Here’s the good news: Mike Perry’s arm isn’t broken. Despite Cowboy Cerrone hearing it “pop” at UFC Denver over the weekend, as he attempted to pull it off like a chicken wing in a fight-finishing arm-bar, the limb has survived. Mostly. The bad news, Perry has to undergo an MRI on Thursday to determine the extent of any ligament, tendon, and muscle damage.

Ouch. Perry and Cerrone fought in the co-main event on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 139, which happened to mark the promotion’s 25th anniversary (which was technically Monday). Perry (12-4) dropped to 1-3 in his last four fights with the loss. He surprised many by taking Cerrone down during the first round of the bout, which opened the door for Cowboy to lock in the arm-bar.

With the win, Cerrone (34–11 (1)) set the record for most UFC wins (21), surpassing Georges St. Pierre and Michael Bisping. He also holds the record for most finishes, most fights in a 12-month period (tied with Sam Alvey). Not to mention most walks to the cage/ring in UFC/WEC/Strikeforce/Pride history.

Perry, meanwhile, posted an x-ray of his wounded limb on social media Tuesday.

“I wish there was a rule in fighting where you can’t tap, and they break your sh*t and they beat your *ss and have to knock you out,” Perry added in a self-shot Instagram video. “That would be a better fight for me.” He also posted a video showing the extremely limited range of motion he has in his left arm currently.

The post Mike Perry’s Arm Not Broken After UFC Denver, But It’s Not Great Either appeared first on Cageside Press.

UFC Denver’s thrilling main event did not come without a price for both men involved. The Korean Zombie, who ate a hellish elbow at the end of the fight that seemingly came out of nowhere, was helped from the cage and taken to hospital for treatment. Yair Rodriguez fared slightly better, able to at least complete the post-fight interview in the octagon. However, he too was taken to hospital after the fight.

Now, both men have spoken out, as the pair continue to heal up after a five round war, or more accurately, four rounds, four minutes, and fifty-nine seconds.

“Thank you to all who still believe in me! Thanks to Koreanzombiemma for a war and for the respect given by his team, all my respect and admiration.” Rodriguez posted on social media Sunday, posting a longer videotaped statement in his native Spanish.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqCGaUogGU7/?utm_source=ig_embed

The Korean Zombie, meanwhile, wrote that he would be stuck in hospital for a couple of days, unable to fly home at the moment. Saying he was “ashamed” of the outcome of the fight, Zombie said (via Google Translate) “I do not have an excuse. I am so sorry to all of you who helped me. Thank you. Congratulations to those who hate me. I have to be in hospital for a few days. I have not been able to get on the plane yet. I’m ashamed.”

Rodriguez vs. Zombie, coming on the 25th anniversary of the first UFC event, is likely to go down as one of the greatest comeback finishes of all time, and is a strong candidate for the Fight of the Year for 2018.

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Denver, CO — It’s been a long time since Beneil Dariush was in the winner’s circle in the UFC. Two years, through which he was forced to deal with defeat and injury. Which led to some dark thoughts during a difficult time. Dariush’s last win, prior to Saturday night at UFC Denver, was November of 2016, at the TUF Latin America 3 Finale. Since then, a pair of losses, a draw, and a lot of frustration.

Following his win on Saturday, Dariush was in much better spirits. But he recalled the dark thoughts that haunted him during his slump. “The worst things, man. You think the worst things,” he told reporters, including Cageside Press. “You think about, what about the next fight? If I lose the next fight, am I going to retire? Am I done with the UFC, is the UFC going to kick me out?”

“The worst things come into your mind, and you think the worst thing is going to happen,” he admitted. “You don’t think the best thing is going to happen.”

Dariush turned to scripture during those rough times, saying it “just rebuilds me, it brings me back to life.” He also made some changes heading into his UFC Denver fight against Thiago Moisés.

“I did make changes, I’ll be honest with you,” Dariush said. “I opened up a gym, about two, three years ago. Before I opened up the gym, I was 6-1. I had a really big run.” Perhaps it was too much of a distraction. “After I opened up the gym, I was 2-3-1. I was teaching almost full time, and I really loved the gym, don’t get me wrong, it’s a passion for me. But I realized I can’t do both.”

“So for this fight,” he continued, “I actually put the gym completely aside. I didn’t teach much classes, I think maybe once every two weeks, once every week, and that really made a difference.” The other big change was sequestering himself in the mountains ahead of the bout. “Coming out here three weeks out, complete isolation from everybody. From everything.” he told reporters. “I stayed in the mountains. I love my family, I miss my nieces I think the most, I miss my mother, I miss my sister, my friends, but that gave me drive of focus. I was hungry. I think that made the difference in this fight.”

