Wednesday, November 18 10:51 am PT: If there are twelve steps to coping with Dan Hardy getting a title shot against Georges St. Pierre in 2010, Josh Koscheck is still somewhere around number one: denial.
Speaking to Heavy.com, Koscheck -- who lost to St. Pierre in 2007 and trains with Mike Swick, whom Hardy defeated last weekend -- discredited the opportunity, alleging that promoters are “just trying to get someone for St. Pierre to beat up.”
“He doesn’t deserve a title shot,” Koscheck said. “It’s simple, but I don’t make those decisions.”
Wednesday, November 18 8:50 am PT: As of the middle of this week, Brock Lesnar’s health remains vaguely defined. We only know that he would prefer we not be discussing it. That’s according to UFC President Dana White, who then proceeded to do exactly that in Manchester last weekend, citing that Lesnar was very ill and may not fight again -- a condition downgraded in severity when Lesnar’s trainer, Greg Nelson, said Lesnar would be returning home soon.
“Major” surgery, in White’s vernacular, became “minor” surgery earlier this week. Aside from a definitive mononucleosis diagnosis, he clearly has one (or more) other things ailing him, including a vague bacterial infection in his intestinal tract. He’s since returned home to Minnesota to convalesce.
Whatever Lesnar’s collapse is attributable to, the time and energy spent speculating whether or not it will end his career is a waste. A car helped crumple Frank Mir’s leg; serious staph infections have eaten holes in flesh; Ken Shamrock, as his legend is quick to remind you, once broke his neck. They all came back to fight. Athletes in particular have a tendency to resist doctor proclamations that they will never compete again. This is due either to incredible physical constitutions or incredible egos. Lesnar has no shortage of either.
There’s something truly bizarre about the roundtable Internet discussion over his symptoms and piecemeal suppositions: Lesnar has diverticulitis; no, a bacterial infection; no, a tapeworm; no, he’s just gassy. It’s like a satellite gathering of a doctoral think tank where no one has doctorates, medical records, or the patient’s cooperation. I doubt that anyone -- including Lesnar himself -- has any idea about how his career will be affected. So what’s the point in dialoguing it to death?
Wednesday, November 18 8:44 am PT: In relation to other sports, frequency of competition is MMA’s biggest deficit. If you’re a Yankees fan, you can see them play over a hundred times in a year. If you happen to enjoy the WWE, you’ll typically see major stars wrestle at least a couple times a month. But in prizefighting, unless you’re working the ladder as a near-amateur, you’re going to be trotted out for only two or three fights a year.
It’s not necessarily any healthier: Athletes spend vacation months gorging, partying, and then trying to snap their bodies back into shape, an up-down cycle of bad and worse abuse that can invite problems. And it’s not necessarily the athlete’s preference: Josh Koscheck recently requested to fight 12 times in 2010.
He won’t get that wish, but there’s something to be said for Randy Couture sewing up his remaining time in the sport by accepting a pile of fights after a layoff. He fought Antonio Nogueira in August and Brandon Vera in November: a little under three months later, he’ll be facing Mark Coleman at UFC 109 on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas.
Couture prefers Greco-Roman tie-ups in the clinch, set up by his boxing; Coleman dives for legs. Both have been among the most successful modified wrestlers in the sport. It’s a match that doesn’t need to make any allowances for age, size or ring wear. Whether it has title implications probably depends on how good the winner looks, but that’s beside the point. Not every fight needs to be about a trophy. Watching two hall of fame competitors test themselves on equal footing is a celebration of two impressive careers. That’s enough.
There are reasons fighters have a library of good stories. The profession can take you into odd corners of the world; prior to that, experiences growing up can twist and torque your brain into that kind of career choice. Fighters are not boring people. They all have a book in them.
This is especially true of Jose Aldo, who related to Yahoo’s Steve Cofield this week that he was once tossed into a barbeque pit by his two sisters while horsing around as a toddler in Brazil. Let me run that by you once more: he was tossed into a barbeque pit as a baby.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, had a formative experience of his own earlier this month: in Shanghai for the WGC-HSBC event, Woods complained that crowds kept taking pictures of him with their cell phones. Haunting. Perhaps he and Aldo can swap horror stories sometime.
This is part and parcel of relative thinking: the idea that nothing you experience in the ring can be as traumatic as what you’ve already gone through. Mike Thomas Brown will not have pyrotechnics Wednesday night, and he cannot do anything to Aldo that might require skin grafts.
A lot of people get hung up on how tough fighters are physically. I tend to think it’s their mental calluses that make more of a difference.
No, it wasn't a bidding war for the sport's latest free agent -- not yet, at least.
Recent Austin implant Roger Huerta was auctioned off as a celebrity bachelor at Celebrity Bash's charity event last week benefiting SafePlace, which provides support to victims of sexual and domestic violence in the Texas city. Other auctionees included local news reporter Katie Stolp and country musician Todd Phelps.
A dinner date with the dashing UFC lightweight went for $1,600, while the event earned $60,000 for the local charity.
