Luke Thomas and Dustin Green discuss the Ultimate Fighting Championship inaugural trip to the nation's capital with UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson (aka UFC on Versus 6). Luke also breaks down the bantamweight championship match-up of Dominick Cruz and challenger Demetrious Johnson.
You can also see The Fight Fix at CSNWashington.com.
SBNation and Comcast SportsNet are proud to bring you The Fight Fix on BloodyElbow.com and MMA Nation every week.
Transcript after the jump.
More SBN Coverage of UFC on Versus 6: Cruz vs. Johnson
</p>Transcription:
Luke Thomas INTV
30 secs, on what it means for the UFC to be in D.C. at the Verizon Center: "I think it means 2 things actually. The number 1 thing it means it's a recognition of the ground work the real pioneers of MMA in this area have laid. Guys like Mario Yamasaki, guys like Lloyd Irvin, guys like John Rallo in the whole DMV area. These are the true pioneers that have really helped to grow the sport and build it to a place where the UFC could come and capitalize on it. The good news for MMA fans, and I think the bigger takeaway here, is that the UFC gets a lot of attention in media markets like D.C. - by the way a top 10 media market never had UFC come here - they get the most amount of attention when they're actually physically there. It' not so much the heights they reach, although that too. Gene Wang of the Washington Post did a story on UFC on Fox and that's great, but the real coverage is gonna come when they're actually here. When they come here you can begin to weave MMA coverage into the greater sporting library, sorting lexicon of the sporting fans here. Until they do that, you can't really achieve it. In that sense, what they're doing is they're beginning to push MMA more into the media and that in turn will help grow the sport locally."
1:42, on Cruz-Johnson title fight: "This is an important fight, an interesting fight too. I think certainly Demetrius Johnson is a talented guy and he really deserves this title shot. He's got 4 wins in a row basically in the Bantamweight division which is kind of thin. That's a fair assessment to me, to give the guy a title shot.
I don't know that he has that much of a chance. I've seen both guys in person, talked to 'em both. Dominick Cruz is significantly larger than Demetrius Johnson. More importantly, if you look at all the advantages that Demetrius Johnson has really the only that kinda stands out is speed. I don't think it's gonna be that dramatic quite frankly. I think the speed is almost negligible - I guess we'll see on fight night, but that's my sense of things.
Dominick Cruz is a special talent. He's a very special talent. Watch this guy's footwork - people say 'what does he mean for his footwork?' He has the best footwork that blends boxing and wrestling. By that I mean he's always on the balls of his feet, he's cutting angle, but at the same time he's changing levels, he's changing foot positioning and angles, and how far his distancing is for shots, for defending shots.
There's no one who does footwork in mixed martial arts like Dominick Cruz. There are guys who do it differently. There may be guys who do it better for striking. There may be guys who do it better for wrestling. Nobody blends footwork, in terms of boxing and wrestling, like Dominick Cruz.
You add to that his great team. The guy's warmup before he even fights is is an hour and a half. He begins warming up during the prelims. He has the best cardio in the Bantamweight division. I just believe, as talented as Demetrius Johnson is, he's got a bright future, it's a bright future at flyweight, not at bantamweight. He's gonna kill bamas there as they say in Washington D.C., it's just not gonna be in the bantamweight division. It's not gonna be on October 1st. You're gonna see the same champion you saw when he walked in the cage - Dominick Cruz.
You can also see The Fight Fix at CSNWashington.com.
SBNation and Comcast SportsNet are proud to bring you The Fight Fix on BloodyElbow.com and MMA Nation every week.
Transcript after the jump.
More SBN Coverage of UFC on Versus 6: Cruz vs. Johnson
</p>Transcription:
Luke Thomas INTV
30 secs, on what it means for the UFC to be in D.C. at the Verizon Center: "I think it means 2 things actually. The number 1 thing it means it's a recognition of the ground work the real pioneers of MMA in this area have laid. Guys like Mario Yamasaki, guys like Lloyd Irvin, guys like John Rallo in the whole DMV area. These are the true pioneers that have really helped to grow the sport and build it to a place where the UFC could come and capitalize on it. The good news for MMA fans, and I think the bigger takeaway here, is that the UFC gets a lot of attention in media markets like D.C. - by the way a top 10 media market never had UFC come here - they get the most amount of attention when they're actually physically there. It' not so much the heights they reach, although that too. Gene Wang of the Washington Post did a story on UFC on Fox and that's great, but the real coverage is gonna come when they're actually here. When they come here you can begin to weave MMA coverage into the greater sporting library, sorting lexicon of the sporting fans here. Until they do that, you can't really achieve it. In that sense, what they're doing is they're beginning to push MMA more into the media and that in turn will help grow the sport locally."
1:42, on Cruz-Johnson title fight: "This is an important fight, an interesting fight too. I think certainly Demetrius Johnson is a talented guy and he really deserves this title shot. He's got 4 wins in a row basically in the Bantamweight division which is kind of thin. That's a fair assessment to me, to give the guy a title shot.
I don't know that he has that much of a chance. I've seen both guys in person, talked to 'em both. Dominick Cruz is significantly larger than Demetrius Johnson. More importantly, if you look at all the advantages that Demetrius Johnson has really the only that kinda stands out is speed. I don't think it's gonna be that dramatic quite frankly. I think the speed is almost negligible - I guess we'll see on fight night, but that's my sense of things.
Dominick Cruz is a special talent. He's a very special talent. Watch this guy's footwork - people say 'what does he mean for his footwork?' He has the best footwork that blends boxing and wrestling. By that I mean he's always on the balls of his feet, he's cutting angle, but at the same time he's changing levels, he's changing foot positioning and angles, and how far his distancing is for shots, for defending shots.
There's no one who does footwork in mixed martial arts like Dominick Cruz. There are guys who do it differently. There may be guys who do it better for striking. There may be guys who do it better for wrestling. Nobody blends footwork, in terms of boxing and wrestling, like Dominick Cruz.
You add to that his great team. The guy's warmup before he even fights is is an hour and a half. He begins warming up during the prelims. He has the best cardio in the Bantamweight division. I just believe, as talented as Demetrius Johnson is, he's got a bright future, it's a bright future at flyweight, not at bantamweight. He's gonna kill bamas there as they say in Washington D.C., it's just not gonna be in the bantamweight division. It's not gonna be on October 1st. You're gonna see the same champion you saw when he walked in the cage - Dominick Cruz.