Athletix Sports Daily MMA News

[packers6211]

Belfort got that one. just saying,

[Rodja]

Johnson should be cut. He's missed weight multiple times and being 11 lbs overweight after moving up a weight class is unacceptable.

[VolcomX311]

Belfort got that one. just saying,

A large part of me expected Vitor to win, but I was still expecting more from Rumble Johnson. Ironically, Vitor was getting a lot of flack about his weakness on the ground from some MMA forums, because even though Vitor is a black belt in BJJ, he doesn't have a big sub resume and Johnson was suppose to rape Vitor on the ground, so I thought it was amusing Vitor finished on the ground.

[VolcomX311]

Johnson should be cut. He's missed weight multiple times and being 11 lbs overweight after moving up a weight class is unacceptable.

Was he overweight? I didn't watch or read anything about the weigh-ins. I thought he looked a bit huge compared to Vitor.

[VolcomX311]

Melvin Guillard has moved on from his time training under coach Greg Jackson and has relocated to Florida to work full time with the Blackzilian squad in preparation for his UFC on FX bout with Jim Miller.

The move was somewhat shocking and even curious after Guillard raved about his time with Jackson, where he said on numerous occasions that he believed he was becoming a true and complete fighter for the first time in his long career.

Guillard first started working with the Blackzilian team for a few weeks prior to his October 2011 bout against Joe Lauzon, and while he suffered a loss in that bout, he decided that ultimately he’d be happier in Florida training with the new squad.

Many wonder why the shift had to happen now? What went wrong at Jackson’s?

Well, to hear Melvin Guillard tell it, there was no bad blood, no dramatic reason behind it. It was just time to move on.

“Both camps are great, both sets of coaches are awesome. It’s just a decision I had to make for myself professionally. Did I want to split the time? Yeah, I did, but it’s kind of like trying to work for Exxon and work for Shell. You won’t be able to split your time between both. Cause both of those companies wouldn’t allow it,” Guillard told MMAWeekly Radio recently.

“So it came to one of those points in my life where I had to make a grown-up decision. Kind of an executive decision, and this is the decision I made.”

The biggest point that Guillard wants to convey as he finishes up his first full training camp with the Blackzilians is he has no hard feelings towards Jackson’s or about the time he spent there. As a matter of fact, Guillard is hopeful that if he ever needed to call on them again, they’d still have his back.

“I didn’t leave Jackson’s in a bad way. I love those coaches to death, love that team, and if anything ever occurs and I have to go back to Jackson’s, I hope I’m still welcome, because I didn’t leave in the wrong way,” Guillard said.

“One thing my mother taught me when I was a kid growing up ‘you never leave home bad because you never know when you might need to come back through that door.’ I hope the coaches there and the team there still love for me and care for me the way they did when I was performing for them.”

Guillard believes sometimes people get too wrapped up in the coaching situation in MMA. He loves all of his coaches, past and present, but this was the right decision for him at this point in his career.

“As fighters we have to make the decision who’s going to get us ready to take us to that next level. At the end of the day, all this hype
about which coach is better than who, at the end of the day we’re the ones in there doing the job. We’re the ones that have to get in there and bust our butts. All they can do is give direction and make things go from there,” said Guillard.

With his main event fight against Jim Miller just days away after spending the last several weeks with the Blackzilian team and their
coaching staff, does he believe that he made the right choice?

“It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time for myself.”

[VolcomX311]

Vitor Belfort is a former UFC champion and #1 contender, so he knows the kind of commitment it takes to become the best in MMA.Saturday night, Belfort took out Anthony Johnson in the co-main event of UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes from his native country of Brazil in front of thousands of cheering fans.

However, the fight was more about weights than strikes, as “Rumble” came in well over the 185 pound limit for the bout. For his efforts, “The Phenom” sent Johnson packing, picking up an extra 20% of Johnson’s paycheck. Still, money aside, the lack of respect involved left Belfort a little upset.

UFC cameras caught up with the 34-year old following the victory to guage his reaction on the win and see what he had to say about Johnson as a hole.

“I kept the pressure, I made him give up; that was the plan,” Belfort said. “The whole country was behind me. I have fans all over the world and they are the most important thing after God and my family.”

[VolcomX311]

Probably wasn't hard to see this one coming.

Following his submission loss to Vitor Belfort last Saturday night (Jan. 14, 2012) at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has officially released Anthony Johnson from his ZUFFA contract.

