yagin has been fighting for nearly 12 years now believe it or not. He won the first eight fights of his professional career before bigger opportunities came calling. Unfortunately, he was not able to be successful in those big opportunities, going on a four fight stretch with three losses and a draw against higher level competition. His last loss to Rich Clementi during that streak was very disheartening for him.
Yagin wouldn't fight for nearly two years, but when he returned, he came back with a fury, winning five straight with four stoppages before again coming up short against WEC veteran Diego Saraiva.
Undeterred, "The Filipino Phenom" bounced back with two first round stoppages including a very impressive guillotine choke submission of original Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto this past August. That victory earned him a trip to the UFC, although he was extremely hesitant in his promotional debut against Junior Assuncao, losing an extremely lackluster decision to the Brazilian.
Now, he'll likely be fighting for his UFC life as he takes on former title challenger Mark Hominick.
How he gets it done: Yagin has a nice well-rounded skillset with five knockouts, five submission and five decisions on his resume. As evidenced in his fight with Soto, he's got power in both hands, even when backed up against the fence and he's got some respectable offensive submission skills if he can spot an opening.
Yagin needs to take some initiative from his bout against Assuncao and be the aggressor this time. He was extremely tentative in that fight to the point of extreme frustration. If he hadn't stepped up on short notice to take the fight, he'd likely be cut already. If he doesn't step it up against Hominick, he's going to be unemployed in a heartbeat.
Yagin needs to turn this fight into a slugfest. Bring the excitement up a notch and force Hominick to make a mistake like he did in his last fight against the Korean Zombie. If Hominick leaves an opening in the stand-up, Yagin is powerful enough to make him pay.
Also, Hominick has had his issues with strong submission fighters in the past and while I don't view Yagin as a big submission threat, he has the skills to take advantage if he rocks "The Machine" in the stand-up department.
Fight X-Factor: The biggest X-Factor for this fight is all about Mark Hominick and where he is mentally. There is a ton of pressure on the stable of Team Tompkins fighters to get that first victory and it hasn't happened yet. Sam Stout lost a close decision, Horodecki had a draw and was recently destroyed by Mike Richman after dropping to featherweight and now Hominick went and nearly set a UFC record for being the quickest person knocked out.
Hominick made a huge mistake in his last fight, rushing forward and throwing a power shot with his first strike, thus leaving him wide open to being knocked out. He has to settle down and not let the pressure of getting that victory get to him. If he's there mentally, he should win this fight no problem, but as we've seen, the lack of Shawn Tompkins has left a huge gaping hole for those three men. Will Hominick be the one to break the streak?
Bottom Line: I have no idea how this fight is going to turn out. Yagin put on an absolute snoozer in his last performance. Hominick has reason to be less aggressive here as he walked right into a knockout the last time around as well. There's potential that this fight could be fun as both men are capable on the feet, but I just have a ton of question marks here. Yagin is fighting for his UFC life and might be doing the patented "fight not to lose" strategy while Hominick may be gunshy after being on the end of a near record-breaking KO loss. I'll keep my hopes up but I'm not making any promises.
Who will come out on top at UFC 145? Tell us your predictions in the comments below!

Poll
Who will be the last featherweight standing on the UFC 145 main card this Saturday night?

Mark Hominick

Eddie Yagin

  3 votes | Results

Buried Alive: UFC 145 heavyweight Chad Griggs interview exclusive with (Part one)
04/18/2012
Chad Griggs is a very interesting case.
The Arizona native was brought in as a sacrificial lamb at Strikeforce: Houston in 2010 against Bobby Lashley, a former collegiate standout and WWE champion wrestler, who Strikeforce was looking to build into an MMA superstar.
But someone forgot to tell Griggs he was supposed to lose. After eating punches from bottom for over nine minutes, Griggs turned the tides on Lashley and TKO'd the exhausted behemoth at the end of the second round, thus ending the hype.
Since then, Griggs has stopped both Strikeforce prospect Gian Villante and famous brother Valentijn Overeem with strikes in the first round, thus cementing his status in the division and finally earning a modicum of respect. When Strikeforce consolidated its heavyweight division, Griggs was brought on board to the UFC, the pinnacle promotion in the sport.
Now legitimized, "The Gravedigger" will be making his UFC debut this Saturday night when he takes on undefeated prospect Travis Browne on the FX portion of the UFC 145 preliminary card in Atlanta, Georgia. Griggs was a guest on The Verbal Submission where he talked about his current situation, how his brawling style translates to the UFC and how he turned his career around in part one of this exclusive interview.
Check it out:

