Alan Belcher is looking to bounce back after a close decision loss at UFC 100.

Alan Belcher is known for his creativity in Octagon.

It was on full display in his bouts with Yushin Okami and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Whether it is doing front flips to get someone off of his back, or using the cage to set up the Superman punch.

Belcher (14-6) is an entertainer, but when it’s all said and done, Belcher doesn’t want to be known as just that.

He wants to be known as one of the Top-10 fighters in the world.

“I don’t want to be known as just as entertainer. It’s just my fighting style,” Belcher said. “I want to be one of the people study and say I did it best. That’s what I want to leave the legacy I want to leave.”

The quest to be a Top-10 fighter goes through Wilson Gouveia (12-6) at UFC 107 on Saturday. The fight is placed on the undercard, meaning the chances of it being seen by the people outside of the arena are up in the air.

Belcher is using that as motivation to put on yet another show for the fans.

“I got a huge chip on my shoulder,” Belcher said. “I want to really come back and prove to everybody that I’m good. … I want to prove to [UFC president] Dana [White], Joe Silva and the guys who keep me putting on the undercard. They don’t want to promote me and put me out there. I don’t blame them. You got to prove your spot. That’s what I have to do.”

The “chip” comes after Belcher was the opening fight on the Pay Per View portion of UFC 100, where he loss to Akiyama by split decision.

Despite losing, Belcher was awarded a Fight of the Night bonus for the bout, so it was slightly a surprise when he was placed on the undercard.

“I should be on the main card,” Belcher said. “I don’t understand that. It’s alright. I’ll surprise. Next fight, I’m bringing a lot of bitterness and aggressiveness to this fight.”

In Gouveia, Belcher fights a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who is also coming off of a loss in his recent fight against Nate Marquardt at UFC 95.

Belcher is confident that he matches up well against Gouveia, stating that he is better in all aspects of the MMA game than Gouveia.

He doesn’t mean it to disrespect Gouveia, rather it’s just his desire to get back on track for his ultimate goal — fighting for the UFC middleweight title.

“Mindset is everything, and taking the right focus into the fight,” Belcher said. “I want it more than he does. … Every time I start climbing, something sets me back. There’s only one person to blame. I keep taking it in and learning more. It’s helping me become the fighter I want to do.”

Instead of purely studying jiu-jitsu and wrestling for the upcoming fight, Belcher focused on adding a deeper dimension to his game in terms of strength and conditioning.

“I never looked at strength as a weapon,” Belcher said. “I can punch someone, but if I can punch them faster and harder. … That’s what I’m doing right now. It’s something I haven’t worked at to take my game to the next level.”

Belcher is expecting 2010 to be a banner year for him. His wife is expecting a child in January, and he expects a lot of people to drive up from Mississippi to watch him fight, including his wife.

“Hopefully my wife doesn’t go into labor,” Belcher said. “It’ll be exciting. She’s driving up from Mississippi. Hopefully she doesn’t, and it’s not too early. It might be a nice surprise.”

Even with the new baby coming into the world, Belcher isn’t adding to put more pressure on himself to win fights or even collect bonuses to put food on the family’s table.

All he’s trying to do is set the family up for when his fighting career is over. And even that’s all said and done, he has plenty of options he can go with.

“I’m trying to have fun,” Belcher said. “There are a lot of things I can. I like to play music, and it’s a really big passion of mine. I like to other things. This isn’t all my life is about. Not put so much pressure.

“I don’t want to do this forever. I want to get where I’m going fast.”

The destination? Being seen as a Top-10, but also an exciting one.

Follow Alan Belcher on Twitter @AlanBelcherUFC.

Aaron Simpson is ready to put himself on the map in the division.

 

MMAMADNESS: How did you get started in MMA?

AARON SIMPSON: Several things happened. The first was when I went up with Tito Ortiz and helped him for the Rashad Evans fight in Big Bear, California. That was my first taste of seeing it. After that, I started training at AZ Combat Sports helping [Ryan] Bader and C.B. [Dolloway] and some of the other guys out with their wrestling more than anything, some of the guys that didn’t have that type of background. One thing led to another and I decided I was going to throw my hat in the ring and try it out, and the rest is history. I was in love with it. My first three fights were in smaller shows, and then my fourth fight was in the WEC, had a big knockout, and that propelled me to the UFC.

MM: What’s your first memory as a mixed martial artist?

