The Following is an excerpt of an interview from www.fightswewant.com with Cesar Gracie:

FWW: Cesar, there is not a lot of information out there as it relates to your childhood or formative years training in Brazilian jiu Jitsu (BJJ). Where did you grow up and could you talk to us a little bit about that?

CG: I grew up in Brazil and moved when I was 8 years old to the states and moved back to Brazil as a teenager……life was good growing up, all the family was into BJJ and you got into because it was expected of you. I really enjoyed learning the family art.

FWW: When did you start training in BJJ and who were some of your early instructors? What was that experience like?

CG: I started when I was 4 or 5 years old. It was all about having fun, learning something new. It didn’t get serious until I was a teenager. My first instructor was Herion Gracie. And one of my biggest influences was Rickson.

FWW: Many long term BJJ stylist hold such a devotion to the sport that they describe it as a “life changer” or a “lifestyle.” What is it about BJJ that you think would make someone describe it in those words?

CG: I have an interesting advantage point being Brazilian and American, I saw when I lived in the states as a child the Americans were not very comfortable with the physical contact, it was strange for them to train BJJ with another guy because of the physical aspect. You learn to look beyond that and train with people who feel just as passionate about the art as you do. Not only does BJJ help you make friends, but it gives young people something cool, positive and active to do, instead of doing illegal activity on the streets. Here they meet positive role models that will help direct them in the right direction. .

FWW: One of the more interesting aspects of ‘The Ultimate Fighter” reality television show has been getting a glimpse into the various coaching teams that the Head Coaches bring in to support them. We have seen representation from American Top Team and Greg Jackson’s crew just to name a few. The Cesar Gracie Fight Team is without question one of the most successful and talented MMA fight teams around. I would think there would be appeal from a rating standpoint to have one of your fighters be season head coach with your team there to support them. What are your thoughts on the show and would you consider being a part of it on a future season?

CG: The Ultimate Fighter show is to put known fighters as coaches and that fighter will bring in another coach. So if one of my guys is the coach on the show, it would be fun to do something like that. We would be excited to be a part of a season of the show. I know who the good coaches are and who they aren’t. But there are hype up coaches and I know who they are. That’s all the matters to me.

FWW: We recently interviewed

John Danaher and asked him this question. We received a lot of emails from fans commenting on this topic and it generated a lot of dialogue. With that said, we wanted to ask you the same question. As you know, in the early days of MMA in this country, specifically as it relates to the “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), the tournament featured martial artists from different disciplines facing each other in no-holds-barred combat to determine the best martial art. Since then, the sport has evolved and it is not uncommon to see that just about any of the top 5-10 fighters in any weight class in any league have a high level knowledge and ability in multiple martial arts disciplines. That said, in the majority of instances the fighters still began training and studying in one discipline. As an instructor and trainer, what are your thoughts on some of the fighters that are getting into the sport now trying to learn “MMA” as a discipline in and of itself without a base style per se’?


CG: Well MMA is - mixed martial arts. You will gravitate to one of the martial arts more than the other. It is rare to find someone who has great standup and ground game, but there are a select few that are lucky to have the talent of both. People come into the academy and want to take the mma class, but we say learn jiu jitsu, learn boxing, etc…..learn you stand up and takedowns. There is not just one MMA class.

FWW: The Gracie Fight Team has well known fighters such as Nick and Nate Diaz, Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez, are there any students training their now in either MMA, BJJ or Muay Thai that you would consider an up and coming prospect or exceptional talent that we can look forward to seeing compete soon?

CG: We have many up and coming guys coming through the pipe that I am excited about, like Roy Boughten. Roy has natural talent and you will be seeing a lot of him soon.
FWW: Well it has been a crazy week to say the least. We had originally prepared a few questions at the end of this interview that pertained to the original bout that was set between Geroges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz. As a result of Nick missing some media obligations and subsequently being removed from the card, and then added back as a co main event, we needed to scrap those questions and regroup. With that said, and to the extent that you can, tell us where things stand now with you and Nick? Clearly he is like family to you and family members do not see eye to eye at times but has the recent events changed the dynamic between the two of you as it relates to being his trainer and manager?

To Read more click here: http://fightswewant.bandzoogle.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=1294561

The following is an excerpt from in interview with Renzo Gracie Black Belt and GSP's BJJ coach, John Danaher from www.fightswewant.com :

FWW: Agreed without question. That aspect of the show is an interesting dynamic as it adds an additional mental stress that the fighters need to deal with as well as creates (clearly by design) a pressure cooker as the weeks go by, not to mention at times it has also led to the exposure of the fighters maturity levels (both good and bad) and or character flaws. What are your thoughts on this and are the coaches allowed to view any footage prior to the final edit that goes on the air?

JD: The concept of the fighters living in a house under conditions designed to create stress and conflict (primarily through boredom, intoxication and competition) is in interesting one. It illustrates well the close relationship between athletic prowess and entertainment value which is one of the most contentious areas of this developing sport. Is this a sport or a mode of entertainment? If it is both, how do we correctly weigh the value of each? For hard core MMA fans, the training and the fights are the prime appeal of TUF, for others it is the human drama which appeals the most. The coaches have absolutely no influence or control over the show and do not see any footage until the show is actually aired. By the time the six weeks is over, Spike has enough footage to portray any man in any way they wish between the extremes of sinner and saint.

FWW: John, as you know, in the early days of MMA in this country, specifically as it relates to the “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), the tournament featured martial artists from different disciplines facing each other in no-holds-barred combat to determine the best martial art. Since then, the sport has evolved and it is not uncommon to see that just about any of the top 5-10 fighters in any weight class in any league have a high level knowledge and ability in multiple martial arts disciplines. That said, in the majority of instances the fighters still began training and studying in one discipline. As an instructor and trainer, what are your thoughts on some of the fighters that are getting into the sport now trying to learn “MMA” as a discipline in and of itself without a base style per se’?

JD: MMA is still a very young sport. As such, most of the current athletes began their training either before MMA existed or early in its existence. For this reason they began with a single style, wrestling jiu jitsu, Muay Thai etc. and branched out from there after they decided to switch from their original sport to MMA. Thus the current habit of beginning with one style and adding on others at a later date arose out of necessity as single-discipline athletes took on the new sport. Now youngsters have the option of beginning with the sport of
MMA as their foundation. The task of learning modern MMA as a foundational discipline (rather than each of the base martial arts that combine to make MMA) is interesting, but has an obvious problem - there are few, if any

...to read more click here:  http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=1065260

The following is an excerpt from in interview with Renzo Gracie Black Belt and GSP's BJJ coach, John Danaher from www.fightswewant.com :

FWW: Agreed without question. That aspect of the show is an interesting dynamic as it adds an additional mental stress that the fighters need to deal with as well as creates (clearly by design) a pressure cooker as the weeks go by, not to mention at times it has also led to the exposure of the fighters maturity levels (both good and bad) and or character flaws. What are your thoughts on this and are the coaches allowed to view any footage prior to the final edit that goes on the air?

JD: The concept of the fighters living in a house under conditions designed to create stress and conflict (primarily through boredom, intoxication and competition) is in interesting one. It illustrates well the close relationship between athletic prowess and entertainment value which is one of the most contentious areas of this developing sport. Is this a sport or a mode of entertainment? If it is both, how do we correctly weigh the value of each? For hard core MMA fans, the training and the fights are the prime appeal of TUF, for others it is the human drama which appeals the most. The coaches have absolutely no influence or control over the show and do not see any footage until the show is actually aired. By the time the six weeks is over, Spike has enough footage to portray any man in any way they wish between the extremes of sinner and saint.

