The Official MMA Thread

[Kaius]

Sounds like he still has it.

[Peeps]

i thought silva's drugs was related to his injury, that it was more a healing steroid than a performance enhancing one

[Kaius]

I don't think it matters.

[BigRedLedbetter]

[warehouse]

well this is certainly depressing news. its hard to think anyone near the top of the ufc rankings is clean. and its laughable when there are headlines like "Silva and Diaz Fail Drug Test". Silva failed for PEDs, Diaz failed for smoking weed...which he has a script for. jones and cormier also has suspiciously low testosterone ratios after their fight, a sign someone is hiding steroid use. i love the sport, but this makes it look real, real bad.

favorite fights:
shogun v hendo 1 was the first that came to mind. i remember watching it in amazement.

wanderlie v stann-i think there were something like 5 knock downs in less than 2 rounds. incredible fight.

don frye v giant asian guy-if you know what i'm talking about, you probably agree

edgar v maynard 3-edgar is the toughest sob ever

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'm asking this in all seriousness and as not a die hard fan of MMA;

I've read a lot about how MMA is going to become one of the "big 4" in pro sports, and I think whats-his-name said a few years ago it would be bigger than the Super Bowl. How are you supposed to be looked at seriously when both fighters on the main ticket fail the drug test before the event but still partake in the main event?

[Kaius]

I'm asking this in all seriousness and as not a die hard fan of MMA;

I've read a lot about how MMA is going to become one of the "big 4" in pro sports, and I think whats-his-name said a few years ago it would be bigger than the Super Bowl. How are you supposed to be looked at seriously when both fighters on the main ticket fail the drug test before the event but still partake in the main event?

It will never be as big as the big "big 4", and I think that is only part of the reason. It will never be larger than boxing was in it's own glory days, which puts it well below the NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL in terms of popularity. It's still a niche sport with mostly meatball fans. This is coming from someone who used to watch a lot, still enjoys it but rarely watches, and has trained in some form of combat/martial arts most of his life therefore owning some personal appreciation for what they do.

The biggest difference to me is that with those other sports, you are rooting for a team. Individual players come and go, good and bad, but you always have your team. It's too hard to root for individual fighters. Their shelf life for success is typically short w/ flash KOs or bad performances, and they are flawed people who take drugs or commit crimes or put out a tweet that shows their dark side and quickly lose support.

I think it has already peaked, but will continue to make money and prosper at the level it's currently at.

[warehouse]

I'm asking this in all seriousness and as not a die hard fan of MMA;

I've read a lot about how MMA is going to become one of the "big 4" in pro sports, and I think whats-his-name said a few years ago it would be bigger than the Super Bowl. How are you supposed to be looked at seriously when both fighters on the main ticket fail the drug test before the event but still partake in the main event?

the fail drug test for diaz happened after the fight. i think they test them like right after. i read he did submit a clean test about a week before the fight, so obviously he smoked the week of the fight. but again, he tested positive for pot. i dont think anyone should care, i sure as fuck dont. in fact, i think more people should smoke pot.

there's no way MMA will ever compete with the big 4, even hockey being a pretty big distant 4th. the best they can hope for is the kinda attention boxing got in the 1990s. i know boxing was huge in like the 1960s-70s, but i dont think MMA could hope to be that big, even though i enjoy it more. also like kaius said, its not a team sport. i route for the teams from philly b/c this is where i'm from. there's literally thousands of fighters all over the world. i just think americans are used to routing for and against teams, not individuals. with that said, i really started following the ufc closely when frankie edgar won his belt. he is a few years older than me and wrestled in the same state, so i've known who he is since high school. than all of a sudden he beats bj penn lol.

[LoathedVermin72]

It's funny, part of the reason I can get into MMA and not other sports is because I've never understood why anyone would root for a team. Why do I care if the team is located in the same place I am? So what? A team's line-up is not fixed, and it's not like all of those people are from that place. It seems so arbitrary.

On the other hand, an individual has personality, and I can see their skills and talent on an individual level. I can become interested in them, invested in them, and I can even like them. To me, it makes sense to root for a person you like/admire/respect. A team seems too intangible (and it's not like I feel any pride for anywhere I live).

