Tag: MMA Fighting Exclusive

Jim Miller Battled a Kidney Infection During Ben Henderson Fight

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsJim Miller isn’t the kind of fighter to make excuses after a fight. That’s why it took some prodding to find out why he didn’t look like himself in his loss to Ben Henderson last August.

Of course, “Bendo”…

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Jim Miller isn’t the kind of fighter to make excuses after a fight. That’s why it took some prodding to find out why he didn’t look like himself in his loss to Ben Henderson last August.

Of course, “Bendo” had a lot to do with that, as well. The former WEC lightweight champion has looked more dominant than ever since moving over to the UFC, and a 3-0 run in 2011 earned him a title shot against champion Frankie Edgar in February.

As for Miller, while he didn’t want to take anything away from Henderson, he did admit to MMAFighting.com that he was battling a kidney infection and mononucleosis during the Henderson fight.

“It really hit me a couple hours after the fight,” Miller said. “I woke up in the middle of the night and had this weird pain my lower back. It just wouldn’t go away. It was something I never felt before and really hope to never feel again, to be perfectly honest. I got home, it was [expletive] traveling, bouncing on the plane and stuff like that was not comfortable. It was actually the first time that I lost weight after a fight because I didn’t have an appetite or stuff like that. It was pretty miserable.”

Miller, who meets Melvin Guillard Friday night in the main event of UFC on FX Fight Night, said he beat the infection with antibiotics and “lots of fluids.” The loss was a devastating one for the AMA Fight Club member, who appeared to be one fight away from fighting for the title. It was Miller’s first loss in eight fights, a stretch that dated back to March 2009.


“I had a bad night. I knew something was wrong and I didn’t adapt to the situation. He fought a great fight, and I just wasn’t capable to keep up that night,” Miller said.

“I really didn’t know that I was sick. I knew something was wrong. I was pretty tired in camp and stuff like that, but when I was warming up for the fight, I knew something was off. I was getting winded just doing my warmup round, and then when we were starting to get ready to go out there, I just didn’t feel like I had energy. And then stepping into the Octagon, I usually have tons of energy flowing around, bouncing around, and I just didn’t feel it. I tried to fight like I normally fight, and I wasn’t able to put him away with that style of fighting. I feel like I should have made the correction, fought a little more conservatively, worked for dominant position and then go for the attack and stuff like that instead of throwing everything I had at him.”

So it’s back to the drawing board for the 28-year-old Miller, who sees similarities between himself and his opponent on Friday night. Guillard also appeared to be one step away from contending for the lightweight title before he lost via submission in just 47 seconds to Joe Lauzon in October.

“There are many similarities [between us],” Miller said. “We both have the same goal and we both want to get right back to where we were and this is a great fight to take that next step and get right back up there.

“I personally didn’t want to fight somebody that hasn’t proven themselves in the division, and he certainly has. So this is exactly what I wanted. I wanted that tough fight and that big name fight, not just a tuneup fight. I want that challenge.”

 

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Chris Weidman Welcomes Risk of Fighting Dangerous Demian Maia on Short Notice

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting ExclusiveThe pitfalls of the short-notice fight are among the most debated topics in MMA. On one side are the idealists, who cite the potential rewards of doing a favor for the promotion. On the other are realists, who ca…

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Chris WeidmanThe pitfalls of the short-notice fight are among the most debated topics in MMA. On one side are the idealists, who cite the potential rewards of doing a favor for the promotion. On the other are realists, who caution against the risk of going into a fight unprepared. And then there are the fighters, who don’t have the luxury of experiencing it as an exercise in debate. To them, these are real-life decisions that can make or break a career.

When an injury to middleweight contender Mark Munoz caused a reshuffling of January 28’s UFC on FOX 2 lineup, it left an open slot opposite former No. 1 contender Demian Maia. Rousimar Palhares got the first call, and declined. The next man the UFC reached out to was Chris Weidman, the unbeaten 27-year-old who is straddling the line between prospect and contender.

