10 Things Brock Lesnar Brings to the Table as a TUF Coach

10 Things Brock Lesnar Brings to the Table as a TUF Coach

(Now smile and tell everyone I'm the TUF coach and that it was an easy decision to make.)
By Cage Potato contributor Jason Moles

The second Dana White announced that Brock Lesnar would be taking the reins of one of next season's The Ultimate Fighter teams, it seems that everyone with a keyboard immediately began furiously typing out their manifestos explaining why, in their "professional opinion" the former UFC heavyweight champ will suck as a coach.
Well, not everyone agrees with the popular assertion that the ironically seemingly reluctant UFC star who owned the camera while cashing paychecks from the WWE will sink the TUF ship.
We may not necessarily agree with White's opinion that anyone who thinks it's possible that Brock might not deliver as a coach is basically a stupid f*cking idiot, as he so eloquently inferred MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani was for asking about the plausibility during a press conference last week, but we are part of the minority who think it may not be so bad.
Check out contributor Jason Moles' breakdown of why Brock will do TUF some good after the jump.
1. Wrestling: We all know Brock's bread and butter is his wrestling ability. The former NCAA and UFC Heavyweight champion can teach these young guys more than how to effectively use the takedown to set up your offense. Lesnar's wisdom comes from an impressive 106-5 collegiate record and his multiple titles that speak for themselves. Even just a few weeks can make a huge impact on an already decent fighter.
2. How to cut a solid promo: Sure, Paul Heyman did most of talking back in his WWE days, but you can't spend 4 years in that business and not learn how to hold your own on the mic. Whether he's dissing corporate sponsors or insulting an entire ethnicity with his stereotypical jabs, Lesnar can give a few pointers on how to make a name for yourself and grab headlines.
3. Celeb Coaches: Roy Nelson and Randy Couture: Since the news broke last week that Lesnar and JDS will be the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter season 13, Roy Nelson has been pleading his case to have Brock make him an assistant coach. I guess ole' Big Country really does like to keep his friends close and his enemies closer. Nelson holds a black belt in BJJ from Renzo Gracie and to the amazement of casual fans, has defeated former two-time UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir at Grapplers Quest back in 03. Another possibility is 'The Natural' Randy Couture, who helped Lesnar prepare for his fight against Shane Carwin.
4. Ability to Take a Lickin' and Keep on Tickin': Wrestling fans are smiling now as a hint of nostalgia has overtaken them. Good ol' J.R.'s catchphrases aren't just for the squared circle anymore. Lesnar was on top of the world one day and on his deathbed the next. Ok, so maybe it didn't go down that fast but you know what I meant. The undisputed champion of the UFC's heavyweight division fought for his life after being diagnosed with diverticulitis. It got scary - for him, Dana, and all of us. You can't teach someone how to get better from a debilitating illness, but you can show the ropes on how to comeback from a 10-8 round. In the opening round of his fight with Shane Carwin, Brock took one hell of a beating, smiled, shook it off, and came out fresh in the second round where he finished with a submission victory.
5. His Wife: Sable - What does the 18-34 year old demographic love more than two dudes punching each other in the face? A busty blond straight from the pages of Playboy. Don't start scoffing until you hear me out. I know Brock doesn't want his family in the public light, but would that stop him from allowing Rena from mentioning his new book a few times this season? OK, you're right. Scratch that one.
6. Hammer Fists - As Joe Rogan so eloquently put it, Lesnar has lunchbox size hands. When he takes an opponent to the mat, his trademark move is the hammer fist. This very technique left Frank Mir a bloody mess who looked like barely escaped the Outer Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell. Even if the reality show contestants don't have cinder block sized paws, Brock can still show the proper way to bust someone up from side control.
7. Dedication - This gladiator is so heavily focused on training and becoming the best at his craft that he trains non-stop. Ask those who've seen the UFC Primetime and All-Access shows centered on the Minnesota native, they can attest that what I say is true. Lesnar's training compound is different than most, much the same way that he himself is massive compared to other pro fighters. With enough room to accommodate living arrangements for his training partners, and fly in any specialists he may need, it's estimated that Brock spends six figures to run a proper training camp. This dedication will rub off on each member on Team Death Clutch in the TUF house.
8. How to Grow an Epic Beard - Nothing is more intimidating than looking like a Viking, am I right? Neither the Amish nor the playoff beard can hold a candle to Brock Lesnar's 'Viking Beard'. The thing has more twitter followers than any of the chumps competing for the UFC contract. Yeah, you read that right - @BeardofLesnar has its own friggin Twitter account! How great would it be to see Brock's team all grow epic beards? It'd be like a game of Shirts vs. Skins, but more punching involved.
9. Marty Morgan - The three-time All-American, two-time NCAA finalist and the national champion at 177 pounds is now spending his days as Brock Lesnar's Head Coach. Tito Ortiz brought in Dean Lister, Rashad Evans had Greg Jackson, and GSP brought in that crazy drunken French guy. Do you know what all of those coaches have in common? Them and their teams won The Ultimate Fighter. The company you keep really says a lot about you, and the Death Clutch crew is solid. All JDS has is a bunch of Black House guys who can barely order at Subway. The only way he can get his teachings across to his pupils is if he wears a teleprompter screen around his neck with subtitles. That's the kinda bling that would make Kimbo envious.
10. Drawing Power - No matter how you slice it, you have an opinion about Brock Lesnar. You can't simply just not care one-way or the other. Although trite, it's true that you either love the guy or you absolutely hate him. Wrestling fans think he sold out, MMA purists complain that he got to the top only because of his previous career, and the rest of us just can't get enough of the man with the penis tattoo. With such a polarizing force carrying the thirteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, many are suggesting that ratings could be at an all-time high (even if some are just tuning in waiting for Brock to come apart at the hinges with a camera in his face all the time). Like Mike Straka once told me, it doesn't matter what they say as long as they get the name right - and I'm sure Zuffa won't let us forget.

