The Weekly Wrap: July 31 - August 6

Quoteworthy

“Not to sound arrogant -- and that’s the last thing I would ever want -- but these fights have been going really fast. I think it will take a top five guy to make it a great fight, and that’s what I’m looking for. I’m looking for that war.” -- Jon Jones to Sherdog.com following his decisive win over Vladimir Matyushenko

“I’m sore, tired, under the weather, over-trained and under-motivated and still tough enough to beat this guy.” -- Chael Sonnen on Anderson Silva at the UFC 117 press conference

“When you screw up, you have to own it. That stuff really gets under my skin. Take Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong did a number of things, and he gave himself cancer. He cheated, he did drugs and he gave himself cancer. Well, instead of saying, ‘Hey, listen, I cheated and gave myself cancer, don’t be like me,’ he actually made himself the victim and then went out and profited something like $15 million dollars from this ‘Hey, poor me, let’s find a cure for cancer’ campaign instead of just coming clean and saying, ‘Look, here’s what I did. I screwed myself up, and I hope people learn from my mistakes.’ You just watch these guys and can’t help but think, God, what a fraud. You got the whole Michael Phelps being a pothead thing, too. I’m just glad I’m in the business I’m in so I can get them in the cage and kick the crap out of them.” -- Chael Sonnen to Larry Pepe’s ProMMA Radio

“I never did an interview with Larry Pepe. I never spoke of Lance Armstrong ever. Never, not until just now.” -- Sonnen to MMAFighting.com

“When they’re talking smack, I think it looks bad for the sport and sets a bad example. I don’t want this sport to become pro wrestling, where we have to do monologues where we talk about how we’re going to beat somebody up. My previous fights should be enough to hype my next fight. If they’re not, then I should remain on the undercard.” -- Dustin Hazelett to Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show”

“I basically mastered the way that you have to switch over from the Japanese emotional style of fighting to the American emotion. We tend to be maybe a little bit more subtle. I had to do that, and then there was sort of a release that I could let myself go and get a little bit more emotional.” -- Takanori Gomi at a press conference following his win over Tyson Griffin

“If you have this many issues of not making weight, I don’t know. They need to figure something out more than the 20 percent penalty because it doesn’t seem like that’s motivation enough for people, because it seems like it keeps happening and it’s one thing that, you know, we’re a professional sport, you know, have a job to do and that’s part of the job, making weight.” -- Jon Fitch to MMAFighting.com, as transcribed by FightOpinion.com, on rumors that opponent Thiago Alves was again struggling with weight. Alves did miss weight on Friday.

“I just don’t think that it’s right to hit a woman -- period. I got the better of him, and I left.” -- Roger Huerta to TMZ.com on video that looks to show him dropping and stomping a guy who punched a woman outside a Texas nightclub

The Week Ahead

Anderson Silva looks to extend his record winning campaign by facing the most antagonizing opponent of his career at UFC 117, while the next heavyweight and welterweight title contenders are expected to become apparent.