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PVT Mag 23: Who is the World's Top Heavyweight?
By: Marcelo Alonso
The 23rd edition of PVT Mag has been released, and its cover story centers on the UFC heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior "Cigano" dos Santos that headlines the first-ever UFC on Fox card on Nov. 12.
This fight, which promises to be one of the most anticipated, evenly-matched heavyweight fights in years, passes through a complete X-ray from PVT's journalists. In 24 full pages, PVT Mag 23 discusses how each fighter can take advantage and get the UFC crown.
PVT Mag analyzes the respective training camps of Velasquez and Cigano are analyzed, and Sherdog.com's Jordan Breen also weighs in on the fight, betting on a great battle.
Rorion Gracie with No Barriers
PVT Mag talks to UFC craetor Rorion Gracie, who isn't satisfied with MMA's direction. Talking exclusively with PVT Mag, Helio Gracie's older son criticized the current UFC and opines that the "best fighter isn't the UFC champion." He also affirms that his work with martial arts is just the beginning for him. Read and find out why.
Lens Wizard
No one has better memories from Pride than Susumu Nagao, who not only photographed every Pride show, but more than 70 UFC shows, being the only man to click the first 15 events from the promotion. One of the world's greatest MMA photographers gave PVT Mag some of his greatest shots, and in an interview reveals how UFC Rio made him recover the motivation to shoot MMA.
UFC 15, a Major Wrestling vs. Jiu-Jitsu Challenge
Recently PVT Mag featured a cover story, collecting the best Wrestling vs. Jiu-Jitsu fights in MMA history. This month, "Alonso's Relics" remembers UFC 15, where Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort first met, and Carlos Barreto was unexpectedly defeated by Dave Beneteau. These pages feature historical photos and Carlson Gracie's explanation of his athletes' failures: "One had too much sex, and the other ate too much."
Click here to read PVT Mag 23 for free. Read more -
ESPN MMA's Hot Button: Velasquez's Best Fight
By: Sherdog.com Staff
Every week inside ESPN.com's MMA section, two scribes debate the most pressing issues in the sport in the Hot Button.
This week, Sherdog.com Administrative Editor Jordan Breen and ESPN.com's Chuck Mindenhall examine whether or not Junior dos Santos is the best opponent for UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at this point in time.
With his ever-improving grappling and stalwart boxing, is "Cigano" the man who can offer Velasquez the kind of threat that he has yet to have in the Octagon? Or, is there another foil, such as Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, that makes for a more stylistically intriguing, or perhaps dangerous, fight for the former Arizona State Sun Devil?
Click here to read the latest ESPN MMA Hot Button. Read more -
Velasquez Pleased with Post-Op Progress
By: Sherdog.com Staff
Cain Velasquez | Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog.com
UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, less than a week after undergoing surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, appears to be satisfied with the procedure and the progress he has made since.
“Surgery went well. Back at Joe Grasso’s lifting legs. Best place to train,” a post from Velasquez’s Twitter account read on Monday.
Grasso runs the Elite Fitness gym in San Jose, Calif., close to where Velasquez trains full-time at the American Kickboxing Academy. The 28-year-old champion has not competed since he smashed through Brock Lesnar in the UFC 121 main event in October at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Velasquez, who was expected to defend his crown against Junior dos Santos sometime in early 2011, underwent surgery to repair his damaged shoulder on Jan. 13 and figures to miss a sizeable chunk of the calendar year while he mends.
Dos Santos will coach opposite Lesnar on Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, leading to a title eliminator between the two at UFC 131 in June.
Velasquez has finished eight of his first nine foes, six of them inside one round. A junior college national champion, he was a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State University. Victories against former Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight titleholder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, French kickboxer Cheick Kongo and former International Fight League standout Ben Rothwell anchor his resume. Read more -
PVT Mag: 'Yes He Cain!'
By: Marcelo Alonso
The new edition of PVT Mag recaps the clinching effort of newly-crowed UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.
