Issue 141
May 2016
VERSUS
Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz - who wins a social media tough guy face off?
Training partners
There are few tougher crews to roll with than Rickson and Kron Gracie.
Winner: Nate
Fan art
That’s a mean-looking sketch, but holy hell that gorilla looks mighty dangerous!
Winner: Conor
Shopping trip
Topless flexing on an escalator gets more cred in NorCal than Rodeo Drive boutiques.
Winner : Nate
Winner: Conor
Transport
Two-wheeled triathlon training gets you fit, but McGregor takes an Aventador to the corner store.
Tat’s life
‘The Notorious’ has impressive ink, but making a UFC commentator get a permanent Stockton symbol trumps the lot.
Winner: Nate
Overall Winner: NATE DIAZ
After a couple of good exchanges, Diaz’s permanent impression
on analyst Jon Anik sees him claim victory.
STAR SIGHTING
And the Oscar goes to...
With a front row boasting as many silver-screen smiles as the Academy Awards, who else other than the first-time Oscar winner himself could we pick out at UFC 196? Just a fortnight after receiving his long-overdue acting award, Leonardo DiCaprio was cageside in Las Vegas.
CELEBRITY DOJO
White belt wedding crasher
The first step you take is always the most important one and that means christening your gi and tapping out when you start out in BJJ. That’s exactly what Hollywood actor Vince Vaughn did to earn his white belt from Rener Gracie. Perhaps he was inspired to take up martial arts by Cain Velasquez, who co-stars in his new flick Term Life.
AS SEEN ON SCREEN
Keystone cop
Anthony Starr is no stranger to martial arts, putting his skills to good use as Lucas Hood in Banshee: now into its fourth season on Cinemax. He’s taken down countless Pennsylvania thugs with his striking and jiu-jitsu, including ‘MMA champion’ Damien Sanchez in season one. The show has also featured cameos from real fighters Heath Herring and Todd Duffee.
A-LISTER
Bill Burr
The podcast king riffs on UFC 196
On UFC 196
“What a f**king pay-per-view man. It was unreal. Did anybody else host a UFC fight party? How satisfied did you feel? I had 10 people screaming, ‘Oh my god,’ over and over again twice in one night – flipping the f**k out. More screaming and yelling than I’ve heard in any Super Bowl party in a while.”
On Nate Diaz
“Nate Diaz siting there, his face is all bloody and he says, ‘Alright, I got this. I’ve taken your worst shots, you can’t knock me out. It’s just scar tissue. I’ve bled before.’ He was bleeding so much it looked like both of them were bleeding to death. Once he got up against McGregor it was all over both of them. I was blown away.
“How great was that line? ‘I’m not surprised motherf**kers.’ I don’t know about you, but that’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. To choke out someone as good as McGregor then stand up all bloody and just walk around flexing, not even wiping the blood off, not concerned about how f**ked up your face is. The second I got a little scratch I’d be like, ‘Oh god am I bleeding? Get him off me!’”
On Conor McGregor
“I hate when someone like Conor loses and then everyone’s, ‘Yeah you f**king p**sy,’ on the internet. How do you do something like that knowing you haven’t had a fight since the seventh grade. ‘Oh he talked all that s**t.’ That’s what made it great – selling the fight.”
On Tate vs. Holm
“It was great to see Miesha win, but as a fellow fair-skinned person I felt bad for Holly Holm. The second we start getting beat on out face just gets so red, then our yellow eyebrows stand out. There was a lot of mean s**t said about her and I can relate to it.”
On MMA vs. boxing
“It just makes me so sad about what happened to boxing. If all the piece-of-s**t promoters could just unify and become one piece-of-s**t promotional entity like the UFC... I’m sure they’re f**king with their money, I’m sure there’s a pressure to make them fight, which is why they try and break up monopolies. Having said that, it’s f**king great for the fans.
“The best fight the best and I’ve not had that much excitement since the middleweight division in the early ‘80s when you had Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard all fighting each other.”
RINGCARD GIRL
Britt of alright!
The girl of many talents remains a fan favorite
Cover model, artist, TV presenter, dancer and ‘Ringcard Girl of the Year’ – if there’s anything Brittney Palmer can’t do we’ve not seen it yet. The fan favorite Octagon Girl is one of the most successful and beautiful women to walk the boards, starting her MMA career with WEC before making the switch to the UFC following the merger of the two promotions. She’s also the only woman other than Arianny Celeste to win ‘Ringcard Girl of the Year’ at the Fighters Only World MMA Awards and a proven knockout!
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