***This
week, Johny Hendricks is furious that GSP is fighting Nick Diaz.
Alistair Overeem intervenes on the Roy Nelson-Shane Carwin fight and the
latest on toothpickgate. We find out who Jon Jones wants to fight
after Sonnen, Dana comments on Melendez and Alvarez in the UFC, and an
era ends in MMA. All this and more, all this week on Inside MMA!***
Inside MMA Live on AXS.TV report by Steve Te Tai ( tetai@inbox.com)
Originally aired LIVE Monday, December 10 at 8pm EST on AXS.tv
With your host Kenny Rice (@KennyRiceSports) and co-host Bas Rutten (@BasRuttenMMA) and special guests: Johny Hendricks, Cheick Kongo, Matt Mitrione, and Michael McDonald.
“UFC on FOX”
--Ben Henderson vs. Nate Diaz. Ben Henderson retained the UFC lightweight belt over Nate Diaz in Seattle this past weekend. They show highlights of their fight. People were surprised that Benson was the superior striker in this fight. During the fight, Bas noticed Nate Diaz had a full on kneebar and didn’t understand why he let go of that.
After the show Benson said that when you poll fighters, a majority of them will say their favorite fighters are the Diaz brothers. They are terminators and walk forward. It was a great matchup for him since they both walked forward to see who was the better man. On this night, he was better, but when you fight that sort of fight, you always have to battle to get your hand raised, even though this fight favored him stylistically. Bas says Henderson will be very hard to beat.
--Alexander Gustaffson vs. Shogun Rua. They show highlights of this bout. Bas says he did a great job but was a little bit off from usual, but that longer reach was a great advantage. After the show Alexander commented on being the young guy beating old legend Shogun saying there are always up and comers in MMA, and in a few years he’ll be the old one he says with a chuckle. Alexander admits he marked out a few times during the fight since he was fighting a legend in Shogun, and whose first exposure to MMA, were the Pride shows where Shogun became a legend. This was the biggest win and toughest opponent for him by far. Gustaffson is expected to face the Jones/Sonnen winner but could also face Lyoto Machida first, if Dan Henderson is unable to fight Lyoto because of his knee injury. They play a clip where Jon Jones hears criticism that the ONLY reason he wins is because of his height and reach advantage and would like to fight Gustaffson to nullify that argument.
--BJ Penn vs. Rory McDonald. As they show highlights, Bas described how Rory rocked BJ and when that happened, BJ moved his hands up to protect his head, then followed it up by rocking the body. While everyone seems to know that, no one seems to do it, so Bas was very impressed he did that at such a young age. After the show, Rory McDonald says there are still some guys that need to be weeded out, but we are in the beginning of a new era. Via clip, Dana agrees there was a torch passing, and he loves BJ Penn but would love to see him retire. Rory says in all honesty it was an honor to fight him, but he can only say that afterwards. If he entered the fight with that mindset it might’ve turned out differently. (Lesson learned from Pat Barry who totally marked out while fighting Mirko Cro-Cop and got his ass kicked because of it.) Rory is hoping to avenge the only loss on his record to Carlos Condit. He felt humiliated by that loss and really needs to get that fight for revenge. (A new era alright. Better fighters with zero charisma.)
“Ron Kruck with Dana White”
Dana says Ben Henderson had an awesome game plan and implemented it and didn’t fall into any Diaz traps. Going in, he knew it would either be wrestling or leg kicks for Ben and it ended up being both. He doesn’t know who is next yet, but there is so much talent in the lightweight division, Ben will fight somebody great soon. He loves the idea of Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez fighting for the UFC belt in 2013. (How about against each other in their debuts, winner fights Ben?)
Dana says there are women on Twitter claiming to have not turned down the Rousey fight, but they did. Liz Carmouche stepped up and took this fight. She wanted this fight bad and is a very formidable opponent.
Dana says the fight GSP wants is Nick Diaz and he’ll speak with Diaz and Cesar Gracie to see if this is a go. GSP has unfinished business with Diaz, and if that happens, it’ll probably be Johny Hendricks next, not Anderson Silva.
“Johny Hendricks LIVE”
Johny joins us on the big screen from his gym in Pantego,Texas. It makes Johny mad that GSP would consider fighting someone like Diaz who hasn’t fought in a year instead of him. It was like having his heart ripped out when he heard the news. Johny is angry, frustrated, and pissed. His main thing is to fight GSP. He fought three tough opponents and can’t believe he’s been passed over. Words can’t explain how pissed he is. Johny says it seems like GSP doesn’t want to fight him. He doesn’t like how GSP called out Diaz and not the other way around. He says it looks like GSP is afraid to step into the Octagon with him. Bas suggests he repeats everything he’s said but on Twitter and he’ll probably get the fight since that seems to be how it works these days. (Johny should start a “Sabu fears Taz” type gimmick.)
