Chael Sonnen offered a challenge to New York State legislators: Be honest about why Mixed Martial Arts is banned in New York.

“Just come clean,” Sonnen said during his media availability Thursday morning at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden to promote Saturday night’s UFC 159 pay-per-view card at the Prudential Center. Sonnen will challenge UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones for the title in the main event.

Sonnen was joined by Jones and semi-main event fighters Alan Belcher, Michael Bisping, Cheick Kongo, Roy Nelson and UFC President Dana White at the two-and-a-half hour media session.

“[The legislators should admit], ‘Listen, we don’t have the courage to stand up to the unions. They gave us a bunch of money and they put us in office. We’re not skilled enough to go into the private sector and do anything. We really need these jobs we have, so we’re going to go ahead and keep you out,’” Sonnen said.

New York and Alaska are the only states in which professional MMA is illegal. The sport has been banned in New York since 1997 when Gov. George Pataki signed a bill to prohibit professional, sanctioned fights.

Strangely, Muay Thai, kickboxing and amateur MMA is legal in New York.

“I think they can legalize any laws that they want. They have somehow banned 32-ounce cups of Coca-Cola in New York City. So as long as they follow the democratic process I’m all for it. The problem that I have is representation has not been restored in New York. You will not find a New Yorker that doesn’t want this. But their legislature doesn’t have the courage to go and represent the people that put them in office,” Sonnen said. “To find courage within a state legislature is extremely rare.”

At the time, the sport was labeled “human cockfighting” by Sen. John McCain, a label the UFC continues to struggle against. White said yesterday he and the UFC’s owners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, have spent 13 years trying to “educate” lawmakers and journalists about the sport.

Bills legalizing MMA have passed the state Senate each of the last four years, only to be stalled in the Assembly. Earlier this month, the state Senate passed a bill that would legalize the sport.

But White is pessimistic that the bill will pass the Assembly due to the efforts of the Culinary Union. The union has waged a long and costly battle with the Fertittas over their Las Vegas casinos’ employment of non-union employees.

Had the bill passed, the UFC was going to have its 20th anniversary show at Madison Square Garden and it is believed that the main event would have been a superfight between Jones and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

“We don’t need New York but New York could damn sure use us. We have evidence that we could bring in $10 million in a 24-hour period to this city. We have evidence that if we bring Expo — which Dana White has very clearly said he would do — we could bring in $40 million in the course of a week. The actual number was $60 million but I’m just rounding it down to 40 so no one argues with me,” Sonnen said.

“If New York doesn’t want it, we’ll go right across the bridge to New Jersey and sell out like we’re doing Saturday. We’ll go to Connecticut, which just legalized it. We’ll go to any of the other 47 states in the country that want it. New York needs us. We don’t need them. That’s my stance.

“This isn’t just a sport anymore; it’s an industry. If they don’t want industry in New York and that’s the choice of the New Yorkers, then I completely respect that. My pushback is that is not what the people are saying. My pushback is that here we are in New York in a packed Madison Square Garden media room and the competition is going to take place 12 miles away. It’s going to go over the bridge which means the taxes and the gross receipts are all going to go to Gov. [Chris] Christie’s state. That’s on New York. If they don’t want business, we can’t force it upon them.”

Follow MMA writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

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Nick Diaz has a message for those who think he is insolent: It’s not me. It’s you.

“It’s disrespectful people don’t think I’m important,” Diaz said in a bizarre rant during the UFC 158 conference call Thursday afternoon.

Diaz will meet welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre in the main event for the title. The pay-per-view event is scheduled for next Saturday at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Both fighters were on the call, as was UFC President Dana White. They were joined by Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks, Jake Ellenberger and Nate Marquardt. Condit will meet Hendricks, while Ellenberger will fight Marquardt in the semi-main events of the welterweight-heavy card. Tickets are available at the Bell Centre box office. Prices range from $85 to $600.

