MMA News Thread
- Thread starter Shogun Locc
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JOSE ALDO & WEC LIGHTWEIGHTS TO THE UFC?
When Jose Aldo knocked out Manny Gamburyan last month to defend his WEC featherweight title for the second time, the talk started immediately about where he ranked in the world as far as the best pound-for-pound fighters go, and also how much longer he would be sticking around at 145 pounds.
It seems Aldo's stay at featherweight may be coming to a close sooner rather than later.
The Brazilian has stated in the past that he's interested in going to 155 pounds eventually. According to UFC president Dana White, that's a distinct possibility.
"From what I'm hearing, Jose Aldo's interested in testing himself at 155 pounds. So probably very soon," White answered when asked when the WEC champ might move to the UFC.
Aldo has been an absolute wrecking machine since debuting in the WEC in 2008. With eight wins in a row in the promotion, including seven by stoppage, Aldo has become one of the top fighters in the sport, but he may soon have a whole new challenge if he moves on to face the best of the best in the UFC’s 155-pound division.
Aldo may not be the only WEC fighter making a transition to the UFC at 155 pounds either. While he didn’t come right out and say it, White also hinted that the rest of the WEC lightweights might be under consideration for a move from Zuffa's sister organization to the Octagon.
"We're working on a lot of things right now we'll be announcing in the next couple of months," White commented.
Currently, WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson is about to defend his belt against top contender Anthony Pettis in December. The WEC has long been working on a plan to develop a 125-pound flyweight division, and if that coincides with what White is talking about, it could mean the lightweights making the move to the UFC.
White admits that he's intrigued to see the potential match-ups between the best at 155 pounds in the WEC and the best at 155 pounds in the UFC. That could mean a wholesale move or even cross-promotional bouts.
"There's some interesting fights with those guys, so we're working on putting those together," White said.
The subject of the WEC lightweights moving to the UFC is nothing new, but signs are starting to point more and more towards the plan becoming reality, at least in some manner.
When Jose Aldo knocked out Manny Gamburyan last month to defend his WEC featherweight title for the second time, the talk started immediately about where he ranked in the world as far as the best pound-for-pound fighters go, and also how much longer he would be sticking around at 145 pounds.
It seems Aldo's stay at featherweight may be coming to a close sooner rather than later.
The Brazilian has stated in the past that he's interested in going to 155 pounds eventually. According to UFC president Dana White, that's a distinct possibility.
"From what I'm hearing, Jose Aldo's interested in testing himself at 155 pounds. So probably very soon," White answered when asked when the WEC champ might move to the UFC.
Aldo has been an absolute wrecking machine since debuting in the WEC in 2008. With eight wins in a row in the promotion, including seven by stoppage, Aldo has become one of the top fighters in the sport, but he may soon have a whole new challenge if he moves on to face the best of the best in the UFC’s 155-pound division.
Aldo may not be the only WEC fighter making a transition to the UFC at 155 pounds either. While he didn’t come right out and say it, White also hinted that the rest of the WEC lightweights might be under consideration for a move from Zuffa's sister organization to the Octagon.
"We're working on a lot of things right now we'll be announcing in the next couple of months," White commented.
Currently, WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson is about to defend his belt against top contender Anthony Pettis in December. The WEC has long been working on a plan to develop a 125-pound flyweight division, and if that coincides with what White is talking about, it could mean the lightweights making the move to the UFC.
White admits that he's intrigued to see the potential match-ups between the best at 155 pounds in the WEC and the best at 155 pounds in the UFC. That could mean a wholesale move or even cross-promotional bouts.
"There's some interesting fights with those guys, so we're working on putting those together," White said.
The subject of the WEC lightweights moving to the UFC is nothing new, but signs are starting to point more and more towards the plan becoming reality, at least in some manner.
Michihiro Omigawa Eyeing WEC, Wants Aoki on NYE
Michihiro Omigawa has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself.
