CR Exclusive Interview with Antonio Carvalho

Photo via MMAJunkie.com

Antonio Carvalho could very well be the most underrated fighter in the UFC’s featherweight division, if not all of the UFC, or even MMA. He came in against the young Felipe Arantes as a small favorite at UFC 142. He ended up losing a decision in a very underwhelming performance. Some people still saw some potential to do damage at 145 and others lost interest and didn’t expect much.

The former was right, and oh how right they were.

Antonio Carvalho went into his fight with Daniel Pineda at UFC 149 as a hefty underdog. Almost everyone thought that Pineda would easily run through Carvalho, including us here at CR. “Pato” quickly turned the tide in only 71 seconds as he knocked him out with a beautiful kick followed by a barrage of ground-and-pound. Carvalho became a very interesting contender at 145, and certainly a dark horse at 145.

His next fight is at UFC 154 in Montreal against TUF: Brazil standout in Rodrigo Damm. He sat down with us for an interview talking about his UFC career, his upcoming fight, and his personal heroes.

Check it out:

Championship Rounds: So your next fight is against Rodrigo Damm at UFC 154 in Montreal. Talk about this fight. How has training camp been going?

Antonio Carvalho: I haven't officially started my camp. At the moment, I am fixing up my techniques and trying to add some new ones that I hope to have ready come November 17th. Also, I’m still having fun training in a Gi and sparring with my students as well. It's important to have some fun prior to starting a camp. It's easy to burn out in this sport. As far as the fight, Rodrigo is a very tough veteran of this sport. Like me, he has travelled all over the globe and fought some of the best out there. Not to mention, he looked really impressive in his last fight as a featherweight. This division seems to be a good fit for him.

CR: Where do you believe your strengths matchup the best with Damm's weaknesses?

AC: I think we match up quite well in general. He is very strong on the mat and has good wrestling. He has also been working on his striking a lot recently and constantly improving. Truth is, though, I don't know where I will be stronger. That's why I like this fight. It intrigues me because I really don't know what he will try and do. I can only prepare for everything and hope for the best result.

CR: How will the home field advantage play into this next fight?

AC: I think for me, it will be the fact that I won't be changing time zones. He will. He will need to get to Montreal early enough to acclimatize himself. That said, like me, he is a veteran and used to fighting abroad. So that may or may not play a factor. One way or another, right off the bat, things will be more difficult for him. I certainly respect anyone who comes into someone else's backyard to fight.

CR: You were a sizable underdog going into your last fight with Daniel Pineda, how does the underdog status affect you?

AC: I'm kind of used to the underdog status. I am pretty inconsistent with my performances so I can see why I am often counted out. If anything, being the underdog motivates me. Then again, I always see myself as an underdog anyways. So that never bugs me.

CR: Was the plan to KO Pineda or try and get it to the ground?

AC: I went in there expecting everything from him. So I prepared everywhere. It just so happened that my striking was sharper then his that night and I caught him. I was very fortunate to get the win that night.

CR: So how come your UFC debut was so much more lackluster than the one that followed, which wasn't anything short of spectacular?

AC: Sometimes, things simply don't fall into place. I did the best I could that night and it wasn't good enough. I took that loss as a learning experience and came back stronger. I hope to keep that momentum going and stay on a winning path.

CR: What inspired you to become a mixed martial artist?

AC: Actually, I just wanted to be a martial artist and do martial arts. I really didn't get into martial arts thinking I was going to fight professionally. It just kind of came up one day and my old coach figured I should try it out. Once I tried it though, I knew I wanted to do it again. So now I have been at it for almost a decade now!

CR: On UFC.com, Darren Uyenoyama has you listed as one of his heroes. I'm curious, is there any story behind that?

AC: Really?! Darren is my hero too! Actually, myself, Darren and Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen come from the Japanese circuits and that is where we all met. We all learned from each other and influenced each other in some way shape or form.

I am quite humbled that he feels that way about me. I feel the same way about him. He is a great friend and I am happy he is both successful in and out of the cage.

CR: Thanks again Antonio! We will be cheering for you!