Time will only make him better if he has to wait to fight GSP. Training and time makes him better, but doesn’t want to sit out for a year waiting for GSP. If that does happen it’ll only make things harder for GSP. If he has to have a fight he’ll leave that to his manager but feels he’s done everything he’s had to do to earn a title shot at GSP. If it doesn’t happen he only wants to know who, when, and where and doesn’t care to get into negotiations with anything. If Nick Diaz wins, then Johny will want to fight him. He doesn’t care the person he just wants the belt. But GSP should not fight a guy coming off a loss. Ironically after his bout with Kampmann which was supposed to be for the #1 contendership, GSP avoided him, then said he wouldn’t fight Anderson Silva, and was calling out Nick Diaz. (Another smart move by GSP. Nothing to gain and too much to lose against Silva in the long run, and Nick Diaz is more money for GSP, and Johny will be a bigger draw by the time they fight, and if GSP loses to Johny, better to have it be a bigger show.)
“Nick Newell, champion”
The inspirational one armed fighter Nick Newell won his first championship with an 82 second submission win over Eric Reynolds to be crowned the XFC lightweight champion over the weekend. He said he was ready for a war, but when you have an opportunity you take it, and as a result he won in the first round. In response to some who claim his unique form of RNC where he literally locks in his half-arm behind his opponents head making escape impossible giving him an unfair advantage, he says he got his unique choke because he trains it, works it every day, and works hard. It wasn’t because of the way he was born, but because he has good technique.
They showed highlights of the win, and in the ring after he was crowned the new champion, he had a kid alongside him with the same one arm cut off at the elbow like Newell, to celebrate with him. This 11-year old looking kid had a t-shirt that read “Ten fingers are overrated.” (I love seeing that Newell embraces his missing limb instead of distancing himself from it, since he can be such a great inspiration to people worldwide in similar situations.)
Bas points out it took Eddie Alvarez two and a half rounds to beat Eric Reynolds and Newell finished him in less than two minutes.
“Michael McDonald LIVE”
McDonald joins us on the big screen from his gym in Oakdale, CA. With the news of Dominick Cruz’ new knee surgery, Michael McDonald has been given the title shot against Renan Barao. Michael isn’t overly excited about this opportunity, he says getting this shot is anti-climactic and sees it as just another big event in his life. It’s cool, but normal for him. He says Barao is well rounded but his speed will be the toughest thing to deal with. They are both riding long win streaks, are 4-0 in the UFC and only have one loss. He sees the Barao camp modeling each other and they are all killers like Jose Aldo and Barao.
His older brother is Justin “The Bushido Kid” Smitley and his younger brother is “Bad” Brad McDonald. His brothers were always fighting growing up, but he’d be the one in the corner taking things apart and putting them back together. He was always able to punch pretty hard growing up, but it really became an art and something beautiful when he started to take it seriously and focus on the details. He understands the striking as a science and can explain to others as well.
“Matt Mitrione LIVE”
Matt joins us live on the big screen from the Blackzilian gym in Delray Beach, FL. He takes Shane Carwin’s spot against Roy Nelson for the TUF Finale next week. He felt that he wasn’t in the right spot to be competitive against Daniel Cormier and when he heard about what happened to Carwin, he spoke to his manager, coaches, and fellow Blackzilians, Rashad Evans, Alistair Overeem and Vitor Belfort, about this fight. Since he’s been training there since March and didn’t just start with them, they all agreed his striking is at a point where this would be a good fight for him. Matt thinks he can “out-athlete” Roy. There’s no point in re-inventing the wheel with Roy. You know you can’t knock him out with his chin, he’s stubborn, and will always walk forward, so he has to be intelligent about using his strikes and has learned all that since joining the Blackzilian gym.
“Cheick Kongo LIVE”
Kongo joins Bas on the balcony outside for a live interview. He turned down Daniel Cormier and Roy Nelson recently. Since he was still coming off an injury, he was really weak and didn’t want to take any fight on only three weeks’ notice. He would like to fight the winner of Nelson-Mitrione, since it would put him in good position in the future. When it comes to being pushed for big fights, he worries that he is too nice or isn’t very good at trash talking since English is his second language. If he could cut promos in French he’d be like everybody else. Kongo is part of a campaign to legalize MMA in France. Kongo wrestled Greco-Roman and boxing when he was a child before switching to shooto as he got older and met Bas Rutten for the first time.
