Mark Munoz and Aaron Simpson are remarkably similar. Both have strong wrestling pedigrees: Munoz was a national champion at Oklahoma St. while Simpson was an All-American at Arizona St. They both coached in the wrestling Pac-10. Munoz helped UC-Davis to their first national champion, and Simpson was key to success at both Arizona St. and Cal Tech. They both got into the MMA game relatively late, but won right from the start. Munoz is 8-2 and Simpson is 7-1.
They are old friends, and even helped each other get into MMA when coaching wrestling. Check the 3:30 point in the video to hear how Simpson and Munoz discussed getting into MMA while coaching at the NCAA championships in 2007 at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich.
When they fight at UFC 123 at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich., two remarkably similar men will have to put their friendship aside. Munoz admits that he's not looking forward to punching Simpson, but he'll find a way.
"No, I'm not. I'll try to picture somebody else's face in front of him."
Dana White is a longtime boxing fan so he's seen on numerous occasions how rabid Mexican fight fans can be. Breaking into the Latino market has always been a goal of the UFC and they may finally have their guy if Mexican-American Cain Velasquez can pull the upset on UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar at UFC 121.
"If Cain Velasquez wins on Saturday night, for the Hispanic market, it's crazy," White told Karyn Bryant. "Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, when they have a champion, it's crazy."
White pointed to the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez as a prime example.
"It's like when Greg Haugen went down into Mexico City and said all that crazy stuff. I think that's this type of fight," said White.
The prefight talk for the 1993 match got nasty.
"(Chavez's 82-fight win streak consisted of) Tijuana taxi drivers that my mother could have knocked out," said Haugen. He also took a shot at the Mexican fans. "There aren't 130,000 Mexicans who can afford tickets."
Chavez hyped the fight by saying, "I really hate him bad. When he looks at me, I want to
vomit. I am going to give him the worst beating of his life. I am going to make
him swallow the words that came out of his dirty mouth."
Chavez-Haugen drew 130,000-plus fans in Mexico City.
Velasquez overcoming the might of Lesnar, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound monster, who looks like he came straight out of video game, only adds to the passion of the Latino fans.
"Brock Lesnar is the guy that the Mexican community wants to see Cain Velasquez smash," said White.
The fanbase starting getting revved up during a Velasquez rally last Sunday in Los Angeles. It was a wild scene attended by a thousand-plus fight fans.
His father, MMA legend Jens Pulver, may have taken a step away from the fight game, but one-year-old Karson is well on his way to a championship. Dressed in a onesie and baby Chuck Taylors, Karson runs sprints, works the bag, flips a tire and works on his takedown defense.
When Karson gets to the cage in 20 years, will his nickname be L'il L'il Evil? Really L'il Evil? L'il Evil Part Deux?
In fights that will take place sooner than 2029, "The Ultimate Fighter" alums Keith Jardine and Matt Hamill will fight at the TUF 11 finale on June 19.
The MMA world may never understand how close it was to losing its biggest draw forever. Brock Lesnar, who announced his return to active fighting this morning, talked about his ordeal with a serious intestinal disorder. He had multiple doctors suggest that life-altering surgery was almost a certainty. Lesnar went home, changed his diet and wished for the best.
"I was facing a colostomy bag," said Lesnar. "What they wanted to do was go in and remove the bad section of my colon. If the perforation wouldn't have healed itself, I was facing removing my colon.Then they can't reattach right away because of all the inflammation. So then I would've been wearing a colostomy bag for 6-8 weeks. Then they go in and reattach my intestines back together"
If that were the case, Lesnar was facing a tough decision with his fighting career.
"I would've probably retired."
The human body is amazing sometimes. Lesnar returned for another check up earlier this month and the doctor said he'd gotten a lottery ticket. No longer was the serious surgery a necessity.
It's a crazy story. And one can only imagine how much pain Lesnar was in when he was first rushed to hospital where they eventually struck a six-inch needle into his stomach to remove 14 cc's of fluid.
White reiterated what he told Cagewriter back in November that Lesnar was told by doctors that he'd been suffering from a lack of nutrients for close to a year and was probably operating at around 60 percent of his potential.
The biggest mystery in MMA just got more interesting with Randy Couture reiterating that Brock Lesnar's recovery is way ahead of what Dana White has been suggesting. Couture first told HDNet's Inside MMA and again repeated to Cagewriter that he spoke with Lesnar, who already said he was training. "He was very upbeat and very positive," said Couture. "He said that he was training again but he wasn't cleared yet to get on the mat and that he felt way better and that he'd be back in the spring."
Couture also said he was under the impression Lesnar already had his surgery and the situation was under control. That was Monday morning before Ultimate Fight Night 20 in Fairfax, Va. Meanwhile four hours later, White was still telling telling the Chad Dukes and LaVar Arrington Show on WJFK in Washington, D.C. that Lesnar may be out 16-18 months. So what's the real story? Is White setting us up for a dramatic return in the next few weeks?
Boxer James Toney believes he's a commodity and could be a huge pay-per-view draw in the mixed martial arts world. He's shown a dogged determination in tracking down a meeting with UFC president Dana White going from Boston to Memphis and last night here in Las Vegas to try and get that exlusive sit down.
Toney, a boxing champ in six different weight divisions with 11 world titles, said he would like to fight in the UFC.
"I'm here. We can do this. I was waiting for [Dana White] to give me a call and quit dodging me," Toney told Ariel Helwani from AOL FanHouse. "This will be the biggest fight ever, period. The biggest event."
White said he's open to talking to the 41-year-old Toney.
"Of all the guys they've tried to bring [over] from boxing, either guy who were shot or too old. James Toney is the real deal," White told Rogers SportsNet's Joe Ferraro. "He's a nasty, mean dude. We're going to sit down and talk tonight."
Toney said he loves the UFC and he's not about to speak badly about it. Although he did call Kimbo Slice, "Simba" and said he's a sideshow.