That's according to a report from ESPN correspondent Franklin McNeil.
Johnson failed to make weight for his UFC 142: "Aldo vs. Mendes" co-main event against "The Phenom," tipping the scale at a whopping 197-pounds, a full 11 pounds over the 186-pound contractual limit.

It was the third time "Rumble" missed weight in his UFC career. The first came against Rich Clementi at UFC 76 and then again opposite Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104.

And as Dana White told FUEL TV, three strikes and you're out.

"Three strikes and you're out. This is his third time that he hasn't made weight. He's the co-main event in a huge fight down here in Brazil and this one was a bad one. Rumble Johnson did the damage to himself. To be that unprofessional and not come in on weight, and to be that far off when you used to fight at 170, now you went to 185 pounds so you wouldn't have trouble making weight, and this is your worst weight cut ever? That's at a detriment to himself."

Johnson claims he was on target for his middleweight debut, until his body betrayed him just hours before hitting the scale. On the advice of attending physicians, he rehydrated to preserve his health at the expense of making weight.

Belfort agreed to proceed as planned and gave Johnson a stipulation of making 205-pounds by fight night, for which he did. It kept the co-main event intact and allowed the Brazilian to get his revenge the good, old-fashioned way.

[VolcomX311]

Brent Brookhouse: There has been a long-standing debate regarding Jose Aldo and if he can be considered in the pound-for-pound debate or if the featherweight division simply isn't good enough for him to have a credible argument. With eleven straight wins on Zuffa cards and this latest dominant win over Chad Mendes, has he done enough to make a legitimate case for a top five pound for pound fighter?

Tim Burke: He has absolutely made the case, and should comfortably sit in the top five. Featherweight might be thin, but he has been a lot of quality contenders, and a wide variety of opponents (wrestlers, strikers, etc). Two of the long-standing guys in the top three, Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva, faced stretches where they didn't have the toughest competition across the cage from them. I don't think Aldo should be left out of the discussion just because his division is a little behind in development. I mean, what else does the guy have to do? Move up to 155?

Fraser Coffeen: I was one of the people who felt he was anointed top 5 too fast. But the Mendes fight finally closed it for me. Yes, he's top 5. The division is still a bit thin, but as Tim said, Anderson was fighting Cote and Leites and was widely considered #1. It's not always just who you face, it's also how impressive you look against them, and Aldo looked impressive in Rio. I guess for me what it comes down to is this - for him to not be top 5, you need to find 5 guys above him. Clearly Silva, Jones, and GSP are above. But then? Edgar is the only other really in contention I think.

Brent Brookhouse: I think Jon Fitch losing kind of takes some of the teeth out of the argument against Aldo. He was one of the fighters people thought belonged above Aldo for all his accomplishments as the long-time number two guy at welterweight who seemed like he could only be beaten by one guy (St. Pierre).
In a few months Aldo will be #3 in my eyes since standard ranking procedure says you remove a fighter who has been inactive for over a year (again, St. Pierre).

As Fraser said, you have to have five guys above him to not be top five and I think the guys in the P4P discussion right now are (in no order):
- Anderson Silva
- Jon Jones
- Georges St. Pierre
- Frankie Edgar
- Gilbert Melendez
- Junior dos Santos
- Dominick Cruz

And I guess you could add maybe Nick Diaz and Dan Henderson to that list. But I look at those names and I feel pretty comfortable saying that Aldo is in the top 5 in the sport, maybe even top three if you want to bump GSP down for his very sporadic schedule and lack of finishing lesser men.


KJ Gould: The lack of familiarity and establishment of the Featherweight division hurts his cause. His best name win is Kenny Florian, but it can be argued Florian was severely weakened with his drop to Featherweight which impacted the fight.
In hypothetical pound for pound discussions, Anderson Silva, Frankie Edgar, Jon Jones and Georges St. Pierre rank above him in my opinion. I guess you could squeak him in at No#5 - really, who else is there except maybe Junior dos Santos? - but I would like to see him face a few other top 10 lightweights first, either by them dropping down or him going up.
Not the easiest of questions as the pound for pound debate gets pretty murky after the first 5 with a lot of people having wildly varying opinions of who should be considered.

