By Ken Pishna, MMAWeekly.com
He was on a roll, headed towards the big shows. Javier Vazquez had just won 7 fights in a row, including a huge win over Japanese legend Rumina Sato, on his home turf in Japan no less. He stepped into the cage at King of the Cage 21 to defend his lightweight title against challenger Alberto Crane. Though it was a defining moment, that's when everything started to crumble.
Vazquez tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in the opening moments of the bout. Amazingly, he fought on through three rounds of agony with the blown out knee. In the end, it was Crane that won the decision and took Vazquez's belt.
Nine months later, Vazquez returned to the ring, this time to face Robert Emerson under the Shooto banner. He won a split decision and earned his shot at the big time. Vazquez finally got the call to face Matt Serra at UFC 46. While training for Serra, he again injured his knee and had to bow out. Now, he's not sure where to go from here.
"I don't know man, it's just not worth the risk," Vazquez responded when asked if he would ever return to the ring. "Right now, there are two things that would make it worth while for me fight again... money and Alberto Crane."
The problem is that there just isn't that much money in the sport of mixed martial arts right now. Why should Vazquez risk injuring himself yet again, when the reward isn't even enough to cover his medical expenses? He is still taking care of the medical bills from his last injury.
Having had surgery this past January, Vazquez is just starting to train again. Though he can't do anything standing (no boxing or wrestling), he is able to train jiujitsu, as long as he starts on the mat and stays off his feet.
Despite not having made a decision on his MMA career, Vazquez does plan to continue teaching at his school, Millenium Jiujitsu, and competing in grappling tournaments. In fact, he has plans to enter this year's Abu Dhabi Combat Club North American Trials in Canada.
Evidently, the loss to Crane still bothers him though and could be a driving force in getting him back into the sport. Crane is one fighter that Vazquez would return for, regardless of the risk. "If I could fight Crane, I'd be able to sleep at night again. I can't right now."
That sucks. TTT for a rematch.
What lucky said...
all the best to showtime
who the hell is manny reyes and how in the hell did he get a fight with franca, you shouldnt even be aloud to hold his jock strap
I'm glad Manny is fighting Franca. It should give us all some welcome clarity to his boasts here.....
javier was great to watch and a damn good fighter. I wish him the best of luck.
Javi is the real deal. Hope to see him healthy and fighting again.
i never heard of Manny until I saw him posting here. He goes around talking #@$# about everybody, and from what I see and hear, everybody finds him extremely annoying and the whole "Baroni" approach has given him a counter effect in terms of marketing himself.
Javi, Is an awesome competitor. I think he will be back.
If this thread is not enough to get Manny Gheyes banned, I don't know what is.
(I bet he stays, and I get warned for calling him Gheyes, too.)
This has got to stop.
You are calling him gay for wearing pink short? Dude it's an act! Come on, you have to market yourself, and have people talk about you. You see the pink shorts and people take a look. As they are looking you see him dominate and win.
Trust me there are a lot of people in the MMA world that know Javi, and all of them will tell anyone what a stand-up guy he is. Trust me he doesn't need some little 'ol wanna be karate guy from Florida to tell him what kind of fighter he is.
Manny you are a serious little bitch to be taking shots at Javi like that. I cannot wait for Hermes to break your face.
Amen brother!
Oh yeah this is what it looks like when you are a real champ... you get a real belt, in a real cage, in a real fight. You don't buy it, or play make believe in your head that you are a champ.
Kirik ban that slapdick Manny Reyes once and for all.
BTW - Javi would tap that little faggot Reyes in about 2 minutes - mark it!
Manny do us a favor and just eat shit and die! Little pipskweek.
Don't even reply to that piece of shit.. he doesn't even have a real opinion on Javi, he's just trying to start shit to get his name out there... After hermes beats his ass, he's gonna be the next shannon ritch..
Javi would finish alberto crane in 1 round if they rematched... I thought he won the fight, and alot of other people I talk to feel the same way... He's a better fighter all around and he proved it even when he tore his acl in the first minute.
Take a good look at that picture Reyes. That is a real champion. Javi's fight career may be over but you will never be half the fighter he is.
Guys! HE obviously just wants to make this thread about himself. I wouldn't give him that satisfaction. The thread is supposed to be about Javier Vazquez.
Now, getting back to giving my non-expert opinion, but on something that matters:
Knees are funny. When you think they're okay after an injury, they can go bad again. It really takes alot of time, particularly if you're talking about putting the potential type of stress that mma may put on it, for it to properly heal, and sometimes that time grows to never.
Sooner or later, all fighters have to come to accept the fact that their careers are over. Fortunately for some, there's another related career possibility just waiting to move into the forefront. Rather than risk an injury that might cripple him for life, I think he would be wiser, and his friends would be better friends advising, that he concentrate on teaching, and produce other champions. Who knows, maybe he can produce a young fighter that someday can take that belt away from Crane for him.
Manny,
You might be a decent point fighter, but you are a fucking piece of shit as a person. No matter who you fight win or lose, this world would be a better place without you. You are like a cancer cell. You will never have peace because you are such an ass. You better change your ways or no one will be at your funeral. Javi has contributed a lot to this sport and deserves more respect than that. Sad, this post should be deleted and this fucking joke manny should be banned.