UFC 194 is shaping up to be a pretty bad-ass event and the build toward the biggest week in UFC history has officially begun.
On Wednesday, the four combatants on the show were on a media call to help promote the fight and while there weren’t any major fireworks, there were a couple great quotes.
Enjoy an hour with featherweight champion Jose Aldo, interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor, middleweight champion Chris Weidman and #1 contender Luke Rockhold talk about their fights, their challengers, their feelings, inside jokes, training, and more.
Of note, McGregor is claiming he will beat Aldo for the 145-pound title and then will move onto face the winner of the December lightweight title bout with champion Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone to become a two-division champion. There was also a little bit of tension between Weidman and Rockhold, a criminally underappreciated bout between two studs in their prime.
(Editor’s Note: This should have ran earlier last week, but due to an error, it didn’t. Our apologies to Steve!)
It’s a whole new season and Conor McGregor is the reason, as he and Urijah Faber go toe to toe as coaching foes on The Ultimate Fighter. They won’t duke it out after the season is done, but there’s still pride on the line, not to mention Conor’s reputation as the newest badass on the block. Join us each episode for “The Notorious Quote of the Week” as Conor puts his mouth where UFC’s money is! We’ll also spice things up with some predictions for week two about who could go all the way this season – two “Fighters to Watch” for each recap.
The Notorious Quote of the Week: “That was a f—ing beautiful performance against a very solid guy.”
Last week, Julian Erosa got a majority decision to hand control back to the U.S. team, and Urijah Faber chose Thanh Le (USA) vs. Martin Svensson (Europe) for this week’s fight. If Svensson wins he’ll tie the competition 3-all, and if Le wins then the U.S. team will have a commanding 4-2 lead.
Svensson is talking trash on the U.S. fighters and says they all act like clowns and don’t try to go all out in the two rounds that they have. Artem Lobov is even pissed that they sprayed Erosa down with NOS energy drinks to celebrate his victory. “I want to at least be remembered as the guy who didn’t wear a stupid bandana with a penis drawn on it.”
Svensson says Swedish people are only polite until they get in a cage. McGregor says he can exhaust Le and then finish him with a rear naked choke. After rolling with McGregor on the ground, Svensson says there’s little doubt he’s a world champion.
Thanh Le says he’s been doing martial arts since he was five. He works as a personal trainer when he’s not fighting, and he works hard both in and outside the cage so he can afford to go see his son in Nebraska as often as possible. I’ll try not to let that have any positive bias in my view of him. He says he’ll remember to be strategic and not try to go toe-to-toe and punch-for-punch with Svensson. It’s that kind of thinking that makes Svensson a Fighter to Watch.
There’s some serious drinking going on back at the TUF house for the U.S. team – the most we’ve seen for the entire season. At first they decide to go sit poolside and chill, but then Julian Erosa starts talking smack on Chris Gruetzemacher being boring. Gruetzemacher throws water on him, and Erosa keeps running his mouth, and more and more non-water liquids are thrown on him, and eventually they start shoving.
The rest of team U.S. inside the house sees what’s going on by the pool and they run outside to intervene. It winds up with a couple of minutes of footage that are bleeped out. Team McGregor tries to have a good laugh at their expense – saying they’d rather fight each other than fight them.
I’m putting Chris Gruetzemacher on my Fighter to Watch list. Even though he’s already won to advance in theory, Dana White instructed both teams that one winning fighter will be cut. The pressure is on “Gritz” because his team believes he had a boring fight and won’t make the cut – and how he handles himself in situations like this going forward will be key.
Urijah Faber takes is team to the thrift store to buy them some loud over-the-top suits and make them look like Conor McGregor. Tom Gallichio: “The outfits we got are very Conor-esque. They’re very tight, very flashy.”
Weigh-ins: Martin Svensson is 155 even. Thanh Le is 155 too.
Lightweight: Martin Svensson (Europe) vs. Thanh Le (USA)
Le is in the blue and Svensson the gray. Instead of giving you the blow by blow this week, let’s go for round by round analysis. Svensson used takedowns, ground control, and a back mount to dominate the first 3:45 of R1. Le sprawled effectively and got on top to throw some elbows in the last half minute, but it’s unclear if that final flurry was enough to steal the round. In my mind it’s not.
