American R & B singer Kenneth Brian ‘Babyface’ Edmonds was recently promoted to the rank of purple belt under instructor Steven Williams out of the head BJJ school located in central Indianapolis. Edmonds, famous for hit singles such as ‘Everytime I Close My Eyes’ and ‘When Can I See You’ has been avidly participating in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes since early 2003.
Musician Cordazar Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg was recently featured on ESPN radio. Amongst the topics bought up by the host, the UFC and the sport of MMA was on top of the list. When asked what he feels about MMA as a sport, Snoop Dogg responded:
“I’m a big fan of ultimate fighting, in fact I’m looking to get into it. Don’t get it twisted or nothing I’m still in the music industry but I would probably do that for maybe one or two fights. ” revealed the rap star
Snoop Dogg then went onto explain his current extensive training regime in preparation for a potential Mixed Martial Arts bout
“Usually I just light up a bag of weed and hit the weights”
The rap star made it clear that this was not a publicity stunt but rather something he has taken very seriously and wishes to excel at
“I’m not going in there to get smacked around, If someone gets all up in my grill you can bet I’ll drop it like its hot”
With UFC color commentator Joe Rogan unable to fulfil his commentary duties at UFC 105 due to his commitment to his comedy tour, UFC management have identified ‘The Axe Murderer’ Wanderlei Silva as a suitable replacement. Silva coming off a loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 99 declared that he intends to take some time off competing and for the time being turn his attention towards commentating alongside Mike Goldberg.
With a career spanning over a decade whilst amassing a 32-10 record, Wanderlei’s deep insight of the fight game will make him a valuable voice in the booth. Although many speculated over Wanderlei’s reasoning for going under the knife – Wanderlei confirmed it was not completely for performance sake “You know I get this surgery so I don’t get cut easy, but also because I need to look good if I will be on T.V” said the Brazilian.
As he gets ready to go head to head with the UFC the self pro-claimed ‘PPV’ king Floyd Mayweather unloaded a barrage of insults regarding MMA and some of it’s fighters at a press conference in LA earlier this week.
When asked about his thoughts on going head to head with UFC 103, Mayweather commented on one of the fighters who will be featured in the main-event, Rich Franklin:
“Who’s Rich Franklin? There’s 8 year old kids just starting out in my gym who punch better than that guy I’ve seen that guy try to punch and felt sorry for him, embarrassed for him – I think Roger [Mayweather] still has some spaces left in the beginners class, might want to get the basics down before he goes head to head with me. I mean come on, until he generates a revenue of 2.5 million he don’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Floyd Mayweather let alone be trying to compete with me. What you’re getting here is two of the best pound for pound fighters in the world going at it to determine who is number one, what they got there is two journeymen, bar room fighters who can’t tell a fish hook from a check hook.
A reporter then asked Mayweather how he felt about the co-main event fighter Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovc’s striking compares in contrast to a professional boxer;
I think he forgot he has a right hand, give him a pair of 12 ounce gloves and Vlad Klitchko would tear up that ass in seconds. Look, I just watched an ex-UFC heavyweight champ, some overweight unathletic chump get one punched by an over the hill broken boxer, Mercer. Don’t get me wrong, I love Big Ray but his best days are behind him and he one punched an ex-champ, what more do I need to say? Just imagine what happens if a heavyweight contender lays hands on a MMA fighter. We both know wthat the aftermath will look like.”
Mayweather made it clear thatthis will not be the first time he has gone head to head with the UFC and came out on top, also claiming that the sport of MMA is nothing more than a passing fad;
“Look, I already went head on with the UFC in my fight against[Ricky] Hatton, we all know how that turned out and the same is gonna happen again on September 19th. I’m gonna give the people at home something to talk about the next day; everyone is going to be talking about the Floyd Mayweather fight that was on last night. Ain’t gonna be no one talking about those two guys who rolled around on the floor for 3 rounds. That’s why I was and still am the PPV king….The main difference between Boxing and MMA is the fact that boxing is a real sport and requires skill to reach the top. When you watch boxing you know you ain’t [going to] see some WWE clown walk in and take the belt after a couple fights. It ai’nt happening. That’s because it takes years to perfect and master the sweet science, MMA is nothing more than a sideshow act that probably won’t even be around in 10 years time. Boxing ain’t going anywhere, write that down. If so many people want to watch those guys fight then why isn’t Dana White paying them like it?”
