The leading cutman in combat sports

There is a guy who gets as much air time during the UFC’s pay per view events as Dana White. You have no doubt seen him countless times, his face is very recognizable – right down to the trademark Tom Selleck mustache.

His name is Jacob Duran, though most fight fans know him simply as “Stitch”, for he is the pre-eminent cutman in mma. He also works with heavyweight boxing champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, among others. Stitch is recognized as the best, most popular cutman in the business. You can see him before the fight starts, preparing a fighter, or in between rounds working on the Read more »

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Date: July 3, 2010 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena Broadcast: Pay-per-view and Spike TV Time: 7PM PDT

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Date: June 26, 2010 Location: San Jose, California Venue: HP Pavilion Broadcast: Showtime Time: 9pm (central-USA)

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The other day Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke called Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger a “big mean bastard”. Everyone who knows hockey – including Pronger – took this as the ultimate compliment.

Dana White may not be big, but he can be a mean bastard. His detractors have other things to say about him and I think White would take them all as a compliment.

Not many people can get away with the things Dana White says. He lets his mouth go, almost unfiltered. Music manager Bruce Allen is the only other person I can think of who has been successful while being totally, brutally honest. And, of course, Read more »

This Saturday at UFC 115 in Vancouver, Canada, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin sets out to continue his rise back to a title shot.    To most casual fans, the name Rich Franklin doesn’t conjure up many memories of who his personality is and what his accolades as a combat fighter entail.

His nickname, “Ace”, is derived from his resemblance to Canadian actor/comedian Jim Carrey, who played a character named “Ace Ventura” in the film of the same name. And this is how many mma fans know Franklin – as a Jim Carrey lookalike.

Franklin has 32 professional mma fights.  He’s 26-5, with 14 knockouts and 9 submission wins.  That’s impressive in itself, considering he’s defeated guys like Wanderlei Silva, Matt Hamill, Yusin Okami, Evan Tanner (twice), Ken Shamrock, and Marvin Eastman. Read more »

Dana White loves Canada. Just ask him. “Any time I come into Canada, I’m happy, believe me…. I know it sounds like I’m kissin’ Canada’s ass all the time … I love Canada, man! Not only do I love Canada, I love the media up there … and the fans are so passionate and crazy up there about mma it’s just so much fun for me.”

So fun that the UFC is in the preliminary planning stages of setting up a Canadian version of The Ultimate Fighter.

“It’s a no-brainer up there,” White confirmed recently. “Not only is the fanbase huge – and there’s so many rabid fans in Canada – there’s a ton of talent coming out of Canada. For us to be able to focus on Canada itself and put together an Ultimate Fighter just for Canada and for the Canadian fans … I like it,” he said, with a big grin on his face.

It’s unknown yet if Dana White will run the show, as he does with the original, or if new UFC Canadian commissioner Tom Wright will be the host. Wright is a great business man, but I am not sure he would be suitable to head this show. They may have to find another surrogate, as Dana White already has a lot of responsibilities taking up his scarce time.

Don King Proves Once Again How Much He Loves 'America'

Din Thomas is either crazy or very confident in his abilities as a combat fighter. I’d say he’s somewhere in between there. And I give him much credit for wanting to step between the ropes and fight a professional boxer.  I’d like to see more of this from mma fighters, particularly the ones that call out other fighters.  Read more »

All eyes will be on Vancouver June 12 when the city hosts its first major sanctioned mma event. And it doesn’t get more “major” than the UFC, who took it upon themselves to lobby the local government for sanctioning. They’ve held three events in Montréal and want very desperately to expand through all of Canada, to take advantage of the second largest mma audience in the world. The Vancouver show is a milestone. So why did we get stuck with such a boring card?

No offence to the fighters involved – I know they train their asses off to get in that octagon and provide the fans with great entertainment. But the matchups on this card are actually somewhat worse than the matchups on the card at UFC 114, which turned out to be quite a snoozefest. I talk about that Read more »

When I turn on mma, I want to watch two guys (or two women) fight. I don’t tune in to see them lay on each other. There are plenty of sites on the internet where I can see that sort of thing….

As a fan, I want to be entertained. The UFC gives out a monetary award to fighters who have an entertaining fight. No fighter has ever won the Fight of the Night honours by laying on another fighter for fifteen minutes. It’s boring. Read more »