Weidman needed only 30 minutes to seize the opportunity.

There were pros and cons to the decision.

The biggest plus was the chance to face Maia, a universally respected fighter who has been a consensus top 10 middleweight for about three years. A win would certainly announce him as a credible contender. But on the flip side were a few factors. For one, Weidman was nowhere close to peaking, after having been told he was probably going to fight on the April 21 Atlanta card. Because of the sudden nature of the offer, he knew he would have to cut a lot of weight in the next 11 days. Even worse, just three days before, he’d learned of the passing of his beloved uncle, Freddy Weidman, in an accident. Freddy Weidman, a recipient of both the Silver Star and Purple Heart stemming from his service in the Vietnam War, was 67.

Chris Weidman had just gotten home from a workout when he got the call from his manager, Ray Longo, and he took a few minutes to think about. He says the UFC offered no pressure to accept the offer, and told him they understood if he felt unprepared to take the step so suddenly. But when it all came down to it, the decision was easy. The chance to progress forward while gaining exposure on network TV was too much to pass up.

“I didn’t want to lose the opportunity,” Weidman (7-0) told MMA Fighting on Wednesday, while en route to his uncle’s wake. “You only live once. I have an opportunity to gain a lot of recognition and get myself up to where I want to be. So it was like, I’ll do it tomorrow if I had to. Some people never get that opportunity, so who am I to waste it?”

Maia (15-3) entered the UFC as a submission specialist, capturing each of his first five bouts via tapout. Since, then, his offensive arsenal has widened, with notable improvements to his kickboxing. Still, he is feared mostly for his ground prowess, as most opponents try to avoid that strength altogether. That could set up some interesting situations in the bout for Weidman, who has shown the ability to repeatedly take down opponents (70 percent takedown accuracy, according to FightMetric), as well as an aptitude for the ground game. He has tapped out each of his last two opponents, most recently choking Tom Lawlor unconscious with a D’arce at UFC 139.

Weidman says he won’t hesitate to put Maia on his back if he sees a route to victory there. In fact, he says, he’ll attack Maia with his own submissions.

“I’m not worried at all,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for his jiu-jitsu, but if we go to the ground, I’m confident and excited to prove where I’m at with my jiu-jitsu. He’s going to have a lot to worry about, too. If we go to the floor, I’m looking for submissions just like it’s anybody else. I’m not the guy who’s going to be starstruck. I believe in myself and I think I can go in there and submit him.”

Weidman’s fearlessness is partly due to his success and history; this won’t be the first time he fights a high-profile bout on short notice. Last March, he made his UFC debut on little more than two weeks’ notice and beat Alessio Sakara. Weidman said he didn’t draw on that experience while making the decision to accept the fight with Maia, but acknowledged that he’s never backed down from dealing with adverse competition conditions.

Right now, the most immediate obstacle is his weight. He said he’s currently around 210 pounds, so he’ll have to shed 24 to make the middleweight limit by next Friday night. Until then, he’s planning to watch some film on Maia to learn tendencies and work on a general game plan. He says his conditioning is not a problem, and that even though he’s not in the best shape of his life, he’s been working out hard enough to go three grinding rounds.

The payoff may be huge or it could end up being a step backwards. And the way Weidman sees it, that’s just fine.

“There’s definitely a risk, but I could fight Joe Schmoe tomorrow and lose,” he said. “That’s the way this sport is. So I’m not holding out to fight guys that aren’t that good. I’d rather take my risk against guys that people think are real good. I’m excited about that. There’s pressure that goes with every fight whether you’re the favorite, underdog or there on short notice. The bottom line is I’ve got to go in there and eat him up on January 28th.”

The opportunity only came about due to a series of circumstances beyond his control. Munoz was hurt. Maia’s original opponent was moved. And Palhares declined the fight. And despite just days to prepare, despite the weight issues and his uncle’s recent passing, this short-notice fight was a risk worth taking.