“I don’t get a lot of recognition for what I set out to accomplish,” Diaz said. “Nobody knows who I am. [I] just think I should be given the [mainstream] credit I deserve. That makes me pretty angry. I’m disrespectful because I want the acknowledgement.”

White has criticized Diaz in the past for not working with the UFC to generate media coverage for his fights.

Diaz and St. Pierre were scheduled to meet at UFC 137 but the fight was cancelled after Diaz missed press conferences. White told reporters during the UFC 157 postfight press conference that Diaz and his brother, Nate, who fights in the UFC lightweight division, had passed on three interviews with in-house television producers for the UFC Primetime series.

White opened the call by noting the media relations staff was looking for Diaz, who apologized for running late.

“I like [media coverage] just fine,” Diaz said. “I don’t like when I’m not ready for it.”

He does sound ready for the long-awaited fight. Diaz is 26-8-1 all time but 7-4-0 in UFC. Half of Diaz’s 26 wins have come via knockout.

“[You] can’t underestimate his standup. He knocks people out,” White said. “The champ wanted this fight.”

It showed as the two verbally sparred throughout the call.

Diaz wondered why St. Pierre (23-2-0 all-time; 18-2-0 in the UFC) would not look past him to a potential superfight with UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. St. Pierre said he “didn’t care about it at all. [I’m] not looking past Nick Diaz. I respect my opponent” when asked about his interest in a fight with Silva.

Silva is scheduled to meet Long Island’s Chris Weidman in a title fight at UFC 162 in Las Vegas, Nev. in July. UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is tentatively scheduled to fight the winner of the Cat Zingano-Miesha Tate bout on that card.

St. Pierre’s irritation spilled over after Diaz repeatedly suggested he was “pampered” and had people do things for him. St. Pierre admitted he has people who tweet for him when asked about a series of twitter messages about his “dark side.”

“Let me tell you something, uneducated fool. I started from the bottom. I worked very hard to get to where I am,” St. Pierre said. “[You] didn’t succeed yet. [Maybe you won’t succeed because you’re] not smart enough to reach that point.

“You need a team [to help you out when you reach a certain level of stardom].”

Responded Diaz: “I’m not a disrespectful human being.”

Follow UFC writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

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For the first time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s nearly two-decade existence, a UFC pay-per-view will be headlined by women.

“I love the fact that they are scheduling more girl fights,” UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey said in a conference call Tuesday afternoon to promote next Saturday night’s UFC 157 pay-per-view. Rousey (6-0-0) will defend the title against Liz Carmouche (8-2-0) in the main event at Anaheim, Calif.’s Honda Center.

“I’m excited to see what’s next after this,” Rousey said about the UFC’s newfound concentration with women’s MMA. “It’s really encouraging. I’m very encouraged.”

Rousey is an overwhelming favorite to retain the 135-pound title as all of her wins have come via first round armbar.

“There’s a lot on the line. [I’m] not looking past this fight. We’ll see what happens after that,” Rousey said. “Liz Carmouche has 100 percent of my attention.”

It is what the future may hold for Rousey that has garnered interest.

UFC has scheduled a Miesha Tate-Cat Zingano fight for The Ultimate Fighter season 17 finale on April 13 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. Rousey announced on the call she will be in attendance that night, and wants to face the winner.

Rousey submitted Tate for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title last March. She has never fought Zingano.

“I have a lot of options ahead of me,” Rousey said. “I’m going to take the plenty of options available to me.”

One option that doesn’t appear to be available is a potential superfight with Cris “Cyborg” Santos. Last week, Santos’ agent, UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz told Inside MMA that he requested the UFC release the former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion. However, other than the women-only Invicta promotion, there are not many alternatives for Santos.

Santos, who was suspended for a year after testing positive for stanozolol metabolites, has claimed she cannot cut down to 135 pounds due to health reasons. Rousey and the UFC have argued that if Santos wants to fight for the title then she will have to drop to 135 pounds. A 140-pound catch weight fight has been suggested but UFC President Dana White has told reporters that the bantamweight title would not be on the line should that come to pass.