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com

Big Nog: I always wanted to fight Brock Lesnar

18/01/2011 12:26 Nogueira: “I’ve fought the best, but I have much more to show you” By Glaucia Arakaki
Photo Eduardo Ferreira

Former UFC and Pride heavyweight champion, Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira is focused on the recovery process of his injuries and is already planning a possible return on UFC Rio. On an exclusive interview given to TATAME, the black belt talked about the importance of investing in marketing to make MMA popular, demonstrated a wish of confronting Brock Lesnar, chosen Anderson Silva as the greatest pound by pound of the world, guaranteed that he still has many work ahead of him and talked about other subjects that you can check on the chat here below.

What’s the importance of these marketing actions that you’ve been doing to enlarge MMA’s market?

It’s pretty important, there’re fans and many people who like MMA, it’s a new group of fans, it’s a sport that can be watched by people of all ages: a teenager and a 60 year old guy may be watching MMA nowadays. We have to do these things, the events, creating new MMA products and for this huge group of fans that follow MMA, also for athletes, not only the top athletes, but to all so people like it. If we create a product that the athletes use, that’s enough approval for us. If an athlete that fights in a great event uses your product, a regular person can also use it and it’ll be more than enough.

How are your expectations, with the guys of X-Fight, for the selling of your product here in Rio?

I think that every product that I launched today, if it’s a MMA product, it’ll have great success. If it’s worked the proper way, focused on the top athletes who fight in high level, everybody will see. UFC is greater than ever, this coming of UFC to Brazil will completely change things, than the Olympic Games will come… I think that sports are getting to Rio de Janeiro on a great moment. I believe it’ll become the capital of the sports on the world. We have great location, we’ve got here before UFC’s coming and I think it’ll make a huge propaganda of our product.

For this card that is coming to Rio, is there any special fight you’d like to watch?

I’d like to watch (Junior dos Santos) Cigano with Cain Velasquez. I believe it’s a good thing for UFC Rio if my brother fights Ryan Bader, that guy that beat him, I think it’ll be a great fight for Rogério. I’d like to see BJ Penn fighting in Brazil because he’s coming from Jiu-Jitsu and people follow him. I think that BJ Penn could have a rematch with Frankie Edgar, it’ll also be a good fight.

How are your injuries?

I’m doing my third surgery within a month. There were three injuries that I had: my knee, my right hip and my left hip. I have these injuries for eight year, but about three years ago it started blocking me of training hard. I handled it, but I couldn’t do my last fight and really, if you can’t train 100%, you won’t do a good fight. I did these surgeries on the right time and I’m treating myself with the greatest hip doctor of the world, the guy guarantees I’ll be 100% for the second semester.

So, you want to fight again on the second semester of this year?

I want to fight on the second semester. If I can fight on UFC Rio it’ll be perfect, but if not I’m sure that in September I’ll be prepared to fight.

