Cagewriter - UFC Blog

UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has already changed the UFC. As the first woman to sign with MMA's biggest promotion and its first champion, Rousey made history when she beat Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. According to one magazine, Rousey isn't just changing MMA. She is one of Business Insider's "50 Women Changing the World."

Ranked 42nd on the list, Business Insider points out that the trash-talking Rousey has changed the sports world. She shares the list with fellow athletes Brittney Griner and Serena Williams, as well as Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Rousey's mark on the sporting landscape is unquestionable, but BI is right to say she is having an effect beyond sports. Her popularity proves that her reach is far beyond MMA fans.

And her popularity is not slowing down. Rousey was on the cover of ESPN the Magazine's 15th anniversary magazine, and recently posed for Maxim magazine's Hot 100. She will coach against Cat Zingano in the next edition of "The Ultimate Fighter," slated to premiere in September.

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Anthony Pettis has shown off his acrobatic ability in fights. The former WEC lightweight champion is still remembered for his kick off the cage that clinched his win over Benson Henderson. Now, imagine what he can do with capoeira training? Pettis has been training in Brazil, and as shown in the video above, has picked up some skills from the Brazilian martial art that mixes acrobatics, dancing and fighting.

He'll fight Jose Aldo in August for the UFC featherweight belt. Do you think we'll see him pull out any of these tricks at UFC 163? Speak up on Facebook or on Twitter.

Thanks, MMA Fighting.

A slow week in MMA? So what. Let's decide what's hot, what's not, what is just a big ball of confusion.

Not -- Costa Philippou: Remember how his fight with Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza was listed as one of the best of the month? Too bad it's off. A cut forced Phillippou off in training, and Chris Camozzi is stepping in to fight Souza at UFC on FX 8. Rafael Natal will now fight Joao Zeferino.

Hot -- Jon Jones: He defended his title for the fifth time, tying the record set by Tito Ortiz in 2002. Sure, he jacked up his toe, but he didn't seem to mind.

Not -- Eyes: It's been a tough week for eyes. Eye pokes were the reason behind two of the stoppages at UFC 159. But things are looking up as the UFC will try to change the rules behind eye pokes in the coming months.

Hot -- Chael Sonnen: "But Maggie!" you say. "He lost his fight to Jon Jones. How can he be on the hot list?" Because the loss was completely expected, and the man didn't miss a beat. He stayed in the spotlight by bringing out an old feud with Wanderlei Silva, and ripping him on Twitter.

Not, or maybe hot, or who knows -- Cheick Kongo: After getting knocked out by Roy Nelson, Kongo's profile disappeared from the UFC site. Then, two reputable MMA news outlets reported Kongo's contract has run out, and that the UFC had no plans to re-sign the French fighter. But Kongo keeps insisting on his Twitter page that he has no plans to leave the UFC.

Thanks for sticking with Cagewriter this week. Follow CW on Twitter and Facebook.

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Spend some time this morning taking a behind-the-scenes look at Jon Jones' win over Chael Sonnen on Saturday. You'll see a Jones who is incredibly loose and relaxed before, during and after his fight. He seemed to enjoy this win more than his other title defenses, even commenting on how his happiness level is higher than it ever has been.

After a busy run in April, May is a relatively slow month for MMA. You can spend the extra time and money you're not spending on fights on a Mother's Day gift. After you've taken your mother to brunch, check out these fights:

Mike Treadwell vs. Chris Treadwell, MFC 37, May 10: This is the brother vs. brother bout. Watch and record it on AXS, then record it. When you and your brother fight during that Mother's Day brunch, show the fight and tell your mom it could be much worse.

Costa Philippou vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, UFC on FX 8, May 18: Philippou is riding a five-fight win streak, with his last bout a TKO over Tim Boetsch. Souza is one of the latest Strikeforce imports, and he has a three-fight win streak, a nasty ground game and striking that gets more impressive with every game. Check it out before the Vitor Belfort-Luke Rockhold bout.

Fallon Fox vs. Allannah Jones, Championship Fighting Alliance, May 24: No matter your feelings on Fallon Fox, you probably want to see her fight. Some want to see her get knocked out. Some want to see how the first openly trans fighter has handled the spotlight. You can see her bout with Allannah Jones at Championship Fighting Alliance 11 which will air on AXS TV. Fox-Jones is on the undercard of the event headlined by Strikeforce standout Mike Kyle and Alistair Overeem's brother Valentijn.