AS: The three fights that I had were small fights and I was kind of like ‘oh geeze, do I really want to do this?’ I’d been wrestling my whole life since I was four years old, and I remember being in one of the Olympic Regionals and it was kind of a small little tournament, and I was like, ‘God, this kind of sucks. I’m getting tired of this.’ Then I went to the Olympic Trials which are a huge deal, a lot of people there, and they really did it up well and I kind of remembered why I like the sport. So I had that same feeling in MMA… there were like 200 people in the crowd, kind of hokey, and in a way it felt like I was better than that (laughs). I had been competing at such a high level for so long, and now I’m starting over again. My first big fight was in the WEC with David Avellan. It was a fast knockout, and then I just got that adrenaline rush again. The crowd, five or six thousand people there, tv, and it was big again. It pushed me to the UFC, and then it became exciting for me. It got in my blood, and that’s when I decided I really want to be an MMA fighter, that first knockout.  And leading up to that point I knew it was a big fight and I trained really hard for it, and I knew it was for me.

MM: What’s the best part of being a mixed martial artist?

AS: It’s got to be the lifestyle. I have babies at home, and I get to be a big part of their life. I’m not working nine to five or I’m not miserable and depressed sitting at a desk or sitting in traffic. I get to make my own hours, I train twice a day, sometimes three if I need an extra workout, and if I’m not feeling up to it or I’m down I take the day off. I don’t have a boss to tell me, I have coaches making sure I get the training in. I really have pretty great hours where I can enjoy my kids’ lives. I feel like people miss out on that. Next thing you know they’re 15, 16. To me, that’s the biggest thing.

MM: Is there anyone you look up to in the sport?

AS: My training partners for one. I have respect for them because they don’t hold back on me and vice versa. Ryan Bader and C.B. Dolloway and Jesse Forbes, Steve Steinbeiss, we just go at each other, and I really respect the hell out of them. I know that’s not necessarily the main thing that people want to hear, but I’ve got some respect for some others out there. Georges St. Pierre, I think he’s a class act, someone that’s a good role model for fighters but also for people who are just getting into the sport. I think he’s great for the sport, and the way he carries himself and the way he fights, I respect. Some people out there, they’re not necessarily good for the sport, and that’s just who they are. In a way, if we want to take this sport mainstream, we need to act professional and maybe take note of some other professionals out there like Peyton Manning, individuals who are at the level we aspire to be in the UFC.

MM: Is there a dream location you’d like to fight in?

AS: Vegas is maybe everybody’s dream. Madison Square Garden in New York would be unbelievable. How many people in just sports in general have gone through that place? And then my wife’s from Italy, her family’s from Italy, and I just read the other day that Italy might be on the map for the UFC, so that would also be a pretty awesome place. And of course Arizona, fight at home.

MM: People call you ‘A-Train.’ How did that get started?

AS: A buddy of mine, we were wrestling one day, and we were talking smack to each other. We’re up at like midnight in the wrestling room working out, I think we were training for some international tournament or something. It just came to me screwing around, and he was calling me it after and it just kind of stuck. People were like, ‘you need a nickname,’ so I threw it out there. Truth be told, I go by Simp Dogg more than anything. Like Snoop Dogg, but a little different.

MM: What are the benefits of having such a close knit gym like AZ Combat Sports

AS: Because we’re so close, we don’t take it easy on each other. Jesse Forbes and I just battled tonight, and we were MMA sparring, and I had a couple of friends that had come by just to observe and they were like, ‘oh my God, you guys go after each other,’ and he noticed that Jesse and I were kind of angry at each other during it. We’re throwing hard on each other, and then afterwards we were friends.  Guys that are friends that train together can really let it out like that and respect each other to really beat each other up.

MM: What are your long term plans in MMA. You’re 35, do you want to fight until you’re 40?

AS: It’s something I definitely think I can do for another five years, especially because I am still healthy and I can train at the level I’ve been training at. I take care of myself pretty well. It’s always been one fight, one match at a time.  Right now my concentration’s on Tom Lawler. My long term goals are obviously to be the best in the sport, but you don’t just get there.

MM: Tom Lawler beat C.B. at UFC 100. Given his antics before the fight, is there extra motivation to beat him?

AS: He just does goofy stuff and that’s who he is. I don’t hold anything against him. That’s what he does to market himself and maybe get himself up for the fight or whatever, but you won’t see me do anything like that to try and match him. He’s just someone I need to step through and get my hand raised. C.B. had a shot on him, he lost, and now he has another fight coming up. That doesn’t have anything to do with me.

Table is set for Michael Bisping to seek a bounce back win in the UK. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Michael Bisping wants to answer the question that has lingered since the UFC 100 loss to Dan Henderson.

How will ‘The Count’ bounce back?

