Lightweight division heating up with trash talk between Pettis and Maynard

The lightweight division is the deepest in the world, but it's lacked sizzle until recently. A division loaded with super-talented, but nice, polite dudes doesn't always sell with the casual fan. UFC 125 served as a prime example when the promotion had a tougher time selling tickets to the Frank Edgar-Gray Maynard fight. The fans made a mistake because it turned out to be a candidate for 2011 Fight of the Year.

In a way, you couldn't blame fan, because Edgar and Maynard didn't generate a ton of heat before the fight. Now, because the division is so crowded at the top, it looks like the days of mutual respect and glove tapping won't be as prevalent.

Anthony Pettis isn't happy with Gray Maynard and didn't hold back during a recent conversation with the Las Vegas Sun.

Last month, Maynard suggested Pettis is a product of overhype.

"I mean, who has he fought? I've been in the trenches this whole time fighting the toughest guys. He throws one kick and then he's the greatest in the world? Let's look at who he's fought. Ben Henderson is the best name," Maynard said referencing Pettis' "Showtime Kick" near the end of his win over Henderson. That kick made Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays of the Year.

Maynard respects a lot of his co-horts at lightweight, but has questions about Pettis.

[...] But for me, guys like Miller, Melendez and all of these guys who have been on the [expletive] grind, fighting the best competition for the past few years… that's what I look at," Maynard told MMAFA.tv. "Who have you fought? I don't care about how good you looked when you fought a scrub. That doesn't matter. If a guy isn't good then you're not supposed to look good. And for me, [Pettis] has fought one good guy in Ben, and he isn't proven yet. He's tough as hell, but we'll see."

Pettis fired back saying Maynard needed to get himself more attention and was just spouting off.

"He needs to get his face in the media somehow," Pettis told the Las Vegas Sun. "Gray is the No. 1 contender, but no one talks about him. He doesn't get a lot of press. I think he's trying to figure out a way to get people to talk about him. If he has to use my name to do that, he has to do what he has to do."

Pettis also said he thought that Maynard lost the fight against Edgar at UFC 125. After a big first round, Maynard allowed Edgar to creep back into the fight and pull out a draw.

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Two of the best finishers in the sport featured tonight at Bellator 44

MTV2 and Bellator return this evening with another solid card. Hector Lombard and Patricky "Pitbull" Freire highlight the show.

The ranked No. 11 middleweight in the world in the USA Today/Blood Elbow rankings, Lombard (28-2) faces veteran Falaniko Vitale (29-9). Pitbull shoots for the Season 4 lightweight title against Michael Chandler in Atlantic City, N.J. at Bellator 44.

Freire (9-1) pulled off a highlight-reel KO in the last round by smashing Toby Imada with a flying knee. Pitbull fights out of the same Soutern California camp as the Nogueira brothers, Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva.

Chandler, a former Div. 1 wrestler at Missouri, is a tough matchup for Pitbull. Chandler (7-0) may be able to control the pace of the fight and nullify Pitbull's striking. He's also developing as a striker under the tutelage of Xtreme Couture's Gil Martinez.

"I'm still a young fighter and there is no reason to rush it when there are different avenues. I know I will be the best in the world at some point. I just want to push the pace but keep composed," Chandler told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "At the end of the day I don't want to squeak by."

Rising middleweight Alexander Shlemenko faces off against Brett Cooper and we may get to see TUF 12's Jeff Lentz against Anthony Leone. The Anthony Morrison-Bryan Goldsby fight was scrapped when Morrison missed with 135-pound bantamweight limit by weighing in at 146.5!

Bellator 44 betting lines:

Hector Lombard (-600) vs. Falaniko Vitale (+400)

Patricky Freire (+105) vs. Michael Chandler (-125)

Alexander Shlemenko (-165) vs. Brett Cooper (+145)

Jeff Lentz (+190) vs. Anthony Leone (-230)

"I don't talk much about game plans," Martinez said. "But we plan on putting (Freire) in some uncomfortable situations."

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UFC should book ‘Batman dude’ vs. ‘Guy in the white shirt’ II

UFC ran into some more bad luck on its next Las Vegas card. Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard had to back out of their main event title fight at UFC 130. The promotion may simply want to go on a scouting mission to Las Vegas Blvd.

