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Posts Tagged ‘The Ultimate Fighter’
January 18th, 2011 | Author: CageCraze.com
This article was originally published at CageCraze.com. Copyright: CageCraze.com.
Matt Mitrione Fight For the Troops 2
Matt Mitrione is a man who absolutely loves his job. The undefeated UFC heavyweight and former NFL defensive lineman for the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings has found his calling in mixed martial arts. Mitrione has been working hard in preparation for his upcoming heavyweight tilt against Tim Hague, a man with four times as many wins as Mitrione has had professional fights. His bout will be the co-main event of UFC: Fight for the Troops 2 this Saturday and after speaking with CageCraze.com in this exclusive interview, it’s obvious “Meathead” has done his homework.
Matt may have spent much of his life playing football, but he’s been interested in mixed martial arts since he was very young:
“I was always fascinated with MMA, even back in the day. There was a video chain called Family Video and when I was a little kid, I might be telling on myself here but I think the statute of limitations has expired. But I went and rented a video of like UFC 4 or something like that and I never returned it. I’ve always been into it.
When I was getting finished up with the NFL, I told Purdue coach Tom Erikson that I was interested in fighting and he was like “oh yeah?” so we met up at a wrestling practice and he completely kicked my ass. He threw me everywhere, it was embarrassing. As a result, I found out what I really needed to work on which was my wrestling and everything else. From coach Erikson, my wrestling has gotten pretty good. I downplay it a lot with a lot of self deprecating humor but I’m pretty tough in a lot of aspects, I’m a handful.”
Mitrione knows that he’s been given a tremendous opportunity, having spent his entire career in the UFC and he feels it’s because of how quickly he’s improved:
“I consider myself a pretty good learner. I take things up pretty quick. I’ve been training here with Duke Rufus for two years now. People tell me I’m a different fighter every time I come out, well I sure as hell should be. It’s not like I’m Frank Mir where you’ve had 20 something fights and amateur fights before that. I’m growing, I’m developing, I’m learning, so I should always be changing.”
If there’s one thing you’ll notice about Matt it’s that big sheepish grin he has on his face when he’s fighting. He had plenty to say about why he’s always so happy to be in the octagon:
“I could have to wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning, every morning, put on suit and tie, shave. But now if I don’t want to, I don’t comb my hair, I don’t take a shower. I haven’t shaved for probably seven weeks. I am a straight homeless bum right now and I love it. I could have to wake up, shave, brush my teeth, put on a suit and tie and go to a Monday morning sales meeting watching some douchebag that no one respects blabber on about conning people into buying something they probably don’t need in the first place. Come home stressed out, kick your dog, be angry the rest of the night, blah blah blah.
That’s not my life and I’m happy as hell about it. So the fact that I get to go out and live my dream, even if I get my ass kicked, it’s my opportunity, my employment and life is good.”
While Matt may be a ray of sunshine in the cage, he’s had to fight to change the “bad boy” tag he earned when he was on the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter.
“I played that role, I filled that role very well in my opinion. I did it to myself. Now did the editing and shooting on the show help out? Certainly it did, but it was my actions that caused that. I’d be lying to you if I said it wasn’t. I knew what I was doing when I was there. Was it hard? Not really for me, but I felt really bad for my family like my father and my brother to a certain extent. Not many of my wife’s friends watch The Ultimate Fighter so they wouldn’t care too much about it, plus they knew me already ahead of time so they were probably thinking “Oh, Matt’s just acting stupid right now.”
But for people that didn’t know me, my father’s friends, they’d come up to him and say “what in the hell is your child doing?” so that was kinda stressful.”
With his stint on The Ultimate Fighter and the fact that every one of his career fights have been televised either on Spike or pay per view, Matt is starting to have to deal with becoming a public figure:
“It’s a trip, it’s interesting that you go do different places, restaurants in your hometown, different cities especially in Vegas. One day we were driving down the street at a flea market and these people drive past us, recognized me driving, freaked out, stopped, turned around, followed us, came up to me at the intersection and asked for my autograph. I was in the passenger seat, it was nuts! It’s just flattering that anyone wants to hear anything that I have to say or finds me interesting.”