[warehouse]

routing for teams is a communal thing. you route for the team you are from b/c they represent your city in that sport, and you are proud of where you grew up.

there's actually some aspect of that in mma. not really location based, but bigger gyms get followings, like Greg? jackson's gym or uriah faber's team.

[LoathedVermin72]

routing for teams is a communal thing. you route for the team you are from b/c they represent your city in that sport, and you are proud of where you grew up.

there's actually some aspect of that in mma. not really location based, but bigger gyms get followings, like Greg? jackson's gym or uriah faber's team.

Makes sense that I can't get into that. I've never been in to "communal" anything.

[Kaius]

I understand you, LV. I think a lot of boxing or MMA fans share that mentality. Unfortunately when an individual fighter fucks up, he loses his fans or his job, and the sport usually suffers for it. When a team loses a player for any reason, it's still the same team. That team can carry on without him. The public blames the individual and continue to be fans.

Not saying there's anything wrong with either preference, but that's why mma will never be bigger than the big team leagues.

Golf is the only other major sport it should be compared to.

[Stickman]

**UFC president Dana White announced on Wednesday that despite his positive steroid test, that Anderson Silva will continue to serve as a coach on TUF Brazil. Filming of the series began this week in Las Vegas with Silva coaching alongside Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Once Silva is formally suspended by the NAC, they may refuse him the right to corner any fighters and prohibit his role on the show. The February 17th hearing that is a preliminary hearing and it is likely that Silva’s punishment will not come until a further hearing in which filming would be wrapped by.

**In Brazil, the Silva drug test story is massive news with one reporter telling me that it “can’t get any bigger than this”.

**Anderson Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, released the following statement to MMA Fighting:

I’ve been competing in this sport for a very long time. This is my nineteenth fight in the UFC. I have been thoroughly tested many times and have never had a positive drug test.

I have not taken any performance-enhancing drugs. My stance on drugs is, and will always be, the same. I’m an advocate for a clean sport.

I’m consulting with my advisors right now to explore all of my options and intend to fight this allegation and clear my name. I will not make any further comments until my team advises me to do so.

**Nick Diaz posted a photo on Instagram on Wednesday and included #dunfighting as he was posing in a cage with teammates of his. Diaz has retired many times before and it will ultimately come down to the punishment he receives from the Nevada Athletic Commission for his third drug test failure for marijuana in his career. Diaz failed his post-fight drug test with marijuana metabolites discovered and above the allowable limit of 150ng/mL (the threshold was raised in 2013 from 50 ng/mL in order to avoid punishing guys for smoking weeks out in the fight and reveals that Diaz likely smoked the week of the fight).

**In the wake of Silva’s January 9th random test revealing what it did, focus should now focus to the second out of competition test he was subjected to on January 19th and if the performance enhancers remained in his system, it would be a second failure for Silva. In total Silva was tested three times with the third being a urine test on fight night.


**Wanderlei Silva has posted a message that he has been offered a big deal by the WWE and asking fans for their feedback to the idea of him working for the WWE. This comes after Chael Sonnen was on TSN’s Off the Record this week stating both Silva and himself had been invited for WrestleMania weekend. The WWE was quick to deny they had invited Sonnen after he appeared on the show but since that time Silva has posted his story about the WWE contacting him.

There are a number of hurdles for the two to work with the WWE with the major one being permission from the UFC as both are still under contracts to the organization despite the inability to fight given their rulings last year by the Nevada Athletic Commission (Sonnen was handed a two-year suspension and likely rules out ever fighting again while Silva was given a lifetime ban by the NAC). All UFC contracts prohibit fighters from doing professional wrestling matches and would have to be cleared for them to do so.

Sonnen could do many things with the organization beyond wrestling. The idea of bringing in a 38 and 37 year old (Sonnen will be 38 in April) to start training from scratch is completely against the current mindset of the company and would more likely be a one off style of match and perhaps transition Sonnen into a commentator. Sonnen currently works for ESPN as an analyst.

On the WWE’s end, there is the perception issue of their top talent leaving the promotion and turning to MMA with the prior (and possibly future) example of Brock Lensar, CM Punk and even Alberto Del Rio being presented a number of fight offers from non-UFC promotions. This would be an act of the WWE bringing over two reputable names, but how much would they mean to a WWE audience? Putting the two out cold probably wouldn’t be a giant deal to your average WWE consumer and perhaps only some small curiosity out of the MMA audience to come and watch them do a match.


