Tales From The Cage

Georges St-Pierre made his professional MMA debut in 2002. From 2002 through 2013, he amassed a record of 25-2 and became the longest reigning UFC Welterweight champion in history. One of his two losses in that span came at the hands of Matt Hughes in 2004, a future UFC Hall of Famer and multi-time champion, widely considered the greatest Welterweight on the planet prior to St-Pierre's rise to prominence. His other loss came in 2007 to Matt Serra in what is widely regarded as one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. St-Pierre would avenge that loss in dominating fashion just over a year later in April of 2008, after defeating Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes in back to back fights in 2007. The victory over Koscheck at UFC 74 moved St-Pierre's record to 14-2. That victory came in 2007. He would remain undefeated in 11 more fights between 2007 and 2013, moving his record to 25-2. Most of his wins came in dominating fashion despite not finishing an opponent since UFC 94 in ...

With Halloween just around the corner, everyone is getting into the Holiday spirit. But what's the best part about Halloween? Is it the decorations? The costumes? The pumpkins? All of those are good, but there's only one right answer. The candy. With that said, let's compare the current UFC champions to their Halloween candy counterparts. Women's Strawweight Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk = Pop Rocks Jonna Jedzrejczyk is one of the top fighters in the game today. She's not known for winning fights with a single punch or submission. She wears you down and peppers you with a series of shots over the course of the fight. Combinations and volume are her keys to success. The same could be said for Pop Rocks. Pop Rocks aren't going to knock you out with flavor or be overpowering from the start. Rather it's the series of pops and "shots" and the sheer volume of the flavor and "pops" that can make this candy hard to handle if...

Conor McGregor is the biggest name in mixed martial arts, without question. But with that name recognition, come certain expectations. Has McGregor lived up to those expectations so far? Let's start with McGregor's career prior to the UFC. Fighting in Europe, McGregor lost two of his first six fights before rattling off eight straight wins, including capturing both the Featherweight and Lightweight titles in the Cage Warriors promotion. He was a rising name on the scene with all 12 of his wins coming via TKO or Knockout. From his pro-debut in 2008 until he was signed by the UFC in 2013, McGregor established himself as a force to be reckoned with in European MMA. McGregor signed with the UFC in February of 2013 and made his promotional debut in April. He very quickly made his presence known in the UFC, earning a Knockout of the Night bonus by knocking out Marcus Brimage in just over a minute. A closely fought decision victory over Max Holloway saw McGregor's sto...

Herschel Walker, former Heisman trophy winner and NFL player turned MMA fighter We've seen multiple professional athletes make the transition to MMA, usually after their prime has passed in their sport of choice. Herschel Walker, Bob Sapp, even CM Punk could all be counted as pro athletes who made the jump. Now, with the report that controversial former NFL defensive end will be making his amateur MMA debut soon, it brought the thought of what other current pro athletes we would love to see inside the octagon. Rob Gronkowski "Gronk" stands 6'6 and 265 lbs and an absolute freak of an athlete. He may be the greatest tight end to ever play professional football. With his physique and athletic ability, it seems that he'd be the perfect candidate for cage fighting with some training under his belt. Gronk has already had involvement with the WWE so it's not exactly a stretch to think he could extend that into the world of MMA. And with his outgoing ...

An MMA fighter in England is going viral after pulling off a submission straight out of a WWE ring at Full Contact Contender two weeks ago. Grabbing both of his opponent's legs, Jonno Mears applied what in wrestling terms is known as a Boston Crab, the more generic name for The Walls of Jericho. A move made famous by Chris Jericho, in theory, it applies pressure to the recipients back until they're forced to tap out. Seeing this seemingly fictional maneuver actually work has brought questions of what other wrestling moves may be able to work in MMA. Here's five that seemingly have the best chance of success. 5. The Figure Four  Another submission maneuver starts off the list. The Figure Four is probably most famous by wrestling legend Ric Flair. The move involves intertwining your legs with your opponents in a way that puts immense pressure on one of their knees. You're also able to apply more pressure by leveraging your own body in different ways, c...