“Tachi Palace Fights done”
The Tachi Nation council has decided to cancel all future shows for this long running MMA “indie” group out of LeMoore, CA. The WEC used it as a launching pad and started careers of Urijah Faber, Michael McDonald, and Nate Diaz among several others.
“The UFC Toothpick”
Some have noticed throughout the fight that Ben Henderson appeared to have a toothpick in his mouth in the Octagon during his fight with Diaz. He didn’t address that after the fight, but the Washington commision stated they have no rules that specifically address a toothpick or anything else in someone’s mouth and have no plans to investigate this controversy any more.
“Gilbert Melendez vs. Benson Henderson”
Since he won’t be on the final Strikeforce show in January (I’m sure he’s really broken up about that too), and his campmate Nate Diaz just lost to Ben Henderson, Gilbert has his sites set on Benson Henderson’s UFC World title. Gilbert recently stated he has what it takes to beat Ben, and if the world wants to see it then he is in.
“MMA Highlights”
Bellator 85 from Atlantic City, NJ:
--Jessica Eye over Zoila Gurgel
--Anthony Leone over Zach Makovsky
--Darrell Horcher over Chris Liguori
XFC 52 from Nashville, TN:
--Ryan Thomas over Corey Hill
--Ricky Rainey over Donald Wallace
--Stephanie Eggnik over Heather Clark
--Nick Newell over Eric Reynolds to win the XFC World title
Cage Warriors 50 from Scotland
--Graham Turner over Nathan Beer
--Scott Askham over Denniston Sutherland
--Wilson Reis over Owen Roddy
“Upcoming AXS TV shows”
--Dec 14 10pm ET Legacy FC 16 (Jimmy Flick vs. Will Campuzano)
--Dec 24 8pm ET “The Bazzie Awards”
--Dec 31 8pm ET “Best of IMMA”
--Jan 25 10pm ET “Lion Fights” (Fairtex vs.Choplin)
I will be going back to Samoa and will return for the IMMA reports in January, so happy holidays and have a safe New Year’s Eve!
And like Bas always says, Godspeed and party on!
If you don’t get AXS.TV or missed the show, this episode is replayed Friday nights at 9pm, or you can see extended video highlights at http://www.axs.tv/programs/inside-mma/, and you can also follow Inside MMA on twitter@insidemmaaasxtv and http://www.facebook.com/InsideMMA .
Watch dolphins, sharks & orcas on your desktop! Check it out at www.inbox.com/marineaquarium
Inside MMA Live on AXS.TV report by Steve Te Tai ( tetai@inbox.com)
Originally aired LIVE Monday, December 10 at 8pm EST on AXS.tv
With your host Kenny Rice (@KennyRiceSports) and co-host Bas Rutten (@BasRuttenMMA) and special guests: Johny Hendricks, Cheick Kongo, Matt Mitrione, and Michael McDonald.
“UFC on FOX”
--Ben Henderson vs. Nate Diaz. Ben Henderson retained the UFC lightweight belt over Nate Diaz in Seattle this past weekend. They show highlights of their fight. People were surprised that Benson was the superior striker in this fight. During the fight, Bas noticed Nate Diaz had a full on kneebar and didn’t understand why he let go of that.
After the show Benson said that when you poll fighters, a majority of them will say their favorite fighters are the Diaz brothers. They are terminators and walk forward. It was a great matchup for him since they both walked forward to see who was the better man. On this night, he was better, but when you fight that sort of fight, you always have to battle to get your hand raised, even though this fight favored him stylistically. Bas says Henderson will be very hard to beat.
--Alexander Gustaffson vs. Shogun Rua. They show highlights of this bout. Bas says he did a great job but was a little bit off from usual, but that longer reach was a great advantage. After the show Alexander commented on being the young guy beating old legend Shogun saying there are always up and comers in MMA, and in a few years he’ll be the old one he says with a chuckle. Alexander admits he marked out a few times during the fight since he was fighting a legend in Shogun, and whose first exposure to MMA, were the Pride shows where Shogun became a legend. This was the biggest win and toughest opponent for him by far. Gustaffson is expected to face the Jones/Sonnen winner but could also face Lyoto Machida first, if Dan Henderson is unable to fight Lyoto because of his knee injury. They play a clip where Jon Jones hears criticism that the ONLY reason he wins is because of his height and reach advantage and would like to fight Gustaffson to nullify that argument.