**Sarah Kaufman is angling for a rematch with Miesha Tate with a great Instagram video posted. In the video, Kaufman smashes a cupcake with her fist as “Roar” by Katy Perry is playing in the background, which is Tate’s walkout song. The two did fight in May 2009 with Kaufman winning by unanimous decision but Tate is a bigger name today than Kaufman. Both have an uphill battle as they have each lost to Ronda Rousey with Tate having lost twice.

**GLORY has announced a second U.S. television deal with a new deal announced with the CBS Sports Network. The new model will see GLORY run a big show on Spike TV and then take the preliminary fights on the card and air them on a one-week delay on CBS Sports Network the following Friday night. The promotion has a show tonight from Hampton, Virginia with Rico Verhoeven defending the heavyweight title against Errol Zimmerman as well as middleweight Joe Schilling taking on Robert Thomas plus a one night, four-man welterweight tournament (with the winner getting a title fight against Joseph Valtellini in the future) with tonight’s show airing on Spike TV in the U.S.

**Yet another injury has taken a fighter off of the UFC 184 card on February 28th with Yancy Medeiros out of his lightweight bout with Tony Ferguson. Medeiros will be replaced by Gleison Tibau in the bout, who just defeated Norman Parke on January 18th in Boston.

**Vagner Rocha is off the UFC 185 card on March 14th with Jake Lindsey taking his place to fight the debuting Joseph Duffy on that card in Dallas. Duffy comes into the UFC with the notoriety of being the last person to hold a win over Conor McGregor, from a fight at 155 pounds in 2010.

**A lightweight bout between Abel Trujillo and John Makdessi and a bantamweight bout between Yves Jabouin and Thomas Almeida have been added to the UFC 186 card on April 25th in Montreal at the Bell Centre.

**Another UFC main event has fallen apart with Raphael Assuncao unable to fight on the March 21st card in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Assuncao was hopeful his ankle fracture would heal in time for the fight with Urijah Faber on the card but that isn’t the case and Assuncao is off the card. UFC officials have announced that Faber will no longer be fighting on this card and the new main event will feature Demian Maia taking on Ryan LaFlare.

**Below is the Daniel Cormier “All About That Cake” video from the Fighters’ Only MMA Awards from last weekend:

[Stickman]

St-Pierre: ‘MMA drug-testing system is flawed’


Canadian Press
February 8, 2015, 11:02 AM


TORONTO — Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre says the current drug-testing system in mixed martial arts urgently needs fixing.

St-Pierre, a longtime advocate for improved testing, spoke out in the wake of former middeweight champion Anderson Silva testing positive for two steroids.

The 33-year-old from Montreal opted not to say much on Silva, saying it was not his style to kick a man when he’s down.

"I feel very sad for Anderson Silva," he offered.

"I don’t want to talk about one individual, I want to talk about the system," he added. "The system is a big problem in the sport of mixed martial arts … It’s something that I believe the UFC and fighters should confront and deal with it. Because if you don’t deal with it right now, it’s going to get worse and worse and worse."

MMA needs to model itself after Olympic sports, he said.

"They have random testing and the testing is done by a competent and an independent organization (the World Anti-Doping Association) that has no interest financially in the promotion of (the sport)," he told The Canadian Press.

MMA drug testing is usually carried out by state or provincial athletic commissions. The Nevada State Athletic Commission, for example, carried out the out-of-competition test on Silva in California last month.

That test was paid by the UFC, given that Silva was preparing for UFC 183.

Commissions traditionally take a percentage of the gate of fight cards they oversee. Nevada, for example, gets six per cent of the total gross receipts from admission fees, plus three per cent of the first million dollars and one per cent of the next $2 million of total gross receipts from broadcasting rights.

In Nevada, that money goes into the state’s general revenue fund.

St-Pierre says having an organization serving as watchdog over an event that brings it money does not make sense.

"I believe the athletic commission is doing a much better job now that it did in the past because they do random testing," St-Pierre said. "But they still have a lot of room for improvement."