Every single bout on UFC 160, May 25: The limited quantity of UFC bouts in May is made up for by the quality of fights at UFC 160. It starts with the main event. Cain Velasquez will test his title in a rematch with Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, and former champ Junior dos Santos will fight Mark Hunt in a another heavyweight bout. T.J. Grant and Gray Maynard are fighting for the next lightweight title shot. Even the preliminary card has fighters that are really fun to watch, like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Brian Bowles.

There are plenty of fight highlight videos, but few give such a stark, behind-the-scenes look as this one. Some of the moments carry more weight when you know the story behind them. Melvin Guillard hugging Donald Cerrone and coach Greg Jackson is a beautiful moment on its own, but takes on more significance when you know Guillard once trained with Jackson and Cerrone. The run-up to their fight was tense, but afterwards they shared a hug.

But most of the images need no background. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva celebrating after he knocked out Alistair Overeem, Joe Benavidez giving a quick fist-bump through the curtain of the medical area, and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua not wanting to put a hat on his bruised, swollen head say enough.

Thanks to MMA Fighting.

Chael Sonnen's loss to Jon Jones at UFC 159 put his career in question. At 36 years old, and with title losses in two different divisions, would Sonnen consider retiring? He answered that question on Fuel's "UFC Tonight," and that answer is no.

"I have a lot of goals I want to achieve still, and retirement won't help me get that done," Sonnen said.

He said the weight class is up for debate, though he liked the switch to light heavyweight after years as a middleweight. He would also be happy to fight at a catchweight, like Rich Franklin did for a few fights when moving up in weight. But there's no question about who he wants to fight.

"I'm not going anywhere until me and Wanderlei [Silva] straighten this thing out once and for all,"

Like Sonnen, Silva has moved between middleweight, light heavyweight and catchweights somewhere between. He is also 36, but the sensible match-up isn't why Sonnen is interested in this bout. Sonnen has a problem with this video from 2010:

Here is how Sonnen viewed this video.

"Wanderlei pulled a really dirtbag move on me one time. We're in a van, he mutters something at me, I can't understand what he's saying. He then puts it on YouTube with subtitles because he knows I can't understand him. He puts in these subtitles and I don't know if it's what he's said or not. Essentially, he tells me off, and it looks as though I'm conceding to him. That doesn't fly. If he calls you out, whether it's in a van or not, if you're a fighter, you must respond. I'm ready to respond."

Silva responded by tweeting this:

@sonnench?

— Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) May 1, 2013

And then sharing the above video and saying, "Real men talk face to face."

Is this a fight you want to see, Cagereaders? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.

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During UFC 159, UFC commentator Joe Rogan interviewed Tommy Rowlands, a former world team member for USA Wrestling and a two-time national champion for Ohio State. Rowlands talked about wrestling's big role in mixed martial arts and how the UFC was supporting the effort to keep Olympic wrestling alive. The sport, a mainstay of the Olympics since the ancient games, was not kept as a core sport for the 2020 Olympics and will have to fight to keep its spot after the 2016 Olympics.

The UFC and the Committee to Preserve Olympic Wrestling announced the start of a partnership weeks ago, and Rowlands' appearance was part of that partnership. It turns out the whole discussion between the two groups started after a terse Twitter conversation between Rowlands and UFC president Dana White.

[Also: Chael Sonnen not retiring, eyes Wanderlei Silva]

Rowlands told Cagewriter he read the headline of a story that indicated White viewed the Olympics dropping wrestling as an opportunity. He tweeted White his disgust with this view, and White responded.

@tommyrowlands how is it an OP for me if it goes away!!! U have no idea what I have done for wrestling over the last 13 years.

— Dana White (@danawhite) February 15, 2013

This tense conversation turned as White and Rowlands decided to speak, and finished with this.

“@tommyrowlands: just got off phone w @danawhite let me tell u, not only is he behnd wrestling, he is 1 of our bigest fans. mor 2 come.

— Dana White (@danawhite) February 21, 2013

"For me to say I regretted it would be a lie, when I thought was I saw wrestling was boring, I felt the need to defend my sport," Rowlands said.