FWW: John, as you know, in the early days of MMA in this country, specifically as it relates to the “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), the tournament featured martial artists from different disciplines facing each other in no-holds-barred combat to determine the best martial art. Since then, the sport has evolved and it is not uncommon to see that just about any of the top 5-10 fighters in any weight class in any league have a high level knowledge and ability in multiple martial arts disciplines. That said, in the majority of instances the fighters still began training and studying in one discipline. As an instructor and trainer, what are your thoughts on some of the fighters that are getting into the sport now trying to learn “MMA” as a discipline in and of itself without a base style per se’?

JD: MMA is still a very young sport. As such, most of the current athletes began their training either before MMA existed or early in its existence. For this reason they began with a single style, wrestling jiu jitsu, Muay Thai etc. and branched out from there after they decided to switch from their original sport to MMA. Thus the current habit of beginning with one style and adding on others at a later date arose out of necessity as single-discipline athletes took on the new sport. Now youngsters have the option of beginning with the sport of
MMA as their foundation. The task of learning modern MMA as a foundational discipline (rather than each of the base martial arts that combine to make MMA) is interesting, but has an obvious problem - there are few, if any .....

To read more click here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=1065260

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The following is an excerpt of an interview from the "Right on the Button" Blog at www.fightswewant.com with Tisha Rodriques:

TR: Basically my husband has been involved with the martial Arts his entire life. So I always knew of the martial arts. My Husband has always been very into it. We started actually, just like hitting the pads. Things like that, as a way to stay in shape. And when I did it, it was something that came natural and my husband was actually pretty surprised. He was like, "you know, you should try going to a class sometime, I think you’d like it because you did very well and it seems like it comes natural towards you. And I am like, um well, I don’t know about that. But it was eventually what I ended up doing. I ended up coming to the Boneyard, which is in Tauton MASS. My husband was already training there. He had started training a year prior to me in mixed martial arts. He had been in kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do, all that kind of stuff prior. So I came in, I did a Muay Thai class. The second class that I did, it was something, I don’t know what happened in me but we had Sityodtong, which is a training center that Mark Dellagrotte owns, I am sure you have heard of him.

FWW: Yes, sure.

TR: They are awesome people. They came down for a seminar and there was another trainer there. His name was Kru Eric Armington, who actually passed away a couple of years ago. And, he was one of the first trainers to hold the pads for me at this seminar. He turned to Mark Dellagrotte and said "This is our next fighter right here." Because I was so into it and something rung in my head at that moment and I was like yeah, I want to give fighting a shot. That was it, nine months later…I mean when I put something in my head, it’s in my head. And, whether or not I succeed at it, I am going to try. And nine months later I got in the cage and this was 3 ½ years ago, I had my first MMA fight and I haven’t stopped since.

FWW: That was a great compliment.

TR: Yeah, it was cool.

FWW: Given that you are a personal trainer and your experience in training, when you are preparing for a fight do you coordinate that yourself or do you work with strength and conditioning coach?

TR: I mean I do, I definitely up the intensity of my own workouts that I give myself at the gym but basically I work with a strength and conditioning coach which is actually my husband. My husband is in charge of doing all of my conditioning. Also my Muay Thai coach Bobby Diaz, he’ll do conditioning with us as well. The fight teams that we go through, I mean every school is different and I don’t know how different fight camps are but basically our fight camps alone are conditioning. It’s pretty much called "Shark Bait". You get into the cage and every minute you get a fresh guy. So it depends on how many minutes they are going to give you that night but that’s like conditioning in itself. We do that at least two or three times a week. I go through the shark bait, no less than two times a week. And then I do my strength conditioning another two times per week.

FWW: How many rounds are you doing?

TR: It depends, sometimes, even though I am at amateur level where it’s only three, 3 minute rounds; they usually give me 5 minute rounds, just because they are trying to push you to your furthest level. You know, it’s basically; you’re not going to win at fight team. I am the only girl at my school, I am the only girl fighter so I have to go up against all these guys. So on top of the fact that, I am going up against guys, I am also doing 5 minute rounds, which I am not normally fighting at but it’s just to push you past that point. It really depends on how well your doing. If you don’t end the round in a good position, they make you keep going. So if I am at five minutes and I’m the bottom, they are going to make me keep working till I get a better position. So it really depends.

FWW: Intense.

TR: Yes, basically I know myself and I am sure anybody else who is a personal trainer out there knows or anybody in general knows you are never going to push yourself, like that hard, as hard as you are actually supposed to go. When I am in the gym I do put together conditioning drills for myself to do. But if I am tired at 10 I am going to stop at 10. I am not going to do the 15 you know? I am not going to wait 30 seconds in between rounds. I am going to give myself that minute or that two minutes. I am going to stop and I am going to be finished and when I am finished I am finished. So I know that I need that conditioning coach sitting there making me, you know yelling at me, making me do every minute of every round, making me work hard.

FWW: You currently have an amateur record of 2-1, do you have your next fight lined up yet?

TR: Actually, yes I do. Well, actually I guess I can just give you the news. I had actually posted on my facebook recently that I was going to be announcing news but I might as well .....READ MORE HERE: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=642781

The following is an excerpt of an interview with Tisha Rodrigues on www.fightswewant.com:

...FWW: When and how were you introduced to MMA?

TR: Basically my husband has been involved with the martial Arts his entire life. So I always knew of the martial arts. My Husband has always been very into it. We started actually, just like hitting the pads. Things like that, as a way to stay in shape. And when I did it, it was something that came natural and my husband was actually pretty surprised. He was like, "you know, you should try going to a class sometime, I think you’d like it because you did very well and it seems like it comes natural towards you. And I am like, um well, I don’t know about that. But it was eventually what I ended up doing. I ended up coming to the Boneyard, which is in Tauton MASS. My husband was already training there. He had started training a year prior to me in mixed martial arts. He had been in kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do, all that kind of stuff prior. So I came in, I did a Muay Thai class. The second class that I did, it was something, I don’t know what happened in me but we had Sityodtong, which is a training center that Mark Dellagrotte owns, I am sure you have heard of him.

FWW: Yes, sure.

TR: They are awesome people. They came down for a seminar and there was another trainer there. His name was Kru Eric Armington, who actually passed away a couple of years ago. And, he was one of the first trainers to hold the pads for me at this seminar. He turned to Mark Dellagrotte and said "This is our next fighter right here." Because I was so into it and something rung in my head at that moment and I was like yeah, I want to give fighting a shot. That was it, nine months later…I mean when I put something in my head, it’s in my head. And, whether or not I succeed at it, I am going to try. And nine months later I got in the cage and this was 3 ½ years ago, I had my first MMA fight and I haven’t stopped since.

FWW: That was a great compliment.

TR: Yeah, it was cool.

FWW: Given that you are a personal trainer and your experience in training, when you are preparing for a fight do you coordinate that yourself or do you work with strength and conditioning coach?

TR: I mean I do, I definitely up the intensity of my own workouts that I give myself at the gym but basically I work with a strength and conditioning coach which is actually my husband. My husband is in charge of doing all of my conditioning. Also my Muay Thai coach Bobby Diaz, he’ll do conditioning with us as well. The fight teams that we go through, I mean every school is different and I don’t know how different fight camps are but basically our fight camps alone are conditioning. It’s pretty much called "Shark Bait". You get into the cage and every minute you get a fresh guy. So it depends on how many minutes they are going to give you that night but that’s like conditioning in itself. We do that at least two or three times a week. I go through the shark bait, no less than two times a week. And then I do my strength conditioning another two times per week.

FWW: How many rounds are you doing?

TR: It depends, sometimes, even though I am at amateur level where it’s only three, 3 minute rounds; they usually give me 5 minute rounds, just because they are trying to push you to your furthest level. You know, it’s basically; you’re not going to win at fight team. I am the only girl at my school, I am the only girl fighter so I have to go up against all these guys. So on top of the fact that, I am going up against guys, I am also doing 5 minute rounds, which I am not normally fighting at but it’s just to push you past that point. It really depends on how well your doing. If you don’t end the round in a good position, they make you keep going. So if I am at five minutes and I’m the bottom, they are going to make me keep working till I get a better position. So it really depends.

FWW: Intense.

TR: Yes, basically I know myself and I am sure anybody else who is a personal trainer out there knows or anybody in general knows you are never going to push yourself, like that hard, as hard as you are actually supposed to go. When I am in the gym I do put together conditioning drills for myself to do. But if I am tired at 10 I am going to stop at 10. I am not going to do the 15 you know? I am not going to wait 30 seconds in between rounds. I am going to give myself that minute or that two minutes. I am going to stop and I am going to be finished and when I am finished I am finished. So I know that I need that conditioning coach sitting there making me, you know yelling at me, making me do every minute of every round, making me work hard.

FWW: You currently have an amateur record of 2-1, do you have your next fight lined up yet?

TR: Actually, yes I do. Well, actually I guess I can just give you the news. I had actually posted on my facebook recently that I was going to be announcing news but I might as well tell you....READ MORE HERE: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=642781

The following in an excerpt from an the "Right on the button" Blog at www.fightswewant.com :

PR: As a kid I studied Tae Kwon Do and then in my twenties I was actually trying to look into a fun way to try and lose weight and get back in shape. I was working for the police athletic league at the time and I started doing boxing and judo over there. Then finally a Muay Thai school opened up at the shore and I started doing that and I was hooked. I have probably been training in you know, between boxing and kickboxing for the last nine to ten years.

FWW: Do you have classes for different age groups?

PR: Yeah, we offer a girl’s class from 6 to 12 and then the teens-by the time their thirteen we allow them to come into the adult class. Because, you know there is so many women of different shapes and sizes and they tend to work in well. And the teens, once they get comfortable with all the movements are the dangerous ones I think (laughing).

FWW: Could you talk to us a little bit about some of the different programs you offer? I notice you have one that I thought was real creative, the 8 week Bridal Party Boot camp? What are some of the different programs you offer?

PR: Well we offer the bridal party boot camp, because usually, you know everybody wants to look great on that day. And we do a lot of co-ed private lessons which is kind of cool because the husbands come in and we make sure we give them an extra good workout so they respect their wives and what they do, you know when they are at GirlFight. We also offer a program called “Butts and Guts.” You know, it’s all in the name more or less (Laughing). And then we offer—are classes really consist of a mixture of Muay Thai, some ground defense, boxing and plyometrics and calisthenics relying on your natural strength and all that.

FWW: Do you have any students now who have expressed an interest in competing either in the amateur or professional level?

PR: Yes, I have a group of about ten to fifteen right now. You know it started really ...Read more here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=619761

The Following is an excerpt from an interview with Strikeforce # 1 Welterweight contender Miesha Tate:


FWW: You are fighting for Strikeforce, which has become one of if not the premiere woman’s MMA organization. You are the #1 Welterweight Contender. Talk a little bit about what it means to be in the forefront of woman’s MMA.

MT: It means a lot to me. I feel like I work really hard to get where I’m at and I am almost in disbelief to me that I have come so far. I am actually now visiting home and training with the team that I very first started with. And just kind of reminiscing about where I started and where I am at now. And, it’s just been a really amazing transition. I feel like I have fortunately had a lot of good people behind me and I have taken the right steps to further my career. Even though at times it was scary and I wasn’t quite sure, you know, if leaving my comfort zone was a good idea. But I pushed myself to get out there and try to make the most of this fighting career and I feel like that’s what I’ve done.

FWW: Do you have any hidden talents or hobbies, something you like to do outside of MMA that some of your fans may not know about?

MT: Yeah, I like to bake and decorate cakes.

FWW: Did you do any of that for Thanksgiving?

MT: I didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving no. I was going to but I didn’t bake any cake because we were traveling so I usually don’t pack up all my stuff to go other places but I did make a real nice fruit salad (laughing).

FWW: There ya go. Ok, well I don’t know if you had a chance to go to the site but the Fightswewant.com site but the site is set up for fans to pick bouts and their dream bouts they would like to see regardless of what league a fighter might be fighting for or what have you. If you had to pick a dream bout, and we cover all combat sports so whether it’s MMA or BJJ or Boxing or Judo, but if you had to pick a dream bout that you’d like to see fight?

MT: Umm, a fight I’d like to see.

FWW: That could be men’s, women’s or both.

MT: Yeah, let me think here for a second. Hmm. Maybe for a men’s bout I think that Lyle Beerbohm vs. Gilbert Melendez would be a hell of a fight. I think that would be really amazing. For females, um damn it’s like we had so many good ones over this last year. And it’s like everyone is fighting everyone. Uh, maybe Zoila Frausto vs. ...READ MORE HERE: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=602102

Excerpt from Interview with Strikeforce # 1 Welterweight contender Miesha Tate:

FWW: Do they do anything different with regards to strength and conditioning or with regards to getting a fighter prepared than what you may have done in the past?

MT: Well they are a very independent team. The guys are so self motivated that they don’t even need anyone to push them because they are so on it already. But the whole team is always there backing them anyways. And it’s really…everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and different needs and everything. What’s also really nice about this gym is that whatever you need to work on is available there at your fingertips. I mean we have world class striking coaches, world class grappling coaches, world class wrestlers, world class fighters and amazing strength and conditioning coaches as well there. So it’s all just a matter of you targeting what you need to work on. And just going to the gym, it’s all there for you. So that’s really nice being there because all the tools and everything are right at your fingertips to make you a world champion.

FWW: Moving on to your upcoming title fight with Marloes Coenen that is slated for the early part, first quarter of 2011. You have not fought since August. And you have actually had a pretty active year, you had four fights in 2010 including the tournament obviously. What if anything have you been doing to stay in shape and when will you start your camp?

MT: Well you know what I’ve been doing is training like I would train to be ready for a fight basically. I mean there is a little difference in that I’m not doing like iron man rounds. Usually when I get ready for a fight, you will actually have focus on you and you’ll have to stay in and basically be grinded out by a bunch of new fresh people for 3 five minute rounds or in my case coming up, fighting for a title it will be 5 five minute rounds with a new fresh person every round. I haven’t been doing that. I have just been doing the normal training like what the people who don’t have fights coming up. But I am there every day and I work out twice a day. So I am making sure that I am really well conditioned. And I have been going over a lot of technique and therefore if the fight pops up in January I am going to be ready if its February or if its March. Those are kind of the target windows that they said possibly could happen. So I am basically staying ready so I don’t have to get ready (laughs).

FWW: Ok, great. You started Wrestling in High school on the boy’s team, won the high school women's state championship and went on to win nationals at the World Team Trials in the 158lb division. What advice would you give young girls who may want to try wrestling in the high school level but goes to a school that doesn’t have a woman’s division?

MT: They can’t tell you-you can’t wrestle for one. If there is only male wrestling offered. You just have to be prepared for, you know for it being really hard and you know a male dominated atmosphere takes a little bit of getting use to but if you want to do than just do it. I feel like we are really fortunate. I have traveled around the world a little bit and I got to experience some other countries and I haven’t yet been in any kind of a third world country or anything like that but I know that American women and American people in general but especially women are ...READ MORE HERE:

http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=602102

The following is an excerpt from an Interview with Strikeforce # 1 ranked Welterweight contender Miesha Tate:

FWW: You recently moved camps from Washington with Dennis Hallman to Sacramento with Ultimate fitness and Team Alpha Male. What has been the biggest benefit you have noticed so far?

