UNLEASH THE DRAGON (IN ROUND THREE)
“Part of this game is that you win some and you lose some.” – Lyoto Machida, heading into the UFC 123 main event with Quinton Jackson. Machida lost the first fight of his MMA career in May to Mauricio Rua at UFC 113. (MMA Junkie)
“A lot of times when people get knocked out for the first time, they are gun-shy, he might stay out of punching range and it could make for a boring fight.” – Jackson, who admitted that he felt cautious after his first knockout loss to Wanderlei Silva in 2003. (Bloody Elbow)
‘I want to go back to my old Pride days when I used to fight to put on a show.” – Jackson, who belly-ached from the Jimmy Kimmel Show to ESPN’s SportsCenter that Machida fought a boring style. (Sherdog)
“‘Rampage’ is known to be aggressive, and I like to stand up. Put those two styles together, and it’s a good match.” – Machida.
“I just get some cats, or some chickens, and just lock them in the Octagon and I see if I can catch them little tricky bastards.” – Jackson, detailing how he trained to handle Machida’s mobility. (UFC.com)
“After the fight Quinton Jackson came up to me and said ‘No, you won the fight.'” – Machida, who lost a split decision while winning the only decisive round in the fight. (SporTV.Globo.com)
“I had just gotten done getting punched in the face a couple times. Don’t pay me no mind.” – Jackson (Cagewriter)
“[I]t’s not easy to do that, but he added ‘Don’t you worry about that, you won the fight, and I’ll give you a rematch because I know I didn’t deserve this win.'” – Machida
“No. No. As far as I’m concerned, and apparently, as far as the judges are concerned, Rampage won that fight.” – UFC President Dana White, nixing talk of an immediate rematch. (Bloody Elbow)
“I don’t play favorites. I call ‘em like I see ‘em. Rampage Jackson won two rounds. It’s a three-round fight. You won two of them, he won one of them. You’re the winner.” – White, who awarded B.J. Penn and Mauricio Rua immediate rematches following controversial decisions within the past twelve months.
KARO IS A MESS, BRO
“For the last three fights, I’ve walked in cages feeling that I was going to die.” – Karo Parisyan, who has dealt with anxiety attacks and an addiction to painkillers since the UFC released him after he pulled out of a bout with Dustin Hazelett at UFC 106. (Sherdog)
“I’ll never put a fighter in harm’s way.” – UFC President Dana White, who gave Parisyan a fight at UFC 123. (MMA Fighting)
“‘Karo is a mess.’ I might have been a mess. I might still be a mess in a certain way. But I’m trying to put that leg forward.” – Parisyan, being put in harm’s way. (USA Today)
“You have to understand, people that have panic attacks, they don’t want to leave the house. They feel like they’re going to die.” – Parisyan
“I went halfway around the world in Australia. Fought a local town hero. Beat him in his own house, in his own game, and then came back home. That was something to prove. I proved something.” – Parisyan. It should be noted that Parisyan’s opponent in Australia, Ben Mortimer, lost his last fight to a gentleman named Rodney MacSwain.
“Karo Parisyan’s going to have to pull himself together and get his life together. He’s going to have to figure out the next chapter of his life. … Karo came in here tonight and proved he can’t compete at this level anymore.” – White, cutting Parisyan after Dennis Hallman knocked him out at UFC 123.
COKER FACE’S HEAVYWEIGHTS DETAIL 2011 PLANS
“Strikeforce want me to return in March against Fedor [Emelianenko] or [Alistair] Overeem, but I’m looking forward to having a fight before that one.” – Fabricio Werdum, who submitted former number one heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in June. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker plans on pitting his heavyweight stars against each other multiple times in 2011. (Sherdog)
“I don’t have an exclusive contract with Strikeforce, only for the U.S., and I got a nice proposal in Abu Dhabi and another one in Japan.” – Werdum
“I will be ready for Strikeforce as soon as I would say April, May, June.” – Alistair Overeem, Strikeforce heavyweight champion. So much for that whole “fighting in Strikeforce 18 times in 2010” idea. (MMA Fighting)
“I decided halfway [through] August that I was going to compete in K-1, because they didn’t want to fight me.” – Overeem, on the Emelianenko camp pussyfooting around his challenge to fight the Russian.
“I already fought Brett [Rogers] coming out of a loss to Fedor. People gave me a lot of [expletive] for that. ‘Yeah, you’re a fighting a guy who lost, this and that.’ I’m not interested in doing that anymore.” – Overeem, hoping to fight Werdum.