“She’s making a lot of noise and trying to get attention because she’s kind of fading into being irrelevant,” Rousey said of her rival, who she mockingly renamed Cryborg. “She needs people going on TV and making a big fuss. At some point she’s going to have to come around and take the only fight that’s really available.”

Carmouche, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida also participated on the call. Henderson and Machida will meet in the semi-main event to determine the No. 1 contender for Jon Jones’s light heavyweight title. Jones is scheduled to fight Chael Sonnen in the main event of UFC 159 in Newark on April 27.

Follow MMA writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

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During a conference last week to promote Saturday’s UFC on FOX 2 event at the United Center, Evans and Sonnen alternated between making outrageous claims and insulting foes old and new. The main event of the UFC’s second-ever broadcast television event is a light heavyweight fight between Evans and Phil Davis.

It is believed that if Evans can defeat Davis he will be in line for a grudge match against reigning UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Sonnen, meanwhile, will take on Michael Bisping to determine who will face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in June, if Silva agrees.

Silva is arguably the best fighter in the still-embryonic sport. The 36-year-old is 29-4-0, including a triangle choke submission of Sonnen at UFC 117.

Although he lost, Sonnen turned heads with his performance. Despite being submitted in the fifth round of their title fight, Sonnen had thoroughly dominated Silva with his wrestling for the majority of the fight.  

Since then, Sonnen has routinely criticized and insulted Silva, including issuing a challenge to the middleweight champion after submitting Brian Stann with a choke at UFC 136 in Houston’s Toyota Center on Oct. 8.  

Sonnen believes a rematch will not occur because Silva does not want to fight him again, despite his invective and the UFC’s fervent wishes for what would be a major revenue generating bout.  

“Anderson Silva and I will never cross paths again. Our business is done. We will not fight under any circumstances. No matter how many rules or fake restraints he puts on it. He’s not getting in the ring with me ever,” Sonnen said. “I can tell you, behind the scene, they’ve tried to put me and Anderson together four times. And four times, he said no.

“I called him out publically. You call out a Brazilian publicly, you’re going to be fighting that Brazilian. That’s in their in their culture. And he sat there and covered his mouth and hid behind Charles Barkley which is a smart move. It saved him a trip to the hospital. Anderson Silva is not going to fight me. I don’t believe he’s going to fight Bisping. I don’t believe he’s going to fight again,” he continued.

“What I know as a fact is he turned me down four out of four times and he even said no to [UFC CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta’s face. Face to face, not over the phone. Lorenzo brought him out, sat him down [and] said, ‘This is the fight we want.’ And Anderson said no.

“The reality is maybe he just doesn’t want to do it. I really don’t know and I don’t want to guess. He’s not on my radar anymore. I’m moving on. If I become the No. 1 contender and get past this thing, I’m going to sit down with [UFC President] Dana [White] and we’re going to have a talk about [welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre] or Jon Jones. But I’m not under any allusion that it’s going to be Anderson Silva.”

UFC announced earlier this week that the United Center has been sold out. A spokesperson told Metro that due to the UFC’s configuration, the United Center will hold more than 14,000 people. The United Center seats 19,717 for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and 20,917 for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.

Follow Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

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The fight marks UFC’s debut on network television.

“This is a throw-back to the old days of boxing. We are putting a big fight — a huge fight — on free TV to expose this thing to a new audience. Our goal has always been to bring big fights back to network television. We are thinking long-term for the future of this sport,” UFC president Dana White said in recent conference call with Velasquez and Dos Santos. “It is an investment in the future of the UFC. Fans that have never seen the UFC before will see this show and that’s why we decided to put Cain and Junior in this position.”

Despite it being a 10-fight card, the only fight that will be aired on the hour-long show will be for the heavyweight title. White explained that UFC will conduct locker room interviews with Velasquez and Dos Santos before the fight. Traditionally, UFC has cameras in the locker room as fighters prepare for their bouts, but the interview packages have been pre-recorded.