“I like having adversity,” he said. “It makes me tougher. It motivates me. And it will make the story better when I get that ‘W.'”

 

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How Pat Barry Gets Along With the Likes of Brock Lesnar, Mirko Cro Cop

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsHave you ever wondered how Pat Barry, perhaps the most outgoing and jovial UFC fighter out there, ended up becoming friends and training partners with Mirko Cro Cop and Brock Lesnar, perhaps the two most su…

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Have you ever wondered how Pat Barry, perhaps the most outgoing and jovial UFC fighter out there, ended up becoming friends and training partners with Mirko Cro Cop and Brock Lesnar, perhaps the two most surly and intimidating fighters in the sport? Well, you’re not alone.

Over the past year, Barry, who meets Christian Morecraft Friday night at UFC on FX Fight Night, has trained closely with both Lesnar and Cro Cop, and he swears that the sometimes-grumpy heavyweights are nothing like they appear to be. He also understands why they feel comfortable around him, even though he’s nothing like them.

“When it comes down to all the different characters in the UFC, I definitely believe nobody is afraid of me,” Barry said. “People don’t fear me. The reason why that is is they get really comfortable with my personality; they get really comfortable with my demeanor, because I’m not a bad ass. I’m a nice guy; I’m a cool guy. I can laugh and joke with anybody. I don’t have any enemies in the UFC. I don’t hate people. Nobody has any reason to dislike me. I haven’t given anyone in the UFC any reason to not like Pat Barry or to not be cool with me. They get confused with that. You can have a pet lion who’s nice and sweet and then 10 years later of being your best friend, all of a sudden it bites your head off. They get too accustomed to my personality and they tend to get a little sleepy and they forget that I am dangerous. If I do hit you, it will hurt. I am capable of winning fights every time I step through the door.

“Now, people like Brock Lesnar and people like Cro Cop understood that. They knew that. [They thought], This is a really nice guy, he’s not really scary, but when it comes down to it, he’ll punch your head off your body as soon as the door closes in the building. It doesn’t matter who you are. I don’t back down from anyone. I don’t cower to anyone. I don’t fear the next person standing next to me, it doesn’t matter who it is. I’m going to come after you like a wild … squirrel.”

Asked who’s more intimidating to be around initially, Barry didn’t have to think twice.

“Brock, definitely. Brock is a very, very, very guarded individual. He’s been around a zillion people, who are just trying to be around him and that’s it. Cro Cop has been around [that] too, but I just think Cro Cop has been around fighters more than Brock has. So Brock being a fighter, all of a sudden being the superstar of the world and being the biggest name to come around, he hasn’t been doing this for 25 years. For Cro Cop, June makes it 20 years since he put gloves on and started competing at a professional level. He’s cool, man. He’s been around long enough to where he can see people coming a mile away. He knows whether or not you’re all right. With Brock, it still takes him a feeling out process before he opens up and becomes a cool guy. Now, are they both just genuinely nice, cool dudes, who like to laugh and pull pranks? Yes. But initially, it takes a lot longer to get accepted by Brock than Cro Cop. Or at least it took me a lot longer.”

Speaking of pranks, Barry pulled the ultimate one on Cro Cop late last year when he filmed the Croat singing his heart out to The Mamas and The Papas’ “California Dreaming.'” Barry said Cro Cop didn’t know he was being filmed and would ultimately be seen by thousands of people online, which makes one question Barry’s sanity.

“I’m holding the phone on my lap,” Barry said. “I was just holding it with the back to it. It looked like it was just sitting in my hand. It was great.”

Not surprisingly, Cro Cop was none too pleased when he found out the clip was a viral hit online.

“Of course, I got the I’m going to kick your ass messages next time I see you. And I was like, Yeah, it’s cool. I’ll just make sure I won’t come to Croatia for a while until he forgets about it.”

Interestingly enough, no such videos of Lesnar have surfaced online just yet.