Bisping gets his chance Saturday against Denis Kang at UFC 105, which airs for free on Spike TV. Bisping was touted as the possible next contender for the UFC middleweight kingpin, Anderson Silva.

Then in a flash, Henderson’s big right hand sent Bisping and his title aspirations crashing to the Octagon mat.

Now, Bisping dropped the usual jargon that is associated with a fighter after a brutal knockout defeat, insisting that he is training harder to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“I’m coming off of a loss. We all know my last performance wasn’t my best. I want to prove that I’m on a good level of fighting,” Bisping (17-2) said. “I have to come back with a big solid win. All of the sudden I take it seriously. Nobody wants to lose two in a row, especially me.

The knockout has given confidence to Kang, who admits that he’s is confident that he is better than Bisping in all areas. Bisping shrugged it off, adding he expects it to come from a fighter.

“I completely understand that he thinks he’s better than me,” Bisping said. “He has to think that. He has to believe that.”

Bisping spoke in great detail about the loss, saying that he might have overtrained for the fight and the layoff between the filming of the last episode might have played a part.

He would like another crack at Henderson, but in the meantime, he’ll have to focus on Kang, who is 1-1 in UFC action.

“It was the first [KO defeat] in my career,” Bisping said. “I’ve brought tougher guys in sparring. I’m driven and focused on this fight.”

Bisping will have an extra boost when he fights Kang. He’ll be fighting in front of his home country, which should give him an extra boost of energy and a little bit of pressure to add with it.

Bisping hasn’t fought in Manchester since UFC 70, where he knocked out Elvis Sinosic.

“I always count on that pressure,” Bisping said. “[The crowd] makes me perform better. It fuels me. It makes me feel better to be honest.”

The hostile audience doesn’t bother Kang at all. He’s fought in Japan, Korea and Russia, and most of the time; he’s the foreign invader and fighting a home town favorite.

“It’s just like any other fight. There’s always pressure,” Kang said. “I rarely fight at home. I’m used to being like that. I don’t focus on where I am. The most important thing is being in the ring or cage.”

While for Bisping, it’s an opportunity rebound from a devastating loss, for Kang it’s an opportunity to pick up a win over a marquee name and move one step closer to a potential shot for the title.

“Yeah, you can say it’s one of the biggest fights in my career,” Kang said. “It’s on the big stage, and I’m fighting against a top-level opponent. I have more expectations I’m training hard than normal.”

Shane Carwin is next in line to challenge Brock Lesnar for UFC title.

Let the trash talking, fight hyping begin.

Wait. It already has.

Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar have been training verbal sparring since Lesnar’s infamous antics at UFC 100.

The most recent shot came from Carwin who called out Lesnar’s respect for fans and the sport itself.

“Brock seems to think selling or hyping a fight means disparaging one another’s opponents.  I think anyone who is fighting deserves the respect of other fighters, especially a champion,” Carwin told CagePotato.com “I do not think Brock respects MMA or MMA fans. …I hope Brock knows Dana did not send me a script to go by.  I am coming for that belt.”

This comes just a few days after Lesnar told various publications that he considers Carwin 1-0, since the only “quality” opponent that he has faced was Gabriel Gonzaga.

Carwin is following the Frank Mir and Heath Herring route in terms of trying to hype the fight and getting into verbal wars with Lesnar, which has been one of Lesnar’s strongest points.

Only once has a fighter not disrespected Brock before a fight. His name: Randy Couture, and in those pre-fight interviews, Brock really seemed to respect Couture, and didn’t go into his WWE-style fight hype.

Courtesy FIGHT! Magazine

Recent rumors are pitting Thiago Alves vs Paulo Thiago as part of the UFC 107 card on December 12. When Paulo Thiago was contacted regarding the bout on August 23, he had yet to be contacted by Joe Silva or other UFC representatives. Alves is coming off a five-round war with welter weight king Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100 in July.

UFC 107 is to be held at the Fedex Forum in Memphis, TN. It was announced late last week that would-be co-headliner, Rampage Jackson is off the card due to his obligations with acting in the A-Team movie.

Sources: Tatame.com & MMAMania.com

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mma_madness

Jones will be training with Greg Jackson and Bomb Squad

Talented light heavyweight prospect Jon Jones (9-0) announced he was going to start working with the esteemed training camp of Greg Jackson.

Rumors quickly circulated that Jones would be leaving the East coast in favor of the “Land of Enchantment” Albuquerque, NM, but that isn’t the case.