Would you like to fight Brock Lesnar? How this confrontation would be like?

For sure. Cigano will fight Brock Lesnar now, but he’s a guy I’ve always wanted to confront and it’d be a great fight. I enjoy fighting big guys, I think it forces me to use my speed and my guard... I’ll be better of my injuries, that were disturbing me from doing my guard, and I’ll be 100%. I’ve always been interested on fighting bigger guys.

In your opinion, who’s the best weight by weight of the world currently?

I like Anderson Silva, I believe he’s the most complete one. I like BJ Penn, I think José Aldo is on a great phase too. I think these three are the best currently.

You’ve done almost 40 fights, and was only defeated 6 times… What do you think about your career?

I think I did great fight, I’ve fought the best of my division, I didn’t have an easy opponent. I really am one of the guys who fought great guys, but I have much more to show you, I am not done yet (laughs).

What are your current goals and plans for your career?

My next goal is UFC Rio and to be among the tops of UFC.

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com

MMA Crypt Prediction Contest 27 - UFC Fight for the Troops 2

MMA Crypt Prediction Contest 27 - UFC Fight for the Troops 2

UFC Fight for the Troops 2

Live, January 22nd on Spike TV
From Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas

Main Card:

Lightweight Bout:
Evan Dunham (11-1-0) vs. Melvin Guillard (25-8-2, 1 NC)

Heavyweight Bout:
Matt Mitrione (3-0-0) vs. Tim Hague (12-4-0)

Lightweight Bout:
Cole Miller (17-4-0) vs. Matt Wiman (12-5-0)

Heavyweight Bout:
Pat Barry (5-2-0) vs. Joey Beltran (12-4-0)

Featherweight Bout:
Mark Hominick (19-8-0) vs. George Roop (11-6-1)

Preliminary Card:

Lightweight Bout:
Cody Mckenzie (12-0-0) vs. Yves Edwards (39-16-0)

Welterweight bout:
Mike Guymon (12-4-1) vs. Damarques Johnson (11-8-0)

Featherweight Bout:
Mike Brown (33-5-1) vs. Rani Yahya (15-6-0)

Lightweight bout:
Waylon Lowe (9-3-0) vs. Willamy Freire (17-3-0)

Welterweight Bout:
Amilcar Alves (11-2-0) vs. Charlie Brenneman (12-2-0)

Bantamweight Bout:
Chris Campiaso (10-2-0) vs. Will Campuzano (8-3-0)

This "Fantasy MMA Challenge" contest requires that you pick the winning fighters offered in the events, the method in which they will win and when they will win.

Here is how it works:

4 points to pick the winner.
3 points to pick the style of win : decision, sub or KO
3 points to pick when the fight is over if you get the winner right.

Method:

KO/TKO (votes as KO and TKO count as the same)
Decision (Majority, split and unanimous count as the same)
Submissions (all count as the same)

Most points wins

If there is a tie, the poster with more posts on wins the tie breaker

Prizes:

1st Place: 20,000
2nd Place: 10,000
3rd Place: 5,000

Fight picks must be entered in this thread by January 22nd, 2011 no later than 7:00PM East Coast Time.

ENTER HERE

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com

Brock Lesnar: Why He Will Be the Worst Coach in The Ultimate Fighter History

Brock Lesnar: Why He Will Be the Worst Coach in The Ultimate Fighter History

Since its creation, The Ultimate Fighter series has been an important part of the UFC hype machine—and now it just got much bigger with the announcement that the sport’s biggest draw, Brock Lesnar, would be coaching against Junior Dos Santos in Season 13.
Lesnar has been the UFC’s biggest cash cow since his first fight in The Octagon in February of 2008 at UFC 81. No matter his opponent, the events that Lesnar has headlined have been among the biggest buy-rates the sport of mixed martial arts has ever seen.
So it should come as no surprise that the UFC is now turning to their leading man to help promote the next season of their hit reality television series.
Particularly during down times in during the year, The Ultimate Fighter has historically done a great job of keeping fans interested while the company’s top fighters like Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Anderson Silva, and Brock Lesnar are in training for their next bout.
But is Brock Lesnar in over his head as a coach for the show?
I think so—and here’s why.

Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Perhaps the most glaring potential problem for Brock Lesnar as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter is his lack of experience. Lesnar will begin coaching in Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter after having had just seven professional mixed martial arts fights.
Some would argue that Lesnar’s collegiate wrestling background is being overlooked in this assessment, but it’s not. It’s just that wrestling and mixed martial arts are two completely different sports.
Being an excellent wrestler does not guarantee being an excellent mixed martial artist, nor vice versa. The two sports are their own, unique competitions.
With only seven MMA fights in his career, there is a very real possibility that there will be numerous fighters on the show who actually have more experience than the man who is supposed to be coaching them.
No one would say that Lesnar doesn’t have the pedigree to be among the best pure wrestling coaches in the world, but his lack of mixed martial arts experience is a glaring hole in his ability to be an effective coach in this sport.

A big part of being a coach on The Ultimate Fighter is the fighter selection process. Winning coaches are often the ones who select the best fighters to begin with, even if they don’t necessarily make great decisions or teach much as a coach.
While we don’t know who the fighters will be in this season’s group yet, we do know from the first 12 seasons of the show that the fighters themselves often have varying levels of ability.
As casual fans, the strengths and weaknesses of each fighter aren’t always apparent to us—but they should be apparent to experienced MMA fighters and even more so to trainers.
Piggy-backing on the previous slide, Lesnar’s inexperience in the sport could lead to some bad decisions in the selection process.
We all remember when Quinton “Rampage” Jackson went out of his way to select Kimbo Slice with his first pick in Season 10 of the show. Slice is now out of the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole, while fighters like Brendan Schaub, Matt Mitrione, and eventual winner Roy Nelson are having successful UFC careers. All three of them were selected by Rampage’s opposing coach, Rashad Evans.
Experts often talk of Jackson as being the worst coach in TUF history—until now.

Lesnar’s Assistant Coaches Will Not Be on the Level of Dos Santos’
I mean this as no disrespect for the men and women who train with Brock Lesnar up in Minnesota, but they just aren’t on the level of the ridiculous talent that Junior Dos Santos trains with every day.
Brock Lesnar will likely rely on his current coaches including Head Trainer Marty Morgan, Erik Paulson, and Jiu Jitsu trainer Rodrigo Medeiros.
His opponent, Junior Dos Santos, trains with what may be the best group in the world, the Black House (Casa Preta) fighting team based out of Brazil.
The team includes current champions such as pound-for-pound kings Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, and Ronaldo "Jacaré" Souza. In addition, legendary fighters such as the Nogueira brothers, Lyoto Machida, Paulo Filho, Pedro Rizzo, wrestling expert Mark Muñoz, and countless others help make up this unbelievable team.
No matter which of these impressive fighters Dos Santos chooses to help him coach, rest assured that Lesnar will not have the same caliber of help by his side

He’s Coming off of a Humiliating Loss

There’s a good chance that Brock Lesnar has never been as humiliated in his entire life as he was on October 23rd, 2010, when he was violently pummeled by Cain Velasquez, losing his UFC Heavyweight Championship in the process.
Rumors are that Dana White went many weeks without even talking to Lesnar after the loss, prompting many to believe that Lesnar had lost his focus.
While humiliation is often used as a source of bettering one’s self in the long run, Brock Lesnar is not your average kind of person. Lesnar has been known to be very snappy when things aren’t going his way and that could definitely play a factor in the way he interacts with team as well as his fellow coaches.
It’s odd that the UFC would choose to place Lesnar as a trainer so soon after his embarrassing defeat. We don’t have any idea how he will come back from the loss or if he will still be motivated in the same way as he was when people were calling him the “Baddest Man on the Planet.”

He Doesn’t Like the Camera in His Face

Despite being one of the most intriguing personalities that has ever stepped into The Octagon, it’s no secret that Brock Lesnar does not particularly enjoy being in front of the camera.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t like to show off when he’s in the cage or when he was in the WWE ring. What it really means is that Lesnar likes to keep his personal and professional lives completely separate.
Have you ever noticed that there really aren’t many, if any, photos of Lesnar and his family floating around on the Internet? Lesnar’s wife, former WWE wrestler Rena “Sable” Mero, is obviously not shy toward the camera but two of them are rarely seen together.
Lesnar is just a very private person. He doesn’t live the superstar lifestyle that many other fighters do.
“It’s very basic for me,” Lesnar said in an interview prior to his fight with Cain Valesquez. “When I go home, I don’t buy into any of the B.S.”
While The Ultimate Fighter is just a television show, it’s hard to get more up-close-and-personal than a reality television show where the cameras are in your face from sunrise to sunset.
It will be interesting to see how Lesnar responds.
His Standup Game Needs a Lot of Work

