(Photo courtesy of Jason Norwood)

By Nathan “The12ozCurls” Smith

Robert Drysdale’s BJJ credentials include being a six-time World Jiu-Jitsu champion, ADCC Absolute Division Champion as well as winning over 90 BJJ tournament titles. He has a MMA record of 3-0 with all three victories coming by way of submission, showing his versatility in those fights by using a guillotine, an arm-bar and an arm triangle choke. Within the MMA community he is regarded as one of the best BJJ instructors with a virtual all-star list of hall of famers, former champs and current contenders to support the claim. Names like Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, Martin Kampmann, and Evan Dunham have all excelled under the tutelage of Drysdale, just to name a few.  He was also brought in on TUF season 8 by Frank Mir (a black belt in BJJ himself) to help coach his team. Despite having enough trophies and medals to fill a dump truck while instructing some of the sport’s elite, Drysdale still trains/teaches at his BJJ academy in Las Vegas.

This past weekend, Robert Drysdale hosted a seminar at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in Long Beach, California, where he was kind enough to give CagePotato a few minutes of his time.

Cagepotato.com: You have trained the cream of the crop in MMA, both skill-wise and personality-wise. Do you have any personal favorites?

Robert Drysdale: There are a lot of guys that I really like but me and Frank [Mir] get along pretty well. John Alessio is a very good friend and then there is Danny Davis.  Forrest [Griffin] is a trip and it’s always fun to have him in the gym. There are so many guys down at the gym that it is hard to name all of them but I get along with all my students.

CP: Are the stories true? Is Forrest really that hairy?

RD: (laughs) He tries to be as hairy as me but he is not winning that fight because I have better hair distribution.

CP: According to your Wikipedia page, you fought in Houston Texas last night. Apparently not everything is true on the internet. What happened?

(No, Frankie, I will not judge your next title fight, so quit asking.)

After retiring, former UFC fighter Ricardo Almeida announced that he would begin judging MMA events. He’s been doing that for awhile now in his home state of New Jersey, and this Saturday’s UFC on Fox 3 will be the Renzo Gracie black belt’s first time judging fights on the big stage.

Almeida will not be judging fights where he has a conflict of interest (see fighters he coaches or that are affiliated to him or his Renzo Gracie lineage like Jim Miller, for example) but we do already know that he will be one of the judges scoring Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks and several more from the card. Almeida tells ESPN’s Franklin McNeil that he is both nervous and prepared to judge UFC fights.

“Yeah, I’m going to be nervous. It’ll be like I’m walking into a fight myself. But the spotlight only makes me want to be sharper and do a better job,” Almeida tells McNeil.

Frankie Edgar is one of the most easygoing, respectful and likeable fighters in the UFC, so it’s no wonder that he was able to laugh off a prank that was pulled on him by his teammates and a media outlet earlier this week.

According to “The Answer’s” Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Ricardo Almeida, Yahoo! Sports orchestrated the stunt in which a phony repo man attempted to tow away the UFC lightweight champ’s BMW from the parking lot of Almeida’s school in South Jersey.

(A little club soda will get that right out.)

When discussing his fourth round tapout loss to UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Jon Jones, Rampage Jackson explained that he lets no man put him to sleep because he doesn’t trust people. I’m not exactly certain what Jackson fears might unfold once he goes out, but vile atrocities such as antiquing and billboarding have been perpetrated on unconscious fighters before. But there’s a certain amount of trust that goes into tapping out as well. The tapout is nothing more than a gentlemen’s agreement, really, in which one fighter admits that he’s taken enough punishment for one day. But not everyone in the face-punching business is a gentleman, and sometimes your opponent may not agree that you’ve taken all of the damage you deserve.

When you hold a submission too long there’s a chance of causing damage to a limb or unconsciousness, but it always leads to hurt feelings.

Growing up in the gang-infested town of East Paulo Alto California, Eugene Jackson used his fists to settle any conflicts he had. He soon realized that his punching prowess could be used to earn him some cash in addition to the street cred he had behind his name in EPA, so in the 90s he began fighting in MMA where he would fight 25 times, under the UFC, Strikeforce, IVC and IFC banners against guys like Wanderlei Silva, Joe Doerksen, Jeremy Horn and Ricardo Almeida.

