BJ Penn Turns Down Fight with Josh Koscheck, “Not Coming Back Anytime Soon”

UFC veteran Josh Koscheck made big waves in the world of MMA when he announced that he had been offered, and accepted, a fight with the legendary BJ “The Prodigy” Penn.

“#UFC just offered me to fight BJ Penn…I said YES!!!!! Just waiting on him!!!!!! Let’s scrap bra?” tweeted Koscheck.

Unfortunately, and much to the chagrin of MMA fans everywhere, The Prodigy has turned down the fight and it’s unlikely we’ll see him back in the cage anytime in the near future.

“@joshkoscheck I know it costs a lot of money to live that lavish lifestyle, big house, fast cars & you need big fights but sorry I’m not coming back anytime soon!” tweeted Penn.

Penn retired after losing a No.1 contender’s match with Nick Diaz at UFC 137. It was a tough fight for Penn, who had trouble dealing with the reach of his larger opponent. By the fight’s end, his face was a battered mess.

“I’ve got a daughter. I’ve got another on the way. I don’t want to go home looking like this again. I’m done”, said Penn, during his post fight interview at UFC 137.

While fans would have been excited to see Penn accept the fight with Koscheck, this story is not without some good news. Penn initially said that he was retiring from MMA, but his recent comments suggest that he will be back, just not “anytime soon”.

 

 Andrew Barr is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a stand-up comedian. Check him out on Twitter @AndrewBarr8.

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Courtesy of :Bleacher Report – UFC

UFC on Fuel 3 Results: Dustin Poirier Smiled and The Korean Zombie Struck

Dustin Poirier successfully executed a “lateral and upward movement” of his facial muscles a second before receiving the fateful blow from The Korean Zombie Chang Sung Jung.

In short, he smiled and got hit real bad. Jung instantly reacted with his own upward movement, of his right arm; a powerful uppercut that sent Poirier backpedaling involuntarily into the Octagon fence.

Here’s an account of what turned out to be the last round of the last fight of UFC on Fuel TV 3, from Brian Knapp of Sherdog.com:

In the fourth, Jung cracked him with a searing right uppercut and backed it up with another flying knee. Out of desperation, Poirier dove for a takedown, leaving his neck exposed in the process. Jung sprawled, deftly locked in the [brabo] choke and finished it. The crowd erupted with its approval.

And Jung ended up having the last laugh, or smile.

Still, we really can’t blame Poirier for making “a facial expression which may show amusement” when he did it, as he was coming off his most successful round in the third.

Poirier got thrown down and suffered a head cut from Jung’s elbow strike in the first round. In the second, he was struck by a flying knee and a series of uppercuts before barely escaping multiple submission attempts, including a couple of triangle chokes.

In the third round, however, the Korean seemed to live up (or die down?) to his nickname and zombified. Apparently worn out, Jung limited himself to a standup striking mode, and Poirier had the upper hand in landing more punches.

In fact, Jung said post-fight, “He had me in trouble at the beginning of the third round. The thought of giving up was in my head, but I just kept going, and I came out with the win.”

Poirier may have thought he had seen the best—or worst—from a “fading” Jung. After surviving the first two rounds and winning the third, momentum and superior cardio were already seemingly on his side.

Thus, the beaming smile.

Now, smiling during a fight is a known psywar tactic, largely to mock an opponent to throw him off his game.

It could mean, “There’s nothing you can do to hurt me,” or “I’m gonna get you now,” or “That’s your best shot?!”

In Poirier’s case, it could have been his way of saying, “Now it’s my turn…” to sleep.

Some people are blessed with magnetic smiles, and Poirier is one of them.

Unfortunately, it attracted the wrong steel, a weapon spearheaded by four knuckles.

And that missile was far more accurate and formidable than the aerial joke launched by North Korea a month ago.

 

All quoted words used in defining “smile” were taken from “The New Lexicon Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language (1993 edition),” and I’ve had this book for years and it’s only now that I realize it’s got a long title!

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Courtesy of :Bleacher Report – UFC

25 Ways You Know You Are Obsessed with MMA

Take it from a lifelong sports fan: MMA is the easiest sport to get obsessed about.

I love football, baseball and basketball as much as the next guy, but my love for those sports grew from a lifetime of watching them on television. My love for MMA grew above and beyond those sports—with the exception of football—in less than a decade.

The sport’s easier to understand because everyone gets fighting. Its electrifying knockouts and smooth submissions on the ground draw the fans in, and then they start to appreciate everything that sets up those knockouts and submissions. At least that’s what happened in my case.

And once you’re hooked, there’s no turning back. It’s almost a lifestyle change, and you find yourself doing things you thought you’d never do.

Such things can be seen in this slideshow, as these are 25 ways you know you’re obsessed with the sport.

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Courtesy of :Bleacher Report – UFC

GSP vs. Anderson Silva and 4 Other Potential Million-Buy Fights

The Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva “super fight” has been talked about for years, but it’s not the only potential million-buy fight for the UFC.

The UFC has the best fighters in the world, and with it having multiple dominant champions, fans begin to speculate which fighter is truly the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. This brings up fantasy matchups, such as Silva vs. GSP, that fans quickly get behind.

Though it’s less likely that the fight will happen anytime soon, the fight is still on the table for the UFC to cash in.

Along with GSP vs. Silva, here are four other fights that the company could do over a million buys with as well.

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Courtesy of :Bleacher Report – UFC

GSP vs. Anderson Silva and 4 Other Potential Million-Dollar Fights

The Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva “super fight” has been talked about for years, but it’s not the only potential million-dollar fight for the UFC.

The UFC has the best fighters in the world, and with it having multiple dominant champions, fans begin to speculate which fighter is truly the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. This brings up fantasy matchups, such as Silva vs. GSP, that fans quickly get behind.

Though it’s less likely that the fight will happen anytime soon, the fight is still on the table for the UFC to cash in.

Along with GSP vs. Silva, here are four other fights that the company could do over a million buys with as well.

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Courtesy of :Bleacher Report – UFC