While Brock Lesnar possesses absolutely amazing power, he has not yet knocked out an opponent in a professional fight. As many striking experts would tell you, knockouts aren’t always about pure power—they are often about technique and precision.
Lesnar was absolutely destroyed on his feet against Cain Valesquez in his last fight and was even in trouble early in his previous fight with Shane Carwin. Many fans also forget that Lesnar was rocked for a moment in his second fight with Frank Mir.
There is no denying that Lesnar is an absolute animal in the cage and is capable of ending a fight at any time, but his technique on his feet simply isn’t at the level of being able to teach others.
It sounds crazy, but there is a very real possibility that Lesnar will get shown up by a fighter nearly half his size on his feet at some point during a sparring session on The Ultimate Fighter.
Just imagine a 280 pound Lesnar getting knocked out by one of his 170 pound students.
It’s reality television at its finest.
You Can’t Teach Natural Size and Strength

Perhaps even more than his wrestling experience, Brock Lesnar’s biggest asset may be his natural size and strength. At 6’3” and upwards of 265lbs, Lesnar is the kind of physical freak that looks like a genetics experiment gone horribly wrong—or right, depending on your outlook.
In the heavyweight weight class, Lesnar is allowed to weigh up to 265lbs when he steps on the scale the day before his fights. When he walks into the cage, rumors are that he is often back up to around 280lbs.
Meanwhile, much of Lesnar’s competition at the heavyweight weight class weighs in well below the 265lbs limit. In fact, in Lesnar’s fight at UFC 91, UFC legend Randy Couture weighed in at just 220lbs., giving Lesnar a massive 45lbs. weight advantage.
Not only does Lesnar’s pure weight advantage give him a tremendous leg-up on his competition, but his ability to use that weight advantage in his wrestling is something that he has exploited throughout his mixed martial arts and even his collegiate wrestling career.
Unfortunately for Lesnar, it’s going to be pretty hard to teach that to other fighters—especially when those fighters are going to be competing at the welterweight limit of 170lbs. All of the fighters Lesnar will be training will be within a very close weight limit to one another at fight time and none of them will have anywhere near the strength advantage that he does in his fights.
What works for Lesnar is simply not going to work for fighters who are competing at the same weight as one another.
He Doesn’t Seem to Care About the UFC

It took nearly two months for Brock Lesnar to start talking to Dana White again following his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.
While it is certainly understandable for Lesnar to want to take some time to himself and his family after a grueling training camp that ended in a tough loss, it is still difficult to understand why Lesnar thought it was appropriate to spend so much time without talking to his boss. If nothing else, letting White know that he was going to take some time to re-evaluate his career would have been appropriate.
But at the end of the day, Brock Lesnar only cares about himself. He cares about making money and providing for himself and his family in any way possible.
This was perhaps never more evident than when he was interviewed by Jim Rome last October. When asked about UFC middleweight fighter Chael Sonnen, Lesnar responded in a very odd way.
"Is he a fighter? I don't know who he is," Lesnar said. "I'm serious. Seriously."
This is a guy that is so self-absorbed that not only does he not care about scouting other talent for potential sparring partners or watching for weaknesses in potential future opponents, he apparently doesn’t even pay the slightest bit of attention to the biggest stories currently happening within his own company.
He knows that his UFC contract isn’t going anywhere. He knows that, win or lose, he is still the UFC’s biggest draw. He knows that Dana White really can’t do much about him taking time off to go hunting or just hang out at home.
It’s all part of this apparent desire to be a “celebrity” without having to deal with the media pressures of actually being a celebrity
Is His Head in the Right Place? Does He Want to Go Back to WWE?

Immediately after his loss at UFC 121, Brock Lesnar became entangled in a web of controversy surrounding a now infamous post-fight confrontation with WWE Superstar, “The Undertaker.”
In what initially seemed like a legitimate fight challenge from The Undertaker, real name Mark Calaway, Lesnar seemed to brush off the incident and has still not made a public statement regarding the situation.
When rumors began to surface on the Internet that Brock Lesnar had interest in making at least a short-term return to World Wrestling Entertainment, questions also began to arise about Lesnar’s commitment to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and his contract.
UFC President Dana White has since squashed rumors that Lesnar will be performing at WWE’s biggest annual pay per view event, WrestleMania, stating that Lesnar is under contract with the UFC and will not be allowed to break that contract.
Still, White did mention that he and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon have had a conversation about Lesnar performing at WrestleMania, which practically has to mean that Lesnar has been in conversation with both parties about the possibility as well.
With Lesnar’s mind outside of mixed martial arts, is it really the right time for him to start training other fighters?
The UFC Doesn’t Care Because the Show Will Make Money

