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return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3517" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/alvarez.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3517" title="alvarez" alt="" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/alvarez.jpg" height="300" width="298"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Who will successfully secure the services of Eddie Alvarez next? (Getty Images)</p></div> <p>Talk about heading for the exit.</p> <p>Eddie Alvarez had just finished the final fight on his Bellator contract with an exclamation-point knockout Friday night, and almost before Patricky “Pitbull” Freire had hit the canvas with a thud, Alvarez (24-3) was scaling the cage and embracing his wife in the front row. And then he was out of there.</p> <p>Up the arena stairs the former lightweight champion charged, and if the door at the top of those stairs had been open, Alvarez might have bolted out onto the streets of Windsor, Ontario, and run all the way to Las Vegas.</p> <p>You know, where the UFC is headquartered.</p> <p>Alvarez’s nasty kick to the noggin of Freire (10-4) was simultaneously an ending and a beginning. It ended the main event of Bellator 76 at 4:54 of the first round, and with that brought to a close Eddie’s deal with the fight promotion. The beginning? That would be of the negotiating process. Other promotions, most prominently the UFC, now can try to work out an arrangement for Alvarez’s services, and Bellator then will mull whether to match the offer.</p> <p>And there will be offers. Overseas promotions or the new World Series of Fighting could get into the bidding, but the most likely landing spot is the UFC. Parent company Zuffa could opt to make the Philadelphia fighter’s first stop the Strikeforce cage, for a showdown with champ Gilbert Melendez that both fighters and lots have fans have talked about for a long time. Or Eddie could immediately join the already-stacked 155-pound division of the Dana White Fight Club. He’d be a welcome addition.</p> <p>Shortly after the fight, the UFC president congratulated Alvarez via Twitter, writing, “Congrats, Bro!!! Let’s talk : )”</p> <p>The smiley face was White’s way of saying, “You’re my kind of guy.” Indeed, the UFC poobah likes nothing better than a fighter who’s exciting, and on Friday night he saw one. Actually, he saw two. “I have a ton of respect for Pitbull,” said Alvarez. “You had two of the most exciting lightweights in the world right here in this cage tonight.”</p> <p>Alvarez and Freire delivered a wild back-and-forth battle that lived up to buildup more than 18 months in the making. Last year, the Brazilian was cruising through the promotion’s Season 4 lightweight tournament, with the winner to get a shot at Alvarez’s belt, until he met Michael Chandler in the May final. He lost a decision, and six months later Chandler choked out Alvarez to win the title. Alvarez vs. Freire was not to be.</p> <p>Once Alvarez and Freire finally got to share a cage, they didn’t take long to make their matchup worth the wait. Not quite a minute in, Alvarez floored Freire with a lunging left hook, then leaped onto him to try to land a booming right hand. He missed. And before Eddie could reload, Freire was back on his feet and the fighters began a flurry of punches. A short left hook by Freire stunned Alvarez, and he went stumbling into retreat, with Patricky in pursuit. He connected with a right, but before he could do any more damage Alvarez tied him up along the cage.</p> <p>The fighters were wary of each other’s power from that point on, their exchanges short with constant footwork aimed at keeping the fighter attached to those feet out of trouble. But then Alvarez’s best footwork — the kick to the head — spelled the end.</p> <p>The end for Freire, the 14th knockout victim of the 28-year-old with thunder in his fists. And in the big picture, the end for Bellator … at least in terms of the Eddie Alvarez business.</p> <p>Although Alvarez has acknowledged that Bjorn Rebney’s promotion has the right of first refusal to retain his services, that’s an unlikely scenario if the UFC pulls out its big checkbook. The CEO acknowledged as much in a recent interview with MMA Fighting, referring to the Freire bout as “in all likelihood Eddie’s last fight in our organization.” Rebney then looked to the future, adding, “He’ll do incredibly well if he ends up going to the UFC. I know they have a huge amount of interest in him, and I think he’ll probably win their title.”</p> <p>Alvarez, for his part, wasn’t viewing the victory as an end, a beginning or anything special. “It’s just another win, man, that’s all it is,” he said in the cage after the fight. “The goal never changes: It’s always to beat the guy in front of you in the cage. No legacies. No anything. No money. It’s all bull—. It’s about beating the guy in front of you, and that’s what I’m here for.”</p> <p>Yeah, he’s Dana’s guy, all right. White can tell Alvarez that face to face when they talk.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><em><strong>–Jeff Wagenheim</strong></em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Oct 13, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/13/alvarez-ends-bellator-contract-by-downing-freire-next-up-ufc/#respond" title="Comment on Alvarez ends Bellator contract by downing Freire; Next up, UFC?"><span data-lf-article-id="3510" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Add A Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3501"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/strike-two-against-strikeforce-nov-3-event-is-second-straight-to-be-canceled/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Strike two against Strikeforce: Nov. 3 event is second straight to be canceled">Strike two against Strikeforce: Nov. 3 event is second straight to be canceled</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/strike-two-against-strikeforce-nov-3-event-is-second-straight-to-be-canceled/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/10/12/strike-two-against-strikeforce-nov-3-event-is-second-straight-to-be-canceled/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3505" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/cormier.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3505" title="cormier" alt="" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/cormier.jpg" height="400" width="298"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Daniel Cormier maintained his optimism after Strikeforce’s second straight cancellation. (US PRESSWIRE)</p></div> <p>Two strikes and you’re . . . still alive?</p> <p>Strikeforce canceled its scheduled Nov. 3 event on Friday afternoon, making the Oklahoma City card the fight promotion’s second in a row to implode.</p> <p>That part of the announcement, made in a terse press release issued by both Strikeforce and television partner Showtime, was not a surprise. The unexpected part was the accompanying announcement that Showtime will air a Strikeforce event in January.</p> <p>That Strikeforce will live to fight another day — or at least is still publicly expressing its intention to do so — might flabbergast some who follow mixed martial arts. The promotion’s Sept. 29 event in Sacramento was canceled after Gilbert Melendez, scheduled to defend his lightweight championship, was injured in training and Showtime declined to televise the evening of fights without its main event. Then, after Frank Mir pulled out of the Nov. 3 event with an injury, and Strikeforce dragged its feet on announcing a replacement opponent for Daniel Cormier in the Heavyweight Grand Prix winner’s final bout before moving to the UFC, it looked like the end might be near for a promotion that parent company Zuffa already had stripped of many of its best fighters — Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem — and sent them over to its corporate cousin, the UFC.</p> <p>Earlier this week, the AXS TV show <i>Inside MMA</i> reported that “the Nov. 3 event is in serious jeopardy” and, citing multiple sources it did not name, that “the relationship between Strikeforce and Showtime may be coming to an end.” The report was vaguely worded — “strong possibility,” “could very possibly signify” and such — and no other media outlet was able to confirm the demise of the fight promotion. Still, both Strikeforce and Showtime officials were quick to tout the January event to quell the rumors.</p> <p>“Due to a series of injuries, we were forced to cancel the upcoming card on Nov. 3, but are already working to put together a stacked card in January,” CEO Scott Coker said in the Strikeforce statement, alluding to not just the Mir injury but also the event’s loss of a Luke Rockhold title defense after the middleweight champ was injured.</p> <p>About that “stacked card” Coker mentioned …</p> <p>“While we’re disappointed with the cancellation, we are looking forward to an even bigger Strikeforce event on Showtime early next year,” said Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president & general manager, Showtime Sports.</p> <p>The enthusiasm was lost on Tim Kennedy, who was scheduled to face Trevor Smith in one of the few announced bouts on the Oklahoma City card. The middleweight took to Twitter with his frustration, writing, “Thank you @Strikeforce for letting me read about my fight being canceled on the Internet. I was 9 weeks into my fight camp. Awesome!”</p> <p>The cancellation is an especially bitter pill to swallow for Cormier, who before becoming an Olympic wrestler was an NCAA Division I runner-up at Oklahoma State. Excited for a homecoming fight, he’d been patiently waiting for an opponent to be placed in front of him, even if it meant a shortened preparation time. “I’ll fight now, no matter what,” he told SI.com last month. “I’m not bowing out. I’m not doing that to my Okies.”</p> <p>After Friday’s announcement, Cormier remained surprisingly upbeat. “Very sad about not fighting,” he wrote on Twitter, “but at the end of the day something positive will come from it. More time to train. I am with a good company. Things will be OK. Very sad and upset, but it’ll work out. @UFC, @Strikeforce and @ShoSports are all top-fight organizations. Will be fine.”</p> <p>Considering his positive outlook amid a doom-and-gloom backdrop of two straight cancelled events, Strikeforce might want to enlist Cormier to run the show from now on. Either that or turn to Tony Gwynn for guidance. In his time, the Baseball Hall of Famer built as reputation as his sport’s greatest two-strike hitter.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><b style="text-align:right;"><i>—Jeff Wagenheim</i></b></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Oct 12, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/strike-two-against-strikeforce-nov-3-event-is-second-straight-to-be-canceled/#respond" title="Comment on Strike two against Strikeforce: Nov. 3 event is second straight to be canceled"><span data-lf-article-id="3501" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Add A Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3491"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/experts-predictions-for-ufc-153/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Experts’ predictions for UFC 153">Experts’ predictions for UFC 153</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/experts-predictions-for-ufc-153/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/10/12/experts-predictions-for-ufc-153/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3494" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/silva-bonnar.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3494" title="silva-bonnar" alt="" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/silva-bonnar.jpg" height="459" width="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Anderson Silva (left) is a lopsided favorite to defeat Stephan Bonnar in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)</p></div> <p><em>SI.com analysts Dave Doyle, Loretta Hunt, Jeff Wagenheim and Jon Wertheim provide their predictions for UFC 153 on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.</em></p> <h4>Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar</h4> <p><strong>DOYLE:</strong> I’m tempted to go with Bonnar simply because this would fit right into the UFC’s 2012 “whatever can go wrong, will” theme. But a Bonnar victory is a bridge too far. <strong>Silva by KO.</strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT:</strong> Knowing my colleagues will cover the bases, I’ll cut to the chase: it’s a mismatch. <strong>Silva by TKO.</strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM:</strong> Bonnar is going to shock the world … by surviving the first round. He’s rugged and resilient, having never been knocked out. And Silva will not be done putting on a show for his countrymen by the end of one act. But eventually … <strong>Silva by KO.</strong></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM:</strong> We can debate whether Silva is the G.O.A.T., but Bonnar is not going to change the discussion. Just two completely different tiers of fighter. Admire Bonnar’s sensibilities, his heart, his role in growing the UFC brand by virtue of that <em>TUF</em> finale. But in no universe does he win this fight. <strong>Silva by TKO.</strong></p> <h4>Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Dave Herman</h4> <p><strong>DOYLE:</strong> The veteran Nogueira’s UFC fights have followed a familiar pattern: Losses to the elite and wins over the guys just a cut below. Herman falls into the latter camp. <strong>Nogueira by TKO.</strong></p> <p><strong>HUNT:</strong> Big Nog has this one in the bag as long as it goes to the canvas, which is likely. <strong>Nogueira by submission.</strong></p> <p><strong>WAGENHEIM:</strong> How’s the arm, Big Nog? We’ll find out if there are any lingering issues when the ref raises the rehabbed wing after Nogueira taps out Pee-Wee. <strong>Nogueira by submission.</strong></p> <p><strong>WERTHEIM:</strong> When we last saw Big Nog, Frank Mir was nearly divorcing his arm from the rest of his body, his third loss in five fights. The UFC threw him a bone, pitting him against Herman, a beatable fighter. On a two-fight losing streak. In Rio. <strong>Nogueira by submission.</strong><br/> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/experts-predictions-for-ufc-153/#more-3491" class="more-link">Read More…</a></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Oct 12, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/12/experts-predictions-for-ufc-153/#respond" title="Comment on Experts’ predictions for UFC 153"><span data-lf-article-id="3491" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Add A Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3481"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/11/review-here-comes-the-boom-makes-some-noise-for-mma/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Review: ‘Here Comes the Boom’ makes some noise for MMA">Review: ‘Here Comes the Boom’ makes some noise for MMA</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/11/review-here-comes-the-boom-makes-some-noise-for-mma/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/10/11/review-here-comes-the-boom-makes-some-noise-for-mma/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3488" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/here-comes-the-boom.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3488" title="here-comes-the-boom" alt="" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/here-comes-the-boom.jpg" height="217" width="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Kevin James (center) stars with MMA veterans Mark Munoz (left) and Bas Rutten (right) in the comedy <em>Here Comes The Boom</em>. (Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)</p></div> <p>“Oh, my GOD!”</p> <p>That was the gasping, horrified reaction of the woman sitting a row behind me during a screening of <i>Here Comes the Boom</i> the other night. The comic film, which stars Kevin James as a teacher who in an effort to save his school from financial ruin puts himself on a sure path to bodily ruin by turning to professional mixed martial arts as a fundraising endeavor, had barely begun and we were getting our very first glimpse of what goes on in the cage. It likely was this woman’s first glimpse ever at cage fighting, judging by her reaction. She was aghast.</p> <p>This got me to wondering what the reaction will be once <i>Boom</i> opens in theaters nationwide on Friday. Surely a lot of MMA fans will flock to their local megaplexes, but sitting right alongside them will be unsuspecting folks who’ve simply seen James on the marquee — and Salma Hayek and Henry Winkler, too — and bought a ticket. Are these moviegoers going to end up choking on their popcorn?</p> <p>This was the lens through which I was watching the movie until, nearly an hour in, James’ character — a former collegiate wrestler who was taking his lumps on the minor-league MMA circuit — suddenly changed his luck with a wild haymaker that floored a fighter he had no business being in the cage with. It was a totally unrealistic moment (unless you happened to have seen a woozy Cheick Kongo do much the same thing in a UFC fight last year as Pat Barry was moving in for the kill), but that didn’t stop the theater from erupting in cheers. This crowd was unabashedly invested in the moment, and that included Ms. Oh My God behind me. She no longer was aghast. She was into the fighting. <i>Here Come the Boom</i> had won.</p> <p>It had won me over, too, by then. Early on, I’d been as horrified as the woman behind me, though for a different reason. What reason? Well, let’s just say this film is no <i>Citizen Kane</i>. Its launching point is bogged down by all of the vacuous trappings of Hollywood drivel in plot and character development. Or should I say caricature development? From evil school administrators to bored students and even more blasé faculty, there’s so much broad-brush painting here that the movie could have been written and directed by Benjamin Moore.</p> <p>But <i>Boom </i>never stops fighting until it’s closed in on you and has you in tears. At times it’s from the poignancy of a film built around an uplifting commitment to what’s valuable in life. More than anything, though, the tears shed are from laughter. This is a funny movie, thanks in large part to James but also to Winkler, who’s not your father’s Arthur Fonzarelli here. Once this docile music teacher becomes a cornerman in the MMA scheme, he transforms into something approximating the Grand Wizard of Wrestling.</p> <p>The true revelation in the cast, however, is <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/loretta_hunt/10/11/bas-rutten-boom/index.html" target="_blank">Bas Rutten</a>. The former MMA star, a UFC heavyweight champion more than a decade ago, takes his portrayal of a fighter-turned-trainer to its comic extreme without going over the top. His disco street fighting class — “Knee to the face! Victory dance!” — is an aerobic classic. If Kevin James could shift from actor to fighter as convincingly as Bas Rutten goes the other way, the former <i>King of Queens</i> star would be wearing a UFC crown.</p> <p>MMA fans are treated to lots of fight scenes, which are exhilarating despite being no more plausible than <i>Rocky</i>. There also are cameos by UFC figures such as Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Mark Muñoz and Joe Rogan. Chael Sonnen meets an appropriate fate. Herb Dean would never referee again if he let a fight go on like he does in the climactic scene. But that scene had our theater riveted, including my 9-year-old son.</p> <p>Afterward, in fact, my boy called his mom during our drive home and reported that <i>Here Comes the Boom</i> was one of the greatest movies he’d ever seen. When he got off the phone, I was curious to know what had so captivated him, other than staying out late with Dad and a trip to his favorite burrito joint.</p> <p><b>Me:</b> Did you like the movie because you’re a UFC fan?</p> <p><b>Aaron: </b>Yeah, and they had lots of UFC fights and they looked real. Dad, do you think when they made the movie they just had the guys fight for real?</p> <p><b>Me:</b> No, I don’t think they’d do that in making a movie, buddy, but it’s good that it looked real to you. Did anything not look realistic?</p> <p><b>Aaron:</b> Bruce Buffer’s hair.</p> <p><b>Me:</b> What?</p> <p><b>Aaron:</b> It was pushed down more than usual. Usually it’s more puffy when he’s introducing the fighters.</p> <p><b>Me:</b> Anything else?</p> <p><b>Aaron:</b> And there was no Dana White. He’s always there when the UFC is on TV, but in the movie they had two guys with hair talking.</p> <p><b>Me:</b> Yeah, but people who don’t know the UFC probably won’t notice. Do you think those people — non-MMA fans — will like the movie?</p> <p><b>Aaron:</b> Well, if people want to go to the movie theater on a rainy day, they’re going to ask, “Hmm, what are the new movies?” And maybe they don’t want to see <i>Hotel Transylvania</i> or <i>Frankenweenie</i> or something like that. So they can watch <i>Here Comes the Boom</i> and get a lot of laughs.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><em><b>– Jeff Wagenheim</b></em></p> <p style="text-align:left;">Here Comes the Boom<em><em> opens in theaters nationwide on Friday. Rated PG. Runs 1:45. Directed by Frank Coraci.