Having retired with a 15-9-1 record after losing to Joe Riggs in Strikeforce back in 2007, Jackson decided he wanted to give local kids a leg up that he never had so he opened up a a non-profit gym for at risk youth with his own money in 2009. The facility, which was little more than a warehouse with some mats, heavy bags and a crudely thrown together collection of weights became a hugely popular community center where teens who might normally be enticed into gang-banging would hang out every day to hone their fighting skills.

Eventually city authorities demanded improvements to the building that he could not afford and he was forced to close the gym, but that didn’t deter him.

It’s been less than a month since Ricardo Almeida announced his retirement from MMA competition, but so far, it seems to be treating him pretty well. Though nobody likes to go out on a loss, Almeida recognized it was time to hang it up. As he says in this revealing new video profile from Veazy Street Productions:

“I have a lot of things going on outside of my fighting career — my family, I have a jiu-jitsu school to take care of, I train other fighters — so perhaps I felt like I wasn’t giving 100% to everything and doing everything I could. To be in the Octagon not 100% focused, to be in there not giving 100% of everything that you have is a dangerous thing…I just felt that after the loss to Pyle it just pushed me a little lower on the ladder. I felt it was going to take too much time to climb back up. I can’t say that if I had won, that I would be retired…

I didn’t want to wait until I got knocked out 4-5 times in a row for people to tell me that I should quit. I wanted to walk out of it happy, I wanted to walk out of it healthy, I wanted to walk away with love, and I think the next step is to focus on myself as more of a diplomatic approach of being a coach, being an instructor, and being able to focus on my family.”

(Is that a thumbs-up, a hang loose or a 2-out-of-10? We already have a problem here, Ricardo. Pic: MMA Convert)

Suck on this, F. Scott Fitzgerald: Recently retired MMA veteran Ricardo Almeida has apparently wasted little time starting the second act of his fighting life, as Pro MMA Radio’s Larry Pepe reports via tweet that “The Big Dog” will become a licensed judge in New Jersey. Obviously, the immediate reaction to this story is, “Hey, that’s great.” It’s good to see Almeida appearing to make a seamless transition to the next phase (one that baffles so many professional athletes) and it’s nice that he’s looking for ways to stay involved in the sport after hanging up his gloves. Since MMA is still, ahem, technically illegal in the state where Almeida resides, it’s also super cool and neighborly of Jersey to give him a chance. The Dirty Jerz has always fancied itself a forward-thinking athletic commission, so this is a good fit for it as well.

Let us say right off that we have no problem with Almeida the specific man/fighter becoming a judge. He’s always seemed like an agreeable sort and we have no doubt he’ll do a great job. But after the initial warm and fuzzies of this particular story wore off, we were left with some questions. Lots of questions, actually. For starters: Is having newly retired fighters become ringside officials really such a hot idea? Doesn’t it sort of set the stage for some clear cut conflicts of interest?

(Almeida retires with a record of 13-5)

In 2008, after a near four-year absence away from fighting, Ricardo Almeida’s desire to return to compete in MMA coaxed him out of an unannounced retirement to sign with the UFC. Since then he has fought eight times, losing three and winning five.

At 34 years of age, Almeida has decided to walk away from the sport despite having a few good fights left in him to spend more time with his family and to focus on running his Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy.

It’s been a pleasure watching you fight, Big Dog. Props for realizing when it was time to call it quits.

Read Ricardo’s statement after the jump.

("Tough loss against CB." "Yeah. How’s your leg doing?"

The card for UFC 124 is filling in nicely with the addition of four fights reported by various sources today.

MMAFighting reports that Jason MacDonald will return to action following one of the most gruesome leg-break injuries in UFC history he incurred in his UFC 113 bout seven months ago in Montreal against John Salter.

