THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
Interviews
WEC QUOTABLES: Jens Pulver - "Everyone always thought Pat Miletich had a magical touch and was teaching us all these magical things. No he wasn't. No. Never. Never ever."
"People always ask for Pat [Miletich's] secret ingredient. There wasn't no secret ingredient. That's why I made that comment about our "supposed leader." There was no one leader man. We all did it together. Jeremy Horn was the leader when it comes down to it. We all ran after that guy. We all said 'teach us coach.'... They're all gone [now]. There was Pat, but Pat is too busy trying to make cash, making a living. He ain't coaching people. Everyone always thought Pat had a magical touch and was teaching us all these magical things. No he wasn't. No. Never. Never ever. It was a great combination of things that left. Jeremy left, Matt left, Robbie left. Matt Pena left. Everybody grew up more or less. We weren't there anymore. And that's why the great experiment is over.... If there is a key ingredient, and Pat Miletich was teaching it, then that key ingredient would still be there. Correct? The young bucks would still be coming. Correct? I wasn't trying to talk mess about Pat himself. I'm just ready to go. I'm 34 years old. How long was I supposed to stay there? I hadn't been home in 10 years. I'm tired. I want to build my own gym. I want to build my own fighters. It's my time."
-Jens Pulver talks to Jonathan Snowden at UGO.com about the head of his former gym in Pat Miletich and what he feels is the misconception of Miletich's influence on the team.
Penick's Analysis: Jens has a bit of a chip on his shoulders these days, it seems. But there is something to be said for what Pulver is talking about here in regards to Miletich, as there has been a mass exodus of that successful early years crew. There are plenty of fighters still involved with Pat that might disagree with Jens' assessment of things, but of course these are things as he sees them. Perhaps he's just irritated with hearing the same question. Whatever it is, he is certainly to a point with six losses in seven fights that he knows to keep fighting he's got to buckle down and get it done, which he's looking to do this Saturday at WEC 47. He said in that quote that he's tired, and just reading it he sounds tired. Hopefully he can get back some of what he's been missing in his last handful of fights this weekend.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP