Misc. - Page 8

(The best part about wearing a cowboy hat to a press conference? You can be dead asleep, and people will just think you’re carefully considering your answer. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

Donald Cerrone is the type of guy who will go for the kill at every moment of a fight, then blow his resulting bonus-check on a pontoon boat cooze-cruise. He’s not the kind of guy who will hold his tongue when he sees some bullshit go down, even when that bullshit is related to one of his Greg Jackson teammates.

During a recent fan Q&A session, Cowboy was asked about Jon Jones‘s refusal to fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 151 — which led to the unprecedented cancellation of that event — and what he would do if he were put in the same position. Cerrone racked his verbal shotgun and said the following:

“Yes, I’d have fought. They could call me tomorrow and ask me to fight. I think you need to fight. That’s our job. I don’t think you should curl up and find a way out. So yes, that’s my answer…He’s my teammate, and we have this discussion all the time. I said, ‘You should’ve done it.’ And he goes, ‘Well, you don’t make a million (dollars) to fight.’ And I said, ‘Well, you’re right, but I f—ing fight every time with all my heart.’“

(Video courtesy of Joe Lauzon’s Youtube page)

UFC lightweight “Baby Joe” Lauzon, as MMA insiders know him, is one day away from the biggest fight of his career at UFC 155 but he’s still keeping fans plugged into his life and training camp with the latest installment of his video blogs. The world’s toughest nerd has released two vlogs thus far and will no doubt be releasing more after today’s weigh ins and tomorrow’s actual fight night.

For now, you can check out Lauzon on the last sparring day of his training camp, how he spent Christmas, his arrival to Las Vegas earlier this week and his final days of prep for the fight against Jim Miller. Also, “meet” Joe’s great grand father, father and camera-shy fiance and hear him talk about the time he crapped his pants. There may or may not also be a bit of head shaving.

That last part probably dissuaded you from watching. But if not, you’ll get access to one of the most fan-friendly and involved fighters in the UFC. Part three is above, parts one and two are after the jump.

If you were to ask someone like Tim Kennedy why so many fighters have been pulling out of their scheduled fights due to injury this year, he would likely tell you that more often than not, they were faking it. And while he would have at least one case to cite as an example, we’d still like to believe that 90% of the fighters who have gone down with injuries recently were being honest with us. Still, even BG was suspicious when Forrest Griffin withdrew from his UFC 155 contest with Phil Davis, because let’s be honest, it was a terrible matchup for him to begin with. FoGriff has repeatedly stated over the past year or so that his retirement from the sport was looming on the horizon, so one would imagine that he’d like to go out on a win, or at least a fight he saw as winnable heading into it.

Well, you’ll be happy (and disgusted) to know that Griffin wasn’t faking anything, unless by faking, you mean “intentionally taking a sledgehammer to his knee until he passed out from the pain.” Because if the above photo that Forrest tweeted on Christmas is indeed legitimate (and we’re not sure how it couldn’t be), then there is no way in hell he could have possibly faked the gruesome MCL and ACL injury he suffered in training.

(Sure, when Jade hangs out naked surrounded by photos of herself, it’s sexy, but when I do it, my neighbors call the cops.)

Here’s what we’ve learned about Bellator ring girl Jade Bryce in recent months:

1. She is a staunch supporter of the “No pants, no problem” policy when it comes to photo shoots. Seriously, there is not a problem on this Earth she wouldn’t attempt to solve by dropping trou, God bless her.

2. She could whip even the fattest of asses into tip top shape.

3. Her looks are only surpassed by her incredibly humble humanitarian efforts.

So with all that in mind, it makes sense that Jade — who has been nominated for “Ring Girl of the Year” at the 2012 Fighters Only World MMA Awards — will be auctioning off her plus one ticket for the event to the highest bidder in an effort to raise money for the children’s charity St. Jude’s. It’s an incredibly kindhearted move on Bryce’s part that deserves recognition, although if you ask us, the real charity here is that Bryce is willing to spend an evening being ogled at by someone like this while reminding them that “No, I will not demonstrate a proper triangle choke on you later tonight.”