On preparing for his opponent Tim Hague’s submission game:
“Chris (Lytle) is my mentor, so I’ve always worked with Chris. That dude who is a legend in my mind and one of the toughest people walking around on the planet at 190 lbs or less. I’ve trained with Dustin Dennis down at Pablo Papovich’s place. I’ve trained with Cyborg Abreau down at his place and Eddie Bravo at his place out in LA. There’s been a handful of joints that I’ve had a place to train and really work on all kinds of different strategies with different coaches. I’m pretty fortunate with the fact that I’m athletic and people are willing to work with me.”
Being a former member of the NFL, Matt is no stranger to film study. When reading some previous interviews, I noticed he’d mentioned he’d watched his opponent Tim Hague get kicked in the head “a million times” and that he had a strong chin despite the 7 second Duffee knockout. I asked him how much tape he’d watched of Hague:
“I’ve watched tons. I feel extremely ready for this fight, I wish we were fighting today. I told my training partners and my guys that I’m not watching film anymore, I’m done watching film. At this point, I’ve watched so much film of Tim Hague that I think I know what color socks his mom’s wearing today. I know everything about Tim Hague.
You have to [study your opponent]. It’s not so much about what they do, it’s my fight. It’s always been my show. I’m selfish, it’s always been about me. I understand that, but I do need to know what to expect from my opponent. I know when he gets frustrated, when he’s happy, when he’s confident, what his shot looks like, what his single looks like, how persistent he is. That’s stuff I need to know because that does indeed affect my show.”
If there was anyone to ask about making the transition from NFL to MMA, it was Matt. He had a very interesting response when asked if he thought there was going to be a new wave of football players hopping over the fence to MMA as the sport continues to grow and salaries rise.
“I absolutely do. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. There’s a couple things. A lot of times, people can’t take a punch, for example: Marcus Jones. It was just a matter of time until I knocked him out, so, can you take a punch? Can you handle 4 million people watching you get your ass kicked? You know if you get your ass kicked, it’ll end up on youtube and there will be 12 million people watching that. So now there’s 16 million people watching you get kicked in the face, fold up like a pretzel, bleeding everywhere and acting like your grandmother. So if you’re cool with that and you think you can handle it, then come on down, bring it. I think a lot of football guys would be really good at fighting.”
Matt would like to thank his sponsors as well:
“I’m pretty fortunate that there are a couple sponsors that want me to say their name out my mouth, that’s awesome. Microtech, the CEO of Microtech was actually stationed at Fort Hood where we’re fighting so that’s a cool tie-in. Hayabusa will be on my shorts. Fahrenheit Nutrition and also MTX. It’s looking like I’m gonna be an MTX guy so I’ve got no complaints. I’m happy that anyone wants to tie their name or be associated with me.”
Tags: Chris Lytle, Fight for the Troops, Fort Hood, Indiana, Interviews, Matt Mitrione, mixed martial arts, MMA, MMA Gear, mma social network, Pro MMA Gear, Professional, The Ultimate Fighter, Tim Hague, Tom Erickson, UFC
Posted in CageCraze.com, Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication | No Comments »
July 12th, 2010 | Author: TheMMANews.com
This article was originally published at TheMMANews.com. Copyright: TheMMANews.com.
 UFC Fight Night 22 is now official after Spike TV made the announcement on Monday. The event will be headlined by middleweight fighters Demian Maia (12-2) and Alan Belcher (16-6). The co-main event has lightweights Mac Danzig (19-8-1) rematching Matt Wiman (12-5).
UFN 22 will be held at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas on Sept. 15 and will act as the lead-in for Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter” television series. Season 12 will feature welterweight coaches UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and top contender Josh Koscheck.
