Cagewriter - UFC

  • Now that Matt Serra is back on the winning track, he's ready to take some time off. When asked about who and when he wanted to fight next, Serra was non-committal on the topic saying whenever Joe Silva calls. If it fits in his schedule, he'll be ready to go.

    His first order of business is to take in the Matt Hughes-Renzo Gracie at UFC 112 in early April. Serra said he'd love for the UFC to bring him over to Abu Dhabi in a promotional role so he could see the fight in person. Hughes has a rivalry with Serra from their appearances on Season 4 and 6 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Along with MMA trainer Marc Laimon, Hughes poked fun at Gracie jiu-jitsu. Hughes beat Royce at UFC 63 and Serra at UFC 98. Serra is a Gracie disciple.

    Cagewriter asked Hughes at Strikeforce: Miami about why he took the Gracie fight. He joked " 'cause he's older than I am to be honest."

    Serra was surprised by that answer.

    "Maybe he's joking around that guy. He's doing that thinking Renzo's an easy fight. He's in for a rude awakening."

    When asked about a rematch down the road, Serra said he doubts it'll happen and that Hughes wouldn't want it. If Hughes gets by the 42-year-old Gracie, let's hope there's a push for Hughes-Serra II. 

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  • Chael Sonnen has been on fire the last week. First with his dominant win over top five middleweight Nate Marquardt. He also sizzled in front of microphones and cameras. As if the bevy of fighters he tore apart wasn't enough he even shredded Showtime on Saturday night.

    "At the end of the day, if you want to get to the top of the card in the UFC, you gotta fight tough guys," Sonnen said during the UFC 109 postfight press conference (2:01 mark). "If you want to be a fighter and get in the cage and be a big deal at your local strip club, go to Showtime. If you want to fight real guys this is the place to be."

    Sonnen was referencing Strikeforce, where its top middleweights include Dan Henderson, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler, Nick Diaz, Tim Kennedy, Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith, "Jacare" Souza and his own teammate Matt Lindland.  

    Sonnen is now in line for a shot at the UFC middleweight title. Anderson Silva defends his belt on April 10 against Vitor Belfort. Sonnen said he hopes Silva wins so he avoids the tougher fighter.   

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  • Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:30 am EST

    Couture may be on the shelf for a while

    Randy Couture is now 2-0 in his latest return to the light heavyweight division. After wins over Brandon Vera at UFC 105 and Mark Coleman at UFC 109, he appears to be in line for a potential title shot. The 46-year-old Couture just finished his third fight in less than five and half months. He may want a break but he joked that if UFC president Dana White called him to fight next week he may take it.

    "The training camps have been good. We shortened the camps because of the quicker turnarounds," Couture said during the UFC 109 postfight press conference. "Which I now see as a real positive. I like the shorter camps."

    Couture said he likes being so active. This is the first time he's fought this often since 2003. He's also been wise with his conditioning between fights hovering around 217 pounds. But after staying so busy recently, Couture may be in store for a long break. He's stuck in 205-pound limbo while the other top fighters return from injury and making movies.

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  • Mark Coleman was trying to remake his career with a win over Randy Couture. The 45-year-old Coleman just didn't have enough to knock off his fellow legend losing via rear-naked choke. As main events go, it wasn't the worst show at UFC 109. Coleman, who was defended vehemently by UFC president Dana White before the event, probably did enough to earn another fight, right? Wrong. White told the media at the UFC 109 postfight presser that it was the end of the road for Coleman.

    "I think tonight was probably Coleman's last fight in the UFC," said White. "I just think he'll have a hard time competing with the guys at the top of the level. Age is a factor with him."

    White said even a heated promotion involving Coleman and Tito Ortiz didn't interest him.

    "Tito's a lot younger than him."

    Ortiz set off Coleman during his postfight speech in the cage with Joe Rogan. Ortiz cursed out Coleman while walking by the Octagon and his girlfriend Jenna Jameson flipped him off.

    White didn't even understand what was going on.

