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Alvarez on Training with Edgar: ‘Crazy Competitive’
By: Sherdog.com Staff
Eddie Alvarez on the “Savage Dog Show” last week describing his training sessions with UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar:
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“Me and Frankie are crazy competitive. We sort of have the same mentality, the same sort of work ethic. The relationship’s unbelievable. It’s like a fight every time. I don’t want him to get over on me. He doesn’t want me to get over on him. It’s tit for tat, back and forth. We get in each other’s faces and we make each other better. We trade secrets. … He’s the top in the world right now. He’s with the top organization in the world, and I’m looking to become the number one lightweight outside of the UFC. I find Frankie as no threat to me and I think he feels the same way. … What we’re both trying to achieve doesn’t conflict. We just make each other better every time we get together.” -
UFC 118 Postmortem: Lights Dim for Toney, Edgar Repeats, More
By: Jake Rossen
Randy Couture file photo: Sherdog.com
One way to get James Toney to stop talking: cutting off the blood supply to his brain.
Randy Couture performed a textbook arm-triangle choke against the veteran boxer and 0-0 fighter Saturday, fulfilling the expectations (and wishes) of most in the audience. The wrestler dropped Toney’s chances from about five percent down to zero by performing a low single ankle pick takedown, eliminating any possibility Toney could counter with a short strike. On the mat, Couture drowned him. Aside from the night he debuted against two grunting pituitary cases in 1997, it was far and away the least dangerous fight of the 47-year-old’s 13-year career. (Considering Couture’s willingness to fight a killer in virtually every one of his 22 prior UFC bouts, the break was well-deserved.)
By the time the fight adds up pay-per-view households, DVD sales and Spike reruns, it will become the most-watched boxer vs. wrestler mixed-style match in history. (Ali/Inoki, whatever its audience numbered, is a nothing: The wrestler couldn’t wrestle.) While predictable, the bout and its result exemplified the cultural shift in how our culture defines tough in combat sports. The Boston crowd was chanting “UFC” like the promotion was the home team and Toney was wearing a Yankees jersey; in less than four minutes, the boxer was splayed out on the mat, emasculated.
While many can appreciate the technique of controlled violence, prizefighting has always been about finding out who the toughest guy in the room is. Boxing, while a beautiful art to watch at its highest level, can’t wave that flag any longer. We didn’t need Couture/Toney to tell us that, but it’s the most visible evidence yet that MMA might be supplanting it sooner than expected.
Fair or not, Toney had a big “Boxer” banner on his chest this weekend. And for the first time in his 83-fight career, he got a good look at the ceiling at the same time his native sport got a good look at its future. Read more -
Edgar, Florian & Maynard on the SRN
Frankie Edgar file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar was joined by 155-pound contenders Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard on Monday’s Sherdog Radio Network programming.
The trio of lightweights discussed their bouts at Saturday’s UFC 118.
Listen to the shows here. Read more -
St. Pierre, Edgar Nominated for ESPYs
By: Brian Knapp
UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight titleholder Frankie Edgar have received nominations for ESPN’s annual ESPY Awards.
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The 29-year-old St. Pierre was nominated along with boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao for “Best Fighter.” Mayweather (2007-08) and Pacquiao (2009) have each won the award.
Arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts, St. Pierre has not lost a round in nearly three years. The Montreal-based welterweight has rattled off seven consecutive victories since his stunning technical knockout loss to Matt Serra -- a defeat he later avenged -- at UFC 69 in April 2007. St. Pierre carries with him one of the sport’s most impressive resumes, including a pair of wins over UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes and former two-division champion B.J. Penn. He last fought in March, when he cruised to a unanimous decision over the world-ranked Dan Hardy at UFC 111.
Edgar, 28, was nominated in the “Best Upset” category after he stunned Penn to capture the UFC lightweight crown in April. Other nominees are the University of Hawaii fast-pitch softball team (victory over top-ranked Alabama in the Tuscaloosa Super Regional), Northern Iowa men’s basketball team (toppled top-seeded Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament) and professional golfer Y.E. Yang (came from behind to defeat Tiger Woods in the 2009 United States Open).
The once-beaten Edgar used his speed and movement to outpoint Penn in a unanimous decision at UFC 112. He will defend his belt in a rematch with the Hawaiian at UFC 118 on Aug. 28 at the TD Garden in Boston.
Emanating from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, the 2010 ESPY Awards will air live on ESPN on July 14. The show has become a fixture of the sporting landscape since its debut in 1993. -
Edgar/Penn: The Sequel
By: Jake Rossen
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Most of the attention last weekend fell on Anderson Silva’s basket-case behavior against Demian Maia, with only marginal importance given to B.J. Penn’s closely contested loss to new champion Frankie Edgar. But the latter might wind up having the greatest number of victimizations. Think about:
Edgar Penn made media rounds week to promote an autobiography, and he all but guaranteed a summer rematch. That gives Edgar just enough time to sober up from the homecoming party before he begins sweating it off in the gym again. There’s something genuinely demoralizing about being asked to climb Everest, barely reaching the top, and then being asked to do it all over again.
