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WCCO-AM in Minneapolis sources that Brock Lesnar has a case of diverticulitis, which is “a disease where small pouches form in the digestive system.”
I’m by no means accusing Brock Lesnar of doing steroids, but a quick check on the diagnosis of diverticulitis reveals that steroid use can sometimes play a significant role in masking early symptoms. Read more…
That’s a quote from Dana White today, as he expounded on Brock Lesnar’s mysterious illness. An ailment that was revealed by White Monday as being intestinal based and that will require surgery.
(White’s p.r. treatment of Lesnar illness reminds WWE)
Sunday White made some alarmingly vague comments about Lesnar’s condition, saying that although Lesnar didn’t have Cancer or AIDs, his situation was extremely serious. And that he first experienced the illness while in Canada.
White’s comments obviously caused everyone’s mind to run wild, so he clarified today. A little. Read more…
Big news out of UFC yesterday was that Brock Lesnar has dropped out of UFC 106 on Nov. 21 because of a serious illness.
(Might want to go with the fist bump)
Dana White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports: “He said it’s been going on for a long time and he just hasn’t been able to shake it.”
Lesnar’s training partner Chris Tuchscherer told the LAS VEGAS SUN that Lesnar’s serious illness has been present for 25 days.
(Las Vegas Sun reported Lesnar had “upper respiratory” illness)
If that’s the case, why was Lesnar down on the field making a public appearance at a Vikings games nine days ago? Video after the jump. Read more…
Despite the occasional craziness from chief Dana White, WWE-style bluster from Brock Lesnar, or morning TV sexytime from Tito Ortiz, UFC is still the serious big kid on the block when it comes to mixed martial arts. Fedor Emelianenko might be heading to Strikeforce, but in general when the best fighters on Earth get down to business, they do it in the Octagon.
Last night’s UFC 101 event was no exception, as the two main co-event victors Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn cemented themselves as two of MMA’s best fighters, both in surprisingly efficient - but quite different - fashion.
After Affliction’s sudden, immediate, largely hilarious demise in the world of fight promotion (no worries, meatheads, you can still wear those silly shirts with the skulls and stuff on them), all eyes were immediately trained on human/wolverine hybrid Fedor Emelianenko.
(FEDOR FACT: punching people in the face is awesome.)
With his stature and the seeming dearth of serious UFC competition for fellow destruction machine Brock Lesnar, it seemed like Emelianenko was a natural fit for moving to the UFC. As a matter of fact, the LOS ANGELES TIMES cited sources close to the situation in a report that Fedor would be signing with UFC by Friday.
Um, about that. Whoops.
After months of teetering on the verge of disaster, Affliction was pushed over the edge this week when Josh Barnett dropped out of his heavyweight title match against Fedor Emelianenko scheduled to headline its August 1 PPV after failing a drug test. Yesterday the company announced that it was canceling the “Trilogy” PPV and has decided to cease operations.
And now comes word that Affliction has rejoined UFC as an official clothing supplier, which was the whole reason Affliction formed its own MMA organization in the first place. Effectively, Affliction waived the white flag, becoming the latest challenger to Dana White’s UFC empire to crack under the enormous pressure the MMA giant places on competition.
• During a recent visit to Houston’s Minute Maid Park, a married MLB player supposedly tried to ask out a media intern for some post-game fun.
Say it ain’t so, Junction Jack!
• The NFL is trying to spread its pigskin platitudes throughout China with - what else? - a reality TV show.
• Dana White lectures big UFC bruiser Brock Lesnar on how to behave properly with the press. Huh, how about that.
• But the UFC prez shouldn’t have such worries if Shaq joins his ranks. Unless Kobe is also on the card.
• The Chicago Cubs are considering filing for bankruptcy. Wouldn’t it be great to see Mark Cuban snag the Cubs from bankruptcy court?
Like Snuggies® at small college football games in the fall, UFC has now officially taken over the world. The L.A. sports bar I shoehorned into Saturday was overwhelmed with TapOuted cranks trying to crash UFC 100. The only time I can remember SoCal *sports* fan reax even approaching that was Lakers NBA Finals-time.
(Opposite day! White counsels Lesnar on couth)
UFC’s PPV buys, attendance figures, gate receipts, merch sales and coverage from MSM outlets has passed critical mass. UFC now IS MMA. They might as well rename the sport.
And with that suffocating coverage comes increased scrutiny. Scrutiny that led to the extensive public comment on Brock Lesnar’s regrettable post-fight behavior at UFC 100. And the deliciously ironic response from pro sports’ biggest a-hole, Dana White.
Following Lesnar’s post fight slights of fallen opposite Frank Mir and UFC title sponsor Bud Light, White reportedly lectured the fighter on the fine art of how to act in public.
In other words, it was opposite day! Read more…
This weekend was a very big weekend for UFC as they held their UFC 100 pay-per-view event in Vegas, and though I’m not sure of the numbers they did, I’m pretty sure it was rather successful. All I know is that a lot of people I know who had never watched any UFC before in their lives were watching it on Saturday night and everybody has been talking about it since.
Still there’s no doubt that the sport is looking for a way to get even bigger and more mainstream. While I’m not sure how Brock Lesnar’s antics after beating Frank Mir will help or hurt the sport, there is one way I know that would be a sure fire way to increase the amount of pay-per-view buys from folks who don’t normally watch MMA. Put Shaq in the Octagon. He wants to be there, and so far, Dana White isn’t ruling it out.
(Note: SbB Senior Writer Tuffy couldn’t find a taker for his kidneys (though they are lovely ones, at that; quite pert), so he pulled up to UFC’s beach blanket beatdown at Mandalay Bay Beach for the simulcast for this report.)
Admittedly, it was a tough sell for some people. One person stopped us on the way in to ask if we, too, had spent $50 mistakenly expecting to walk into the arena of the most-touted event in UFC history and somehow found ourselves on a beach like we were Leo DiCaprio. Others (clearly comped) mocked those around them for dropping a wad of cash on a TV show when they could have “gone to a bar”.
For those people, we could only nod solemnly as we would for those who feel they’ve outsmarted the system by cruising the same three-block stretch for an hour to find a parking spot with a half-filled coin meter. Some people cannot be taught. Like Brock Lesnar, for example. Boy ain’t right. (Which reminds us… has someone checked in on his wife? Has she been flattened into crepe-like proportions?)