AC: Thanks! Cheers!

Thanks again to Antonio and we wish him the best of luck in his upcoming fight! Make sure you guys go follow him on Twitter @AntonioPatoMMA and support him at UFC 154.

One FC 5 Predictions

Dave’s Picks

Main Card

Bibiano Fernandes vs. Gustvao Falciroli = Fernandes by unanimous decision.

Eduard Folayang vs. Felipe Enomoto = Folayang by unanimous decision.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia = Arlovski by unanimous decision.

Eric Kelly vs. Jens Pulver = Jens by split decision.

Rolles Gracie vs. Tony Bonello = Gracie by split decision.

Igor Gracie vs. Jung Hwan Cha = Gracie by submission in round 2.

Soo Chul Kim vs. Kevin Belingon = Belingon by unanimous decision.

Prelims

Nicholas Mann vs. Gregor Gracie = Gracie by submission in round 2.

Phil Baroni vs. Rodrigo Ribeiro = Baroni by KO in round 1.

Shannon Wiratchai vs. Mitch Chilson = Chilson by split decision.

Andrew Benibe vs. Honorio Banario = Benibe by split decision.

Sam's Picks

Main Card

Bibiano Fernandes vs. Gustavo Falciroli = Fernandes via unanimous decision.

Eduard Folayang vs. Felipe Enomoto = Folayang via split decision.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia = Arlovski via 3rd round KO.

Eric Kelly vs. Jens Pulver = Jens via split decision.

Rolles Gracie vs. Tony Bonello = Gracie va 3rd round submission (arm).

Igor Gracie vs. Jung Hwan Cha = Gracie via 1st round submission (choke).

Soo Chul Kim vs. Kevin Belingon = Belingon via unanimous decision.

Prelims

Nicholas Mann vs. Gregor Gracie = Gracie via 2nd round submission (choke).

Phil Baroni vs. Rodrigo Ribeiro = Baroni via 1st round KO.

Shannon Wiratchai vs. Mitch Chilson = Wiratchai via split decision.

Andrew Benibe vs. Honorio Banario = Banario via 3rd round submission.

Cage Warriors Fight Night 7 Predictions

Dave’s Picks

Main Card

Chris Fields vs. Pavel Kusch = Kusch by submission in round 1.

Jim Alers vs. Marcio Cesar = Alers by submission in round 2.

Mark Holst vs. Leonardo Santos = Holst by split decision.

Mohsen Bahari vs. Piotr Ptasinksi = Bahari by unanimous decision.

Liam James vs. Olivier Pastor = Pastor by unanimous decision.

James Brum vs. James Saville = Saville by submission in round 2.

Prelims

Mohamed Ali vs. Robert Krecicki = Kreciki by KO in round 1 (because he beat Toni Valtonen)

Brett Bassett vs. Mike Ling = Bassett by split decision.

Mavledin Khaybulaev vs. Artem Lobov = Lobov by TKO in round 2.

Sam's Picks

Main Card

Chris Fields vs. Pavel Kusch = Kusch via 1st round submission (arm).

Jim Alers vs. Marcio Cesar = Alers via 1st round submission (choke).

Mark Holst vs. Leonardo Santos = Holst via 3rd round TKO.

Mohsen Bahari vs. Piotr Ptasinksi = Bahari via split decision.

Liam James vs. Oliver Pastor = Pastor via uananimous decision.

James Brum vs. James Saville = Brum via 3rd round TKO.

Prelims

Mohamed Ali vs. Robert Krecicki = Krecicki via split decision.

Brett Bassett vs. Mike Ling = Bassett via 1st round submission.

Mavledin Khaybulaev vs. Artem Lobov = Khaybulaev via split decision.

Women's MMA Rankings: September Edition

So we here at CR have decided to bring back rankings (we had them when we first started but scrapped them) and we’re bringing more to the table than most do. We are bringing in women’s MMA and we are ranking them from atomweight to featherweight, including Pound-for-Pound. We look forward to doing this every month, updating and discussing with you guys. We did include people under suspension and also people who have been out for an extended period of time.