“This is going to be a different format than we’ve ever done before. Obviously this is a show featuring one fight so we’re doing a lot of things differently. We are going to be rehearsing for this from Thursday,” White said.

Velasquez, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, is 9-0-0 in his MMA career. Eight of his nine wins have come by TKO, including a first-round devastation of then-champ Brock Lesnar at UFC 121. Velasquez’s lone non-TKO win was a unanimous decision over Cheick Kongo at UFC 99.  

Dos Santos has won 13 of his 14 professional fights. He has won three fights via submission, two unanimous decisions and eight TKOs. Dos Santos’ only loss was a first round submission to Joaquim Ferriera in the Mo Team League in San Paulo, Brazil, on Nov. 10, 2007.

“I don’t think this fight will go five rounds. I have trained for five rounds, but I don’t expect this to do the distance,” Dos Santos said.

“It was such a long wait for my title shot, but I am not sorry. This, right now, is the greatest opportunity I could have had, fighting for the world heavyweight title live on FOX for the very first time,” Dos Santos added. “I’m very happy in my life right now. I’m in such a good place mentally and physically. I’m proof that if you work hard, treat people right and don’t doubt yourself, you can achieve your dreams. I genuinely believe that Cain is the greatest heavyweight in the world and it is an honor to fight him.”

Dos Santos and Lesnar were scheduled to meet at UFC 131 at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena in June to determine the top contender for the heavyweight title. Both men had been coaches on 13th season of the Spike TV show The Ultimate Fighter. However, Lesnar suffered a re-occurrence of diverculitis and had to be replaced in the main event by former UFC interim Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin. Dos Santos decisively won a three-round unanimous decision over Carwin.

Lesnar will fight Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 on Dec. 30 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The fight is Overeem’s UFC debut and will be Lesnar’s first fight since losing to Velasquez. 

Follow Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

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He came close after staggering the champ with a big left hand. But Edgar withstood the five-minute onslaught, and earned a draw.

“He’s a tough kid,” Maynard told Metro on Thursday. “Of course there was stuff I could have done. I could have been a little bit more calculated with how I threw. But hindsight’s always 20-20.”

The undefeated Maynard will finally get a chance to set things right next weekend, when he’ll meet Edgar again at UFC 136 in Houston. Their rematch was originally scheduled for May, but both fighters were injured in their training camps.

That might have been for the best for Maynard — he said the May camp “wasn’t going that great.”
This time around, the No. 1 contender is concentrating on adding to his wrestling style.

“I’m always trying to evolve,” he said. “That’s important for the sport, to evolve and learn.”

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Since then, he’s hit the ring in South Korea, England, Japan, Hawaii, the continental U.S., Canada and Abu Dhabi.

Naturally, the UFC middleweight champion is happy to be home for Saturday’s title defense against Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.

“It’s very emotional to think about … fighting back here in my home in Brazil,” Silva said in a conference call. “You know, I’ve fought all over the world — and not just in UFC, but other events. I’ve found I feel that all this hard work and everything that I’ve done has kind of all led up to this moment.”

Silva, who has won 14 straight fights since a DQ loss to Okami in 2006, has been the main event all week in Rio. An open workout on Copacabana beach drew a throng of spectators and media, and his smiling face took up most of the cover of Thursday’s “O Dia” newspaper.

“The Spider” denied he feels any added pressure because of the scrutiny.

“I don’t have distractions … going to be a good fight,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to come to Brazil for the fans. I’m very happy. I’m very excited — and for pressure, I don’t know that I have pressure for this. I’m training for a long time. I trained for the best guys. I fight all the best guys in the world. I don’t have pressure.”

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The UFC and FOX officially announced a seven-year television deal, putting regular events on broadcast TV for the first time — as well as lining the promotion’s pockets with a reported $90
million a year.