Svensson goes right back to the ground game early in R2, and goes from trying to get the hooks in to winding up in full mount to getting a body lock and working his way toward a submission. Le keeps squirming his way out of danger and even tries to throw up a triangle but Svensson avoids it. Eventually Le just runs out of escapes and taps to the RNC at 3:39. Team McGregor evens it up!
McGregor announces his picks for next week’s fight: Artem Lobov (Europe) vs. James Jenkins (USA). Come back to see what happens next week!
Chad Mendes was a guest on Submission Radio and had a lot to say about two of his biggest featherweight rivals. Regarding Frankie Edgar and their upcoming fight on December 11th at the TUF 22 Finale in Las Vegas, he doesn’t feel like the wrestling skill of both competitors will cancel each other out:
“He’s a great MMA wrestler, he’s good at timing, but I feel like – obviously he just fought Urijah Faber. I train with Urijah every single day. And so I have insight. Like, I know what he’s going to be feeling like in certain positions. I’ve been training a lot with Urijah on Frankie, feeling this out……. I feel very confident. I feel like my wrestling, obviously I’m gonna be looking to mix it up everywhere with this fight”
He went on to say that he feels that his power will be the big difference in the fight with Edgar
“He has a lot more output, he uses more volume punches, but you know, there’s a lot of mistakes that I see, that he makes when he’s in there, throwing punches. So I think someone like me, who’s fast, explosive, powerful, can be a big danger for someone like him, that’s coming in a lot and loves to be in the pocket, [where] you get hit with big punches”
When pressed about questions regarding his conditioning, Mendes lashed out at fans of Conor McGregor and brought up his own past as evidence that conditioning will not be an issue
“The only people that are questioning my conditioning are Conor McGregor nut-hangers, and that’s just because he said that…. look at my fight with Aldo. I fought Aldo, who’s one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. I went five rounds with him and pushed the pace the entire time. When I’m prepared, my cardio is never an issue. It never has been. There’s been one other fight with [Nik] Lentz, where I was sick and fought through it, and still beat that guy, who in my opinion would destroy Conor…… I took that fight on short-notice, and that’s why it was an issue in that fight.”
And in regards to a rematch with Conor McGregor, Mendes has no doubt how that fight would go
“I train a proper fight, I kill Conor. And I don’t think my conditioning is gonna be a problem in this fight. You guys got to see what happened in the first two rounds. I mean, I took him down and was able to land shots at will. I mean, big elbows, big punches. The guy doesn’t have much off his back. And me in shape, I’m able to bounce around on the feet, stay light on my feet, take him down whenever I want. I feel like I could beat that guy just with the cardio alone with my wrestling.”
On back to back night in Las Vegas in December, Mendes will fight Edgar for the #1 contender’s spot and Jose Aldo and McGregor will battle for the Featherweight title. The two winners are expected to fight in 2016 in what will be one of the year’s most anticipated fights.
Conor McGregor has found himself in some hot water recently, regarding some questionable comments the UFC fighter made on Facebook.
McGregor’s allegiance was called into question after he was seen wearing a British Army poppy pin on his vest, as he sat cage side at the UFC’s most recent show in Ireland. Since the show, McGregor has been the target of the Sean Heuston Dublin 1916 Society, for wearing this red colored tiny lapel pin, which is supposedly a symbol of support for the British Army’s deceased.
Using the hashtag, “#CroppiesDontWearPoppies,” The 1916 society stated, “(McGregor) Comes out to 1916 song, ‘The Foggy Dew’ then wears a Poppy remembering the men who fought to kill and suppress them and the ideals they fought for.”
As a vocal Irishman, McGregor has created quite the uproar from his fans, some of who say they have lost respect for their countryman.
McGregor’s response was also quite controversial as he stated on Facebook, “I know where my allegiance lies and what I do for my country. I don’t need a stupid little flower with a 100 different meanings to tell me if I do or do not represent my country. Check the facts of its original meaning. ALL soldiers. ALL wars. I have the blood of many nations on my gloves. Fought and beat on the world stage. You have a pint in your hand and a Celtic jersey on in your local. F*** you and the Queen.”
