Issue 123
December 2014
3 Rounds of action
RORY MACDONALD TO GET 170LB TITLE SHOT AS ST PIERRE EYES RETURN
UFC president Dana White recently confirmed 18-2 Rory MacDonald is the next in line to fight for the UFC welterweight title. The 25-year-old will face whoever holds the belt after champion Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler fight in December.
The opportunity was confirmed for the Canadian prodigy only days after Firas Zahabi, head coach to MacDonald and former 170lb king Georges St Pierre, said he believes St Pierre will return to mixed martial arts after relinquishing his belt and putting his career on hold a year ago.
Zahabi told podcast The MMA Hour: “I think Georges cannot separate himself from MMA, from martial arts. I don’t think he could. I think it’s carved out a part of his psyche, I think he’s done it since he was so young, I think it’s who he is.”
FO SCORE: Eagle-eyed MMA fans may have noticed St Pierre’s hiatus from competition overlapped the period when MacDonald worked toward number-one contendership.
It appeared GSP’s announcement of his quasi-retirement after his November 2013 fight with Hendricks was planned. It also happened to take place on the same night Rory unexpectedly lost top-contender status to Robbie Lawler. Don’t be surprised if ‘Rush’ returns at middleweight should ‘Ares’ win the 170lb title.
UFC HALL OF FAMER ROYCE GRACIE BECOMES AMBASSADOR FOR RIVAL BELLATOR
UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie has become a promotional brand ambassador for the organization’s primary competitor, Bellator MMA.
The retired 47-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt, who worked closely with the UFC when it re-entered the Brazilian live event market in 2011, said in a press release he hoped to “further the growth of mixed marital arts as a sport worldwide” through the partnership.
FO SCORE: Gracie is likely to be used to boost the legitimacy of the Bellator brand in his home country of Brazil and places such as Abu Dhabi, where jiu-jitsu is popular. The surprising acquisition for Bellator also comes after new CEO Scott Coker managed to acquire the services of UFC company man Stephan Bonnar.
WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING TO START PAY PER VIEWS AND SHARE REVENUE WITH FIGHTERS
Las Vegas promotion World Series of Fighting (WSOF) will begin airing pay-per-view events in the US in the second half of 2015 and share the money made with the fighters on the card.
Currently, no other mixed martial arts promotions directly share the profits from pay-per-view shows with all competitors involved, but WSOF says it will distribute half of the net revenue among athletes featured on the telecasts.
FO SCORE: A move that will be welcomed by many, it comes at a time where organizations, particularly the UFC, are coming under fire for not paying fighters enough. Doubtless the UFC will be watching closely.
ON THE RADAR
Three red-hot prospects worth keeping an eye on...
Victor Henry, 8-1
With UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett as a mentor and the backing of Erik Paulson’s CSW fight camp, Victor Henry isn’t your average bantamweight. With those kinds of contacts and knowledge at his disposal, don’t be surprised if he winds up in the UFC soon. The Mexican-American’s hyper-aggressive ground game is responsible for half of his wins and his capture of the Super Fight League USA 135lb belt in October. His TKO of Japanese veteran Hideo Tokoro in July proved he’s ready for greater challenges.
Chris Barnett, 11-1
Cartwheeling, victory-dancing Chris Barnett hasn’t done anything special yet, but between toughness, natural charisma and remarkable agility for a guy who cuts to heavyweight, ‘Huggy Bear’ may soon. Fighting for over five years, the five-foot-nine 28-year-old most notably TKO’d road warrior Travis Wiuff in Japan in the second round in August (although he was handled on the ground through the first). His only loss was by majority decision to former Bellator regular Eric Prindle, while he KO’d former M-1 champ Kenny Garner back in the day and in 2011 got the judges’ nod over Walt Harris, who recently got re-signed by the UFC.
Shamil Zavurov, 24-3-1
Strong and relentless with a good top game, Shamil Zavurov doesn’t wow with flash or speed, he simply gets the job done. Despite his experience, he’s flat-footed in the stand-up and struggles to cut angles, but he has enough tools to win fights in the clinch or on the floor should foes try to exploit his stalking striking. The UFC isn’t short of hard-headed Dagestani prospects, but with a 10-year career and 14 finishes under Zavurov’s belt, one more wouldn’t hurt, would it?
QUOTES
“It’s an easy job if you’re a centerfold or a supermodel. It takes a little more confidence when you’re a six.”
Chael Sonnen’s stinging, on-air critique of a ring girl working the Battlegrounds MMA pay-per-view he commentated on
“25% chance (Belfort) shows up on fight night. If he makes it, that means he hasn’t been using because he’ll get tested, and he’ll get murdered. If he doesn’t make it, it’s because he realized that he has no chance without his
magic juice.”
UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy doesn’t have any sympathy for Vitor Belfort not being able to use testosterone replacement therapy anymore
“Flashbangs, break and rake, snipers on my neighbor’s roof, spotters on my fence, terrorizing the nice old lady across the street. Shame.”
Move along, nothing to see, just MMA veteran ‘Mayhem’ Miller live tweeting a SWAT team’s attempts to arrest him at his house
“He’s just scary looking. He’s more scary looking than he was before he left.”
We’re not sure whether former WWE commentator Jim Ross’ appraisal of ex UFC champ Brock Lesnar between his two pro wrestling stints refers to his face or his physique. Maybe both?
“Every time I fought I climbed into this ring accepting in my heart that I was going to die here. I didn’t die but instead I was reborn as a real man.”
An excerpt from the retirement speech of Japanese heavyweight hero Enson Inoue
INSTAGRA MMA
REALOC_UFC (SEAN O’CONNELL)
“This is the setting . Gotta make that movie.”
JOEROGANEXPERIENCE
“Another werewolf drawing from my high school days.”
one_punch (BRAD PICKETT)
“I think I found your pot of gold Connor think @danawhite has been treating you well lol.”
REWIND / FAST FORWARD
Opponents equally deadly with their striking and in-ring trash talking
ANDERSON SILVA
(T)KOs via strikes: 17
Hurled insults at: Chris Weidman, Demian Maia
NICK DIAZ
Hurled insults at: Carlos Condit,
Paul Daley
(T)KOs via strikes: 11
JOEL KINNAMAN - STAR SIGHTING
Who? Actor
Where? UFC Fight Night 53, Stockholm, Sweden
So, ‘star’ might be a bit of a stretch for actor Joel Kinnaman, but he was RoboCop in the franchise’s 2014 reboot and had a role in the US version of the popular detective TV series The Killing. The Swede sat ringside at UFC Fight Night 53 in Stockholm, Sweden, as he did for UFC on Fox 4 in 2012, among other cards over the past few years.
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