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Thread: Football & MMA

  1. #31
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    Hardy deserves his own thread now

    You know you've won well when the entire fight can be compressed to into a twitter post.

    Greg Hardy gets UFC contract after 57-second knockout in professional MMA debut
    By Des Bieler
    June 13 at 1:45 AM


    Greg Hardy played one season with the Cowboys after four-plus with the Panthers. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

    Greg Hardy, the former NFL player whose promising career fizzled after charges of domestic violence and continued behavioral issues, was awarded a contract by the UFC on Tuesday, following his professional debut in mixed martial arts. Squaring off against another former NFL player, Austen Lane, Hardy scored a 57-second knockout and said afterward he was “super excited” about the opportunity to join the combat-sports giant.

    The 29-year-old former defensive end last played in the NFL in 2015, and after pivoting to MMA the following year, he went 3-0 as an amateur, all by first-round knockout. He continued that trend in his first professional fight, part of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.

    Hardy (1-0) quickly sent Lane (4-1), a former defensive end and 2010 Jacksonville Jaguars draft pick, to a knee with a hard right hook. After Lane got back up, he was immediately met with a left hook that ended the heavyweight fight.

    Sporting News

    @sportingnews
    Greg Hardy won by knockout 57 seconds into his pro MMA debut.

    6:50 PM - Jun 12, 2018
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    UFC Fight Pass

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    The reaction from @danawhite is all you need to know about the power of @greghardyjr... WOW#UFCFIGHTPASS

    6:23 PM - Jun 12, 2018
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    White, the UFC president who runs the series as a separate promotion that seeks out up-and-coming MMA talent, made offers Tuesday to Hardy and another winner that evening by first-round knockout, Alonzo Menifield. The latter, a light heavyweight who had fought last year in the first season of White’s series, ran his record to 7-0 by dispatching Dashawn Boatwright (3-1) in just eight seconds.

    “This means everything,” Hardy said (via MMA Fighting). “It’s awesome. I don’t really have the words, I’m just super excited. I’m just really glad I got the opportunity, man.

    “Austen came out fighting hard like I thought he would, and it was just a great fight. I got lucky and came in and did what I was supposed to do, and it worked out.”

    On Monday, Hardy had called White “an angel,” saying, “I honestly couldn’t begin to explain why, I can only express my appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity to be here and show what kind of athlete I am, and show what I have developed into.”

    White has received some scrutiny for his interest in bringing Hardy aboard, particularly after his company released a statement in May, following the domestic violence arrest of UFC fighter Nick Diaz, in which it said that it “does not tolerate domestic violence and requires all athletes to adhere to the UFC Fighter Conduct Policy.” At a news conference after Saturday’s UFC 225 event, White said of Hardy, “I guess he had a real bad drug and alcohol problem. Started getting into MMA, cleaned himself up.

    “If you talk to anybody he trains with, male or female, they say that he’s a very good guy, he’s very humble. Everybody deserves a second chance,” White continued. “And the guy was never charged with anything, he was never sentenced or anything like that. So, we’re going to give him a shot.”

    Hardy was sentenced in 2014 by a North Carolina judge to 18 months’ probation, with a 60-day jail sentence suspended, after he was found guilty of assaulting a female and communicating threats. A member of the Carolina Panthers at the time, the 2013 Pro Bowler had been accused by an ex-girlfriend of using physical force against her after they had a night of drinking, and of putting his hands around her neck and threatening to kill her.

    Hardy denied assaulting the woman and claimed that she suffered bruises while hurling herself into a bathtub in his apartment after he said he wouldn’t sleep with her, and that she threatened to kill herself if she left his building. He appealed and asked for a jury trial, and the case against him was dismissed in February 2015 after the woman failed to appear in court, with prosecutors suggesting that Hardy had privately reached a financial settlement with her.

    Hardy’s charges were expunged later that year, which was quickly followed by the emergence of evidence from his domestic violence case, including photos of the woman’s bruises. Meanwhile, reeling from accusations of domestic abuse toward Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, the NFL had rendered Hardy inactive for most of the 2014 season by placing him on the commissioner’s exempt list, and then the league suspended him for 10 games in the 2015 season, a ban subsequently reduced to four.