MT: The biggest benefit, well a little more consistency in our team practice trainings. In that we train more as a team here in Sacramento. And the biggest thing I found, is that they understand moreso here that its more than just about being physically ready but their all like a brotherhood. They spend a lot of time together. They are very much about positive reinforcement. There is really no negativity at all, which is actually a hard thing to accomplish. You know I have been around to plenty of camps and there always seems to be like that one person or a few people that kind of tend to maybe drag that atmosphere of the team down a little bit. But truly, in Sacramento, with this team there isn’t any of those people. Everyone’s really positive and very uplifting. Their mental focus is just on a whole other level.

FWW: That’s great.

MT: Yes, it is.

FWW: Do they do anything different with regards to strength and conditioning or with regards to getting a fighter prepared than what you may have done in the past?

MT: Well they are a very independent team. The guys are so self motivated that they don’t even need anyone to push them because they are so on it already. But the whole team is always there backing them anyways. And it’s really…everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and different needs and everything. What’s also really nice about this gym is that whatever you need to work on is available there at your fingertips. I mean we have world class striking coaches, world class grappling coaches, world class wrestlers, world class fighters and amazing strength and conditioning coaches as well there. So it’s all just a matter of you targeting what you need to work on. And just going to the gym, it’s all there for you. So that’s really nice being there because all the tools and everything are right at your fingertips to make you a world champion.

FWW: Moving on to your upcoming title fight with Marloes Coenen ...Read More Here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=602102

Excerpt from interview with Shana Olsen:

FWW: With regards to the fight itself, you suffered the first loss of your career but in reading your blog you clearly have the right attitude in that it you stated was only a defeat in the cage and not in your life and something that you learned from. You talked specifically about the fact that you have identified what it was in the fight you did wrong as well as right. Can you drill down a little bit and share with us what some of those things were?

SO: Sure, I think our game plan was good going into it. Going against someone with a Muay Thai background, you know, Julia’s clinch was really good. So I had a lot of body locks on her but really I should have focused more on my take downs on her legs. We had kind of stuck with the body locks and everything of the potential for knees and kicks and stuff coming at me. And, this is the first time in my career that I fought somebody who was stronger. She was physically stronger than I was at this point. So that in itself was a challenge for me to overcome. Something that I see now is, she really is about the size of, you know, her and Cyborg are about the same size so if those are the type of people I am going to be competing against, there are things I need to go back and add to my game

FWW: I think she had about a 3” reach also right?

SO: Yep, she had a 3” reach, she had a long reach. I think at the beginning of the second round I did a good job of getting inside. And I rushed a little bit to take it to the ground and that’s the thing about fighting, that’s the thing about MMA, somebody else capitalizing on your mistakes. That was a mistake; that was a flaw in my game plan. It wasn’t where I wanted to end up but, it happened and it’s definitely something that I learned from. I would say from all my fights, I learned a lot from that fight. It’s only made me hungrier to want to keep going and get even better.

FWW: Speaking of which, you’ve won the majority of your fights primarily due to your solid stand up and you also have a strong ground game, even though you haven’t had to rely on it. Going forward, what to do you feel is the biggest aspect of your overall fight game you want to improve upon as you work your way towards a title fight?

SO: I would say just perfecting my technique. I want to be someboy who can go against anybody and it’s not going to matter. I put on my Facebook that “ Size isn’t everything:” You look at some of the greatest champions in the world, Anderson Silva, Fedor, Frankie Edgar, you know, they aren’t bigger than their opponents, there not big guys. There not real physically muscular guys but they still dominate in their divisions. And a lot of it is because of their superior technique and skill.

FWW: What’s next or who’s next for you in terms of a potential opponent? Has Strikeforce, have you guys mapped that out yet?

SO: We haven’t really mapped that out. Steve with SIAB Sports, my management team, they have been talking to Strikeforce and we’re looking at a return here…we are hoping for end of January, beginning of February for a return. Again, I want to fight the best of the best because I want to get better.

FWW: Is there anybody you want to fight in particular?

SO: I would to say, you know there is a few of them coming up that I think would be good match ups; either...READ MORE HERE:  
http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=573046

The following is an excerpt from the interview with Shana Olsen:

FWW: With regards to the fight itself, you suffered the first loss of your career but in reading your blog you clearly have the right attitude in that it you stated was only a defeat in the cage and not in your life and something that you learned from. You talked specifically about the fact that you have identified what it was in the fight you did wrong as well as right. Can you drill down a little bit and share with us what some of those things were?

SO: Sure, I think our game plan was good going into it. Going against someone with a Muay Thai background, you know, Julia’s clinch was really good. So I had a lot of body locks on her but really I should have focused more on my take downs on her legs. We had kind of stuck with the body locks and everything of the potential for knees and kicks and stuff coming at me. And, this is the first time in my career that I fought somebody who was stronger. She was physically stronger than I was at this point. So that in itself was a challenge for me to overcome. Something that I see now is, she really is about the size of, you know, her and Cyborg are about the same size so if those are the type of people I am going to be competing against, there are things I need to go back and add to my game

FWW: I think she had about a 3” reach also right?

SO: Yep, she had a 3” reach, she had a long reach. I think at the beginning of the second round I did a good job of getting inside. And I rushed a little bit to take it to the ground and that’s the thing about fighting, that’s the thing about MMA, somebody else capitalizing on your mistakes. That was a mistake; that was a flaw in my game plan. It wasn’t where I wanted to end up but, it happened and it’s definitely something that I learned from. I would say from all my fights, I learned a lot from that fight. It’s only made me hungrier to want to keep going and get even better.

FWW: Speaking of which, you’ve won the majority of your fights primarily due to your solid stand up and you also have a strong ground game, even though you haven’t had to rely on it. Going forward, what to do you feel is the biggest aspect of your overall fight game you want to improve upon as you work your way towards a title fight?

SO: I would say just perfecting my technique. I want to be someboy who can go against anybody and it’s not going to matter. I put on my Facebook that “ Size isn’t everything:” You look at some of the greatest champions in the world, Anderson Silva, Fedor, Frankie Edgar, you know, they aren’t bigger than their opponents, there not big guys. There not real physically muscular guys but they still dominate in their divisions. And a lot of it is because of their superior technique and skill.

FWW: What’s next or who’s next for you in terms of a potential opponent? Has Strikeforce, have you guys mapped that out yet?

SO: We haven’t really mapped that out. Steve with SIAB Sports, my management team, they have been talking to Strikeforce and we’re looking at a return here…we are hoping for end of January, beginning of February for a return. Again, I want to fight the best of the best because I want to get better.

FWW: Is there anybody you want to fight in particular?

SO: I would to say, you know there is a few of them coming up that I think would be good match ups; either ...READ MORE HERE: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=573046

Prior to UFC 121, it seemed the heavyweight division revolved around Brock Lesnar.  He seemed invincible, and every up and coming heavyweight fighter fought with the motivation of earning a contention fight and dethroning him. 

And although it was expected that at some point a fighter would come along and take the heavyweight title from Lesnar, few thought it would be Cain Velasquez to do it.

Velasquez did more than simply defeat Lesnar and takeover the heavyweight title; he destroyed him.  Rather than a heavyweight title fight with the Rocky 4 hype built up about it, it looked more like a glorified sparring session for the number one contender. 