 

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Melvin Guillard Doesn’t Believe He Lost Anything Against Joe Lauzon

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsAfter a setback at UFC 136, Melvin Guillard’s climb back up the UFC’s 155-pound ladder begins Friday night against Jim Miller at UFC on FX Fight Night.

MMAFighting.com recently spoke to “The Young Assasin…

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After a setback at UFC 136, Melvin Guillard‘s climb back up the UFC’s 155-pound ladder begins Friday night against Jim Miller at UFC on FX Fight Night.

MMAFighting.com recently spoke to “The Young Assasin” about what went wrong in his most recent loss against Joe Lauzon, why he decided to leave Greg Jackson’s camp, and why he considers this upcoming fight against Miller to be a “blessing.”

Check out the interview below.

Ariel Helwani: Why did you decide to leave Jackson’s for the Blackzilians in Florida?
Melvin Guillard: [There’s] just some things I like about the training here and the place where it has me set mentally. I have a better mental game here. You know, I don’t want to go too much into comparing both gyms, but like I said in the past, both gyms are great, just one is giving me something that the other didn’t. So I have to look out for my interests and make sure what’s best for me at the end of the day so I can become a world champion.

Did your loss to Joe Lauzon prompt the move?
Oh, no. No, no, no, no. The loss had absolutely nothing to do with it. What coach Greg [Jackson] and coach [Mike] Winklejohn have done for me, I will always be grateful for. The tools they’ve given me, the things they showed me while I was there … No, the loss to Lauzon had absolutely nothing to do with my decision. This was a decision that I chose for myself because I just felt like it I had to give myself a different look. You know, coach Greg and those guys are some busy guys, they got a lot of high-profile fighters there, and they just couldn’t give me the one-on-one time that I needed, at certain times, and that was part of my decision, as well.

How did they react to you telling them that you were leaving their camp?
Everybody is okay with everything. There’s no hard feelings. If I would have to go back that way, that direction, the door’s always open for me. At the end of the day, it’s business. I learned the hard way, you can’t get emotionally attached in this business because you see some guys get attached to certain trainers and they get stuck at a point in their life where they’re not getting better. For me, that wasn’t the case, but I just felt like I wanted to make this change to see if it works. It’s something that I’m trying out, and if it don’t work, and if I had to go back to Jackson’s, I don’t think they would be upset about that.

Why do you think your fight against Lauzon at UFC 136 turned out the way it did?
I was just impatient. I rushed myself. I rushed my attack and I ran into a stiff jab. I don’t take anything away from Joe. He capitalized on my mistake. That’s the thing about this level of competition, if you make a mistake and you capitalize on it, you see what happens. You can end up having a short night. So that’s what happens. That’s the only thing, to me, that Joe Lauzon did that I didn’t do. I made the first mistake and he capitalized on it.

He said after the fight that he believed you were looking past him. Is that accurate?
Nah, I never look past anyone. I never look past any fighter; I take every fight serious. I wouldn’t have asked to fight the guy if I didn’t think he was tough. I wanted to fight in Houston, and I begged them to let me fight in Houston, and I had a minor setback. Did I ever for once think that Joe Lauzon would be a walk in the park? No. Joe Lauzon is a very tough competitor, and I take my hat off to the guy. He was the better guy that night.

Did you feel as though all the talk about you being so close to a title shot put too much pressure on you?
No, nothing got to me, man. I was just excited to fight in front of friends and family, which I haven’t done in years, since my dad had passed. To me, that’s what it was all about. It wasn’t about the job itself, there was no stress there. I was just impatient. I just rushed my attack, and I got caught.

Dana White’s video blog showed how emotional you were after the fight. Could you describe how you felt once the moment sunk in?
I walked in the back, and I was with Dr. Tripp, my judo coach, and me as a student to my craft, when I see my coaches, sometimes I feel like I let them down. At that point I felt like I let myself down because for that short period of time that you guys saw me break down and have my moment, it ran through my mind, Man, I asked for something, I failed, and now I may not get that opportunity to fight for that world title. That’s what went through my mind and it hurt for a minute.

