Issue 057

December 2009

Things we hear, things we see, things we know.

GSP: 'I’ve never dieted'    

Welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, known for having a body that men admire and women desire, claims he has never dieted and regularly eats fast food such as McDonald’s. “When I go there, I (get) three or four cheeseburgers, French fries to replace Poutine [a French-Canadian dish of beef gravy over fries and cheese], chicken nuggets and a Coca Cola,” he said. He claims he is on a new nutritional regime designed to help him build muscle ahead of his return to the Octagon in early 2010.  

Boards don’t hit back 

Bruce Lee may not have advocated hitting defenseless pieces of wood as part of a modern training regime, but it hasn’t stopped Lyoto Machida from becoming a world champion. The karate black belt punches his makiwara (a block of wood designed to toughen the knuckles) up to 500 times a day in order to perfect his technique.  

Belfort takes up karate

Brazilian karate dojos must be benefitting from Machida’s rise to the top. Even old hands such as Vitor Belfort are getting in on the action, with the fast-handed striker earning his blue belt in the art under Vinício Antony. “Unlike the status he has in MMA, he’s just a beginner here,” said Antony. “He learns very easily, develops what he learns very fast and has had a lot of fights, which will make his path to black belt shorter.”  

Executives are people too  

WEC boss Reed Harris sent a message on Twitter to his followers, showing amazement at what he described as “HD Net fight boss Mark Cuban running into the stands to assist one of his female ushers at UFC”. Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks (who call the American Airlines Center home) surprised Harris so much he says he has “new respect for the man”. If this is to be a new trend, we’re hoping that Richard Branson serves us our drinks the next time we fly Virgin!  


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