GREASED - Continued

On the heels of reports stirring that Dana White things GSP was, indeed, grease the man himself has release his statement to the NSAC. In response to BJ Penn's "greasing" allegations Georges St. Pierre's camp has released a 17-page document sent to Keith Kizer (Executive Director, NSAC). In the reply Phil Nurse (primary cornerman in question) and Greg Jackson (head trainer) outline, in detail, their defense, support and "exhibits" from Steven Friend (holistic healer) and John Danaher (BJJ coach). The letter explains they "vehemently deny any allegations as to the intentional and illegal use of 'grease' for Georges' benefit during UFC 94. We would, however, like to summarize the events of that evening , as well as the statements and exhibits attached to this letter."
You can see the letter in its entirety here: GSP response to NSAC



The letter goes on to detail how it "would be an extraordinary feat of ingenuity and dexterity to do so [grease] ambidextrously and completely under the supervision of at least one deputy athletic commissioner and within view of thousands of spectators and numerous television cameras." They have a point. As soon as a member of the crowd expressed suspicion they were watched very closely.
When the letter begins they explain how the practice was developed by Steven Friend (Holistic healer) and that it has been used on several other fighters, as well as was used on a clothed GSP in the locker room. The letter also makes a point to mention that Steven was referred to GSP by Dana White.
One passage I found particularly funny (sarcastic?) was after the "extraordinary feat of ingenuity" section they go on to say "Any finding to the contrary [that they did not grease Georges] would necessarily conclude that the prior history of the development of the [breathing]technique, the use of the technique by another fighter, the history of the use of the technique on Georges, particularly while dressed in the locker room, was all an elaborate ruse to cheat and disguise the application of a minuscule amount of Vaseline to Georges' back."
I think they are on to something? Conspiracy theorist chime in. The breathing technique that has been used for some time. Initially being used on Randy Couture circa 2006.
In Mr. Friend's contribution of the letter he explains the breathing technique, how it applied and why it should work. He also goes on to say "such an intentional action [greasing] would not only be unethical but contrary to Georges' and his corners' character..."

I have felt this way all along but my conclusion is any Vaseline rubbed was minuscule -at best- and completely unintentional.

Chime in with your thoughts. More to come later on INKED-UFC 98/99 & Strikeforce

Forget something? Comments? E-mail me at samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com

Mid-week news, rumors and more...

Injury Report:
Brian Bowels (7-0) will not be facing Miguel Torres April 5 at WEC 40. Members of ATT, Florida have confirmed Bowels suffered a back injury during training that he will not recover from in time for the fight. In his place will be Shooto veteran Takeya Mizugaki. Mizugaki (11-2-2) will be making his U.S. and WEC debut at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, IL against Torres. The Japan-native -coming off a 5-win streak- will be facing the 35-1 Torres in a five-round title bout.

INKED:
The UFC has signed MiddleWeight stand out (rumored to be top-15) Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1-2). No word yet on how long the deal is; however, the 33-year-old should make an impact once he debuts. He is a decorated Judo black belt with wins over some of some of K-1's best guys (Kang, Manhoef). While the UFC plans for a summer debut, with no word on who the opponent is all we can expect is an exciting fight. Akiyama has never had a fight go to decision, with 7 submissions and 5 (T)KO's.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...
UFC's Fight Night 18 has announced the completion of the card. Follow this link. I'm most looking forward to the Ricardo Almeida - Matt Horwich & Cole Miller - Junie "Made-me-want-to-never-watch-TUF-again" Browning fights. (Cole better kick his ass!)

UFC has also signed an "Official Spirit" sponsor. Tequila Cazadores will be the "Official Spirit of the UFC" (WOW). *According to a recent press release, “Tequila CAZADORES will be featured nationally through Pay-Per-View broadcasts, digital and print media content as well as venue signage throughout the year. In addition, Tequila CAZADORES will host special adult consumer tastings, events, and promotions to support the Sponsorship.” (*courtesy CagePotato.com)

Strikeforece's April 11 show is coming together nicely. While Shamrock v Diaz is the headline; the card will also feature Melendez-Thomson II for the title. Also on the card is Jake Shields v. Joe "worst-tattoos-in-MMA" Riggs and Benji Radach v. Scott Smith.