T.P. Grant: Edgar is not in my P4P Top 5 right now, I think a lot hangs on his Ben Henderson fight. Edgar's run in championship fight has consisted of him spending two years having four fights with the same two guys, and he very easily could have ended up going 2-2 instead of 3-0-1. He impressed the hell out of me with his toughness and mental strength, and I love watching him fight. That said I want to see how Edgar fairs when he faces more lightweights. He gets hit a lot for how small and quick he is and there are guys at 155 lbs that can put hands on Edgar and if they hurt him have real finishing ability to end the fight.
So with that off topic rant out of the way, I feel Aldo is a very solid #4, with Andy Silva #1, Bones #2, GSP #3 and I feel Dominick Cruz has earn #5. Aldo is fighting in a division that is flux right now and the talent isn't very deep because many elite featherweights are still fighting at lightweight, but Aldo's resume is just too good to ignore. Aldo has not lost a fight in 6 years, he beat Mike Thomas Brown and Urijah Faber effortlessly when both where considered P4P fighters, and has defended his belt 5 times (GSP has defended 6 times).
I think Aldo's recognition is over due, his run in featherweight is as impressive as any champion's run in their division, aside from Anderson Silva.

Tim Burke: I'd probably rank Frankie highly just because he's a natural featherweight that is consistently beating guys much larger than him. If it comes down to who is # 4 (behind the aforementioned Silva/GSP/Bones trio), it's a very tough call between Aldo and Edgar for me. But there's no one else that's close to stealing a top five spot away from either of them in my eyes. Dominick Cruz isn't close. Dan Henderson isn't close. Nick Diaz isn't close.

T.P Grant: Why isn't Cruz close?

Tim Burke: Three of his last six fights (including two title defenses) have been against bantamweights. Bowles shattered his hand and had to stop. The Faber fight was waaay closer than the scores made it. And if we're questioning whether the strength of a division should affect a fighter's P4P ranking...well, BW is behind FW in development.

KJ Gould: Because like Featherweight, Bantamweight isn't developed or established yet compared to other classes.
Edgar beat Penn twice at a time when many though Penn was unstoppable at Lightweight. His fights with Maynard were epic, and Maynard has a significant size advantage and beats everyone else at Lightweight. Considering he is an undersized light weight as has been mentioned, and how Aldo has been mulling going to Lightweight because the cut to Featherweight is tough, I think Edgar has to be considered above Aldo in pound for pound discussion. Edgar could be number 2 or 3 for me.

T.P. Grant: My reservations about Edgar are just that outside of his rematch against BJ Penn we've not seen in go in and take firm control of fight from another elite fighter. The first fight with Penn was in and out but Penn was never in trouble and landed harder more accurate strikes. In both fights with Maynard, Edgar was in big, big trouble in the opening rounds. I need to see him go in and really dominate an elite fighter.

KJ Gould: He's also beaten Sherk, by the way, and beat the at the time highly touted Tyson Griffin in his UFC debut, and has the scalps of Mark Bocek and Jim Miller (pre UFC).
I think you might be underplaying how good Edgar is, considering his only loss was to Maynard and he more than made up for it in the rematches ending the last fight definitively.

Fraser Coffeen: Interesting that JDS has come up a few times. I figured he would, simply because he's a champion, but no way is he in contention in my book, as every one of his impressive wins comes against an opponent with a pretty sizable hole in his game. It's going to take a lot for a heavyweight to crack that top 5 for me, just based on the shallowness and constant flux at the top of the division.

Fraser Coffeen: Cruz isn't close because every time he gets inside and gets close, he runs away right after.
Thanks folks, I'll be here all night.

Tim Burke: Everyone meet Fraser Coffeen, the Jacob Volkmann of BE!

Fraser Coffeen: Tim, call me to schedule a glassectomy.

Matt Roth: You guys aren't thinking this through and that's cute. I can't put Aldo in the top 5 just because I don't think he was impressive in his wins over Hominick or Florian. In fact the Florian fight wasn't memorable to me, to the point that even though I sat cage side I kinda spaced out and lost track of how many rounds were already over. Yes, beating Mendes is huge but you guys are definitely being ridiculous saying he's top 5.

Tim Burke: And Anderson's win over Sonnen was impressive? Hell a lot of people have been crapping on GSP's last few performances. Aldo still beat Hominick and Florian 49-46. And had a 10-8 round against Hominick.

Matt Roth: Man I'm all but ready to drop GSP from the top 5. Pound for Pound to me means not just one of the best but also one of the most exciting. The Goddamn Sleeping Pill is the worst. If Jose is top 5 he's fringe top 5. Though I think both Edgar and Henderson are above him.