</em><br/> </em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Oct 11, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/11/review-here-comes-the-boom-makes-some-noise-for-mma/#respond" title="Comment on Review: ‘Here Comes the Boom’ makes some noise for MMA"><span data-lf-article-id="3481" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Add A Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3414"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/05/now-in-bellator-heavyweight-tourney-life-not-so-grim-for-brett-rogers/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Now in Bellator heavyweight tourney, life not so grim for Brett Rogers">Now in Bellator heavyweight tourney, life not so grim for Brett Rogers</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/05/now-in-bellator-heavyweight-tourney-life-not-so-grim-for-brett-rogers/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/10/05/now-in-bellator-heavyweight-tourney-life-not-so-grim-for-brett-rogers/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3422" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/brett-rogers.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3422 " title="brett-rogers" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/brett-rogers.jpg" alt="" width="298" height="394"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Brett Rogers will begin what he hopes will be a championship run with Bellator Fighting Championships on Friday night. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)</p></div> <p>Maybe you first laid eyes on Brett Rogers during a CBS national telecast in November 2009 when he bloodied the esteemed Fedor Emelianenko in a brutal Strikeforce fight. Perhaps your recollection of the big Minnesotan dates back to a fight five months before that, when he knocked out former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in 22 seconds. Or maybe your earliest encounter with “Da Grim” wasn’t in a fight at all, but rather when he simply tried to pick one with the ferocious street fighter Kimbo Slice following an EliteXC show in ’08.</p> <p>Whenever it was that you happened to first see the 6-foot-5-inch, 265-pound mauler, you sure lost sight of him in a hurry last year when, two weeks after being submitted by Josh Barnett in a quarterfinal of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Rogers was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife. He immediately was cut from the fight promotion and ended up with a 60-day jail sentence.</p> <p>Now Rogers (12-4, 1 no contest) is back in the cage on a (relatively) big stage. After a couple of fights in a regional promotion, he made his debut with the Bellator Fighting Championships in June, and on Friday night he begins what he hopes will be a championship run. The 31-year-old, who has been training with the much respected American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., takes on Alexander Volkov in one of four opening-round bouts of the Bellator Season 7 Heavyweight Tournament (8 p.m. ET, MTV2). Volkov, a 23-year-old knockout artist, has a 16-3 record built mainly in his native Russia.</p> <p>Rogers sat down with SI.com last week to discuss his new training regimen, an old grudge and what he has in store for Friday night’s opponent.</p> <p><strong>On fighting in a Bellator tournament:</strong> “It’s a blessing to be back on a major stage in Bellator. And to be a part of a tournament, I mean, that’s different for me because it’s back to back. You win your first fight, and you fight the next month. It’s making me feel like my training has to be superior.”</p> <p><strong>On training with American Top Team:</strong> “That right there has been a huge thing for me, because I had not been training the way I was supposed to. I mean, there’s been a lot of stuff going on up here in Minnesota, with the gyms kind of all over the place, training partners not reliable. It’s nice to be in a gym where everybody’s on the same page. It’s all pros, and everybody is in it to win it.”</p> <p><strong>On what’s different in his game now that he’s with ATT:</strong> “Before, fighters could say, ‘I’m going to take Rogers down, and it’s going to be a ground-and-pound situation.’ But now I’ve got something in store for any fighter who thinks he’s going to hold me down and beat me up. It’s not going to happen. I’m down here working with Bigfoot [Silva], [two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champ and 2008 Olympian] Steve Mocco and a bunch of true heavyweights that can really hold you on the mat, and I’m getting up against those guys. So my fighting from my back is getting a whole lot better, now that I have training partners to work with. That’s the only reason I was a fish out of water: I didn’t have any training partners to work with on a consistent basis, so I could figure out, ‘Let me shift my hips this way, let me shift my hips that way.’ I’m feeling real good, man, and I can’t wait to get in there and hopefully catch a submission and wake up all those guys who think Brett Rogers is just a striker.”</p> <p><strong>On what prompted him to focus on his ground game:</strong> “Right after my title fight with Fedor, I fought Josh Barnett. I knew what Barnett was capable of, because I knew of him from back in his Pride days. I had kind of watched him as I was coming up. And I knew what his fights looked like, that he wasn’t going to try to stand with me for long. But the problem with that fight was me being young and dumb and really not paying attention to who I was in with. I thought Barnett would stand with me for a bit, and I’d catch him. But he took me right to the ground, and my mind wasn’t set for a ground war, which it should have been. So that’s what woke me up about ground fighting.”</p> <p><strong>On how he differs from his old nemesis, Kimbo Slice:</strong> “I’m working at it. I’m not going to be known as a Kimbo, a guy who tried but never made it happen. I’m not going to talk about the guy, but he ain’t never proved his jiu-jitsu. And from what I hear, he’s not a jiu-jitsu guy, that’s why he chose to go to boxing. I’m working my jiu-jitsu. I ain’t no black belt, but I ain’t no white belt, either. I’m something in the middle, and where in the middle is what my opponent is going to have to figure out.”</p> <p><strong>On Friday night’s opponent, Alexander Volkov:</strong> “I see myself going out there and smashing this guy. He’s a tall, lanky dude, and I’m a smaller, rounder guy with some heat in the hands and the feet. I’m planning on just beating him up. I want to bully this guy. I want the guy to know what it feels like to be in the cage with a beast, with a monster. He ain’t never fought nobody like me.”</p> <p><strong>On another scenario for how the fight might go:</strong> “If dude give me his arm, I’m going to take it home. I’m all about just trying to capture that win. Whatever he gives me, I’m telling you, I’m taking it off of him.”</p> <p><strong>On how life is outside the cage, after last year’s family turmoil:</strong> “Things are so great it’s hard for me to put it into words. We are a lot stronger from that time. We understand that whole situation now, and we’ve just moved forward. We’re letting everybody else talk about it. They ain’t going to talk about it to my face, but they can write whatever they want on their computer. It’s a blessing, and we are loving our blessings. We just appreciate moving forward in a positive manner. So life is good, man.”