Ryan Ciotoli, Jones’ manager and one of his trainers, confirmed to MMA Madness, that Jones will be spending time with the Jackson, but it will be similar to the training schedule of welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre — spending a few weeks at his home camp, Bomb Squad, before working with Jackson as the fight gets closer.

Either way, Ciotoli sees benefits from having Jones work with both camps.

“He likes to get different looks from different coaches,” Ciotoli said. “I want the best the best for Jon. I want him to be champion. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

Ciotoli has no timetable on when Jones will fight next, though he’s aiming for a November date.

Spike TV's telecast of UFC 100 dominates the competition

Spike TV’s telecast of UFC 100 (originally airing on pay-per-view July 11) drew more Men 18-34 (513,000) than anything else on television on Saturday, August 15.  Airing from 10:00pm-12:30am ET/PT, the telecast drew 2 million viewers, a 1.8 rating in Men 18-34, a 1.7 rating (950,000) in Men 18-49, and a 1.5 household rating.

The telecast bested heavy sports competition during the day in the advertiser-coveted demographic of Men 18-34:

UFC 100 (Spike TV) – 513,000
PGA Championship (CBS) – 479,000
MLB Baseball (FOX) – 242,000
Strikeforce (Showtime) – 181,000

Clay Guida enjoys some good food but didn't enjoy not being in THQ's UFC Undisputed.

Written by Cameron Gidari

MMAMadness: You’re coming off of a controversial loss (to Diego Sanchez). What have you been doing since?

Clay Guida: Yeah man, enjoying the vacation. I’ll be back in the gym really soon. Just out here at the UFC Fan Expo for UFC 100. It’s a great experience. Everyone’s very supportive. It was a tough fight, but you win some, you lose some. That’s what builds champions.

MM: You have a line of fans around the booth waiting for your autograph. What is it like to see the fans and see the support?

Guida: The fans are the best here. I’ve followed football, baseball, basketball my whole life, and this is where it’s at; mixed martial arts. The best fans in the world, hands down. It’s an honor to be here.

MM: You’ve fought some of the best the lightweight division has to offer. Coming off of this loss, where do you look to go and who do you look to fight?

Guida: I always look up. Look to the future with a positive attitude and BJ (Penn), I’m coming for you. I love you, but I’m not too far. I’m on your trail.

MM: People always say that you’re an exciting fighter. What does it mean to have that reputation where fans always look forward to watching you fight?

Guida: I devote it to them. I’m out here to have fun and I’m out here to win. Put smiles on people’s faces and put butts in the seats. It comes naturally to be entertaining. I’m having too much fun out there to have a boring fight.

MM: We saw a different side of you in your last fight. You were pumped up, yelling ‘this is my house.’ Normally you’re not as animated, so where did that come from?

Guida: Just an intense fight. A lot of emotion went through that fight. It was a life changing, career changing fight and this one will be as well. We’re going to come back and rip off some more wins and get back in title contention. 

MM: Recently it broke that the reason you were not included in UFC Undisputed 2009 was your hair. Is that true?

Guida: THQ [the game publisher] kept me out of it. They couldn’t evidently replicate my hair so it just shows you that they don’t have enough technology or enough brains to put one of the supposed exciting fighters in the UFC in there. I don’t hold grudges, but we’ll be in 2010.

MM: Has THQ spoken to you about being in next year’s game?

Guida: They’re very apologetic and it’s one of those things where it’s every kid’s dream to be in a video game. We’ll be there.

Cameron Gidari is the Associate Editor at MMAMadness.com. He can be reached with questions and comments at cameron@mmamadness.com.

Featuring Brock Lesnar’s coronation as heavyweight king and Dan Henderson’s must-see knockout over Michael Bisping, the Spike TV telecast marks the first time that bouts from this landmark event will be televised off of Pay-Per-View.

Emanating from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV on July 11, 2009, UFC 100 was a milestone event in the 16-year history of the UFC organization. The Spike TV telecast of UFC 100* includes the following fights:

Heavyweight Championship Bout
Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir

Middleweights
Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping 
Alan Belcher vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Light Heavyweights
Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman
Shannon Gurgerty vs. Matt Grice
Jon Jones vs. Jake O’Brien
*(due to time constraints- not all fights from UFC 100 can be shown)

Spike TV is the television home to the most preeminent mixed martial arts organization in the world, The Ultimate Fighting Championship, including “The Ultimate Fighter,” “UFC Fight Night,” “UFC Unleashed,” “Ultimate Knockouts,” “UFC Countdown,” “UFC All Access,” and “UFC Primetime.”