"He admitted he was emotional, he was able to say I would never dis wrestling. I said if you’re up for it, give me a call and we can talk."

Rowlands, White and members from CPOW met a week later in Las Vegas to discuss the ways they can support each other. Rowlands appearance on the UFC 159 telecast was the first step. Since the relationship is new, they are still developing their next steps.

Bill Scherr, the chairman of CPOW, said White's open relationship with MMA fans is what allowed this relationship to begin.

"To his credit, Dana has an open door policy with fans, and Tommy was able to walk right through," Scherr said. "We're still figuring out what we can offer them and what we can learn from them."

To learn more about CPOW's efforts to keep Olympic wrestling thriving, check out their website and follow them on Twitter.

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Eye pokes are one of the problems facing MMA commissions as they try to evolve and keep up with the sport's explosive growth. Since eye pokes happen often, some rules are already in place, but more ideas need to be implemented to help the problem.

But a problem came up at a fight in Brazil that even the most prescient commission couldn't have expected. At WOCS 25 in Brazil, a staff member used glue to fix a hanging decal from a fight banner as staff worked on Carlo Alberto Lobo after the second round of his bout with Marcos Nene. The glue dripped onto Lobo's eye. Thinking it was the Vaseline that is applied to a fighter's face to discourage cuts, he rubbed it and ending up gluing his eye shut.

Fight staff worked like crazy to open Lobo's eye back up, but it didn't work. The fight was stopped. The crazy part? They had to go the scorecards and Lobo still won.

Thanks, Middle Easy.

UFC president Dana White is proud of his Boston roots. He openly cheers for the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins on Twitter, and he was downright giddy when he announced the UFC would return to Boston on Aug. 17. The Boston Marathon bombing affected him, and he and the UFC responded to the tragedy.

White called the act cowardly:

“How cowardly and disgusting that these people, who lived in the city as long as they did, did that. To put the bag right next to kids, I don’t even like talking about it. It’s just disgusting.

He told the Boston Globe that he and the Fertitta brothers donated personally to the One Fund, which will help the people most affected by the bombings. The UFC and Fox also gave money.

The UFC also did something on a smaller scale that still gave some smiles to Boston UFC fans. The days after UFC 159, they conducted their #Hunt4UFC in Boston. Usually, the UFC only does their Twitter-based scavenger hunt in fight cities. White tweeted locations where Bostonians could find UFC gear. On Monday, Red Sox player and friend of the UFC Shane Victorino participated.

Be near Fenway in 1 hr RT @shanevictorino: Signing some @redsox gear for the next #Hunt4UFC. Get ready Boston!!! twitter.com/ShaneVictorino…

— Dana White (@danawhite) April 29, 2013

White and the UFC's actions won't erase what happened to Boston, but it can help some of its citizens on the way to recovery.

Alan Belcher. Gian Villante. Anthony Johnson. Wagner Prado. Waachiim Spiritwolf. Constantinos Phillippou. These fighters have all been on the wrong end of an inadvertent eye poke and the inadequate set of rules that accompany eye pokes. What can be done in a sport where open-fingered gloves are used and strikes to any part of the face are allowed?

The UFC's vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner has one idea that he thinks will help situations like the one that arose during Villante's loss. Ovince St-Preux inadvertently poked Villante in the eye. Referee Kevin Mulhall didn't see the poke, but Villante stepped back and said he was poked in the eye. Mulhall asked Villante if he could see, Villante responded he couldn't, and in accordance with MMA rules, the fight was stopped.

What Ratner wants to do is take the referee out of the decision to stop the fight. Since it's a medical decision, let the fight doctor make it. It will also give fighters time to recover as they wait for the doctor to come into the cage.

"I think by bringing the doctor in, just the whole operation will take a couple of minutes, and I think that should alleviate most of the pain and give us enough time to make sure the guy can fight," Ratner said.

Ratner will introduce this change to the Association of Boxing Commissions, the national oversight group of state MMA and boxing associations.

Referee John McCarthy also favors this approach:

From the eye poke. U can use the doctor 2 help in giving the fighter time 2 clear their vision.There is no need to rush in this situation

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) April 28, 2013

A change to allow some extra time would also keep fighters out of the weird position of possibly lying to officials. Villante honestly answered the question, "Can you see?" He didn't think Mulhall would stop the fight because of it. This situation could make fighters think twice about how they answer the question, which could put their health in danger.

