MMA Roundup: Rashad Evans, Roy Nelson, Vitor Belfort

It’s kind of funny that in a week that will conclude with all kinds of actual MMA action, the news has been consumed mostly by talk. This edition of the MMA Roundup is full of talk, as fighters discuss upcoming matchups, long layoffs, and, of course, the media.

Rashad Evans is frustrated by changing timeline, not long layoff

An admittedly-confusing quote by Rashad Evans in a story posted on ESPN.com led Dana White and many others to believe that Evans was annoyed with the long wait to face current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who is recovering from (yet another) knee surgery. White said that he didn’t understand the frustration, since Evans was offered a fight last fall against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, which he turned down.

Since then, Evans has taken it upon himself to clear up the matter via Twitter, saying that it was the changing dates for Rua’s comeback fight that has annoyed him. He acknowledged turning down the Nogueira fight because it “made no sense”, but takes responsibility for the long layoff since it was his own choice to wait for the title fight instead of staying sharp with a non-title fight in the meantime.

Evans is in a bit of a tough spot. Fighters work hard to earn title shots, and to have to choose either a long layoff or to risk your title opportunity with an unnecessary fight while waiting for the champion to get healthy is a difficult decision, especially when you’re depending on fighting to pay the bills. Of course, I’m not a fan of interim titles, and even the creation of one (which Evans didn’t say he asked for, by the way) wouldn’t change the fact that the real title is on the shelf.

Roy Nelson occupies Chael Sonnen’s headlines a little longer

With Chael Sonnen having been uncharacteristically silent ever since news of his failed drug test got out, somebody had to keep MMA columnists and bloggers some new material to comment on, right? That person appears to be Roy Nelson, who may not be as dramatic as Sonnen, but shares his love of commenting on anything and everything.

Not long after asking his Twitter followers for their opinions on the Evans situation, Nelson gave his thoughts about Brock Lesnar to Bloody Elbow. He addressed his perception that MMA media members are giving Lesnar crap for suggesting Nelson as a possible next opponent, with the point being that people seem to think that Lesnar sees it as an easy fight.

“I don’t know if the powers that be want to see otherwise but it really just comes down to the MMA media wanting hits on their website by taking shots at Brock. You would never see anyone of these writers ask Brock to his face why he balls up when he gets punched just as you wouldn’t see them asking me why I’m considered as a lackluster challenge for him,” Nelson said.

I won’t deny that there is that incentive to write about Lesnar because he’s such a lightning rod for controversy (and therefore, page views). However, the old “writers won’t say these things to fighters’ faces” line is still as silly as ever. As a writer, part of your job is to criticize or note the mistakes (perceived or otherwise) made by an athlete in competition. If writers point out that Lesnar “balls up when he gets punched”, so be it. It doesn’t mean that they think they could kick Lesnar’s ass or anything. Why it becomes a case of saying things “to his face” is beyond me. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t really criticize Lesnar in the first place.

Vitor Belfort not worried about Wanderlei Silva’s opinion

Part of facing a big name opponent is getting to hear about all of the people who say you are going to lose before you even step in there to compete. In Vitor Belfort’s case, one of those naysayers is none other than Wanderlei Silva, who supported his former teammate (and rival for a short time) Anderson Silva in a video prediction of the fight.

When asked if he had seen the video, Belfort said, “I didn’t waste my time watching it. It’s just a spectator’s opinion. Spectators can say whatever they want. He just wanted to get some attention for himself. I don’t take it seriously.”

Belfort makes a lot of sense, and maybe all fighters would benefit from not worrying so much about what is said or written about them (Roy Nelson, are you paying attention?). At the same time, this is not the first time that Belfort has addressed Wanderlei lately, and you have to wonder if a Belfort loss would be the perfect opportunity to do a long-overdue rematch between “The Phenom” and “The Axe Murderer”.

Belcher rooting for Okami

Alan Belcher commented on this weekend’s fight between Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami, saying that he was picking Marquardt to win, but “wouldn’t mind seeing Okami win” because he could possibly then face him in his comeback fight.

Well, there’s just one thing though: the fight is for a title shot. Unless Belcher thinks he’s going to come back and immediately get a title shot of his own (and that Okami would go on to beat the winner of Belfort and Silva), how would Okami winning help to set up a rematch between himself and Belcher? Shouldn’t he be rooting for Marquardt to win, since a loss for Okami drops him back into the contender pool and makes a fight between him and the Japanese fighter that much more likely?

Quick Shots

–Robert Drysdale, who many of you may know as “the guy pulling off flying arm bars on that Tapout commercial awhile back”, and others of you may know as “the guy who won the Abu Dhabi absolute division in 2007″, secured his second win by submission in as many MMA fights this past weekend. Drysdale submitted Clay Davidson by arm bar in just under three minutes at Armageddon Fighting Championships 4.

–Another fight between WEC fighters has been scheduled for UFC 125 on January 1st, 2011, as Mike Brown will face Diego Nunes on the card, which already features Jose Aldo’s first defense (against Josh Grispi) of what will be the UFC Featherweight Championship. I have to say that the absorption of the WEC is already helping the quality of the UFC’s pay-per-view efforts. Compare UFC 125 to UFC 124, which features Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck and…not much else. Yikes.

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Alan Belcher, Brock Lesnar, Dana White, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Nate Marquardt, Rashad Evans, Robert Drysdale, Roy Nelson, UFC, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, WEC, Yushin Okami