Author Archive
The TapouT crew invades the Topps offices.
Back when you started Tapout, MMA was nearly unheard of in the mainstream and not nearly as popular as it is today. What has been the biggest reason for MMA’s increasing popularity in recent years?
DC: It goes back to the gladiator days. People just love to watch a fight. It appeals to the most basic human instincts. It’s man versus man and let’s see who wins. It’s as pure a sport as you’re going to get. You don’t have to know the rules to get into it. You can turn on a fight and watch it and understand what is going on. There are rules, but it’s really only the fighters who have to understand them. The reason why baseball and American football haven’t necessarily caught on overseas is that there are so many rules and if you don’t understand them it’s hard to get into the game.TK: Yeah, like in football for example, if you don’t get all of the first downs and all of penalties and everything it takes away from your ability to enjoy the game. But a fight is simple. It’s easy. If a fight breaks out on the street, you’re watching. Hell, if a fight breaks out in the stands at a UFC event, everyone is going to turn their heads and watch.
Do you think MMA will continue to gain popularity over time, or will it eventually level out and remain a niche sport?
DC: I think that 10-15 years down the line we’ll see MMA highlights on ESPN just as often as we see basketball or whatever. By then, we’ll see kids who have been training in MMA since they were 5 years old fighting and the stuff they will be able to do will blow away what guys are doing now. We haven’t seen guys who have been training in MMA as a complete sport for 20 years yet. We see guys who have been wrestling for that long, or boxing, but they haven’t been folding all of those elements into MMA for that long. It’s even been only in the past 2 years or so that you’re starting to see gyms that teach Tae Kwon Do or something like that are now offering MMA training. We’re on the ground floor of MMA right now, and as you see kids that have been training in MMA like kids train in football or basketball, you’ll see the sport evolve.
What is your take on the fights this weekend (UFC 111)?
TK: Well, George St. Pierre is a freaking monster. Everybody wonders why Dan Hardy is getting a title shot, but it’s because he’s been knocking everybody out. He’ll have to avoid GSP’s takedowns to win.
DC: I don’t know if he’ll (Hardy) be able to avoid takedowns. He’ll probably have to figure out a way to survive on the ground.
TK: And in the Mir/Carwin fight, Mir is going to try to takedown and submit Carwin because I’m not sure Mir can stand up and trade punches with Carwin.
(For Dan) You are a big collector. What are your favorite cards to collect and which cards mean the most to you?
DC: I’ve always liked the pioneers. Babe Ruth. Ty Cobb. I recently purchased the 1909 American Tobacco Ty Cobb with the red background. I love Jack Johnson. I have just about every single card of his that was ever made. Jackie Robinson. The pioneers. The guys who maybe didn’t know it at the time they were doing it, but they paved the way in their sports and made them what they are today. You know, maybe to them they weren’t out to change anything, they were just making a living and making something of themselves. It was pure then. That’s what I like, the purity of those early guys. To bring it back around to MMA, that’s where we are right now in our sport. People will look back on MMA in 100 years and look at the guys who are fighting today the same way we look at Ty Cobb or Jack Johnson. That’s why I love where we’re at in our sport right now. I’m just trying to soak it all in. This is our sport in it’s purist form, and I’m really enjoying it.
Lil Evil joins The Ground & Pound to talk WEC 47 and what his next move is.
Listen in as WEC 47′s Jens Pulver and UFC 111′s Dan Hardy join Hector Castro and guest co-host Jaco’s Ryan Loco give the fans an inside look into the world of MMA.
Joseph Benavidez looks to shock the MMA world by beating Miguel Torres.
Written by Samantha L. Johnson
Approaching what will most likely be the toughest fight of his career, Joseph Benavidez is preparing for a fifteen minute war with former champion, Miguel Torres. Benavidez has teammates Chad Mendes and Danny Castillo also fighting on WEC 47; which he believes, has helped make this training camp one of the best yet.
“There’s great energy around here, we’re always training hard,” said Benavidez. “It [having multiple guys preparing for a fight on the same day] does a lot of good having everyone in here on the same page with the same intensity.”
Opponent Miguel Torres last fought at WEC 42 in August where he lost the bantam weight title to Brian Bowles. After suffering his first loss in six years, Torres will be looking for a victory at all costs over the New Mexican. The pressure of facing someone with a record of 37-2 might get to some, but Benavidez has already fought the best of the best and views Torres as just another fight where anything can happen.