(“Jon Jones can count on three things: Death, taxes, and Chael Sonnen whippin’ your ass.”/ Video via YouTube.com/UFC)

- Tim Kennedy Takes Shot At Fighters Who Pulled Out Of Strikeforce Bouts (Fightline)

- Dana White on Gay Fighter Liz Carmouche: ‘I Love What She Did’ (MMAFighting)

- Mata Leon’s Sexy New BJJ Kimono Ad (BloodyElbow)

- MMA’s Top 10 ‘Holy S#!t’ Moments of 2012 (BleacherReport)

- Check Out the 20-Second Fight That Almost Ended in a Double KO (MiddleEasy)

- Video: Reshat Mati, 13 Year Old MMA and Boxing Prodigy (FightDay)

- 5 Other Apocalypses That Didn’t Happen (Besides the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse) (EgoTV)

- The Quentin Tarantino Soundboard (Complex)

- 6 Supplements You Shouldn’t Be Skipping (MensFitness)

- The 50 Best Viral Videos of 2012 (WorldWideInterweb)

- RAW COMMENTARY: ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’ (ScreenJunkies)

- Adorable. (Facebook.com/CagePotato)

Nick Diaz fans, it’s time to put your money where your stinkin’ mouths are. MMAFighting gives us the heads-up that UFC 158‘s main event just opened up with Georges St. Pierre as a -430 favorite, and Diaz as a +310 underdog. In other words, a $100 bet on Diaz would net you a $310 profit should the challenger win on March 16th, enough to buy you some of that good weed.

The only other UFC 158 fight that currently has odds attached to it is the co-main event between Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald, in which Condit is listed as a slight underdog — you can find him as high as +145 — despite the fact that he won their first meeting by late TKO in June 2010. Maybe the oddsmakers got a little too excited about MacDonald’s stomping of a past-his-prime BJ Penn when they set the line. Sure, Condit was taking a beating before his comeback knockout of Rory, but he’s certainly capable of doing the same thing again. Your thoughts, please.

But back to the main event — I feel like some of these betting sites should offer wagers on if Diaz will actually make it to the fight without anything stupid happening. And speaking of which, it seems like the booking of Hendricks vs. Ellenberger on the same card as GSP vs. Diaz is the UFC’s insurance policy against just such an occurance. As Dana White explained:

MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is a man of many skills. Before he was a world class MMA fighter, he was a top kickboxer. Before that, he was a special forces officer in the military of his native Croatia. He also later became an elected member of his country’s parliament.

Filipovic is also no stranger to making ridiculous videos and posting them on the internet. He’s made videos of darkly humorous, (or sometimes just dark) pranks where he’s laughing like a hyena at the end of them. Case in point, the video after the break of him punking the very worthy subject of then Pride television broadcast commentator Mauro Ranallo. There’s also my favorite video with “Cro Cop” refereeing an impromptu boxing match between two aging, drunk men at a backyard cookout, that has unfortunately been taken down from youtube and may be lost to future generations.

Just as he insists is the case with his fight career, however, Filipovic isn’t done with goofy internet videos yet, nation. The above video reveals a basketball hoop installed in his home gym. What “Cro Cop” and his teammates do with that situation is nothing short of awesome.

May we present, Croation MMA-Basketball. There’s dribbling, shooting, pink singlet guy, arm bars, knees and lots of choking. And then “Cro Cop” speaking Croatian at the end in a high-pitched voice, perhaps mocking someone.

Enjoy.