Check out this bizarre clash between a guy in a Batman outfit and a passer by on the Las Vegas strip. (NSFW - language).

While Batman throws with reckless abandon, "Guy in the white shirt" shows excellent poise. Once GITWS gets inside Batman's strikes, he executes a beautiful suplex and shows killer instinct with some ground and pound.

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‘Rampage’ Jackson doesn’t need to fight anymore, he’s the official BS detector

Some have questioned Quinton Jackson's level of desire to fight Matt Hamill this weekend. Now we know what's been clouding his mind. In this hilarious Boost Mobile commercial, "Rampage" is serving as official bull[expletive] detector.

Watch him go after a banker, a weatherman and a Cris Angel look-a-like.

Rampage got everyone worked up with a recent quote about the Hamill fight.

"If they get to know me, I'm not really excited about anybody I fight. It's my job to me; it's my career. I don't get excited no more," Jackson said. "I've got almost 40 fights. I don't get excited about anybody I fight. I just go in and do it."

When pressed on the topic, Jackson explained:

"I think Matt made a mistake when he actually said he's going to break my will, and that I'm going to overlook him. That actually lit a fire up under my ass, and actually made me train a little bit harder just so I could break his will. So I could make sure I outclass him," said Jackson.

Tip via MMAConvert

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Vladimir Maty�shenko: Janitor Tips #2 - UFC 129

MMA H.E.A.T. brings you the first installment of "Janitor Tips," with UFC Light Heavyweight Vladimir Matyushenko. Based on Twitter suggestions of #janitortips, the former IFL champ gives his own brand of comedic advice. They may be deadpan responses...but what do you expect from a Belarusian bad-ass? Listen, learn, and always RESPECT THE JANITOR! Also brought to you by Jakt Apparel, Micro Tech and Hayabusa. Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MMAheat

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Georges St. Pierre GSP Freestyle Raps - Georges St Pierre

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre does a freestyle rap, in both English and French, about BJ Penn.

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Did Diaz’s boxing ploy work? MMA star backs out of Lacy fight

Nick Diaz is passing on all that boxing money to focus on his MMA career.

What does that mean? Diaz wasn't getting any more money to fight Jeff Lacy (reportedly 175-200k) than he currently makes in MMA. Now he could be on his way to the Octagon for a fight against UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre.

Diaz's boxing promoter Don Chargin confirmed the cancellation of the Lacy fight in a release:

Team Diaz had contemplated transitioning over to the boxing world in a legitimate attempt to pursue a high-level boxing career. These discussions began in 2009 with long-time boxing promoter, Don Chargin and proceeded up until recent times.

Never before in the history of both sports had a pound-for-pound MMA combatant in his prime had the desire or been contractually free to attempt to transition over to boxing.
The landscape of Mixed-Martial Arts moves at a rapid pace and while Diaz's chance to make history, becoming the first true cross-over MMA star to enter the boxing ring, an opportunity arose for Nick to make a different sort of history in his primary field of fighting.

Don Chargin states, "Nick is a good kid and a very exciting fighter. Right now he has an opportunity of a lifetime as it pertains to his MMA career. While I don't doubt that Nick and his team were serious about taking the big step into boxing, it only makes sense for him to finish what he started and see how far he can go in MMA before he does anything in boxing. It's all about timing... we began these discussions over two years ago and nobody would have imagined the type of demand that there currently is for Nick as a mixed martial artist."

UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie that a Diaz move to the UFC is far from set in stone.

"We will see," White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "There are still a lot of hurdles."

Diaz's manager Cesar Gracie denied that the boxing match was booked to gain leverage.

"There are some people that have said we were just posturing to go into professional boxing and they don't understand that this thing is something we had been working on since 2009. �It wasn't just out of nowhere but at this point in time, there's a certain chance that comes along once in a very long while and it only makes sense to stick to MMA as of right now," Gracie said. "Nick's been working really hard to get to this point in his MMA career and it wouldn't make sense for us to make that transition into boxing right now. If this were a couple months ago or if certain fights had played out differently, we'd definitely be ready to go into boxing, but that's not how it played out. �Don Chargin is a great boxing promoter and he understood our dilemma completely and I thank him for that."

The Strikeforce 170-pound champion, Diaz hasn't lost since 2007. He's won 10 straight with nine coming by stoppage.

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