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You have to be the most laid-back heavyweight fighter I've ever spoken with. You're so calm in the interview but then you just explode in violence once you step into the cage. It's such a different dynamic.
Chad Griggs: (laughs) That's right, man. You've got to build it all up. Hold the reigns back until they lock the cage dup and then you can let 'em loose. That's it, man. No point in getting worked up unless you can actually do something about it, right?
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): The Strikeforce heavyweights that have come over to the UFC have had tremendous success already. Overeeem crushed Lesnar, Werdum crushed Big Country, Shawn Jordan crushed Oli Thompson and Lavar Johnson knocked out Joey Beltran. Four dominant victories. Do you look at that and want to keep that momentum rolling?
Chad Griggs: Yeah, absolutely. There's no question I want to keep my momentum rolling. If you look at it that way, it does look great for the Strikeforce guys coming over. If people had a question that we were legit fighters or not, I think we're definitely answering that question. I look at only my fight. I'm concentrating on my fight. I was actually at the Werdum fight which was awesome. He did look great, had some devastating knees and was really relaxed. I'm happy that the Strikeforce guys are doing good and I'm gonna do my best to keep that ball rolling, I promise. (laughs)
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): A year and a half ago you were basically brought in as a sacrificial lamb to Bobby Lashley. They didn't even have you on the event poster. I was in that conference call with you and no one knew who you were. But now, you had the huge upset and you're a legitimate in the UFC. Do you ever just think about that and laugh?
Chad Griggs: Umm, yeah, absolutely. I think Strikeforce definitely lost a lot of money because of me. They had a lot of money invested in Lashley and they didn't put any hype behind me and threw that train off its track. It took a couple more fights before they were like, "Okay, this guy's not going away," (laughs). Now we're in the UFC so I've got to make my name over here. We've got to shift gears a little bit and establish myself so it's exciting.
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You definitely proved yourself in Strikeforce. Do you feel like you've got to prove yourself all over again now that you're in the UFC?
Chad Griggs: Yeah. Everybody is all, "This is his first fight int he UFC," so yeah, absolutely. I'm gonna be going in there and just be going for "Fight of the Night" just like I do every night. The plan is to go in there and have a good showing and take a couple risks here and there, make the fight more exciting and that's the gameplan. I'm trying to put myself on the UFC map.
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You worked as a firefighter/paramedic on the side. Have you stepped back your hours at all to focus more on the UFC career since this is such a big deal or are you still splitting your time?
Chad Griggs: Both. I am still doing it but we have a really good schedule and I have a lot of guys who are on the department who are helping me out and we have this thing called "trades." They'll work my fights and sometime down the road, I'll have to pay them back so I am taking a lot of time off to get ready for this one. There's no question this is a big fight and a big opportunity so yeah. I'm gonna try to seize the moment and took the last month off so I can focus more on training and hopefully it'll pay off.
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You've mentioned you want to come in there and win "Fight of the Night" and you've got this brawling style which fans gravitate to where you just want to throw down with people almost throwing the technique out the window. Do you feel that will translate well in the UFC as you move up the ladder and face these tougher and tougher opponents?
Chad Griggs: There's a couple key points to that. We have a joke. My saying, the gameplan is "Hit 'em in the head hard," the dumb heavyweight but in one sense, I do mean it. That's my goal, to hit them in the head hard, but obviously we have a plan for each opponent. Sometimes the plan changes a little bit but we've got a plan for Travis but my style has always been to be the aggressor. There are guys that I've fought who I think are better fighters than me where I've won because I take them out of their game. I put the pressure on 'em and I don't let them fight their game. I get in their face constantly and I don't give them time to reset because I'm right there. I think that plays a big key into my technique, just pushing that pace and trying to make it my fight and not let them decide whether we're fighting, not let them move around and play. I wanna be the forward aggressor and decide when we're fighting, which is right now.
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I normally wouldn't ask this because fighters get questioned about it all the time, but I've never really seen it anywhere. Where did you get "The Gravedigger" nickname? Did you grow up working at a cemetery or something? Where did it come from?*
Chad Griggs: Oh yeah, it's just a hobby of mine, hanging out at the cemetery. (laughs) It's really just training with a lot of guys that I've worked with for a bunch of years and I guess basically my brawling tactics when we're sparring, the heavy hands and dropping people. It got to the point where people were getting gunshy and they brought new people in and you'd drop somebody and it started, "He's 'The Gravedigger.' He's gonna put you down," and it just kinda stuck. One guy threw it out there and that's all it took. We just took it and ran with it.
Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): After your lone career loss against Shane Ott, what did you do that you felt turned things around for you?*
Chad Griggs: The whole IFL thing, that was a tough couple of years. Don Frye, who is a good friend of mine and I trained with for years and years, was our head coach and that loss, I learned a lot from that loss. I lost that fight because I wasn't mentally there. I mentally broke down and they say you learn more from your losses than you from your wins and I learned a lot from it.
Don, like I said, is just the greatest guy in the world, but as a coach, he'll tell you himself that he's sup-bar when it comes to coaching. We'd be training twice a day. You'd go in the morning and he'd want you to spar 110%. You'd take a couple hours off and in the afternoon, he'd want you to spar 110% You come by the next day and he'd want the same thing. He wants to see people fall. It was a tough time but I think after that loss, I kinda regrouped and learned to train a bit smarter and not harder. Actually, rather than trying to just hurt people all the time, I went through repetitions and tried to learn something and hey, what do you know, you actually get better when you do that!
Stay tuned for part two tomorrow where Griggs talks about Travis Browne, the importance of family and his legendary mutton chops!
So what do you think, Maniacs?
Will Griggs' incredible Cinderella story continue with a victory against Travis Browne this Saturday night? What are your expectations for "The Gravedigger" now that he's in the UFC?
Sound off!
*Question submitted by MMAmania commenter Alfxtream.
To listen to the complete audio of our interview with Chad Griggs, click here (begins at 1:04:30 mark)

