In his heart, Mike Massenzio knows Saturday's UFC 136 bout could be his final opportunity in the octagon.
On a card that was free for cable subscribers, the UFC put together a card that was fun to watch. Two reasons why I am happy I tuned in (outside of it being my job to do so)? The suplexes from Dominick Cruz in his win over Demetrious Johnson, and Pat Barry's slam in a losing effort to Stefan Struve.
Check out the technique that the bantamweight Cruz showed in performing this suplex.
Johnson said afterwards that the suplex didn't actually hurt him. However, they were key to Cruz controlling Johnson for five rounds.
Barry found himself in a triangle choke in the second round of his fight against Struve. His strong legs are usually used for punishing kicks, but this time, they were used to pick up all 261 lbs. of Struve.
Unfortunately for Barry, the slam didn't work. Struve tightened the choke and Barry was forced to tap. But the final two minutes of the fight made the entire card worth watching.
So that means Sonnen will have to get his word out via the blogosphere. He's doing it well. The middleweight contender had an epic conversation with Mauro Ranallo on the Score's "The MMA Show" podcast.
Sonnen has been consistent with his approach to Brian Stann, so he had nothing bad to say about the military veteran, but it's clear he's looking ahead to another shot at Anderson Silva. Sonnen's actually calling this fight "the first defense of his middleweight title."
Aside from suggesting that Silva is the biggest "dirtbag" in the sport, he avoided talking about the UFC middleweight champ.
At the end of the interview, he could contain himself no longer.
"You tell Anderson Silva I'm coming over and I'm kicking down his backdoor and patting his little lady on the ass and I'm telling her to make me a steak, medium-rare just how I like it," said Sonnen.
Sonnen threw in a dig at another Brazilian fighter, Vitor Belfort:
"What do you want me to do? Respond to a chicken who never shows up to fight? What do you want me to do? Respond to a guy that backs down on the scale because some idiot puts a mask on of Phantom of the Opera? You want me to take this clown seriously? Look, he hits hard, I think he's a very skilled fighter, I think he's a wimp and I don't think that he'd show up to save his life and I think that's wise," said Sonnen (17:00 mark).
He also had much to say about his thoughts on Wanderlei Silva:
"Sucks," said Sonnen.
Ranallo was rolling throughout the interview simply saying "this guy is amazing."
Sonnen actually accused Ranallo of being a huge liar because he used to work for PRIDE and over-hyped the promotion.
The Texas-based Legacy Fighting Championships returns to the HDNet airwaves on Dec. 16.
