Sean Strickland had some harsh words toward Luke Rockhold when asked about his retirement.
[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] had some harsh words toward [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag] when asked about his retirement.
Strickland (25-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) and Rockhold traded plenty of barbs when they were scheduled to fight last November at UFC 268, but the bout never materialized after Rockhold withdrew because of a back injury.
Rockhold (16-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC) ended up returning against Paulo Costa this past Saturday at UFC 278 in what turned out to be a wildly entertaining battle. Rockhold lost and announced his retirement, which means Strickland won’t get the opportunity to throw down with him.
“I’m actually glad that he retired, man,” Strickland said in an interview with The Schmo. “You will not meet a human being that meets Luke Rockhold and says, ‘Man, this is a solid guy. I want to go hang out with him.’ Luke Rockhold is the definition of what an uptight c*nt is, and I’m glad that I do not have to hear his name or see him in the MMA community.”
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Rockhold, a former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion, put up a valiant effort against Costa that won plenty of people over – but not Strickland, who said he didn’t even watch the fight.
“No one thought Luke was gonna win,” Strickland said. “We all knew that. You guys f*cking knew that. I knew that. F*cking guy is a champion. He does train. He wasn’t going to win, but like, he’s not a f*cking can. You don’t win a belt, even if he did win at a very easy time. You don’t win a belt and then f*cking suck.”
Strickland will look to rebound from his knockout loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 268 when he faces former title challenger Jared Cannonier in a Fight Night main event on Oct. 15.
“When a man gets knocked out cold in that fashion, let me tell you, not only can it change his fighting potentially, it can potentially change his life.”
[autotag]Dave Lovell[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] will never be the same after getting knocked out by [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag].
Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) knocked Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) out with a perfect head kick in Round 5 to capture the welterweight title this past Saturday at UFC 278.
With Usman’s dominance over the division, Edwards’ head coach Lovell wonders if Usman can come back after getting finished in such a brutal manner.
“When a man gets knocked out cold in that fashion, let me tell you, not only can it change his fighting potentially, it can potentially change his life,” Lovell said. “And especially Kamaru’s got that bully come forward style aggression. When a bully gets tamed and gets knocked out in that fashion, physically, he can get his body back, ready to come back, but can he mentally? That’s yet to play out. Does Kamaru come back a gun-shy fighter? Can he overcome it in this short amount of time, what Dana is talking about? Me, personally, I don’t think he can.”
“Mr. Masvidal, you little rat judas, your time will come also, but we’re picking on our terms.”
[autotag]Dave Lovell[/autotag] isn’t ready for [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] to grant [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag] a title shot.
Masvidal (35-16 MMA, 12-9 UFC) and Lovell’s star pupil Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) have been on a collision since 2019, but now that Edwards is UFC welterweight champion and Masvidal on a three-fight skid, Lovell said Masvidal has to wait his turn.
After Edwards dethroned Kamaru Usman with a stunning head-kick knockout to claim the welterweight title at UFC 278, Masvidal called him out. Although Edwards told MMA Fighting prior to beating Usman that he’d be willing to defend his title against Masvidal, Lovell would like to give “Gamebred” a taste of his own medicine.
“Leon has been climbing the hill for a long time, as you know,” Lovell told MMA Junkie. “And he’s tried to reach the top and each time he does, he’s been knocked back, knocked back, knocked back. But now he’s climbed the top. Now he can be the one at the top of the mountain knocking back people. Well, you can stand at the back of the line, Mr. Masvidal, for starters.”
He continued, “Mr. Masvidal, you little rat Judas, your time will come also, but we’re picking on our terms. The same way you told Leon wait at the back of the line, well you wait now, mate, because Leon is at the top of the hill.”
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Edwards and Masvidal’s rivalry stems from the infamous backstage incident after both men emerged victorious at UFC London in 2019. The pair chirped at each other backstage, which led to Masvidal attacking him with a combination – the infamous “three piece and a soda.” They almost settled their rivalry when they were booked for a grudge match at UFC 269 last December, but Masvidal withdrew due to injury.
