UFC 143 Diaz vs Condit Gallery
Hey everybody. What a great night of fights last night. As usual, I covered UFC 143 for Getty Images and UFC. The annual Superbowl weekend event was originally set to feature a Welterweight Championship battle between heated rivals Nick Diaz and Champion Georges St-Pierre. However, a training injury sidelined St-Pierre and gave Carlos Condit his big shot at UFC gold. The new contest between Diaz and Condit was established to be for an interim championship belt, since St-Pierre could be out of action for up to a year.
As is sometimes the case, the undercard fights nearly stole the show. In the first bout of the night between debuting fighters Stephen Thompson and Dan Stittgen, the KO of the Night award was handed out when Thompson landed a great three strike combo, finishing with a high kick that put Stittgen out for good. Matt Brown also had a great performance in knocking out Chris Cope. Newcomer Henry Martinez looked great in his debut, but came up just a hair short in a split-decision loss to Matthew Riddle. The Submission of the Night award was won by Dustin Poirier who transitioned beautifully between different submissions on the ground, finally tapping out Max Holloway with a mounted triangle/arm bar.
The new UFC intro aired in-house to get the crowd fired up, and I must say it was quite awesome. Before the fight, I had a chance to grab shots of a lot of celebrities in attendance, including my friend Wilmer Valderama, Vanilla Ice, Benji and Joel Madden, Jaime Pressly, MC Hammer, Roy Jones Jr, and all-time hits leader Pete Rose. MC Hammer was actually there for the first fight of the night, which is impressive if you’ve ever been to a UFC in Vegas. Barely anyone is in the arena for the first 2-3 fights.
Starting off the main card was Ed Herman weathering a good storm from Clifford Starks and eventually putting him away with a rear choke submission. Renan Barao handled Scott Jorgensen with a unanimous decision, running his unbeaten streak to 28 fights. Welterweights Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce went the distance, as well, with Koscheck winning a split decision. In my opinion, I thought Pierce did enough to win. In the co-main event, Fabricio Werdum completely dominated the always-tough Roy “Big Country” Nelson, scoring a unanimous decision. Both men were awarded the Fight of the Night bonus after their performance.
The main event didn’t end up being the slugfest everyone had hoped for, but was still a decent, highly technical fight. Carlos Condit ended up scoring a unanimous decision victory Nick Diaz with the judges’ cards reading 48-47, 49-46, 49-46. A lot of people apparently feel Diaz should have won. I personally don’t see how, but I’ll concede that I don’t get the best view of the fight from a judging perspective. I had Diaz winning only one round, with one more being close. A very frustrated Diaz appeared to announce his retirement from MMA in the Octagon after the fight, stating that he’s “tired of playing this game.” Condit captures the interim UFC Welterweight Championship with the victory, as well as a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle. Quote of the night comes from Condit at the post-fight presser when asked what Diaz was saying to him throughout the fight. He said at one point, after he threw a spinning backfist, Diaz said to him “Oh, so we’re throwing spinning shit now?” Carlos said, “I had to laugh at that.”
We tried out some strobes for the first time during live fights, with a couple lights mounted at different angles, and on different channels. I think they turned out great, especially the ones I shot from the press box overhead. This is definitely something we will be doing again. Big thanks to Nick Laham for the idea and allowing me to use them to capture a few shots. Also thanks to our always trusty assistant Mike Roach for helping with the rigging and testing.
Below is a selection of shots I captured throughout the night. Check out the rest from all our photographers on Getty Images and UFC.com.
UFC 143 Diaz vs Condit – Images by Joshua Hedges
UFC 143 Weigh In Gallery
My long day is finally over and it had the perfect ending – a great dinner with my lovely wife and photographer/friend Nick Laham. I was at Mandalay Bay early this morning to begin setting up a remote camera for the fights tomorrow. That all went pretty smooth, and hopefully there will be some good moments to capture. After we finished that up, it was about time to start getting ready for the weigh in.
The arena, and especially the smaller-than-usual media section, started filling up earlier than normal. As a result, I was trapped in my seat for much longer than I’d care to be so as to insure I would not loose it. UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre was the special guest for today’s UFC Fight Club Q&A session. He revealed that he expects to be back training in fight mode by July and should probably be ready to fight the winner of Diaz vs Condit in the fall. Georges was not at all secretive about his desire for Nick Diaz to defeat Carlos Condit so that he will finally be able to fight Diaz. St-Pierre also stated that he thinks Nick Diaz has some mental problems, but was quick to add that he himself also has his own demons which nobody sees. All-in-all, it was a good Q&A session with the champ.