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Besides the impressive and historical win over Brock Lesnar, PVT explores where the American Kickboxing Academy product came from and how this son of a Mexican immigrant became the most feared heavyweight in the world.
November’s PVT also goes behind the scenes of the MMA Fighter Exchange Program, where Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Patrick Cummins and Ryan Parsons had the opportunity to train in the most important MMA academies of Rio and also fall in love with the wonderful city.
In Alonso’s relics session we recall IVC 5, one of the bloodiest eight-man tournaments ever promoted in Brazil.
Continue Reading » PVT Mag 12 -
Soares Predicts Dos Santos Will KO Cain Velasquez
By: Sherdog.com Staff
Ed Soares, the manager for Junior dos Santos, discussing a matchup between JDS and Cain Velasquez during a recent interview on “The Savage Dog Show”:
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“That is going to be an incredible fight. To me, that is truly the best two heavyweights right now in the world fighting each other. I also think that there’s a few heavyweights out there -- I think Alistair [Overeem] is probably up in that mix because Alistair’s a great fighter. Of course you can never discredit Fedor. Granted, he got caught in a submission, but I’m just saying in the UFC right now, and I believe in the world, [JDS and Velasquez] are the two best heavyweights that are going to fight. … I’m thinking if anything, dos Santos is going to probably knock him out. If the fight finishes, if it doesn’t go to a decision, he’s going to knock him out. I think that’s his strongest [way to finish]. A TKO or a KO. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy task because Cain is super tough. He’s a complete fighter. Dos Santos is a very complete fighter. It’s just going to be who’s better prepared and who’s going to be able to execute the best strategy. I think that’s who’s going to win that fight.” -
UFC 121 ‘Lesnar vs. Velasquez’ Analysis: The Main Card
By: Tim Leidecker
Diego Sanchez file photo: Sherdog.com
UFC 121 “Lesnar vs. Velasquez” on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., will likely go down as the promotion’s “Show of the Year” for 2010 and probably its best since UFC 84 in May 2008.
There was so much to like about the event. The heavyweight title changed hands again. Diego Sanchez revived his career as a welterweight. Tito Ortiz passed the torch to one-time understudy Matt Hamill. And Brendan Schaub moved ever closer to becoming a Top 10 heavyweight.
Analysis follows for the five main card bouts at UFC 121. Read more -
The Dueling Heavyweight Titles
By: Jake Rossen
Mark Coleman, Mike Tyson and Fedor Emelianenko: J. Sherwood
For a good chunk of the 20th century, the world heavyweight title in boxing was considered to be the most prestigious achievement in all of sports. Other activities were really just metaphors for combat; boxing was combat, pure and undiluted. It makes sense that the toughest guy in the toughest sport was king.
But as far back as the 1940s, boxing had begun to cannibalize its own status with a series of organizations that sent fighters on a chase to “unify” titles. There was the WBA, the WBC, the NYSAC, the Universal -- men like Ali collected them like passport stamps. In spite of this and at least through Tyson’s streak in the 1980s, it was easy enough to communicate who was who.
Then more acronyms added more confusion, and fighters (or management) became less and less interested in defining true champions: Tyson fought both Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis years past the point of it mattering. At present, there are three “heavyweight champions” in boxing, two of them brothers who will never fight one another. The Klitschkos, immensely popular in Germany, barely register as celebrities in the States. No heavyweight title bout has appeared on American pay-per-view television in years. Even HBO, the sport’s biggest caregiver for over three decades, recently announced it was ceasing coverage of heavyweight bouts.
“We're out of the heavyweight division” HBO President Ross Greenburg told the Telegraph. “There isn't any interest in the U.S. and no one besides David Haye to challenge the Klitschkos.” Pretty brutal testimony for a class of men that were once cultural touchstones. Read more -
UFC 121 Postmortem: Brocktober Ends with a Thud
By: Jake Rossen
Cain Velasquez (right): Sherdog.com
Brock Lesnar’s fame prior to entering the UFC brought him a considerable amount of money and opportunity. It also brought some unrealistic expectations for a man with only six professional fights to his name.