The open-fingered gloves don't help. Fighters use sparring gloves that are smaller than boxing gloves in training, but the gloves' size would get in the way during ground fighting and submission attempts. UFC commentator Joe Rogan has spoken during many fights about the need for a better design for fight gloves, but none have surfaced among high-level fighting.

How can MMA fix this problem? Great ideas don't have to come from executives or state commissioners. If you have an idea to combat eye pokes, share it on Cagewriter's Facebook page. We'll feature the best ones in a post.

UFC 159 had a run of some odd injuries. How are the fighters feeling now?

First up, Alan Belcher, whose eye gushed blood after Michael Bisping accidentally poked him. Belcher's career went on hiatus in 2010 and 2011 when he had to undergo emergency eye surgery to save his vision. The sight of a doctor checking out Belcher's vision was worrisome. Luckily, he just needed stitches on his eyelid.

I'm ok.. Just got back from e.r.8 stitches in eyelid. Disappointed. To my real supporters, I'm sorry, thank you once again.

— alan belcher(@alanbelcherufc) April 28, 2013

Here's a closer pic twitter.com/alanbelcherufc…

— alan belcher(@alanbelcherufc) April 28, 2013

Bisping beat Belcher on Saturday, but is facing some medical issues of his own. He is suffering from nerve damage that requires surgery.

"I have stenosis, which is a trapped nerve that causes atrophy and numbness in my right arm,” Bisping said on Fuel TV after his fight at UFC 159. “It’s progressively getting worse and worse. I saw a surgeon about six weeks before this fight and they told me I needed surgery (but) there was no way I was going to pull out of this fight.”

He said that he will head home and sort everything out when he decides his next steps are.

Finally, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones' toe nearly tore off during his fight with Chael Sonnen. Doctors fixed it up, and here's his update:

Got my big toe back intact :) twitter.com/JonnyBones/sta…

— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 28, 2013

Thankfully, bone is no longer sticking out of his body.

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UFC 159 was a bizarre event — possibly cursed by demons — but there were still plenty of standout performances by fighters whose bouts ended normally. Who stood out for you? Speak up on Twitter or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Jon Jones: As we've said since the fight was made, Chael Sonnen was not the right competition for UFC light heavyweight Jones because he is middleweight coming off of a loss. Jones could have taken Sonnen lightly and still probably won, but he didn't do that. He used the fight as another opportunity to show his dominance, beating Sonnen at his own game by taking him down several times before finishing the fight near the end of the first round.

Would the fight have been stopped if they made it out of the first round, and the referee had noticed Jones' mangled toe? Who cares? It didn't happen, and Jones is still the champ.

No. 2 star -- Pat Healy: The UFC's already stacked lightweight division somehow got even tough with Healy's performance on Saturday night. Along with Jim Miller, he put on a show then finished the fight in the third round. He won both Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night, meaning Healy walked away with an extra $130,000.

No. 3 star -- Sara McMann: As an Olympic silver medal-winning wrestler, McMann is one of the most decorated athletes to join the UFC. This means she had big expectations to perform, and she exceeded them. McMann used wrestling and power to stop Sheila Gaff in the first round.

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"It was a very weird night."

UFC president Dana White started the post-UFC 159 press conference with these words. The event featured a nasty broken thumb on Yancy Medeiros, and equally nasty broken toe on Jon Jones, two fight stoppages because of eyepokes, and one fight that was canceled hours before it was supposed to happen.

But the craziest part of all? The demonic voice that was heard between rounds of Michael Bisping's win over Alan Belcher.

Did the gates of hell open before the fight, and did Satan send his minions to New Jersey? Were Bisping's cornermen, who were bathed in creepy red light, actually demons? Middle Easy thinks it was a spell from "Passages of the Dead."

It's possible the UFC ticked off the wrong person and got the evil eye thrown its way. The bigger question: Are we all cursed for watching the bouts?

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To the surprise of few, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones held onto his championship belt with a first-round TKO of Chael Sonnen on Saturday night. Part of the reason it was no surprise is that finishing fights is what Jones does. He won four of his last five fights by stoppage. He improves with every fight. Against Sonnen, he used Sonnen's strength of wrestling to control him on the way to the TKO.

