SB Nation User Blog: mmafiend

Scott Smith: I’m going to stand and bang with him.

mmafiend — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:24:31 -0000

Heading into the fight with Radach, what are you expecting of him, what are you planning for, etc?

Well, just like any MMA fight, you’ve got to be ready for anything. Obviously everybody expects us to stand and bang, you know, there’s no secret to my game - I’m going to stand and bang with him.

Following a win over Radach, would you like a chance to fight the winner of the headlining bout between Frank Shamrock and Nick Diaz?

Yeah, absolutely. Those are two great fighters. I like any fight that is going to draw people in to want to watch me fight, and I think Benji is one of those fights. We’re not the main event or anything, but I think the true MMA fans are looking at that as having fight of the night potential right there. And, yeah, Nick and Frank are great fighters and have made great names for themselves, so that would be a great notch on my belt, to beat one of those guys.

From The MMA Fiend

Benji Radach Only Trains Part Time

mmafiend — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:52:18 -0000

From a recent interview we did with him:

Benji Radach: I work full time and train in the mornings and the nights just like I’m doing for this one, so it’s pretty hard. It’s a big feat to get wins over big guys when you are working full time, you know?

The MMA Fiend: Yeah, most guys at your level, training is all they do all day. I don’t even like getting up to run when I have to go to work that day, so I can only imagine what it takes to work full time and train at that level.

It really takes a fighter out of training, man, it’s really hard for me to do it anymore. I used to do it all the time when I was fighting in the UFC and stuff. I was an electrician and I trained at night, you know, and it just takes so much out of you that you don’t even really enjoy it anymore. You get burned out really fast. But I took this last two weeks off of work so that I could focus on training, so I should be good to go.

I actually did some work as an electrician for a while until I started electrocuting myself, and after a few times I figured it was best not to temp fate and find another line of work.

Yeah, I’ve been shocked a lot, man, that is for sure. I got burnt by 277 a little bit once, laying some light, and thank God - that stuff usually kills a lot of people, but luckily it didn’t end my life, thank God. But yeah, it’s dangerous, man, I had a couple close calls. I had 480 volts explode right in my face one time and got flash burns - it was pretty bad.

From TheMMAFiend.com

UFC Launches Text Alerts For Mobile Devices

mmafiend — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:45:15 -0000

From the press release:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) organization today officially launched a new text alert service for mobile devices, giving fans the opportunity to receive UFC news as it happens, as well as event updates and other information about UFC.

Using the UFC web site, fans can indicate the specific kind of information they would like to receive via text messages, such as breaking news, event announcements, UFC programming reminders, UFC ticket presale opportunities as well notices of new UFC.com content, including unaired UFC bouts and other exclusive videos. The text message service is powered by 4INFO, the leading text message alert service company in the U.S.

To begin receiving UFC text messages, fans can visit the UFC web site, and click the Mobile link at the top of the page, or they can simply text the word “UFCNEWS” to 44636 (4INFO) from their mobile device to receive breaking UFC news alerts.

Users can choose to stop receiving text alerts at anytime by replying “STOP” to any message.

Bellator Staff Dropped The Ball (No Spoilers)

mmafiend — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:03:33 -0000

This has nothing to do with the fights, but actually how Bellator's staff seemed to have no clue what they were doing. From a piece by Paul Sava:

The first thing I noticed leading up to the event is that it seemed like no one at the Bellator offices ever had a clue as to what they were doing. A prime example of this is the weigh ins. I made a call to their offices to try and find out the time and location of the weigh ins and was told they would have to get back to me. They took my information, but never returned the call and I was forced to show up on a whim hoping the weigh ins would be somewhere in the casino. Once I arrived at the weigh ins I realized that no one within the company knew what they were doing as it was one giant cluster fuck.

A day after the disaster that was the weigh ins was the show, but things didn’t get any better from there. I was coming to the show with the assumption that I had press credentials and a spot on press row waiting for me, but that was not the case. I assumed this because Bellator’s PR department confirmed it for me on 2 different occasions, but when I arrived I was given nothing but a general admission ticket(a Shitty One at That) and told there was nothing they could do. I wasn’t the only person in the media who was given the shaft like this either as there were at least 10 other people who had the same thing happen. Once again confirming that the people in charge were clueless.

....

They had strobe lights constantly going off, music playing almost the whole time (Including during the rounds of each fight) as well as manufactured applause that they pumped through the speakers during fighters walk ins. I assure that they couldn’t have had that much applause because there were probably less than a thousand people in the arena. Add that to the fact that they did no tale of the tape and seemed to only do post fight interviews when they wanted and it equals a pretty sloppy show for the in house crowd.

All In all, it was a pretty horrible way to debut a promotion.