    "Tito's talking [expletive] to Coleman after Coleman just lost this fight that he's wanted his whole life? Tito's fighting Chuck [Liddell]. I'm not even thinking Tito-Coleman." 

    The decision to cut Coleman seems a bit odd considering it was just two days ago White was chastising fans/media for saying Coleman was too old to be in the main event of a UFC card. Two days later White's saying age is a factor. Huh?  

    The last UFC main event fight who wasn't brought back for another fight was Tim Sylvia, who chose to sign a big deal with Affliction and fight Fedor Emelianenko. Who was the last UFC main eventer immediately cut because the promotion didn't think he could fight anymore? 

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  • Victory in hand at UFC 109, Chael Sonnen wasn't about to miss an opportunity to fan the early flames before his UFC middleweight title shot. Dana White was asked if Sonnen would indeed be getting a fight against Anderson Silva before the moved out of the division to 205 pounds. White said that would happen and Sonnen, a good wrestler and takedown specialist, would be an interesting matchup for Silva. Sonnen was stoked.

    "I hope Anderson wins because I think Vitor [Belfort] is a lot tougher fighter. If I had to choose the low road and take the easier opponent in getting to the championship."

    Sonnen said he thinks Belfort is the better fighter stating that he's never really lost a fight on the feet. This was a continuation of what Sonnen said during the prefight about Silva and his No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking by many.

    "That guy’s no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods," Sonnen told MMAWeekly Radio. "That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there’s a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon…If Anderson ever signed to fight me, which is highly unlikely, he’ll be getting a verbal beating like you’ve never seen."

    Sonnen beat Nate Marquardt to steal away a title shot that was guaranteed by White during Thursday's UFC 109 press conference. Silva and Belfort meet in early April at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. 

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  • If you didn't like the technical nuances of the Randy Couture-Mark Coleman fight, maybe the verbal sparring between Coleman and Tito Ortiz is more your cup of tea.

    Coleman lost via choke in the second round of his main-event fight at UFC 109. As Coleman was speaking to UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, Tito Ortiz walked by outside the cage.

    Ortiz yelled at Coleman.

    "Payback's a bitch mother[expletive]."

    At the same time, his girlfriend and former porn queen, Jenna Jameson, gave Coleman the middle finger. Coleman motioned like he was going to exit the Octagon to chase down Ortiz. That's when Rogan stepped in and said not to bother. Coleman grabbed the microphone.

    "[Expletive] you, Tito. Any [expletive] time Tito. Anytime douchebag."

    The crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center seemed to side with Coleman in the tiff, launching into a "[expletive] you, Tito" chant. The Coleman-Ortiz squabble started before UFC 106.

    Their scheduled fight in November went by the wayside when Coleman got injured. Ortiz then called him a "sissy" via Twitter. Coleman's buddy and business partner, Michael DiSabato, responded by trashing Jameson.

    "The only thing Coleman is afraid of when it comes to Tito is contracting swine flu from that dirty ass d-bag. We all know where he lays his head down at night. Tito wants to get personal with a legend? OK, let's get personal - we can all go to our porn collections and watch what Tito sleeps with night after night."

    A Coleman-Ortiz fight couldn't happen until the end of 2010. Ortiz is locked into fighting Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 in June. Liddell ripped Ortiz via Twitter for his attack on Coleman.

    Ortiz and Liddell, the coaches on the "The Ultimate Fighter," are currently taping Season 11. 

    Tip on Ortiz quote via Ariel Helwani, AOL FanHouse

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  • In the battle of the old guys -- Randy Couture and Mark Coleman -- the older dude was better. Couture looked faster, more crisp and full of more energy as the 46-year-old set the tone early, bouncing jabs off of the 45-year-old's face.

    Then Couture employed his bread and butter, using the clinch against the cage and dirty boxing. Coleman looked beat at the end of the first round. He fell victim to an easy takedown in the second round as Couture almost immediately scored the mount. Couture rained down punches and Coleman gave up his back. It was just a matter of time before Couture locked on a rear-naked choke to finish it at 1:09 of the second round.  

