MMA Quick Hits 2/8/13: Hendricks rips St-Pierre, Bigfoot vs. Velasquez 2 | MMA Spartan

MMA Quick Hits 2/8/13: Hendricks rips St-Pierre, Bigfoot vs. Velasquez 2

February 8, 2013 - R.K. Menn - No Comments

Johny Hendricks voiced his frustration over getting passed up by Nick Diaz for a title shot in an interview with MMAMania’s Verbal Submission Podcast. Hendricks also let it be known that George St-Pierre calling Diaz the true No.1 contender is idiotic. “My reaction was like, ‘Really?! You’re an idiot.’ He said that Condit really did beat Nick Diaz, know what I’m saying? He said, ‘I’m fighting the true number one contender Carlos Condit,’ and now, he’s going backtracking and saying, ‘Well, I think [Hendricks] lost.’ Who cares? You don’t get to decide. He’s not a judge. He’s not a judge. He’s a fighter. He’s paid to fight and he’s paid to fight me. The fact that he was able to ask and get this request [to fight Diaz], the only thing this is, is it gives me more drive. It’s not like I didn’t have enough but what’s gonna happen is, whenever I look across the cage, he’s not going to see fear. He’s not gonna see anything. All I want to do is I want to fight him. I want to look across and see GSP and that might be something he’s not used to. I don’t know. I don’t know why he didn’t take the fight but I guess I wouldn’t want to fight me as well.” This is pretty much what I said, but without calling GSP an idiot. It really didn’t make sense what he said when asked about picking Diaz over Hendricks. But Hendricks needs to be 100% focused on Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger packs a punch and is a very good fighter. Though I believe Hendricks wins, a slip up could cost him his title shot.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva told MMAJunkie.com that he’d like a rematch with Cain Velasquez. “I am highly interested in facing Cain Velasquez again. He’s a great champion. He’s a great person – very humble. When we first faced off, I didn’t get much of a chance to fight. He had the right strategy. He has a great team guiding him. His strategy worked. My forehead was cut open few seconds into the fight. I was struggling to try to see. I wasn’t having any success. So I was left knowing I could have done better. I have nothing personal against Velasquez. I am a UFC employee, so I don’t choose my opponents. My job is to train, stay healthy physically and mentally, and show my best in the cage. If I could choose, I would pick Cain. But it’s up to the UFC to pick my opponent. I’ll do whatever my boss decides. And of course, every fighter has to travel a certain gauntlet of opponents and write his own history. That’s how Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez did it. So if I must face others, I simply ask that I get to face the best opponents.” Silva makes a valid point, but since he was summarily destroyed by Velasquez in their first meeting he’ll probably have to get at least one more win under his belt. Who? That’s a good question.

Randy Couture spoke with Knockout Radio to clarify his new TV deal that caused UFC President Dana White to blow up on him. “I have to clarify that because my deal is with Spike. It’s for TV shows, both scripted and unscripted potential shows. I’ve never been to Bellator. That was the first time I’ve ever met Bjorn [Rebney] was at the press conference, so I’m not involved in any way, shape, or form with Bellator, just to clarify that. My deal is to train athletes for this reality show that will get the opportunity to fight in the tournament for Bellator, and that’s about the extent of my commitment, at least at this stage of things, with the organization and the promotion of Bellator. I think that is a distinction that is largely misunderstood and maybe lost on Dana [White]. He’s not one for details. But at the end of the day, that’s the reality of it.” And now we can all see that Dana has once again overreacted. While technically Couture is still helping Bellator, he’s really not doing anything he wouldn’t be doing already if these fighters went to his own gym to get training. I do see both sides, but I think I’m more on Couture’s side now.

The UFC has added four more fights to April’s UFC on Fox 7, announcing a slew of lightweight matchups for the event: Myles Jury and Ramsey Nijem square off, Norman Parke vs. Justin Tuck, Jorge Masvidal makes his UFC debut against Tim Means, and Roger Bowling will fight Anthony Njokuani. All of these fights should be exciting and I’m really interested to see the two Strikeforce guys fight the UFC guys.

Anderson Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, told MMAMania.com that Chris Weidman is basically stalking him to get a shot at Anderson Silva. “Chris Weidman, I saw him in Chicago last Saturday and he was driving me crazy! He kept asking me, ‘Hey, let’s make that fight happen!’ He’s very confident and he’s a good fighter and we’ll see what happens. At the end of the day, we don’t pick our opponents. A lot of times people want to say, ‘Oh Ed, you picked that!’ People ask for my opinion and I give my opinion. Chris Weidman? If he’s next, the UFC will make that fight happen. Hopefully, we’ll see him in Brazil.” Well, I’m more than certain that Weidman will be getting his shot next. Once Evans lost there wasn’t really anyone else to fight Silva. Not that I think Weidman will do any better than Silva’s past opponents, but he’ll get the shot and it’ll probably be in Brazil.

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