Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will hold a public press conference today (Aug. 29, 2012) in advance of UFC 164: "Henderson vs. Pettis 2," which will take place this Saturday night (Aug. 31).
The press conference will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET and will take place at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the home city of the event. Scheduled to attend will be the headlining fighters of the evening, Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Frank Mir, Josh Barnett, Chad Mendes, Clay Guida and UFC President Dana White.
Henderson is the current UFC Lightweight champion, winning the title against Frankie Edgar last year and most recently defending it for the third time against debuting Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez. Nothing has come easy for Henderson, as his title fights have almost always been razor close decision, but he's proven himself time and time again against the best in the world.
Pettis could be his stiffest test to date, if only because he defeated Henderson in 2010 to capture the WEC lightweight title, landing the infamous "Showtime Kick" which still resonates throughout the MMA community to this day. The Milwaukee native has gone 3-1 in his UFC stint thus far, most recently scoring brutal knockouts against Joe Lauzon and Donald Cerrone.
Mir and Barnett are two of the best heavyweight grapplers around. Both men are former UFC champions, although Barnett won the title 11 years ago and was later stripped of the belt after a positive test for steroids. This will be his first bout back with the promotion after over a decade fighting in Japan, Affliciton, Strikeforce and more. Mir was also a two-time heavyweight champion, but has fallen on hard times of late, losing two straight fights to Junior dos Santos and Daniel Cormier.
Brian Hemminger here. The press conference is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.
2:05 p.m. - Not started yet, still showing the UFC 164 Countdown
2:08 p.m. - A bunch of suits are talking, we're about to get started.
Anthony Pettis: I had a torn LCL from rolling with Phil Davis in Brazil while. Thankfully I didn't require surgery and I was able to recover and take this fight.
Anthony Pettis: I've been training since February. This is one of the longest camps of my life. I don't care who it was against or where it was, I just wanted a fight.
Anthony Pettis: This is the biggest moment of my life. My mindset is to finish fights and do it impressively and that's what I've been doing.
Chad Mendes: For me, I'm kind of finding myself as a fighter, getting comfortable with my stand-up. After that first knockout of McKenzie, my confidence went up that I can knock people out if I hit them in the right spot. My work with Duane Ludwig has been great too. I'm feeling great, man.
Chad Mendes: Every fight is a great fight in the UFC. It is frustrating having guys fall out, getting injured. It's super frustrating, having guys pull out. It sucks. You go into camp trying ot get ready for a certain style and it's not who you're fighting anymore. It's definitely frustrating.
Chad Mendes: I think if I put on a great performance, this should put me back on line for the title. If I put on the performance I should, I expect to go out there and kill Clay.
Anthony Pettis: Right when the announcement when I was fighting Ben Henderson instead of T.J. Grant, everyone got out here supporting the athletes. I feel great fighting in my hometown.
Anthony Pettis: I won the fight in Benson's hometown. When the cage door closes, it's me and Ben. My skills versus his skills.
Josh Barnett: Honestly, with media exposure, a wider fanbase and greater opportunity to gather fans and be seen, now you have an opportunity to have everybody see what's going on. It's not like UFC 28 fighting just to fight in the UFC where nobody was watching us and we were blocked out and no cable companies wanted to carry us. Now we have major alcohol sponsors and we all look like idiots hawking sponsors and it's great.
Josh Barnett: I see women and children in the audience so I prefer not to describe what's going on in my head.
Chad Mendes: It's not that I wasn't confident as a fighter, just the stand-up part of the game wasn't there for me yet. A lot of people said I took that fight too early in my career and of course I took it, got in there and felt I was winning the first round until the last few seconds. I feel like I'm a completely different fighter now. I feel I've grown and got a lot better since then. Clay's a gamer and I'm gonna bring it to him but I want that title shot.
Chad Mendes: I think I'm just as athletic as he is. Obviously his stand-up is very dangerous and it's most dangerous in the first round or two rounds. Going over the crazy techniques I've been doing with Duane Ludwig and my footwork, honing in the power, that'll be a huge difference for me fighting Jose Aldo the second time.
Chad Mendes: It's always hard to try and train for a guy like that. We had to do that at Alpha Male for Cruz vs Faber. I've gone through two camps for Clay and it's tough. You don't know what Clay is gonna show up, whether it's the one that's in your face banging or the pointfighter we've seen lately. That movement is something we have our mind and eyes on and we're ready for it.
Clay Guida: I don't just stalk forward like a zombie and swing for the fences. There's meaning and purpose in my footwork. I've watched Frankie Edgar's footwork and mine is more erratic and sloppy, but we have a lot of similar tendencies.
Benson Henderson: I don't think the size of the cage will be a factor.
Anthony Pettis: When you're in there, you can't even tell the difference with the size of the cage. Everyone knows what I'm going to do, they've got to stop it.
Clay Guida: I don't feel pressure when I fight at home. It's fun just to go out there and know you have a good solid support system. I hope people don't look down on me for beating Anthony Pettis. I've been champing at the bit to see that rematch. I'm hoping a lot of people cross the border to see me in Milwaukee. It's nice to be back after 6-7 years of not fighting in the Midwest.
Benson Henderson: I don't dislike it, I don't like it particularly. I'm okay fighting in San Jose against Melendes, fighting in Toronto against Bocek. When the cage doors closes, all that is background noise.
Clay Guida: You're gonna see a great Clay Guida come Saturday night.
Clay Guida: We lost to the best, beat some of the best at lightweight. I just wanted to check out the different landscape and see what a bigger and stronger featherweight can do. I faced a guy who was six feet tall and it was awkward for me but I actually have a reach advantage this time. It's nice to follow a diet like a professional athlete.
