The Weekly Wrap: Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Quoteworthy

“I’ve realized a long time ago you’re going to have fans who love you and fans that hate you, and I’d rather go ahead and say what’s on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC ‘Oh you know the guy’s a great fighter and I have a lot of respect of him.’ And if I don’t mean it, then why is it even coming out of my mouth? Because whose interested in hearing that? You see the same cookie cutter responses. ‘Oh, who do you want to fight next? Well, whoever the UFC deems me; I just want to fight anybody.’ I’m like, man, I’ve heard that a thousand times. I want to fight [Brock] Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That’s what’s going through my mind.” -- Frank Mir in an interview with WXDX Radio in Pittsburgh

“I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and UFC fans for the stupid remarks. I respect Brock, all the other fighters and the sport of mixed martial arts. I’m sorry that I stepped out of line.” -- Mir in a mid-week apology on UFC.com

“When I got called in and they told me, ‘Listen man, this is an issue,’ I kind of had a smirk on my face the whole time. I was like, ‘You’re kidding, right? This is a joke, right?’ I’ve heard people say that this is to the death. I’ve heard people say about an opponent, ‘I’m going to kill him.’ I heard Brock say he was going to put his hand up my rear end to pull out a horseshoe. I didn’t hear anyone get too upset about that. No one’s been able to explain it to me yet. I thought we understood that what we say on camera is part of the entertainment aspect of our sport and we kind of get a little artistic license.” -- Mir to SI.com on the process leading to the apology

“What are you talking about? Six months ago, Nogueira’s back, and now he’s done again?” -- Ed Soares to MMAJunkie.com on questions about his client, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, after his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 110

“For the tendonitis, arthritis and other underlying problems, you need to rest the joint. For the frozen shoulder, rest will cause it [to] lock up further and you need to push the range of motion. So one process aggravates the other as I’ve learned after further research. Such is life.” -- Elvis Sinosic to SI.com on the shoulder injury that forced him to pull out of UFC 110

“This was the first time in my career I came [to the location of the fight] two weeks before [the fight] to adapt. I always underestimate so many things. I’m a very experienced fighter, but even in Japan, I came two days before. In my last fight in the States, I came two days before. They needed to wake me up before the fight. My coach needed to put ice on my back to wake me up. So I just underestimate so many things. Of course, there is fuel left in me, but you need to keep training more to keep in the game.” -- Mirko Filipovic at the UFC 110 post-fight press conference

“You have to train differently. When you’re going three-minute rounds, you’re relying on your fast-twitch muscles. Five-minute rounds -- you’re relying on slow-twitch muscles, but you want to keep up a good pace. I’m training six-minute rounds and six or seven rounds.” -- Sarah Kaufman to Yahoo! Sports

“I think we have to sit our butts in serious homework, read and review, watch what we’re doing well in training and [what] we are not. I will continue studying the rest of my life. This has worked so far. It may be that an hour is gone, but it is paying off. For me, I treat every fight as if I was studying for a [college] entrance exam.” -- UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva on his UFC 112 opponent, Demian Maia, in an interview with Tatame.com, as translated by Fightersonly.co.uk

“We believe that by combining select key experienced management executives who made ProElite the immediate success it was with new top executives with demonstrated successes in conducting and televising MMA events internationally and sufficient capital that we will achieve the brand’s strategy for global growth and success.” -- Stratus Media Group CEO Paul Feller on resurrecting Pro Elite

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The Week Ahead

The run up to WEC 47, which features a bantamweight title bout between undefeated champion Brian Bowles and the once-beaten Dominick Cruz.