</p> <p align="right"><strong><em>– Jeff Wagenheim </em></strong></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Oct 05, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/10/05/now-in-bellator-heavyweight-tourney-life-not-so-grim-for-brett-rogers/#respond" title="Comment on Now in Bellator heavyweight tourney, life not so grim for Brett Rogers"><span data-lf-article-id="3414" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Add A Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3344"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/24/deja-vu-for-zuffa-with-melendez-hurt-strikeforce-cancels-saturdays-fights/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Déjà vu for Zuffa: With Melendez hurt, Strikeforce cancels Saturday’s fights">Déjà vu for Zuffa: With Melendez hurt, Strikeforce cancels Saturday’s fights</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/24/deja-vu-for-zuffa-with-melendez-hurt-strikeforce-cancels-saturdays-fights/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/24/deja-vu-for-zuffa-with-melendez-hurt-strikeforce-cancels-saturdays-fights/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3351" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/melendez1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3351" title="melendez" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/melendez1.jpg" alt="Gilbert Melendez" width="298" height="400"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">With headliner Gilbert Melendez suffering an injury in training, Showtime elected not to air Saturday’s Strikeforce card. (Mike Roach/Getty Images)</p></div> <p>The first 11 years of Zuffa’s involvement in the mixed martial arts business: zero fight card cancellations. The last four weeks: two events nixed.</p> <p>Strikeforce has called off this Saturday’s event scheduled for Sacramento, Calif., after headliner Gilbert Melendez, who was to defend his lightweight championship against Pat Healy, was injured in training last week. The announcement came with the UFC still feeling the aftershocks of its first cancellation in over a decade under Zuffa, which purchased Strikeforce a year and a half ago.</p> <p>Whereas UFC 151 fell apart last month after light heavyweight challenger Dan Henderson pulled out with an injury and champion Jon Jones declined to face a replacement opponent on nine days’ notice, Strikeforce had no such fallback possibility for salvaging its title fight, with the champ being the one injured.</p> <p>The event was to be televised on Showtime, but according to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, when the cable outlet learned that the star of the show was off the marquee, it opted not to air the evening of fights. “Without a television partner,” Coker said in a statement issued late Sunday night, “we simply could not move forward with this event.”</p> <p>Showtime Sports issued a statement Monday evening: “On Friday night Strikeforce informed us that lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez had sustained an injury and would not be able to compete in their Saturday, Sept. 29, card. Without our headline fighter and main event or a marquee undercard, we reluctantly informed Strikeforce that we could not continue with plans for the telecast.”</p> <p>On its face, Showtime’s decision signals nothing other than dissatisfaction with one event’s diminished ratings potential. But the cable executives’ disenchantment could very well run deeper. Since buying Strikeforce, Zuffa has stripped the fight promotion of most of its best fighters, moving Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson and Alistair Overeem to the UFC. Other than Melendez, who is among the top 155-pounders in the world, and a women’s division featuring the star power of Ronda Rousey, the only premium cable-worthy attraction left might be Daniel Cormier, winner of the recent Heavyweight Grand Prix. But he, too, will move to the UFC after one more Strikeforce appearance.</p> <p>Curiously, the two-time Olympic wrestler’s scheduled Nov. 3 fight is nowhere to be seen on the Showtime Sports website, which touts boxing matches slated as far forward as December. Of course, it’s a bit awkward to promote a fight between Daniel Cormier and Mr. TBA. Frank Mir was to come over from the UFC for the fight, but the two-time heavyweight champ was injured last week, and a replacement has yet to be named. The fight is less than six weeks away, and Strikeforce and Showtime need a plan. The same could be said for the two organizations’ big-picture partnership.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"> <strong>–Jeff Wagenheim</strong></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 24, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/24/deja-vu-for-zuffa-with-melendez-hurt-strikeforce-cancels-saturdays-fights/#comments" title="Comment on Déjà vu for Zuffa: With Melendez hurt, Strikeforce cancels Saturday’s fights"><span data-lf-article-id="3344" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 2 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3327"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to No X-ray yet, but Jones says his arm is ‘pretty messed up’ after UFC 152 win">No X-ray yet, but Jones says his arm is ‘pretty messed up’ after UFC 152 win</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3332" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonesjonesufc.gif"><img class="size-full wp-image-3332" title="jonesjonesufc" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonesjonesufc.gif" alt="" width="298" height="400"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones skipped the hospital after his UFC 152 win. (ZUMAPRESS.com)</p></div> <p>TORONTO — Jon Jones has landed in Baltimore by now. His injured right arm is still in a holding pattern.</p> <p>The UFC light heavyweight champion, fresh off Saturday night’s gritty title defense against Vitor Belfort, was en route to watch his brothers play in Sunday night’s Patriots-Ravens game, tired and sore but with his arm no longer in the sling he wore to the post-fight press conference 10 hours earlier.</p> <p>Does that mean the X-ray he was said to be heading for after leaving Air America Centre at around 2 a.m. had revealed no damage? Not at all.</p> <p>“I haven’t got it X-rayed yet,” Jones told me just before boarding his Baltimore-bound flight at Pearson International Airport. I’d spotted him in the waiting area, reclining his 6-feet-4-inch frame across a row of seats and catching up on lost sleep from his late night. In fact, if I hadn’t gone over and nudged him after hearing a boarding call for his flight, he might not have made it to see Arthur Jones and the Ravens take on rookie Chandler Jones and the Patriots.</p> <p>The first thing I noticed when Jones sat up was that the sling was missing. “I had to take it off so I could switch shirts,” he said, rubbing the arm as he spoke. “But the arm is pretty messed up. My hand is still swollen, and the whole arm is jacked up.”</p> <p>Why no X-ray, then? “I just didn’t want to go to the hospital last night,” said the 17-1 champion, whose victory was his eighth straight, the last four of them title defenses against past champions. “I was pretty excited about the win, and I just didn’t want to spend the night in a hospital.”