As the weigh ins approached, my buddy Rod Mar showed up and took a seat next to me. It’s always nice passing the time by talking shop with fellow photographers and friends. The hour was eclipsed in no time and the weigh ins began. No great surprises as everyone made weight. Only Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres had to employee the use of the towel to reach his contracted weight. Mike Pierce took a shot across the bow of Josh Koscheck by donning a bleach blonde wig for his face off with Koscheck. The two had to be separated by UFC President Dana White. Expect some heavy leather to be thrown in this bout.
Heavyweight Roy Nelson looked much slimmer as he tipped the scale at 246 pounds for his bout against Fabricio Werdum. That’s six pounds lighter than his last bout against Mirko Cro Cop and nearly 20 pounds down from his heaviest fighting weight inside the Octagon. Werdum also weighed in at 246 pounds in his return to the Octagon after more than three years away.
And in the main event, both Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit weighed in a pound under the limit for their Interim Welterweight Championship bout, capping off what should be a great night of fights. One things is for sure, this bout promises to be non-stop excitement. Both fighters are known for their fan-friendly fighting styles and willingness to try to finish the fight, not just score points.
Below is a gallery of shots from this afternoon’s weigh in event. As always, be sure to check them out at Getty Images and UFC.com, as well.
UFC 143 Weigh In – Images by Joshua Hedges
UFC 143 Open Workouts Gallery
Just a quick update before I finally head to bed. The UFC 143 open workouts took place earlier today inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The six top fighters on the card – Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum, Josh Koscheck, and Mike Pierce – were all in attendance. As a special treat, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre held a media scrum for about 30 minutes before the workouts started.
You can check out a selection of images from the day below. Also check out Getty Images and UFC.com.
UFC 143 Open Workouts – Images by Joshua Hedges
Missing The Shot
I’ve had this blog idea for quite some time, but haven’t taken the time to put it together. I’ve heard more than a few people say something to the effect of “How hard can it be to stand there and take photos?” throughout my career. Sure, it may seem like all you have to do is hit the shutter button at the right time and let the camera do all the work. Well, that may be true of some things, but shooting professional sports, there’s definitely a lot more involved.
So, I call this entry “Missing The Shot”. I’m going to show you a couple things that can go wrong during a MMA fight to cause a shooter to “miss”. This happens far more than anyone would ever care to admit. But no one ever sees these shots and they just assume a group of selects are all there was to the take. In each of the following examples, you’ll notice the action sequence was perfect and the image is sharp. But there are still other factors that turn a “select” to a “miss”.
In the first shot, Stephen Bass lands a left in his bout against Marcus Brimmage. The framing is good, the subjects are sharp, and you can see both fighters’ faces. Unfortunately, referee Josh Rosenthal photo bombed me.
This next shot was the same problem as above. Good framing and focus, good action, bad referee! Ok, so he’s not a bad ref, but come on man.
And lastly, here’s a shot that would have been a definite keeper. Perfect timing on the connection, both fighters facing towards the camera, and tack sharp. Problem was I had the wrong lens in my hand. This happens often and you have to make a split second decision. Do I switch cameras and risk missing a knockout shot, or do I stick with the camera in my hand and hope the guys get close enough to both be in the frame. In this case, I should have realized I was not going to be so luck with two guys who have such long reach as Edwards and Ferguson. Luckily, there was a ton of “keepers” from this fight anyways and this shot was not of any fight defining moment. So, in that regard, I still got lucky.
Another issue I encounter quite a bit, but can’t find an image to represent at the moment, is when a big shot lands but the fighters are both facing away from the camera or at an angle that you can’t make out what’s happening.
This happens to me just about every time I shoot an event, whether it be fights or baseball or something else. There are many other variables you have to think about and compensate for when shooting. It’s not just as simple as focusing and holding down the shutter button.
Hope this helps shed a little more light on what we shooters go through during fights.
UFC on FOX 2: Evans vs Davis gallery
Hello again from Chicago. I’m currently hanging out at concourse C at O’Hare Airport waiting to fly home. I shot the fights last night at the United Center for the UFC on FOX event, featuring a Light Heavyweight Title eliminator between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis in the main event. As I was also the assigned editor, I was not able to shoot every fight, though I got the majority of them, including all three main card bouts.
The main event went about like everyone expected, I think. Rashad Evans really only seems to open up when someone puts a lot of pressure on him. And, after the first round or two, Phil Davis pretty much quit doing that. In the end, Evans won a lopsided decision with all three judges scoring the bout 50-45. I was a little surprised at the shutout. It seemed like at least in the first round, Davis controlled the action and was far more aggressive, while neither fighter landed any significant strikes. But, that’s hardly anything to be upset over.