With the crowning of a new heavyweight champion, it really opened things up for other fighters in the division.  Junior Dos Santos is next in line to go to battle for the title, but there are several fighters behind him that feel they are due a shot.

Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin were supposed to go to battle in January of 2011, but due to injury, Carwin backed out and left Nelson with no opponent. 

So if Velasquez is able to successfully defend his title his first time out against Dos Santos, whenever that fight may be, who is next in line?  There are a variety of formidable opponents—Nelson and Carwin as mentioned, Frank Mir, and even Brendan Schaub’s name should be thrown into the mix following an impressive win over heavily favored Gabriel Gonzaga.  And let’s not forget about UFC and MMA legend Randy Couture.

Although nothing is set in regards to contention/elimination fights to determine who will have the next shot at the title following the Velasquez/Dos Santos bout, one thing is for certain—with the heavyweight division as stacked as it is, a single loss can result in dropping far into the ranks and losing an opportunity to fight for the title for quite some time.  In such a stacked division of explosive and talented heavyweights, it’s one and done.

MMA fans are going to be treated to some exciting matchups starting in 2011 as Cain Velasquez begins his quest to successfully defend his newly acquired championship belt and set himself apart from all of the other heavyweights in the UFC.

By Chris Cella

Excerpt of interview with Stirkeforce Weleterweight Champion, Marloes Coenen:

FWW: Marloes, congratulations on your most recent win as well as becoming the new Strikeforce women's Welterweight Champion. Marloes, clearly being the Welterweight Champion brings with it added responsibility as it relates to marketing and promotion for Strikeforce as well as your role of being an ambassador in general for MMA and specifically for women’s MMA. Talk to us a little about what kinds of demands if any on your time has that presented.

Marloes Coenen: First of all, thank you Chris. Second, to me it doesn’t feel like a responsibility. My goal is, besides staying a champion, to motivate and inspire other women to empower themselves. As I believe that no one can do it for you, you’ll have to do it yourself. Growing up I had a lot of male role models in the martial arts scene. There was one woman that was really inspiring to me, “Lucia Rijker”. She was feminine, hard core, broke boundaries and as I found out in January (Miami), she is a genuine nice person. I do not know if I can inspire other women as Lucia has inspired me, but I truly hope so.

FWW: Taking all of it into consideration; how has this or how do you see this impacting your training? Adding to the mix that you now have the proverbial bull’s eye on your back with all fighters in your division looking for your belt.

Marloes Coenen: Nah, training is what makes me happy. So it is business as usual. I feel so good now I finally can focus on training and do not have to do office work anymore. That consumes so much energy, haha! And 10 years ago I became for the 1st time a world champion, then I was much younger and the impact was mentally really big for me. Nowadays I can handle it very well because it is a dream which came true. No one can take this away from me.

FWW: What are your thoughts on your next opponent? Are you looking to do a rematch right away with Sarah or would you prefer her to have another fight or two before stepping back in the cage with you? If so, who ideally would you like to fight? Do you have your eyes set on fighting Gina Carano when she comes back to Strikeforce or do you immediately want to avenge the loss to Cyborg?

Marloes Coenen: Scott Coker decides who I fight; it is as simple as that. Fighting at 135 lbs I can take on everyone. I would like to defend my title a few times. Fight a fight or two at 145 lbs and then meet Cyborg in the cage again. I do not think that Gina is...Read More here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=556960

Excerpt of interview with Strikeforce Women's Welterweight Champion, Marloes Coenen:

FWW: Marloes, congratulations on your most recent win as well as becoming the new Strikeforce women's Welterweight Champion. Marloes, clearly being the Welterweight Champion brings with it added responsibility as it relates to marketing and promotion for Strikeforce as well as your role of being an ambassador in general for MMA and specifically for women’s MMA. Talk to us a little about what kinds of demands if any on your time has that presented.

Marloes Coenen: First of all, thank you Chris. Second, to me it doesn’t feel like a responsibility. My goal is, besides staying a champion, to motivate and inspire other women to empower themselves. As I believe that no one can do it for you, you’ll have to do it yourself. Growing up I had a lot of male role models in the martial arts scene. There was one woman that was really inspiring to me, “Lucia Rijker”. She was feminine, hard core, broke boundaries and as I found out in January (Miami), she is a genuine nice person. I do not know if I can inspire other women as Lucia has inspired me, but I truly hope so.

FWW: Taking all of it into consideration; how has this or how do you see this impacting your training? Adding to the mix that you now have the proverbial bull’s eye on your back with all fighters in your division looking for your belt.

Marloes Coenen: Nah, training is what makes me happy. So it is business as usual. I feel so good now I finally can focus on training and do not have to do office work anymore. That consumes so much energy, haha! And 10 years ago I became for the 1st time a world champion, then I was much younger and the impact was mentally really big for me. Nowadays I can handle it very well because it is a dream which came true. No one can take this away from me.

FWW: What are your thoughts on your next opponent? Are you looking to do a rematch right away with Sarah or would you prefer her to have another fight or two before stepping back in the cage with you? If so, who ideally would you like to fight? Do you have your eyes set on fighting Gina Carano when she comes back to Strikeforce or do you immediately want to avenge the loss to Cyborg?

Marloes Coenen: Scott Coker decides who I fight; it is as simple as that. Fighting at 135 lbs I can take on everyone. I would like to defend my title a few times. Fight a fight or two at 145 lbs and then meet Cyborg in the cage again. I do not think that Gina is...Read More here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=556960

Excerpt from Roy Nelson Interview:

FWW: Roy, let’s get right into it. You were scheduled to fight in the co-main event against Shane Carwin in UFC 125. About five days ago or so we found out that Shane Carwin backed out of the fight stating he needed to have back surgery and would not be able to compete. Obviously a huge let down. Several days later, as a result of the UFC ostensibly unable to find you a suitable opponent, you were also dropped from the card. Give us your thoughts on the last week’s chain of events.

RN: When I found out that Shane wasn’t going to fight it was disheartening. To the point where I kind of got rushed into getting my knee surgery rehabbed and kind of getting rushed into, I guess the fire, and then the bottom of the barrel drops out. Because you know I wasn’t ready and then when your kind of forced there you’re like, ok, I’ll do it. Then whatever, they take it out from you, it’s kind of disheartening. But at the same time they have something like, I think they have 29 other fighters on contract so you know, the other 28’s fine.

FWW: speaking of the knee, percentage wise, where would you say your knee is right now?

RN: To fight anybody in the UFC? A hundred percent.

FWW: OK. Your thoughts on Shane backing out?

RN: I think from a manager’s standpoint it’s a good move for him. To get his neck or back right you know but also not to face me is always... for anybody who is trying to get to the belt is …I am pretty big hurdle to get past.

FWW: No Doubt. Roy, playing Devil’s advocate: To the extent that you can remove yourself and your feelings about this, if you were in the UFC and Dana White’s shoes, what would you do? What is the solution that makes sense for Roy Nelson and his career and what makes business sense for the UFC? What ideally would you like to see happen?

RN: Ideally if I had to...Read More here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=543738

FWW: Roy, let’s get right into it. You were scheduled to fight in the co-main event against Shane Carwin in UFC 125. About five days ago or so we found out that Shane Carwin backed out of the fight stating he needed to have back surgery and would not be able to compete. Obviously a huge let down. Several days later, as a result of the UFC ostensibly unable to find you a suitable opponent, you were also dropped from the card. Give us your thoughts on the last week’s chain of events.