Opponent Thiago Moisés took the fight on just five weeks notice, and after the bout, Dariush asked him when he had made the trip to Colorado. A week prior was the answer. “The thing is, five weeks is enough to get in good shape, but if you don’t come into altitude three of those weeks, you’re going to struggle,” Dariush explained. “I felt he was really strong in the first round, he threw me with the whizzer a couple of times here and there, but that kind of worked into my game. Because the more he’s exploding while I’m hanging on, I’m not really using much energy, and he’s using all that explosion, which kind of went into the second round, and I started being able to move him a lot easier, get the takedowns.” That led to Dariush nearly securing a choke.

As for fighting on the show that marked 25 years of UFC action, “That was cool, man,” he admitted. Though he had doubts initially and was concerned about the costs, “25 years, and I got to be on the anniversary. Super grateful to Sean Shelby.”

Watch the full UFC Denver post-fight media scrum with Beneil Dariush above!

The post UFC Denver: Beneil Dariush Recalls Dark Thoughts From Losing Streak appeared first on Cageside Press.

Denver, CO — When The Ultimate Fighter 27 wrapped up in July, Mike Trizano was the last man standing at lightweight. Claiming the TUF title and the contract that comes with it, he was the man of the hour. Except for one nagging question: how would Violent Bob Ross, properly known as Luis Pena, have fared? VBR was the man many excepted to win the show, but he was injured following his first bout, and had to pull out. It was a question finally answered at UFC Denver on Saturday night.

Despite Pena garnering most of the media attention ahead of the fight, it was Trizano, again, who had his hand raised in the end. And really, having won his first “real” UFC fight, via split decision, the lightweight TUF winner is thrilled. “It’s a dream come true. This is my passion,” he told reporters including Cageside Press after the fight. “It’s an amazing opportunity to compete at this level. With Savages. I’m blessed. Just take in the moment, and enjoy the process.”

Asked whether it felt any different from the TUF 27 Finale, which of course counts as a UFC fight, Trizano said that “it feels totally different. Not stuck in the house. I’m away from actual TUF. Even though I fought one of the guys who was on the show with me, you know I still treated it as my first actual UFC event. And it is.” He also had a little message for the naysayers. “Regardless of what social media’s been saying about he should have won, well, how’s that for you guys?”

However, he doesn’t let the doubters get to him, saying afterward that “I don’t really care. You have to have thick skin in this sport. People are going to hate you and they’re going to love you regardless of whatever the outcome’s going to be. I don’t pay too much attention to it.” There’s no jealousy over Pena’s higher profile, either, much of which Trizano attributes to the Violent Bob Ross name. “He was getting a ton of publicity. He’s a great marketing tool, his nickname, and he ran with it. Good for him. It’s a great thing going for him in his career, it’s not over for him. You never lose, you win or you learn. I got a lot of respect for him, I got a lot of respect for anybody stepping in that cage. Nobody understands until they actually do it.”

Trizano, however, does feel he could have done more in the fight. Especially given Pena didn’t show the offense many expected. “I’m very, very critical on myself. I want to make sure I’m letting my hands go,” Trizano noted. “I could have let go a lot more, I could have finished that fight. I was landing good strikes, he wasn’t really landing anything on me. He was just taking me down, holding me there. He didn’t really hit me. I think it’s more of what I could have done better that would have changed the outcome of the fight.”

Asked about Pena’s comments pre-fight about training with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and saying there was nothing Trizano could show him he hadn’t already seen, Trizano answered with a laugh that “the dude’s wrestling a bear. I’m sure Luis was a ragdoll for a few weeks. I don’t know how much good work he got.”

“I mean yeah, it could maybe make him tougher, but I’m pretty sure Khabib tossed him around, as well as all the other guys he trained with,” he added. “I don’t know if I’d want to be a training partner for Khabib to be honest.”

Watch the full UFC Denver post-fight press scrum with Mike Trizano above!

The post UFC Denver: Mike Trizano Not So Sure Training with Khabib Helped Luis Pena appeared first on Cageside Press.

Denver, CO — Heading into her UFC Denver strawweight bout with Amanda Cooper, Ashley Yoder’s back was against the wall. At 0-3 in the promotion, there was little question it was a must win fight for the ‘Spider Monkey’ from Indiana. Her opponent was no slouch. The occasion was a historic card. The UFC’s 25th anniversary. Resulting in more attention than most Fight Night events would garner.

