MMASucka

These gloves we wear are not very forgiving. I look at my boy Mark Hominick in his last fight. Nine times out of ten I take Hominick over the Korean Zombie but he got caught and Jung won that fight. Anything can happen [...]

When I hear the name Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga, my thoughts are automatically brought back to his incredible head kick KO over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. Following that win, which was the most impressive and most memorable of his career, he went 3-5 in his next 8 UFC fights.

To be honest, my focus at the time was on the Olympics. I didn’t have any Internet or knew much about anything “mixed martial arts” until I graduated from college. I was 24 years old before I even started training in boxing, jiu-jitsu, or anything. After my last wrestling match where I lost, I was at a crossroads in my life. I had a manager ask me if I wanted to fight for a living, so I prayed about it, and decided why not. I went to Vegas to train and fell in love.

When asked to describe Jon Fitch’s fighting style, one word keeps coming up – grinder. A guy that will wear you down with sheer will to get the upper hand and keep it. The skills are there, but almost overshadowed by the grit and determination that is more his calling card. The label also applies to a hockey player with similar grit, what the old-time hockey folks called “lunch bucket” players. The ones that weren’t concerned with the flashy plays, but went out there put out their best honest effort and won the battles in workmanlike fashion. “The guys in the trenches” as Don Cherry would say.

Igor Pokrajac made short work of Krzysztof Soszynski, taking just thirty five seconds to knock out “The Polish Experiment”. Coming off a six month layoff, he looked like a man possessed from the second Sosynski came within sight. The determination in his eyes was unmistakeable and his steely demeanor evoked memories of his mentor, the legendary Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. To hear Pokrajac tell it though, it was just another day at the office.

Mississauga’s own Claude Patrick stands with a bit of a slouch, leaning back against the wall of the Bell Lighthouse Theatre, site of the UFC 140 press conference. His demeanor is so relaxed, if you weren’t familiar with the sport you would assume he was waiting for a movie to start rather than gearing up for a main card pay-per-view fight in his hometown.

“The guy is absolutely delusional. The guy is ridiculous, absolutely retarded. If you look at the guys I have fought, that completely contradicts what he has said. I have fought top guys in Matt Hamill, Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, Denis Kang, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Chris Leben; yeah those are all easy guys anyone could walk through. Mayhem who claims to be a knowledgeable MMA guy doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.”

UFC 140 will be in Toronto on Saturday December 10th at the Air Canada Center. It’s the second foray into what Dana White likes to call the Mecca of MMA. There are seven Canadians competing. One of the good ol’ Canadian kids on the card is London Ontario’s Mark Hominick who had a chance to talk to MMASucka.com about his seven month emotional roller coaster.

John Makdessi has fought in the UFC twice now; at UFC 124 and UFC 129. He came up with victories in both. His name may not be well know yet, but the Montreal, Quebec native has nothing but championship dreams. On December 10 at UFC 140, Makdessi will look to further his dreams with a win over UFC veteran Dennis Hallman.

Paul “The Mauler” Lazenby is one of the most well-known and respected personalities in Canadian MMA. He recently has found himself in the thick of controversy in the MMA world after breaking a story on an illegal “charity” fight that recently took place in Surrey, BC. The week before, his interview with Bas Rutten where Rutten gave a then-unheard point of view on the Alistair Overeem/Golden Glory situation grabbed headlines on MMA websites throughout cyberspace. Never one to shy away from an opinion, Lazenby recently gave some of his time to MMASucka’s Carlin Bardsley for an in-depth interview discuss these topics, his friend Chael Sonnen’s walkout on TSN’s Off the Record, UFC’s future in Vancouver and more.