Without further ado, here are our rankings:

Ronda celebrating her win over Miesha Tate
Photo via MMAMania.com

WMMA P4P:

1) Ronda Rousey

2) Cris Cyborg

3) Naho Sugiyama

4) Jessica Aguilar

5) Tara LaRosa

6) Megumi Fujii

7) Marloes Coenen

8) Miesha Tate

9) Jessica Penne

10) Rosi Sexton

Cris Cyborg
Photo via Esther Lin/Strikeforce

Featherweight:

1) Cris Cyborg

2) Marloes Coenen

3) Milana Dudieva

4) Germaine de Randamie

5) Rin Nakai

6) Elaina Maxwell

7) Hiroko Yamanaka

8) Romy Ruyssen

9) Julia Budd

10) Ediane Gomes

Ronda Rousey

Bantamweight:

1) Ronda Rousey

2) Miesha Tate

3) Sarah Kaufman

4) Sara McMann

5) Alexis Davis

6) Liz Carmouche

7) Shayna Baszler

8) Sarah D'Alelio

9) Amanda Nunes

10) Julie Kedzie

Tara LaRosa
Photo via Cagepotato.com

Flyweight:

1) Tara LaRosa

2) Rosi Sexton

3) Cat Zingano

4) Sheila Gaff

5) Barb Honchak

6) Munah Holland

7) Aisling Daly

8) Jessica Eye

9) Takayo Hashi

10) Reyna Cordoba

Jessica Aguilar
Photo via MMAWeekly.com

Strawweight:

1) Jessica Aguilar

2) Megumi Fujii

3) Zoila Gurgel

4) Ayaka Hamasaki

5) Carla Esparza

6) Katjan Kankaanpaa

7) Seo Hee Ham

8) Mei Yamaguchi

9) Felice Herrig

10) Ashley Cummins

Naho Sugiyama
Photo via Sherdog.com

Atomweight:

1) Naho Sugiyama

2) Jessica Penne

3) Kikuyo Ishiwaka

4) Yasuko Tamada

5) Michelle Waterson

6) Lisa Ellis

7) Misaki Takimoto

8) Amy Davis

9) Naoko Omura

10) Nicdali Rivera-Calonic

So what do you guys think? Let me know in the comments section on what you guys either agreed on or disagreed on.

CR Exclusive Interview with Munah Holland

Photo via Tapology.com

Munah Holland is one of the best fighters in the most underrated division in MMA: women’s flyweight. Lots of people overlook this division, as they believe it is sparse of great talent.

That’s a mistake.

Women’s 125-pound division holds great fighters such as Sheila Gaff, Tara LaRosa, Cat Zingano, Jessica Eye, Barb Honchak, and WMMA legend, Rosi Sexton. That’s a lot of talent and it only scratches the surface. Among these world-class fighters, Munah Holland is almost unanimously ranked as number 6 in the world and looks to continue up the ranks with a win over Michelle Ould at Bellator 74.

Before her big fight on September 28, Munah Holland sat down for an interview with us. Check it out:

Championship Rounds: Talk about your fight with Michelle. How has training camp been going? 

Munah Holland: I am extremely excited about this fight with Michelle at Bellator 74.  I think it will be exciting to have an opponent whose skills fall under wrestling and grappling. This will be a great fight and the fans will not be disappointed.

My training camp is incredible. I have the most amazing teammates to work with in all the styles necessary to be my best and the most well rounded I can be for this fight.  I am also very grateful for the coaches I have at Tiger Schulmann’s.  Having Tiger Schulmann himself, Master Ron Schulmann, Boxing Coach Ray Velez, Jujitsu coaches Sensei Jason Lopez and Sensei Robert Villafane, and Wrestling Coach Rusty Reade. They all bring the best out of me for my stand-up and ground games and I am very happy with the torturous training I receive.  It’s so tough and so rewarding.

CR: What do you believe are her strength and weaknesses?

MH: I never assume anything, so I am only going off of footage I have studied with my coaches. I feel her stand-up game is a weakness and her wrestling game her strength.

CR: If you win this fight, do you believe you will fight for the 125-pound belt in Bellator?

