Nick Diaz is not taking Carlos Condit lightly.  In fact he thinks the this weekend's fight with Condit is more dangerous than a fight with Georges St. Pierre.  In this open workout video, which features Diaz, Condit, Werdum, Nelson and GSP, Nick says all he needs to worry about against GSP is losing.  But with Condit, he has to worry about his teeth.  Check it out.

On the heels of the Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis fight, UFC LHW champion Jon "Bones" Jones had some strong words for both fighters.  As GSP would say, Bones was not impressed by thier performance.  He told the MMA Hour (via ESPN):

"Phil, man, I don't know what got into him.  He did not look like a lion. I think with fighters, no matter how tough you are, there's just lions and there's wolves and there's sheep. He just kind of looked like a sheep out there. He didn't come with much.

"I think he got a little intimidated by Rashad. And the pressure of being on Fox, how many millions of people were watching the fight, I just don't think he handled the situation well. That's why, when I was broadcasting, I said this is where we'll see where Phil's at, if he's going to be a top-level guy or a mid-tier fighter.

"Judging by the performance [Saturday] night, I don't know if I can consider himself a wolf."

Ouch!  But of course, Rashad will disagree with that, and he'll have a chance to dispute it face to face, mano y mano, against Jones in April.  Let the hype begin!

Yesterday I posted an article about Satoshi Ishii suffering a possible career-ending head injury in his fight with Fedor Emelianenko.  This story has been making the rounds on MMA sites, and its point of origin is the Japanese website Cyzo.com.

Now, however, there is a new twist on things, with Ryo Chonan claiming that the reports are false.  Here is a translated version of what Chonan had to say on the matter, from the website searchina.ne.jp.  The translation comes courtesy of nodogoshi of the Team Takeover Forums.

"Satoshi Ishii's health is good" - Reports of imminent retirement angrily denounced

A report circulated on Janurary 30th that Satoshi Ishii, who was briefly in the hospital following a KO loss to Fedor, was facing imminent retirement after having been found suffering from a brain disorder. As appeared in the report, "one theory is 'cerebral endema', it has been said." Ishii was therefore thought to be in a serious condition [i.e. by fans, etc].

However, this rumor was vehemently denounced by DEEP middleweight champ Ryo Chonan. On twitter, he posted that "Satoshi Ishii is just fine;" further, "the people who spread these false rumors about other people's lives and livlihoods should just die," he also tweeted.

This is not in itself a complete debunking of the rumor. However, being that it comes from someone close to Ishii, it clearly may be regarded with an air of credibility. In response to these posts, some relieved fan messages were as follows: "Good news, I'm glad Ishii is not really retiring"; "We have good news for now"; etc.

Hopefully Chonan's version of the story is correct and Ishii is fine.  I'll keep on top of this story as it develops.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, UFC heavyweight title contender Alistair Overeem has been charged with  one count of misdemeanor battery after allegedly pushing a women in Las Vegas on January 2.  He is scheduled to in a Las Vegas court on February 21.  If convicted, Overeem could get as much as six months in the Clark County Detention Center and have to pay a fine of not more than $1000.

The incident took place at around 3AM, and according to the police report, Overeem pushed the woman in the face, "causing her to stagger back."

Alistair's lawyer, Las Vegas defense attorney David Chesnoff, said:  "Alistair was not arrested, but was summoned to court," Chesnoff said. "There are two sides to this story and we intend on vigorously defending this. Alistair maintains his innocence."

If you think about it, it wasn't much of a push if the woman didn't find herself being propelled through a building or something.  So on the surface it sounds like she might of invaded his space and he gently pushed her away.  But of course, this is all speculation and we'll have to wait and see what the courts decide.

So far, the UFC has declined to comment on the case.  If Overeem is convicted, it will be yet another blow to the UFC, but because it's only a misdemeanor it still probably won't scuttle Alistair's title tilt against Junior Dos Santos.

We'll have more on this story as it develops.

Oh, and one more thing.  Here's a bit of advice for Overeem and his lawyer.  Whatever you do, do not let prosecutors see these old GIF images of Overeem manhandling a female reporter and kicking a kid!  GIFs after the jump.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Bad news for Japansese Olympic gold medal judoka and MMA fighter Satoshi Ishii.  Fight Opinion is reporting that Ishii suffered a head injury in his fight with Fedor at the Dream show on New Year's Eve.  At first it was thought that he'd suffered nothing more than a broken nose, but then doctors found signs of cerebral edema, a condition that could end is MMA career.  Doctors advised Ishii that he faces serious danger if he continues fighting, as more blows to the head could result in serious injury.

This is a big blow to Ishii and MMA fans everywhere, but especially in Japan.  It's always great to see Olympic-level athletes competing in MMA, but obviously health concerns need to take priority.  Here's hoping that Satoshi Ishii makes a complete recovery.

For those who missed the Fedor vs. Ishii fight, here's the video.

There are demons in GSP's head, and he plans on unleashing those demons on Nick Diaz when--and if--they finally do fight.  GSP was scheduled for fight Diaz next week, but had to pull out with an injured knee.  This prompted Diaz to tell people that GSP is not hurt, he's scared.  Well, that woke up the demons in GSP, and this is the most we've ever seen him pissed.  Check out this video clip where both GSP and Diaz talk about their upcoming fight--provided Nick gets past Carlos Condit next week, no small task in and of itself.

The general consensus after the UFC on Fox 2 show last night was that most people found it hard to stay awake during the main event.  In fact, the entire main card was not very exciting and will probably hurt next week's UFC PPV sales rather than help--which was the whole idea behind putting the UFC on Fox.  In the main event, Rashad Evans and Phil Davis, two highly skilled athletes, more or less nullified each other in terms of excitement.  The fight was a five round grind and Evans was able to control Davis on the ground, enough to win a shutout decision on all three scorecards.  There was little drama in the fight, and the lack of exciting action turned off a lot of hardcore fans.  Any noobs watching were surly not bowled over, and it's hard to see how they should be excited about paying 60 bucks for the PPV next week.

This marks the second straight time that the a Fox card turned into a disaster for the UFC.  The first one featured 59 minutes of talking about how great Cain Velasquez was, and ended with Cain getting knocked out in 1 minute.For many fans, that probably seems like a dream card now, because all three main event bouts last night went to decision, and none of them could even begin to touch the excitement of the now legendary Griffen-Bonnar fight on Spike.

This is most definitely not the way that Dana White wanted the UFC on Fox to debut.  The good news is that we didn't have to watch him implode again on national TV like we did last time.  Instead of Dana sitting with Curt Menefee, it was Randy Couture and Jon Jones who analyzed the fights.  Both fighters did a good job of breaking things down for fans.  Fans that were able to stay awake for the whole show, that is.

We'll have to wait and see how this dud on Fox affects the PPV numbers next week.  I'll post those once they become available.

Here are the complete results of last night's fights:

Check out this collection of wrestlers in this photograph.  You have three, count em, three, future UFC fighters all in one pic, all back when they were college wrestlers.  Chris Weidman, Ryan Bader, and Phil Davis.  Weidman, Bader and Davis, oh my!

Tonight, two of these three will be fighting on the UFC on Fox card.  Chris Weidman and Phil Davis both look to take a big step up in the rankings by beating their opponents, Demian Maia and Rashad Evans, respectively.  Actually, Weidman beat both Bader and Davis in college wrestling matches.

Here is some wrestling footage of Davis and Weidman in college, doing what they do best.