Maia is coming off a loss to middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi last April and is 6-2 in the UFC, having won four “Submission of the Night” awards. While his opponent Belcher is 7-4 in the UFC and riding a two fight win streak, with victories over a returning Patrick Côté at UFC 113 and Wilson Gouveia at UFC 107.
The rematch between Danzig and Wiman comes after the controversial stoppage in their last fight at UFC 115 in May. Wiman was on top and had Danzig in a guillotine choke when referee Yves Lavigne stopped the bout thinking that Danzig was unconscious. Danzig immediately jumped up and protested the call but to no avail. The UFC immediately booked the rematch and both men will now meet for a second time at UFN 22 in September.
The full rumored card for UFN 22 is as follows:
Middleweight bout: Alan Belcher vs. Demian Maia
Middleweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau*
Lightweight bout: Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson*
Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. John Gunderson*
Welterweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Tomsz Drwal*
Light-heavyweight bout: Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury*
*-Not official
Tags: Abu Dhabi, Alan Belcher, Austin, Cole Miller, Demian, demian maia, Efrain Escudero, event, frank erwin center, frank erwin center in austin texas, Georges St-Pierre, Jared Hamman, Jim Miller, John Gunderson, Josh Koscheck, kyle kingsbury, Matt Wiman, Nick Catone, Patrick Cote, Ross Pearson, Texas, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC, ufc fight night, wilson gouveia, Yves Lavigne
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication, TheMMANews | No Comments »
July 12th, 2010 | Author: MMAJunkie.com
This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com. Copyright: MMAJunkie.com.
 As expected UFC Fight Night 22 takes place Sept. 15, and the Spike TV-televised event airs live from the 16,000-seat Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
Spike TV officials today announced the event.
And as expected, UFC Fight Night 22, which precedes the debut episode of
"The Ultimate Fighter 12," features a middleweight headliner between
contenders Demian Maia and Alan Belcher, and Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig
rematch in the night's co-headliner.
Tags: Alan Belcher, Austin, demian maia, erwin center in austin texas, event, frank erwin center, frank erwin center in austin texas, Mac Danzig, Matt Wiman, official with Maia, Spike, Texas, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, MMA Junkie, Syndication | No Comments »
July 11th, 2010 | Author: TheMMANews.com
This article was originally published at TheMMANews.com. Copyright: TheMMANews.com.
 Former season 10 “The Ultimate Fighter” participant James McSweeney (4-5) will be dropping to the light-heavyweight division for his next fight in the UFC. His opponent for that next fight will be fellow Brit Tom Blackledge (10-6), with both men meeting at UFC 120 in England.
McSweeney weighed in at 231 in his last fight as part of the preliminary card for the “TUF 11″ Finale, a fight in which he lost via TKO in the first round to Travis Browne. Dropping to 205 won’t be that hard of a stretch and will hopefully prove better for the former kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter. He made the announcement on Sunday via his Twitter page.
The former “TUF 10″ fighter will feel the pressure of performing in his fight with Blackledge with a 1-1 record under the UFC banner. McSweeney defeated fellow housemate Darrill Schoonover at the shows Finale to win his UFC debut.
Blackledge trains at the Wolfslair MMA Academy in Liverpool, England and will be making his UFC debut against McSweeney. He’s taken his last two fights under the M-1 Global banner, defeating both opponents in the first round. Both fights took place last year and his UFC debut will mark his first bout of 2010.
UFC 120 is set to take place on Oct. 16 at the O2 arena in England and Spike TV will broadcast the main card in North America for free via tape delay.
Tags: Brit Tom Blackledge, Darrill Schoonover, fellow brit, fight, Finale, James McSweeney, light heavyweight division, North America, O2 Arena, The Ultimate Fighter, Travis Browne, twitter, UFC, United Kingdom, wolfslair mma academy, Wolfslair MMA Academy in Liverpool
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication, TheMMANews | No Comments »
July 8th, 2010 | Author: TheMMANews.com
This article was originally published at TheMMANews.com. Copyright: TheMMANews.com.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira versus Ryan Bader is looking very possible for UFC 119 which takes place from the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana on September 25, this according to MMAWeekly. The light heavyweight bout would be the co-main event bout though nothing, including the location, has been officially announced by the UFC.
