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| hat period. This is the Clippers first trip to the post-season since 2006. Paul has plenty of playoff experience with 23 games while in New Orleans, but this was the post-season de |
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| 646 Beiträge - Alter Hase
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TORONTO -- Hall of Famer Randy (The Natural) Couture remembers his first taste of the UFC and marvels at what has transpired in the 14 years since UFC 13. "To go from weighing in at the Holiday Inn with fighters and their seconds, literally in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, to what youre going to see on Friday is a remarkable journey," the 47-year-old MMA icon said Wednesday on the eve of his final fight. Fridays weigh-in for UFC 129 will be held in the Ricoh Coliseum -- which could easily accommodate the UFC 13 crowd from that early Augusta, Ga., card -- with Saturdays show and its UFC-record 55,000 spectators set for the supersized Rogers Centre. Mixed martial arts is still not for everyone but, as Couture notes, the sport has come a long way. "For a long time we were kind of the stepchildren, like Oh my God youre one of those cagefighters and theyd take a big step back like somehow you were dangerous or a criminal. "Certainly that landscape has changed considerably, thanks to (UFC owners) Zuffa and the hard work theyve done with their staff." Saturdays crowd will be "55,000 cool people that enjoy watching professional athletes compete," said UFC president Dana White. On Wednesday, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre of Montreal, featherweight title-holder Jose Aldo, former light-heavyweight champion Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida and featherweight contender Mark Hominick of Thamesford, Ont., wore suits to the pre-fight news conference, looking more like they made a living on the fashion runway than in a cage. Hominick accessorized with a Hamilton Tiger-Cats cap, part of a new sponsorship deal with the CFL team. Welterweight title contender Jake Shields also showcased his sponsor, wearing a Tapout T-shirt. And Couture, who has his own clothing line, opted for a casual military-style jacket and baseball cap. Top MMA fighters may not make the jumbo purses of superstar boxers like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, but they do OK. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva made more than US$2 million for his last title defence. St-Pierre will do even better this time. "Now its pretty good," he said of his pay. "Its a young sport, its not like boxing," he added. The 29-year-old from Montreal recalls making C$1,300 for his January 2002 debut against Ivan Menjivar (who is also fighting on Saturdays card). Shields made US$200 for his pro debut in 1999. The UFCs official fight bonuses for Saturdays card will likely be six figures or close to it. "Im making a good living, but not rich yet," said the 32-year-old Shields, who drives a sleek BMW M6. "So of course I want to make more. But it is in the process of going up." The UFC will probably emerge the biggest winner. The show has already produced a record gate of C$11 million and White expects healthy pay-per-view numbers. "Georges St-Pierre is a huge star everywhere, not just here in Canada," he said. The show will be watched by fans in 145 countries. Shields, who came to the UFC later in his career and has just one UFC fight under his belt, has marvelled at the media demands ahead of Saturdays showdown. "Its been non-stop. Film crews have been at my training camp. Constant interviews. Ive had to turn down at least 10 interviews a day." St-Pierre and Shields have shown nothing but respect for each other in the pre-fight buildup and St-Pierre bowed as he shook hands with his rival after the news conference. But there was still intensity as the two locked eyes for the cameras and there was no farewell handshake when the two separated. St-Pierre (21-2) is a 5-1 favourite. "Hes great. I have to be greater on that night and I feel up for the challenge," Shields summed up. St-Pierre has consistently dismissed the odds, saying Shields -- a dangerous grappler who has won titles in Strikeforce and other organizations -- is his greatest challenge to date. "Jake Shields is a champion so this belt right here doesnt belong to me," he said, pointing to the shiny belt in front of him. "The way I see this fight is this belt is going to be in the middle and Jake and I will fight and the winner will take it." Shields (26-4-1) is riding a 15-fight win streak that dates back to 2005. St-Pierre (21-2) has won his last eight fights and has not lost a round since August 2007. The Toronto show will be the UFCs sixth in Canada (there have been four in Montreal and one in Vancouver) and the ticket sales show that the wait to get the sport sanctioned in Ontario was well worth it. White was positively giddy after bounding up the steps for the pre-news conference at the Direct Energy Centre. "Finally, finally here," he beamed. cheap jerseys from china . The opener of the four-game series was called off after rain began in the afternoon. The wet weather was expected to continue for most of the day, with temperatures in the 30s and 20 mph winds. cheap nfl jerseys china . Sizemore went on the disabled list last week with a bruised kneecap. He ran sprints in the outfield at close to full speed on Tuesday before the Indians hosted Boston. http://www.cheapjerseyschina.cc/ . TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports on ESPN.com that the league has proposed to have free agency start on July 10 instead of the traditional July 1 opening day. cheap china jerseys . Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Rodgers was limited in practice Friday and has not yet been medically cleared to play as the former MVP continues his recovery from a fractured collarbone. cheap nfl jerseys . Cousin appeared in two preseason games, averaging 1.5 points and 2.0 rebounds. Kabongo finished with six points in five minutes at Denver on Oct.MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Chris Paul begged coach Vinny Del Negro to put him back into the game for the fourth quarter and not give up despite being down 21 points. The result was another Clippers comeback -- one of the greatest in NBA playoff history. Paul hit a pair of free throws with 23.7 seconds left, and the Clippers rallied from a deficit that had been as much as 27 to stun the Memphis Grizzlies 99-98 Sunday night in the opening game of their Western Conference series. The key, Paul said, is to keep believing. "Unfortunately, thats how we play," he said. "We get killed in the first three quarters and in the fourth quarter we like to try to stand up for ourselves, and we found a way to win tonight." The Clippers tied the NBA playoff record for largest deficit overcome at the end of three quarters, when they trailed by 21. "I dont think Ive been part of a game like that ever," Clippers forward Blake Griffin said. "It was unbelievable." Rudy Gay missed a 15-footer with 0.9 seconds left after the Grizzlies squandered a lead they held for the first 47 minutes, with a 24-point cushion disappearing in about nine minutes. "Obviously, we gave it away, and everybodys kind of down," Gay said. "Were still into it. Its a long series, and were ready to fight. Thats all this means. Weve got to fight hard." The Clippers lost Caron Butler to a broken left hand, and he said he thinks he caught his hand in Gays jersey on a screen. Del Negro said other players will have to step up. Nick Young did just that, scoring 19 points off the bench with three 3-pointers in the midst of the Clippers 26-1 run. Paul finished with 14 points while playing a team-high 38 minutes despite a groin injury that kept him out of the regular season finale against the Knicks. Griffin had 17 and Butler 12 before leaving the game. Young said he didnt even see the score, being on the court down the stretch for a change. He said he looked up late and saw they had a game when he started hitting his shots. "Its crazy. Its a blessing," Young said. "It shows how hard we fought. How we rallied together as a team, and just made stops down the end." Gay finished with 19 for Memphis. Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo had 17, and Marc Gasol scored 14. Game 2 is Wednesday night. The Clippers outscored the Grizzlies 35-13 in the fourth quarter, the most points in the final period by a Memphis opponent this season. Los Angeles also hit 13 of 17 from the floor, including 5 of 6 beyond the arc after hitting only one the first three quarters. The Grizzlies looked ready to roll as they ran out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and were up by 27 twice in the third, the last on a pair of free throws by Mayo with 1:34 left. The Clippers finally got going in the fourth, as the Grizzlies looked like they shut it down way too soon. They had five turnovers in the fourth. Even though the Clippers had seven themselves, the Grizzlies looked lost as they just lost the ball going into the lane or put up shots that had no chance of going in. "We just got careless," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. "We just lost a little bit of our discipline from a defeensive perspective.dddddddddddd But offensively, we just started walking it up and trying to throw it into the post instead of running it in. We ran earlier. We attacked. We were in transition earlier. We just stopped doing that and got conservative and it cost us." Reggie Evans gave the Clippers their first lead at 97-96 when he scored inside with 58 seconds left. Gay answered with 28 seconds to go with a 10-foot jumper on the right baseline over Paul, ending a drought where the Grizzlies went nearly 9 minutes without a field goal. Tony Allen fouled Paul, sending him to the line for the clinching free throws. Boston came back from 21 down after three quarters against New Jersey on May 25, 2002. The Grizzlies had won six straight overall and the last 11 on their home floor to grab the No. 4 seed and start this series at home. Mayo said there would be no sleep until they fix what went wrong. "We turned something that we worked so hard for -- home-court advantage -- to an ugly loss in Game 1," Mayo said. "Weve got to come back Game 2 with the attitude we cant quit." The Grizzlies seemed to be clicking all across the board. They even hit 11 of 16 from 3-point range after ranking 25th in the NBA this season beyond the arc at 34.5 per cent. Against the Clippers, they opened by hitting their four. So did Conley, and he hit three straight, the last with 7:19 left in the third, putting the Grizzlies up 69-48. Memphis fans couldnt have been more ready for this chance to start the post-season at home with a sellout crowd on hand. With a good luck charm in a St. Jude patient singing the national anthem, fans had their free T-shirts on and waving the free towels before tipoff. The Grizzlies were ready too. They opened the game hitting their first five shots and seven of the first 10 in jumping out 15-6, forcing Del Negro to take a timeout. They quickly led by as much as 20 and had a 34-16 lead by the end of the first quarter, tying the most points scored this season in that period. This is the Clippers first trip to the post-season since 2006. Paul has plenty of playoff experience with 23 games while in New Orleans, but this was the post-season debut for three starters -- Griffin, Randy Foye and DeAndre Jordan -- along with four of their teammates. Paul looked a little rusty in the first half with only one point and three assists, all in the first quarter. He sat out the Clippers final game of the season with a strained groin, and Los Angeles lost that game to the Knicks along with the chance to start this series at home. Paul picked up his third foul with 6.5 seconds left in the first half. The Clippers made a run in the second quarter and got within 50-39. But after Gay missed a pull-up jumper, the Clippers had a shot clock violation. The Grizzlies scored the final eight points, the last on a dunk by Gasol just before the buzzer for a 58-39 halftime lead. Notes: The Grizzlies scored 34 in a quarter three other times. ... The Grizzlies went 17-1 when leading after the first and 16-1 when leading at halftime. The lone loss came in double overtime March 13 to the Lakers. ... The Grizzlies made nine 3-pointers twice during the season, the last on April 3 against Golden State. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
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| Beitrag vom 25.12.2014 - 17:36 |
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