MMAMadness.com's Cameron Gidari chats with Junie Browning

Written by Cameron Gidari                                                                  (Courtesy of Spike TV)                                                                          

MMAMadness.com: First things first. You have to tell me about this love letter you got today.

Junie Browning: Some young girl, I guess she was still in high school or something, she had a ziplock bag with a heart in it and a letter saying she thought I was the hottest MMA fighter in the UFC, and I’d have to agree with her. I’m pretty much the best looking guy on the planet. And it said she liked my country accent. There must be something wrong with her, because she said she loved my attitude on the show. But I thought it was awesome, I usually keep that kind of stuff too. Anything like that, I can look back on it when I’m old.

MM: Is that the first love letter you’ve ever gotten?

JB: No, I have like emails and stuff online. It’s awesome stuff. That’s the power of TV. I didn’t get any better looking.

MM: It sounds like it is really hard being a UFC fighter.

JB: I mean most of the fighters in the UFC are ugly as [expletive]. If you look like me and you can fight, some girls like it.

MM: You’ve been in Vegas about six months. How’s the culture shock? You’re coming from Kentucky, that’s not exactly the same as Vegas.

JB: It depends on how you let it get to you. I just train all the time, I don’t really go out a lot. The only time I really go out is if there’s an event. If I go anywhere, mostly I go to the pools. I like being in the daylight, it keeps me from drinking as much. Going at night is just asking for trouble, [especially] when you have a name. No one really tries to start stuff with me. They want me to drink more, I’d rather not be around it. At least I’m responsible enough to know how I act when I get drunk, so I just avoid the whole situation.

MM: Now you’re with Xtreme Couture and apparently a model citizen. How is it being with Xtreme Couture and getting that kind of training and experience?

JB: It’s like a dream scenario for most people. Especially coming from Kentucky, I had to search for good training partners. I had good training partners, but when people do it as a hobby, they don’t take it as serious. When you come out here, people, that’s their job. They come every day. I never have to go to the gym wondering if there’s going to be anyone to train with.

MM: Where do you go next? Obviously your last fight [a loss to Cole Miller] was disappointing, where do you look to go from there? Have you talked to the UFC about opponents?

JB: They just told me to be ready. They’re going to call me. I have a feeling it will be a few more months, but I’ll be ready. That last one was just nerves and got caught. Next time it’s not going to be like that, I’m not even going to go for a takedown, I’m just going to try to take someone’s head off.

MM: You’ve had two fights in the UFC. Do you think those nerves will be gone now that you’ve become a little more acclimated to the company?

JB: People don’t understand how much nerves affect you. That’s when experience comes into play. The biggest fight I’ve ever fought was at the Palms, and it’s not that big really. It’s more of a televised fight. When I was in Nashville and I walked out, it was huge. When I was across the cage from Cole, I didn’t even look at Cole. I was looking at the people behind him. It was so packed. Now that I’ve experienced it once, I don’t think it will affect me as much.

MM: You played up the bad boy image on the show, but you had fans around the block [for his autograph session at the UFC 100 Fan Expo]. Are you seeing a shift in how UFC fans are accepting you as they get to know you? 

JB: People don’t even realize how much they like me. People love to hate me. My girlfriend even noticed. She’ll be like standing and hear people talking about me, she’ll tell me. As soon as they get near me they’re like, ‘hey man, take a picture with me.’ It’s just like being the heel in wrestling, it doesn’t matter. People still respect you. People don’t realize how entertaining my season was until they saw season nine and how boring it was. If [Michael] Bisping hadn’t been on it, it would have been like a cooking show. I believe the first season of The Ultimate Fighter is what made the UFC so popular, and I believe it’s our job to maintain it, try to make it entertaining. Otherwise, people are not going to be interested. If you’re not interested in the show, not as many people are going to be interested in the fights. I’m not saying you have to fake everything, don’t be so nervous and laid back. A lot of people get nervous in front of the camera and don’t want to act themselves. A lot of guys on the show that people thought were real nice and cool, it was the complete opposite. Most of them were dicks. ‘Bad guys,’ they just don’t care what people think. I was one of those guys, I was like, ‘I’ll sacrifice myself.’

MM: Well the people that meet you seem to think you’re a nice guy, so the word might be spreading.

JB: If there aren’t any cameras in front of me, and I don’t have twelve shots in me, and a bunch of guys… It would have been completely different if there had been girls in the house, like the Real World. I would have been the guy in the room the whole time, you would have never saw me. I would have had all the girls in my room and never even saw any controversy.

Cameron Gidari is the Associate Editor at MMAMadness.com. He can be reached with questions and comments at cameron@mmamadness.com.