As he rose to relevance in Sengoku's 2009 Featherweight GP he would shout "Kusottare!" any time he was given a microphone, essentially telling everyone who doubts him to "fuck off!". Since he reinvented himself for the GP, he has "claimed the necks of" fellow top 10 featherweights Marlon Sandro and Hatsu Hioki and most recently took a submission win over former WEC Champion Cole Escovedo. Afterwards, Omigawa called his DREAM.16 victory "a perfect fight" and declared himself the "center of the featherweight world."
Now, unhappy with the way he is being treated in Japan, Omigawa is setting his sights on the WEC and Jose Aldo.
"For me, the WEC is the top promotion in the States so I'm seriously considering fighting there. I'm very determined and willing to fight in the WEC at some point, and I was exchanging emails with them, but we still haven't met in person. It's not an official offer yet, but we are in talks. Jose Aldo is a well-rounded fighter, and an interesting opponent for me, but technique-wise I am better and I'd like to prove that."
The Yoshida Dojo judoka is now 34 years old (turning 35 in December), and with 10 fights in the last 22 months, it is clear that Omigawa is trying to make the most of his final years in the ring.
"Outside of (DREAM featherweight champion) Bibiano Fernandes or (Shinya) Aoki, I don't really have interest in fighting anyone in DREAM. (Kazuyuki) Miyata is a good friend of mine so it is kind of difficult for us to fight and (Mitsuhiro) Ishida is just not interesting to me."
Although no fights are booked for FEG's Dynamite!! New Year's Eve event yet, Omigawa is certain that he will not get a shot at Fernandes as he believes DREAM 2009 featherweight finalist Hiroyuki Takaya is being built up for that fight. Omigawa very vocally has a problem with that as he knocked out Takaya at Dynamite!! in 2009. Essentially giving up on his hopes of a featherweight title in December, Omigawa feels as though he is forced to look elsewhere.
"If I had the opportunity to fight Aoki, I would fight at 70 kg (154 lbs). My mind is already set on featherweight for the future, but the reason I mention Aoki is because of Dynamite!! at the end of the year. I want to do something beyond my weight division, something special."
Although he takes his challenge to Aoki seriously, it is obvious that the challenge comes out of frustration with DREAM rather than any actual desire to do something "special" and move up in weight to take on the DREAM lightweight champion. He admits that the Aoki fight is also not going to happen.
"Really, (DREAM) aren't treating me right. All the people in (DREAM parent company) FEG are probably afraid of me. I'm not one these guys who were with DREAM from the beginning, I am from Sengoku and now I have been building this good record in DREAM and I suddenly mentioned this fight with Aoki and he is someone that they are really fond of. If the event is called DREAM, I'd like them to consider my dreams too. This is a sport and they have to treat someone with a good record in a good way. There is something wrong with the way I'm being treated. It's kind of difficult for me to stay motivated in DREAM to be honest with you if I can't fight Fernandes."
Salaries are not disclosed in Japan, but Omigawa admits that he probably makes more money fighting in DREAM than he would fighting in America. WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo banked $40,000 (including a $20,000 win bonus) after his win over Urijah Faber and Omigawa's base pay is rumored to be more than that in DREAM. Omigawa tells me though that when he defeats Aldo he will become rich, famous and popular but the real attraction to the WEC is that it is a challenge.
After exiting the UFC as a lightweight in 2008 with his record in tatters at 4-6, no one could have predicted that Omigawa would ever have an issue finding a challenging fight. Even his first outings as a featherweight were uninspiring as he lost a decision to "The Korean Zombie" Chang Sung Jung and drew with Mizuho Hirota's former stablemate Shintaro Ishiwatari. The change came not just when he moved down in weight but when he reassessed his life.
"When I was fighting in the lightweight division, I was getting all those losses, I thought about retiring from this business. I was thinking about my retirement and I really wanted to give it my all before the end. I changed my weight division, changed my daily life and worked on tidying up my techniques. After I made all the positive changes that I could think of, I just kind of exploded."
