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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 3:23 pm PT: We’ve got questions: the Octagon should hopefully have answers.
We know 18 months isn’t enough: That’s more or less how long Brock Lesnar had been marinating in the details of submission grappling prior to his UFC debut with Frank Mir. Now that he’s got some extra time under his heavyweight belt, he’ll find out if knowledge is power.
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: 5 Questions
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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 12:42 pm PT: Googling “Lesnar Mir” produces about 3.5 million results; entering “St. Pierre Alves” clocks about 10 percent of that.
As scientific study, it’s a pretty shaky premise. As a snapshot of the mass interest in UFC 100’s two title fights, it may be on to something. Brock Lesnar is everything the UFC has ever hoped for in a competitor: a man built like a side-by-side refrigerator, arrogant, temperamental and with an existing, powerful brand dragged from another industry. He may be the single biggest box office draw the company has right now. And he can actually fight.
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: Lesnar-Mir Red Ink
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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 11:40 am PT: A fight can be a pressure cooker all by itself, but it’s often the reputations, ego, or career that can turn the heat up even further. Four who have more to lose than usual this Saturday:
The 44-year-old has posted up just two fights -- both losses -- in the past three years. His stature in the sport is cemented, but future paychecks in the UFC may depend on his performance against a younger, fresher Stephan Bonnar.
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: Back Against the Mat
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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 10:24 am PT: Thiago Alves has won seven bouts in a row, the last three against legitimate top-10 competition. Were it not for the traumatic evening against Matt Serra, Georges St. Pierre might now be holding the record for most consecutive wins in the Octagon. The point? That the No. 1 and No. 2 men in a division are fighting, both in their primes. And that’s not as typical as you’d think.
Unlike most elite mixed martial artists who can do everything well but are legendary at nothing, St. Pierre performs at altitude levels in every facet of the game: He’s very good at being very good.
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: St. Pierre-Alves Red Ink
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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 9:38 am PT: “He won a make-believe belt from Nogueira.” -- Lesnar on Mir, courtesy of Fanhouse
“Most of my partners who are 190 to 210 (pounds) actually hit harder …[Lesnar was] kind of like having your baby sister on your back and all over you, and you're just saying, 'Get off me.'" -- Mir on Lesnar, courtesy of Fanhouse
“I’m always nervous. But I think this nervousness is a good thing, because that’s what keeps me sharp … I learn how to deal with it by control and I know its normal and I can sleep better at night. I always have butterflies, but the key is -- make the butterflies fly in formation.” -- St. Pierre, courtesy of PunchDrunkGamer
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: Hype Quotes of the Show
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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 8:04 am PT: I’ll confess that I haven’t re-watched all 31 of Dan Henderson’s fights, but if memory serves, I don’t think he’s had a single one which he didn’t make competitive. There has never been anyone -- not even a heavyweight -- that has controlled him for the entirety of the match. Unless you’re from the Nogueira family -- or train closely with them -- you can’t submit him. And excepting his fight with Anderson Silva, he has never been defeated in what appears to be his “natural” weight class of 185 pounds.
What Michael Bisping may be counting on Saturday is to out-hustle Henderson
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: Bisping-Henderson Red Ink
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| By Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 1:50 am PT: Roughly eight mixed martial arts events are scheduled for July 11, including bouts in Mexico City, London and Germany. All of them matter -- particularly if you’re a fighter looking for international attention, or the mother of a participant -- but only one can be considered an Event with a capital “E.”
I’m speaking, of course, of “Gods of War 4: The Reckoning” in Baumholder.
If you cannot be in attendance for Rouven Kurath vs. Fred Tusil, you may want to opt in on UFC 100, hosted by the Mandalay Bay in steaming Las Vegas.
Continue Reading » UFC 100 Primer: What, When, Why
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Saturday, July 11 1:27 am PT: CraveOnline’s Heyman Hustle has exclusive photos of the UFC 100 weigh-ins.
Paul Heyman and company also have some backstage shots, like the one on your right, with Brock Lesnar looking as if he’s had enough of the media rounds.
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| By Loretta Hunt (lhunt@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 1:06 am PT: The UFC’s inaugural expo is upon us, and I have to say that the folks of Zuffa have really outdone themselves.
I’ve been to the mecca of all expos with the Arnolds and a couple of other MMA-related spin-offs in the last couple of years, but this one is where it’s at in terms of bang for your buck.
For $40, a two-day pass will allow you to wander through a warehouse-size labyrinth of supplements, gear, and clothing vendors, who have exhausted every possible adjective that could be remotely related to fighting at this point.
Continue Reading » UFC Expo Knocks It Out of Cage
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| By Brian Knapp (bknapp@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 12:05 am PT: Michael Bisping has some choice words for those who view him as little more than a reality series-spawned novelty.
The light heavyweight winner on Season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Bisping gets another crack at legitimizing his place in the sport when he tackles two-time Olympian Dan Henderson at UFC 100 on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Continue Reading » Bisping a Confident Underdog
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| By Brian Knapp (bknapp@sherdog.com) |
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Saturday, July 11 12:00 am PT: Frank Mir understands why some see him as David to Brock Lesnar’s goliath, past history notwithstanding.
The two heavyweight champions -- Mir holds the interim belt -- will meet in the featured bout at UFC 100 on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Lesnar tipped the scales at 265 pounds at the official weigh-in on Friday and figures to weigh considerably more when he enters the cage. Mir checked in at 245 pounds.
Continue Reading » Size Matters
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