But then, just instantly after it happened, I got up and was like, I can’t let this beat me. No matter if I have to go back three fights, two fights, one fight, I have to go back and fight my way back to the top again because, rightfully so, when someone beats you that guy takes your place. And then I was blessed with this fight with Jim Miller. To be able to come back and fight another top contender guy, who also had a loss, that’s just the way the cards were played. I don’t think I lost or gained anything from the Joe Lauzon fight. I definitely didn’t lose anything, and I know I didn’t gain anything. The only thing that I would say I gained was I learned how to be patient because I was impatient with my attack.

What was your reaction when they offered you this fight, considering it’s a main event fight on FX against another top contender?
I was humbled. I’m always a humble guy, but I felt like it was a blessing from above. I felt like the owners understand that sometimes we have a bad night. But I don’t want to have a bad night two nights in a row. That’s up to me to prevent that from happening. But as far as that goes, I’m just blessed to have understanding bosses. Some people work for Fortune 500 companies, they make a mistake and it costs their job a bunch of money, they might lose their job. In my situation, I’m not going to say I cost them any money, but I still have to go in there and prove myself. I have to prove that Melvin is going to always be a part of the elite, because in the UFC, there’s no going backwards. Once you’re not the top elite, you’re pretty much on your way out the door because they’re going to bring in other guys in.

My main goal is to stay at the top of the heap. I’m not in a rush for the title. After the Lauzon fight, maybe I should go back and fight maybe two or three fights, at the most, and then that’ll determine if I really belong in the position to fight for a title.

I read that you said recently that the UFC told you this was a No. 1 contender fight, which raised eyebrows since you are both coming off losses. Was that taken out of context?
Yeah, people take stuff out of context. A contender fight in the UFC … you can have two, maybe three, No. 1 contenders. At one point, it was me, Jim Miller, and possibly Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone. There were four of us that they were talking about possibly being in No. 1 contender fights. People take that No. 1 contender stuff out of context a lot. That’s not my worry. My worry is to go and do my job and see what happens from there. I’m not looking past Jim Miller, like I never looked past anybody. You have to take every fight one fight at a time, and like my coach told me back in 2005, Warren Donnelly, when I fought Marcus Davis, he was like, ‘Every fight from here on out is a title fight and you always have to make sure you fight to stay in.’ That’s been my whole goal, my whole purpose of being in the UFC the last seven years, you gotta fight to stay in. If I start worrying about chasing the title belt, I lose sight of the bigger picture, and next thing you know, I end up without a job. Because if you really look back at season 2 [of The Ultimate Fighter] alumni, it’s only me and Rashad [Evans] left. Everybody else has been cut. So I focus more on that part of job, and I always go in there, win or lose, I always leave with my head up and I always give the fans a great, explosive fight. That’s the way I fight.

Did you watch Miller’s fight against Henderson and have you been able to pinpoint why he lost that fight?
Yeah, I’ve watched all of his fights, but I don’t get caught up on trying to figure out what he’s great at. I watch tape to see what he does repeatedly, like, the things a person does repeatedly are the things that when you’re in the heat of battle you’re going to go back to doing those things. Those are the things I look for. As far as worrying about his last fight, man, he could have been sick, he might have not been sick. He could have just gotten outworked. We don’t know. The only person who knows that is Jim. So, I’m not going in there to fight Jim Miller’s fight, I’m going in there to be me and that’s the way I fight all my fights.

What do you think about his striking?
I think his striking is mediocre. I think he can knock guys out, but I don’t think his striking is as sharp as mine. I honestly think it’s going to be more me fighting off a wrestling match and him looking for something there.

Is it safe to assume you want to keep this fight standing?
I’ll take the fight wherever it goes. I’ve been working the last seven weeks with my BJJ instructor here. I do privates here everyday. I’m working with the Dutch kickboxing coach. So I’m confident to go wherever, and I’m not saying I’m going to pull of a submission, but I know I can damn well fight him off right now. I can damn well defend the submission the way I need to because I’ve been taught the proper way. I’m okay with wherever this fight goes.

