MMA General Discussion 2019

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Sitting in the ER at Saint Michael’s hospital in Toronto, Canada after my fight, I looked up at my buddy Nick Palmisciano who had ridden in the ambulance with me. This wasn’t our first time in this situation. I’d been here a few times in our past decade together. Sometimes for wins and sometimes for losses. The end result always looked the same: Nick carrying five bags that should have been split among three corners and me and my face are bleeding and swollen. “That’s it man,” I said. “We’re all done.”
We had talked about it a lot over the past few years. I’d spoken to Nick, to my wife Ginger, and to Greg Jackson and Brandon Gibson ad nauseam about the coming end. No matter how hard I trained, I knew this ride wouldn’t last forever. But saying it out loud definitely brought me both sadness that this chapter was complete and overwhelming relief that it’s a decision I could make without worrying about taking care of my family.

I had just lost to Kelvin Gastelum, a really respectful and hard-working young fighter who went out and did all the things I consider myself good at, but did them better. He actually reminded me of me when I was younger, except I was kind of a jerk back then. As losses go, I was kind of happy I lost to a guy like him.
A lot of my coaches, friends and fans immediately tried to build me up again. “Kelvin has the right skillset to beat you and it was your first fight back.” “You had ring rust.” “You’re still a top 10 middleweight.” I appreciated their comments and I don’t think they are wrong. I know I am still a good fighter. I know I was away a while. But they didn’t feel what I felt, and that’s being 37. I felt like I was in slow motion the entire match. I felt tired for the first time ever in a fight. I’m the guy that once graduated Ranger School – a place that starves you and denies you sleep for over two months – and took a fight six days later in the IFL and won. I’m the guy that is always in shape. And I was for this fight. I worked harder than I ever have before for this fight. But I wasn’t me anymore. My brain knew what to do but my body did not respond. I’ve watched other fighters arrive here. I’ve watched other fighters pretend they weren’t here. I will not be one of them.

I want to thank the military community for their support. I’ll never be able to explain how much you motivated me and how much I always tried to make you proud. I’ve been a professional fighter for two decades, but there was no greater moment for me than winning the main event of Fight for the Troops 3. You made me invincible that night. I will keep fighting for you all until the day I die.
I want to thank all of my coaches, from the old Days working with John Hackleman and Chuck Liddell, to all my military buddies who trained with me while I was on active duty, to Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn, and Brandon Gibson now. That you all thought me worthy of the investment of your time means more than you will ever know.

I want to thank all of my opponents. Iron sharpens iron and every great victory or crushing defeat occurred because there was someone who trained hard and had the courage to meet me across the cage. I want to call a few guys out in particular. To Luke Rockhold and Jacare: you guys gave me two grinding fights that asked for everything I had. You both made me better and I hope I did the same for you. I hope the two of you keep that Strikeforce chip on your shoulders and get back on top. To Robbie Lawler: you hit me harder than anyone ever has. Seriously, that really hurt. To Roger Gracie: My training for your fight reminded me that I love the gi. Thank you for that. To Rafael Natal: It took tremendous guts to take the Fight for the Troops fight. I will always appreciate you for that and cheer for you every time you fight. To Michael Bisping: I’ve never wanted to beat anyone more than I wanted to beat you, and that motivated me to provide the best version of myself. Best of luck to you going forward, Champ.

Finally to my wife: I don’t deserve you and you don’t deserve what I’ve put you through. I could lie to you and tell you it’s all over, but we both know I have already moved onto another super dangerous thing to fill my time, so I’m going to leave it just at “thank you and sorry” for now.
So with that, to all of you fighters out there, I am not going anywhere. I love fighting and will always have the heart of a figher. I am committed to growing our sport and taking care of those who are a part of it. As sad as it is for me to walk away, the only thing sadder would be for me to stay because I had no other choice in order to feed my family. Someday the Kelvin Gastelum’s and the Yair Rodriguez’s and the Paige VanZant’s will be sitting in their respective emergency rooms with their respective Nick’s talking about it being over. And when that day comes, I want to make sure their future is secure.

I love you all. Thanks for listening. And thank you most of all for giving me the opportunity to do what I love for all these years.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

I don't care for the guy personally but that's a very classy goodbye.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Woodley: Mighty Mouse doesn't get paid the most out of the UFC champions because he's black

Wonderboy:

 

[909]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

I think Woodley was onto something when he pointed out a few months ago that he was a huge target for racist comments, but I don't really like this race troll gimmick he's come up with.

 

[KOAB]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

It was only a matter of time for someone else to run with it from an opposite angle when they see the biggest star run with nationality and race a lot.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

I think Woodley was onto something when he pointed out a few months ago that he was a huge target for racist comments, but I don't really like this race troll gimmick he's come up with.

Race Card Woodley has already popped up as a gimmick twitter account.

 

[KOAB]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

A guy like Woodley pays way more attention to stuff online than most fighters. He probably sees how the times are right now and how so many people eventually turn on 9 out of 10 American black fighters once they get near the top of their division and has taken this into account on coming up with a plan to get more eyes on him and more money.

