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Pat Healy: A Huge Letdown That the Melendez Fight Is Postponed

There is an old saying, “when it rains, it pours.”Nothing can be closer to the truth when it comes to fight cards being cancelled if your are an MMA fan.It was announced late last night via press release that this Saturday’s Strikeforce card, head…

There is an old saying, “when it rains, it pours.”

Nothing can be closer to the truth when it comes to fight cards being cancelled if your are an MMA fan.

It was announced late last night via press release that this Saturday’s Strikeforce card, headlined by Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez vs Pat Healy, has been cancelled due to Melendez suffering a shoulder injury in training.

Healy, who found found out yesterday evening, gives the timeline of when he found out the fight was postponed.

“I found out about 9:30 PM PST,” Healy told Bleacher Report. “Matt Lindland (Healy‘s manager) called me and started talking about it. He told me he got a call from Sean Shelby (Strikeforce matchmaker) and all he knew was that Melendez tore something in his shoulder and that I wasn’t fighting. Then I read the press release about an hour and saw that the whole card was cancelled.”

A new opponent wasn’t brought up to Healy when he found out the fight with Melendez was off, but he would have still fought on the card if asked.

“If they (Strikeforce) would have given me any opportunity to fight, I would have taken it,” Healy states. “No doubt about it. If they (Strikeforce) had anybody, I would have fought them.”

This is the second time a Zuffa card has been cancelled in exactly a month and Healy felt this card could have been saved.

“I was shocked (on the card being cancelled),” Healy states. “A good card could have been salvaged. I know Josh Thomson said he would have stepped up and other guys said they would have stepped up and fought me. Even if they would have taken just my fight off the card, it would have still been a good card.”

Melendez was obviously disappointed in not being able to defend his title this Saturday and apologized to Healy for having to bow out of the fight. Healy appreciated the noble gesture.

“He texted me and said, “Hey man, I’m sorry and I’m going to heal up and we can do it for real”, Healy said.

“It was a kind gesture from him. I asked him how long he thought he would be out for and he said about five weeks. It looks like it will be a little bit of a wait.”

Healy has always been known as a fighter who likes to stay busy, and feels Strikeforce should possibly schedule an interim title fight if Melendez is out for a lengthy period of time. If that’s the case, a rematch with Thomson makes sense.

“If they (Strikeforce) did an interim title, I would be happy with that,” Healy stated. “I like to fight. I don’t necessarily have to wait for Gilbert, especially if it’s going to be a long wait. I’d be happy to get in there and fight. Josh and I would probably make the most sense, unless they (Strikeforce) brought somebody in from the UFC.”

After everything that has happened in the last 24 hours, Healy is obviously disappointed.

“I was devastated,” Healy stated. “I’ve been working so hard for this. The camp went so well. I felt this was my moment. It was all leading up to this and for it to be postponed is a huge letdown. This definitely the biggest bummer of my career.”

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

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UFC 152: Marcus Brimage Is Slowly Getting Used to Being the Underdog and Hated

The definition of an underdog is a competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest. That is the role that UFC featherweight Marcus Brimage has dealt with his whole career.
Brimage looks to defy the odds again as he squa…

The definition of an underdog is a competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest. That is the role that UFC featherweight Marcus Brimage has dealt with his whole career.

Brimage looks to defy the odds again as he squares off against Jimy Hettes tonight to kick off the FX portion of UFC 152, which starts at 8 p.m. ET.

The man known as “The Bama Beast” has been overcoming the odds to succeed his entire life and knows what he has to do to buck that stigma.

“I played football and played nose guard in high school,” Brimage told Bleacher Report. “I had 107 tackles my senior year. “Being an underdog is nothing new to me. I’m always underrated. My coaches tell me that means I’m moving up the food chain since I’m always the underdog. I don’t want to be the guy whose supposed to win. That means I’m not advanced and I’m not moving up. I’m always going to be the underdog until I’m the champion.”