Can anyone beat this guy? Here are a few contenders.

Alexander Gustafsson: He's one of the few elite, light heavyweight fighters who hasn't faced Jones. Like Jones, he uses his height and length to keep opponents at bay. He's ready for a fight now because he was pulled from a bout with Gegard Mousasi earlier this month because of a cut. Gustafsson is also who Jones wants to face.

[Related: Jon Jones makes quick work of Chael Sonnen]

"A lot of people think I've been successful because I appear to be larger than my opponents, and with Alexander, that would be no more," Jones said at the post-UFC 159 news conference. "That's who I would like to fight next."

Gustafsson is in:

Congratz @jonnybones Champ! Heal up good now so we

— Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) April 28, 2013

Can do this ;)

— Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) April 28, 2013

Daniel Cormier: The Strikeforce grand prix heavyweight champ had a successful UFC debut against Frank Mir. As a two-time Olympic wrestler with knockout power, he has the skills to stop Jones. UFC president Dana White said Cormier would get an immediate title shot if he were to drop down. The weight drop is the biggest question. Cormier wrestled at 211 lbs., and suffered from kidney failure the last time he tried to get to that weight. It won't be an easy cut for him.

Anderson Silva: White said he received a call from the middleweight champ right after the Jones bout, asking for a superfight with either Jones or Georges St-Pierre. White wouldn't confirm who Silva was asking for, but why would he ask for a bout with GSP right after watching Jones fight? It's the superfight MMA fans want, but Silva has Chris Weidman in July first.

[Photos: Jon Jones pummels Chael Sonnen, suffers gruesome injury]

Time off: This is likely Jones' next contender. During Saturday night's fight, he broke his toe in an ugly fashion. Even with Gustafsson, Silva and Cormier waiting for a fight, Jones needs to heal.

Related UFC video on Yahoo! Sports

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What do you want Jones to do next? Speak up on Facebook or on Twitter.

Minutes after losing by TKO to UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen indicated his fighting days may be over.

"I'm not going to be one of the guys to hang around. If there's not a road to the title, then this sport isn't for me. I believe that was probably my last opportunity," Sonnen said to UFC commentator Joe Rogan.

He didn't specifically say "I'm retiring," but he did talk about the end of the road. This seems like more than the emotional ramblings of a fighter after a bad loss. B.J. Penn threatened retirement several times before it stuck. Nick Diaz has retired and unretired plenty of times.

Retirement wouldn't be out of the question. He's 36 years old and has fought in 40 fights after a long career as an amateur and collegiate wrestler.

If he does decide to retire, don't expect him to play shuffleboard and take up gardening. He already works as a commentator for Fox's broadcasts. During the last season of "The Ultimate Fighter," he proved to be a capable coach. Retirement would not mean Sonnen was done with MMA.

Sonnen talked his way into a title shot with Jones just months after he dropped a title shot to Anderson Silva at middleweight. Deserved or not, Sonnen has had several chances to win the UFC belt, and he hasn't won any of them. Not many fighters get more chances than he has. If the belt is the only thing that's important, why not retire?

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At UFC 159 on Saturday night, Phil Davis showed off the best striking of his career. The NCAA Division-I champion wrestler clearly dominated Vinny Magalhaes in all three rounds on the way to a unanimous decision win. However, one of the judges thought Magalhaes won one round, and the score was 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.

It was a surprising score. It didn't take anything away from Davis' win, but it was odd enough that Magalhaes spoke up about it.

One insane judge gave me a round... I lost all 3 fair and square...

— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) April 28, 2013

Davis and Magalhaes talked trash to each other for months before their bout. Magalhaes left the bad blood in the cage, and was able to give himself an honest assessment moments after the loss.

Jim Miller is 5-foot-8, fights at 155 lbs., and has a bushy red beard. Pat Healy is 5-foot-9, fights at 155 lbs., and sported a trimmed red beard at UFC 159. Can you blame UFC announcer Bruce Buffer for mixing them up?

Healy, who returned to the UFC after spending much of his career in Strikeforce, put Miller to sleep with a rear naked choke in the third round of their thrilling bout. As the two stood on either side of referee Herb Dean to have the fight result announced, Buffer announced the winner by submission was Jim Mill-Pat Healy!