Former long time Welterweight champion and future hall of fame inductee Matt Hughes (43 - 7) gave his thoughts regarding Anderson Silva’s devastating first round KO over Forrest Griffin at UFC 101: ‘Declaration’ “It was a brilliant performance put on by Anderson that was tainted by unnecessary showboating, I thought that was unsportsmanlike like – we don’t tolerate that sort of stuff at my gym. Forrest didn’t help his cause trying to stand with someone who we all knew coming into the fight was the more technical striker of the two. I think what it really comes down to in my opinion was bad coaching, with a better gameplan I believe Forrest would have made that fight a lot more competitive and done a lot better that he did. Not once did Griffin look to initiate the clinch or try for a takedown”
Hughes then went onto address questions on a potential showdown between himself and Anderson at middleweight “I’ll fight whoever the UFC put in front of me. I can make 185 no problem but of course I would need to add some muscle just to close the gap in the weight difference, but as far as me fighting Anderson – I’m in the sport for the challenges and I think beating Anderson Silva would be a great accomplishment, so yeah I would like that fight. I’ve actually wanted to fight him for years ever since he beat Rich [Franklin] and at this point a rematch with Georges seems unlikely so I’m all for a fight with Anderson. “
Former undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins was one of the many boxing stars who recently attended a press conference in LA. Amongst the topics bought up the sports of Mixed Martial Arts was on the list. Hopkins made it clear that he does not consider MMA a sport or a legitimate threat to boxing “I said it before, boxing is an art and a skill that takes years to master what they got there is a sport created for bar room brawlers, who go in there and take swings at each other until someone falls down – that’s what you see on the street that’s not a sport. They not on our level as far as skill goes. That’s why we the ones always doing the big PPV numbers, put me in that [MMA] cage and watch how their PPV numbers triple”
When asked about his future in boxing and his possible opponents Bernard stated he would be interested in a fight with British super middleweight champion Carl Froch. “I’m not 100% sure about who’s next in line but I’m looking for either [Carl] Froch or [Tomasz] Adamek.”
Former UFC champion Josh Barnett was sidelined in his scheduled bout against the widely regarded number one heavyweight in the world Fedor Emelianenko when he failed to pass his pre-fight drug test carried out by the CSAC, subsequently causing the Affliction Trilogy card to be cancelled.
Barnett himself however denied any wrong doing, “I’m getting punished for something I didn’t do, I know I didn’t take a banned substance, they can say whatever they want but sooner or later the truth will come out” said Barnett. Many spectators of the sport blamed Barnett for the collapse of Affliction but Barnett is adamant that he has nothing to apologize for “apologize for what?” asked Barnett “that’s what a guilty person would do, if anyone is to blame it’s the commission”
With Josh Barnett (24 – 5 – 0) sidelined in his scheduled bout against Fedor Emelianenko due to failing a pre-fight drug test carried out by the NSAC -Affliction is actively searching for a suitable replacement in time for the Affliction Trilogy card set to take place on August 1st. . Amongst the rumoured names supposedly in talks with Affliction – it is likely Vitor Belfort will be moving up to face Fedor, however UFC veteran Ken Shamrock voiced his interest in stepping in for Barnett despite such short notice;
“If they give me a call I would be willing to step in. I’m ready man, just give me the signal, 10 days is more than enough”
“Not only would it give me an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong, I think it would be great fight for the fans as well. I know this is a fight they’ve been wanting to see for a long time all he [Tom Atencio] has to do is give me a call”
Former UFC champion Frank Shamrock is being denied a place in the UFC Hall of Fame despite of past accomplishments in the organisation and carrying the struggling organisation during what is referred to as the dark ages. This all stems from a personal feud between Shamrock and the president of the UFC Dana White who took over the organisation back in 2001 when Zuffa bought the company.
Undoubtedly This affects the legitimacy of the Hall of Fame, Shamrock being backed by a legion of fans created a petition protesting that this stance is unacceptable claiming fighters like Frank Shamrock should be honoured for their contribution towards the sport. Although Shamrock himself wasn’t too bothered about the situation;
“I think its great that people are supporting me but truth be told I don’t care if I’m inducted or not. I know what I have accomplished in the sport and so do all of the fans.”
“That’s what Dana’s like, he’s like a kid who takes his ball home when things don’t go his way. He [Dana] gets a lot of credit for building up the sport but all he did really was just water it down from being a legit sport”
Sources close to Xtreme Couture who wish to remain anonymous indicate that Mark Coleman has sustained an ankle injury during wrestling practice. Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman is scheduled to face off against TUF finalist Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 but there are growing concerns within his camp whether Coleman will be able to make weight with the injury and how much of an impact it will have on his performance on Saturday night. However when Coleman himself was asked about the injury he denied it and claimed it was nothing more than a minor injury.