Masvidal, who allegedly assaulted Colby Covington outside a Miami Beach restaurant just weeks after he lost to him in March at UFC 272, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and criminal mischief. His pre-trial hearing is slated for Aug. 31.
Leon Edwards’ muay Thai coach shuts down the notion that his knockout of Kamaru Usman was luck, but admits it was improbable.
[autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag]’ muay Thai coach Henry Cleminson rejects the notion the head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman that forced the welterweight title to change hands at UFC 278 wasn’t lucky, nor was it a fluke. However, he does admit it’s probably something that couldn’t be repeated.
Edwards (19-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) pulled off one of the most improbable finishes in UFC history this past Saturday when he finished Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) in the fifth round of their headlining bout in Salt Lake City. “Rocky” was down by a sizable margin on all scorecards as the fight was less than one minute from being decided by the judges, but then he took control of the situation and decided his own fate with the perfect kick.
Cleminson, who has been working with Edwards as a striking coach since just prior to his victory over Donald Cerrone in June 2018, said the head kick that put Usman to sleep was something that the team strategized and trained consistently through camp.
“It wasn’t a technique that I think was going to be there early doors,” Cleminson told MMA Junkie. “Without going into huge details about what we’re doing, there’s a lot of strategy. We drilled a lot of things with that. You can’t just go and throw a head kick, especially early doors. He’s probably going to be fresh, reactions are high. I thought it was a technique that was going to land later on with some of the work he’d done throughout the fight. I thought I would see him throw caution to the wind earlier on, but it was something we were strategizing to set up.”
Cleminson’s job, along with the rest of Edwards’ coaching staff, is to find tendencies and openings against opponents and figure out ways to expose them. Usman entered UFC 278 with 15 consecutive octagon victories, and only a few moments of real adversity along the way.
Still, though, every fighter has flaws in the way they operate, and Cleminson saw some in Usman.
“I was pretty confident that Usman at some point was going to move away from the punch to that side, and Leon saw it,” Cleminson said. “If you’re going to be ducking into head kicks, these things would happen. … I’ve pulled up some video and cut some video footage of the Colby (Covington) fight, (Rafael dos Anjos) as well, and he does it numerous times. I’m like, ‘This is a pattern forming. I think you can manipulate this.’ It’s all about timing.
“It’s not easy. I’m not saying you can just throw it, and it’s going to land. You have to have a bit of an element of surprise and a bit of strategy and timing. All the pieces fell into place at the right time for Leon. He’s that good. He was able to time it perfectly, which not many people can.”
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The highest level of MMA is all about minimizing mistakes on one end and taking advantage on the other. Edwards and Usman could fight 100 times, and the sequences that resulted in the head kick knockout might repeat themselves, but that doesn’t mean it was luck.
“I’ll say once in a lifetime,” Cleminson said. “If it happens again, I’ll be a lucky person. I’ve been involved in a lot of fights, seen a lot of fights, and you’ve got fighters that perhaps might need a knockout or whatever, but how many times does that actually happen? How many times would that happen against the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world? Live on telly all across the world. It just doesn’t happen. It was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime kind of an experience.”
Edwards has said in the aftermath of his title win that he managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat after what he considered one of his “worst performances.” Cleminson admits his nerves were growing as the seconds ticked off the clock, and Usman was on track for a win. Cleminson said he never felt like victory was impossible, though, so when Edwards landed the kick, he was shocked but not necessarily surprised.
“In the fifth round (the coaches) were both looking at each other like, ‘What’s going on? He doesn’t seem right,'” Cleminson said. “So we were worried. But to be honest, Leon, you don’t count him out. I think he found it from somewhere. Fair play to him. It was certainly worrying, but in true Leon fashion, keeps us on our toes.”
“I’ve been through so much the last few years,” Rockhold said. “I f*cking … thank you, fighting. Thank you, UFC. Thank you, Joe (Rogan). I f*cking can’t do this sh*t anymore. I gave it my all. I just didn’t … I’m f*cking old.”
Smith, who’s had issues with Rockhold in the past, wonders where this version of the former champion was all along, a version he thinks would have resonated with fans.