    Hardy was released by the Panthers in 2015 but was quickly picked up by the Dallas Cowboys, which brought the team criticism, including from the mayor of Dallas. As that season progressed, the Cowboys were reported to have developed concerns about Hardy’s off-field partying and lateness for meetings, as well as about his run-ins with teammates, and the team declined to re-sign him for the following season.

    That effectively ended Hardy’s NFL career, with the likely final straw a September 2016 arrest for cocaine possession. The troubled past has led some to question why White and the UFC would want to get involved with him, but Hardy said Monday that he felt misunderstood by his critics.

    “You’ll find that 99.9 percent of the time people are talking bad about me, they’ve never met me,” Hardy said. “Never been anywhere near me, in any instance when I was on the field, signing autographs or doing one of the millions of things I do for my fans, or even people who are not my fans.”

    “I just think if you give me a chance, you’ll find out,” he added, “and if not, honestly, I accept your opinion, and just keep watching — it’s gonna get entertaining.”

    White indicated Tuesday that Hardy would not make an immediate move to the UFC, but would first get some more seasoning in MMA fights with other promotions.
    THREADS
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    Greg Hardy
    Gene Ching
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  2. #32
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    Chris McCain

    Chris McCain swaps football for MMA
    Posted by Mike Florio on July 4, 2019, 1:25 PM EDT


    Getty Images

    Former NFL defensive end Chris McCain is only 27, and if he wanted to continue to play football there’s a chance he could. But he has decided to try a different sport.

    As explained by Gilbert Manzano of the Southern California News Group, McCain hopes to make it in MMA.

    McCain became a solid contibutor to the Chargers in 2017, racking up five sacks in 15 appearances. The Chargers applied a $1.9 million restricted free agency tender offer for 2018, but an accusation of spitting on a woman and grabbing her neck, which resulted in two counts of misdemeanor battery, prompted the Chargers to rescind the tender. (McCain denies the allegations.) He later signed with the Colts, but he was released during the 2018 preseason.

    McCain has decided not to return to football, because he believes football was the root of his problems.

    “I had hit the worst points of my life when I was playing in the NFL,” McCain said. “I just can’t [return to the NFL]. There is no point. More money, more problems. No point. Less money, less problems. I’m not making nearly as much as I was making in the NFL, and I don’t hear from nearly over 80 percent of the people I met and know, which I’m thankful for. God showed me something. I’m blessed with the people still in my corner and people I talk to, but definitely showed me something.”

    So McCain, who also played for the Dolphins and Saints, texted former Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, expressing an interest to try fighting.

    “I just got a lot of anger and frustration,” McCain said. “I really needed to figure out what it is I can do to really help me express myself, and football just wasn’t enough. I’m getting tired of being fined for stuff. Fighting in the locker room. Fighting on the field. Sitting out a practice because you’re fighting in practice. Had joint practices with different teams, getting in fights on that. It was just a lot. I just think this is what I need to be doing. . . . To be in the NFL, it’s not worth the stress and depression. It’s really not.”

    His new sport is worth it, because he believes his new sport is helping him.

    “This is my therapy, me beating you up, and I can beat you up the right way,” McCain said.

    He makes his official MMA debut on Saturday, as he attempts to beat up Jamal Harris (0-2) as an unpaid amateur in Merriman’s second Lights Out Xtreme Fighting event.

    McCain hopes to eventually fight Jon Jones. McCain has a very long way to go to get to that point, but if the talent he showed as a pass rusher translates to the octagon, McCain could end up having an interesting second career.
    Battery? Will we see him on our Busted MMA thread next?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #33
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    Scott Peters

    Browns hire martial arts expert Scott Peters as assistant OL coach


    Jeff Risdon
    6 hours ago

    New Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters is not someone players will want to fight. Even though Peters has been retired from the NFL for over a decade, he’s still able to whip some tail.

    Peters, hired Thursday to be the top assistant under OL coach Bill Callahan, is a martial arts expert. He’s won several Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world championships and also competed in MMA events. In fact, Peters created his own MMA gym and has trained the likes of Chain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar at his The Lions Den gym in Arizona.

    He’s a former NFL offensive lineman, playing center and guard for five teams between 2002 and 2008, finishing his career with the Cardinals team that lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl.
    I was going to look up his fight record but I got other things to do first. Maybe later.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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