These changes took place just prior to his fight with the highly rated L.C. Davis in the opening round of the 2009 Sengoku Featherweight GP. Omigawa was rightly a huge underdog going into the bout but surprised all as he seamlessly combined his new bobbing and weaving boxing with his already formidable judo to easily take the unanimous decision.
"The biggest thing I have changed is that I have started to believe in myself. I knew that I was a capable fighter after I won over L.C. Davis, and I didn't want to return to how things were in the past. I wasn't stable mentally or strategy wise before. I shouldn't have been fighting while I didn't have the stable mentality or believe in myself. Ever since that fight, I rarely go out at night with friends. I used to love going out to clubs and drinking at night but as I get older it is getting difficult for me to continue. I finally recognized that I had to stop that. I didn't really drink that much but I really like going out at night and it was more the late nights than the alcohol."
It should be common sense that late nights and alcohol does not mix will with MMA but in Japan, late night eating and drinking is a large part of the culture. Two of the best fighters to ever come out of Japan, Kazushi Sakuraba and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai are notorious for drinking, eating and in Sakuraba's case – even smoking entirely too much. "Nomikai", literally "drinking meeting" is an integral part of Japanese business and social etiquette and the fight world is no different. For Omigawa to cut himself off from the social scene was quite a big deal for him, but it wasn't the only change.
"I changed my training as well, I run a lot now. You see now that I fight very often and my movements in the ring are faster than anyone at featherweight. Technique wise, I started going to Watanabe Boxing Gym and sparring with world-class boxers. In the past I was always getting hit in the body, but I have fixed that problem now. I only spar at Watanabe Gym but just doing that has done a lot of me."
Watanabe Gym is home to WBA super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama and is where Masato Kobayashi polished his boxing before his 2003 K-1 MAX GP win. Since Masato's K-1 victory the gym has become the go-to place in Japan for MMA and kickboxing practitioners to work on their hands.
"My background is judo so I can submit anyone and take anyone down but now, because of my time at Watanabe Gym, I am also very capable with my boxing technique. Now that my boxing has gotten this much better I have become a complete fighter and so it allows me to have more confidence in my judo. I was capable with my judo from the beginning, but because my boxing wasn't good I wasn't able to show that. Now I consider myself in the top three at featherweight and I'm certainly above Bibiano Fernandes. As I fighter, I need to get to the WEC and challenge myself."
-------
I used to hate him for the BS decisions over Sandro and Hioki, but he's fucking hilarious and his boxing might be the best at featherweight right now. Would love to see him rematch Zombie then get a fight like Mike Brown or Gamburyan.
Michihiro Omigawa has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself.
As he rose to relevance in Sengoku's 2009 Featherweight GP he would shout "Kusottare!" any time he was given a microphone, essentially telling everyone who doubts him to "fuck off!". Since he reinvented himself for the GP, he has "claimed the necks of" fellow top 10 featherweights Marlon Sandro and Hatsu Hioki and most recently took a submission win over former WEC Champion Cole Escovedo. Afterwards, Omigawa called his DREAM.16 victory "a perfect fight" and declared himself the "center of the featherweight world."
Now, unhappy with the way he is being treated in Japan, Omigawa is setting his sights on the WEC and Jose Aldo.
"For me, the WEC is the top promotion in the States so I'm seriously considering fighting there. I'm very determined and willing to fight in the WEC at some point, and I was exchanging emails with them, but we still haven't met in person. It's not an official offer yet, but we are in talks. Jose Aldo is a well-rounded fighter, and an interesting opponent for me, but technique-wise I am better and I'd like to prove that."
The Yoshida Dojo judoka is now 34 years old (turning 35 in December), and with 10 fights in the last 22 months, it is clear that Omigawa is trying to make the most of his final years in the ring.