“It was raw. It was so raw,” Smith told Michael Bisping on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “Where was this f*cking guy 10 years ago? He’d be a f*cking superstar. I can get behind that guy. That guy who’s like, ‘I’m f*cking old,’ I’m with you. I can get behind that guy.”
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Rockhold was visibly exhausted throughout his back-and-forth war with Costa. It was his first fight in more than three years, and he took some heavy damage from the Brazilian powerhouse. However, Rockhold was able to go the distance for the first time in a loss, and Smith lauds him for the heart he showed.
“I see Luke Rockhold quitting, I’m watching him look for the door,” Smith said. “He’s looking for a way out and then decided not to take it, and that happened more than twice. It happened more than three times where he decided I don’t f*cking want to be here anymore and on his way to quitting, turned around before he got there and battled his way back into it. Personally, Luke and I don’t like each other.
“But I can respect being exhausted, being in a really hard fight with a really heavy hitter, with a guy who’s walking you down, and you’re so f*cking tired you can’t even breathe, and you got your nose splashed all the way across your face, you can barely stand up but still mustering the ability to battle back and stay in there and kind of give the fans a treat they didn’t deserve, because you should have been finished a long time ago.”
Coach Dave Lovell recalls his speech to Leon Edwards at UFC 278 that went viral after his title win.
[autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] stole the show at UFC 278, but so did his coach [autotag]Dave Lovell[/autotag].
This past Saturday, Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) claimed the UFC welterweight title in dramatic fashion by knocking out Kamaru Usman late in the fifth round of a fight that he was losing on the scorecards. But on top of being down on points, Edwards didn’t inspire a comeback given his work rate and body language in the cage.
Lovell knew something was wrong with Edwards, which is why a tough speech in between rounds was badly needed.
“He lost the second round, he lost the third round, and that’s when the panic started to set for me,” Lovell told MMA Junkie as he recalled what was going through his mind in between rounds at UFC 278. “I knew I had to do something. His body language – he wouldn’t look me in the eye. He was slumping in his chair. He looked dejected.
“I was like, ‘This is not you, son. What is wrong?’ I don’t know what it was, call it Godly intervention, but I had to shake this kid out of his slump. We’re in a world title fight, and you’re f*cking looking sorry for yourself. You didn’t come this far, all this work put in over the last six, seven years, to come to this country, and you’re going to bow out like a lamb? You’re content seeing this fight out without giving it your all? So I knew I had to do something, and it just rolled out that way.”
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Lovell’s corner work and talk in between rounds went viral online after the fight. It was clear his talk resonated with Edwards and helped him rally back to produce one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.
Lovell admits he’s not very familiar with social media, but did see the online reaction to his words. He’s happy that people liked it and hopes it can serve as an inspiration to others.
“Yeah, it’s got like over a million hits,” Lovell’s said. “If it inspires people, it can be a good thing. It was my inspiration to give Leon, but if people can take it, especially the youth of today can take it, that can inspire anyone in any walk of life. Stop feeling f*cking sorry for yourself and get out there and do it, then that’s great. That’s good for me. I’m happy.”
Luck had nothing to do with Leon Edwards’ dramatic win over Kamaru Usman at UFC 278.
[autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag]’ knockout of [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] at UFC 278 was shocking, stunning, dramatic, incredible, all of the above.
But this wasn’t a case of everyone-run-to-the-end-zone-and-the-quarterback-heaves-the-ball-in-the-air-hoping-for-the-best. No, this was a well executed play.
Wasn’t that obvious when Daniel Cormier broke it down on the UFC 278 broadcast? Edwards threw his left hand out with no intention of landing, only to get Usman to react. And when Usman reacted by leaning to his right just how Edwards thought he would, the head kick was there, and that was all she wrote.
Here’s a step-by-step for you (just in case):
If after looking at that you’re still of the opinion Edwards landed a lucky kick, then what about this video from BT Sport (see below) that shows Team Renegade coaches Henry Cleminson and Dave Lovell studying film and then drilling the technique with Edwards before UFC 278?
