Paul "The Mauler" Lazenby is one of the most well-known and respected personalities in Canadian MMA. He recently has found himself in the thick of controversy in the MMA world after breaking a story on an illegal "charity" fight that recently took place in Surrey, BC. The week before, his interview with Bas Rutten where Rutten gave a then-unheard point of view on the Alistair Overeem/Golden Glory situation grabbed headlines on MMA websites throughout cyberspace. Never one to shy away from an opinion, Lazenby recently gave some of his time to MMASucka's Carlin Bardsley for an in-depth interview discuss these topics, his friend Chael Sonnen's walkout on TSN's Off the Record, UFC's future in Vancouver and more.
This past weekend the UFC invaded San Jose, California for the first time in organization history for UFC 139. The fight card featured a main event for the ages with Dan Henderson defeating Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a five round war. With the co-main event being just as entertaining, as Wanderlei Silva punished Cung Le to bring himself back to his winning ways.
Since Anderson Silva is expected to be inactive until mid 2012 due to injury, the UFC had to find another option for Chael Sonnen. The so-called "People's Champ" is rumored to be facing off against Mark Munoz in a number one contender fight at the UFC on Fox 2 card.
Last month during the UFC 137 festivities, MMASucka.com's Nick King had the chance to chat with Gray Maynard. In case you don't remember, Gray mentioned that he would be traveling to the Bay Area. Nick then mentioned AKA and how they were savages, which was the first hint of Gray moving training camps.
Fans rejoiced as it was announced that Fedor Emelianenko had won his first fight in four attempts, a dominant effort at M-1 Global's show in Russia over veteran Jeff Monson. The Russian crowd were on their feet cheering as the decision was announced in favour of "The Last Emperor". They were less kind to the man that some call Russia's real-life Emperor.
The aura of UFC 139 felt like no other event that I could remember. I wasn’t even watching it live and I could feel that something special was happening in that octagon. Shogun Rua and Dan Henderson put themselves on the line to give us what possibly could be the greatest fight in history. The fights leading up to the main event played a pivotal roll in making this fight as impactful as it was. It felt like each fight of the main card starting with the Bonnar Kingsbury fight, perfectly ramped up the hunger for the next fight. Each fight had been more exciting than the previous one. By the time Wanderlei and Cung had finished their fight of the night performance, everyone was primed for Rua and Henderson to explode. Not bad for a fight card that was in fear of being overshadowed by the UFC on FOX debut.
In Part One of this story from Paul "The Mauler" Lazenby, an illegal MMA show went down in Surrey, British Columbia. What was troubling was the City and the RCMP did nothing about it. What makes this story even more interesting is that the so called promoter tried to spin it as a charity show. Except the poor bloke couldn't tell anyone what the charity was. Hmmm... Here is part two from paullazenby.com
This story came to us from Paul Lazenby at paullazenby.com. It is a perfect example of what happens in cities all over North America. Unfortunately these types of "promoters" gives combat sports a bad name. I use that word promoter loosely when describing the person who put on this show. If you are truly a promoter and worth your salt, you would do whatever you could to follow the rules and work with City officials. You would have the best interest of the sport and the healt of the fighters at heart. Unfortunately someone didn't get that memo.
With a potential flyweight division making its way to the UFC in early 2012, you can bet that Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall will be in line as one of the top contenders for that belt.
There could be a spot ready for Brian Stann on January 28th in Chicago, Illinois for the UFC’s first four fight show on FOX. The UFC will most likely announce who will be fighting on that card in the coming days. Nothing is for sure but Brian Stann's involvement would make the most sense. You have a Silver Star Marine who is not only a war hero but a pretty talented fighter. He is somebody the American audience could gravitate to.
