Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Quinton Jackson knows
Wanderlei Silva's gameplan.
“I know Wanderlei’s game plan. He’s going to tire himself out in the process of tiring me out. I dissected those two fights, and I was doing great until I got tired. This time, the cardio isn’t even an issue. I’m more mature, and, quite frankly, back in those days, I really sucked. I’m a better fighter now.” -- Quinton Jackson breaking down his UFC 92 showdown with Wanderlei Silva in an interview with
“Forrest has got his swagger … it’s a quiet swagger, but he has it now.” -- Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts boxing coach Ron Frazier talking on Sherdog.com’s “Beatdown” radio show about Forrest Griffin, as he heads into his first title defense
“He’s just sacrificing his Christmas, basically, for the fight. He’s got to make this sacrifice worth it for him.” -- Rashad Evans’ trainer, Greg Jackson, discussing his star pupil’s run up to his UFC 92 title shot against Forrest Griffin on “Beatdown” radio
“It’s always me going against somebody who doesn’t do jiu-jitsu. It’s always me beating the striker that doesn’t do jiu-jitsu, or the wrestler. Now I -- at 100 percent -- get to compete against someone that is better than I am at this stuff.” -- Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir talking to Sherdog.com about his UFC 92 opponent, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
“Being normal is not the way to get any exposure. You have to go above and beyond. You have to be yourself on level 15 in order to ensure you get camera time. I mean, there are multiple members of each season that are just forgettable. No one knows who they are. Why is that? Because they didn’t provide entertainment.” -- Gabe Ruediger reflecting with Sherdog.com’s Danny Acosta on his infamous stint on “The Ultimate Fighter”
“There are few very people I don’t like. Very few. Honestly. But, of course, I don’t like this guy. I just don’t care for him. He jokes at bad moments. He’s not the kind of guy I like. And so I am very thankful that I have the opportunity to fight him again.” -- Wanderlei Silva talking with Yahoo! Sports about his upcoming UFC 92 bout against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
“The fact that they have to get people in there for drama reasons takes away from the skilled fighters and the dedicated fighters, so it’s a paradox. But, in the end, I guess it works.” -- Season six winner Mac Danzig discussing the state of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series with Sherdog.com
“The weakness of MMA is the punching, and it’s been that way since 1999. I watch boxing. I don’t watch MMA because the sport of MMA has progressed very little in the past 10 years in my opinion; the art has ebbed and flowed, but we should be much further along, in my opinion, in the art of fighting.” -- Former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock during an appearance on Inside MMA
“One of the problems I had in the UFC was the layoffs. I’m used to competing a lot, and that’s how I get better. But unfortunately with the UFC, you fight every six months, and I’m not the kind of guy that can stay too long and then just get better. I like to get there, stay busy and if I can fight every weekend, it would be awesome. That’s my goal … for now, I think I need to have those long, disgusting fights where I go home and just look at myself [and say], ‘Why am I even doing this?’ and then come back.” -- Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou talking to Sherdog.com’s Loretta Hunt about his post-UFC goals
“When I first saw it, pure jiu-jitsu was winning everything, and then all of a sudden it came to where the wrestlers had a year or two where they were completely crushing everyone … you know, Mark Kerr, and you had Coleman. You had these guys just killing everyone. And then you had a resurgence of guys like Maurice Smith, guys that learned enough jiu-jitsu to where you couldn't finish them on the ground, and you could get tired taking them down. And they could hurt you on the feet. And then you had a resurgence of submissions. It just went up and down, up and down, and this was just mixed martial arts. And I think it's going to continue to do that.” -- UFC middleweight Dean Lister discussing MMA with USA Today
“He was really getting his career together.” -- Monte Cox, agent for the late Justin Eilers, in an interview with Sherdog.com’s Loretta Hunt
The first Weekly Wrap of 2009 will feature all the fallout from a UFC 92 card brimming with significant bouts, as well as results from K-1 “Premium 2008 Dynamite!!,” the Japanese New Year's Eve fighting tradition. Plus, consensus develops on the myriad Best of 2008 awards.