General UFC Chit Chat/News

the_doctor199

Oh_Noes wrote: »

He is?

Yup Link

Hail 2 Da Thief

Bit of a random post but funny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJlSAj4H4tg

Xlami

http://mmajunkie.com/news/23515/press-release-announces-nick-diaz-to-box-jeff-lacy-manager-says-gsp-fight-still-possible.mma

Looking like Diaz looks set to fight Jeff Lacey. I just cannot get my head around this one, I know Diaz has said before he's driven by money but you'd wonder who wants to see him fight Lacy. I think Lacy is 5-4 in his last 9 and his last fight was a loss to an unknown. I don't see why Diaz would turn down the chance to fight GSP. It's a bit like Brian O'Driscoll moving to ruby league and playing for a second division side.

seadnamac

Xlami wrote: »

http://mmajunkie.com/news/23515/press-release-announces-nick-diaz-to-box-jeff-lacy-manager-says-gsp-fight-still-possible.mma

Looking like Diaz looks set to fight Jeff Lacey. I just cannot get my head around this one, I know Diaz has said before he's driven by money but you'd wonder who wants to see him fight Lacy. I think Lacy is 5-4 in his last 9 and his last fight was a loss to an unknown. I don't see why Diaz would turn down the chance to fight GSP. It's a bit like Brian O'Driscoll moving to ruby league and playing for a second division side.

That's the thing. I can't get my head around how anyone, including Diaz, could think Diaz could make more money in boxing, where he is a nobody, than MMA, where is he is an established name. There seems to be some misconception that he will just walk into a big money fight. He got $175,000 for the Daley fight, to think he will get anywhere near that for fighting Jeff Lacy is complete fantasy.

Professey Chin

Zuffa set to offer fighters accident insurance

The Ultimate Fighting Championship provides a $100,000 insurance policy on each fighter during one of its cards to cover any injuries the athlete sustains in a match. Most state athletic commissions require $50,000 worth of coverage and some require as low as $25,000 per athlete.

But the worst-case scenario for a mixed martial arts fighter is to suffer an injury days before a fight that requires him or her to pull out of a scheduled bout. That means no paycheck, as well as a stack of medical bills, because the event insurance only covered injuries suffered during a match. As independent contractors, the fighters are only paid if they compete and, until now, the UFC has not been responsible for paying for out-of-competition injuries.

Zuffa LLC, the company that owns both UFC and Strikeforce, is taking steps to erase that problem. Lorenzo Fertitta, the UFC’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the company plans to offer accident insurance that will cover approximately 350 athletes in the event of out-of-competition injury, effective June 1.

MMA fighters and boxers are not employees. They are independent contractors and thus aren’t eligible for things like health-care coverage.

But injuries to fighters, either in the cage or during training, can be disastrous. That’s why Fertitta said he and UFC president Dana White began looking into the potential of offering the fighters accident insurance nearly three years ago.

Zuffa will pay 100 percent of the premiums, Fertitta said, and will have a full-time employee who will coordinate the claims process.

“We looked at this as a necessity for the sport and something that needed to happen,” Fertitta said. “We have talked about this for a long time and we have always had the same position when asked how fighters could have insurance outside of the fights. Like we said, it’s tough enough to get insurance just as a business, in and of itself, with how expensive it is.

“When you go to an underwriter and say, ‘Hey, we potentially want to insure 400 ultimate fighters,’ they pretty much close the door on you pretty quickly. We didn’t just give up, given the responses we were getting and the answers we were getting from a lot of these carriers. We continued on and it has been a 24-to-36-month process we have been going through to do it. We were adamant we were going to find a way to put this together.”

Fertitta said Zuffa has paid expenses for fighters who suffered training injuries previously, but noted that by getting a carrier – Houston Casualty Insurance Company, an A+ rated carrier by A.M. Best – the new plan will guarantee that all are covered.

The insurance the fighters are being provided is separate and distinct from health care insurance many workers get through their employers, which pays for things like doctor’s visits, hospitalization and prescription drugs. Zuffa is not offering the fighters that type of coverage.