(If the name “Michelle Jenneke” means anything to you, this will be your favorite video of the week. / Props: TheChive)

- Frank Mir Healthy, Ready To Challenge Daniel Cormier (Fightline)

- Unlike Mike Ricci, Colton Smith Views ‘TUF’ Experience as a Positive (MMAFighting)

- Firas Zahabi: Rory MacDonald Was Not Showboating Against BJ Penn (Sherdog)

- Jon Jones Talks About Move To Heavyweight Division (FightDay)

- Dan Hardy Interested in Fight With Matt Brown, Dismissive of Matt Riddle (BloodyElbow)

- UFC on FX 6: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson Weigh-In Results (MMAConvert)

- 16 MMA Ring Girls So Hot It Hurts (MadeMan)

- The Most Intense Feuds in Mixed Martial Arts [VIDEO] (BleacherReport)

- Maiquel Falcao meets Alexander Shlemenko for Middleweight Title at Bellator 88 (MMAJunkie)

- 13 Celebrities Who Fight Fat with Martial Arts (MensFitness)

- The 50 Greatest Movie Laughs of All Time (WorldWideInterweb)

- The 25 Worst Reality TV Stars of 2012 (Complex)

- Hollywood Superman Reviews the ‘Man of Steel’ Trailer [VIDEO] (ScreenJunkies)

(Melendez slugs Shinya Aoki in the head, back when slugging Shinya Aoki in the head actually meant something. / Photo via Esther Lin)

Though he’s still recovering from the nagging shoulder injury that pulled him off of Strikeforce’s possibly-final event (and led to the straight-up cancellation of their previous card) Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez knows exactly what he wants to do when he’s healthy again — roll the dice against UFC champ Ben Henderson. The Cesar Gracie product, who just saw his homeboy Nate Diaz get run over by Bendo last weekend, pleaded his case in a new interview with BleacherReport, running down all the reasons why he should get the next crack at Henderson:

“I think a champion versus champion fight makes absolute sense right now. I think we already know how things are going to work out between Benson Henderson and a lot of other lightweight fighters in the UFC, but I’m that mystery fighter. No one really knows how I’m going to matchup with anyone. I have been around for a long time and have been the top lightweight in the world before Benson or any of these other guys.

I think I have a lot of answers for his style. Sometimes he fights a wrestler like Guida who doesn’t have great hands, and sometimes he fights strikers who can’t really wrestle. Look at his fights against “Cowboy” Cerrone back in the day, or even Pettis. I have that wrestling pedigree where he ain’t taking me down, and I’ll be stuffing some shots. I’m not backing away, and I’ll be dropping some bombs. I’m not an easy guy to stand with. I have a lot of power, and I’m not running away from kicks. I don’t run away from anything. I hold my ground. I’ll be coming for him, and anything he dishes out I’ll be answering back twice as hard.”

Later in the interview, Melendez discussed how the reports of Strikeforce’s impending demise — and the coronation of Ronda Rousey as the UFC’s first women’s champion — actually got him excited about the future again, since Melendez could finally get the opportunity to fight some of the best lightweights in the world:

(“I’m sorry, you were saying something about The Ultimate Fighter picking guys with silly gimmicks over those with actual talent nowadays?”) 

Last weekend, the UFC dropped off one of the most stacked cards of the year in our lap for free. This weekend, not so much. Make no mistake, we will be treated to two, count ‘em two free fight cards this weekend, but both events will have to do a lot in the exciting finishes department to compensate for the lack of drawing power they posses, especially when compared to the bird-flipping, toothpick-chewing, f-bomb-dropping goodness that was UFC on FOX 5.

Kicking off the weekend’s action will be UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, which kicks off live on FX via tape delay starting at 9 p.m. EST. Although it’s been dubbed a UFC on FX event, we might as well refer to it by what it truly is, the TUF: Smashes Finale, because in no other universe could you justify having two middle of the pack lightweights (or whatever Pearson is these days) coming off losses headline an FX card. The man in clown attire pictured above apparently made it all the way to the finals, which should either tell you that the UFC has completely given up on finding actual talent on TUF these days or that you should stop being so damn judgmental. Either way, I haven’t seen an episode of the show, which takes us to Saturday’s event…

Keeping with the tradition established in the last ten or so seasons of the American version of TUF, on Saturday we will be treated to a TUF Finale event that pits one of the show’s coaches against a complete outsider due to the other coach suffering an injury. There’s also the welterweight finals matchup between Colton Smith and Mike Ricci — two guys we’re sure you’re familiar with — so join us after the jump to get the inside scoop on the fights you might actually be interested in seeing this weekend.