Considering how the marketing was with the old bosses and how it looks to be worse with the new bosses so far... it's not the worst of ideas.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

https://youtu.be/xLBlWENDsJY

lol

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlNvTTfUJ1A

Interesting fact about the UFC running the Glory PPV in December at the very start of this podcast, smart move imo. Take an ownerhsip lead in other combat sports. They have a huge presence already, why not use it to market other shit?

I agree with Rogan that high-level heavyweight kickboxing could be huge. It needs the athletes that K1 had back in the day and a certain kind of presentation. I don't know enough to know if there is a lot of young talent in the pipeline.

 

[KOAB]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

P. much like the talent pool of prospects in MMA right now.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

https://youtu.be/LTaiaKr3iAE

This is worth listening to. Some interesting tidbits scattered throughout, plus hearing his emotion is worth it.

I thought he should have gone a while ago because he's not good enough for what the UFC needs but he was still a loyal company man for two decades and deserved more respect on his way out. This interview was a great tribute that the UFC refused to do.

 

[HSJ]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Michael McDonald, a top 10 fighter, is saying he has to get a job to pay his bills and to afford a fight camp. Considering this guy was a top 5 fighter not long ago and fought for an interim title, yikes...

 

[Youth N Asia]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Michael McDonald, a top 10 fighter, is saying he has to get a job to pay his bills and to afford a fight camp. Considering this guy was a top 5 fighter not long ago and fought for an interim title, yikes...

Sad if it's true. Fighters claim poverty so much though. Even after six figure payday fights. So this might be a ploy.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

It's going around on twitter that Charles Oliveira is competing on the REAL FC card next month which, if so would mean he's been cut by the UFC.

 

[HSJ]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

It's going around on twitter that Charles Oliveira is competing on the REAL FC card next month which, if so would mean he's been cut by the UFC.

Dude is 9-7-1 in his UFC run and may never be champ, but he is an extremely exciting fighter and has solid wins. I find this crazy.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

He's missed weight in two of his last three fights and three of his last six. Refuses to move back up to LW. I get it, assuming the rumors are true.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=706&pid=1704376

Skip to about 40:00 for the Ben Askren interview. He explains what the Ali Act means, he and Chael speculate on what will happen in the future. Going to be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Dana White's buddy won't like it, but the republicans have shown they don't mind finding new ways to stick it to him so who knows.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Ali Bagautinov and Zak Makovsky have been let go by the UFC. Don't really understand that move.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

https://www.facebook.com/rizinfans/photos/a.1177063925688066.1073741828.1177004999027292/1319069878154136/?type=3&theater

INOKI PARTNERS UP WITH RIZIN FUCK YES

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

WSOF has likely lost Dave Branch, Justin Gaethje and Marlon Moraes to the UFC.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

AtTheBuzzer Verified account
‏@TheBuzzerOnFOX

.@CMPunk told @CarrlynBathe that he's hungry to get back in the Octagon again and has been throwing names at Dana White.

 

[KOAB]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

BJ/Punk will be a slobberknocker

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Nah man that'd be a Diaz/Conor level of size advantage for Punk. Totally unfair.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

SEC filing for WSOF's new investment group. 31 backers reportedly raised $25-million for 60% of the struggling org.

Definite bailout. $20mil to Deifik and $5mil buys out other investors.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694675/000169467517000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

I want non-UFC MMA to succeed as much as anyone, but that seems like money flushed down the toilet.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

We probably have a WSOF thread I didn't even bother to find and post in it.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Being that UFC has stated they can't match the offer expect to see an announcement about Bader signing with Bellator popping up soon.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

https://twitter.com/YoelRomeroMMA/status/829366165965266945

Soldier of God is ice cold.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

From Meltz, taken from Reddit:

Paraphrasing what Big Dave said on Wrestling Observer Radio today (http://f4wonline.com).

He said that for various reasons, company loyalty among UFC fighters is very low right now. Of course there are certain guys who remain loyalists, but for the most part UFC has a lot less good will with its fighters than it used to. Consequently, fighters are less likely to "do favors" for the UFC, such as fighting with nagging injuries, or taking short notice fights to "save" cards.

Dave says that this is why UFC has struggled to put together cards in 2017 so far. He noted the Penn/Yair card was much weaker than the usual UFC card in the NFL Playoff spot that time of year. Additionally, the same can be said of the Super Bowl weekend card with Korean Zombie. The UFC Brooklyn card being headlined by a made-up belt with an empty division is another symptom.

It's an interesting trend. I wonder if it will persist, and if so if it will force UFC to play ball with the fighters. It's almost like they're accidentally taking concerted action without actually being organized.

 

[Zetterberg is God]

Re: MMA General Discussion 2017

Lawl

http://deadspin.com/fuming-mad-yoel-romero-calls-into-michael-bispings-radi-1792225805