Bob Bennett, executive director of the Nevada commission, said essentially the same thing in an interview this week.

Bennett acknowledged the current drug-testing policy is not all-encompassing but "at least it levels the playing field and lets the fighters and the promoters know that we have a pretty intensive performance-enhancing drug policy, even though there’s always room for improvement."

St-Pierre says the current system did not work with Silva because UFC 183 went ahead as planned with Silva in the main event. Test results were not made public until after the fight.

"The fight should be cancelled because it’s cheating, it’s a biological weapon that you have," St. Pierre argued. "If I fight someone with a knife and the promoter and the organization know I have a knife. I’m bringing a knife into the fight, they should not let me fight because I’m carrying a weapon.

"A performance-enhancing drug is the same thing, it’s a biological weapon. It’s an advantage that you have over your opponent that you should not be able to compete with. Because you put the health of the competitor in jeopardy.

"We’re not playing golf, we’re not racing, we’re fighting. Every time we fight we put our lives, our well-being in jeopardy."

In Silva’s case, it appears the test results were not ready in time.

The head of the WADA-accredited Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory in Salt Lake City which analysed the Silva sample told Yahoo Sports that complex tests take time. Daniel Eichner also noted that samples, taken by a WADA-certified collector, are identified only by number as per protocol and that the testing process operates without deadlines.

Silva has denied cheating.

St-Pierre has not fought since a controversial win over Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks in November 2013. He subsequently stepped away from the sport, saying his life had become "completely insane."

The UFC vacated his 170-pound title, which currently belongs to (Ruthless) Robbie Lawler.

St. Pierre said if he decides to return to action, he will insist on random drug-testing by "an independent and competent organization" with VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) as one option.

But he said he has made no decision on his future.

St-Pierre, who has kept training, says he has completely recovered from knee surgery last year.

[Stickman]

Anderson Silva removed as coach on 'The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil'


The UFC has pulled Anderson Silva from coaching the new season of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil following a request made by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after the Brazilian returned a positive result for performance enhancing drugs in a Jan. 9 test administered prior to UFC 183.

The former middleweight champion tested positive for two steroids and now faces possible fines and suspensions as a result.

UFC officials announced the change on Monday.

Silva was set to coach opposite former light heavyweight champion Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in the newest season of the show that will air on Globo in Brazil as well as UFC Fight Pass in the United States and abroad.

The Ultimate Fighter Brazil has traditionally filmed in the South American country, but for the fourth installment the UFC opted to move the show to Las Vegas where the fighters would train and work under the coaches for a chance to earn a spot on the UFC roster.

Because of the change of venue, the Nevada commission now has to license and approve all participants. The commission requested that the UFC remove Silva pending his upcoming hearing for the positive drug test results.

Silva will likely face a temporary suspension at a meeting Feb. 17 before a full hearing in either March or April.

In Silva's absence, former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will step in to coach opposite Rua. Nogueira has coached the series on two separate occasions already, so he's very familiar with the process and procedures around The Ultimate Fighter.

Taping started Feb. 2 and originally UFC president Dana White announced that Silva would remain a coach on the show despite his positive drug test results. Now it appears with the commission stepping in and asking for him to be removed, the UFC has followed suit.

Nogueira will finish the series, which is expected to begin airing sometime this spring.

[Stickman]

**The results of Anderson Silva’s January 19th out of competition tests have come back clean. Silva was subjected to a both a blood and urine test with both coming back without any irregularities. Silva was tested on January 9th, which showed traces of drostanolone and androstane in his system, the results of which were released last Tuesday. Silva was also tested on the night of the fight on January 31st with those results still to be released.

**Gabriel Montoya takes a look at the way the commissions and the UFC are handling drug testing and the lessons to take from the recent Anderson Silva drug test failure.

**UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is featured in Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which is out tomorrow.

**The California State Athletic Commission has announced that World Series of Fighting performer Jon Fitch failed a pre-fight drug test for his December 13th bout with Rousimar Palhares and been suspended for nine months and fined $2,500. Fitch was subjected to a drug test just prior to the fight (and therefore the results were not available before the fight took place) and came back with a result that prompted the CSAC to run a CIR test (Carbon Isotope Ratio test) and then made the ruling. CIR tests are utilized to detect synthetic testosterone in the body as opposed to natural testosterone and therefore you could theoretically have a T/E ratio within the 4:1 threshold but a CIR test can detect if synthetic testosterone has been taken. It should be noted that the CSAC does not announce what substances are detected and only indicated a CIR test was taken after the initial results were found. Fitch lost the fight to Palhares so there will not be a change to the result.