The end result? A dream come true for Yoder, though she admits the decision could have gone the other way.

“I dreamed about this day,” she revealed backstage at the Pepsi Center with Cageside Press and other outlets in attendance. “Just getting the pictures is so emotional to me, because I put a lot into this. I’ve been on the end of some decisions that might have gone  the wrong way, and this might have been one of those on the other side, you never know.”

Saturday night, however, went her way. It was close, mind you, and Yoder would have preferred a stoppage. “I really wanted the finish, couldn’t get it,” she said, “but I’m just ecstatic to be able to have such a great crew behind me this camp. Even with everything going wrong, even up to my shorts being wrong when I stepped here in the arena, I just kinda had to push through.”

Her shorts? Yoder explained that she had to man up and push through to get the win, despite the promotion giving her the wrong sized fight kit. “They gave me a size 24, and no one wants to see love handles after you gain your weight back from weigh-ins,” she joked. “That might have worked if I was 115. They were supposed to be bigger size, [and] they tried to give me a skort again.”

Despite the aggravation, Yoder was excited to get the win following a camp that had her looking to bring out a new Ashley, and continue her growth in the sport.

Taking a critical eye to her performance, Yoder explained that she “was disappointed in the volume of punches. I was wanting to throw more. I felt like I should have pushed the pace like I kind of did in the third. I should have done that in the first and second.”

“You hope for the best. I know I was prepared,” she added. “It just takes learning and losing and being on bad decisions to keep growing.”

Ultimately, however, Yoder feels she did enough to win the fight, which two judges had in her favor. “I think I did,”  Yoder said in regards to securing the victory. “Honestly the thing that took me off guard was, I’m pretty good at takedown defense, and she took me down a couple times without me even defending it. Because I think I was so worried, or not worried, but focused on striking.”

Saying she’s generally comfortable on the ground, she admitted the easy takedowns for Cooper were “just surprising to me that I didn’t defend so well. I’m kind of mad at myself for that, but it happens.”

What’s next for Yoder? She’s hoping for a quick turnaround. “Let me get back in there. The more I’m in there, the more comfortable I’ll be.” It doesn’t matter who the fight is against. “No names, just let me fight.”

Watch the full UFC Denver post-fight press scrum with Ashley Yoder above!

The post UFC Denver: Ashley Yoder Admits Decision Over Amanda Cooper Could Have Gone Either Way, But Feels She Did Enough to Win appeared first on Cageside Press.

Denver, CO — On a night where the judges were their usual questionable selves, UFC Denver’s most controversial result was a finish. The featherweight contest between Bobby Moffett and Chas Skelly ended it what appeared to be a quick stoppage by the ref, who felt that Skelly had gone out to a D’arce choke. Skelly immediately popped up and protested the call, and told reporters post-fight that he’s planning to appeal.

For Moffett, however, he still feels great about the win, as he explained backstage afterwards. “However the fight ends, I got the W,” he explained. “I’m just here to choke people. That’s what I was going for, and the ref pulled me off. I can’t keep squeezing after the ref grabs me. I’m just here to choke people, that’s what I’m trying to do.”

From his perspective, on the controversial finish, Moffett said that “I was just trying to advance the choke. I had him, I was choking him, and I was like ‘you know what, if he’s not going to tap to this right now, I’ve gotta hook once of his legs and extend my back and put real pressure into it.'” That’s when the referee intervened. “When I was going for hooking his leg, the referee pulled me off.”

To Moffett, it’s simple: the ref made the call, he let go of the choke. “I’m just doing my job. I’m here to choke people, like I said. I’ll squeeze him til his head pop’s off. If that’s what the fans want me to do, that’s what I’ll do. That’s why I’m here, to entertain people.” Point taken, though we’re not sure how entertaining that would actually be.

Moffett admittedly was concerned about the fight being called a No Contest. Especially while footage was being reviewed. “I didn’t want all that effort that I put into this camp, and the submission to be taken away from me,” he said. “Because I had it. And he wasn’t going to get out. And even if he did get out, I was going to fight him harder than he was going to fight me. I could feel that he was getting weaker, and I felt good about it.”

On the suggestion that the fight be run back, Bobby Moffett seemed indifferent. “I’m here to fight anybody in the featherweight division,” he stated. “Whether they want me to fight him again or not, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’ll beat the next person in front of me. I don’t care how many controversial finishes they give me, I’m going to keep finishing people.”