"Outside of (DREAM featherweight champion) Bibiano Fernandes or (Shinya) Aoki, I don't really have interest in fighting anyone in DREAM. (Kazuyuki) Miyata is a good friend of mine so it is kind of difficult for us to fight and (Mitsuhiro) Ishida is just not interesting to me."
Although no fights are booked for FEG's Dynamite!! New Year's Eve event yet, Omigawa is certain that he will not get a shot at Fernandes as he believes DREAM 2009 featherweight finalist Hiroyuki Takaya is being built up for that fight. Omigawa very vocally has a problem with that as he knocked out Takaya at Dynamite!! in 2009. Essentially giving up on his hopes of a featherweight title in December, Omigawa feels as though he is forced to look elsewhere.
"If I had the opportunity to fight Aoki, I would fight at 70 kg (154 lbs). My mind is already set on featherweight for the future, but the reason I mention Aoki is because of Dynamite!! at the end of the year. I want to do something beyond my weight division, something special."
Although he takes his challenge to Aoki seriously, it is obvious that the challenge comes out of frustration with DREAM rather than any actual desire to do something "special" and move up in weight to take on the DREAM lightweight champion. He admits that the Aoki fight is also not going to happen.
"Really, (DREAM) aren't treating me right. All the people in (DREAM parent company) FEG are probably afraid of me. I'm not one these guys who were with DREAM from the beginning, I am from Sengoku and now I have been building this good record in DREAM and I suddenly mentioned this fight with Aoki and he is someone that they are really fond of. If the event is called DREAM, I'd like them to consider my dreams too. This is a sport and they have to treat someone with a good record in a good way. There is something wrong with the way I'm being treated. It's kind of difficult for me to stay motivated in DREAM to be honest with you if I can't fight Fernandes."
Salaries are not disclosed in Japan, but Omigawa admits that he probably makes more money fighting in DREAM than he would fighting in America. WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo banked $40,000 (including a $20,000 win bonus) after his win over Urijah Faber and Omigawa's base pay is rumored to be more than that in DREAM. Omigawa tells me though that when he defeats Aldo he will become rich, famous and popular but the real attraction to the WEC is that it is a challenge.
After exiting the UFC as a lightweight in 2008 with his record in tatters at 4-6, no one could have predicted that Omigawa would ever have an issue finding a challenging fight. Even his first outings as a featherweight were uninspiring as he lost a decision to "The Korean Zombie" Chang Sung Jung and drew with Mizuho Hirota's former stablemate Shintaro Ishiwatari. The change came not just when he moved down in weight but when he reassessed his life.
"When I was fighting in the lightweight division, I was getting all those losses, I thought about retiring from this business. I was thinking about my retirement and I really wanted to give it my all before the end. I changed my weight division, changed my daily life and worked on tidying up my techniques. After I made all the positive changes that I could think of, I just kind of exploded."
These changes took place just prior to his fight with the highly rated L.C. Davis in the opening round of the 2009 Sengoku Featherweight GP. Omigawa was rightly a huge underdog going into the bout but surprised all as he seamlessly combined his new bobbing and weaving boxing with his already formidable judo to easily take the unanimous decision.
"The biggest thing I have changed is that I have started to believe in myself. I knew that I was a capable fighter after I won over L.C. Davis, and I didn't want to return to how things were in the past. I wasn't stable mentally or strategy wise before. I shouldn't have been fighting while I didn't have the stable mentality or believe in myself. Ever since that fight, I rarely go out at night with friends. I used to love going out to clubs and drinking at night but as I get older it is getting difficult for me to continue. I finally recognized that I had to stop that. I didn't really drink that much but I really like going out at night and it was more the late nights than the alcohol."
It should be common sense that late nights and alcohol does not mix will with MMA but in Japan, late night eating and drinking is a large part of the culture. Two of the best fighters to ever come out of Japan, Kazushi Sakuraba and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai are notorious for drinking, eating and in Sakuraba's case – even smoking entirely too much. "Nomikai", literally "drinking meeting" is an integral part of Japanese business and social etiquette and the fight world is no different. For Omigawa to cut himself off from the social scene was quite a big deal for him, but it wasn't the only change.