--BJ Penn vs. Rory McDonald. As they show highlights, Bas described how Rory rocked BJ and when that happened, BJ moved his hands up to protect his head, then followed it up by rocking the body. While everyone seems to know that, no one seems to do it, so Bas was very impressed he did that at such a young age. After the show, Rory McDonald says there are still some guys that need to be weeded out, but we are in the beginning of a new era. Via clip, Dana agrees there was a torch passing, and he loves BJ Penn but would love to see him retire. Rory says in all honesty it was an honor to fight him, but he can only say that afterwards. If he entered the fight with that mindset it might’ve turned out differently. (Lesson learned from Pat Barry who totally marked out while fighting Mirko Cro-Cop and got his ass kicked because of it.) Rory is hoping to avenge the only loss on his record to Carlos Condit. He felt humiliated by that loss and really needs to get that fight for revenge. (A new era alright. Better fighters with zero charisma.)
“Ron Kruck with Dana White”
Dana says Ben Henderson had an awesome game plan and implemented it and didn’t fall into any Diaz traps. Going in, he knew it would either be wrestling or leg kicks for Ben and it ended up being both. He doesn’t know who is next yet, but there is so much talent in the lightweight division, Ben will fight somebody great soon. He loves the idea of Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez fighting for the UFC belt in 2013. (How about against each other in their debuts, winner fights Ben?)
Dana says there are women on Twitter claiming to have not turned down the Rousey fight, but they did. Liz Carmouche stepped up and took this fight. She wanted this fight bad and is a very formidable opponent.
Dana says the fight GSP wants is Nick Diaz and he’ll speak with Diaz and Cesar Gracie to see if this is a go. GSP has unfinished business with Diaz, and if that happens, it’ll probably be Johny Hendricks next, not Anderson Silva.
“Johny Hendricks LIVE”
Johny joins us on the big screen from his gym in Pantego,Texas. It makes Johny mad that GSP would consider fighting someone like Diaz who hasn’t fought in a year instead of him. It was like having his heart ripped out when he heard the news. Johny is angry, frustrated, and pissed. His main thing is to fight GSP. He fought three tough opponents and can’t believe he’s been passed over. Words can’t explain how pissed he is. Johny says it seems like GSP doesn’t want to fight him. He doesn’t like how GSP called out Diaz and not the other way around. He says it looks like GSP is afraid to step into the Octagon with him. Bas suggests he repeats everything he’s said but on Twitter and he’ll probably get the fight since that seems to be how it works these days. (Johny should start a “Sabu fears Taz” type gimmick.)
Time will only make him better if he has to wait to fight GSP. Training and time makes him better, but doesn’t want to sit out for a year waiting for GSP. If that does happen it’ll only make things harder for GSP. If he has to have a fight he’ll leave that to his manager but feels he’s done everything he’s had to do to earn a title shot at GSP. If it doesn’t happen he only wants to know who, when, and where and doesn’t care to get into negotiations with anything. If Nick Diaz wins, then Johny will want to fight him. He doesn’t care the person he just wants the belt. But GSP should not fight a guy coming off a loss. Ironically after his bout with Kampmann which was supposed to be for the #1 contendership, GSP avoided him, then said he wouldn’t fight Anderson Silva, and was calling out Nick Diaz. (Another smart move by GSP. Nothing to gain and too much to lose against Silva in the long run, and Nick Diaz is more money for GSP, and Johny will be a bigger draw by the time they fight, and if GSP loses to Johny, better to have it be a bigger show.)
“Nick Newell, champion”
The inspirational one armed fighter Nick Newell won his first championship with an 82 second submission win over Eric Reynolds to be crowned the XFC lightweight champion over the weekend. He said he was ready for a war, but when you have an opportunity you take it, and as a result he won in the first round. In response to some who claim his unique form of RNC where he literally locks in his half-arm behind his opponents head making escape impossible giving him an unfair advantage, he says he got his unique choke because he trains it, works it every day, and works hard. It wasn’t because of the way he was born, but because he has good technique.
They showed highlights of the win, and in the ring after he was crowned the new champion, he had a kid alongside him with the same one arm cut off at the elbow like Newell, to celebrate with him. This 11-year old looking kid had a t-shirt that read “Ten fingers are overrated.” (I love seeing that Newell embraces his missing limb instead of distancing himself from it, since he can be such a great inspiration to people worldwide in similar situations.)
Bas points out it took Eddie Alvarez two and a half rounds to beat Eric Reynolds and Newell finished him in less than two minutes.