If you still think it was a lucky shot, well, you’re wrong. The proof is right there.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 278.
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
The pressure of being UFC champion and nearing a record winning streak might’ve been getting to Kamaru Usman.
LAS VEGAS – According to UFC president [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], the pressure of being welterweight champion might’ve been starting to get to [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag].
After five title defenses and a remarkable 15-0 record in the UFC, Usman, previously the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, suffered his first octagon defeat when he was dethroned by Leon Edwards this past Saturday.
Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) was in firm control heading into Round 5, but with one minute remaining, he was caught with a stunning head kick that put him out cold. Usman said he is ready for a trilogy with Edwards (19-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC), but White revealed that his situation was all starting to weigh on the former champion.
“We talked. He’s in great spirits,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Tuesday. “Obviously he wants the rematch bad, but he said, ‘I can’t tell you the weight that’s been lifted off me.’ There’s a lot of pressure that goes along with the run that he was on and tying and breaking Anderson’s record. All that stuff, there’s a lot of pressure. So, he’s looking forward to the rematch.”
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White had high praise for Edwards, too, who had to endure a tough road to becoming champion. The Brit had six fights scrapped, including three against unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev, before he finally got his title shot.
“He’s down. He’s ready to defend,” White said. “He’s ready to take on whatever it is. He’s going on a whirlwind media tour when he goes home. A lot of stuff changes when you get that belt, so his whole world is about to change in the next few weeks, but he’s ready for it.
“Talk about somebody that’s had nothing but bad luck, and one of the things that we’re talking about is that kid accepted the Khamzat fight two or three times, who was unranked. He’s legit, man. That kid is legit and was down to fight anybody, anytime, anywhere. He just had a really great string of bad luck.”
Leon Edwards got the win over Kamaru Usman, but Daniel Cormier can’t ignore what happened for most of 24 minutes.
[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] expects oddsmakers to favor [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] in a trilogy bout against [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag].
Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) dethroned Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) with an incredible head-kick knockout in this past Saturday’s UFC 278 headliner in Salt Lake City.
But before stopping Usman with less than one minute left in Round 5, Edwards was en route to losing a unanimous decision in a fight he was in which he was being dominated outside of the first round. The opening odds already have Usman as a sizable favorite against Edwards in a potential trilogy, and Cormier agrees.
“For Kamaru Usman, how much did this change? As a guy that’s been knocked out before, everything changes once you realize that it’s possible,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “When you have that aura of invincibility, that belief that you cannot be put out clean, you are willing to do a lot of things. Usman went out today for the very first time in his career, and I wonder how that’s going to affect him going forward. But if you think about the matchup and how it was going, and you have to bet the third fight, you’ve got to think that Usman is going to be the favorite, because he was cruising.
“He was doing a really good job of pressuring Leon Edwards, bullying Leon Edwards – those were Leon’s coaches words – and just really making him fight on his heels. But it was the moment that he didn’t back up is when Leon Edwards found that beautiful high kick. He went right hand, left hand straight. Didn’t throw either of those strikes to connect. He threw them just in order to get Usman’s hands up so that he could land the head kick that ultimately won him the championship. It was perfect.”
Edwards dominated Diaz for five rounds until he got rocked with less than a minute left, but “Rocky” survived. So if Diaz manages to beat undefeated Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in his upcoming UFC 279 headliner on Sept. 10, Edwards is more than happy to grant him a rematch.
“I would 100 percent give Nate a shot, though,” Edwards said on “The MMA Hour.” “The scenes would be crazy. I would 100 percent give Nate a shot, because Nate’s a G. I always said it, even after the fight: He is who he is. He’s one of the greatest. The game has never changed him. So if that does happen then Nate’s definitely getting a shot.”
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With UFC 279 being the final fight on his contract, Diaz, who hasn’t won since August 2019, would have to re-sign with the promotion for that to be possible. UFC president Dana White initially said Chimaev is next in line for a title shot if he beats Diaz, but Edwards is also open to a trilogy bout with Usman at Wembley Stadium in London.
