GSP won't close the door on another Koscheck fight

He never wanted to hear about him again. That's what Georges St. Pierre said before his UFC 124 match against Josh Koscheck. After Koscheck, stood in front of him for 20-plus minutes with a broken orbital bone, St. Pierre admitted he may have to fight him again down the road.

"I've said in an interview before the fight, he's gonna be done and we're never going to fight each other again," St. Pierre said as he smiled during the UFC 124 postfight press conference.

"He's very tough and the performance he did tonight, he's a top welterweight. Maybe I talk too fast. Maybe in a few years, maybe he's going to come back." 

Don't scoff. It could happen.

Koscheck (15-5, 13-5 UFC) isn't going anywhere. His only losses in the UFC have come against St. Pierre (twice), Thiago Alves and two upsets at the hands of Paulo Thiago and Drew Fickett. The 33-year-old will be a mainstay in the UFC's top five at 170 pounds.

The question comes with St. Pierre and his willingness to eventually leave the division.

GSP said he weighs 190-192 between fights and that's not big enough to fight 185 pounds. He wants to get to 200 pounds before considering a fight with UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. St. Pierre also said if he moves to 185, the switch will be permanent. He has no interest in bouncing between weight divisions.

If he doesn't move to middleweight or gets destroyed by Silva down the road, one has to wonder what the UFC will do if Koscheck is the No. 1 contender again around say, UFC 159.

Sounds like St. Pierre may not like Koscheck as person, but he knows that he's a necessary evil.   

"At the end of the night, it's only a fight," St. Pierre said of all prefight trash talk by Koscheck. "I need Josh Koscheck to do what I do for a living. If Josh Koscheck would not have been there tonight. I would not be able to make money and you guys would not have a good night of entertaining. We need good guy, we need bad guy. It's nothing personal at the end of the day, it's a business."

Koscheck may be a dick as Dana White calls him, but he is good for the sport. He also showed amazing heart, fighting with a broken orbital for 20-plus minutes.

What happens if Koscheck doesn't suffer the gruesome injury in the first round? What if he actually tried to use his wrestling and score some takedowns? Koscheck was the first guy in a long time that St. Pierre had trouble taking down and settling on the ground. If Koscheck rolls through Alves, B.J. Penn, Carlos Condit and Jake Shields, he won't deserve a third crack at GSP? We'll see.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/GSP-won-t-close-the-door-on-another-Koscheck-fig?urn=mma-295409

Yoshihiro Nakao Roy Nelson Mario Neto Carlos Newton

Dana White Expects to Know 'Ultimate Fighter' Coaches on Friday

by Michael David SmithDana WhiteIn the week and a half since the Finale of The Ultimate Fighter Season 12, speculation has run rampant about who the coaches will be for the show's 13th season, which will begin taping in early 2011. UFC President Dana White said on Wednesday that he's about 48 hours away from knowing the coaches' identities.

"We should have it done by Friday," White said at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, where he announced that the UFC would host a fight card in Brazil in August.

So who are the likely choices?

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/12/15/dana-white-expects-to-know-ultimate-fighter-coaches-on-friday/

Ido Pariente Karo Parisyan Sherman Pendergarst B J Penn

White stirring the pot with his GSP vs. Gretzky discussion

Mixed martial arts is a hot topic right now in Canada. UFC lands in Montreal again this weekend and expects a crowd in excess of 23,000 and a gate of over $5 million. The UFC also announced it's hitting Ontario for the first time in April. That event at Rogers Centre is expected to pull in a record crowd, in excess of 30,000. The Canadian fanbase has a lot of might, so much so that Dana White is convinced the nation's top fighter is bigger than any athlete in the country's history. From The Canadian Press:

"Georges St-Pierre is the most famous athlete to ever, ever -- in the history of the world -- come out of Canada," said White. [...]

"Let's fly Georges St-Pierre and Wayne Gretzky anywhere else in the world other than America and Canada. Who gives a [expletive] [about Gretzky]?"

White evens knows Gretzky. He's say it's nothing personal, but the truth is the truth. White continued:

"I like Wayne Gretzky. I was just with him, his wife and his kids a month ago over at one of the casinos here in Las Vegas. Super nice guy. Got nothing against him. Fly him over to England, fly him over to Asia, fly him to anywhere in Europe, Georges St-Pierre gets mobbed, nobody knows who the hell Wayne Gretzky is."

It's an awesome compliment for St. Pierre, but it also puts him in an odd position. How do you defend yourself without sounding like you're a braggart and dumping on Gretzky? Said St. Pierre:

"But the thing is hockey is not a popular sport in every country though. So it's hard to say, I don't know. Maybe global-wide because MMA is in every country of the world and hockey is not but I don't know."

GSP was asked about the topic several times during Thursday's UFC 124 prefight press conference. 