Confidence is something Brimage was lacking due to what happened in The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 and being the first guy to lose in that season. Now in the UFC and with a victory over Maximo Blanco at UFC 145, in a fight people thought Blanco would easily win, now the confidence is back in Brimage.

“In The Ultimate Fighter, I was the first person to fight and I lost first,” Brimage stated. “It was just about being more confident because now I’m in the UFC. The first time (at UFC 145) I was like, “do I belong here?”

“The victory over Blanco felt orgasmic. It was like, “ahh in your face.”

“If I had the time, I would have liked to find everyone that said that (having no chance to win) and would have been like, “haha” and just leave.

“I’m slowly getting used to being the underdog. I’m slowly getting used to the hate. It’s the same scenario with this fight (against Hettes) as well.”

His opponent tonight, the 10-0 Jimy Hettes, looked impressive in his debut at UFC 141 as he defeated Nam Phan via unanimous decision. Brimage was impressed with Hettes’ performance and is expecting a great fight.

“I think his judo is pretty cool with the way he was tossing Nam Phan,” Brimage stated. “He seems like the polar opposite of me. He’s very aggressive, always putting the pressure on. He does the pressure with his wrestling and I put the pressure on with my striking. It’s going to be a great clash.”

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

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Charlie Brenneman: Welterweight Would Have Preferred to Fight at UFC 151

UFC 151 will go down in history as being the first event under the Zuffa umbrella that was cancelled. It was cancelled due to Dan Henderson, who was scheduled to square off against Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship suffered a pa…

Then former middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen was offered the fight against Jones. Sonnen accepted the fight, but when Jones was presented the fight, he declined. After Jones decided to turn down the fight, the UFC cancelled the card.

A lot of the fans were very upset at the cancellation, and that included a lot of the fighters that were supposed to fight on the card. Some fighters on the card have had their fights pushed back to far as December. Charlie Brenneman was one of the fortunate guys who didn’t have to wait to long to get back into octagon.

The welterweight returns three weeks later than originally anticipated as he will face Kyle Noke on the preliminary portion of the card this Saturday at UFC 152. The Brenneman vs. Noke fight can be seen on Facebook, starting at 6:30 PM ET.

It didn’t take Brenneman too long to figure something was up when he received a few curious messages.

“I was working out that morning at nine and then at noon,” Brenneman told Bleacher Report. “I got done with the noon workout and was getting ready to eat my meal. I saw that I had a couple missed calls, which is never good. One was from my brother and the other one was from my manager. Then I received a weird text and I put two and two together. I found out about an hour after everyone else did.”

Brenneman was in complete shock and utter disbelief at first, but after thinking about everything, he knew everything would be okay.

“My immediate reaction was disbelief,” Brenneman stated. “I couldn’t believe it. Then almost immediately, I thought myself, ‘crazy stuff has happened before and this is another step in the journey,'” Brenneman said.

“I was surprised on one hand, but at the same time I immediately thought, ‘I can sort of believe this happened,'” Brenneman said. “I just had to stay even keeled and realize one way or another, this is going to work itself out.”

Fighters across the board have said if they were in Jones’ exact situation, they would have taken the fight regardless of who the opponent was. You can add Brenneman to the list.

“I would have completely, hands down, one million percent said I would have accepted the fight,” Brenneman said. “I mean, you’re the best. If the rules were reversed and Jones was on his honeymoon and they (UFC) wanted him to defend his belt and he wasn’t training, then yea that would have completely made sense (in turning down the fight).”

Some people have said they have lost respect for Jones, but Brenneman isn’t one of them. He just doesn’t respect the decision the champion made.

“I have respect for a lot of people,” Brenneman said. “Those people have done good things and bad things. It balances itself out that way. I can’t say I don’t respect Jon Jones because he is the best in our industry. I just don’t respect his decision (of not fighting Sonnen).”

The fans only see the fighters when they are in the cage, making personal appearances, etc. They don’t see the blood, sweat and tears that go into preparation for a fight. Brenneman is grateful to be fighting so soon after the cancellation of UFC 151, but personally he would have preferred to fight three weeks ago.

