Joe Rogan: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
Quoteworthy
“I don’t think the last fight was close, and the decision went the wrong way. It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on fighters not knowing what kind of officiating you’re getting. It’s gross. You should be able to leave it in the hands of the judges. You should be able to just fight. And we should point out that is the situation because of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. It has nothing to do with the UFC. People keep saying, ‘Oh, the UFC!’ We have no say whatsoever. And Keith Kizer has denied that there’s an issue. I think he needs to clean house. There’s a few very good judges surrounded by a bunch of incompetent morons who know nothing about the sport. They need to do something about that, because it’s ruining MMA. It’s making people think that this sport is corrupt. It has nothing to do with corruption. It’s sheer and total incompetence.” -- UFC color analyst Joe Rogan during “The Ultimate Fighter 12” Finale broadcast following the unpopular decision handed down in the Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia fight
“I kind of almost think not the opposite but differently in the sense that there’s always been -- I mean, I don’t know a time when there hasn’t been somebody arguing about some decision. You look back at any year of MMA. Let’s just stick to MMA. The last 10 years of MMA, you can go to any calendar year and find people complaining about something or another. And that’s understandable, especially at these higher-level fights. It’s one thing to sit at your computer or sit in front of your TV or sit in the crowd or even sit at the desk being their director and decide who you think should win that round or not, but at the end of the day, your decision’s not going to affect this guy’s career. The pressure isn’t there that is with an official judge.” -- Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer to the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show”
“My game’s still got a lot to improve on. So I just want to invite everybody to come along for the ride with me. ’Cause I’ve got a lot of improvements to do, so if they’re willing, I’d love to improve with you guys watching.” -- Jonathan Brookins after winning Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter”
“I fought at King of the Cage in 2007 or 2006, and I hit a guy so hard that he went out and he stopped breathing. They came in there and were pumping on his chest, and I was nauseous. I thought, ‘If I just killed that guy, I’m going to hang myself.’ Everybody afterwards was, like, ‘Man, that was awesome.’ And I was, like, ‘Yeah? Was it awesome that his family was there watching that? I didn’t want to fight anymore. I was sick to my stomach. I swore from that point that I wouldn’t fight guys who weren’t good anymore. Then I went out and fought like three more guys who sucked, so I guess I didn’t stick to my morals on that one.” -- Sean McCorkle to MMAFighting.com
“I had to tell [the referee]. [Pokrajac] hit me with like three or four of them. Finally, I was, like, ‘Steve [Mazzagatti], that’s four.’ I didn’t even care, really, because I didn’t want to lose my position. I felt myself bleeding, and then I said something. I was, like, ‘Come on, Steve. I’m bleeding because those were illegal.’ Then I made sure and tell him I was alright, though, because I didn’t want him standing us up, because I had side mount on him. It sucks when you have to ref your own fight.” -- Stephan Bonnar in a post-fight press conference on his win over Igor Pokrajac at “The Ultimate Fighter 12” Finale, as transcribed by MMAJunkie.com
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The Week Ahead
The UFC is likely to break records, as Georges St. Pierre heats up freezing Montreal against Josh Koscheck on Saturday at UFC 124. Plus, the final event from World Extreme Cagefighting features Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title and Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen for the bantamweight title on Dec. 16 at WEC 53.