RN: When I found out that Shane wasn’t going to fight it was disheartening. To the point where I kind of got rushed into getting my knee surgery rehabbed and kind of getting rushed into, I guess the fire, and then the bottom of the barrel drops out. Because you know I wasn’t ready and then when your kind of forced there you’re like, ok, I’ll do it. Then whatever, they take it out from you, it’s kind of disheartening. But at the same time they have something like, I think they have 29 other fighters on contract so you know, the other 28’s fine.

FWW: speaking of the knee, percentage wise, where would you say your knee is right now?

RN: To fight anybody in the UFC? A hundred percent.

FWW: OK. Your thoughts on Shane backing out?

RN: I think from a manager’s standpoint it’s a good move for him. To get his neck or back right you know but also not to face me is always... for anybody who is trying to get to the belt is …I am pretty big hurdle to get past.

FWW: No Doubt. Roy, playing Devil’s advocate: To the extent that you can remove yourself and your feelings about this, if you were in the UFC and Dana White’s shoes, what would you do? What is the solution that makes sense for Roy Nelson and his career and what makes business sense for the UFC? What ideally would you like to see happen?

RN: Ideally if I had to ....Read More here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=543738

The Emergence of Women’s MMA

Since the UFC first aired live on television back in 1993, MMA has been considered a men’s only club.  Although there were many women who practiced a variety of martial arts around the world, the true combat and the wars fought in the cage and ring were only for the men, right?  Wrong!

With the emergence of Gina Carano—hailed the “face of women’s MMA”—in 2006, fight fans were treated to a female fighter with incredible skills.  Strikeforce quickly realized the potential in hosting female MMA fights, and soon thereafter featured their debut women’s bout.  Just over two months after the debut Showtime aired the first female MMA fight; and the results spoke for themselves.

Now, here we are four years later and women’s fighting has exploded onto the MMA scene worldwide.  There are countless organizations—both amateur and professional—that hold women’s MMA fights regularly, and Strikeforce has recently held their first women’s welterweight tournament, which was won by Miesha Tate.

Many wondered how women’s MMA would be perceived by the public.  Critics argued that women couldn’t ...Read more here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=505657

Excerpt from interview with TUF 12 Contestant Andy Main:

FWW:  I know we talked a little bit about the Jiu-Jitsu aspect but was there any part of your game that you feel improved as a result of being on the show?

AM: I definitely think the biggest thing for me was my striking. Especially after I lost, I took the opportunity to really just focus on getting better and I worked with Teddy lucio a lot. Just basic stuff here and there to really just try and improve on some things I was missing in my game. Unfortunately, you know like I said before and a lot of guys will tell you training and fighting in that environment, living in that house and even just the training regimen..it makes you not train the same way that you do at home. So I wasn’t very comfortable right from the get go. I wasn’t feeling as well as I do at home. Right down to cardio you know I would get tired in class. Coming into the house or preparing to fight to come into the house, you know I was doing 10, 12, 15 rounds at home and you couldn’t make me tired. And then I come here and you know, sleeping in the house was difficult. And just being in that environment was uncomfortable and you know, I’d get tired or there were injuries that were happening and this and that and it’s just made training different.  So I didn’t feel like myself to begin with so I did try to take advantage of working with Dave, working with Teddy but like I said, I wasn’t myself to begin with. So it was hard to try and get much better while I wasn’t in my element to begin with. It was almost like I spent most of my time trying to get comfortable with the environment. It was almost like the last week or two when I really improved because that was when I was really comfortable training, you know, the schedule we had and everything.

FWW: I am sure you were amped up still and there was a lot of newness to everything so there was a lot of anxiety just in that itself.

AM: Yes.

FWW:  Speaking of Kyle, I know we have mentioned him a few times already in the interview but I know recently you went out to visit and train with him at the Hit Squad, what was that experience like and have you trained with any of the other cast members since the show ended?

AM: No, I haven’t trained with any of the other cast members.  Basically Kyle, I had kept in touch with him, I kept in touch with a few of the guys online.  Because we aren’t allowed to fight until after the whole show is over.  So you know we have a lot of time off from a training camp.  So basically for me, this was my opportunity to  really try to take advantage of the, uh, II don’t want to say time off because I’m not taking time off but time out of a fight camp where I really have to focus on  asset schedule and do things a certain way.  No it’s like, now I can kind of maybe travel a little bit, visit different camps.   I had obviously lost to Kyle and I knew he was a very solid Jiu-Jitsu player and the Hitsquad was always a place I was always interested in going over and just visiting.  Seeing what it was all about.   Like we said before, it’s about different looks, different styles.  Obviously Matt Hughes style of training is much much different than the Renzo Gracie system of training.  So you know, it was just something that I wanted to experience and then also get to train with one of the cast members and stay in touch and whatnot.   So it was a very good experience for me.  Mark Fiore kind of runs the gym over there and is a really super nice guy and he kind of invited me with open arms and threw me right into the class.  I got to train with really good guys and just experience a different look a different style of training.

FWW:  Right, sure.   Ok, this question is in respect to conditioning.  As a result of being on the show, are there any training techniques or methods you picked up or were exposed to that you now incorporating in your conditioning program?

AM:  Yeah, there are.   The AKA team,  Jon Fitch and Kos and those guys are you know, they believe in the Aerodyne circuits and it’s not something I had done before.  I’ve done treadmill circuits, I’ve done this and that but the Aerodyne basically the fan bike, what they do is kind of like a 30 minute workout.  Where it’s one minute on one minute off.   And for that one minute that you are on you are keeping it above a certain speed and the one minute that you are off you’re doing something.  You are either doing jumping jacks or you’re shadow boxing or you’re hitting pads, something like that.  So you’re just, there is actually no break.   You’re just giving your legs a little bit of a break on the minutes in between.   I can definitely see how it helps there style.   Jon Fitch actually said to us, he said “this is the grinder’s machine; this is the grinder’s cardio.”  Because what it does is just makes you, you know, gives you that leg endurance and that constant you know, forward motion.   That constant ability to continue to move a full half hour or a full fifteen minutes. You know, whatever you need to move for.   I can see after doing those exercises, how it played into the style of fighting that Jon Fitch and Koschek have.   It’s definitely something I am going to incorporate into my workouts.   You know I am going to try incorporate parts of that into the strength and conditioning that I already do.

FWW:  Ok, moving on to more questions as they relate to the show,  former cast members have said, that for them, the hardest part about the show was the house itself.  Being sequestered from the outside world and their family friends and support, not to mention being cooped up in with a bunch of fighters with little to do but eat, drink and sleep.  Nate Diaz had mentioned that he couldn’t stand the house and he just wanted to get home. What are your thoughts on that?

AM: Yeah the house becomes, you know we live in this mansion and it’s gorgeous and it’s amazing and like for the first couple of days you’re like I can’t believe I am living in this place.  And then very, very, very fast the house becomes smaller and smaller.  I don’t care how big the house is, when you have 14 guys, that aren’t allowed to do anything else, you know, we aren’t allowed to read or watch TV or movies or listen to music or basically anything, except for interact.  And like I said, we are obviously 14 guys and we are all fighters.  We all have sort of a mentality that eventually people are going to start butting heads.   I think this season was actually, you know, there was a lot less of that.   I mean we saw a little bit already and there’s a bit more but it’s not to the extent that I think past seasons have been.   But, it’s just that I feel like just the isolation, just starts to really, really get into your head. You know, me being a very mellow person, very soft spoken person, I kind of, coming into this thing I was like of yeah but it’s just 40 days, it’s not going to be a problem.  I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine but as soon as your freedom is taken away, your mindset starts to go.   It becomes very difficult to focus on what you’re trying to focus on.  Like I said before, sleep is a difficult thing in itself.   The first couple of days I slept like a baby and then by the end I was up till 4 in the morning every day and I’d be lucky to get a couple of hours of sleep.  And we were still training twice a day.   So you start to get exhausted but you can’t sleep.  So you’re exhausted but you can’t sleep. And you got to keep training so it really messes with you eventually and then also the whole fact that you have nothing to do but eat really. Eat and interact and so you basically have unlimited resources in terms of what you want to eat.  It was funny to start seeing people start gaining a whole lot of weight as the season went on.