**Dave Meltzer has a story at MMA Fighting on Wanderlei Silva with the latest regarding rumored talks with the WWE as well discussion that Silva could be working the IGF card on February 20th against Phil Baroni, though that match hasn’t been announced.

[Stickman]

GSP says he declined Anderson Silva fight, fears Silva's PED test was 'tip of iceberg'

By Mike Russell
Cagewriter

When Georges St-Pierre announced an indefinite leave from fighting based mainly on what he claimed was rampant PED use in MMA, many bristled at the notion that it was as bad as GSP was intimating.

Some proclaimed that the popular French-Canadian fighter, who often found himself at the center of PED accusations throughout his storied career himself, was making excuses, and that he simply could not compete with the new breed of fighter that was on its way up.

But St-Pierre held fast to his longtime belief that a large percentage of fighters from every rung of the rankings ladder are getting a pharmaceutical leg up on the competition.

“I knew [PED use] was a big problem. I knew for a long time, and it was bothering me and bothering me more and more. People act like it’s a big secret. People know it’s a big problem. It’s not like a race or a game,” St-Pierre told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on Monday. "I’m not surprised so many guys have gotten busted. [There are] going to be other names coming up. If they keep doing the right testing, [there are] going to be other guys coming up [positive]. I believe this is the tip of the iceberg. A lot of fighters are going to be caught.”

The former UFC welterweight champion said that he was offered a superfight with Anderson Silva at UFC 186 in April, and he declined the fight because he was busy with other projects and because he was still concerned about PEDs in the sport. St-Pierre says he’s glad he didn’t take the bout with Silva, who tested positive for two steroids ahead of his UFC 183 bout with Nick Diaz.

“[Dana] called me to fight in Montreal and he texted me to see if I was interested in fighting Anderson Silva right before this thing came out. I said no. My answer was negative. Then the whole thing came out and it was bad,” St-Pierre recalled.

“You put your life in jeopardy every time you step in the Octagon. It’s a fighting sport – a full-contact sport. I’ve always considered performance-enhancing drugs like a weapon and you shouldn’t be allowed to fight like this. I think the fight [between Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz] shouldn’t have happened, but unfortunately it did and nobody got hurt, which is a good thing.”

One thing GSP cautioned against is lumping together all of the teams and gyms of fighters caught cheating.

“People say, ‘None of my guys use PEDs.’ We don’t know. If someone gets caught [using PEDs] in Montreal [at Tristar], it doesn’t mean the whole team is dirty. If someone got caught from Black House, it doesn’t mean that the whole team is dirty,” St-Pierre pointed out. “[Tristar coach Firas Zahabi] talks openly against performance-enhancing drugs, but if someone after the hour of training decides to go [home] and inject himself with some kind of substance, Firas can’t do anything about it. It’s not his fault; it’s out of his control. Every individual is responsible for his own actions.”

Although he believes that it’s up to each fighter as an individual to do the right thing when it comes to PED use, St-Pierre believes it will take a collective effort from the UFC and its stakeholders to clean up the problem. He remains somewhat cynical, however.

“They need to do something. They need to find a solution for the safety of the competitors,” St-Pierre said. “I wonder if the safety of the competitors is as important as the financial [interests of the UFC].”

[LoathedVermin72]

GSP should retire from fighting and be put in charge of the UFC's drug testing.

[Stickman]

**The latest UFC fighter to fail a drug test is Hector Lombard, who tested positive for desoxymethyltestosterone (otherwise referred to as “DMT”), which is an anabolic steroid. Lombard was tested on the night of UFC 182 after his win over Josh Burkman on January 3rd, which almost surely will be changed to a no contest in light of the failure. This is Lombard’s first drug test failure and therefore is likely facing a suspension of nine months along with a fine.

As a result of the test failure, the UFC has taken him and Rory MacDonald off the April 25th card in Montreal and will be looking to place MacDonald on another card.