“Fight wise, I’m of the lucky ones because I’m fighting Saturday,” Brenneman said. “To be honest, this gave me a full eight week (training camp), which is a typical camp for me. I would have had only about four and a half weeks to train for UFC 151. It may help me in that aspect, but I would have preferred to fight at UFC 151. I felt as great as I ever had.”

“From a personal standpoint, people don’t realize that this is my life. I had plans for September 1. The money I was going to make, I had to completely abort because of what happened and now fighting four weeks later.”

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

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Shane Carwin on Roy Nelson Heading into TUF 16: ‘I Hate That Guy’

In the lead-up to a Shane Carwin fight, you usually don’t hear a lot of chatter from him. He’s a blue-collar man from Colorado who lives by the saying “speak softly and carry a big stick.”But when it comes to discussing Roy Nelson, Carwin changes …

In the lead-up to a Shane Carwin fight, you usually don’t hear a lot of chatter from him. He’s a blue-collar man from Colorado who lives by the saying “speak softly and carry a big stick.”

But when it comes to discussing Roy Nelson, Carwin changes that tune rather quickly.

Carwin had to deal with Nelson a lot over the last six weeks, and on Friday, we get to see how it all played out as The Ultimate Fighter Fridays: Carwin vs Nelson premieres on FX, starting at a special time of 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Before the trash talking ensued between the two coaches, Carwin had some reservations when approached about coaching the 16th edition of TUF.

“It’s a lot to do,” Carwin told Bleacher Report. “You have to change your lifestyle. But once you find out it’s against Roy Nelson, somebody that I dislike so much, I was on board. There was nobody I wanted to coach against more than that guy, and to kick his a** in not only coaching, but in the fight as well.”

When Carwin accepted the coaching role, the trash talk started. Carwin and Nelson went at each viciously in the media and on social media platforms like Twitter. Carwin didn’t appreciate that Nelson was trying to portray himself as a person who has had it rough in his life.

“(Nelson) bi***es and complains all the time,” Carwin said. “He always has an excuse for everything. He claims to be this average, normal guy and that’s who he tries to reach too, the blue-collar workers.

“Well, that’s me. That’s where I came from. I was the one working at 15 years old and working concrete in construction, working at meat packing plants, throwing boxes and things like that. He hasn’t had a job in his life. This is the only thing he has ever done. He’s the farthest thing from a blue-collar worker that he claims to be,” he said.

Carwin did enjoy coaching the guys on the show, as it brought him back to when he was going through the grind of trying to get into the UFC.

“I’ve been there,” Carwin said. “I know what these guys are going through. Just to be able to be there and try to help those guys. It was life changing for me. There’s a lot of things that happen this season that I thought would never happen, especially in that short amount of time. It shocked me by the end in what happened and just how the show went on.”

Usually when you get close to a fight or the premiere of a show like TUF, it is just a way to hype it up and the guys are respectful to each other afterward. Carwin says that this isn’t hype—it has gotten personal.

“There’s that much animosity there (between us),” Carwin said. “All of that stuff is real. The only thing I’ve ever had to hype for my fights is to just watch my style. My fights are exciting. There doesn’t need to be any hype or talk, but this real.

“I hate the guy (Nelson). I dislike him. I hate him as a person. That’s just it. I’ll be vocal about it.”

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

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Exclusive: Ricardo Lamas Was Offered Fights with Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo

The life of a fighter changes constantly. You can be scheduled for a fight with one fighter one day, then the next it can be someone different due to injury or other circumstances. Ricardo Lamas, though, went from having no fight to being offered a set…

The UFC featherweight had come off a win over the highly ranked Hatsu Hioki in June at UFC on FX 4. He was just waiting on getting his next fight. About two weeks ago, Lamas got a phone call for a fight against a former world champion.

“They [the UFC] offered me a fight with Frankie Edgar in December and we accepted it,” Lamas told Bleacher Report. “We were just waiting to hear back from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby as we didn’t know if they had talked to Frankie yet or not. We accepted the fight on our side and we were just awaiting confirmation.”