Skelly told reporters including Cageside Press that he felt Moffett tiring during the submission attempt. Moffett, however, dismissed that notion. “I’ve put in a lot of work in the gym, wrestling and striking. Back-to-back, we were mixing the rounds and everything,” he explained. “I felt like my arms and my cardio were just at a whole other level. It didn’t matter what the elevation was, I could fight 25 minutes right now.”

“I came into this fight like there was no tomorrow. There was no way I was getting tired,” he added.

Watch Bobby Moffett’s full UFC Denver post-fight press scrum above!

The post UFC Denver: Bobby Moffett Talks Through Controversial Finish Against Chas Skelly appeared first on Cageside Press.

Denver, CO — Lightweight Davi Ramos made short work of opponent John Gunther at UFC Denver on Saturday night. Part of the preliminary card at the UFC’s 25th anniversary show, the submission ace proved once again that he is deadly on the ground. No surprise, given Ramos’ decorated grappling resume, including winning gold at the ADCC world championships in 2015.

On the ground is not where you want to go with Ramos. Yet the Brazilian told reporters including Cageside Press backstage at the Pepsi Center on Saturday that he’d actually been working on his striking. He just didn’t get to show it. “As soon as I get him and take him [Gunther] down, I say ‘man, I have to do my job.'” The choke came shortly after. Maybe next time.

Ramos is a fighter who has been loathe to call his shots in the octagon, or in the press. “I work for UFC,” he explained. “I never ask for any fighter, I never choose any fight. If you guys see my record, all the guys, just John Gunther has less fights than me. But most of my fights they have much more fights than me. I never choose any fight. I work for UFC, so who they put me [against] to fight, I’m going to come here, I’m going to show my striking, I’m going to show my jiu-jitsu, and then I come here to finish the fight — a knockout, or submission.” In short, let the bosses decided, he’ll fight who they give him.

With one exception. Following Saturday’s win, he did say the name of the champion — Khabib Nurmagomedov. Yet Ramos clarified Saturday that it wasn’t a call out per se. Rather, he was simply letting the UFC know that he’s aiming for the title.

“I’m asking for Khabib because Khabib is number one, he is the champion you know? I look at him, I don’t see him. [I see] the best guy on the game,” Ramos said. “I see him, he’s  really good on his game. He takes down everyone, and smash everyone. So let’s see if he can do it with me. I have my jiu-jitsu, let’s see. That’s why. I want to come here, I want to be champ of this game.” Which means beating the man with the belt. Hence Nurmagomedov. No doubt, if someone else held the title, that would have been the name he’d said.

With the win over Gunther, Ramos (9-2) has won three straight, all by submission. All by rear-naked choke. He’s yet to crack the top fifteen, but if he continues to pile up wins, it’s only a matter of time. As to when he wants to get back in the octagon, Ramos replied simply “very soon.”

The post UFC Denver: Davi Ramos Explains Khabib Nurmagomedov Callout appeared first on Cageside Press.

On a night that had some pretty impressive finishes (welcome to the UFC, Devonte Smith and Maycee Barber), the top two fights on the UFC Denver card stole the show. And stole all the bonuses. Befitting a guy named Cowboy Cerrone and dressed like an outlaw, come to think of it. After all, he did hold up Mike Perry for $50,000.

Not exactly. However, Cerrone’s painful-to-watch finish of Perry (Perry later reported his arm was broken in the submission) earned him a Performance of the Night bonus. The arm-bar submission came in the first round, in front of a roaring audience in Cerrone’s native Colorado. Perry showed some surprisingly sharp takedown defense early, but it didn’t matter in the end. With the win, Cerrone claimed the record for UFC victories.

The other bonuses? Well, two went to Yair Rodriguez. His insane (and insanely creative) upswing elbow knocked out The Korean Zombie in the final second of their main event fight. To that point, Rodriguez had been down on the scorecards (two judges scoring it for Zombie, a third having it a draw heading into the final frame). The back-and-forth striking spectacle was a lock to earn Fight of the Night before the championship rounds ever hit; the insanity of the elbow was certainly worth the second Performance of the Night bonus.

💰 BONUSES 💰

FOTN: @KoreanZombieMMA vs @PanteraUFC
POTN: @PanteraUFC & @CowboyCerrone #UFC25Years #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/9pRXyu967x

— UFC (@ufc) November 11, 2018

All three fighters in this instance will pick up an extra $50,000 (actually $100,000 for Yair Rodriguez since he doubled down).

The post UFC Denver Bonuses: Yair Rodriguez Doubles Down, Cowboy Cerrone Gets 50K appeared first on Cageside Press.