</p> <p>When does he plan to get his arm examined? “I’m going to Baltimore to watch football, and maybe I’ll get the arm checked out while I’m there,” he said. “Or I might wait until I get home. I’m just trying to keep pressure off of it and deal with the pain until I can get to a doctor and see what’s going on with it. The pain is definitely bearable, though, so I’m not in any rush.”</p> <p>The injury occurred in the first round of Saturday night’s UFC 152 main event, when Belfort locked on an armbar and came closer to finishing the indomitable Jones than anyone he’s fought. “I’ve never had my arm pop like that before,” the 25-year-old said in the cage after the fight. He also let it be known that there was no way he was going to tap out, saying, “I worked too hard to give it up.”</p> <p>So he escaped the submission attempt and fought on. His arm was numb, we later learned, but as the fight was unfolding there was no visual evidence that he was any worse for wear. Jones didn’t favor his right arm or shy away from using it. In fact, the right elbow was a primary weapon as he cut up Belfort and dominated the resolute Brazilian before finishing the job with a submission of his own 54 seconds into the fourth round. It was only in the in-cage interview afterward that we learned of the damage that had been done.</p> <p>Then, nearly an hour later, after arriving late for the post-fight press conference with his arm in a sling, Jones said he’d been told by medical personnel at the arena that he might have sustained nerve damage to his biceps. “That’s what someone there had guessed,” he clarified on Sunday. “But it’s hard to say anything official by just looking at it.”</p> <p>Whatever the injury diagnosis ultimately might be, Jones is unlikely to feel sorry for himself. He’s had a lot of practice lately in dealing with adversity. Over the past several weeks, in the wake of his decision to not accept a replacement opponent and save a UFC event from cancellation, he’s been assailed by fight promotion president Dana White as well fans and other fighters. He persevered through that painful episode, as he did through an excruciating armlock applied Saturday night by a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.</p> <p>“Yeah, absolutely, man,” said Jones. “It’s good to know that you can overcome. It takes a lot of strength and power every time you run into a different situation, so I’m grateful for the situations.”</p> <p>Indeed, Jones was in good spirits as we spoke. He lit up when the arts critic in me gave his choice of walkout music — Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” — a rave review, not just for entertaining the fans and getting them clapping along instead of booing him, but also for subtly conveying the song’s message: the importance of remaining loving and true to oneself no matter how much others try to change or control you. “The music,” said Jones, “did exactly what we hoped it would.”</p> <p>And with that song in his head Jones was off to Baltimore, ready for some football, but not until he’d thanked me for waking him so he didn’t miss his flight. Before heading to the gate he reached out to shake hands … with his left.</p> <p align="right"><strong><em>–Jeff Wagenheim</em></strong></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 23, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/no-x-ray-yet-but-jones-says-his-arm-is-pretty-messed-up-after-ufc-152-win/#comments" title="Comment on No X-ray yet, but Jones says his arm is ‘pretty messed up’ after UFC 152 win"><span data-lf-article-id="3327" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 3 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3317"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/as-cormier-plays-waiting-game-in-strikeforce-his-ufc-future-is-unfolding/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to As Cormier plays waiting game in Strikeforce, his UFC future is unfolding">As Cormier plays waiting game in Strikeforce, his UFC future is unfolding</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/as-cormier-plays-waiting-game-in-strikeforce-his-ufc-future-is-unfolding/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/23/as-cormier-plays-waiting-game-in-strikeforce-his-ufc-future-is-unfolding/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <dl class="wp-caption alignnone"> <dt class="wp-caption-dt"></dt> </dl> <div id="attachment_3322" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/cormier.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3322" title="cormier" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/cormier.jpg" alt="" width="298" height="325"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Daniel Cormier won the championship belt after defeating Josh Barnett during the heavyweight tournament final bout of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix in May. (Kyle Terada/US PRESSWIRE)</p></div> <p>TORONTO — Daniel Cormier is so close to the UFC he can taste it. The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion was in attendance at Saturday night’s UFC 152 at the Air Canada Centre, watching the fights and looking for one.</p> <p>The undefeated 33-year-old has been promised a prominent spot on the UFC’s roster of big boys once he fights once more in the sister promotion. And he does have a bout scheduled for a Nov. 3 Strikeforce card in Oklahoma City. But no opponent. Frank Mir was to come over from the UFC, where he was a two-time heavyweight champion, but was injured in training and pulled out of the fight this past week.</p> <p>So now the prom is six weeks away, and Cormier (10-0) is left waiting for a dance partner. He’s hoping to hear a name early in the coming week, but he’s not fretting and he’s not setting a deadline. “When I fought ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, Strikeforce called me just five weeks before,” he told SI.com as he was waiting for the fights to begin. “And I had been in Louisiana for a few weeks, doing nothing. But I fought then, and I’ll fight now, no matter what. I’m not bowing out. I’m not doing that to my Okies.”</p> <p>Cormier has a history in the state where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plains. He wrestled at Oklahoma State, making it to the 2001 NCAA Division I final. He continued to live and train in the area for several years, twice making the U.S. Olympic team. That deep background in wrestling, aside from allowing him to dictate where fights are fought, has instilled in him a comfort level in taking on whomever whenever.</p> <p>“I’ve been training for Nov. 3 for a month,” said Cormier. “To get ready for a specific opponent, once one is in place, I just need a few weeks. It depends. Frank was a problem because he’s a southpaw, and I’ve never fought one before. But now if they bring me a conventional fighter, I can fall back into my comfort zone.”</p> <p>It’s not the softspoken Cormier’s way to call anyone out, but he must have a few names stored away in the back of his mind, right? “The only names that I have in my head are the ones that have stepped to the front and said they want to fight,” he said. “Roy Nelson said he’d do it. Pat Barry said he’d do it. Fabricio Werdum said he’d do it. Those guys are now on my radar. So I know that maybe I should start watching film on them a little bit, start training in accordance with what I might be doing against those guys.”