MH: As long as there is a 125 lb Tournament for Bellator, I will fight for the 125 lb belt.  I know how hard I work with my team and I know what I am capable of, I am hungry for this and would love to have the opportunity to hold that belt.

CR: Do you ever see yourself moving to Invicta FC to fight there?

MH: In this game you never know what can happen.  I have an agreement with Bellator for 2 years so unless they felt it was best to release me to fight [in Invicta FC], it would be unlikely.  I am keeping my focus on Bellator right now.

CR: What is it like training out of a place filled mostly with men? 

MH: Have you ever seen Lyman Good, Jimmy Rivera, Julio Arce, Shane Burgos, Nick Pace, or Louis Gaudinot? And the list goes on and on and on; you will not catch me complaining. I am so fortunate to have great men to help train with me and they do not “baby” me, they know I get pissed off if they do.  They make me work hard and it pays off! 

CR: How is the atmosphere at Team Tiger Schulmann?

MH: Morale is always high at Team Tiger Schulmann. We train ridiculously hard and smart every day and we laugh a lot, a whole lot.  We have a great balance of hardcore training and a whole lot of fun, too.  Tiger Schulmann does not tolerate distracting nonsense or disrespectful behavior so there is always a great deal of discipline in our training, that’s why we get so much done in the time we train. But, Tiger Schulmann also knows when we all need to let go and just have fun too.

CR: Are there any fighters from your gym that we should keep an eye on that we might not already know about?

MH: Jimmy Rivera, Julio Arce, Michael Murray, Rachel Kendall, Shane Burgos, Brandon Cuttino, Stephen Regman, Jenna Serio, and Mike Trizano.  

Thanks again to Munah Holland for being our first Women’s MMA fighter that we have interviewed and we wish you the best of luck!

Make sure you guys follow her on Twitter @Munah_Holland and support her in her fight on September 28^th against Michelle Ould at Bellator 74!

Dana White Mini-Series Part 2: Professionalism

Dana White (Photo by Sherdog.com)

Dana White is the busiest man alive. It seems like he rarely delegates many executive responsibilities and tasks. He is incredibly hands-on and can be seen at almost every UFC affair of any kind ranging from press conferences, weigh-ins, The Ultimate Fighter TV show and every fight event no matter where on the globe these events might take place. So, when it comes to getting the job done there are few men in the world that do as much as he does for their respective companies. Dana has also done a phenomenal job building the UFC brand and his own name as well. The story has been told a thousand times before about how he took a sport that was dead, went 40 million dollars into debt and then saved it all on a last ditch effort with The Ultimate Fighter reality series. And he took himself from being a boxing aerobics instructor to the Mafioso-esque boss-man he is today. But the problem is his professionalism in the media spotlight. I think Dana has a decent grasp on certain aspects of the financial future and corporate growth but the customers pay the bills and in order for growth you need more customers.

Every major sport that is more popular than the UFC in America (football, baseball, basketball) and other sports throughout the world (soccer, hockey) has an atmosphere of professionalism that the UFC is desperately missing. Not one owner or commissioner in the NFL or MLB has ever said or done what Dana White has done in the spotlight. The closest thing I can think of is the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s antics from years past. But that is minor compared to what Dana pulls. Cuban never went against his own team on the scale Dana has against his own contracted fighters. I think we need some imitation for success here. There is a level of public professionalism that all of these organizations exude and in order to follow suit I believe Dana needs to adopt similar attributes and traits. If I were to ask Dana “Do you want to be taken more seriously as a professional sports organization?” He would most likely say “Yes!” So, why doesn’t he do what it takes and make it happen?