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
The bottom line for the UFC is and will continue to be about the same thing—making money.
Brock Lesnar is the biggest draw in mixed martial arts today and putting him on a television show which is essentially a season-long hype for a fight between Dos Santos and him is simply a great business decision.
The UFC can easily build an entire pay per view event around the eventual bout between Lesnar and Dos Santos even though there won’t be a title on the line. Even if there isn’t any legitimate bad blood between the two combatants as there has been in seasons past.
The build will be so easy, in fact, that it’s pretty much a certainty that the fight will bring the UFC some of its biggest pay per view buy numbers of the year no matter what other fights are on the card.
Lesnar is that popular.
With champion Cain Valesquez recovering from injury, Dana White and the UFC somehow need to keep fans’ attention on the heavyweight scene. What better way is there to do that than having the company’s two hottest fighters (aside from Valesquez himself) live in a house and compete with one another every day for an entire season of a television show before they eventually get to touch gloves?
"I'm already prepared mentally—it’s going to be a tough season," Dana White said recently regarding the show. White went on to defend his selection of the former champion as one of the coaches for this season’s show.
“No matter what his record is, what the guy has accomplished in the short amount of time that he’s been in MMA is incredible,” White said. “To say the guy doesn’t have the credentials to coach The Ultimate Fighter is probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.”
Apparently the only credentials needed are the ability to make cash for the company.
Hey, it is what it is, Dana—but at least shoot it to us straight. It’s about making money, and you’re about to make a ton of it.

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com

Is Felice Herrig the next Gina Carano?

Is Felice Herrig the next Gina Carano?

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com

Dave Meltzer: Scott Coker should kick out Josh Barnett of Strikeforce tournament

Dave Meltzer: Scott Coker should kick out Josh Barnett of Strikeforce tournament

Dave Meltzer: Scott Coker should kick out Josh Barnett of Strikeforce tournament

By Zach Arnold | January 13, 2011

There’s a lot of new layers being added to the Josh Barnett situation with Strikeforce. He’s booked in their upcoming Heavyweight tournament on the ‘easier’ side of the bracket and should he perform as expected, he’ll make it to the finals and have a legitimate shot of winning the promotion’s Heavyweight tournament and becoming champion. In other words, he is someone who Scott Coker views as a guy who he can build his company around as the face of the promotion.
During an in-person interview with Eddie Goldman in New York on Monday, Mr. Coker strongly defended Josh Barnett’s tournament participation and said that Strikeforce would handle the drug testing regarding Josh’s fights. Eddie compared the commission-shopping situation with that of one Antonio Margarito.

SCOTT COKER: “Yeah, here’s my position and the company’s position on this and, uh, this is something that we thought long and hard about with Josh and, you know, him going through the California State commission hearings and he’s got unfinished business with them, right? But that’s between Josh and the commission. My job is we are a fight company that just picked up his contract and, uh, we sent him to California to get tested six weeks ago. Tested clean, right? So, he’s tested clean. I feel good about that and he’s been out of the fight business for maybe… 18 months here in (North America).
“So what I’m saying is he’s, how much has this guy already suffered and lost out? He’s lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars because of, you know, situations in his past. So, you know, to me we as a company are going to judge him from what he does for us. Now, in saying that, we’re going to test him before and after every fight and, you know, I believe that he’s already moved on from that part of his past.”
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “Meaning that the commissions or Strikeforce?”
SCOTT COKER: “Strikeforce. So, if Josh tests positive again and then, you know, then there’s going to be an issue, right? But I want to judge him on his future and his present with the company and not so much his past because, you know what? To tell you the truth, like the situation in Vegas, I really don’t even know what happened with that. I mean, you probably know more than me. But, that was when he wasn’t working with Strikeforce, wasn’t fighting for Strikeforce, and I’ve reached out to about six commission states that will allow him to fight in their state pending a clean test and we’re going to move forward. he’s moved forward. I think everybody else should move forward, too, and let the guy make a living.”