In the co-main event between Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, I found myself wishing that fight had been a five-rounder also. Sonnen did enough to win, but I think Bisping really surprised a lot of people in putting on a good performance and making the fight a lot closer than we all expected it to be. In the end, Sonnen is the more competitive match-up for Anderson Silva of the two, and how could anyone not want to see him fight Anderson again? Especially in Brazil.
The first broadcast fight saw late-replacement Chris Weidman taking on jiu jitsu standout and former title challenger Demian Maia. I didn’t really agree with the crowd as they started boo’ing very early on. I thought the performance by Weidman in the first two rounds was fantastic for anyone against Maia, but especially so for taking the fight on only about ten days notice. Both fighters were super tired in the third round and throwing half-speed wild haymakers. Weidman ended up winning by decision, running his undefeated record to 8-0-0. His next fight will no doubt be another big step up in competition, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he does with a full camp to prepare.
The undercard featured several fun fights, including the fight of the night between Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz. Strikeforce transfer Lavar Johnson scored a big TKO victory over Joey Beltran to grab knockout of the night honors and Charles Oliveira used a series of leg lock transitions to tap newcomer Eric Wisely and bag the submission of the night bonus.
Below is a selection of my shots from the night. Also check out Getty Images and UFC.com for the full take of all our photographers, including my friend Nick Laham who shot up on the box for the evening.
UFC on FOX 2: Evans vs Davis – Images by Joshua Hedges
UFC on FOX 2 Weigh In Gallery
Despite the forecast for overnight snow, the weather today in Chicago was quite nice. I walked the short two blocks to the historic Chicago Theatre for this afternoon’s weigh in, expecting it to be quite cold. On the contrary, I really didn’t even need my jacket. Alas, you guys probably aren’t here to read about the weather though, so onto the weigh in.
UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz kicked things off with the UFC Fight Club Q&A session. He was quite well spoken and did a good job overall. It was mostly questions about his next (and past) opponent Urijah Faber, but still had some good insight here and there. UFC vet turned MMA journo Shonie Carter joined the fans in line at the mic to ask the champ about the hospitality and food here in Chicago.
After the Q&A, there was an hour break before the official weigh ins started. Nothing of great note happened during the weigh ins, other than Michael Bisping giving the crowd the double bird after being booed. I think that’s the third or fourth time he’s done so now. Chael Sonnen followed that up by stepping on the scale with his pants still on and weighing dead on at 185. Next up for the main event, Phil Davis came out and stripped down to his Penn State wrestling singlet for his turn on the scale. Phil received a good amount of applause from the crowd. His opponent, Rashad Evans, was met with a mix of boos and cheers when he stepped from behind the curtain and onto the scale. Afterwards, the two faced off nose-to-nose with Davis sporting a sinister smile. He doesn’t seem to be rattled at all by the magnitude of this fight, no doubt the biggest fight of his career thus far.
Below is a selection of images from this afternoon, which can also be found on Getty Images and UFC.com.
UFC on FOX 2 Weigh In – Images by Joshua Hedges
UFC on FOX 2 Press Conference Gallery
Another frigid day here in Chicago. Today saw us driving a few short blocks to the W Hotel on Adams for the UFC on FOX final pre-fight press conference. Everything was pretty much as expected, except for the extremely low light conditions of the ballroom. I’m not really sure why it was so much lower than normal, but it definitely made for a more challenging shoot.
It came as no surprise to anyone in the room when Chael Sonnen walked on stage with a UFC belt and proclaimed himself to be the undefeated, undisputed Middleweight Champion. Though, interesting enough, he was seated next to Demian Maia, who did in fact defeat Sonnen by submission in the not so distant past. Nonetheless, Sonnen’s bantering was quite humerous.
Main event opponents Rashad Evans and Phil Davis got into a verbal sparring match when Davis was asked about whether or not he would defeat Rashad in a wrestling match. As Davis was giving his answer stating of course that he would, Evans interrupted taking jabs at the former national champ. Evans repeatedly said that Davis’ technique was “trash” and he could not compete on an international stage. Other than Rashad’s poor taste comments at the first press conference in reference to the Penn State scandal, there hasn’t been a lot of trash talk between these two. Today saw that change. I think it helped generate a little more interest in that fight, which up until now has been overshadowed by the co-main event featuring Chael Sonnen versus Michael Bisping.
Tomorrow is the official weigh in, which of course, I will also be covering. For now, check out the gallery of shots below from today’s presser. they are also available at Getty Images and UFC.com.
UFC on FOX 2 Press Conference – Images by Joshua Hedges
UFC on FOX 2 Open Workouts Gallery
Greetings from Chicago, Illinois. I arrived in town yesterday to begin covering the second UFC on FOX event for Getty Images and UFC. I’ve been to Chicago many times, but this is actually my first time ever staying in the city. I’m usually stuck in a hotel out by one of the airports or in the western suburbs. But this time, they put us up at the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue. And while the weather conditions are less than ideal, it’s really nice to be able to stroll out the front door of the hotel and walk around downtown without having to ride on a train or in a cab for a while to get there.