The 1916 Society responded, “The poppy in a modern context is produced exclusively by the Royal British Legion, and a brief glance at their website illuminates clearly its purpose in present times… it is to honor ALL current and past British Army servicemen and women…”
It appears that while McGregor’s purpose of wearing the poppy may have been as support of his country and not intended to offend, but he certainly may have hurt his cause with his response.
UFC Welterweight Gunnar Nelson was a guest on Submission Radio yesterday. The subject of weight cutting came up. Nelson is a training partner of interim Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor and had this to say as it relates to McGregor’s tough cut:
“Yea, he does a big cut,” said Nelson. “He doesn’t like it and I don’t think he’s going to do it much longer. I think he’s going to move up. I think he wants to move up. I don’t blame it. I wouldn’t be able to this cut too many times. It definitely takes it out of you. There’s no doubt.
“He has a lot of energy and he’ll toughen through it and fight really well even though he does that cut. I just think, looking ahead, this isn’t good for your health. I don’t think he should do it many more times and I’ve told him that. That’s my opinion.”
McGregor himself has said that he would likely defend the belt one time after beating Aldo and then move up to 155 lbs, where he has already got ready made money fights with both current champion Rafael Dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone, who challenges Dos Anjos for the belt in December.
McGregor faces Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo in a unification bout on December 12th at UFC 194. Aldo has a tough weight cut as well and in fact has been outspoken in the past about new regulations regarding the ban of IV rehydration that went into effect in October of this year.
McGregor has actually fought 12 of his 20 career fights at Lightweight and only had two fights at 145 prior to making his UFC debut in 2013.
Nelson went on to say “It’s definitely not good for the athletes in this sport. It’s not good for your health. It’s not good for your brain. It’s just not good and I don’t see why we should be doing this. I think we should get rid of it quickly.”
Nelson will also compete at UFC 194 on the FS 1 prelim portion of the show against Demian Maia. Coincidentally, Maia also fought most of his career at a higher weight class before dropping to 170 lbs in 2012. Nelson has fought his entire career at Welterweight.
It’s a whole new season and Conor McGregor is the reason, as he and Urijah Faber go toe to toe as coaching foes on The Ultimate Fighter. They won’t duke it out after the season is done, but there’s still pride on the line, not to mention Conor’s reputation as the newest badass on the block.
Join us each episode for “The Notorious Quote of the Week” as Conor puts his mouth where UFC’s money is! We’ll also spice things up with some predictions for week two about who could go all the way this season – two “Fighters to Watch” for each recap.
The Notorious Quote of the Week is about TJ Dillashaw: “Where’s the little snake? Where’s the little weasel? That’s how people do – they just run over you.”
Saul Rogers won the second fight in a row for Team Europe on last week’s show. Conor McGregor picked ‘The Sultan’ Mehdi Baghdad to face Julian Erosa this week – we’ll see if Baghdad can make it three in a row.
Erosa is not taking it well that Baghdad promised to beat him up in the face off last week – and Faber is telling him to feed off those “fighting words” and get more pumped. Baghdad is ALREADY pumped. He talks about his K-1 kickboxing credentials, and brags he’ll “cut him like I cut my filet mignon” with his elbows. McGregor says the only thing Baghdad can do to get better is improve his footwork.
T.J. Dillashaw is here to help out the U.S. team train following his most recent title fight. Faber talks about Duane Ludwig leaving after being with Team Alpha Male for a year getting Dillashaw to the world title, and Dillashaw following him to Colorado. Except at this point in the filming he hasn’t QUITE left. He and Faber are chummy and all Dillashaw will say is “Faber and Ludwig don’t see eye to eye” and that he has a close bond with Ludwig.
Weigh-in time! Baghdad is 155.5 and Erosa is 156. Ryan Hall says Erosa is one of the toughest guys on their team. Dana White says his style is “unorthodox and weird” but says Baghdad is a world class muay thai striker. Both teams are sitting around waiting for a photo shoot and Conor McGregor starts talking smack about Dillashaw again. “Little snake in the grass he is. He’s a little snake in the grass.” Faber: “I think you just don’t want to fight either of us.” He accuses Faber of cutting down Chad Mendes in the process when Faber says he wouldn’t get tired fight McGregor. Faber immediately corrects him “on TWO WEEKS notice” but McGregor is having none of it. “Maybe you’re all snakes!” Then things get HOSTILE right before the commercial.