Lil’ Nog came into the UFC bringin with him considerable excitement but his shine dulled slightly during his decision victory(which many thought he lost) over Jason Brilz at UFC 114. Nogueria was expected to win easily but seemed to be dominated for many portions of the match; however he still secured the win.
Bader is looking at moving ahead in a tough light heavyweight division,and a victory over Nogueira would certainly move him much closer to an eventual title shot. The Ultimate Fighter 8 winner has won three fights in a row, including a victory over former UFC light heavyweight gate keeper Keith Jardine at UFC 110.
The MMA News will keep you up to date on this card as things become official.
Tags: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Conseco, conseco fieldhouse, Indiana, Indianapolis, Jason Brilz, Keith Jardine, light heavyweight division, mma news, Ryan Bader, The MMA News, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC, victory
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication, TheMMANews | No Comments »
July 7th, 2010 | Author: TheMMANews.com
This article was originally published at TheMMANews.com. Copyright: TheMMANews.com.
Former TUF(The Ultimate Fighter) winner Nate Diaz has signed a four fight contract, this according to Cesar Gracie who informed MMAJunkie yesterday. Diaz is scheduled to face Marcus Davis at UFC 118 where he will continue his foray into fighting as a welterweight. Previously Diaz was used to doing a hard cut to 155 but now seems to be enjoying the welterweight division with his last win coming over Rory Markham at UFC 111.
UFC 118 will be the promotions first event in Boston, and UFC president Dana White is pulling out all the stops with a very solid card. The main even bout will feature a rematch between current lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and former champion BJ Penn, as well as a co-main event bout between Randy Couture and boxing star James Toney.
Tags: Boston, Boxing, Cesar Gracie, Champion, dana white, Diaz, Frankie Edgar, INKS, James Toney, Marcus Davis, Nate Diaz, Randy Couture, Rory Markham, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC president, welterweight
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication, TheMMANews | No Comments »
July 3rd, 2010 | Author: MMAJunkie.com
This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com. Copyright: MMAJunkie.com.
 LAS VEGAS - UFC president Dana White has often said that light
heavyweight Stephan Bonnar will always have a home
in the UFC, but he's never said that home is in the cage.
A finalist on the original season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Bonnar's
place in UFC history is secure, but "The American Psycho" knows if he
wants to keep his place on the active roster secure, he must get a win
at tonight at UFC 116 event.
"I usually feel like that; it's do or die," Bonnar told MMAjunkie.com. "But I totally feel like it's do or die, and I'm
totally ready. Really, I'm angry, motivated, and I'm ready to die. I'm
going to let it all out."
Tags: american psycho, dana white, home, Las Vegas, president, Stephan Bonnar, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC president, White
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, MMA Junkie, Syndication | No Comments »
June 28th, 2010 | Author: Five Ounces of Pain
This article was originally published at Five Ounces of Pain. Copyright: Five Ounces of Pain.
 New York, NY, June 28, 2010 – Spike TV will telecast live coverage of the weigh-ins for the highly-anticipated “UFC 116 Lesnar-Carwin” fight card on Friday, July 2 at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT. The main event features a showdown between the top two heavyweight mixed martial artists in the world, UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim heavyweight titlist Shane Carwin.
Spike TV also announces it will telecast the light heavyweight clash between “The Ultimate Fighter 2” alum Seth Petruzelli (14-5) and Ricardo Romero (10-1) on Saturday, July 3 at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Petruzelli fight will join the already-announced Brendan Schaub-Chris Tuchscherer fight as part of the Spike TV live Prelims.