MacDonald (24-14), who is on his second go-around in the UFC will be looking to make this stay in the Octagon a permanent one when he takes on Gracie jiu-jitsu black belt,  Rafael Natal (12-3) who lost by decision in his Octagon debut against Rich Attonito at UFN 22 in September.

Also on the card, according to MMAJunkie and MMADiehards will be MacDonald’s fellow Canadians Joe Doerksen and TJ Grant who will take on Dan Miller and Ricardo Almeida, respectively.

(Images courtesy of UFC and Wikipedia)

Are you noticing a pattern here? By bizarre coincidence, the top six fights at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland) all feature an American fighter taking on a Brazilian fighter. It’s not an official gimmick like UFC 58′s "USA vs. Canada" setup — in which the Yanks went 5-3 against the Canucks — but it’ll be an interesting theme for the night, and hopefully the UFC will make the most of it. (Sorry Chandella, but we’ve found your replacement.) I’ll go out on a limb and say Brazil takes this event in a 4-2 rout, with Fitch and Guida scoring the only wins for the home team. Your predictions?

After the jump: Joe Rogan runs down the Hughes vs. Almeida matchup, and Jon Fitch discusses his co-headlining rematch against Thiago Alves.

(Big Dog is planning to eat Matt Hughes’ country breakfast August 7.)

According to an MMA Weekly report, a bout between former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and Renzo Gracie disciple, Ricardo Almeida is in the works for UFC 117, August 7 in Oakland, CA.

Almeida will be looking bring a “W” and honor back to the Gracie academy while seeking revenge for Renzo and his other UFC-employed black belt, Matt Serra – both of whom were defeated by Hughes in the past year. Serra shared “Fight of the Night” honors in a unanimous decision loss with Hughes at UFC 98, while the aging Gracie was crippled with leg kicks by the Hillsborough, IL native who eventually pulled the trigger on a TKO victory in the third and final frame of their fight at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, UAE earlier this month. Hughes also holds a win over Renzo’s cousin, UFC legend Royce Gracie.

(Oh. Snap. Image courtesy of twitter.com/johnhowardufc)

— As first mentioned on John "Doomsday" Howard‘s Twitter page, a scrap between Howard and frequent eye-poke recipient Anthony "Rumble" Johnson is nearly set for UFC Fight Night 21 (March 21st, Denver), which will be the UFC’s first broadcast on the Versus network. According to an MMA Junkie report, the matchup was originally planned for last June at the TUF 9 finale, but Howard’s management reportedly turned it down because they didn’t want Doomsday facing such a tough test so early in his career; Johnson has since publicly criticized Howard for the ducking. Howard (13-4) is currently 3-0 in the UFC, and most recently scored a last-second knockout over Dennis Hallman at the TUF 10 finale in December. Johnson (8-3, 5-3 UFC) had a three-fight win streak snapped in November when he was submitted by Josh Koscheck at UFC 106.

— Speaking of welterweights, Ricardo Almeida and Matt Brown are set to get it on at UFC 111 (March 27th, Newark). Following back-to-back decision victories over Matt Horwich and Kendall Grove, Almeida was slated to take on Jon Fitch at 106, but had to withdraw due to a knee injury. He’ll now face off against "The Immortal," who has stopped his last three opponents, most recently TUF 9 winner James Wilks at UFC 105.

Unless Jon Fitch is just screwing with us by purposely spreading false information, it seems like he will not be fighting Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 on November 21.  Fitch announced via Twitter that Almeida had injured his knee and been forced to pull out of the bout, so Fitch will get “a bigger, better fight instead.”  If you’re wondering how the UFC got a big star to agree to face Fitch on a month’s notice, don’t.  Fitch says the bout has been moved to a later date, which flings the door open wide to allow almost any UFC welterweight to walk in.  So before we speculate wildly we must ask ourselves: who would Fitch’s fans have wanted to see him fight for a long time? 

(Another otherwise-lovely photo ruined by red-eye. Props to JunieBrowning.com.)