GREASED:
Dana White thinks GSP was greased at UFC 94. However, though he thinks cornerman Phil Nurse was cheating, he lays no blame on the Canadian champion. Heard here: with Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press, White expresses his views on what happened. The President also ends with a thought that BJ should stay at 155 "We both know that."

On the same topic you can see Jacob "Stitch" Duran giving his thoughts. He has two theories: either the cornerman (Phil Nurse) is very good and trained like the -days-of-old, or he's really bad and doesn't know what the hell he's doing. Either way... it's been done before and -though cornermen are no longer allowed to have vaseline or apply anything to the fighters- it will happen again.

Regarding Penn, he will likely return late July or August. While Florian was initially told a date of July 11th, the champion wont have it. Big brother/manager JD Penn told Sherdog.com (via text) "No, it's too close to his last fight. He wants to spend time with his baby." His daughter, Aeva, was born in October last year. He spent most of her first few months preparing for the Jan. 31st fight with GSP. Again via text, Brother Penn added "We are still negotiating the fight. No date scheduled, but we are thinking late July or early August." Whatever BJ wants BJ gets I guess.
Timelines are not so easy to flex for the challenger, Florian. Unlike Penn, he comes from humble beginnings and budgets his paydays. A July/August pay day would put him 8-9 months out from his last fight (Nov. against Stevenson). However, he's willing to wait if in means he'll get the best Penn yet.

Forget something? Comments? E-mail me at samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com

UFC 95 Recap

What a good relaxing weekend. Nothing better than making Italian and settling down for some good fights.
To start, a quick run down of the winners and losers.

Main Card
Sanchez def. Stevenson via Uni. Dec. (R3,M5)
Hardy def. Markham via KO (R1,M1:05)
Marquardt def. Gouveia via gassing... TKO (R3, M3:10)
Maia def. Sonnen via Submission (tri-choke) (R1, M2:37)
Thiago def. Koscheck via KO (R1, M3:21)

Prelim Card
Etim def. Cobb via TKO (head-kick) (R2, M.10)
Dos Santos def. Struve via TKO (R1, M.54)
Dunham def. Eklund via KO (R1, M2:14)
Ciesnolevicz def. Grove via Submission (heel-hook) (R1, M1:03)
Kelly def. Mandaloniz via Uni. Dec. (R3, M5)

And now the fun part...
Sanchez v Stevenson was slightly boring and not the "I'm going to eat your children" bout I think most of us were expecting. What was with the entrance by the way?!?! "YES!! YES!! YES!!" ??
While Sanchez was aggressive, he didn't present that "Nightmare" fury I was looking for. However, his efforts were enough to get him an Unanimous Decision and earn them both an extra $40,000 for fight of the night.

Hardy -admittedly- came in with something to prove. He stated in his post fight interview that he wanted to show "I can stand there with the best of 'em and trade punches." Well, he did. Markham is known for getting rattled and knocking people out. He did it in the IFL and I expected him to do it to Hardy. The Brit followed up with, "I was confident in my speed and my range." He did have a slight reach advantage over the Iowan, but I don't think that's all he had going for him. I'm not making excuses for Rory, but all the British boys won. Can jet-lag and a huge time difference have something to do with that? Maybe. Can it also be that the Brit's are bringing their "A" game? Probably.

I stated before I wish Marquardt and Gouveia's fight were the main event. I'll stand by that statement. They were more exciting than Sanchez-Stevenson and it was finished, barely in time, but nonetheless finished.

Maia v Sonnen was beautiful. Jitz at its finest. There's a reason Maia has so many titles.