    Couture is old in number but looks like he's adding new elements to his game each time out.

    "It seems to be par for the course," joked Couture about being called old. "I'm having a blast. I feel like I'm improving every time out. [I'm] 46 years young!"

    Couture said he'd been working on chokes before the fight. 

    "I've been working on it, the chokes, rear naked choke and side choke," Couture told Joe Rogan. "I felt if I got him on the ground, I wanted to headhunt. I got him on the ground and sometimes it works out."

    Coleman seemed shellshocked by Couture. 

    "Wow. The guy's tough. He's really tough. He's a great fighter. He beat me to the punch. I was a little slow tonight."

    This fight was 12 years in the making. The fighters were supposed to meet back at UFC 17 but it never materialized.

    Coleman looked dejected but wants to keep fighting. 

    "I don't know what the hell happened. Disappointed. Think that I can do better. I won't quit. I'll be back."

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  • Chael Sonnen is in the top five in MMA. That's just with his ability to trash talk. Now he's backing it up with his fighting.

    Sonnen, one of the best wrestling fighters in MMA, physically mauled the very powerful Nate Marquardt on his way to a huge upset in the co-main event at UFC 109. Sonnen ate some big shots to score takedown after takedown and then brutalized Marquardt on the ground with elbows and punches to take a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all cards.

    A humble Sonnen said he was hurt early and he was in survival mode for much of the fight. 

    "It was horrible. He hurt me very early. I was hurt from the first round. I just had to hang in there."

    It didn't appear Sonnen was the one in trouble. Marquardt took roughly 12 minutes of abuse on his back. Sonnen's gas tank was excellent. He only ran into real trouble in the final two minutes of the fight, when Marquardt caught his head and slapped on a tight guillotine choke at the 1:55 mark. Sonnen has fallen victim to some bad submission losses in the past, but he wasn't about blow this one.

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  • Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:35 pm EST

    AKA spoiler Thiago shocks Swick

    Paulo Thiago keeps dogging American Kickboxing Academy fighters. He screwed up Josh Koscheck's 2009 welterweight title hopes with an upset at UFC 95, and now he's done it to Koscheck's AKA teammate Mike Swick.

    Thiago's standing defense looked terrible in his UFC debut against Koscheck, but he still knocked him out with a huge uppercut. His defense was a 100 percent better Saturday, and it seemed to throw Swick's rythym off.

    Swick, who is always a relentless guy on the feet, finally landed a good straight right early in the second roun and he tried to unload on Thiago. However, the Brazilian backed up and countered with a huge left. Swick went down and before he was able to scramble, Thiago locked on a d'arce choke. It took just seconds to put Swick to sleep.

    Referee Herb Dean stepped in at 1:54 of the second round, giving Thiago the win.

    Swick (14-4, 9-3 UFC) was a minus-200 favorite. Thiago (13-1, 3-1 UFC) is now 2-1 against AKA's trio of welterweights. Thiago earned the knockout of the night bonus against Koscheck, and he looks like a lock for submission of the night again. 

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  • Demian Maia has deadly submissions, and Dan Miller knew that coming into their fight at UFC 109. Appropriately, Miller tried to keep the fight standing all along, but he didn't do enough to win. Maia took the 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 unanimous decision.

    In deciding to stand, Miller gave Maia an opportunity to show off how he's improved in striking since Nate Marquardt knocked Maia out in August. Maia loaded up with body and leg kicks. Miller's skin was bright red from all the strikes he took.

    Finally, in the third round, Maia got his takedown, but he wasn't able to do much with it. Maia, one of the best jiu-jitsu players to ever fight in MMA, easily avoided Miller's submission attempts. Miller was recently awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but his jiu-jitsu aptitude is nowhere near Maia's.

    This win was important for Maia, who needed to get back on track after losing to Marquardt.

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Steve Cofield

Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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