Empties

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Former WWE star Kurt Angle questions his decision to turn down UFC offer

As his competitive career winds down, Kurt Angle did some reminiscing about his career choice following a decorated amateur wrestling career. During a conversation on MMAWeekly radio, Angle said sometimes he wishes he'd resisted the temptation of the big money coming from the world of wresting and the WWE.

"Right after the Olympics, I had the chance," Angle told MMAWeekly Radio about the chance to do MMA. "Was I going to go into pro wrestling or the UFC? I talked to the UFC, but at the time they were only paying their top fighters 15 grand to fight, and here WWE throws this big contract at me. It's kind of like, let me see, do I struggle and go in the UFC or do I go here and make a bunch of money? Obviously, the decision was very easy."

Angle won a wrestling gold medal at the 1996 Olympics and then transitioned to pro wrestling. He suffered a neck injury in 2003 and upon his return, claims to have strongly re-considered the UFC.

"I actually contacted Dana White again after the movie. I flew out to meet him once and got a great offer. I contacted him again, I was thinking about dropping out of Impact wrestling, and there were some personal problems with my marriage and I just wanted to get away. I contacted Dana White, I flew out, and he had me take the UFC physical. I passed it, thank God, and he gave me the offer," Angle stated.

When told about the recent convo, White disputed the account of the 2003 story.

Is it believable that the UFC would've been interested in the 35-year-old pro wrestler? Possibly. Even though he was little older than Brock Lesnar, when he turned to MMA, Angle had a more impressive amateur wrestling career to fall back on and would've been a nice get for the UFC in 2003.

Remember that was a time when the promotion was still rolling out roughly five events per year. The total estimated PPV buy rate in 2003 was 278,000.

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UFC on FOX interview: FX president John Landgraf

The MMA world is still reeling from the mega-deal between the UFC and FOX. The promotions' programming with appear on FOX affiliates, FUEL, FOX Deportes and FX. John Landgraf, president of FX, appeared on "The MMA Insiders" with Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole and myself to talk about the new pact.

Landgraf was unable to confirm some of the programming details like who'll be on the prefight and postfight shows. He was asked about Gus Johnson, but didn't have an answer.

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Evan Dunham interview: A few big wins and he?s right back in the mix

The last year hasn't gone as planned for Evan Dunham, but that doesn't mean he's out of the mix in the UFC's lightweight division. As we've seen all year long someone outside the top five get get themselves in the title mix with two big wins. Ben Henderson is the prime example. Bendo just knocked Jim Miller and Mark Bocek to put his name in the hat for the top prize.

Dunham, a 29-year-old who trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, was in Henderson's spot 12 months ago. The Oregon native was on the verge of some big things last September then lost a tight decision against Sean Sherk. Dana White said Dunham was "[expletive] robbed."

The promotion tried to make it up to Dunham by giving him a Kenny Florian fight, but KenFlo had to back out because of injuries. That meant Dunham had to step with Melvin Guillard. Dunham lost that fight at UFC Fight for the Troops 2, admitting that he fought with a bad game plan.

Now he's out to rebuild his reputation. It starts in September against "Ultimate Fighter 13" alum Shamar Bailey at Ultimate Fight Night 25.

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Goose Attacks Pro Kayak Angler Drew Gregory

OK, I know it’s pushing the definition of ‘kayaking video’ to put this on a whitewater kayaking blog, but hey,�it’s just too funny not to.� And he is sponsored by Jackson, after all.

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Prospecting Idaho Season 2 Teaser

The crew at Smith Optics has been building, developing and riding their hometown 900 acre playground. The teaser for Season 2 of Prospecting Idaho.

Season 2 Prospecting Idaho snowboard teaser from smith optics on Vimeo.

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MMA Top 10 Middleweights: Anderson Silva Makes It Look Easy

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Middleweights

There's plenty of talent in the middleweight division in the UFC. Vitor Belfort is pound-for-pound as hard a puncher as anyone in mixed martial arts. Chael Sonnen's MMA wrestling is first-rate. Demian Maia's Brazilian jiu jitsu is world class.

And yet when we survey the middleweight division, it almost feels like a pointless exercise. Anderson Silva has spent the last five years proving himself to be so far ahead of the rest of the 185-pound class that the rest of the division doesn't seem all that interesting. At UFC 134, Silva spent one round measuring Yushin Okami, then made Okami look like a rank amateur in the second round.

So as we look at the top 10 middleweights in MMA, we're looking at a list of talented fighters, all of whom have either already lost to Silva or would surely lose to Silva. He's head and shoulders above the rest.

Top 10 Middleweights in MMA
(Editor's note: The individual fighter's ranking the last time we did middleweights are in parentheses.)

1. Anderson Silva (1): As great an offensive striker as Silva is, his stand-up defense may be even more impressive. Silva's head movement is so good that he can stand right in front of his opponents with his chin up and his hands below his waist and know they're not going to be able to hit him. He does things that no one else in combat sports can do.

2. Vitor Belfort (3): The combination of Belfort's very impressive knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama and Chael Sonnen's continued inactivity gets Belfort a bump in the rankings. But while Belfort is saying he wants another shot at Silva, it's hard to see why the UFC would do that. Belfort will need more than one win to get a rematch after Silva's brutal knockout of Belfort in February.

3. Chael Sonnen (2): The one big fight left for Silva at middleweight is a rematch with Sonnen, who's the only person who has really even challenged Silva in the UFC. If Sonnen beats Brian Stann at UFC 136, Silva-Sonnen 2 is the fight to make next.

4. Yushin Okami (4): Prior to meeting Silva, Okami had only been finished once in 31 pro fights, and that was almost eight years ago. Okami is a big, strong guy with a good chin, but Silva toyed with him. That's how big the gap is between Silva and the rest of the Top 10 middleweights.

5. Mark Munoz (5): Munoz is the highest-ranked middleweight who hasn't yet had a chance to face Silva, and his wrestling pedigree would make him an interesting matchup with the champion. We're probably not going to see Munoz vs. Silva outside the Black House gym, however. Up next for Munoz is Chris Leben in the main event at UFC 138.

6. Demian Maia (6): Maia will try to rebound from his loss to Munoz with a fight against Jorge Santiago at UFC 136. Maia is only 3-3 in his last six fights and hasn't submitted anyone since Chael Sonnen at UFC 95, and if he loses to Santiago, he'll drop out of the Top 10.

7. Brian Stann (7): As a charismatic, articulate fighter who won a Silver Star for service in Iraq, Stann is a guy the UFC should want to put front and center on Fox: He's just who the UFC brass should want representing them in front of a mainstream audience. If Stann beats Sonnen at UFC 136, would the UFC consider putting Stann in a middleweight title fight on Fox? Or would that fight be too lucrative on pay-per-view for the UFC to give it away for free?

8. Chris Leben (8): If Leben can beat Munoz in November, he might be able to make the case that he deserves a shot at the middleweight belt in 2012. But considering how easily Silva beat Leben the first time those two fought, a rematch probably wouldn't be pretty for the Crippler.

9. Ronaldo Souza (9): Jacare is the Strikeforce middleweight champion, and one of the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world, but until he moves to the UFC and fights better competition it's hard to move him any higher in the rankings. His next fight, with Luke Rockhold on September 10, shouldn't be much of a challenge.

10. Michael Bisping (10): Bisping will coach The Ultimate Fighter and then fight Jason "Mayhem" Miller in December. A win there would get him close to title contention, although he'd likely need one more victory in 2012 before he'd get a crack at Silva.

 

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