FWW: How great was it to be back in your own bed?

AM: It was, I mean honestly, I never really appreciated home the way I did when I got home from doing that show.  One of the things I have told a few people.  I’ll tell you, this will be exclusive because this is the first time I would have said this.  When the show ended, I ...Read more here http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=503164

Excerpt taken from interview with Kyle Watson:

John Danaher is one of the best and most sought after BJJ instructors in the world.  Talk a little about what it was like to train with him.

KW:  Yeah it was pretty amazing.  I had actually, you know, being a Jiu-Jitsu guy, I was constantly putting myself in that arena and you know I’d hear a lot of things.   You know I had already heard a lot of stuff about John but you know , never really verified by anybody close to me, you know, just a lot of hearsay.  You know, I heard there’s this really amazing guy, you know out of Renzo’s and you know uh, I , uh, I wanted to see if that was true.  And you know I really wanted to be on Georges team, um not just because of that but it was definitely one of the factors.  Yeah man, he lived up to and exceeded most of the things I heard.  He was just phenomenal.

FWW:  Right, great.  After being on the show and being exposed to the world class coaches you had the opportunity to work with, are there any specific things you would change in your fight preparation or training as a fighter and also from the perspective as a coach?  I know you coach at the Hit Squad.   So are there any things that you know now from being on the show you would do differently?

KW:  Yeah I think so, having just listen to, uh, just looking at their methods, I uh, we train similar in some respects.  You know we usually are doing two a days, like we were on the show.  Usually breaking it down into either a grappling session or a striking type of session and stuff like that.  But, I’d say the big difference is, at our gym, you know, I’m a big technique fan but at our gym it is more conditioning.  So we work a lot harder and don’t do as much technique, whereas when I teach my own classes though it’s the opposite.  I teach my classes very heavy on technique, let the guys roll a little bit and kind of leave it up to them to be in shape.  That was more of the way it was or the way that John taught.  Don’t get me wrong, we sparred and we went hard but out of every two hour session I’d say over an hour of it was technique.  So I really liked that but as far as things I would take away, yeah there’s things like that Georges showed us, that like things that have made him a champion.  Showing us how, you know , one big thing he told us, if you look at him and the rest of the 70 lb division; ...Read more here
http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=492433

Before taking a look at this rubber match, we thought we would take a moment to highlight just how utterly ludicrous it is that MMA events have still not been sanctioned yet in the state of New York.

In June of this year, Governor Paterson, appearing on the WOR’s “The John Gambling Show” talked about the State’s deficit currently being at $9.2 billion with a potential to grow to $10.2 billion.  Couple that with the current unemployment rates, you would think the legislators would be interested in hosting a sporting event that would bring much needed dollars to arena owners and their employees, create jobs and increase tourist spending (with many of the fans coming from out of state) and sales tax revenues.

All this recent nonsensical rhetoric about MMA being too violent being spewed by woefully uninformed NY State Assemblyman Bob Reilly, is filled with fallacies and false notions.

That is all the coverage I will give Mr. Reilly but I invite him and all our readers to check out a very good...read More here:
http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=441492

BJ Penn made his return to lightweight at the Ultimate Finale 5 beating Jens Pulver by rear naked choke.  An impressive win and one that avenged his Lightweight Champion belt loss to Pulver at UFC 35.   Except for the rematch loss to George St-Pierre (GSP) at UFC 94, which was contested at Welterweight, BJ had been unstoppable at lightweight.  He dominated and beat Joe Stevenson via rear naked choke at UFC 80, dominated and TKO’d Sean Sherk at UFC 84, dominated and beat Kenny Florian by rear naked choke at UFC 101 and absolutely demolished Diego Sanchez, busting him up badly over 5 rounds before the bout stopped due to the huge gash BJ opened up across Sanchez’s forehead.

His next bout at lightweight was for the Lightweight Championship title against the # 1 contender Frankie Edgar at UFC 112. This fight was won by Edgar via a unanimous decision.   A fight BJ felt he won.  By round three of this fight Penn looked frustrated and distracted.  Regardless, BJ insisted he was robbed and this was a fluke win.  Edgar was in fact the underdog in both fights and some experts were suggesting the rematch was going to be similar to the GSP/ Matt Serra II bout that saw GSP dominate Serra and regain his title.

The Edgar/Penn rematch saw the champion beating BJ Penn in every round and in every facet of the game.  Penn looked out of it walking to the ring while being announced and just before the bell rung to start the fight.  Throughout the fight he again looked frustrated and even listless at times.  The last time we saw Penn acting in a similar fashion was the second GSP fight.

 While Penn/St-Pierre II was at Welterweight, it did provide some foreshadowing to his performances in his two bouts with Frankie Edgar.  It appears when things are going well in the ring for BJ, he steps on the pedal and finishes his opponents.  However when he is not having success, it is almost as if he shuts down.  He had that same listless, out of it, look when he was in his corner for this fight as well.  Speaking of his corner, much has been written about their lack of guidance and coaching in all three of his last losses.   When Mike Tyson fired or let be fired his trainer Kevin Rooney and a few of the other real trainers in his corner it was just another factor in the beginning of the end for him.  Tyson instead employed his friends to be his seconds and corners.  To be fair, I am not suggesting that the people in BJ’s corner were as bad as when Tyson had his friends, they are not.  Where they are similar is in the fact that they clearly were not able to get him focused that night nor did they offer any semblance of technical coaching or strategy.  To make matters worse, it did not appear that BJ was too interested in listening to anything anyone had to say anyway.  Suffice to say, BJ Penn has some hard questions he needs to ask himself regarding where he wants to go next, what his legacy will be as well as figuring out if he needs to make some real changes in his camp which will go part and parcel with this.

Perhaps one ingredient that could help BJ Penn get back on track would be getting an opponent he can get fired up about. 

Jose Aldo, the current WEC featherweight champion would be an intriguing match.  I think for this match to happen it would need to be contested at lightweight but it doesn’t have to be.  Aldo is an extremely well rounded fighter and if we got a conditioned, (as he has been since the second Pulver fight), motivated BJ Penn this would and should be an exciting fight.  This fight would make sense for both fighters.  Jose Aldo is an exciting fighter and one would have to think BJ Penn, now 32 years of age, would come into his next fight looking to reinvent himself once more and make another run at reaching his full potential.  Taking on and beating one of the best young lions in the sport would go a long way in creating what his legacy will ultimately be.   For Aldo, who is still young (while he is 8 years younger than BJ he has been active with only 5 less fights in his career), a win over BJ Penn would also begin to cement him as one of the potential next greats.

BJ Penn made his return to lightweight at the Ultimate Finale 5 beating Jens Pulver by rear naked choke.  An impressive win and one that avenged his Lightweight Champion belt loss to Pulver at UFC 35.   Except for the rematch loss to George St-Pierre (GSP) at UFC 94, which was contested at Welterweight, BJ had been unstoppable at lightweight.  He dominated and beat Joe Stevenson via rear naked choke at UFC 80, dominated and TKO’d Sean Sherk at UFC 84, dominated and beat Kenny Florian by rear naked choke at UFC 101 and absolutely demolished Diego Sanchez, busting him up badly over 5 rounds before the bout stopped due to the huge gash BJ opened up across Sanchez’s forehead.