I would start by advising him to clean up the sport and his mouth. I have been to 2 UFC expos (Boston and Toronto) and was very disappointed with a few things. Dana and Joe Rogan swearing on the microphone on stage in front of the families with children walking around. Do they really think that is appropriate? MMA is not an adult sport anymore. Children practice it as well as all of the individual martial arts. It is time to clean up their mouths. I saw at least a dozen dads put their hands over their sons’ ears when Rogan and Dana took the mic. That is ridiculous and should never happen. Don’t you want those children to grow up and be customers?! Well, if the parents start to think that it is too inappropriate for their children then those kids will not grow up watching the UFC. Another thing at the expos that was really bad were the women walking around practically naked. My issue is for the same reasons I just listed. Adult customers = momentary gain until they age and die. Family customers = insures gain for years and years through the generations (like the NFL!). I understand that the “ring girl” has existed for many years in the boxing world and is a staple in the UFC and I have little issue with that but all the stores at the expo having girls walking around 80% naked is unneeded , a shame and unsound financially.

More on Dana’s mouth. When Dana is interviewed he swears nearly every time. Now, I am not in the upper echelon of the working business world but my father is. If he were to talk like Dana talks he would be jobless in a heartbeat. To use the f-word is just never appropriate and it is time to move on from the famous “Do you want to be a f-ing fighter?” speech from the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Yes, that was quite popular but it is time to become a legit professional company. Plus, when you are swearing like that you sound like an 18 year old kid who is drunk at a frat party and not the president of a billion dollar promotion.

One thing he has done well professionally is marketing. Dana White is an absolute genius when it comes to marketing. Having the athletes available for fans to meet at expos and press conferences is revolutionary and not found in any other sport. I am a die-hard Yankees fan. Guess how many Yankees I have met…zero. Having the fighters meet the fans on the regular is an innovative marketing strategy that is unmatched in sports today. Also, having every fighter on twitter communicating with fans or at least giving the fans a way to get to know the fighters on a deeper level was beyond smart. It is dangerous to let them have free reign but worth the risk. Fans root for athletes they find commonalities with and they get to know the fighters better through twitter.

One last thing is Dana’s attitude seems to be becoming more and more like a tyrant; a “do what I say or die!” type persona growing. When his fighters act up or do horrible PR disasters, I understand the need to crack down. But when a fighter doesn’t make the career decisions Dana wants them to make or doesn’t fight as exciting as Dana wants then he acts like a crazed dictator and reigns down the wrath of God. Also, Dana awards the sloppiest fight “Fight of the Night” bonus money every event. Sometimes it is based on how back-and-forth it was or the technical skills displayed. But mostly it’s the Matt Riddle or Leonard Garcia fests put on. It is asking fighters to risk their careers and health to garner more money for the company. It is a sport and competition. Every other sport does not influence their athletes to endanger themselves so tickets sell. That is horrible and disgusting. And when fighters put on boring fights he should not go on a twitter rant about how horrible they are because they did not make him money!

But overall I think the change Dana needs to make are simple: act professional. Learn from and mimic your peers that are more successful.  I think Dana is aware of all of these but is stubborn and likes the attention so refuses to change. But I think eventually the Fertitta brothers (who own most of the UFC) will crack down and reformat Dana’s role in the public eye. All of these changes are necessary though for long term success.


For Dana White Mini-Series Part 1 click here

Prospect Spotlight: Tyson Nam

Photo via Galaxy.com

There has been one man not named Jon Jones that has been highlighting headlines across the Internet in the past 24 hours, and he was relatively unknown beforehand.

That man’s name is Tyson Nam. Don’t recognize it? Start now! The Oregon born native came in to fight Bellator’s bantamweight champion, Eduardo Dantas, at Shooto Brazil 33 to be a simple testament to the skills of the top-10 135er.

Things didn’t exactly go as planned.

Eduardo Dantas came out extremely aggressive, running at him with a flying knee in the opening seconds. Although Dantas ended up landing some solid knees and punches, Nam found an opening after taking a huge knee and landed a monstrous right hand that immediately put the young champ in another dimension. He went as limp as limp can get, and this was only at the 1:40 mark of the first round.

Tyson Nam, in extreme euphoria, ran out of the cage and into the crowd to celebrate a monumental moment in his career that will forever change the course of his life. Now that sounds a bit extreme, but a KO win over a top-10 fighter, especially a champion in the 2^nd biggest promotion to hold bantamweight, will get the attention of promotions around the world.