White, who’s never been shy about his aspirations of making mixed martial arts “the biggest sport in the world,” called it “the pinnacle.”

“This was it for me,” White said in an afternoon press conference at FOX Sports’ studios. “This is what I always wanted. This is what I always felt was the pinnacle for us here in the United States.”

Later, he told Metro the UFC won’t be shy about putting its top stars on the broadcast television cards. He wouldn’t rule out using heavyweight Brock Lesnar, probably the promotion’s No. 1 pay-per-view draw.

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But then came a loss to Georges St. Pierre. And one to Carlos Condit. And another to Anthony Johnson.
If Hardy can’t get past Chris Lytle at UFC Live 5 on Sunday (9 p.m., Versus), he’ll likely be cut from the promotion entirely.

“It’s unusual territory for me,” the British brawler said. “I’ve never been in this situation before. I had two back-to-back losses a while back in my career, and that was a very difficult situation to be in.
“But at this level that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

Lytle presents a real stylistic challenge for Hardy.  Both rely on their stand-up, and the Indianapolis native has never been knocked out.

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It was July 7, 2007. Evans was an undefeated up-and-comer, but Ortiz fought him to a draw — and would have won, but for being docked a point.

“It’s one of those fights you just want to get back,” Evans said on a conference call yesterday hyping next weekend’s rematch at UFC 133 in Philadelphia. “I was young, inexperienced at that level. I didn’t get my mind wrapped around the situation until it was a little too late.”

Evans, who’s been out of the cage since last May, will get a shot at redemption after Ortiz stepped in for the injured Phil Davis, who stepped in for Jon Jones. 

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That’s all well and good. But being on the highest-grossing live card in promotion history doesn’t exactly make for an easy training camp.

Both St. Pierre, the Canadian champ, and Jake Shields, his American challenger, have been overwhelmed with media and publicity duty.

“It’s always a distraction,” St. Pierre told reporters on a conference call in the leadup to UFC 129. “… But when you’re a champion, you have to be ready to make the sacrifices.”
Similarly, Shields talked about waking up at 4 a.m. for interviews.

But if any two can handle it, it’s these two.

“GSP” is the seemingly unbeatable UFC titleholder; he hasn’t lost in four years. Meanwhile, Akira Kikuchi was the last to beat Shields — in December 2004.

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At 47 years old, he’s a legend of the sport; a UFC Hall of Famer (yes, such a thing exists) with 19 wins and belts and medals to spare. He’s also an action star, with film credits from “The Expendables” to “Cradle 2 The Grave.”

As soon as UFC 129 ends April 30, Couture will have a lot more time for that movie career or anything else he chooses. Win or lose, “The Natural” is retiring after taking on Lyoto Machida in Toronto.

“It’s been an ongoing transition for me,” Couture said yesterday. “I kind of want to go out on my own terms and decide when enough is enough, and I think that time has come.”

Few have done more in the sport than the ageless Everett, Wash., native. He’s a three-time UFC heavyweight champion, a two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and will carry a three-fight winning streak into the ring against Machida next Saturday.

“I think it’s time to focus on the other things,” Couture said.

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He’s young (23), tall (6-foot-4) and muscular (a cut 205 pounds) with a superhuman reach (85 inches).

Once upon a time, he would have ended up in the NBA or the NFL.

Heck, his brother, Arthur Jones, did end up in the NFL.

But Jon Jones didn’t.

“Bones” is in the UFC.

That’s very good news for mixed martial arts fans — and very bad news for the promotion’s old guard.

Jones ushered in a new era for the sport Saturday night in Newark, N.J., hammering Mauricio Rua for three rounds before a referee stoppage gave him the light heavyweight belt.

The fight was a blowout, but it represented so much more. Now the youngest champ in UFC history, Jones is the vanguard of a new generation of fighters whose athleticism and creativity are a true evolution.

Saturday’s main event was only a taste of things to come. The era of the UFC superathlete is here.

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