UFC Quick Quote: Chuck Liddell says teammates should fight, drink beers afterward
04/17/2012
"If (a teammate) can beat me, they can beat me. It is what it is. They deserve to fight me then. I'm not going to hold back some guy that's in my camp if he wants to fight me. That's not my thing. It's just a personal choice and a personal opinion, but I think eventually, hey you guys are going at it, then go out and have two beers together afterwards. Go out there and prove who's best that day, and go out and be friends again."

– Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell would have no problems fighting his teammate. That's what "The Iceman" said on his appearance on "The MMA Hour" today (April 16, 2012). Liddell was referring to the current and much-publicized rift between former friends and training partners Rashad Evans and current 205-pound kingpin Jon Jones, who will finally face off this weekend (April 21, 2012) at UFC 145. Liddell himself has gone toe-to-toe with former friends and training partners in the case of his feud with Tito Ortiz, whom he defeated twice (UFC 46 and UFC 66). Though the beef between the two men has since appeared to be squashed, the polarizing pair aren't exactly exchanging Christmas cards. How about it Maniacs, do you agree with Liddell's view on the age-old teammate vs. teammate debate? Perhaps mixed martial arts (MMA) fans would be treated to many more compelling match ups if they shared "The Iceman's" same sentiments.

Nate Marquardt expects vacant welterweight title to be on the line in Strikeforce debut fight against Tyron Woodley
04/17/2012
The past 12 months have been a roller coaster for Nate Marquardt.
In March of 2011, "The Great" had just won a unanimous decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 128. It appeared as though he was getting his career back on track, and he was re-energized by a move down to Welterweight, where he was set to fight Rick Story at UFC on Versus 4 in the main event of the evening. Everything was coming together nicely.
And then it happened.
The day before the Story fight, Marquardt was pulled from the match because of elevated testosterone levels. The withdrawal sent the entire card into disarray and caused Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White to immediately fire Marquardt and declare he'd never fight in the UFC again.
Fast forward one year later.
In the interim, Marquardt signed with the BAMMA, but never actually stepped foot in the cage for the British-based promotion. After being granted his release from the promotion earlier this year, there was speculation of Marquardt signing with Bellator, as well as a few other smaller promotions, before it was finally made official that he'd be signing with Zuffa-owned Strikeforce.
In February, it was announced that Marquardt's first fight for Strikeforce would be opposite welterweight contender Tyron Woodley. According to a recent interview Marquardt had with "Inside MMA," the fight will be for the vacant 170-pound belt:

"It's the best outcome I could have imagined, with all this. Like I said. Back with Zuffa. Back in a title fight for my first fight back, it's amazing. From what I understand, that's who I'll be fighting is Tyron Woodley. I also understand it's gonna be a five round title fight for the 170 pound title. You know, he's a smart fighter, but at the same time, I have a lot more experience than him. It's gonna be my fight to dictate where it goes."

It certainly makes for a dramatic twist.
Now, Marquardt — who appeared to be banished for life by Dana White for life — will not only make his debut for a promotion that is, for all intents and purposes, run by White, but his return will be welcomed with an immediate title shot.
Interesting to say the very least, no?
The fight has not been confirmed by Strikeforce officials as being a title fight, but it is officially scheduled to take place on the May 19, 2012, card that will feature a main event fight between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight grand prix championship. The card will also showcasesanother title fight when Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez defends his strap in a rubber match versus Josh Thomson.
For the latest news notes on Strikeforce: "Barnett vs. Cormier" be sure to hit up our complete event archive right here.

Phil Davis calls Jon Jones 'very talented,' but not better than other UFC champions
04/17/2012
Remember when people used to compare Ultimate Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and fellow 205-pounder Phil Davis to each other?
It's hard to fathom now, but it happened not too long ago, and the comparisons were serious. Both guys had athletic, rangy builds. Both were great wrestlers. Both were young prospects who were riding a giant wave of momentum.
But, within the past year, their careers have started to branch in different directions. Jones is now a champion, and not just that, but decidedly so. He's beaten a "Who's Who" of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters and made it look easy in the process.
Davis hasn't exactly fallen off the map. He still has only one loss on his professional record. However, in the 12 months that "Bones" was essentially ascending to his throne, "Mr. Wonderful" won a decision victory that didn't exactly set the word on fire, and he was dominated for five rounds in a decision loss to Rashad Evans at UFC on Fox 2 in Chicago, Illinois, on Jan. 28, 2012.
Davis was a guest on HDNet's "Inside MMA," where he evaluated Jones' status as a UFC champion:

"You know, I tend to shy away from answers like this, just because everyone is so skillful in their own regard. I definitely think he's a very talented champion, but just to be the best in the world says a lot about it. I don't think he's necessarily any better than any of the other champions. But that's just from a competitor's standpoint. I'm sure the fans would say something different."

One could call that stance a case of "sour grapes." Jones has what Davis wanted and still wants. He has the fame, the attention and the belt.
According to Davis, he's not trying to take anything away from Jones. He thinks he's a great fighter, he's just not sure he's held the belt long enough to be compared to the likes of Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre.
He may have a point:

"I think up until Jones became the champion, a lot of people thought, 'Oh, this is just another young guy.' And, they went out to, basically, to really beat him. Whereas, if you take away the people fighting Georges St. Pierre, it's very tactical, it's not necessarily — everyone is in it to beat him, don't get me wrong, but a lot of times, it's a slower pace. It's very methodical. It's not going for the kill. Which, I feel Jones has had as his advantage that people are coming right at him. It's easy to meet a fight head on. But a lot of times, guys are just looking to choose shots and, you know, pot shots whenever they can. It's a lot tougher, and I think he'll get that now that people realize that he's a force to be reckoned with in the division."

Davis has been out of action since his loss to Evans, which has given him time to contemplate his shortcomings and how he needs to upgrade. As far as he's concerned, the loss was a blessing in disguise:

"That loss was good for me. Sometimes, you don't know where you're at, until you have a loss. Now I know where I'm at, and it gave me a lot to improve on. It's a great starting point to go next with where I wanna improve, to get to the belt."

For now, no opponent or event has been named for Davis, but he believes fans will get to see him again as early as this summer:

"In a hypothetical world, I would fight someone, definitely before the end of the summer. Probably sometime this summer. But, until you get bout contracts, there's plenty of room for change. Nothing's ever for sure."