Dallas Winston: I've been pretty skeptical about Aldo's hype as well but I would now put him at #4 in front of Edgar. He only has one career loss and has now blown through much of the upper end of the division in addition to the lower end.
Frankie has a legit UFC loss to Gray plus the draw and all Aldo has are decision wins that weren't entirely dominant. Top-five? No question in my book.

[VolcomX311]

[JudgementDay]

I really didn't want them to cut Johnson I'd like to see him fighting at 205.

[VolcomX311]

I really didn't want them to cut Johnson I'd like to see him fighting at 205.

I didn't know it was his third strike on making weight. Had he won, it'd be one thing, but I guess you can't strike out and then lose the game as well. It's not a conducive combination to receive Dana's good graces.

[VolcomX311]

“[Yamasaki is] a great guy, and I’m always happy to see him. When I step into the octagon however, I represent the people watching at home that might have obvious questions, and when something is controversial I’m forced to confront it honestly because that’s what I would want to hear from a person in my position if I was a fan watching it at home.


It was obviously a controversial call, and I’m sure some of you agree with it, but I certainly think it’s also possible to argue that it was a bad call. That was my perspective, so I had to express it. I’m not a perfect person, and I **** up all the time. It’s a part of life.

Great referees have made awful mistakes. Even the consensus nominee for the greatest referee of all time, my personal friend the great Big John McCarthy has made mistakes.

Remember when Bustamante had to tap out Matt Lindland twice? Calling fight as a referee is hard as ****. If I was a referee Dana would probably hate me more than he hates Mazagatti. I wouldn’t want that job! That’s a **** load of pressure.

I think Mario Yamasaki is one of the best in the world at refereeing MMA. No doubt about it. He’s got great insight to the sport, he’s a lifelong martial artist, and he’s a really smart guy. What I was acting from, is that I saw an incredible young talent get denied a KO victory for a questionable call. When I entered into the Octagon and was told of the official ruling that Silva was going to be disqualified for illegal blows to the back of the head everyone that I was around who heard the news opened their mouths in shock. Everyone said, “what?” The people in the truck couldn’t believe it. I had to read it back to them because I thought it was a mistake, and when I leaned over to explain it to Goldie he couldn’t believe it either. I had to ask Mario about it. I didn’t know how he was going to respond, but I had to ask him. Erick Silva is a very promising fighter and I felt like I had a responsibility to address the issue.

No disrespect intended.”

[VolcomX311]

[VolcomX311]

I'm not mad at him, that game is way too addicting. I'm hoping to beat it soon to free myself from it.

[VolcomX311]

I personally don't know if Milton Vieira is really the inventor of the Anaconda choke, I'm just the messenger.
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Milton Vieira, a 33-year-old Brazilian who is widely credited as the creator of the anaconda choke, has signed with the UFC after a single fight in Strikeforce. Vieira, who fought as a lightweight in Strikeforce, will move down to 145 when he makes his octagon debut sometime in 2012.

His manager Nima Safapour of Alchemist Management confirmed the signing to MMA Fighting on Tuesday morning.

Vieira is 13-7-1 in a career that dates back to 2001. Nine of his wins have come by submission, including three by anaconda choke.

Vieira has long been considered a key member of the famed Brazilian Top Team and taught the anaconda hold to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who popularized it in a pair of 2004 PRIDE wins.

He fought most recently at a Strikeforce Challengers show last August, defeating Sterling Ford in a first-round technical submission. That victory stretched his win streak to three straight. Overall, he's won five of his last six bouts. During his career, he's also fought in PRIDE and M-1.

Safapour told MMA Fighting that Vieira does not yet have his octagon debut scheduled, but that the contract to move him from Strikeforce to UFC has been signed by all parties.

[JudgementDay]

Damn there is a fight every week till march!

[Jessep76]

King Mo was busted for masteron. If they start cracking down on testing we'll lose all the strikeforce heavy weight imports

[JudgementDay]

Damn, I didn't hear about that yet.

[VolcomX311]

King Mo was busted for masteron. If they start cracking down on testing we'll lose all the strikeforce heavy weight imports

I wonder if Alistair can remain Ubereem if he really has to stop all his chemical assistance.

[Jessep76]

I wonder if Alistair can remain Ubereem if he really has to stop all his chemical assistance.

Seriously huh. You can't stay Uber on HGH alone right? Is that still undetectable?