Tag: Nick Diaz

Michael Bisping Retires As A Living Legend

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In a move that was poetic for how closely it resembled his rise to the top, and in particular his reaching of the pinnacle of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, Michael Bisping surprisingly announced his retirement yesterday on his “Believe You Me Podcast”.

Although I wouldn’t call it completely shocking; I think most believed “The Count” had one more fight left in him. Maybe it would be Nick Diaz. Maybe a rubber match with Luke Rockhold. A fight with Rashad Evans seemed about halfway home at one point, but it just was not to be. After a career that stretched 39 fights over 13+ years, Bisping has decided to hang them up rather than, in his own words, risk further damage to both of his fight-afflicted eyes. Not a horrible decision by any stretch.

I myself have had an interesting relationship with Bisping. I think a lot of fans, at least American ones, did. Here was this abrasive, loud, cocky as hell Brit that was insulting Hendo before being posterized with the h-bomb. But slowly, over time, I like many others have come to love him. He is a talented, tough SOB that always brought the fight and was one of the first to use his charm and mic skills to get the fights he wanted, which you have to respect. Towards the end of his career, 4 years after getting wrestlefucked into oblivion by Chael Sonnen in a #1 contender’s fight, Bisping got his shot at the 185lb belt on 17 days notice. We all know what happened on that night in 2016. “Larry Lefthook”, as he came to call himself, clipped the champion Rockhold with a left before finishing him off to become the most unlikely champion since Matt Serra. I remember jumping off my couch shocked, and elated beyond belief. No one deserved that more than Michael Bisping.

He’d win one more, a rematch against Henderson, before losing the belt to GSP and then losing again on a wayyyy too quick turnaround to Kelvin Gastelum. And that would end up being it. It would have been so incredible to hear the opening chord progression to “Song 2” one more time and get that chill up your spine before seeing Bisping himself bellow the “woohoo” and begin his march to the Octagon. Especially in London, as planned? Forget about it.

Instead the winningest fighter in UFC history leaves now, on his own terms, with more than one career’s worth of ups and downs and memories in his pocket and on his walls. He’ll still be around the company, no doubt. I wouldn’t be shocked if he started splitting some MC duties with Joe Rogan and Dan Hardy. It is going to be strange though, knowing the Bishop’s Ping won’t ever put on the 4 ounce gloves again.

Happy trails, Buddeh.

Nate “The Great” Marquardt Retires After A Helluva Career

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natemarquardt.com – I have learned that I can trust God in every situation and need to put him first. After 22 years as an athlete in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, I believe God is calling me in another direction. When an athlete, a fighter in particular, retires, their career’s obituary is often fluffed with the notion that they retire with “nothing to prove”. Well, Nate Marquardt, a fighters fighter if there ever was one, hasn’t had anything to prove for quite awhile.

Marquardt began training when he was 15, wayyyy before it was a thing to do, in 1994. Although a great striker, he has always been known as an extremely talented and obscenely strong grappler. Just a bull of a guy when he gets his hands on you.

At just 21, he became the King of Pancrase (what they call a titleholder). For those not in the know, Pancrase is not only a promotion but an MMA rule set/school of thought of it’s own with a few quirky rules, and Marquardt was largely dominant in it from 2000 until 2005. That year he made the move to the UFC, winning his first four fights before losing a Middleweight Title Fight to a guy named Anderson Silva.

He’d fight in the UFC for another five years, losing only three times (twice in title elimination fights against Yushin Okami and Chael P. Sonnen),  before dropping to 170 for Strikeforce and beating Tyron Woodley for the Welterweight strapped that had been vacated by Nick Diaz. He’d lose the belt in his next fight to Tarec Saffiedine (what in the fuck happened to him?) in 2013 and things have gone pretty steadily downhill since, a KO over a reeling CB Dollaway in Marquardt’s fourth fight back at 185 his only win of note, if that. But he always came to fight. And there was always an air of possibility. His skill set was just too well-rounded and too high-level for there not to be.

In the end, you see a fight like his 2016 bout against Thiago Santos, where a reputable vet can have all the guile in the world and still be made mincemeat of by a younger, explosive, hungry fighter like “Maretta”, and you realize it’s probably time to move on.

Unbeknownst to me, and probably many more, Marquardt has become really deep in his faith and says in the blog posted above he possibly will go into sports ministry, probably with an MMA/martial arts flavor. He’ll still train and teach MMA seminars, as it seems to never really leave you. To put it simply, Nate Marquardt is leaving to be ‘The Great” at something else, with a greater purpose. He has nothing left to prove, after all.