Does it feel different to be going into a fight for the first time in a while coming off a loss?
No, I feel comfortable, not cocky. People take that out of context too. I feel very confident going into this fight. I feel great; my cardio is great. I’ve had a great training camp. I worked my butt off for this training camp. This has been one of the toughest training camps, but coming off a loss has not played into my mind. I’ve already put the Joe Lauzon fight behind me, and I’m looking forward, I’m not looking back. I’m not even looking back on all the five fights I’ve won. I’m looking forward to what’s next and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

 

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Sean McCorkle Thinks MMA Should Do Away With Drug Testing

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsAlready on Tuesday, we’ve heard news about former Strikeforce light-heavyweight Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal testing positive for steroids, as well as the UFC implementing a performance-enhancing drugs screenin…

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Already on Tuesday, we’ve heard news about former Strikeforce light-heavyweight Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal testing positive for steroids, as well as the UFC implementing a performance-enhancing drugs screening for all new fighters about to sign a contract with the promotion.

Suffice it to say, finding a way to stop cheating is a big topic of the day.

UFC fighter Sean McCorkle, who has always been known for his blunt honesty, has another idea, though. If it were up to him, McCorkle would level the playing field by doing away with drug testing completely.

“What you end up with is a situation of where the guys who are beating the test, where the guys who can afford to get a doctor to prescribe whatever they want, where the guys who have access to stuff, they have an unfair advantage already,” he said on Tuesday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I think we’d be pretty naive to think that every person who’s ever taken anything was caught. So I think, to me, in all professional sports, I say, let guys do whatever they want to do and be done with it. I don’t think anybody’s going to make or break their career based on steroids unless you’re talking about longevity, because to my understanding, the majority of them are used for recovery from injury.”

He noted that at least when it comes to MMA, most athletes aren’t looking to gain muscle mass since most have to cut weight during the course of training camp.

McCorkle (13-2) who had three fights in the UFC in a six-month stretch from Sept. 2010 to March 2011, is currently a free agent and has three fights scheduled for the future, with the first coming on January 28 on NAAFS’ Caged Fury 16 card in Morgantown, West Virigina.

McCorkle hopes to parlay a win streak into another job with a major MMA organization, but even if he were thrust back into a job with other elite heavyweights, he would have no issue with fighting in a league with no drug testing, noting that “most guys who test positive have lost their fights.”

Part of his issue with it stems from the difficulty of defining what is and isn’t a PED.

“There’s stuff at [nutrition store] GNC that will make you pee hot for a PED, and it’s not necessarily something that’s going to enhance your performance at all,” he said. “It’s just something that’s banned.”

As an example of the madness, he said that when he was in the UFC, he was told by company officials not to take Tylenol or aspirin during fight week. He also noted that PED problems are not simply an issue in MMA, but throughout the entire sports world, and one that will likely never be fully stopped.

“I always said in the past, the only people who take steroids are the guys who like winning and money,” he said.

 

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The Mixed Martial Arts Hour Is Back in Your Life

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsOur long national nightmare is over.

The MMA Hour returns after a one-month hiatus this afternoon, for a special live show from a new studio. Here’s a rundown of who will be stopping by:

* Brazilian MMA j…

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Our long national nightmare is over.

The MMA Hour returns after a one-month hiatus this afternoon, for a special live show from a new studio. Here’s a rundown of who will be stopping by:

* Brazilian MMA journalist Marcelo Alonso of Portal do Vale Tudo will discuss the UFC‘s second event in Rio de Janeiro.

* MMAFighting.com’s Ben Fowlkes will look ahead to UFC on FX Fight Night this Friday night.

* Friend of the show Sean McCorkle will break some news about his fighting future.

* And ProElite’s head of fight operations T. Jay Thompson will preview the organization’s third show this week and also break some big news.

Got a question or comment? Give us a call at (866) 220-2893.

Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.

 

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