What matters more in MMA, so-called "money fights" or the prestige of the championship belt? This question has been asked more and more in recent years, primarily because of Conor McGregor but there are others who it applies to as well. Conor McGregor won the interim Featherweight title in 2015, defeating Chad Mendes by TKO in the 2nd round at UFC 189. He would go on to unify the title by knocking out Jose Aldo in just thirteen seconds at UFC 194 just five months later. McGregor never defended his title at 145-pounds, fighting Nate Diaz twice and 170-pounds and then challenging for the Lightweight title at UFC 205 in November of 2016. The UFC stripped him of the Featherweight title not long after UFC 205 when McGregor announced he intended to take time off from the UFC. He has since gone on to face Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match while a fight for the interim Lightweight title is set to take place this weekend at UFC 216. McGregor's accomplishments and skill c...

The UFC may be having its worst year ever in terms of high-profile fights.  Let's take a look at the main event fights from the pay-per-view events so far this year. UFC 208: Holm vs De Randamie UFC 209: Woodley vs Thompson 2 UFC 210: Cormier vs Johnson 2 UFC 211: Miocic vs dos Santos 2 UFC 212: Aldo vs Holloway UFC 213: Romero vs Whittaker UFC 214: Cormier vs Jones 2 UFC 215: Nunes vs Shevchenko 2 Outside of UFC 211, 212 and 214 it could easily be argued that none of the events were in high demand by fans. And of those 3 events, all 3 were helped out by great supporting cards. Heavyweight title fights are always popular, Holloway is a rising star in the company, and the return of Jon Jones all helped draw fans in. UFC 214 was probably the only event that would have been sold on the strength of the main event alone as the rivalry between Cormier and Jones was just that intense. Let's compare that to the same stretch of events (January - September) from 2016, a...

Mark Hunt and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva engage in a brutal war at UFC 193 in November of 2015. Combat sports are inherently dangerous. The entire point of the sport is to render your opponent unable to continue before he can do the same to you. So it's no surprise that many fighters don't have long careers, at least at the top of the sport, and those that do tend to show the effects of their brutal craft. But when should a fighter decide enough is enough and walk away? Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva has been fighting professionally since 2005 and has a record of 19-12-1. His claim to fame is being the first man to defeat the legendary Fedor Emelianenko when he submitted the Russian in 2011. After entering the UFC in 2012, Silva only managed three wins from 2012 to 2016. He's lost eight of his last ten fights and has been knocked out in all but one of those losses after only being knocked out twice in his career previously. In recent fights, Silva has lo...

When it comes to MMA, everyone loves a finish, whether it comes by KO/TKO or submission. But if given the option, how would you prefer to see a fight end? Obviously, a one-punch knockout or a head kick finish is highly entertaining and can make fans jump out of their seats in reaction. That's what I believe most fans would choose if they had to pick  how a fight should end. The act of rendering an opponent unconscious with a single strike or a combination of strikes draws people back to the gladiator days (luckily without the death and dismemberment). It's made more exciting by the fact that a knockout can come out of nowhere (see Uriah Hall's  finish  in UFC Pittsburgh). Submissions though, there's something to be said for forcing your opponent to quit in a fight. Whether it's a case of prolonged grappling leading to an eventual submission or sinking something like a guillotine choke in when the opponent goes for a takedown, giving your opponen...

A lot of kids grow up watching sports, and many of those kids choose a favorite athlete in the sports they watch. I had a Mario Lemieux poster on my wall growing up, my friends had posters of Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, John Elway and countless others on theirs. They seemed larger than life and for myself and my friends, those athletes were who we wanted to be growing up. With that fame, there seemingly comes a level of responsibility as an athlete. If you know that kids are looking up to you, then it only makes sense that you should behave in a way that makes you worthy of being looked up to. But is that fair? And if it is fair, how far does it extend? Do we limit it to "mainstream" athletes? Those in the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, etc? What about MMA fighters? Does it extend to them? This comes to mind recently because of the actions, both inside and outside of the cage, of one of the sports most popular fighters. Jon "Bones" Jones may be the greatest combat...