Things then got more interesting. The UFC announced on Thursday that Erik Koch had to bow out of his fight with UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo at UFC 153 with an undisclosed injury and Edgar would be stepping in to face Aldo. Before that announcement was made, it was Lamas who was going to face Aldo.

“They [UFC] had called me first on Thursday,” Lamas stated. “They had called me up at about 3:30 p.m. Central time and said, ‘Obviously Koch is injured and we need to know tonight if you want to take this fight with Aldo? We think you deserve it and we need to redo your contract. We need to get it all done by tonight.'”

‘We said ‘Yes, yes, yes,'” Lamas stated. “We got my contract figured out and was just waiting on a bout agreement. Then they [the UFC] called at 9 p.m. Central and said they decided to in a different direction with the fight and that’s when they decided to go with Frankie.”

Lamas, hoping to fight by the end of the year, is naturally disappointed with not getting a fight with either Edgar or Aldo. He is grateful that his employer thinks highly enough of him to consider him to fight two high-profile fighters.

“I was disappointed,” Lamas stated. “I was really excited. That’s an opportunity guys wait their entire career for. The opportunity came of out nowhere. I wasn’t promised for months to fight Aldo. It came about last second. I can also see where the UFC thinks that it is going to be a better fight with Frankie Edgar. He [Edgar] is a former world champion and he’s more well known than I am. I appreciate that the UFC offered me the fights. It means they hold me in high regard and have me in mind.”

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

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Sara McMann Feels a Bout with Ronda Rousey Is an Eventuality

Women’s MMA has been at the forefront for the last month. You had the Invicta Fighting Championships 2 card at the end of last month. Then 11 days ago, you had the Strikeforce event headlined by Ronda Rousey vs. Sarah Kaufman, along with Mies…

The Invicta show was headlined by another Olympian, 2004 silver medalist in wrestling Sara McMann. She defeated Shayna Baszler via unanimous decision.

McMann showed improved standup in the fight and wanted to make sure she kept that a secret leading up to the fight. McMann told Bleacher Report:

I didn’t want to let the media know my gameplan because I wanted it to be more of a surprise since nobody would expect me to come out there and use my wrestling to keep it standing. I knew nobody would expect that because it is my weakest area. My striking isn’t my strongest suit, but that’s how you get better by going out there, throwing and learning from it. I knew it was going to be a standup fight, but nobody outside of my camp knew it was going to be that.

The head of Invicta FC, Shannon Knapp, stated during the promotion of Invicta FC 2 that the winner of McMann-Baszler would be fighting for the inaugural bantamweight title at their next show in October. McMann said she won’t be fighting at that show due to her needing rest.

I’m not going to be fighting in October. I had two fights scheduled back to back and to put a third fight on there would be rough. I’m just like, “Look, I’ve been training hard camps and the serious conditioning is wearing down my body.”

I train really hard for these fights and it just ends up breaking the body down a little bit. I said (to Invicta), “Can you guys put me on the next card you have after this October show?”

A lot of comparisons have been made with McMann and Rousey due to their Olympic backgrounds. McMann has a different approach in how she wants her career to go compared to the path Rousey has taken so far.

She (Rousey) has a different approach to her fighting, and that’s the way she has wanted her career to go. I just have a different way I want it to go. It appears she wanted to get to the top as soon as possible. For me, it’s more about the journey. It’s more about fighting all the girls in my division, knowing I’m the best and not just fighting the No. 1 girls. I want to be a well-rounded mixed martial artist. It means forcing myself to fight all different types of fighters and being able to beat them.

I don’t want to get to the end of my career and be 5-0 or 6-0 and say, “Oh I’m retiring now.”

I want to be 15-0, 20-0. I want that longer career and to have fought everybody.

People have said that a bout between Rousey and McMann is destined to happen. McMann knows the long-awaited fight will eventually happen.

I think (the fight) would be unbelievable marketing. People are going to want to see that fight. She’s right now in the top tier of girls, and I’m in the top tier working my way up and through the opponents in front of me. I think it’s an eventuality that it will happen.

You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.

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