Latest news with #TheAnik&FlorianPodcast
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
UFC commentator Jon Anik says Justin Gaethje was irate at Topuria vs Oliveira match-up
UFC commentator Jon Anik has revealed that Justin Gaethje was 'p****d' at the promotion's decision to pair Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira in a lightweight title fight. On 28 June, Topuria and Oliveira will clash over the vacant belt, after Islam Makhachev relinquished the gold to move up to welterweight. There, Makhachev is set for a title shot, just as Topuria will fight for the lightweight title after vacating the featherweight strap in February. Advertisement In Oliveira, Topuria will square off with a former lightweight champion, yet Gaethje apparently believes he should be in the UFC 317 main event – at the expense of one of those fighters. 'He was p****d,' Anik said on The Anik & Florian Podcast. 'He feels like certainly he was passed over in favour of Charles Oliveira for this opportunity against Ilia Topuria. 'I think what Justin Gaethje and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, are looking for is just some sort of guarantee that they will be next. Because it's 19 May, and the good news for this Topuria-Oliveira fight is that it's f******g 28 June – it's less than six weeks away. 'So, I don't think it's a crazy request for Justin, having done what he did against Rafael Fiziev: staying on the fight card, not fighting Dan Hooker, getting a win, distance from the UFC 300 result.' Advertisement Anik was referring to Gaethje's decision win over Rafael Fiziev in March, which saw the American compete after Dan Hooker's withdrawal and bounce back from a brutal knockout by Max Holloway. Justin Gaethje (right) during his second win over Rafael Fiziev, in March (Getty Images) 'And by the way, he fought [Holloway] at UFC 300 to help the UFC,' Anik continued. 'He could have fought for the undisputed championship at that point in time, so I wouldn't be surprised if Gaethje gets some sort of guarantee that he's next for the Topuria-Oliveira winner. But I can just tell you Justin was not thrilled.' While Topuria, 28, is unbeaten in the UFC and in MMA more widely, Gaethje and Oliveira are both 3-2 in their last five bouts. Oliveira submitted Gaethje in 2022 in what was due to be a title defence, but the Brazilian missed weight the day before the fight, thus he was stripped of the belt and ineligible to win it the following night. Advertisement In his next bout, Oliveira, 35, was submitted by Makhachev in a vacant-title fight, before he bounced back by stopping Beneil Dariush in 2023. A close decision loss to Arman Tsarukyan ensued at UFC 300 last April, but Oliveira again responded well as he outpointed Michael Chandler in November. Meanwhile, Gaethje – a former interim champion – bounced back from his loss to Oliveira by narrowly outpointing Fiziev in 2023, before knocking out Dustin Poirier to win the 'Baddest Motherf*****' title. Gaethje, 36, lost the belt to Holloway but got back to winning ways with his second win over Fiziev.
USA Today
18-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Coach Ray Longo recalls 'mad hatter' Merab Dvalishvili's Golden Gloves boxing days
UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has been giving people hell in combat sports for a very long time. Today, everyone knows Dvalisvhili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) as a non-stop force in the UFC's octagon, who outworks and borderline toys with elite fighters on the biggest stages. But before coach Ray Longo got a hold of the Georgian to help guide his career to a UFC championship, Dvalishvili was a Golden Gloves boxer in the early 2010s. 'When Merab first came here, he got into a boxing gym,' Longo said on 'The Anik & Florian Podcast.' 'It was not a good gym, but they threw him into Golden Gloves because he wanted to fight. Because of that, the Golden Gloves changed the rules. They threw him out of the tournament, I think because he was such a mad hatter.' The memory from Longo was jogged by the combination of a Facebook Memories suggestion and a discussion of his pupil Nazim Sadykhov's stoppage of Ismael Bonfim at UFC Fight Night 251. Longo used Dvalishvili as an example of someone who always possessed that extra drive needed to realize his championship potential. An article written by New York Daily News in 2013 captured a quote from Dvalisvhili after a 141-pound fight against Richard Maddox. Dvalishvili steamrolled his opponent to earn the Empire City Casino Punch of the Night award. He's known as 'The Machine' today, but back then Dvalishvili was dubbed 'Tornado.' 'Not the prettiest guy, but he says in this thing, they go through this whole thing on him, but at the end it's Merab saying, 'I could throw 100 punches a round. I never worry about getting tired,'' Longo said. 'So like, if people want – like, again, I see that, and I go, If they think this is a new thing, this has been going on forever. This is before I knew him; he made that statement. So, that part of the game, that mental side or that cardio side, was always there. How crazy is that? From 12 or 14 years ago.' In a 2013 bout against Daquan Henry, which is available to watch online, Dvalishvili terrorized as he never stopped coming forward. He was certainly raw and was bloodied from eating punches, but his relentless forward-pressure gave his opponent trouble en route to a decision win. For what it's worth, neither Maddox or Henry went on to have professional careers in combat sports. How much you want to credit Dvalishvili for that is up to you. You can watch the full video of Dvalishvili vs. Henry in the video above.