Gray Maynard Speaking to Yahoo Tuesday, Maynard thinks he “blew it” by not casting himself as an obnoxious and verbally aggressive entrant. This is Dan Hardy Syndrome, and its effectiveness is well-documented. But Maynard has deserved his bid for a long time now. Penn/Edgar II leaves him to either sit and marinate in disappointment or risk his shot by taking another fight.
Penn It has to suck to go on a book publicity tour the day after you lose for the first time in over eight years in your natural weight class. Penn’s 170-pound ambitions are out the window for the time being.
Douglas Crosby The longtime MMA judge drew heat for giving all five rounds to Edgar, generous by any standards. Instead of either articulating his choices or simply shutting up, he reportedly went on a bizarre Internet spree of Scrabble-vomit essays that explained nothing. There is a certain posture that should accompany a sports official -- judge, ref, or commissioner.
The Fans Edgar/Penn, to put it plainly, was not that exciting. Penn’s stalking and Edgar’s beehive countering does not make for fireworks. Five rounds were enough. Ten might be too many. Read more -
Poll: Edgar-Penn Decision
By: Mike Fridley
The map below displays regional data for the current poll. Refresh (F5) to update:
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More from Edgar on ‘TUF’ Rejection, His Underground Start & ‘Jersey Shore’
By: Lutfi Sariahmed
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
More from Frankie Edgar:
On not making the first-season cast of “The Ultimate Fighter”: ”I made the cuts, the pad work and the jiu-jitsu cut and I got in front of the Spike people and they didn't pick me. I think it was just personality or who knows? (They) didn't like people from New Jersey? I don't know.”
“I came back (to New Jersey) and I was definitely bummed, but when I got the call (to fight at UFC 67 in February 2007) I definitely think it was related to me being there and performing in front of Joe (Silva) and those guys and I think that opened the door for me.”
About his start: “I fought my first fight in the New York underground on two weeks’ notice. It was an unsanctioned event. No rules. No weight classes. It was just a 15-minute round. I jumped right into it. I found this local gym that I'm no longer with. It just happened to be close to my house, that's why I ended up going there. I was training with them. They knew I wanted to fight. They had ties in New York City and they said there was an underground (event) in two weeks. I said I wanted the fight and they said we’ll see what happens. I was doing well with guys that had been training for a while just because of my toughness and wrestling background. I conned them into letting me fight and I fought. It was pretty cool.” Read more -
Edgar, Almeida Offering Seminars for Haiti Charity
By: Lutfi Sariahmed
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
One man is preparing for a bout in front of a hometown crowd next month; another is preparing for the biggest bout of his career in Abu Dhabi. But both Ricardo Almeida and Frankie Edgar are taking time out of their schedules to lend a hand in the relief efforts for the Haiti earthquake.
Almeida and Edgar will be offering MMA seminars at Thomas Clifford's Martial Arts Center this Wednesday in Orangeburg, N.Y., with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the American Red Cross for victims of the January quake.
“When (Almeida) approached me about it I jumped to it right away,” Edgar told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show” on Monday. “Actually, a college teammate of mine -- his family is from Haiti and he's got some family over there that he was trying to get in contact with. That hit kind of close to home, so I was happy to be able to be part of this.”
Almeida meets Matt Brown at UFC 111 on March 27 in Newark, N.J. Edgar, Almeida’s training partner, will challenge B.J. Penn for the lightweight title at UFC 112 on April 10 in Abu Dhabi.
The seminar will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. EST. There will be a $25 required donation to watch the event and a $50 donation to participate. The gym will also be raffling off tickets to UFC 111 in March. Read more -
New Questions: Slice, Edgar, Elbows & More
By: Jake Rossen
D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
Is the “12 to 6” elbow prohibition necessary?
By the time he had landed his fiftieth strike from mount, Jon Jones could reasonably start spending the winner’s share of the purse. Instead, he regressed into an old-school vale tudo mentality -- odd, since he just started fighting -- and delivered elbows with his fist pointed directly at the ceiling. Play-by-play commentator Joe Rogan huffed at the rule, which seems arbitrary in light of arching elbows being allowed, but point-of-elbow strikes look to have a far greater ability to sink themselves into an eye socket. Jones’ ground-and-pound is absolutely ferocious: it doesn’t need to be blinding.
What do you do with Kimbo Slice? Read more -
5 Questions: ‘TUF’ Finale Edition
By: Jake Rossen
D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
Is the Slice/Alexander catchweight a Kimbo preservative?
The UFC’s occupation with “catchweight” fights continues with Kimbo Slice meeting regular light-heavyweight Houston Alexander at 215 pounds; Slice has already condemned the weight cut as taxing. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of heavyweights of every conceivable talent level for Slice to have a run at. Why put him on diuretics? Possible answer: Slice losing via hammering KO to Alexander can easily be explained as being out of his element. Not as easily explained: what he was doing there in the first place.
What is Veach doing for Edgar? Read more