</p> <p>How does one prepare for a fight that might be against kickboxer Barry or might be against jiu-jitsu ace Werdum? And then there’s the larger issue: Can a fight with either of them elevate Cormier’s status in the same way that the bout with Mir could have? “Any guy from the UFC could do that,” Daniel insisted, before acknowledging, “Maybe not as much as Frank Mir would have.”</p> <p>That’s an understatement. I mean, a win over Barry, who is 7-5 with losses in three of his last four fights, wouldn’t exactly put Cormier in the crosshairs of Junior dos Santos. Or, um, Cain Velasquez.</p> <p>Cormier smiled at the mention of his training partner, who by the time Daniel reaches the UFC might once again be the heavyweight champ. “I think he will be,” said the fellow American Kickboxing Academy fighter. “I really do believe it. He’s amazing.”</p> <p>Should Velasquez regain the belt in his Dec. 29 rematch with Dos Santos, Cormier’s options would be to drop to the 205-pound division — he wrestled at 211 pounds in the Olympics — or go for the heavyweight belt against his teammate. Cormier and Velasquez have discussed that latter possibility. “We’ve talked about it a little bit, not really going into detail,” said Daniel. “But we’ve always said that if a guy is a champion, it’s not fair for his teammate to have to say, ‘I’m going to be No. 2 for the rest of my career.’ So if and when the time comes, we’ll sit down as a family and discuss whether we want to go forward with that. I’ll tell you this: We would not allow it to rip us apart.”</p> <p>That’s a discussion for a different time. For now and for the foreseeable future, Cormier is working out alongside Velasquez five days a week. And as he sees it, sparring and grappling with the man he believes is the best heavyweight in the world puts him in good standing for his upcoming fight against an opponent who has not yet — “against TBA,” he jumped in. “And it doesn’t really matter who it is. When you’re training with No. 1 or No. 2 every day, the rest should take care of itself.”</p> <p align="right"><em><strong>– Jeff Wagenheim</strong></em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 23, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/23/as-cormier-plays-waiting-game-in-strikeforce-his-ufc-future-is-unfolding/#respond" title="Comment on As Cormier plays waiting game in Strikeforce, his UFC future is unfolding"><span data-lf-article-id="3317" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Add A Comment</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3306"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Jones, White spar over details surrounding UFC event cancellation">Jones, White spar over details surrounding UFC event cancellation</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3311" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 308px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonjonesufc.gif"><img class="size-full wp-image-3311" title="jonjonesufc" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jonjonesufc.gif" alt="" width="298" height="400"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones denied responsibility for UFC 151′s cancellation. (ZUMPRESS.com)</p></div> <p>TORONTO — The dance begins with one fighter walking out onto the stage, stripping down to his skivvies and stepping onto the scale. When his weight is announced, he flexes for the crowd, then moves off to the side and dresses while his opponent walks out, strips, weighs in, flexes, dresses. The two meet at center stage, face to face, fists up, striking a combative pose for the cameras. And after a dozen shutter clicks they’re done, off to rehydrate. Next set of fighters, please?</p> <p>There may be no element of a mixed martial arts event more choreographed than the weigh-ins.</p> <p>So how did light heavyweight champion Jon Jones end up having an off-the-script moment Friday afternoon after stepping off the scale?</p> <p>It came about when Jones found himself staring into the eyes of not one but two people ready to go face to face with him. One was Vitor Belfort, who’ll be his opponent in the main event of UFC 152 on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre (10 p.m. ET, PPV). The other was Dana White.</p> <p>The UFC president and his 205-pound megastar had been sparring verbally for weeks, ever since Jones, upon being notified nine days prior to UFC 151 that challenger Dan Henderson was injured, turned down replacement opponent Chael Sonnen. The UFC ended up cancelling the Sept. 1 event — a first in the 11 years White has been running the show — and a fired-up White went on the offensive, calling Jones “selfish and disgusting” and his trainer/adviser/guru, Greg Jackson, “a [expletive] sport killer.”</p> <p>As this weekend’s event neared, with Jones having been added to the top of the bill, he and White indicated that they would meet face to face here in Toronto to clear the air. The meeting was to take place just prior to the weigh-ins. So all eyes were on Jones as he stepped off the scale. Would he and White shake hands or even embrace, an indication that the cold war was over? Or would an icy chill pervade the stage set up atop a hockey rink at the old Maple Leaf Gardens, telling us that Dana might not have renewed his membership in the Jonny Bones Fan Club?</p> <p>What we saw instead from Jones was an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty. This phenom fighter who never hesitates to attack inside the octagon seemed to waver when he spotted White. Then he smiled, White smiled, even Belfort smiled, and the choreography resumed.</p> <p>What did it all mean? It meant that Jones and White had not yet met. They apparently planned to do so a few minutes later. And say what? “None of your business,” White responded when asked that very question in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4A4qKNG7o&feature=plcp">a <em>Fuel TV</em> interview</a> following the weigh-ins.</p> <p>We can at least surmise that the discussion explored areas of disagreement. A case in point: At a Thursday press conference, Jones spoke respectfully of the boss — “Dana White is awesome, man” — but steered clear of accepting responsibility for the UFC 151 fiasco. “I have actually zero power to cancel an event,” he said. “When I was actually talking to Dana and [UFC chairman/CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta] about accepting the Chael Sonnen fight, they never told me if I didn’t accept the fight that they were going to cancel the event.”</p> <p>It would have been interesting to hear White respond to that, but he was absent from the press conference, laid up at his hotel with an episode of Ménière’s disease. But in the <em>Fuel TV</em> interview, Dana had his say. “I don’t think he would have said that if I was there,” said White. “So today we’re going to be face to face and we’ll see what he says and what he doesn’t say. The fact that he says that he didn’t know that the show would get cancelled is false. I did tell him that the show would be cancelled.”