**With the removal of the Lombard vs. MacDonald fight on April 25th in the Montreal, the UFC has added a flyweight title bout to the card with Demetrious Johnson defending his title against Kyoji Horiguchi. The card will feature two title fights with T.J. Dillashaw defending the bantamweight title on the show against Renan Barao in a rematch from last year’s UFC 172 card where Dillashaw won the title.

**Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz and Hector Lombard are all part of the Nevada Athletic Commission’s agenda for next Tuesday’s hearing. The three fighter will face temporary suspensions next week before they have their disciplinary hearings at a later date. The commission will also have a hearing for Francisco Rivera to attempt and overturn his loss to Urijah Faber at UFC 181 due to an eye poke and Ashlee-Evans Smith will have a disciplinary hearing for her positive drug test after UFC 181.

**Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis have been signed to fight at UFC 186 on April 25th in Montreal, Quebec. This will be their third fight with the two first meeting in April 2007 in Davis’ first pro fight and losing by TKO. The two fought again in Strikeforce in March 2012 with Kaufman winning by majority decision. Kaufman had been campaigning for a fight with Miesha Tate, who is dealing with a broken orbital bone from her recent fight with Sara McMann.


**Paige VanZant has announced that she is the latest fighter to sign a direct sponsorship deal with Reebok and joins Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, Johny Hendricks, Anthony Pettis and Conor McGregor.

**Bellator has announced a major title sponsorship with Miller Lite with all future cards beginning February 27th will be promoted as “Bellator MMA presented by Miller Lite”. The deal is a larger one from Miller Lite, who has been a major sponsor for Bellator for the past two years.

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from the UFC Fight Night card in Broomfield, Colorado Sat night:
*James Moontasri over Cody Pfister by rear-naked choke at 1:49 of Round 2
*Zach Makovsky over Tim Elliott by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Chas Skelly over Jim Alers by TKO at 4:59 of Round 2 – This had a controversial finish where Skelly pretty much had the fight won but landed an unintentional illegal knee with Alers grounded but they ruled it a TKO victory for Skelly
*Efrain Escudero over Rodrigo de Lima by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Ray Borg over Chris Kelades by kimura at 2:56 of Round 3
*Kevin Lee over Michel Prazeres by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Dan Kelly over Patrick Walsh by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) – Walsh missed weight by a huge amount, coming in at 191.5 pounds and this was a terrible fight
*Neil Magny over Kiichi Kunimoto by rear-naked choke at 1:22 of Round 3
*Max Holloway over Cole Miller by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Benson Henderson over Brandon Thatch by rear-naked choke at 3:58 of Round 4

**The fight of the night rightly went to Henderson vs. Thatch with Ray Borg and Neil Magny taking the $50,000 performance bonuses.

**Benson Henderson said he would like to fight Rory MacDonald at welterweight after his win over Thatch. Dana White later announced that MacDonald has a fight booked but cannot announce it yet. MacDonald was recently taken off of the UFC 186 card in Montreal when it was revealed his opponent, Hector Lombard, had failed his UFC 182 post fight drug test.

**After Max Holloway’s win over Cole Miller, they announced he would be fighting Cub Swanson in his next fight on April 18th in Newark, New Jersey on the next FOX card. That is going to be a big test for Holloway.

**After missing weight on his first attempt on Friday, Chris Kelades did make weight on his second try for his flyweight fight with Ray Borg. Both Patrick Walsh and James Moontasri missed weight and had to forfeit part of their purse.


**CM Punk sat down with WIsports.com out of Wisconsin to chat about the progress he is making in mixed martial arts. Punk has been at Roufusport for over a month now and said he is going to sit down with his team in about five months and see where he is at and pegged late in the year or maybe longer before he will fight. Punk also noted he has been in contact with Brock Lesnar, who has offered his help if Punk needs any in preparation for his eventual fight debut. Those at Roufusport who have worked with him have praised his work ethic including Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley.

**It is worth noting that this Sunday’s UFC card is in Porto Alegre and is three-hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, meaning that the main event probably won`t get into the cage until 2am local time in Porto Alegre.

**UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and middleweight contender Luke Rockhold have signed sponsorship deals with Adidas Combat Sports.