Fighting out of Orlando, Florida, the veteran Petruzelli scored his first big victory against mixed martial great Dan Severn in January 2004, winning a three-round decision. A year later he joined the cast of “The Ultimate Fighter 2” but lost to Brad Imes in the show’s semifinals. Petruzelli gained worldwide attention in October 2008 when he defeated Kimbo Slice with a first round TKO, and riding a four fight winning streak, he returns to the Octagon to take on Ricardo Romero, making his UFC debut.
Fighting out of New Brunswick, NJ, Romero is 10-1 in his mixed martial arts career, including winning his last five straight. A highly-regarded college wrestler for Rutgers University, Romero also scored a notable victory over “The Ultimate Fighter 10” alum James McSweeney in April 2009. The Petruzelli-Romero fight will replace the Grove-Reljic fight, which will no longer air live on Spike.
Other bouts on the card might air on Spike TV, to be determined by the length of the fights.
Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at www.spike.com/press.
Tags: Brad Imes, Brendan Schaub, Brock Lesnar, Chris Tuchscherer, college wrestler, Dan Severn, fight, Florida, Grove-Reljic, Internet address, James McSweeney, Las Vegas, media platforms, mgm grand garden, MGM Grand Garden Arena, MMA Gear, MTV Networks, New Brunswick, new brunswick nj, New York, NJ, NY, Orlando, press site, Pro MMA Gear, Ricardo Romero, Rutgers University, Seth Petruzelli, Shane Carwin, Spike, The main event, The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter 2, UFC, ultimate fighter 2, Viacom, www.spike.com, www.spike.com/press
Posted in Contributors, Five Ounces of Pain, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication | No Comments »
June 25th, 2010 | Author: MMAJunkie.com
This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com. Copyright: MMAJunkie.com.
 A middleweight bout between Kendall Grove and Goran Reljic has been demoted to UFC 116's un-aired preliminary card, and a light-heavyweight fight between Seth Petruzelli and Ricardo Romero has been promoted to its slot on UFC 116's "UFC Prelims" special on Spike TV.
A source close to Spike TV today confirmed the change with MMAjunkie.com.
The source said Grove prompted the change after the fighter openly criticized the UFC's longtime cable partner and "The Ultimate Fighter."
Tags: Goran, Goran Reljic, Grove, kendall grove, MMA Gear, Pro MMA Gear, Ricardo Romero, Seth Petruzelli, source, Spike, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC
Posted in Contributors, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, MMA Junkie, Syndication | No Comments »
June 24th, 2010 | Author: Five Ounces of Pain
This article was originally published at Five Ounces of Pain. Copyright: Five Ounces of Pain.
 After suffering his fourth straight loss, light heavyweight battlehorse Keith Jardine was released from his UFC contract according to MMAFighting.com. UFC President Dana White confirmed the story to the site today, hoping to bring the Dean on Mean back if he wins a few fights outside of The UFC.
Jardine, a five year veteran of the UFC was an alumni of the second season of The Ultimate Fighter and surprised the MMA world on two occasions by defeating Forrest Griffin at UFC 66 and former champion Chuck Liddell at UFC 76. Many saw The Dean of Mean as a title contender, but his downward skid in the division began at UFC 84 when Wanderlei Silva brutally knocked him out in thirty-six seconds. Despite a rebound victory over Brandon Vera at UFC 89, Jardine then lost to Quinton Jack by decision at UFC 96, Thiago Silva by knockout at UFC 102, Ryan Bader by knockout at UFC 110, and a tough split decision loss to Matt Hamill at the Ultimate Fighter Finale.
Jardine has fought some undeniably tough competition in the UFC, and would be a valuable add-on for a promotion like Strikeforce or Bellator.
Tags: Brandon Vera, Chuck Liddell-, dana white, Dean, forrest griffin, Keith Jardine, loss, Matt Hamill, MMA Gear, Pro MMA Gear, Quinton Jack, Ryan Bader, The Ultimate Fighter, Thiago Silva, UFC, UFC president, ULTIMATE, ultimate fighter finale, wanderlei silva
Posted in Contributors, Five Ounces of Pain, MMA Blog, MMA Blog News, Syndication | No Comments »
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