Healy smiled and corrected Buffer, who rarely makes such errors. It was a lighthearted moment that Healy laughed about after a thrilling bout.

Miller started out landing leg kicks and used ground and pound to beat up Healy in the first round. Near the end of the round, Healy was saved by the bell as Miller's ground and pound was close to ending the bout before the horn sounded.

[Also: Two bizarre endings mar UFC 159 prelims]

It was in the third that Healy turned the bout around. Healy weakened Miller with striking, then took him down and took his back. He sunk in the rear naked choke, and Miller's arms went limp. The fight was stopped at 4:02 in the third because Miller was out.

Miller wanted to use the bout to convince UFC president Dana White that he was ready for a title shot. Instead, it was Healy who stood out. In his post-fight interview with UFC commentator, he warned other UFC lightweights to watch out because he was "putting them on blast."

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The UFC debut of two Strikeforce light heavyweights was spoiled by a odd ending. Ovince St-Preux beat Gian Villante in a majority technical decision after the fight was stopped because of a poke to the eye.

After a back-and-forth, but not entirely thrilling bout, St-Preux threw a punch and accidentally poked Villante in the eye. Villante stepped back and crouched down, indicating to referee Kevin Mulhall that there was a problem with the eye. Mulhall asked Villante if he could see, and Villante said no, he couldn't see.

At that point, Mulhall waved his arms and the fight was stopped. Villante protested, but the fight was over. Because the round had started, it had to be judged. The scores were 30-28, 29-28 and 29-29 in St-Preux's favor.

“I couldn’t see. He did poke me in the eye so I don’t know," Villante said after the fight. "He said the fight was over and I didn’t expect that because I was just reacting to his question. I got poked and my eye was closed up so I thought he would stop it but he didn’t, he just kind of looked at me. I don’t understand how you score thirty seconds of a round and that’s how I lost? We were just getting going and I got poked in the eye. I don’t know what to say.”

Mulhall's stoppage adhered to the eyepoke rule, if not literally, then in spirit. When a fighter says he can't see, the fight is stopped. However, Mulhall could have used better communication and followed procedures. It would have been better if he explained to Villante that he didn't have time to recover and that the fight would be stopped if he said he couldn't see.

UFC 159's weird streak continued in the very next bout. Rustam Khabilov and Yancy Medeiros' fight was stopped halfway through the first round. Medeiros defended a Khabilov takedown attempt, but hit his hand awkwardly. His thumb ended up pointing a way thumbs are not supposed to point and the bout was stopped at 2:32 of the first round.

Two weird endings marred the preliminary card, but the UFC rarely lets a weird ending go. Quite often, these fights get a rematch, so don't be shocked if you see these fights happen again on a card this summer.

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UFC 159 hype, suspensions ending and a state still not jumping aboard on the MMA train – it was another full week of MMA. See who made the hot or not list.

Hot – Chael Sonnen: We won't know if he's a winner in the cage until late Saturday night as he takes on Jon Jones for the championship belt at UFC 159. However, this man is already a winner in the financial arena. According to the Los Angeles Times, he took home $8 million for his bout with Anderson Silva. Main event fighters quite often get a percentage of pay-per-view buys, which explains both why he made so much at UFC 148 and why he's working so hard to sell his fight with Jones.

Not – Nate Diaz: He lost by a TKO to Josh Thomson at UFC on Fox on Saturday night, which was enough to land him on the not list. Diaz took an extra step to make it here by saying that Thomson, who knocked him out, was running from him the entire fight.

"He didn't come in there and put no [expletive] whopping on me. You know what I'm saying? He didn't come in there and make anything happen. I have never fought somebody before who had ever wanted out of a fight so bad. I expected a fight. I expected him to grab me and try to hold on to me or throw some kicks and move and throw some punches and move but that [expletive] was straight running and I had to chase him down."

Again, it was Thomson who finished Diaz.

Hot -- Matt Mitrione: His suspension for using hate-filled language against lasted just a few weeks, and he has a fight scheduled for this summer.

Not -- MMA in New York: Even though UFC 159 is in nearby Newark, N.J., MMA is still not sanctioned in New York. The UFC has poured quite a lot of money into lobbying for the sport but it's done nothing. At this point, even UFC president Dana White is "over" MMA in New York.