TUF 8‘s man-you-love-to-hate is close to finalizing his next Octagon appearance. Junie Browning and TUF 5 castmember Cole Miller have reportedly agreed to face each other at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Still a perfect 3-0 as a professional, Browning most recently submitted Dave Kaplan via armbar at last month’s TUF 8 finale, and has been trying to get his game tightened up at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. Miller (14-3) is an American Top Team member who last fought at UFC 86 in July, where he choked out Jorge Gurgel. Sounds like a solid step up in competition for "The Lunatik" — will he rise to the challenge?

In other fight-bookin’ news…

— UFC Fight Night 18 will also host a middleweight bout between Ricardo Almeida and Matt Horwich, who are both coming off losses. Almeida dropped a split decision to Patrick Cote at UFC 86, while former IFL champion Horwich lost a decision to Dan Miller in his Octagon debut at UFC 90. As accomplished and talented as both fighters are, the loser might find himself without a contract.

— Junie Browning’s Team Mir drinking buddy Shane Nelson, who clawed out a split decision victory over George Roop at the TUF 8 finale, is being brought back to take on Aaron Riley at UFC 96 (March 7th, Columbus). Just like Cole Miller, Riley’s last appearance was also a win over Jorge Gurgel, at UFC 91 in November. Poor Jorge Gurgel.

(He’s damn near a middleweight at this point. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

— Brandon Vera, who will be facing Keith Jardine at UFC 89 (October 18th; Birmingham, England), is currently walking around at 202 pounds. “My whole outlook on everything has changed,” he told UFC.com. “I am serious about this stuff now. It’s my diet, and my strength and conditioning coach, the 2004 Judo Olympian Rhadi Ferguson, it’s everything. It’s going to be bad for the 205ers, man. Bad. News.” At this rate, Vera will weigh-in at 197 and de-hydrate down to 189 by the night of the fight, because he’s a total genius. In other Truth-news, Vera was held at gunpoint Saturday morning at the home of world champion grappler Lloyd Irvin, but Irvin disarmed one of the two gunmen and scared off the other. Full story here…

— Georges St. Pierre has signed with CAA Sports, a division of entertainment/sports mega-agency Creative Artists. CAA, along with St. Pierre’s manager Shari Spencer, will work to secure marketing and endorsement opportunities for Rush. Said Spencer: “Georges’ appeal transcends the Octagon and I am confident that together we can introduce Georges, and the entire sport of MMA, to a wider audience.” As MMA Payout described the signing, “It may not seem like much now, but in one year it could be remembered as a seminal moment in the sport’s development.”

— Ricardo Almeida has suffered a mystery injury and will not be able to fight former IFL middleweight champ Matt Horwich at UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago). Replacing him will be Dan Miller, another former IFL middleweight champ. It will be Horwich’s first fight in the UFC and the second for Miller, who choked out Rob Kimmons at last month’s UFC Fight Night 15.

— TUF 7 goofball Matt Riddle, who won his first professional fight with a unanimous decision over castmate Dante Rivera in June, will be returning to the Octagon at UFC 91 (November 15th, Las Vegas) against Ryan Thomas, who lost his UFC debut against Ben Saunders at UFC 87.

— MMA Weekly hears that the TUF 8 finale on December 13th will be headlined by a fight between Nate Diaz and Clay Guida.

(Those wacky Brazilians. They even make the gym look fun.)

We’ve heard some great explanations for losing in our time covering mixed martial arts, but Ricardo Almeida has a new one: boredom. That’s what he says cost him in his split decision loss to Patrick Cote at UFC 86, according to Setanta Sports:

“I lost because I got bored…Whatever I say, I know it’s gonna sound biased,” said Almeida, who moved to 9-3 in his MMA career.

“It wasn’t a great fight. I felt I dominated the first round. Then I had the incident with the glove [which needed cutting], and something happened to me mentally right there.

“Even physically, I was just dead in the second round – very very tired. I felt I bossed the third, some good jabs, I got a takedown – and the only reason he got on top was because I tried the guillotine.

“My corner told me to stay on top with 60 seconds left. But I guess because the fight was so boring, I wanted to try a submission and he finished the fight on top – which probably swung it.”

