Ed Garcia of Fatlip Radio had the opportunity to chat with UFC Premier Tom Wright this morning. He was expecting to chat with Nick Diaz, so his questions about triathlons did not really work out. Tom chats about UFC 137, Jones vs Rampage and the fact that they should bring the PRIDE ring announcer back for UFC Japan.
Nick Diaz is fight Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137. Originally media was stating that Diaz would relinquish his Strikeforce title, but the poster is Champion vs Champion, what’s happening there?
It is Champion vs Champion. This is not a unification fight or anything like that, he will not be relinquishing his Strikeforce belt. This is a big UFC fight and i think it’s going to be a really interesting one. They are both running some really long win streaks. Georges has been on fire of late. He is on a 5 year, 9 fight winning streak and this fight against Diaz is going to be his 7th straight title defense. Nick’s been unbeaten for nearly 4 years and is on a 10 fight win streak. So it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens and i’m looking forward to a great fight.
Both guys had cleared their division and it was pretty much great timing that you guys bought Strikeforce so these two could fight eachother.
Yeah, i think that’s what sort of differentiates the way we approach our sport of mixed martial arts as opposed to boxing. Sometimes in boxing there are some great fights that you want to see, but the quote unquote promoters can’t get their acts together to allow those fights to happen. In this case, i think a lot of people have been waiting to see how Nick might do moving out of Strikeforce as he’s cleared out his division and Georges has done the same with the UFC. I think it’s going to be a really really interesting fight. There are a bunch of great fights on that card that i am looking forward to. It’s going to be great to see Condit vs BJ Penn. Anytime you see a guy like Roy Nelson fight Mirko Cro Cop, i have a bit of a soft spot for Mirko because the first fight that i was a part of after i joined the UFC was Mirko out in Vancouver for UFC 115.
It might be time for Mirko to hang them up though.
I don’t disagree. He certainly has something to prove. He’s lost 2 straight by KO. That one against Schaub didn’t look like it was Sam Stout’s left hand that we saw when he won. He’s got a great following and he’s a great guy. He’s going up against Roy Nelson who is also on a losing streak. Both these fighters have something to fight for.
That is October 29, which is Halloween weekend. That might be a good weekend to be in Vegas, when do tickets go on sale?
Tickets go on sale this Friday to the public, but UFC Fight Club will start tomorrow (Wednesday September 7). If you are not a Fight Club member and you want to get to the front of the line go to www.ufcfightclub.com and join. They start at 10am PT tomorrow.
UFC Fight Night: Shields vs Ellenberger is coming up on September 17. Battle on the Bayou, i think that might be my favourite UFC event names ever.
It’s not a bad one and it’s really going to be interesting to see how Shields does against Ellenberger. Ellenberger actually stepped in for an injury a couple of fights ago and really showed his worth. He really schooled Sean Pearson as you may recall. Of course Jake is just coming off of his fight with Georges here in Toronto for UFC 129. I think it’s going to be a great contest.
I want to go back to the name thing. Lately the UFC has been lacking with the names. Back in the day the names used to sound like it was an Action movie, like UFC 46: IMPACT. Where are the names?
I guess the thesaurus was just getting torn ears from being worn too much. I’m teasing of course. I think Battle on the Bayou is a great handle, but in the end i think it’s the fighters that make the fight of course. At 129 we didn’t need a name for the first stadium show. It was obviously big and having GSP and Jake fight made it. We had two championships on that card and who can forget that Aldo vs Hominick fight. I still have people come up to me and their best recollection of that whole event was how Mark Hominick came out in the 5th round and nearly stole a victory which would have made the roof come off the Rogers Centre.
Also coming up this month on September 24, it’s Jon Jones vs Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jones is going to be defending his light heavyweight title for the first time against a former light heavyweight champion. Some trash talk starting already, it’s spygate all over again. Is Jon Jones secretly a Patriots fan?
Ha Ha, He’s got to be a Patriots fan, why not? He’s probably a Ravens fan, because his brother plays for the Ravens. I think there are all sorts of things that we can learn from Bill Belichick and that kind of stuff is maybe one of them. I think it’s much to do about nothing. It’s the classic stuff that different guys will use to get themselves excited for a fight. What motivates you motivates you and everyone has their different take.
Rashad Evans re-earned his number 1 contender status and i’m assuming that he will fight the winner of these two (Jones/Rampage), but Anderson Silva is now sitting there after a destruction of Yushin Okami in Brazil at UFC 134. You have to think, what are you going to do with Anderson Silva since he doesn’t have anyone to fight. How bout you put those two (Silva vs Rashad) together and the winner of that gets Jones/Rampage winner.
Well you know it’s an interesting thought. I think we all spend a lot of time being the arm chair quarterback and try to think what Dana and Joe Silva are going to pull together. The one thing that i can tell you is that those guys do their jobs really well. I’m sitting here and looking forward to seeing who’s going to show up for UFC 140 here in Toronto on December the 10th. We have nothing yet for that card and i would love to see Anderson Silva on it. When it comes to that match-up that you suggested, i’m going to put my trust me but non for Joe Silva and Dana White to figure it out as is always the case. This one in Denver is no exception.
The UFC went to Brazil for the first time in over a decade and it was announced this morning that you will be heading to Japan in February.
Yeah, i think it’s going to be great. We haven’t been back to Japan since the early early days of the UFC. We certainly haven’t been back since we purchased PRIDE back in the mid 2000’s. Mark Fischer who is the Tom Wright of Asia just made the announcement yesterday or earlier today and it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be held February 26th 2012 and we are probably going to have the event begin Sunday morning so it’s the same broadcast times in North America. It’s the first time we’ve been back there in over 10 years and i think it’s going to be pretty exciting.
I love Bruce Buffer, but for your Japan show you need to bring back the Pride Ring announcer. Give Bruce a break for the day.
Bruce has probably used up his frequent flyer miles anyways, so that’s probably not a bad idea. I’ll bounce it off Dana’s mind and see what he says.