From The MMA Fiend

After Dos Anjos, Tyson Griffin Wants Florian, Diego

mmafiend — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:24:58 -0000

From an interview we just did with him:

The MMA Fiend: With a victory over Dos Anjos, how many wins do you see yourself away from a title shot?

Tyson Griffin I don’t think it’s about a number of fights, you know, I think it’s the right match-ups with the right timing against the right opponent that can put you in line. Sean Sherk is one of those people that is in line - I don’t think Rafael dos Anjos is, but with a win over him hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to fight somebody that’s up there like Kenny Florian or even Diego Sanchez cuz he’s got a big name and I think they’ll probably push to let him fight for the title soon. It’s names like those that are going to let me get in line. So I don’t think it’s about the number of fights, I think it’s about taking the right fights.

He also talks about a possible rematch with Sean Sherk, how he sees the Urijah Faber Mike Brown rematch going down, the idea of Affliction possibly counter-programming UFC 100, working as a florist (yeah, you read that right) and a bunch of other stuff.

From: The MMA Fiend

Cole Miller: I’m going to walk to the middle of the octagon, and I’m going to beat [Junie's] @ss.

mmafiend — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:21:18 -0000

From an interview we did with him over the weekend:

The MMA Fiend: Without giving away too much, what is your game plan heading into the fight with Junie?

Cole Miller: I’m going to walk to the middle of the octagon, and I’m going to beat his ass.

The MMA Fiend: Do you see any specific strengths or weaknesses he has?

Cole Miller: Strengths? Probably that he’s not a smart fighter so he really doesn’t know or comprehend that I’m better than him at everything. Weaknesses? He’s mentally weak.

The MMA Fiend: It has been pretty well publicized that Junie said your submission win over Jorge Gurgel was luck. Does trash talk like that help motivate you?

Cole Miller: Not always. But for this camp it was very motivating. It just shows me how elementary his knowledge of jiu jitsu is, especially since I was going for that same spider guard triangle setup the whole fight.

From The MMA Fiend - Cole Miller Exclusive Interview

Lorenzo says UFC In Japan Probably Won't Happen, Talks France, Fedor, A Possible Event On St. Paddy's In Dublin, And More

mmafiend — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:47:18 -0000

Sorry for the long title, but there is a lot of stuff he mentions. We all know about the UFC 101 and 102 news, but here is the other stuff he leaked:

- Says Japan is impossible to deal with. UFC in Japan will probably never happen.

- They are looking into holding an event on St. Paddy’s next year possibly in Dublin, Ireland or Boston, Massachusetts.

- Says the UFC is working on getting into Brazil, but it looks like they will make it into Australia first.

- Has never met Fedor, but he’d like to. Says Fedor is intriguing to say the least, but has been built up way too much, and that he needs to come to the UFC and fight Lesnar, Mir, Carwin etc for us to truly know the answer.

- Says France is a long term investment, but their last show did major ratings.

HT : The MMA Fiend

"I f*cking love it! Please Please Please do that fight. Burn that T-shirt Cash!!!!

mmafiend — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:21:58 -0000

"I f*cking love it! Please Please Please do that fight. Burn that T-shirt Cash!!!!

Dana White On Affliction Counter-Programming UFC 100

Dan Hardy: My fight with Davis is going to be a war!

mmafiend — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:57:08 -0000

From an interview we just did with him:

The fight with Davis is set for June, but the war-of-words has already begun. In a recent response to when you called him out during the post-UFC 95 presser, Davis said "I will pound his face into dust," and also went so far as to say that you won’t stand and trade with him. Care to comment?

At about the 60 second mark, he will realize that I have every range covered and the fight is going too fast for him to keep up with. After that, it’s only a matter of time before my hand is raised. He can say what he likes about me, I get the feeling that he is trying to convince himself he can win. If that’s what he needs to do to give me a good fight, then so be it. This fight was asked for by the fans and I’m just happy to be able to give them what they want.

....

My fight with Davis is going to be a war!

Without giving too much away, what type of fighter would present the most challenging fight for you.

I don’t know, maybe someone that is a strong wrestler or grappler. I feel I can deal with the strikers in my division, the grapplers will need a little extra attention. Maybe [Dustin] Hazelett or [Josh] Koscheck would be a tough challenge, but if I didn’t like a challenge, I would be in the wrong business!

He also discusses how he deals with the pressure of being one of the UFC’s top UK prospects, his best story every, Rich Franklin vs Wanderlei Silva, GSP vs Alves, thoughts on the whole GSP/Vaseline controversy, Ricky Gervais, and much more.

HT: The MMA Fiend

The NSAC responds to BJ Penn. HT: The MMA Fiend

mmafiend — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:46:35 -0000

The NSAC responds to BJ Penn.

HT: The MMA Fiend