</p> <p>And with that, White headed off to a windowless room with his light heavyweight champ. And then? Nothing. Nada. Not a word. (OK, chief, you can deactivate the Cone of Silence now.) My colleague from Yahoo! Sports, Kevin Iole, texted White to ask about the meeting and got this terse text back: “It went well.” Other than that, White, who posts his thoughts on Twitter about as often as he takes a breath, has gone quiet. So has Jones, unless we can read something into his only post-meeting tweet, a quote attributed to Michael Jordan: “Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”</p> <p>So stay tuned. Like any long-running soap opera, there’s always another episode to come.</p> <p align="right"><em><strong>—Jeff Wagenheim</strong></em></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 22, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/22/jones-white-spar-over-details-surrounding-ufc-event-cancellation/#comments" title="Comment on Jones, White spar over details surrounding UFC event cancellation"><span data-lf-article-id="3306" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 4 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="post-wrap"> <div class="post-top"></div> <div class="post" id="post-3272"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Ticket sales lagging ahead of UFC 152, more notes from pre-fight presser">Ticket sales lagging ahead of UFC 152, more notes from pre-fight presser</a></h1> <div class="category"> <a href="/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/category/mma/">MMA</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/#comment"><span class="js-kit-comments-count" exclude-sources="Twitter" include-sources="Comments" uniq="/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/"></span> Comments </a> </div> <div class="entry"> <div id="cnnSCFontButtons"> <div id="cnnSCFontLabel"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize.gif"/></div> <div id="cnnSCFontMinusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('default'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_d.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_minus_l.gif" alt="Decrease font" title="Decrease font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"></div> <div id="cnnSCFontPlusBtn" onclick="setActiveStyleSheet2('LargeFont'); return false;"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_d.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnIncreaseFont"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.element/img/4.0/story/textsize_plus_l.gif" alt="Enlarge font" title="Enlarge font" class="cnnDecreaseFont"></div> </div> <div id="attachment_3285" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jones-belfort.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3285 " title="jones-belfort" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424im_/http://sicounterpunch.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/jones-belfort.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="452"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jon Jones (left) defends his UFC light heavyweight championship on Saturday night in Toronto against Vitor Belfort. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)</p></div> <p>TORONTO – The two most telling moments during the UFC 152 press conference Thursday afternoon at a sports bar in the shadow of Air Canada Centre, where the Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort light heavyweight title bout and the rest of the fight card will go down Saturday night, came at the very beginning and right at the end.</p> <p>One of the first things emcee Tom Wright, the director of operations for UFC Canada, told us was that tickets are still available. So even with two championship bouts on the bill — we’ll also see Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson vie to become the UFC’s first flyweight belt holder — this fight organization that less than a year and a half ago sold 55,000 seats at the Rogers Centre in a matter of minutes is having trouble filling an 18,000-seat arena down the block. That’s especially troubling considering the coinciding lack of competition at a time of year when people in these parts typically would be huddled around ice rinks. As Wright said, alluding to the ongoing NHL lockout, “We may not have Hockey Night in Canada, but we can have UFC night in Canada and we’ll fill that void.”</p> <p>Just maybe not fill all of it.</p> <p>Wright also ended the media gathering with something telling, though not concretely so. Just before having the six fighters on the dais square off for the sea of cameras in the room, he told the assembled reporters and fans that there will be another press conference next Thursday in Montreal to announce that Georges St-Pierre will defend his welterweight championship against interim belt holder Carlos Condit at the Nov. 17 event in that city.</p> <p>Did it not occur to Tom that scheduling a press conference to announce news that he’s just revealed renders the forthcoming publicity event not so newsworthy? Of course he understood that. This was simply another demonstration of the UFC team’s grasp that news need not necessarily be the only information being dispensed at its press conferences. The most vital information we ingest when a group of fighters sits before us two days before the cage door closes on them is more amorphous. If we’re lucky, we get a feeling in our bones about what these fighters are feeling in their bones.</p> <p>We got some of that on Thursday:</p> <p><strong>You can count on him: </strong>The hour-long hypathon morphed into a lovefest at times. Jones likes and respects Belfort, who likes and respects him. Benavidez and Johnson enjoy each other’s company to the point that they’ve gone to a concert together (more on that later). And Michael Bisping and Brian Stann made nice, too.</p> <p>Until the very end, that is, when all the words had been said and all that was left was the photo op. Michael Bisping had to do something to spice things up, or he wouldn’t be Michael Bisping. So when he and Stann met at center stage for the cameras, Stann approached it as a ceremony while Bisping saw an opportunity. He put on his best mean mug and pushed his forehead into Stann’s, moving the Marine onto his heels a bit. Stann seemed a bit taken aback, and as he stepped aside, Bisping posed once more for the cameras and walked away, pointing at his opponent and telling anyone within listening range that Stann “has the look of a man who knows he’s beat.”</p> <p>I don’t know that Stann is a beaten man in the fight. But in the hype game he’s an amateur next to “The Count.”</p> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/#more-3272" class="more-link">Read More…</a></p> <div id="jp-post-flair" class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div> <br/> </div> </div> <div class="post-bottom"> <li>Published On <span>Sep 21, 2012</span></li> <li id="right"><span><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121014185424/http://mma-boxing.si.com/2012/09/21/ticket-sales-lagging-ahead-of-ufc-152-more-notes-from-pre-fight-presser/#comments" title="Comment on Ticket sales lagging ahead of UFC 152, more notes from pre-fight presser"><span data-lf-article-id="3272" data-lf-site-id="308691" class="livefyre-commentcount">Read 7 Comments</span></a></div></span></li> </div> </div> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a 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