His next bout at lightweight was for the Lightweight Championship title against the # 1 contender Frankie Edgar at UFC 112. This fight was won by Edgar via a unanimous decision.   A fight BJ felt he won.  By round three of this fight Penn looked frustrated and distracted.  Regardless, BJ insisted he was robbed and this was a fluke win.  Edgar was in fact the underdog in both fights and some experts were suggesting the rematch was going to be similar to the GSP/ Matt Serra II bout that saw GSP dominate Serra and regain his title.

The Edgar/Penn rematch saw the champion beating BJ Penn in every round and in every facet of the game.  Penn looked out of it walking to the ring while being announced and just before the bell rung to start the fight.  Throughout the fight he again looked frustrated and even listless at times.  The last time we saw Penn acting in a similar fashion was the second GSP fight.

 While Penn/St-Pierre II was at Welterweight, it did provide some foreshadowing to his performances in his two bouts with Frankie Edgar.  It appears when...Read more here:
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With MMA events still unsanctioned in several states the UFC still struggles for legitimacy.  It still seems to straddle the fence between boxing and professional wrestling.  With fans viewing the sport as the former it begs for the question of whether Anderson Silva is good for the sport to be answered.  His ability as a martial artist makes him stand out as one of the greatest fighters in the game, but his buffoonery in the cage is reminiscent of the antics found in the WWE.  With Dana White being ... Read more here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=382747

Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen recently “participated” in a conference call with the media to discuss their upcoming bout on August 7th at UFC 117 (listen to call here http://videos.mmaweekly.com/view_player.php?id=2921).  I use the word participated loosely as Anderson Silva was not making a best effort or cooperating with his responses to most of the questions posed by the reporters.   He either responded with a “no” or very short comments and even those were unarticulated and never answered the question(s) asked.  His translator and manager Ed Soares finally had to step in to field some of the questions to talk about how he “thought” Anderson felt.

Here is a guy who is...read more here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=376352

Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen recently “participated” in a conference call with the media to discuss their upcoming bout on August 7th at UFC 117 (listen to call here http://videos.mmaweekly.com/view_player.php?id=2921).  I use the word participated loosely as Anderson Silva was not making a best effort or cooperating with his responses to most of the questions posed by the reporters.   He either responded with a “no” or very short comments and even those were unarticulated and never answered the question(s) asked.  His translator and manager Ed Soares finally had to step in to field some of the questions to talk about how he “thought” Anderson felt.

Here is a guy who ..Read more here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=376352

Here is a guy who is the current UFC Middleweight Champion, has a tremendous amount of talent and consistently has been called the best pound for pound fighter in the world and ranked # 1 or #2 by many of the MMA websites, polls not to mention one of his biggest supporters, his boss and UFC President Dana White.  Despite all of the accolades and also being undefeated since 2006, Silva has also come under fire for his performances or lack thereof in his fights with Patrick Cote and most recently with Demian Maia and the spectacle that became the main event at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.  It should be noted that while White has been a very vocal and ardent supporter of Silva, he also made it very clear after UFC 112, if Silva ever turned in a performance like that again he would be cut from the organization immediately.

This latest interview is just another example of Anderson Silva doing more harm to himself.  In the last several years, he has done nothing to endear himself to the fans, the media and to his employer the UFC.   He has become the proverbial public relations nightmare.   He does not speak English all that well nor does he seem to want to try to learn which you would think he would if for no other reason than to become more marketable and a good ambassador for the sport.  Speaking of which, Silva creates quite the juxtaposition next to the current UFC Welterweight Champion and French Canadian, Georges St-Pierre.  Georges, who does not speak English as well as his French, does try and conducts many interviews in his broken English.   Georges is also one of the first MMA stars to secure major endorsements for himself from companies like Under Armor and Gatorade just to name a few.  Georges displays many of the characteristics that one might expect from a champion and carries himself as a gentleman both in and outside the ring.  Anderson does not come off as humble.  Even when he attempts, you never get the sense that he even believes himself.

In his initial defense of his unsportsmanlike behavior in the ring against Demian Maia, he claimed he acted that way because Maia had disrespected him.  When pressed on what exactly Maia said or did to disrespect him, Silva never really gave a definitive answer.  Fast forward to his fight coming up on August 7th and the hype generated mostly by Chael Sonnen, who has been more than disrespectful to say the least, the question begs “what say you about that Anderson?”  And, on the media call, the question was asked by several reporters.  His response was that he thought Chael was “funny.”  Once again, this was not a very convincing response on his part.   He didn’t sound believable then and he didn’t come off as believable this week on the call.  Incidentally, note to some of the reporters and any future reporters who plan on interviewing Silva.  You may not want to ask a question that elicits a yes/no response because chances are; that is what you will get. 

With respect to the hype to this fight, you have to hand it to Sonnen.  While the Rashad Evans / Rampage Jackson fight had over a year long buildup with some entertaining verbal jabs thrown at each other and then some, no one quite delivers a great sound bite like Sonnen.  One of my favorites is Sonnen’s contention that he was going to put him (Silva) on his back "more than a prostitute with a mortgage."  Sonnen can write a book on how to promote a fight.  Let’s just hope that this fight does not turn into the anti climatic let down that was the Evans/Jackson fight.  While the build-up was great and led to a lot of ticket sales and media attention, the main event just did not live up to the hype. 

This coming fight is interesting more so to see how Anderson is going to perform and react win or lose.  He has not really shown any remorse for his actions at UFC 112 and he came off flippant in the interview.   I don't buy the speculation that he just wants to take the high road and do his talking in the ring.  At this point you don’t know what, if anything, his goals are with respect to what his legacy will be.  There is no denying his talent and when he does actually fight he is one of the most exciting and dynamic fighters to ever compete.  It would be nice to see him figure this out and turn things around but he first has to learn how to get out of his own way.

July 29 2010

FWW: Nick, first off congratulations on your recent first round submission win over Hayato Sakurai at DREAM 14.

Nick Diaz: Thank you.
FWW: Let’s get right into it. You have won your last 7 fights, all of them impressive performances coming by way of TKO or submissions. You have fought at welter weight and you have gone up to fight at a catch weight. You have, for the most part, cleaned out everyone in your weight class in the organizations where you have fought since leaving the UFC. We wanted to talk today about a potential match with the current UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre (GSP), a fight many of the hard core fight fans want to see. Putting aside for the moment Read More here:

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I can’t imagine there would be anyone who doesn’t want to see this fight; the fighters themselves, Dana White, Scott Coker (personal differences aside), all of their sponsors and of course, most importantly, the fans. This dream matchup is intriguing on a number of levels. First off, both of these fighters have essentially wiped out all of the competition in the Welterweight division in their respective leagues. They have fought and beaten all the top guys in their weight class and have done so soundly. They can either continue to fight and beat the fighters who are lower on the food chain or keep re-matching the guys they have already beaten. That is not to say it is such a bad thing to give a previous beaten opponent another shot assuming they have beaten some worthy opponents and earned again a right to fight these two champs as is the case of GSP’s upcoming bout with Josh Koschek.
 
You are talking about two fighters who...Read More here  http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=320229

It seems every week without fail there is at least one article or piece on the subject of what other MMA promotional organization can challenge or take on the UFC. The whole topic is somewhat nonsensical to some extent.

In virtually every other major sport there is one premier league or organization to which all others are measured or aspire to emulate. Five of the largest and most established in North America being The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and The Canadian Football League (CFL).

With respect to....Read more here: http://www.fightswewant.com/blog.cfm?feature=1491310&postid=361125