J-Mac responds to some GSP feedback and discuss the UFC Fighter Summit.
I want to start this week by responding to some of the feedback in my last blog. People are tearing me apart because I was criticizing Georges St-Pierre. I can't say I didn't expect such a response but I just wanted to take the opportunity to clarify a few things.
First of all, I think GSP is the best fighter in the world. Thus,I hold him to a different standard than everyone else. So when I say I wish he would go out there and finish guys it's because I believe he's so good and should be able to.
Fans and even Dana White say that these guys are tough and so they're difficult to finish. But let's take a look at Dan Hardy. GSP wasn't able to finish him, yet in his very next fight he gets knocked out pretty quickly by Carlos Condit. If Condit could find a way to do it, why can't GSP?
Some readers were saying it's so "sickening" to see me take cheap shots at a fellow Canadian. Well, GSP is the world champion, I expect him to go out there and perform like one. Again, I hold him to a higher standard and to say I'm taking cheap shots is absurd.
I also have to tell you that at last week's UFC Fighter Summit, the most talked-about topic among table conversation was how boring GSP is to watch. Even Matt Hughes went on record saying he's sick of it. Matt is a friend of his and he insisted he wasn't bitter because Georges beat him twice. He just said that he expects Georges to finish guys and thinks he fights really safe.
Now that leads right into the Fighter Summit, which was fantastic. The UFC flew me and most of its fighters to Las Vegas for a few days of informational sessions and presentations. We were actually split into three groups: the Strikeforce fighters were in one group and the UFC guys were split into two, and each group had their own two-day itinerary staggered over four days (Monday-Thursday).
They talked about a number of things, such as health, safety and fight preparation. For example, they brought a doctor in to talk about weight cutting and I thought that was really good. What I found most interesting was the presentation on concussions.
The UFC also brought in some people from the DEA in to talk about steroids, but instead of an education-type presentation, it sounded more like scare tactics. They said things like, "You could be charged with a felony and go to jail for 10 years." I don't know if that was their intention, but that's the way it came across. And I was told the presentation was a lot better last year.
There were also some things they talked about that I've already dealt with (having fought in the UFC for almost five years) like taxes and forming a corporation, which were geared towards newer guys. Overall the sessions were good, lasting about one hour or so. They kept the flow going and there were lots of breaks.
One thing I'd say is, now that the UFC has expanded so much worldwide, they're starting to do more and more things for themselves (they're making a new line of compression clothing) and the fighters (such as the health insurance). The past couple of years they've been completely focused on getting into new states and countries and now that they're sanctioned in most places, they're focusing on new things.
Of course, there was the big thing about social networking and Twitter. For me I just don't have enough hours in the day to invest that much time into that. You could spend your whole day on social networking, fan pages, etc., if that's all you did. But for me to be training, running a business and looking after four kids, I'd be lucky to get five minutes a day to do that, let alone meet the expectations the UFC has for their incentives. Let's just say I don't think I'll be making any of the bonuses that they're offering.
All in all, it was a fun time and a good opportunity to hang out with other fighters and see some fellow Canadians. We all pretty much sat together - me, Nick Ring, Sean Pierson, Rory MacDonald, T.J. Grant, Jesse Bongfeldt and Sam Stout. We all hung out together and did a few things together.
Lastly, on Friday we had our Pure Fighting Championship and it was a success. Unfortunately we only had six fights but they were fantastic.
We lost two fights on the day of weigh-ins. I'm not going to mention any names, but it never ceases to amaze me they type of people who come through this sport and how fighters can agree to fights, sign a contract and then pull out at the last minute.
One guy said he couldn't get his CAT scans, so I went the extra mile made arrangements for him to get a CAT scan on the day of the weigh-ins and he never showed up and didn't bother to phone me. I had to call him and he told me he decided not to come, meanwhile his opponent is in the sauna trying to make weight.
Then another guy backed out. He was supposed to fight a guy stepping up a weight class and I even negotiated and gave him the amount of money he asked for. He saw the doctor at weigh-ins on Thursday, then phoned me two hours before the show and said he won't fight because his blood pressure was too high. I asked him to come and see the doctors but he refused to come to the event.
That being said the six fights were great. I thank all the fighters for coming through for me and putting on exciting fights. I heard from a number of people that it was one of my better shows. I think the fights were so good that people didn't realize there were only six!
My guy Ryan Machan was in the main event against Dave Hulett, who took the fight on short notice. Hulett had a really good record coming in and dropped Ryan a couple of times, but Ryan fought back and pulled out a nice triangle to finish him off.
Probably our fight of the night was George Belanger over Josh Powell. It went three rounds and it was unbelievable. Each rocked the other, and each was wobbled a number of times but they never went down. It was truly entertaining.