After these comments were made, I noted that Josh Barnett’s participation in a second tournament this year was made official. He will be one of eight men involved in the upcoming year-long IGF title tournament in Japan. Also involved in the tournament — Wakakirin. Probability of someone getting hurt while facing that guy in the ring? Decent. IGF tournament dates – 2/5 Fukuoka Int’l Center, 4/28 JCB Hall, 7/10 JCB Hall (Tokyo), and 9/3 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya.

Then came the big news that surprised everyone except me (apparently) — Josh Barnett isn’t going to show up for the final hearing in California regarding his future for getting licensed in the state. Anyone who’s ever listened to interviews he’s done on this site in the past (and they’re still available for download) knows that he has never believed in athletic commissions regulating Mixed Martial Arts. He’s been pretty consistent in his stance on the matter. So, I’m not surprised that he decided to no-show the final hearing because he’s long had a fatalistic view about these kinds of issues. And, as you saw up above with Scott Coker, he has a promoter who is more than happy to promote him in friendly States or countries (ahem, Japan, as I told Josh Gross last week).
All of this leads us to Dave Meltzer’s comments yesterday on the matter. Dave is someone who has known Scott Coker for many years and knows the people at American Kickboxing Academy, the lynch pins for the company’s matchmaking for a long time. So, when Dave unloaded on Barnett and Strikeforce yesterday, we took notice and transcribed what he said.

DAVE MELTZER: “That really, I mean… I don’t know that says about him, but um… I was shocked. I was absolutely shocked because it’s basically throwing in the towel and you’re almost making yourself… I don’t know. I think that it really, you know if there was any doubts or any way for him to clear his name, that ain’t the way to do it.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “No. It is a baffling situation, I won’t lie.”
DAVE MELTZER: “You know the whole thing’s that happened from start-to-finish makes you question everything because it’s like every time, you know it’s been a year-plus, I mean there has been hearing after hearing where something didn’t happen, right, where once he doesn’t show up, you know last time he doesn’t bring his lawyer and now he’s just not going to be there at all when… You know, at this point, if he doesn’t come I think it’s pretty clear they’re not going to give him a license.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “No.”
DAVE MELTZER: “And if California doesn’t give him a license, yeah, sure, you can go commission shop, but that makes Coker and Strikeforce look bad for putting a guy in a tournament that, um, no-showed a hearing, you know, to get reinstated after a steroid test violation and also there’s going to be states like, you know, Nevada and New Jersey, you know powerful states where he’s not going to be able to fight. So, I almost you know, honest to God if he doesn’t go, if I was the promoter, no question, if I was the promoter in this situation, if I’m Coker, I’m telling him, dude, you change your mind and you get to that commission and you ask, I’m sorry I applied late, get me on the docket. Because if you’re not on that docket and they don’t approve you, I got to kick you out of the tournament. You got to. Because you can’t go in there and go, well, you know, what if Josh wins? We can’t have the final in San Jose. We can’t have the finals in Jersey, we can’t have the finals in Vegas.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Not only that, but what if Josh wins? You’ve got to promoter-shop. If he wins, you have to promoter-shop for three different shows and…”
DAVE MELTZER: “I guess you could keep going to Texas, but then it also looks, it looks bad. Don’t get me wrong, boxing did the same thing with (Antonio) Margarito and they did, you know, 1 million plus buys with Margarito and Pacquaio, so it’s not like it’s something that hasn’t been done by boxing and it’s not something unprecedented or anything like that. But, I mean, I think it’s bad for the promotion and I think it’s bad for all concerned and I don’t understand. For himself, I think it looks bad because now it’s going to be, you know, you ran away from a hearing. I mean, it’s one thing, you know, he already has three positives. But running away from the hearing, I mean people are going to go OK, you know what evidence do they have on him? What is he hiding? You know he’s not even going to show up and fight?
“I don’t know, to me, I couldn’t put the guy in the tournament. You know, and he’s not instrumental in the tournament. I mean, if it was Werdum or it was Overeem or Fedor, one of those big three, you know maybe you go and give leeway because they’re so important to the tournament. Barnett is not, you know, yeah, it’s nice and he was a star in PRIDE and some people remember that, but he hasn’t don’t anything of major significance in MMA in years anyway. I mean, he may very well be, you know, he may very well be still a very good fighter, you know, you don’t know until you see him against top competition. I mean, what I’ve seen of him in his recent fights, I can say, you know, he hasn’t looked great or anything like that. The (Gilbert) Yvel fight he fight he dominated but didn’t finish and then the Geronimo dos Santos, that was a guy who was not top caliber by any means, you know he won the fight, but that’s immaterial anyway.
“I mean the thing is… Yeah, I was stunned when that I read. I just that, you know, from that last hearing, you bring your lawyer, you go in there, you act contrite.”