Lesnar, 4-1 since his 2008 UFC debut, looked uncomfortable from the outset against contender Cain Velasquez on Saturday, getting into desperate punching exchanges and eventually suffering damage to the point that referee Herb Dean stopped the bout. His sole trump card -- takedown to position to landing molar-rattling punches -- was canceled the minute Velasquez popped up within seconds of being grounded. Taking the fight as sole proof, Lesnar’s is a reputation in search of a complete skill set.
Inexperience isn’t the only explanation: Velasquez only had eight fights himself. But there’s a world of difference between hosting a camp catered exclusively to you (Lesnar) and having the in-and-out daily camaraderie of a high-level gym (like Velasquez’s AKA) offering constant emotional and physical support. Lesnar has insulated himself from the sport and most of the world in his Minnesota compound. Being a misanthrope may seem like a good base for a career that involves harming people, but not when it also requires team energy and direction.
There was tremendous crowd reaction to Velasquez, but whether that was directed at his win or at the sheer adrenaline dump of seeing someone of Lesnar’s proportions beaten down is an open issue. Maybe they were simply rabid at the sight of a sport fight turning into a fight-fight: Lesnar and Velasquez dug into each other like they were in a parking lot.
Lesnar will be fine; there are plenty of fighters that can’t stop his takedown in the division, and he’ll win more than he loses. Velasquez, who is every bit as good as his coaches say, is a poor standard to hold yourself to. He’ll make a great champion for the UFC. Read more -
Couture on Velasquez: He’s the ‘Total Package’
By: Sherdog.com Staff
UFC hall of famer Randy Couture (pictured) weighed in on the performance of newly-crowned heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez on Saturday’s ESPN2 “MMA Live” UFC 121 special:
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“I think he’s got the total package. The work ethic; the conditioning, he’s put a well-rounded game together. He’s coming off his All American status as a collegiate wrestler.
“He showed some ground skills tonight. Using his feet; using the butterfly guard to get back up off the bottom underneath a huge man. He did what a lot of people didn’t think could be done tonight.” -
Primer: UFC 121
By: Jake Rossen
Jason MacDonald file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
There are audiences who are happy to watch movies, and then there are people who get hung up on box office grosses. For them, “Avatar” measuring only a 15 percent drop in its third weekend is a titillating statistic. I don’t understand this, but then again, “Jackass 3-D” making over $50 million in three days has to do something to your psyche.
The same is true for mixed martial arts: Most fans care only about the result, but some are heavily invested in how much fighters are paid, how many pay-per-views they can pull, and whether their promoter has seen the best possible result.
The UFC has two roads leading out of Saturday’s fight between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez: either Lesnar will win and maintain his status as the sport’s biggest draw, or Velasquez will offer an entirely new set of business opportunities as the promotion’s first Mexican heavyweight champion.
The key word is “opportunities.” Lesnar is a real-time attraction and virtually the only athlete in the sport of MMA that can make a substantial difference in box office business. He possesses only a fraction of the volatility that made Mike Tyson the fighter of his era, but produces the same uneasiness in spectators: the idea that something very bad could happen. It’s an impossible reputation to duplicate, and it survives only as long as Lesnar keeps winning.
Velasquez is a hypothetical. A Mexican champion should bring a stronger interest from that demographic, and it should be the kind of result that gives the sport a wider berth in culture, but previous attempts to exploit those emotions haven’t been successful. Diego Sanchez received only modest interest in his title runs; Tito Ortiz stretched credibility in appealing to the market. Maybe those passionate fans are less interested in a sport involving wrestling; maybe Velasquez is too reserved a personality.
Still, Velasquez is getting plenty of support, including a Los Angeles rally this week that had a healthy turnout. But practically speaking, most fighters should root for a Lesnar win Saturday. His popularity has a trickle-down effect: sponsors should pay more to appear on his undercards considering their visibility, which puts more money in athletes’ pockets.
Not that Velasquez particularly cares. Happy Brocktober. It might be the last. Read more
