TUF: LIVE fighters discuss fighting, Cruz’s injury and competition

The UFC and FX hosted a media conference call with four of this season’s The Ultimate Fighter® Live quarterfinalists on Tuesday, May 8, 2012: James Vick (Team Cruz) vs. Joe Proctor (Team Faber) and Justin Lawrence (Team Cruz) vs. Michael Chiesa (Team Faber).
The panel of fighters were asked who they thought would come out on top.  Justin Lawrence said that all the fighters were great and that every one of them has an opportunity to make it.
Michael Chiesa agreed that they were all there to

Alistair Overeem denied license by NSAC for nine months

The soap opera of Alistair Overeem’s failed drug test from the UFC 146 press conference came to a decisive close today in Las Vegas, and the results were not favorable for the former title contender and his team. He was handed down a nine month suspension from the Commission. Overeem’s defense of taking an anti-inflammatory injection which, unbeknownst to Overeem, contained testosterone did not suffice. The commissioners were stern in dealing with Overeem from the beginning, not granting a continuance

Frank Mir: I would feel slighted if someone else were picked to fight dos Santos

Frank Mir recently expressed his obvious disdain at possibly being overlooked as the number one contender for Junior dos Santos’ UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 146. Since the massively publicized fallout from slated UFC 146 challenger Alistair Overeem’s failed drug test, many rumors have been swirling about who will step in to replace Overeem. While Overeem is still waiting the official decision of the NSAC concerning this matter, things do not look optimistic for the May 26 fight to go on as originally

Rich Franklin hoping for another run at the Middleweight title

Rich Franklin has not fought in the Middleweight division since 2008. That will all change on July 7 when he meets Cung Le at UFC 148, which is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While fight at Middleweight, Franklin captured the UFC title, defeating Evan Tanner at UFC 53. He would defend the title twice, knocking out Nate Quarry and beating David Loiseau via unanimous decision. Franklin would lose the title in his next bout, falling to Anderson Silva at the 2:59 mark of

Thiago Alves: I’m going to try and break Martin Kampmann

Thiago Alves will meet Martin Kampmann in the main event of the UFC on FX 2 card, which is set to take place this Saturday in Sydney, Australia. 
Alves is coming off a victory in his last bout, handing UFC newcomer Papy Abedi the first loss of his nine fight MMA career. For his part, Kampmann will also enter the fight coming off a victory, taking a decision over Rick Story at UFC 139.
Before defeating Abedi, Alves had gone 1-3 in his four previous fights, but despite that losing record he will enter

Georges St. Pierre remains open to fighting Nick Diaz

The one thing that UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre seemed to want more than anything else on Saturday night was to see Nick Diaz stand in the center of the Octagon with his hand raised in victory. In the days leading up to the event, St. Pierre made it clear that he wanted to face Diaz in his next bout, however that opportunity was denied him by a Carlos Condit victory.
There were many fans that also wanted to see St. Pierre meet Diaz and while that fight may not happen as soon as St. Pierre

Frank Mir: The sky’s the limit for a healthy Brock Lesnar

Frank Mir knows a little bit about Brock Lesnar, having faced him twice since Lesnar joined the UFC in 2008. In their first meeting, a very green Lesnar was caught in a Mir kneebar and forced to submit.  In the rematch, Lesnar got the best of Mir, earning a second round TKO. 
Mir, coming off an impressive submission win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, offered his take on the upcoming bout between Lesnar and Alistair Overeem. The heavyweight scrap between Lesnar and Overeem will be the main event

Jon Fitch on PED use: Those that use them are weaker-minded

UFC Welterweight Jon Fitch has lost exactly one fight since March 2003, a five round unanimous decision to UFC Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre in August of 2008.  In all, his career MMA record stands at 23-3-1-1.
Fitch has been away from the Octagon for some time, with his last fight taking place on February 27 of this year.  Following that fight, a three round majority draw with BJ Penn, Fitch underwent shoulder surgery. Now, healed up and ready to compete, Fitch will face Johny

Phil Baroni: Nobody dry humps the New York Bad Ass and gets away with it! (Exclusive Interview)

Asia, the true Mecca of Martial Arts. Before the time of Christ, historical studies have shown that the earliest recorded proof of Martial Arts is as old as late 1st Millennium BC. Who knew thousands of years later, Martial Arts and combat sports as a whole would be as big as it is in the world today. But the sport of Mixed Martial Arts is still in its infancy stages in a continent that is home to 3/4 of the earth’s population. ONE FC looks to change that, featuring the best fighters in all of Asia.

Five Middleweights who could beat Anderson Silva

Chael Sonnen’s comments in his recent interview with Ariel Helwani on MMAFighting.com got me thinking. The always animated and controversial UFC Middleweight made comments regarding pound for pound rankings. Now I know rankings are purely subjective, based on fans and writers personal opinions, backed up of course by statistics. But for these “fantasy” rankings, there is one thing that almost all writers, fans, and so called experts can agree with. Anderson Silva is on