DANA WHITE LOVES RANKINGS SO MUCH IT HURTS
“We’ve got a lot of media guys here; what has Alistair Overeem done to be ranked in the top 10 of mixed martial arts’ heavyweight division?” – UFC President Dana White. The better question is “Which heavyweights have a better list of accomplishments than Overeem?” (MMA Junkie)
“[A]nybody that wants to debate with me, and tell me why Alistair should be ranked, [expletive] fire away. I’m ready. I want to hear it. Can’t wait. If on your rankings you have him in the top 10, you should be [expletive] embarrassed.” – White. I’ve got just the man…
‘[T]he fact of the matter is that I’m a very active fighter and you can see that I’m a different fighter then I was at 205lbs. I’m undefeated since 2008 when I became heavyweight and even more important I have finished all the fights in the first round.” – Alistair Overeem, in between plates of horse sashimi and fending off hordes of Japanese pop stars. (Bloody Elbow)
“You know what this is? Another Fedor thing. UFC doesn’t have him, so we’re going to rank him in the top 10 even though the guy is only fighting in [expletive] K-1.” – White. Yes, Dana, the world is out to get you.
“After what Cain did to Brock it’s silly to give Brock a top 5 spot, but that’s my opinion.” – Overeem
“Listen, I like Alistair Overeem. I see him all the time. Cool guy. But there’s no urgency on my part to get him into the UFC.” – White. Well, it would go a long way toward proving your point, wouldn’t it?
RASHAD EVANS CLARIFIES STATEMENTS, PUTS FOOT IN MOUTH
“[S]ometimes it seems to me like they’re not wanting me to fight for the belt. Maybe that could just be me being paranoid but I’m like okay, if that’s the case then just let me know, you know, and I won’t fight for the belt.” – Rashad Evans, scheduled to fight Mauricio Rua for the UFC light heavyweight belt sometime in early 2011. (Pro MMA Radio)
“If the belt is about controlling who gets it or controlling who’s getting an opportunity then it loses all its authenticity to me anyway.” – Evans. To reiterate, Evans will be fighting for this belt within the next six months.
“That’s where that comment was coming from. It was coming from like, oh, so if this is something that is controlled by the UFC and if it’s not a favoritism thing then let me fight and let me get a chance to fight your champion.” – Evans, who’s had the chance to fight the champion since he defeated Quinton Jackson at UFC 114.
WHITE NOISE
‘This is definitely his last chance. And he knows that, too.” – UFC President Dana White, on Tito Ortiz’s scheduled fight with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Just ask Karo Parisyan, Mirko Filipovic, or B.J. Penn about Dana’s threats. Or, hell, just ask yourself, Tito. (MMA Weekly)
“This isn’t the [expletive] Ultimate Staring Competition, it’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship.” – White, upset about the lack of action in the third round between Maiquel Falcao and Gerald Harris. (Heavy.com)
“I’ll take a guy who loses a dog fight any day of the week over a guy who stares at somebody for 5 [expletive] minutes.” – White, explaining his love for Stephan Bonnar, Phil Baroni, and Mike Vick.
“If they don’t fight, you take points away. Those are the rules. These referees and judges got to start reading the [expletive] rule books man. They really do. They’re killing this thing.” – White
PARTING SHOTS
“I think once you’ve been where me, Lyoto Machida, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Matt Hughes have been, a lot of other stuff, it just seems boring.” – B.J. Penn, relating to Ham, the chimp that NASA sent into space in 1961. (CageReligion.com)
“You dance with your partner and [if] he makes a mistake and you catch him, you throw them on their head.” – Karo Parisyan, with a poetic summation of judo. (MMA Mania)
“I think sometimes Strikeforce they build up these guys like Herschel Walker, like the last fight I saw him in, he fought a guy that was 1-1 and he just looked bad.” – Keith Berry, King of the Cage/Warrior Challenge journeyman. Yeah, it’s outrageous that Strikeforce matched up a 44 year-old man with no professional MMA experience against a beatable 1-1 fighter. A disgrace to the sport, really. (MMA Weekly)
“When he came into the Cain and Brock fight, I turned around and I thought there was a fight in the stands. It was the loudest boo I’ve ever heard. … My expertise in being booed allowed me to know this was something different.” – Rashad Evans, on how much the fans love and appreciate Josh Koscheck. (Pro MMA Radio)
“I like GSP as a guy and I like Machida as a guy, I don’t like Rashad as a human being at all.” – Quinton Jackson, on how much he loves and appreciates Rashad Evans. (Fighters Only)
“We have all had to watch Brock Lesnar fart around. That guy is an embarrassment. … If he wasn’t in a cage he would still be running.” – Don Frye, being Don Frye. (HurtsBad.com)