But the accident coverage would have been helpful to former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz several years ago. He injured his back in a fight and filed a claim under the UFC’s plan. But because Ortiz had done an interview in which he said the injury occurred in training, the insurance carrier denied the claim.

With the policy Zuffa is providing its fighters as of June 1, the injury Ortiz suffered would have been covered. And because it is accident insurance, the plan will cover a fighter if, for example, he slips while walking on ice and sprains an ankle.

“This will cover accidents that occur while a fighter is under contract with us,” Zuffa general counsel Lawrence Epstein said. “Those accidents could occur in training or it could also be something like an automobile accident. A fighter could be driving to the grocery store and gets involved in an automobile accident and has an injury. This policy would cover him.

“It’s not a policy you would typically see in an employer-employee relationship. It’s more akin to an auto insurance scenario, where any acute injury is going to be covered. Training injuries, a guy falls down the stairs, an automobile accident, those would be covered, but it wouldn’t be something like the flu or some disease or illness. It would only cover accident-related injuries.”

Some excellent news there

seadnamac

Great news. And there were those who said they were merging all the talent so fighters would have no other options so they could pay them less and take their rights. I guess not...

El Guapo!

UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar will aim to make it three straight when he faces Karlos Vemola at UFC on Versus 5 on Aug. 14, sources close to the fight confirmed with MMA Fighting.

The UFC on Versus 5 event has not yet been officially announced, but early reports indicate the event will likely take place at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisc.

The 34-year-old fan favorite Bonnar is coming off a unanimous decision win over Igor Pokrajac in December and a second-round TKO over Krzysztof Soszynski last July.

Fighting out of London, Vemola, 25, made his UFC debut last July and lost in a heavyweight contest to Jon Madsen via unanimous decision. For his next trip inside the UFC cage, Vemola moved down to 205 and scored a first-round TKO against Seth Petruzelli.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/05/10/stephan-bonnar-vs-karlos-vemola-booked-for-ufc-on-versus-5/

Could be a tough one for Bonnar. Vermola dropped down to 205 and seems much more comfortable there.

MrStuffins

Dean09 wrote: »

Could be a tough one for Bonnar. Vermola dropped down to 205 and seems much more comfortable there.

and he looked great v Petruzelli

pauldoo

Sonnens appeal is draggin on

Jim miller is fighting ben henderson-that should be pretty good-miller will have to get a title shot if he wins that

MrStuffins

UFC officials have released promising Brazilian fighter Maiquel Falcao and pulled him from a UFC 134 bout with Tom Lawlor.

A representative from Prime Fighters Management and DCA, Falcao's management companies, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of the release overnight.

The rep said Falcao's 2002 arrest still plagues the fighter, and with fans and media contacting the UFC and demanding his removal from the summer card in Rio de Janeiro, officials ultimately decided to sever ties with the middleweight.

MMAjunkie.com reported on the years-old charge back in December, when authorities detained Falcao seven years after a 2002 assault charge.

"In 2002, I was at a club with a couple of friends, and one of them had an argument with another group of guys," Falcao told MMAjunkie.com in December. "They started fighting, and soon it became a fight between two groups. One girl got injured in the lips during this mess and took me and my friends to court. I was considered guilty for aggression."

According to Falcao's camp, the Brazilian was ordered to serve a 24-month house-arrest sentence. After eight months, Falcao moved to a new home, though his lawyer advised him that the Brazilian authorities would have no issue with him completing the sentence in a new location.

Back in December, Falcao returned to his hometown, as he reportedly has several times since 2002, but authorities elected to take him into custody. The detainment came a month after his first UFC win (and a much higher profile locally). In fact, they detained him immediately after he completed an interview with a local television station about his UFC debut.

"The [natural] response was that of shock, but after talking with the UFC earlier ... this afternoon, it became a lot clearer to us as to why they had made the decision," a representative stated in an email to MMAjunkie.com. "Although we are all naturally disappointed, the decision has been respected."