You know, usually post-fight excuses are pretty lame, but this one actually has some merit in a weird way. Guess that’s why you don’t bring Almeida to your niece’s dance recital. He gets bored and it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll attempt a guillotine on you just to liven things up.

(Be careful what you wish for…)

His split decision victory over Ricardo Almeida at UFC 86 may not have been electrifying to watch, but it was enough to get Patrick Cote a shot at the middleweight title. At least, that’s what the UFC is saying.

“He’s getting a title shot,” Dana White said following Cote’s victory.

The question now is, when? The Canadian Press says that after his fight with James Irvin, Silva will most likely defend his middleweight strap against Yushin Okami at UFC 88 in Atlanta, which would mean less than two months between bouts for Silva. Two months after that, they say, is when Cote is likely to get his chance.

Apparently not everyone was happy with Cote’s performance, though:

There was some drama outside the cage after the fight. Manager Stephane Patry said a UFC official — not White — had berated his fighter for the lacklustre bout. Patry said he promptly complained to UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, who assured him Cote would be treated right.

“Obviously it wasn’t the most exciting fight but Lorenzo’s a good guy, he understands,” Patry said.

Now we get to play everyone’s favorite game, “Guess That Mystery UFC Official”. My money’s on Wilder Valderrama. He’s an official, right?

Rampage and Opie battle for the light-heavyweight belt, Cote and Alemeida scrap for the #1 middleweight contender spot, Joe Stevenson tries to keep his blood inside his head, Josh Koscheck and Chris Lytle try to make it two in a row…and that’s pretty much it. Not an awesome card, but UFN 14 is just two weeks from now, and sometimes quantity is quality. Results from the UFC 86 undercard and live updates from the PPV broadcast are after the jump; refresh your browser every few minutes to read all the latest, and share your reactions in the comments section.

Barring any unexpected defeats or freak injuries, Anderson Silva will fight at least three more times by the year’s end, Dana White said in a press conference held yesterday. First, of course, is his light-heavyweight debut against James Irvin at UFN 14 on July 19th. Said White:

“If everything goes well, he wants to move back to 185 and fight Sept. 6 in Atlanta [at UFC 88], probably against Yushin Okami, then he wants to fight again two months later.”

And who might that next opponent be?

“(Ricardo Almeida) and Patrick Cote are going to fight on Saturday night and see who’s next in line for Anderson Silva’s 185-pound title,” said White.

The long-term plan is for Silva to keep testing the waters at 205, in preparation for an eventual run at the title. And for the first time in the UFC’s history, one of its champions would be allowed to hold two titles at the same time. “Normally I won’t let guys do stuff like that because it’s just…stupid,” White said. “I’ll let Anderson Silva do it.”

Anyway, this has to be bittersweet for Almeida and Cote. The good news is that the winner of their fight is getting an immediate title shot; the bad news, of course, is that the winner is slated to get the worst beating of his life in November. I’m not saying that throwing the fight intentionally and leaving the country for a while would be the best idea, but it’s probably not the worst either.

(Props: MMA Weekly)

The Patrick Cote-Ricardo Almeida bout could turn out to be one hell of a fight when all is said and done at UFC 86. It’s a timely matchup because it helps to slim down the list of serious contenders in the middleweight division, and both guys are at a point where they can’t afford to lose. Plus, I love a good contest of accents.

Check out Cote’s plans for a sprawl-and-brawl victory above. Almeida is after the jump. He might not be the last guy left in MMA who refers to his desire to go out and “represent jiu-jitsu”, but he’s definitely part of a dying breed.

(Props: MMAMania)

Above is the first video promo for UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin (July 5th, Las Vegas). The main event should be fantastic, but it doesn’t bode well that Cote vs. Almeida is the only other match that warrants a mention in the clip. And even if the winner will technically be “moving up the ranks toward a middleweight title shot,” it’s not like they won’t have to beat 2-4 more guys to get there. The current lineup is below; is it better or worse than UFC 85′s?