This Week In MMA and UFC

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UFC 214 is next week and is a STACKED card so instead of just putting out something next Friday or peppering in periodic updates, starting Monday I am going to use the entire week to cover it, save a quick peek you’ll find below. That leads to a pretty non-eventful few days over here on the MMA blog, but there are a few items of note to mention.

Brock Lesnar Returning?

This JUST broke yesterday evening. Twitter provocateur and MMA scoop ninja “Dizz” came out of America’s heartland to state that Brock Lesnar met with the UFC during International Fight Week, entered USADA’s testing pool, and will be returning to the Octagon. The UFC would obviously be all for a Lesnar return as he is an enormous draw, but it is a head-scratcher as to why Lesnar would do it, as he makes plenty of money on limited WWE appearances and has never seemed to really love professional fighting. I suppose his relationship with WWE could have soured again or something. Either way somehow Dizz is usually if not always fucking right so keep an eye on this.

https://twitter.com/TalkMMA/status/887612744060612608

Conor McGregor KO’d In Sparring?

Honestly either way this is much ado about nothing either way. Sometimes you just get caught, as many fighters have attested.

That said, the story went that two high-level pro boxers, Brandon Rios and Jessie Vargas, had come out and said they knew for a fact Conor had been KO’d in sparring, or something. Then Vargas came out and said he knew nothing and never said he did, or something. Then the picture below surfaced which clearly shows…something. Again, no matter which way you slice it it shouldn’t change anyone’s opinion of the fight. When highly trained grown men are swinging on each other, once in awhile someone is going to go down.

The Jon Jones/DC Social Media Beef Continues

I once threw down $10 on roulette in a small Indian casino in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire in hopes it would grow to $50 to buy the PPV and watch DC-Jones I. I pulled it off and watched the fight, the disappointment cascading down my spine as Jones lackadaisically toyed with a mentally burnt-the-fuck-out DC. I am trying to stay hype for DC-Jones II as on paper it could be one of the best ever, but shit like you see below makes me not want to even watch as it is not only annoying, but evidence we’re probably going to see a repeat of the first fight.

Dana White’s “Tuesday Night Contender Series” Seems Pretty Cool, I’m Still Not Buying Fight Pass

So every Tuesday this summer, Dana White will put together five or so fights made up of contenders from regional promotions around the country with the possibility that one or more of the more impressive combatants will be signed to the UFC. This is a really cool idea and the fights have seemed to be really entertaining, especially considering the commentary is provided by Urijah Faber and Snoop Dogg. However, and I’ll admit I don’t know how TV deals work, I’m skeptical that there is really something so important going on that FS1 can’t air “DWTNCS” rather than it. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to finally get me to order UFC Fight Pass, but this isn’t it.

Anderson Silva Calls Out Nick Diaz Because Sure, Why Not

I’m not a psychologist, but it would seem Anderson Silva, who I regard as the GOAT for what it’s worth, is having just as much trouble letting go of the spotlight and prestige of being a prizefighter as he is the actual act of getting in the cage and competing. This week, he is trying to bait Nick Diaz to come out of unofficial retirement and rematch him, as he knows this is a run-back Diaz himself has even pined for in the past. The problems number two, one being that this fight lacks any of the intrigue or relevance the original did and two, even more importantly, Diaz has not only shown an apathy for the fight game but is kind of in a bit of shit with USADA for not telling them where he is….4 times. After a life of not exactly loving being punched in the face, Nick Diaz has figured out a way to support himself by showing up places as Nick Diaz, and I don’t know if anything would make him give that up to train for and participate in a fight. However, if anyone could lure him back, it would be Anderson

Cain Velasquez Is Returning To Fight Stipe Miocic In October?

Back in March Cain Velasquez’s coach said the oft-injured former Heavyweight champ was rarely training and didn’t seem to be in a rush to resume his MMA career. Dana White has said himself in the past that when you stop giving a fuck to that extent maybe it’s time to pack it in. At 35 with more injuries than I care to even add up all over his Goddam body on his resume, maybe Velasquez is done.

OR MAYBE, as reported a couple days ago on bjpenn.com, which shoots about 50% from the line, Cain Velasquez is returning to face Stipe Miocic for the title at UFC 216 In October. Although I know I JUST speculated Cardio Cain could be finished with his career, making this bout would not be as unlikely as it seems. Velasquez was last expected to fight for belt last February, beat Travis Browne (before we realized he was spent) in July, and was supposed to fight Werdum in December before the NSAC was like, “bro, you are wayyyy too fucked up to fight“. Basically if he has healed enough legally he could be good to go. And you know what the crazy part is? He could pull it off.