Clay Guida: They're both very game fighters. These guys bring it every time. Anthony's matured a lot as a fighter since we fought. Benson's on a tear lately. His confidence is through the roof. Anthony is gonna move forward and try to take his head off but I'm sticking with the wrestler for this one in an amazing Fight of the Year.
Josh Barnett: I just don't understand, I don't call people out. The process is much more difficult than that. There's a bunch of people who decide it. To me, it's more of a reflection of, why antagonize someone for no reason? Why garner attention by doing something negative. Why not do something on your own merits? Do it for your own positive reasons rather than piggyback on someone else. I have a 260 pound grown man who wants to tear off one of my arms. He took it to 2, I took it to 100. Don't help the losers.
Dana White: I love this card. The main event is a fight people have been looking forward to for a long time. Same thing with Josh Barnett. For more than a decade, he and Mir have been two of the best in the world. The guys on the end here should be an action packed non-stop absolute war.
Frank Mir: The first fight, Dos Santos was a phenomenal fighter and I wasn't as prepared as I should be. I didn't have confidence in my gameplan and didn't turn it on until the third round.
Frank Mir: No one wants to lose one or two or three in a row, as long as you're fighting game opponents, that helps. It's much scarier to lose to people that no one knows who they are. As long as people recognize guys as top competition, it's better than a no name loss. Fighting on the prelims against a no-namer is a much scarier aspect.
Anthony Pettis: I respect all my opponents. It takes a lot to do what we do. Strictly professional, nothing against him at all. We don't have a friendship, but it's mutual respect.
Benson Henderson: I would have to agree. Professionally, we're good. We compete against each other for the top spot. We're cordial enough.
Benson Henderson: It doesn't bother me watching it over and over again. At some point you have to man up and move on. I was able to do that for my UFC debut against Mark Bocek then the next guy and the next guy. I was able to brush the dust off my shoulders and move forward.
Benson Henderson: The biggest change was my focus inside the Octagon and sticking to the gameplan.
Frank Mir: In any sport, all the athletes up here can tell you, any time you start thinking about things outside the match in front of you, you add unnecessary pressure distract yourself from the task at hand. Being distracted affects your performance so I'm focused on the task at hand. The fight you fight next is always the craziest of your career. I've never had one anyone told me that it wasn't a big deal.
Clay Guida: I don't cheat as much. I've got my little snack pack. I'm all good. It took a couple times but we got it down pat this time. I feel like a better person for it but it's nice to live a healthier lifestyle.
Josh Barnett: I don't worry about who's where or what. I make my own path. The fact that Cormier's here is a testament to the best fighters being in the same place in the UFC. I don't lose any sleep about it. I focus on destroying one person one fight at a time and continuing to be a better, stronger, meaner fighter. All that matters to me is to go win.
Anthony Pettis: Ben Askren's one of the guys who doesn't get the respect he deserves in the sport. You train with him? Totally different story. If he gets his hands on you he'll take you to the mat. Training him with him makes my game better.
Benson Henderson: I'm just after good performances. If you have a good performance, everything will take care of itself. If a guy leaves his chin out there or arm out there or neck out there, cool. Everything else is a moot point. Good performances. That's what I'm after.
Benson Henderson: The biggest thing is him coming forward. He's way better coming forward than backing up. We can't allow him to come forward.
Josh Barnett: In fantasy time-jumping MMA, I imagine we would have drawn swords and went to first blood instead.
Frank Mir: It's to my advantage the fight has played out now. Josh was the champion and I was on prelims at the time.
Dana White: Frank is a much more well-rounded guy now than he was then. These guys are both better now than they were. Barnett was the whole package now and then. If you remember Rizzo going back and forth with him. I think this is a great time for this fight to happen. They're both well-rounded seasoned veterans. I think this is a great time for this fight and I don't know if it gets better 10 years ago.
Frank Mir: The change to Jackson's helped my conditioning. In the past, you wouldn't have seen me trying to push the pace in the third round. I don't have wife or kids in sight. I'm a more focused and conditioned athlete.
Anthony Pettis: It's a moment in my career I'm proud of, but I want to show everyone that it's not what I'm all about. I've got way more arsenal in my skills than that kick. Things like that don't happen much.
Benson Henderson: A lot of stuff happened before the kick. It happened so long ago. We're both better fighters. While you can pick and choose and notice tendencies and that stuff, it would be hard to pick one or two things to point out.
Anthony Pettis: It's a plus for the fans. It came down to the last couple seconds and who wanted it more. It's three years later. Totally different fighters.
Anthony Pettis: You go back to the first fight, he's a well-rounded fighter. He's champ for a reason. He's winning the decisions because he's making it exciting. I have to match that same intensity.
Anthony Pettis: Going down to 145 was a task in itself. They're both very talented guys and my objective is to be the best fighter in the world.
Chad Mendes: I would definitely love to be the one to dethrone him. He's been on a tear for such a long time it would mean a lot to me. I don't see him going up to 155 at all. He's had some issues cutting weight but I don't think it's too bad. I would definitely like to be the one to beat him.
Benson Henderson: We definitely prepared. I have a great training camp and training partners. They threw weird stuff at me to help me keep my eyes opened. They did a really good job of mimicking and throwing their own unique off-the-wall stuff. Thanks to my training partners, I was able to get that look. I'll be ready for it if it happens.
Benson Henderson: What it all boils down to is getting your hand raised whether impressively, emphatically, split decision or whatever it may be. If my opponent slips on a banana peel in the cage, I'll take that win. I just want to beat them up. I don't care about judges' decision. I want a five-year old kid to walk into the cage afterwards and pick who they think want the fight and I want that kid to pick me because the other guy looks beat up. That's what matters to me.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for stopping by!