Thiago v Koscheck... so much that could be said but will probably be left alone. Wait, Koscheck is a whiny bitch. Okay, moving on. Paulo had a great debut, even humble after his KO win. He said (via translator who also had a thick accent), "When he connected the upper cut, completely out. No, he is a good guy. It's not that he cannot defend himself, he is tough. The judge not stop it, he stopped it. He come and whine a little, to make a good show. You understand?" Oh we understand... barely, but we get it. Kos just whines like a little girl with a scratched knee.

Etim's toe-flick-head-kick-knock-out was great.
He's one to watch for. Young, quick and only room to improve.

Struve was nervous and Dos Santos had his way with him. It happens. It's his first time in front of a HUGE crowd, with millions watching on T.V. Hopefully he'll return, because his height alone will lead to some interesting fights if matched well enough.

I'm omitting addressing the Dunham-Eklund & Kelly-Mandaloniz fights.. just not feeling it.

But last, and certainly not least. Ciesnolevicz's win via heel-hook. As gross as it was to see it pop, it was perfectly executed.

Long time coming..

So it's been 8 or so months since I've posted. I'm going to try and make this a regular thing from now on.
In the 8, or so, months since the last post GSP has successfully defended the belt (twice), BJ got a stomp-down, Chuck and Hughes have been M.I.A., Spyder has showed us his blaze' side, Fedor surprisingly KO'd Andrie and not so surprisingly demolished Fatty Sylvia, Koppenhaver is officially "War Machine" (and possibly gay?), Burkman has been released, The LHW belt passed hands, The Brazilians are taking over and Kimo Leopoldo put his hat in the ring for CSAC CEO only to be arrested for Meth (and possibly impersonating a P.O). Phew... it's been a long 8 months.

Let's get off and running...
Most recently the WEC has eliminated the welter weight (170#) division and has added Flyweight (125#). All WEC WW's will be moved to the UFC. There are questions of when WEC title holder Carlos Condit will face GSP. Also moving over from the WEC is Chael Sonnen, who has previous UFC experience. Chael will be facing top-ranking Jiu Jitsu expert Demian Maia in UFC 95.

UFC 95 will be aired via tape-delay, from London's O2 Arena, free on SpikeTV Saturday 2/21(Check local listings). Accompanying Maia and Sonnen on the card will be (what I think should be the main event) Nate Marquardt v. Wilson Goveia. Headlining the event is Joe "Daddy" Stevenson v Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez. Making his third appearance in 4 months AKA team member Josh "KOS" Koscheck will be facing Brazil's undefeated B.O.P.E officer Paulo Thiago. As reported via CagePotato.com, Thiago has signed a one-fight-deal with the UFC. I wonder what's the catch.

In non-UFC news: StrikeForce has purchased parts of ProElite. Strikeforce C.E.O., Scott Coker, has been making the media rounds explaining the details (the ones they will release anyways) and future plans. If you're wondering, the CBS and Showtime deals were written into the purchase. A proposed 3 cards on CBS and up to 13 on Showtime should be aired in the next year -if all goes well. An April 11th show has already been announced, it will be broadcast on Showtime from San Jose, CA. The line up (as of now) is as follows courtesy MMAWeekly.com:
Strikeforce, April 11, Main Card Bouts (Bout order not confirmed):

-Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz
-Josh Thomson vs. TBA
-Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach
-Jake Shields vs. Joe Riggs
-Gilbert Melendez vs. TBA
-Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos vs. TBA

Strikeforce, April 11, Undercard Bouts (Bout order not confirmed):

-Raul Castillo vs. TBA
-Eric Lawson vs. Richard Montoya
-Luke Rockhold vs. TBA
-James Terry vs. Zak Bucia
-Jeremy Tavares vs. TBA-
-Marcus Royster vs. Yohan Banks

Maxim-posing Gina Carano should be on the organization's May card.

I can say I'm glad women's MMA is back and at it on a national stage. I understand it can be less "intense" than the men; however, it's great to see women get out there and show they can bang it out too.

Look for a new post soon!!!

Missed something? E-mail me at samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com