White's said this for a while, but now he's turning up the heat. Does he really believe what he's saying? Probably. Remember, he's also not a huge sports fan beyond fighting and has been immersed in MMA for a long time. That said, it doesn't hurt to get Canadians debating the GSP vs. Gretzky issue. It may even get a few non-MMA fans to buy UFC 124 on pay-per-view wondering, "who is this St. Pierre guy?"

It's an interesting debate. Can someone be the most famous athlete to come out of a nation if he's not even close to being the most popular in his own country?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/White-stirring-the-pot-with-his-GSP-vs-Gretzky-?urn=mma-293850

Curtis Stout Sam Stout Georges St Pierre Masanori Suda

Pettis embraces underdog role at WEC 53, confident he can shock the world

GLENDALE, Ariz. - WEC lightweight Anthony Pettis earned a legion of new fans following his appearance earlier this year on MTV's documentary series "World of Jenks."

But as popular as "Showtime" has become, the 23-year-old knows he still has doubters.

"I'm the guy coming in that's only been fighting in the WEC a year-and-a-half," Pettis told MMAjunkie.com. "I'm not ready for Ben Henderson. I'm going to be good later. I'm hear to prove everybody wrong and show that I'm ready, and I'm ready to go now."


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/-luepnU9JSo/pettis-embraces-underdog-role-at-wec-53-confident-he-can-shock-the-world.mma

Rich No Love Clementi  Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs  Ray Cooper 

Aerts pulls upset and Overeem breaks Saki to reach K-1 WGP Final

Peter Aerts has won three K-1 titles (1994, 1995 and 1998) and now he's got a chance at another at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Japan. The veteran of 17 straight K-1 WGP's pulled the big upset on 6-foot-11 Semmy Schilt.

Aerts' face got torn apart in the first two rounds, but the judges scored it 20-20, 20-20 and 20-19 going to the third.

Even with his right eye cut and swelling badly, Aerts turned it on in the final round. Schilt gassed and ate dozens of big punches.

Aerts, 40, will meet Alistair Overeem in the final. Overeem's power striking was amazing against Gohkan Saki. The hulking Dutchman landed two unbelievable body kicks that changed the fight.

The first stopped Saki in his tracks and essentially turned off his offense. The second one, a left kick to the body, left Saki doubled over. The kick landed on both his right elbow and side. It almost appeared that the arm was broken. When the referee finished his 10 count, Saki said he couldn't go any longer giving the first round win to Overeem.

Saki, the much smaller fighter at just 218 pounds, was flashing excellent speed early. His combinations were dynamite but the 261-pound Overeem walked through most of them.

Saki did get Overeem to the ground when he nailed the 6-foot-5 monster with a spinning kick just 16 seconds into the fight.

Unfortunately for Saki, he had the toughest fight in the quarterfinals. He battled another giant in Daniel Ghita. That fight went the full three rounds and then they needed an extra round to determine a winner.

Ghita's body and leg kicks were nasty throughout. Saki may have been a little softened up by the time he faced Overeem.

Update - HDNet's Michael Schiavello reported that Saki suffered a broken right elbow and broken right hand.  

Quarterfinal results: 
Aerts def. Mighty Mo via KO 1st round
Saki def. Ghita via split decision
Schilt def. Kyotara via unanimous decision
Overeem def. Tyrone Spong via unanimous decision

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Aerts-pulls-upset-and-Overeem-breaks-Saki-to-rea?urn=mma-294575

Akitoshi Tamura Kiyoshi Tamura Evan Tanner Peni Taufa ao

UFC 124's Three Stars: St. Pierre, Miller and Alves

After months and months of build-up, UFC 124 finally happened, and all that's left is a fractured orbital bone. Who rose above the rest? 

No. 1 star -- Georges St. Pierre: The thing that's so impressive about GSP is not his consecutive streak of wins, title defenses or rounds won. It's that he continues to add to his arsenal. Just as Michael Jordan added a fadeaway jumper later in his career, GSP continues to employ new weapons in the Octagon. After showing off his mastery of wrestling against Thiago Alves and Dan Hardy, GSP debuted a brutal jab to dominate Josh Koscheck. He continually grows as a fighter, and that's why he's the one with the gold, shiny belt around his waist.

No. 2 star -- Jim Miller: I'll admit it. When coming up with the top lightweights in this loaded division of the UFC, I didn't always think of Jim Miller, even though his only losses are to Gray Maynard and champion Frankie Edgar. That stops here. Miller stopped the Charles Oliveira hype train dead on the tracks, earning Miller his sixth win in a row.

No. 3 star -- Thiago Alves: The Alves who had trouble cutting weight and looked sluggish against Jon Fitch was a distant memory on Saturday night. He looked energetic for every second of his decision win over John Howard, something Alves attributes to a better diet and smarter life choices. 

Honorable mention -- Montreal: The city deserves kudos for continuing to break attendance records, loudly supporting the fighters and getting just as excited about their fourth MMA event as they were for their first.

Who are your three stars from UFC 124?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-124-s-Three-Stars-St-Pierre-Miller-and-Al?urn=mma-294977

Sean O Haire Yushin Okami Bobby Ologun Andy Ologun