The extended cut after the commercial break has a lot of four letter words and a lot of pull-aparts and a lot of words bleeped out as coach Cody Garbrandt from Faber’s camp finally got ticked off and one of them walked over and shoved McGregor in the chest! Good thing it was a coach and not a fighter because a fighter would have been kicked off the show for it. Dillashaw was off getting coffee when the whole thing went down. McGregor can’t resist stirring the pot some more even after everybody gets settled down and tries to create some hostility between Dillashaw and Faber. Dillashaw stays cool as a cucumber: “I don’t need your fake ass belt.”
I know he’s only a coach and not one of the competitors but I’m designating Garbrandt as a Fighter to Watch this week. He’s currently undefeated at 7-0, having won his first six fights by KO or TKO, and he racked up a lot of those wins BEFORE coming to Team Alpha Male. This is a bantamweight who could end up fighting T.J. Dillashaw somewhere down the line.
After the break Baghdad puts on his headdress and says he’s representing all Arabic people as well as his country of France. He’s my other Fighter to Watch as a former RFA Lightweight Champion and K-1 France Champion. Faber is reminding Erosa to be the guy to strike first and control every position the fight goes to. Baghdad is 11-3 and Erosa is 14-2, so we’ve got two very experienced guys going into this fight.
Lightweight: Mehdi Baghdad (Europe) vs. Julian Erosa (USA)
Erosa is in the blue and Baghdad the gray. Baghdad is trying to pressure and Erosa has no problem with it, popping Baghdad with jabs. Baghdad does catch him with a good right hook though. You can really see where the “unorthodox” comes from with Erosa – he’ll lean his body one way and then strike from the opposite side. It would be really confusing to stand in front of him and figure out where the shots were coming from. He’s not just a power puncher too – he’s also got some crisp leg and head kicks, and he lands a sneaky knee when Baghdad tries to clinch. It’s a fairly even fight through the first three minutes, but slowly leaning toward Baghdad due to him being the aggressor. Baghdad lands really hard shots when he does close the distance and pin Erosa against the cage, but he just can’t keep him there for long.
As in the first round Baghdad is trying to be the man who comes forward early and wins Octagon control, but it still seems like Erosa is giving as good as he’s getting from my vantage point. McGregor is screaming at Baghdad to let his hands go two minutes in. If anything it seems like Erosa’s striking is getting better the longer the fight goes, but Baghdad’s right hook is really nasty. Erosa lands a nice kick to the face in the last minute and Baghdad responds with one in kind. It’s a shame there won’t be a third round with only 8 minutes left. Dana says Julian probably landed more but Baghdad probably hit harder – and this is why you don’t leave it to the judges in a fight. Faber gives McGregor a pair of American sandals.
20-18, 19-19, 20-18 for the winner by majority decision – Julian Erosa.
Faber announces his picks for next week’s fight is Thanh Le (USA) vs. Martin Svensson (Europe). Come back to see what happens next week and if McGregor can stir the pot up a little bit more!
It’s a whole new season and Conor McGregor is the reason, as he and Urijah Faber go toe to toe as coaching foes on The Ultimate Fighter. They won’t duke it out after the season is done, but there’s still pride on the line, not to mention Conor’s reputation as the newest badass on the block.
Join us each episode for “The Notorious Quote of the Week” as Conor puts his mouth where UFC’s money is! We’ll also spice things up with some predictions for week two about who could go all the way this season – two “Fighters to Watch” for each recap.
The Notorious Quote of the Week: “Man Urijah is an absolute p—y. Stop being a p—y. Man up and make the fight (with Dillashaw). You’ve got nothing else left.”
Last week U.S. fighter Ryan Hall beat European fighter Frantz Siloa to retain control for Team Faber. This week’s fight is Sascha Sharma (Team Europe) vs. Chris Gruetzemacher (Team U.S.). Here we go!