MAIN CARD
Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin
Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida
Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle
Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio

UNDERCARD
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully
Jorge Gurgel vs. Cole Miller
Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver
Corey Hill vs. Justin Buchholz

Unrelated, but important: The earth-shattering news that Dana White was promising to deliver tomorrow has been pushed back to this coming Tuesday. My guess? The UFC needs a little more time to obtain rights to “The Hex”…

If you missed our UFC 81 liveblog, click here. Check out the videos below for Chris Lytle’s nitro-burnin’ bash-fest against Kyle Bradley, and Ricardo Almeida choking out Rob Yundt despite being dropped directly on his head.

Chris Lytle vs. Kyle Bradley:

Ricardo Almeida vs. Rob Yundt:

Since it was such a success* last time, we thought we’d take another crack at predicting which fighters will pocket tomorrow‘s end-of-night bonuses. But first we’d like to predict the amount of the bonuses themselves. If you’ve been paying attention, you know that the UFC’s Fight/Submission/Knockout bonuses have decreased from $55,000 to $50,000 to $35,000 over the last three pay-per-view events. After the last drastic reduction, the general opinion was that the amounts were going down to recoup some of the money lost to the UFC’s European expansion effort. Now that the show is back in the U.S., they can be a little more generous. And they will — but just enough to demonstrate improvement and shut people up. We’re saying the bonuses will be $40k each. Now let’s get to the fight card:

MAIN CARD
Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (heavyweights)
Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar (heavyweights)
Jeremy Horn vs. Nate Marquardt (middleweights)
Rob Yundt vs. Ricardo Almeida (middleweights)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Gleison Tibau vs. Tyson Griffin (lightweights)
Chris Lytle vs. Kyle Bradley (welterweights)
Marvin Eastman vs. Terry Martin (middleweights)
David Heath vs. Tim Boetsch (light heavyweights)
Keita Nakamura vs. Rob Emerson (welterweights)

Knockout of the Night: Eastman vs. Martin is a battle between two good fighters who have had terrible luck in the Octagon. The winner will prove that he still belongs there; the loser could very well be banished forever. Thus, we expect both men to come out swinging their asses off. We were tempted to give this a Fight of the Night nod, but it feels too much like a first-round-TKO kind of match. Marvin Eastman has been knocked out every time he’s fought in the UFC. Four of Terry Martin’s last five fights have resulted in KO/TKO victories — and we think he’ll do it again tomorrow night, picking up the bonus in the process. Dark horse: Kyle Bradley. If you want to talk about good fighters who have had rough times in the Octagon, Chris Lytle is Exhibit fucking A (34-15-4 MMA record, 3-7 in the UFC). There’s nothing to suggest that his fortunes will improve at “Breaking Point,” and his opponent Kyle Bradley is a guy who has been paying his dues in regional promotions as a knockout artist. His current seven-fight win-streak includes five first-round KO/TKOs, and he could be on his way to adding one more.

(We couldn’t find any photos of Rob Yundt, so here’s a Google Image Search result for “Alaska.”)

The UFC posted this message on their website late yesterday:

Unbeaten UFC newcomer Rob Yundt (7-0) has stepped in on short notice to replace middleweight up and comer Alan Belcher against Ricardo Almeida on Saturday night’s UFC 81 card in Las Vegas. Belcher was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a severe case of bronchitis.

Our most sincere “Sucks, bro” goes out to Belcher, who last fought at UFC 77 in October where he sliced a Panama Canal-sized gash through Kalib Starnes’s forehead. But hey, he probably would have been stomped by Almeida, a Brazilian middleweight who has beaten Ryo Chonan, Nate Marquardt and Kazuo Misaki in his last three fights.

All of Rob Yundt’s matches have been in the Alaska Fighting Championship organization, and judging from the following highlight reel, the dude’s a scary-strong wrestler. Going from fighting in the Alaskan wilderness to fighting on the main card of a UFC pay-per-view event is a huge opportunity for the kid, and we hope he makes he most of it. Still, that whole “three-days notice” thing could be an issue.