Today, we drove down to the south side of the city to cover the open workouts at the Chicago Boxing Club. The gym is a second floor establishment without any of the frills and gadgets you see at most gyms today. There were two boxing rings in the center of the room, flanked by a few heavy bags and weights lining the walls. It’s what I would consider a classic boxing gym.
All fighters from the three broadcast bouts took part in the workouts, including Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Demian Maia, Chris Weidman, Phil Davis, and Rashad Evans. Also on hand was Chicago-based heavyweight Mike Russow. The workouts lasted for nearly three hours, though that mostly consisted of interviews. Each fighter, as is typical at these events, only worked out for about 5-10 minutes.
UFC veteran Shonie Carter was also in attendance. He told me he’s “giving this journalism thing a try.”
Below is a selection of shots from throughout the day. You can also view the full take at Getty Images or UFC.com.
UFC on FOX 2 Open Workouts – Images by Joshua Hedges
UFC on FX Guillard vs Miller Gallery
I made it back safely to Vegas after quite an interesting day of flying. It was stormy weather the whole way from Nashville to Houston and again from Houston to Vegas. Most of you know I absolutely HATE to fly, so I needed medication to calm my nerves and get through the day. Before I went to sleep, I had some time to reflect on last night’s fights and ponder my blog post.
Overall, the fights themselves last night were pretty good. I can’t speak of the broadcast, as I never get to see any of that. I will say it was a little strange hearing Anik’s voice during the promos and seeing him do the post-fight interviews. Not bad, I’m just so used to Goldie and Rogan that it felt strange. Regardless of anything on the broadcast, the fights were the most important part, and I don’t think you’ll find anyone who watched all the fights say they weren’t entertained. The first two fights of the night set a great tone and pace for the evening. Canadian Nick Denis quickly dispatched my fellow Lubbock-ite Joseph Sandoval with standing elbows in just twenty-two seconds. Quickly following that performance up was another Texan Daniel Pineda derailing Pat Schilling’s undefeated streak with a rear choke submission in under two minutes.
Now typically, I’m not a huge fan of such short fights because it really limits your possibilities for good photos. If you miss one good sequence in a one-minute-long fight, you may well have missed the only good sequence of the fight. But, I digress… On this night, I was editing my own take, so the shorter the fights and longer the breaks between fights, the better. I was able to get photos out of every fight after it happened without falling behind. That’s never happened before. So, even though there weren’t as many great shots due to the short fights, I still feel like the night was a good one.
Jim Miller was able to weather Melvin Guillard’s early storm to score the victory with another impressive submission. This was one fight going in where I just didn’t have a clue which way it would go. I know a lot of people like to bag on Melvin for having no grappling game, but I believe he does. I just think when he gets caught in situations in fights, he tends to panic and make mistakes that seem simple to avoid. I won’t pretend like I know what it’s like to be in a real fight, and thus I will reserve judgement on how the man performs when he is put in those situations. The fact remains that he is still one of the hardest hitters in the world at 155 pounds and stands a chance of beating anybody they put in front of him.
I had really hoped for more from the Ludwig vs Neer fight, and I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels that way. It was a great submission by Neer, but I think everyone wanted to see three-rounds of toe-to-toe swinging. For the little bit of standup action that took place, Ludwig was looking sharp and in control.
My favorite fight of the night though had to be Jared Papazian vs Mike Easton. Papazian was making his debut, and let’s face it, he was put out there to get Easton another win. From my vantage point, I saw the fight much closer than the scores indicated. I felt it could have been scored 29-28 for either fighter. I was definitely impressed with Papazian and how he took it to Easton and made him fight. This fight should have received the “Fight of the Night” award. I can’t wait to see Papazian in action again.
Below is a gallery of images I captured from the night. You can also view the full take at Getty Images and UFC.com.
UFC on FX 1 Guillard vs Miller – Images by Joshua Hedges
Fight Day in Nashville
We’re about 20 minutes away from the first fight here in Nashville, Tennessee for UFC Fight Night Live on FX. The main event features a battle of top lightweight contenders – Melvin Guillard vs Jim Miller. Also on the broadcast will be a scrap between Welterweights Duane “Bang” Ludwig and Josh Neer, as well as a Heavyweight battle between Pat “HD” Barry and Chrsitian Morecraft.
Below is a gallery of images from yesterday’s official weigh in. You can also view them on Getty Images and UFC.com.
UFC on FX 1 Weigh In – Images by Joshua Hedges