Now lots of people have been talking about letting Nam get a shot in the next 135-pound tournament that Bellator will hold, but I say nay! This man deserves a shot in the premier organization of MMA. He deserves a shot in the UFC and he deserves immediate attention.   

Dana White Mini-Series Part 1: Public Treatment of Fighters

  Dana White (Photo by Sherdog.com)

I am going to do a little mini-series on the man, the myth, the legend: Dana White. He is the face of the UFC to hardcore fans and the face of MMA to the casual fan. He decides the direction in where the sport goes. He controls the most powerful MMA organization in the world. He is the president and partial owner of the UFC and, with the help of the Fertitta brothers, resurrected the dying UFC brand and the sport of MMA in America as a whole. He is complex yet hides nearly nothing from the public. He is so unique and charismatic that people are drawn to him and he is held up as a super star in his own right. So, I will be peeling away the layers of Dana White and addressing each of these layers over the following months.

In our first segment we will tackle the way he handles fighters publicly. First off you all must know that I am a huge proponent for a Fighter’s Union. I think for our sport to go the long haul then our fighters need protection and have more power and say in their own careers. Dana White and Joe Silva (the matchmaker) decide on what happens to these athletes. They have no boundaries, rules or restrictions. If they wanted to they could vacate every title and fire all the current champions and never allow them back into the UFC. That will likely never happen but I think the fact that it is possible at all is scary and wrong.

So that being said, Dana White has complete control of the athletes’ careers. Therefore, when he speaks publicly about fighters, it could influence the public and change the public opinion about the fighters he is speaking about. You would think a man with that power would be careful and choose his words carefully but he does not and it is perplexing at times. I understand that his brashness and flamboyant attitude is what garners him attention and the ability to influence but everyone on earth needs boundaries; and Dana White might be one of the only men in America who publicly has no boundaries. He has said offensive homophobic slurs and swears more than anyone on the face of the earth with nothing more than a slap of the wrist.

However, in a way all of that is somewhat explainable because we are naturally selfish beings. We are born worrying about us and not so much about others.  So, being brash and offensive to others is not so much a worry but what happens when you bash your money makers? One equivalent is Barak Obama saying “I know my Vice President sucks. Biden is just awful but please vote for me. Give me financial support even though you don’t like what I’m putting out there”. Another could be Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills, bashing his players and saying they are bad people and boring to watch. Then expecting people to pay to watch them. It just does not make sense. And White does this constantly. He just did a healthy portion of that this week when Jon Jones turned down a chance to fight Chael Sonnen.

The quick history of what happened with UFC 151 is that Dan Henderson was to fight Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship but injured his knee and had to pull out. Then Chael Sonnen offered to fight Jones but Jones, with the advice of his coach, decided to not take that fight on eight days notice. Now, Sonnen is a deadly fighter. He gave the best fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, a run for his money twice. To face Sonnen without a full fight camp in a dangerous thing to do, but on eight days is a big gamble. So, when Jones denied Sonnen the fight Dana decided to scrap the entire event. So UFC 151 is erased and everyone puts the blame on Jon Jones. Now this is where I have my issues. Dana White announced all of this over a phone conference call. Instead of defending his biggest money maker he decided to bash him and say horrible things about him: “Something that's never happened in UFC history. A guy who's a world champion and considered one of the pound-for-pound best turns down a fight.” Do you honestly think it is a good idea to make your youngest champion who seems to be in place to be champion for a long time, and your #1 PPV king for years to come, look like a coward. Instead you work some PR magic and say “It was just too much to ask of him on short notice.”  You do that even if his decision was selfish and harmful because you want money and stability in the long run.

But Dana White is a proud man and when men have roughly no humility they cannot handle blame. So, Dana projects his own mistakes onto Jones so that he has no blame himself. It does not take a whole lot of knowledge to understand that in this sport people get injured training all the time (too frequently actually). But with that understanding you need to put at least two fights that could be main events on each card; especially on a PPV card. Having Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron as your co-main event for UFC 151 comes with the understanding that if Jones or Henderson were to go down with an injury then you would have to find a fighter not of that card to take the place as main event. That is your fault Dana White not Jon Jones’ fault. If you didn’t have as many cards then maybe you could stock up. For example at UFC 152 (before Jones vs. Belfort was placed on that card) you had Benavidez vs. Johnson for the flyweight title as the main event and Bisping vs. Stann as co-main event. If the flyweight title fight was scrapped you could still go with Bisping vs. Stann. Yes, it would hurt the ticket sales and PPV buys but it could still work.