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com

It's Official: Strikeforce is Just Making This Sh*t Up as It Goes

It's Official: Strikeforce is Just Making This Sh*t Up as It Goes

It's Official: Strikeforce is Just Making This Sh*t Up as It Goes

("I'm thinking of a number between 1-20. First person to guess it gets to be Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion. No shit, we'll give you a belt and everything." PicProps: Canvas Chronicle)
So, in a nutshell? Strikeforce held a conference call yesterday where it contradicted many of the things it just told us last week about its proposed heavyweight grand prix tournament. No, the title won’t be on the line. No, the fights (excepting the final) won’t be five rounds. Instead, the winner will become the Strikeforce tournament champion and will get a shot at Alistair Overeem’s belt after the grand prix wraps up … some time in like 2015. Unless Overeem himself wins the tournament. In that case, aside from The Reem having another hunk of gold to add to his collection and Strikeforce having zero title contenders left, we have no idea what happens next. From the sound of it, neither does Strikeforce.
Some other oddities in the tournament “rules” revealed yesterday: In the unlikely event of a draw, the promotion will call upon a fourth judge to break the tie. That’s cool, because draws suck. It’s also shitty, because the “fourth judge” will reportedly be appointed by Strikeforce, not an athletic commission and therefore stands to be even less trustworthy than the blind simpletons who normally score MMA fights. Also, in the very likely event that someone can’t continue in the tournament due to injury (or some other reason) a five-person “tournament committee” comprised of Strikeforce officials will handpick a replacement. If you think this concept is obviously rife with major conflicts of interests, well, you’re right. Don’t worry though, it will all sound very official. Kind of like in the ’80s when “Jack Tunney” used to be the “president” of the WWF.
Anyway, after the jump, some meditations on how all the things we told you in the above two paragraphs could potentially make this tournament go all fubar. We have questions, people. Tons of questions.
From the start, it never really made any sense to have the Strikeforce heavyweight championship on the line in each round of this tourney, but taking the belt out of the equation while leaving the champion in makes even less sense. Essentially the company is allowing its already absentee champ to put the title on ice for yet another year. It’s also hard to see how creating an additional, totally separate tournament belt will help matters. Like we said at the top, the tournament champion will assumedly get a future shot at the regular champion … unless the tournament champion and the regular champion are the same guy. That’s confusing, we know, but actually possibly less confusing then the alternative …
The alternative is this: Let’s say for the sake of argument that a scenario unfolds where Overeem loses to Fabricio Werdum, who in turn loses to Fedor, who then loses to Josh Barnett in the final. Then what? Do you give a title shot to the guy who beat the guy who beat the guy who beat the champ? What happens to the guy who beat the champ in the first place? Does he get a title shot too, maybe after? And if so, what’s the point of this tournament thing again?
Additionally, what if one of Strikeforce’s undesirable alternate fighters wins this thing? What if Chad Griggs gets boosted into the tournament final because Fedor busts his hand in the semis? If Griggs wins the tournament by beating Gian Villante and Werdum, does he get a shot at Overeem? Or in that case do we just sweep it under the rug and pretend like this whole “tournament champion” thing never happened? We’re guessing the latter.
Clearly though, the whole business about a “tournament committee” is Strikeforce’s safety valve in all this. If the grand prix starts heading south, if things aren’t going according to plan – if they’re “going Griggs,” you might say -- the “tournament committee” can always step in and reshuffle the deck. Fedor and Overeem both lose in the first round? No problem. The “tournament committee” can just stick them back in there. Heck, maybe even in the finals, if that’s what it takes.
Do you think Strikeforce is above that? We don't. Not after yesterday’s call, when Scott Coker made it clear that he’s just going to shrug his shoulders and say stuff like “well, that’s how they do it in Japan” every time he has to scramble the rules of his heavyweight GP. He’s right though, this is how they do it in Japan. In Japan, it’s a total clusterfuck and they do whatever it takes to engineer the outcome they desire.
Another thing about that conference call? The Pride comparisons continued to flow like wine. And you know what? Maybe that is appropriate here. Gotta say, a struggling MMA organization comparing itself to Pride is kind of like a struggling singer/songwriter comparing himself to Kurt Cobain. It’s cool for a while … until you get to the part at the end.

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via email from MMACrypt.com