“He’s human, like anyone else,” said Benavidez. “I’m confident in my skills and I know I can go out there and hang with anyone in the world. It’s a fight, anything can happen. Fifteen minutes and you’ve got to be on, anything can happen… I was never in awe of Miguel. Of course, I was impressed by his skills, but there’s no reason at this level to fear anybody.”
That “no fear” mentality has helped Benavidez reach a record of 11-1, his lone loss at the hands of fellow top bantam weight Dominick Cruz at WEC 42. Having now experienced his first loss, Benavidez understands what a fighter goes through after a loss. He realizes that the Torres he faces on March 6, will be the best, most focused Torres anyone has seen in a while.
“I never felt as good as I did after my first loss,” explained Benavidez. “I had never been more focused or inspired. So I’m expecting the best Miguel Torres, not because he has new trainers, but because he’s coming off the loss. It’s going to feel really good to know that I beat the best Miguel Torres there was.”
The pressure of fighting a former champion is not something Benavidez thinks about; he trains with former feather weight champion Urijah Faber every day. Training at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, CA, Benavidez is constantly training with some of the top in the world.
Teammate and friend, Chad Mendes was a top-ranked NCAA wrestler throughout most of his college career. The camp also boasts the famed Muay Thai trainer Master Thong on its extensive roster. Training with top level contenders and elite trainers, Benavidez is confident he will be able to hand Miguel Torres his third loss at WEC 47 in Columbus, Ohio.
Leonard Garcia wants to win but also wants to make it exciting. (Courtesy of WEC.TV)
Written by Paul Delos Santos
Leonard Garcia left his last bout with a feeling he never wants to feel again — letting the fans down.
He lost his fight against Manny Gamburyan at WEC 44, but it wasn’t by the way Garcia imagined it would.
Gamburyan took Garcia down repeatedly to grind out a decision victory.
“I learned someone can hold you and win a fight,” Garcia said. “The crowd lost. Anyone who watched the fight lost. … They wanted to see an exciting fight.”
To remedy this, Garcia has started training his ground game more so than usual. He brought in a pair of wrestlers to help him prepare for his next bout at WEC 47. He will face George Roop.
Roop, an alum from season eight of The Ultimate Fighter, stepped into the fight after Garcia’s original opponent, Diego Nunez, was forced off the card with an injury.
“I don’t want to be taken down unless I want to go to the ground,” Garcia (13-5) said. “I feel like I’ve elevated more since the Gamburyan fight. … If (someone) is going to shoot in, they’re going to eat a knee or a right hand. It’s not going to the ground.”
Garcia said by having Joey Vierra and Carlos Patrick move into the house and train him, it helped motivate him to work on his ground game, which can only add to his explosive striking.
“Technically, stand up I don’t say I’m the most polished,” Garcia said. “But I’m one of the most feared guys. That’s my strong point. I’ve always been well known for that, so having these wrestlers here are helping me out.”
Garcia recalled the bout with Gamburyan, saying fans were calling Gamburyan a coward as he left the cage.
“That’s some thing I hope I never deal with,” Garcia said. “I don’t know if I could live with that after a major fight. Even if I won, that would be a hard pill to shallow.”
Garcia said Gamburyan talked to him after the fight and admitted that after Garcia clipped him with a hard shot, that Gamburyan wanted no part of Garcia’s devastating stand up capabilities, which in turn, forced him to take down Garcia to neutralize it.
It was a disappoint way to fight, considering Garcia has been known for bringing fan-friendly fights that are constantly in talk for fight of the night.
“I’m a crowd pleaser,” Garcia said. “I’m always going out there and going for the knockout. That’s a double-edged sword you’re playing with. This is the game we chose to play. I’m going out there to hit the guy more than he’s going to hit me.”
Garcia’s well-known relationship with Donald Cerrone is once again in full effect as both fighters are preparing for bouts. Combine that drive with the rest of Greg Jackson’s impressive group of fighters getting ready for bouts, it can only mean good things for Garcia and bad things for Roop.
“When (Cerrone) wins, it puts pressure on me,” Garcia said. “If he wins, I can’t come home after he won a fight. It doesn’t work that way. We literally try and kill each other, but he knows what he’s getting me ready for and having him geared for a title and me for a fight. He’s going to push me.”