Jon Jones does not set the cards and Jon Jones is not the match maker. And to ask him to put his health, money and belt on the line when he is not fully prepared is a lot to ask. And when Jones said no to fighting Sonnen, then Dana White needed to suck it up, be humble and understand where he made mistakes. White should not project his anger onto Jones. Due to Dana projecting blame he also made other fighters angry at Jones when they should be mad at Dana.

Jones said this is response to the whole debacle:

“Dan Henderson got hurt, and the fight was canceled. I signed a contract a long time ago to fight Dan Henderson. That's what I studied for, and that's what I prepared myself for. To take a fight with a different opponent in which I would basically have three days of training before traveling and then starting to cut weight I just thought would be the dumbest idea ever. I wouldn't have been properly prepared. I definitely apologize to the other fighters on the card. I feel terrible, but it also wasn't my decision to cancel the whole card. I don't make those decisions. I apologize to the people that lost money on tickets and travel and things like that. I don't apologize for my decision, but I do apologize for the way it affected people. I hope people can understand I was just trying to do the best thing for my career. I'm moving forward. I'm continuing to work, and I'm working on transforming my body from great shape to phenomenal shape. My goal now is to beat Lyoto better than I did the first time. I want to be a better version of myself, and I'm looking forward to it.” (Quote from MMA Junkie)

But due to Dana White’s egotistical response fighters directed their anger at Jones. UFC welterweight Charlie Brenneman Tweeted: “@JonnyBones u can send my check to PO box 198. EH NJ. Rent is due the first, so preferably by then. Thanks @ufc”. Then he later tweeted “Me n @Rick_Story took a fight on 24 hrs notice!! Champ what?!?! @ufc”.

Now like I said before Brenneman’s anger is misplaced. But his example of his fight with Rick Story is not similar. Neither Story nor Brenneman had a belt on the line. Neither of them are the face of the UFC and expected to perform at a near perfect level. It was also not on a PPV or FOX card. Yes, they have to pay the bills just like Jones and they make less then Jones but Jones has way more pressure on him to perform well then they do. I’m sorry but it is not the same thing. Those fighters that tweeted want to stay on Dana White’s good side and would never bad mouth him out of fear of being cut (Fighter’s Union = Freedom of Speech).

Another example starts at UFC 97 and UFC 112 where middleweight champion Anderson Silva put on two very boring fights. Silva is easily the best fighter alive and has a big fan base in Brazil. When he put on those boring performances Dana White said awful things about him. Instead of saying “Well the guy he was facing is dangerous and Anderson was just off that night” and trying to save face. Dana instead points a spotlight on the situation and gives people an excuse not to buy the next Anderson Silva PPV.

My last example was the first FOX card which featured only one fight between, then, heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez who was defending his title against Junior dos Santos. Cain is a wrestler and did not take it to the ground and was knocked out in one minute. So, when they went back to the analysts Dana White was there. Instead of praising dos Santos and trying to build a star from this amazing performance, Dana White went off on Cain for fighting stupid and not taking it to the ground. What a wasted opportunity.

It just does not make financial sense to bad mouth your champions. Dana White needs to learn how to hold his tongue and swallow his pride otherwise it will eventually bite him in the butt.

Now, with all of this being said you all need to know I love Dana White. He is at his core a great human being. He gives when it is not necessary, and frequently, to fighters and regular people alike. I have no ill feelings toward him but I just think he could do a much better job representing his brand and his fighters. I met him once in Canada and he was a complete gentleman. He took his time with each fan and was great with the younger kids. I have much respect for Dana and in the following segments of this mini-series I will have a brighter opinion of him in certain aspects.

Let me know your opinions in the comment section.