Martin Svensson is sporting a black eye at the same time he’s saying the training is going really well. I’ve got him on my “Fighter to Watch” list this week because of the amount of energy he expends in the workout sessions.
Apparently the Team McGregor strategy is to have a light workout in the morning without their coach, then an intense session with technical instruction including McGregor in the evening. Dana White says he acts like he doesn’t give a f— when the truth is that he really does.
Chris Gruetzemacher says his dad was shot and murdered when he was only five. It’s part of what made him focused and convinced him to be a fighter, and make the most of his athletic ability while he still has the time to. He’s my other “Fighter to Watch” this week.
Sascha Sharma talks about how his dad emigrated from India to Germany decades ago, and how he had an infection in childhood that left him paralyzed for a time. He had to train to walk, he had to train martial arts to feel better, and after that he couldn’t give it up.
Faber comes over to the TUF house to watch the T.J. Dillashaw fight where he finished Renan Barao standing, beating Barao for the second time (July 25, 2015). Afterward Sharma is 155 and Gruetzemacher is 154.5 on the scale. Dana thinks Gruetzemacher has it in the bag because he trains with Benson Henderson.
* Lightweight: Chris Gruetzemacher (USA) vs. Sascha Sharma (Europe)
Sharma is in the gray trunks and “Gritz” as Faber calls him is in the blue. Sharma pushes Gritz into the fence as McGregor calls for him to throw knees and to be patient in the fight. Gritz takes him to the ground and Sharma goes for a triangle submission – but Gritz breaks it and lands a couple of hard and heavy rights on the ground. Sharma gets up and pushes Gritz into the fence again. Sharma single legs him to the ground but can’t keep him down. 2:30 gone. These two are going really hard for what looks to be a long fight with a half hour of TV time left. Sharma pulls guard at 3:15 then tries to land upkicks but Gritz talks the half guard to land elbows. Gritz is passing furiously and Sharma is scrambling furiously – an intense amount of energy is being expended on both sides. Gritz ends up on top in guard and Sharma tries to get a triangle or armbar again but can’t. On to R2!
Sharma lands a right hand and shoots immediately to open R2, but when he can’t get it he flops to his back hoping to suck Gritz in. Gritz is more than happy to get on top and throw some elbows, then take a full mount at 51 seconds, but Sharma is able to escape it – not without getting bloodied. McGregor loses his cool when he goes to his back again and starts screaming “Stay on your f—ing feet!” Sharma rolls and Gritz nearly gets an armbar out of it. McGregor is screaming at Sharma to “end up on top out of it” and he does. Sharma gets swept though and Gritz is in side control. McGregor: “You need to find your patience in there. A patient man always prevails.” Sharma manages to hold on and go for some upkicks when Gritz repositions, but Gritz gets big damage late and a mount too.
Dana White announces a sudden victory third round and McGregor screams at him to stay on his feet before we go to commercial.
Sharma ignores McGregor’s advice and goes to the ground immediately, causing an exasperated McGregor to scream “WHAT THE F—?!” Gritz spins to take the back while throwing rights, but Sharma tries to trap his head for a choke. He’s too exhausted to lock it on though and Gritz gets on his back again throwing rights at his head. It’s a war of attrition and Gritz is winning. He passes to side and takes the back again. McGregor screams “up on your feet” but he’s too whipped to even try. Gritz pushes him back down into half guard. McGregor realizes they’ve lost the fight even with two minutes left. Faber: “Don’t do anything too crazy just keep eating him up.” INDEED. Sharma spins on top with just over a minute left. Gritz motions like he’ll stand up but sweeps with a half minute left. McGregor: “Very very poor. My God.” Sharma is a bloody mess.
McGregor: “When he shot from the bell in the t’ird round and then pulled guard, there’s nothing more you can do. There’s nothing more you can do for the kid. There’s only so much words can do.” He accuses Sharma of “crumbling under the pressure.” All three judges score the third 10-9 for Gritz which makes Team U.S. 2-0 so far. Faber: “For not being emotionally invested you sure got emotionally invested.” Faber announces Tom Gallicchio (USA) vs. Marcin Wrzosek (Europe). Join us next week!