Any of you Maniacs feel like playing matchmaker? Who would you like to see "Mr Wonderful" square off against in his Octagon return?

Mania Matchmaker: Possible pairings for the winners at UFC on FUEL TV 2: 'Gustafsson vs Silva'
04/16/2012
By now, you're sure to have read my "What's Next?" post, where I deduced that the logical next for opponent for Alexander Gustafsson would be the loser of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans.
Those of you with a solid intellect agreed with me. However, a fair amount of dissenters postured for a match up between "The Mauler" and Ryan Bader. It's not a terrible idea, but I still think I'm right and you're wrong.
Several of you suggested Gustafsson be given a date with the legendary Mauricio Rua. This intrigues me much more than a showdown with Bader. If you were one of the Maniacs who suggested this, I'm giving you a gold star and several hundred "Mania Bucks," which are, of course, absolutely worthless everywhere that accepts anything.
In the same post, I also argued for Brian Stann being paired up with the winner of Mark Munoz. Several of you were quick to go against the flow and offered Chris Weidman as a more suitable opponent. Sorry, I'm not buying that as a more intriguing fight than Stann vs. Munoz. You've failed to convince me. My pick stands.
After the jump, we'll talk future match ups for rest of the winners from yesterdays (Sat., April 14, 2012) UFC on FUEL TV 2 main card in Stockholm, Sweden:

Brad Pickett ran all over Damacio Page en route to a first round submission win. He's now 1-1 in the UFC, and has been on the giving and receiving end of a bad beating.
I'd love to see "One Punch" get an opponent who is a step up from Page, but not quite on the level of Renan Barao (who was responsible for Pickett's only UFC loss).
There are several interesting match ups, but I say give him Brian Bowles.
The rap on Pickett is that he needs to prove he's worked on upgrading his takedown defense. Bowles will test that theory, for sure. Plus, there's simply no way that doesn't end up being a tough fight.
Hook it up, Joe Silva.
John Maguire is now 2-0 in the UFC and has won seven fights in a row. He's one of those guys who doesn't look like he should be as good as he is. He's not the prototypical athlete or fighter, but he gets the job done.
"The One" has a great ground game, and he's becoming a true name to look out for in the welterweight division. He's only had two fights in the Octagon though, and it's too soon to feed him to the lions (or vice versa, if it turns out that way).
How about Simeon Thoresen?
"The Grin" earned himself a nice win on the same card as Maguire. They both have very good jiu-jitsu. They're two up-and-comers (as far as the UFC is concerned) who'd be battling it out for a chance to get a higher profile match up with a win.
I like it.
Dennis Siver did enough to earn himself a decision win over Diego Nunes in his debut at 145-pounds. He looked good. Honestly, Nunes looked good too, but Siver emerged as the victor.
I'll tell you who I'd love to see him fight: Maximo Blanco.
The two of those guys going at it, trying to land crazy spinning attacks and off the wall kicks, would be amazing. The problem is that Blanco is engaged in a fight this Saturday night when he takes on Marcus Brimmage at UFC 145.
If Blanco wins, Siver vs. Blanco could make for a very exciting brawl, don't you agree? (That was a rhetorical question. Of course you do.)
We've been hearing about Siyar Bahadurzada for a while now. "Siyar the Great" has now won seven in a row, and his first round shelling of Paulo Thiago put an exclamation point at on his UFC entrance.
We don't know a ton about him, but we do know he's vulnerable to submissions and prefers to stand and trade. So, it makes sense to test him with a ground guy who'd prefer to grapple, right?
Or, I could go totally in the opposite direction (which I'm going to) and suggest that he fight Diego Sanchez.
Look. The welterweight division is full of monsters. You either match Bahadurzada up against one of the few relative no-names, or you lock him in the cage with one of the many killers.
I opt for the latter.
In my mind, Sanchez is perfect. If Bahadurzada can best "The Dream," he gets a very nice-sized notch in his belt and a crack at a top 10 guy afterwards.
If he loses? Well, no one will fault him too much, unless he just goes in there and gets waxed.
The only fly in this ointment may be that Sanchez discussed moving back to lightweight after his loss to Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FUEL TV. But, if presented with the right fight, I think he'd stick around at 170-pounds.
Got any better ideas for match ups?