USA Today
11-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Dominick Cruz explains why latest shoulder injury prompted retirement: 'I was on borrowed time'
Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz felt his career was 'on borrowed time' as he dealt with a recurring shoulder issue. The injury bug has haunted Cruz (24-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC), affecting multiple areas of his body, leading to many starts and stops over his professional MMA career that began in 2005. Even though he was dealing with a shoulder issue, Cruz decided to book a fight for Feb. 22 against Rob Font, which would have been his first since a loss to Marlon Vera in August 2022. However, his body wouldn't allow him to complete a full camp, even with adjusting the intensity, and decided to withdraw from the fight and call it a career. 'I had one dislocation about eight weeks prior to this recent one that I posted,' Cruz said on 'The Anik & Florian Podcast.' 'That one kind of set the stage that, 'OK, I'm on a different kind of timeline than just age,' which I didn't really add to the equation. It was more, just like I feel good, I'm still fast, all these things, right? Then, your shoulder falls out. 'I rehabbed it for six weeks straight, then I went and sparred with Jeremy Stephens and a few pro boxers just to see where it was really at after the rehab I had done, and I did really well. I felt really good, nothing messed with me at all. After that, I booked the fight, and they offered me Rob Font.' Cruz admits there was some hesitation in booking the fight, but he felt his body would get in no better shape than it was at that time. Unfortunately, his shoulder failed him again. 'Sorry, Rob Font as well,' Cruz said. 'I respect the guy. He's done a lot in the sport himself and a lot of big things. So, nobody wants to pull out as a pro fighter because it sets somebody else off, too. It sets the fans off, it sets the fighter off; it's more than just me when you pull out, and that's why I didn't want to do it. But I knew I was on borred time, to put it quickly. I was on borrowed time after the first dislocation.' In order to reduce the liklihood of damaging his shoulder again, Cruz said he changed up his training camp routine to dial back live sparring and grappling. However, when he went live, the injury occured, and it wasn't a dislocation that could be quickly popped back into place like the previous occurance. Cruz said he had to go to the hospital to get X-rays done so the medical team could figure out which way to pull his arm to reset it. According to Cruz, this disclocation was so excrutiaingly painful that it prompted him to reasses his career, and think about what day-to-day life could be like years from now if he pressed forward. 'It was a 20 on a scale of one to 10,' Cruz said. 'It just changed my perspective of where the shoulder is at because – you know, I already had tendon damage that had torn, and that's why the shoulder starts coming out because the tendons are no longer connected. So, there's separation and that thing can just fly out. So, if it can happen twice in six to eight months, that's when the shoulder just stops working on you. '… How much is my shoulder worth? How much is being able to (raise my arm above my head) worth? That's full range of motion. It's still painful, I have a lot of rehab to do, but is that worth more than what I'm getting paid for this last fight? Definitely. Now, if they offered me a couple mil or something like that, I don't know, I might have showed up and gone with a 50 percent arm and maybe done that. You gotta figure out what your arm's worth.'