However, the fighter's camp is confident the situation will be resolved later this year.

"All charges relating to this matter will be dropped in September 2011," the rep stated.

Falcao, who owns a solid 26-3 pro record (with 21 knockouts), was slated to fight Alessio Sakara in March at UFC on Versus 3. However, he was forced off the card due to injury and recently was booked for the fight with Lawlor.

Despite the loss of that booking, Falcao's camp believes he'll be back in the organization soon enough.

"Maiquel Falcao will continue to fight on, and we believe that this is only a temporary departure and Maiquel will once again be back inside the octagon," the rep stated. "We would like to thank the UFC for their support when Maiquel was arrested back in December 2010 and when he was out injured."

"Maiquel would also like to thank the fans for their continued support shown to him."

Bit of a strange one this!

Source

the_doctor199

Not exactly the best kept secret but Dan Hardy is fighting Chris Lytle in August, should be a great fight. Link

Xlami

Really looking forward to seeing Jim Miller. He's a guy who's really developed his game and progressed from a wrestler to a great all round fighter. He finished his last two impressively and looking forward to seeing him beat Henderson. Also just saw the most underrate middleweight Alan Belcher is making a return from his eye injury for the New Orleans card. Would really love to see this guy back to where he was before the injury. Another exciting Duke Roufus guy.

scudzilla

the_doctor199 wrote: »

Not exactly the best kept secret but Dan Hardy is fighting Chris Lytle in August, should be a great fight. Link

No secret but surprising it's in U.S. All pointers were putting it on an October UK card, quite high on the bill too

Mellor

When I first opened the link I was a bit confised, big UFC show didn't realy fit with the mention that it was UFC Live in the first line.

Then I seen the source of the artical, lol local papers

Zero-Cool

This is a strange one! UFC fighters will get bonuses for using Twitter based on how many fans they can get!

http://mashable.com/2011/05/12/ufc-bonuses-tweeting/

Xlami

Talk on twitter about a HUGE Announcement Dana is gonna make in 20 minutes. This should be interesting. Any predictions? Could be either a Diaz GSP announcement or TUF coaches.

El Guapo!

Well the more fans they get, the more attention the UFC gets. Their followers tell their friends who tell their friends etc etc......

seadnamac

Xlami wrote: »

Talk on twitter about a HUGE Announcement Dana is gonna make in 20 minutes. This should be interesting. Any predictions? Could be either a Diaz GSP announcement or TUF coaches.

Interesting alright...Maybe an Anthony Pettis .vs. Gilbert Melendez fight for an interim LW title??

El Guapo!

Xlami wrote: »

Talk on twitter about a HUGE Announcement Dana is gonna make in 20 minutes. This should be interesting. Any predictions? Could be either a Diaz GSP announcement or TUF coaches.

Maybe an addition to the card at UFC 130?

seadnamac

Lesnar has diverticulitis again. ****, poor guy. JDS v Carwin headlines 131.

Xlami

Jesus Hewanni and MMAWeekly are tweeting that Brock has his disease again and it's Carwin VS JDS at 131. **** craic.

seadnamac

F*cking hell, that could be his career.

El Guapo!

Aw Shít

Zero-Cool

aw man thats f*cked, feel really bad for him, he must be going mad!

JoeyJJ

Not good, JDS v Carwin will be some fight not too disappointed.

scudzilla

i don't like Brock but i wouldn't wish ill health on him, hope he gets better soon but i can't see him getting back for a long time

Turtyturd

scudzilla wrote: »

i don't like Brock but i wouldn't wish ill health on him, hope he gets better soon but i can't see him getting back for a long time

Anyone else think we might not see him again in the UFC?

JoeyJJ

Time to recruit a few boys from Strikeforce.

scudzilla

Turtyturd wrote: »

Anyone else think we might not see him again in the UFC?

yeah, can see him retiring, sooner or later UFC will get a bit pissed and end his contract. They can't keep promoting him for illnesses to flare up.

Xlami

Last three TUF's in a row haven't had the main event go ahead as planned. It's becomming a curse.