"I changed my training as well, I run a lot now. You see now that I fight very often and my movements in the ring are faster than anyone at featherweight. Technique wise, I started going to Watanabe Boxing Gym and sparring with world-class boxers. In the past I was always getting hit in the body, but I have fixed that problem now. I only spar at Watanabe Gym but just doing that has done a lot of me."
Watanabe Gym is home to WBA super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama and is where Masato Kobayashi polished his boxing before his 2003 K-1 MAX GP win. Since Masato's K-1 victory the gym has become the go-to place in Japan for MMA and kickboxing practitioners to work on their hands.
"My background is judo so I can submit anyone and take anyone down but now, because of my time at Watanabe Gym, I am also very capable with my boxing technique. Now that my boxing has gotten this much better I have become a complete fighter and so it allows me to have more confidence in my judo. I was capable with my judo from the beginning, but because my boxing wasn't good I wasn't able to show that. Now I consider myself in the top three at featherweight and I'm certainly above Bibiano Fernandes. As I fighter, I need to get to the WEC and challenge myself."
-------
I used to hate him for the BS decisions over Sandro and Hioki, but he's fucking hilarious and his boxing might be the best at featherweight right now. Would love to see him rematch Zombie then get a fight like Mike Brown or Gamburyan.
Chris Leben Arrested on Suspicion of DUI
According to Hawaii News Now, UFC middleweight Chris Leben was arrested Tuesday by Honolulu police on suspicion of DUI.
Leben reportedly crashed his truck while driving on the H-1 Freeway. “The Crippler” was allegedly driving with neither a license nor insurance. After being taken into custody, the former “TUF” competitor was released on $1,000 bail.
This is not the first time that Leben, 30, has been accused of an alcohol-related offense. He was arrested in 2008 by Oregon police on charges of parole violation in relation to a previous DUI offense. Leben was sentenced to 35 days in jail, requiring his UFC 85 matchup with Michael Bisping to be pushed back to UFC 89.
Originally from Portland, Ore., Leben moved to East Oahu, Hawaii, in 2007 to become the head coach at Icon Fitness MMA Gym. Additionally, Leben opened his own training center, Ultimate Fight School. Leben is coming off three straight wins, the first time he’s accomplished that feat since 2006. He most recently submitted Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 in July, and he’s scheduled to meet Brian Stann at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day.
According to Hawaii News Now, UFC middleweight Chris Leben was arrested Tuesday by Honolulu police on suspicion of DUI.
Leben reportedly crashed his truck while driving on the H-1 Freeway. “The Crippler” was allegedly driving with neither a license nor insurance. After being taken into custody, the former “TUF” competitor was released on $1,000 bail.
This is not the first time that Leben, 30, has been accused of an alcohol-related offense. He was arrested in 2008 by Oregon police on charges of parole violation in relation to a previous DUI offense. Leben was sentenced to 35 days in jail, requiring his UFC 85 matchup with Michael Bisping to be pushed back to UFC 89.
Originally from Portland, Ore., Leben moved to East Oahu, Hawaii, in 2007 to become the head coach at Icon Fitness MMA Gym. Additionally, Leben opened his own training center, Ultimate Fight School. Leben is coming off three straight wins, the first time he’s accomplished that feat since 2006. He most recently submitted Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 in July, and he’s scheduled to meet Brian Stann at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day.
Brock Lesnar was just on Jim Rome and Rome asked him what he thought about Sonnen's comments and Brock look bewildered and said he didn't even know who he was lmfao. Rome showed a video of Sonnen, sans sound, and asked if it rang a bell and Lesnar still looked baffled and said he had no idea who he was. Rome was like, "Alright, I'll leave it at that".
Haha, Brock pwned his ass.
Haha, Brock pwned his ass.