“Michael McDonald LIVE”
McDonald joins us on the big screen from his gym in Oakdale, CA. With the news of Dominick Cruz’ new knee surgery, Michael McDonald has been given the title shot against Renan Barao. Michael isn’t overly excited about this opportunity, he says getting this shot is anti-climactic and sees it as just another big event in his life. It’s cool, but normal for him. He says Barao is well rounded but his speed will be the toughest thing to deal with. They are both riding long win streaks, are 4-0 in the UFC and only have one loss. He sees the Barao camp modeling each other and they are all killers like Jose Aldo and Barao.
His older brother is Justin “The Bushido Kid” Smitley and his younger brother is “Bad” Brad McDonald. His brothers were always fighting growing up, but he’d be the one in the corner taking things apart and putting them back together. He was always able to punch pretty hard growing up, but it really became an art and something beautiful when he started to take it seriously and focus on the details. He understands the striking as a science and can explain to others as well.
“Matt Mitrione LIVE”
Matt joins us live on the big screen from the Blackzilian gym in Delray Beach, FL. He takes Shane Carwin’s spot against Roy Nelson for the TUF Finale next week. He felt that he wasn’t in the right spot to be competitive against Daniel Cormier and when he heard about what happened to Carwin, he spoke to his manager, coaches, and fellow Blackzilians, Rashad Evans, Alistair Overeem and Vitor Belfort, about this fight. Since he’s been training there since March and didn’t just start with them, they all agreed his striking is at a point where this would be a good fight for him. Matt thinks he can “out-athlete” Roy. There’s no point in re-inventing the wheel with Roy. You know you can’t knock him out with his chin, he’s stubborn, and will always walk forward, so he has to be intelligent about using his strikes and has learned all that since joining the Blackzilian gym.
“Cheick Kongo LIVE”
Kongo joins Bas on the balcony outside for a live interview. He turned down Daniel Cormier and Roy Nelson recently. Since he was still coming off an injury, he was really weak and didn’t want to take any fight on only three weeks’ notice. He would like to fight the winner of Nelson-Mitrione, since it would put him in good position in the future. When it comes to being pushed for big fights, he worries that he is too nice or isn’t very good at trash talking since English is his second language. If he could cut promos in French he’d be like everybody else. Kongo is part of a campaign to legalize MMA in France. Kongo wrestled Greco-Roman and boxing when he was a child before switching to shooto as he got older and met Bas Rutten for the first time.
“Tachi Palace Fights done”
The Tachi Nation council has decided to cancel all future shows for this long running MMA “indie” group out of LeMoore, CA. The WEC used it as a launching pad and started careers of Urijah Faber, Michael McDonald, and Nate Diaz among several others.
“The UFC Toothpick”
Some have noticed throughout the fight that Ben Henderson appeared to have a toothpick in his mouth in the Octagon during his fight with Diaz. He didn’t address that after the fight, but the Washington commision stated they have no rules that specifically address a toothpick or anything else in someone’s mouth and have no plans to investigate this controversy any more.
“Gilbert Melendez vs. Benson Henderson”
Since he won’t be on the final Strikeforce show in January (I’m sure he’s really broken up about that too), and his campmate Nate Diaz just lost to Ben Henderson, Gilbert has his sites set on Benson Henderson’s UFC World title. Gilbert recently stated he has what it takes to beat Ben, and if the world wants to see it then he is in.
“MMA Highlights”
Bellator 85 from Atlantic City, NJ:
--Jessica Eye over Zoila Gurgel
--Anthony Leone over Zach Makovsky
--Darrell Horcher over Chris Liguori
XFC 52 from Nashville, TN:
--Ryan Thomas over Corey Hill
--Ricky Rainey over Donald Wallace
--Stephanie Eggnik over Heather Clark
--Nick Newell over Eric Reynolds to win the XFC World title
Cage Warriors 50 from Scotland
--Graham Turner over Nathan Beer
--Scott Askham over Denniston Sutherland
--Wilson Reis over Owen Roddy
“Upcoming AXS TV shows”
--Dec 14 10pm ET Legacy FC 16 (Jimmy Flick vs. Will Campuzano)
--Dec 24 8pm ET “The Bazzie Awards”
--Dec 31 8pm ET “Best of IMMA”
--Jan 25 10pm ET “Lion Fights” (Fairtex vs.Choplin)
I will be going back to Samoa and will return for the IMMA reports in January, so happy holidays and have a safe New Year’s Eve!
And like Bas always says, Godspeed and party on!
If you don’t get AXS.TV or missed the show, this episode is replayed Friday nights at 9pm, or you can see extended video highlights at http://www.axs.tv/programs/inside-mma/, and you can also follow Inside MMA on twitter@insidemmaaasxtv and http://www.facebook.com/InsideMMA .
Watch dolphins, sharks & orcas on your desktop! Check it out at www.inbox.com/marineaquarium
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