Alistair Overeem: Junior dos Santos is afraid to fight me

This past weekend at a press conference following UFC on Fox 4, UFC President Dana White broke the news that Heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has requested to fight Alistair Overeem instead of Cain Velasquez.On this week’s UFC Tonight, guest host Karen Bryant conducted an exclusive interview with Overeem, where he confided that dos Santos really does not want the fight to happen at all. He accussed dos Santos of being all talk: “First he wants to fight Cain (Velasquez), now he wants to fight

Junior dos Santos: Overeem is a punk and I want to knock him out now

Junior dos Santos is the UFC Heavyweight Champion. It has been presumed that dos Santos would face Cain Velasquez in a title defense, but the champ has another fighter in his sights. Allistair Overeem was originally scheduled to fight the champion as the headline fight for UFC 146 before Overeem tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone that led to his eventual removal from the card, and a suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Overeem is out until December 27, 2012 and dos Santos is

Sonnen: It is real easy to win, but you gotta know how to lose

On last night’s UFC on FuelTV: Munoz vs. Weidman weigh-in show, Chael Sonnen assisted Jay Glazer and Stephan Bonnar and addressed some of the issues that resulted from his recent loss to Anderson “Spider” Silva at UFC 148.
The main topic was the knee to the chest that he took from Spider, many fans watching live mistook it for a knee to the head and hence, an illegal strike: “The knee really hurt. All those shots hurt. But here’s the reality, we don’t do instant replay in this sport, and

Tito Ortiz: Forrest Griffin fought pitter patter, I was trying to kill him

Tito Ortiz voiced his opinions post-fight at UFC 148 in what would be his final fight pres conference. He had several good quotes concerning his career ending bout with Forrest Griffin, a fight that he lost by unanimous decision. Ortiz was not surprisingly upset with the outcome, thinking that he did more damage and was looking to finish the fight, but still gave respect to Griffin. Ortiz has always been an outspoken member of the MMA community, and went out fighting hard with his head held high. About his

Sonnen: I am the most dominant fighter in the history of this sport

MMA H.E.A.T.’s Karyn Bryant interviewed an unusually reserved Chael Sonnen at the UFC 148 open workouts in Las Vegas. In what has been billed as the fight (or at least the rematch) of the year against Anderson Silva, Sonnen, surprisingly claims that he still has to lose 20 pounds before tomorrow’s weigh-ins: “I am 20lbs over and have 24 hours to go, I’m going to go through a lot of discomfort, but I’ll make the weight.”
When asked about Anderson Silva’s comments about Sonnen recently, in response

Chad Mendes: A second fight against Jose Aldo would be completely different

UFC Featherweight Chad Mendes was the last man to face class champion Jose Aldo, and while that fight did not go exactly how Mendes had planned, it has given a wealth of valuable MMA title fight experience. The KO loss to Aldo remains the only blemish on Mendes’ 11-1 record, and he seeks to rebound strongly at this Saturday’s UFC 148 in Las Vegas. Facing Cody Mackenzie in preliminary card action, many believe Mendes will find himself in another Featherweight title fight one day. Speaking to Fightline.com,

Gray Maynard: I’m back and shooting for the belt

Gray Maynard will return to the Octagon against Clay Guida this weekend, ending a layoff that stretched back to UFC 136 last October. In a video from FuelTV.com, UFC Lightweight contender Gray Maynard details the laborious process he underwent to make changes to his training camp and overall fight game. He went to Brazil and assisted UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo with his wrestling. It was there he found hungry, young fighters that reinvigorated him. Maynard then made the move from Las Vegas to

Thumbs Down: 5 fights that didn’t happen in 2012

It is midway through 2012, and it seems to be a bad year for injuries in the UFC. Five important fights have been cancelled or postponed this year due to injury, surgery, illness or suspension. These things are all part of the fight game and have been since day one. The nature of the sport is brutal, but injuries are not isolated to fights. Most fighters suffer their injuries in training.  As well-rounded as a UFC fighter is expected to be, it is quite easy to “overtrain”, that is, put the body

The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale: Bonuses and Attendance

The attendance, gate, and post-fight bonuses have been announced for tonight’s The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale from The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event produced an exciting night of fights, and drew a reported attendance figure of 1,628 and a live gate of $195,250. Bonuses were awarded for Submission of the Night, Fight of the Night and 2 Knockouts of the Night. The $40,000 bonuses were issued as following:Submission of the Night:Mike Chiesa picked up the “Submission of