Denver, CO —Donald Cerrone set records on a historic night in Denver on Saturday. Most walks to the cage in the UFC/Strikeforce/Pride/WEC. Most wins in the UFC. And he set the record in style, breaking Mike Perry’s arm with a first-round arm-bar submission. In his home state of Colorado, no less. For Cowboy Cerrone, of course, he’s already looking ahead to the next one. At lightweight, he still insists.

As for where the win stands among his lengthy list of victories, “this has gotta be at the top, right? At home, setting records, holding my boy. That was cool.”

Cerrone is a new father, of course, to a four month old son, Jackson Danger Cerrone. The whole family celebrated in the cage after, including his famed grandmother. He also took a fatherly role to new fighters backstage after the bout.

“If I could say one thing to all those up-and-coming kids, [it’s that] this is so quickly gone,” Cerrone said. “Through my career, I never realized that. Now looking back, I should have enjoyed those moments more. So tonight I was, ‘yeah, this is cool man.’ Just trying to suck it all in, enjoy the whole process of this week.”

Cerrone credits moving away from Jackson-Wink MMA for his success, noting that he had a game plan. “It’s crazy I say this,” Cerrone admitted, “moving away from Winkeljohn’s gym, we actually had a game plan. Coming into a fight I’ve never really had a game plan.” Part of that game plan, “don’t just go out there and walk him down like the Terminator and get your head beat in.”

Perry announced after the fight that his arm was broken during the submission. It wasn’t exactly news to Cerrone, who admitted “I felt it pop before I went belly down. The rest was just tearing a chicken wing off. I was taking it home with me.”

So what’s next? Lightweight. Cerrone, despite the big win at UFC Denver against Perry at welterweight, intends to head back down to his old stomping grounds. He fired the first shots toward champ Khabib Nurmagomedov in the octagon after the fight, and reiterated that 155 was the plan backstage.

“I don’t think we can be any more clear about it, can we?” asked Cerrone. “155, I think New Year’s card would be cool. I’ll fight on Fight Pass, I don’t give a sh*t. I’ll be the first fight of the night.”

Watch the full UFC Denver post-fight media scrum with Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone above.

The post UFC Denver: Cowboy Cerrone Felt Mike Perry’s Arm Pop, Gives Advice to Up-and-Coming Fighters appeared first on Cageside Press.

Denver, CO — At the historic UFC Fight Night 139, better known as UFC Denver, a fighter who was not yet born when the UFC debuted 25 years ago made her first walk to the octagon. Put on her first fight. And won in bloody, violent, and decisive fashion. Maycee Barber may have been fighting a little-known opponent in Hannah Cifers. But Cifers more than held up her end of the deal, coming in on short notice, but showing tremendous heart.

Speaking to the media including Cageside Press after the fight Saturday, Barber addressed both the bout, her close call at the scales, and more.

In regards to her performance on Saturday, Barber said that “I’m not going to be that person that’s like ‘wow I have a lot to change,’ because to everyone else in this world it probably looks pretty amazing.” However, she sees plenty of room for improvement. “To me, there’s a lot of things I want to change, and I know I need to especially as I continue to grow. I was really happy with the performance, but I can also look back and be like ‘there’s a lot of things I want to perfect.'”

Then there’s the weight question. Barber managed to hit the strawweight limit, but on the second attempt Friday morning at UFC Denver’s official (and only) weigh-ins. That extra hour was key. Barber explained that her weight struggle was something of a long story, and she’s planning to get on a nutrition plan and follow it to a T.

To do so, she’ll head out to the UFC Performance Institute almost immediately. “I’ve had some past nutritionists who have not led me down the right path, and I haven’t been able to reverse out of that til now,” she explained. “I’m actually going out to the PI tomorrow or Monday, flying out there and getting that figured out so I have easier cuts. But this cut was definitely the hardest I’ve ever had. But I pushed through, and I was not going to step on the scale without making weight. Getting that extra hour was what I needed, I needed all the way up until the last second, and we did it.”

Barber has consistently said she plans on becoming the youngest UFC champion, and that, at least right now, would mean crossing paths with Rose Namajunas. The strawweight champ happened to be in the crowd at UFC Denver. Asked about that, Barber said she wasn’t aware the champ was in the house. However, “she’s been at several of my fights actually. I fought one of her teammates, Audrey Perkins. She’s been in the crowd before when I fought, and when I’ve finished.”

With that in mind, “she knows who I am.”

You can catch the full UFC Denver post-fight scrum with Maycee Barber above.

The post UFC Denver’s Maycee Barber: Rose Namajunas “Knows Who I Am” appeared first on Cageside Press.