Print this articleI've been a big fan of Japanese MMA ever since I could get my hands on some early Pancrase, Japan Vale Tudo, Rings KOK and Shooto tapes. It's the event atmosphere, the knowledgeable crowd who appreciates all aspects of MMA, fighting in the ring, leglocks, tournaments, good fighters and crazy always excited announcers - all those things combined made Japanese MMA very entertaining. I mean if you watched any of the yearly "Best of Shooto" tapes in the late 1990s and compared it to any of the other MMA around the world at the time you'd see how incredible the fights were.
This weekend were the Finals of the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix that started a few months back with first round of the tournament. I was really excited about that card because of several late Pride Bushido stars were to participate. Unfortunately, as it often happens, even the best cards on paper do not always turn out that way. The event was so so and several fighters I was looking out for like Joachim Hansen and Hideo Tokoro were pretty flat. Especially Hansen, who has pulled some amazing grappling moves during his fights, like helicopter armbar, and has had some amazing KO victories as well. I don't know if they layoff affected him or what, but he looked lethargic against a lesser opponent and even though he still finished the fight with a rear naked choke after flipping his opponent over him from all fours right into the back mount he looked like a shadow of his former energetic self. Anyways...onto the fights.
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Andy Ologun - Classic fight between grappler vs striker, as classic as that type of fight can get as Nakamura was even wearing old style Rings shinpad boots, which I thought was awesome. Ologun is brother of Bobby Ologun, who's a some type of comedian-turned-fighter in Japan. It was a fun short fight with Nakamura trying for a kneebar after getting knocked off his feet and finishing the fight with a slick flying armbar!
Joachim Hansen vs. Kultar Gill - Kultar Gill aka Black Mamba is quick striker with some great takedown defence who's given his many mostly grappling opponents hell win or lose. He beat Tokoro twice giving him a beating while escaping numerous submission attempts. To be honest I was a little worried for Hansen because of his last lethargic performance and you have to be very alert fighting Black Mamba. Hansen did good though, he kept pressure on Gill with takedowns so much so that Gill resorted to trying to take Hansen down. Hansen countered with a Kimura and then switched it to an armbar from the bottom for the submission. Good win for Hansen.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Junya Kudo - haven't heard about either fighter before, but Benavidez had Uriah Faber in his corner which only meant that he is from a tough camp and it's going to be a good fight. Benavidez's fighting style resembled Faber's, he was quick with his takedowns, did an awesome slam and looked to have powerful punches. Kudo did catch Benavidez with a few punches and kept up with him for a bit, but they didn't seem to affect Benavidez much. Benavidez pulled off a nice guillotine choke from the mount after quickly turning Kudo over his side from all fours. I'll be looking out for Benavidez now, hopefully he'll get a shot in WEC on Versus soon.
Hideo Tokoro vs. Takeshi Yamazaki - Hideo Tokoro's claim to fame was practically beating the Royce Gracie who outweight him by more than 30lb or so. Tokoro was given a chance of a life time and took full advantage of the opportunity and fought like a little mad man. He's always exciting and has a very slick ground game. Back to this fight with Yamazaki. Great fight with back and forth action. Tokoro actually ended up out striking Yamazaki and had a few kimura attempts. Yamazaki did great at neutralizing Tokoro's great guard and passing it on several occasions. Tokoro took a deserved decision win.
Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Motoki Miyazawa - Hironaka is a pretty tough guy with wins over Ryan Schultz, Nick Diaz and Renato Verissimo and a decision loss to Jon Fitch. Hironaka and Miyazawa tried to grapple for a bit with Hironaka getting a takedown and Miyazawa attempting to play rubber guard for a bit but quickly gave up. They worked their way back to standing and turned it into a striking match with Hironaka getting better and better as they went on till he finished it with flurry for a TKO from a cut. Decent fight.
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata - I think Akiyama was the very first MMA fighter entrance to an opera piece and it actually pretty good. Akiyama is a judoka who's been involved in some controversy with oiling up in a fight with Kazushi Sakuraba and generallyn know to be an a$$hole. He's had some good wins over Dennis Kang and Melvin Manhoef recently. For this fight though he was fighting a tomato can of sort in Shibata, may be cause he needed to recover after a vicious KO courtecy of Kazuo Misaki in his last fight. He was having a hard time with Shibata, who was keeping distance and striking from the outside. Akiyama finally cornered Shibata and threw a huge high kick that missed but gave him an opportunity to tie up and do a sweet judo sweep to side mount. He moved to mount and used his gi to choke Shibata completely out with a front choke. Pretty typical Judo.
Caol Uno vs. Shinya Aoki - Both are exciting fighters. Uno with a good mix of stand up, ground and tenacity (dig up his classic fight with Joachim Hansen!) and Aoki with his rare submission skills, he's the only one so far to pull of a go-go plata from the mount! I was very excited to see the fight even though I know that when two really good guys fight it may not be too exciting. It wasn't the most faced paced fight, but it was great. In round 1 Aoki had a good heelhook attempt, then he took Uno's back and set up Uno to roll out straight in a tight triangle, then an armbar. As great as Aoki was moving from a submission to a submission, Uno was right there with him escaping from the jaws of defeat. Round 2 started off with Aoki taking Uno down, passsing his guard and taking his back again. Uno eventually worked his way out into Aoki's rubber guard to finish the round and the fight. Great round work and control by Aoki, he moved to the finals of the tournament.
Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri - Kawajiri a long time top lightweight and generally exciting fighter with strong wrestling and powerful striking from Shooto and Pride Bushido days. He beat Black Mamba and Luis Fermino to get to the semi finals of this tournament to face Alvarez. I haven't really seen Alvarez fight till the begining of this tournament and he really impressed me with his win over Andre Dida and then beating Joachim Hansen. This match just had to be good I thought. What a great fight it turned out! Both guys were really going for it with striking. Alvarez caught kawajiri with a great flurry and almost had him out. Kawajiri recovered and knocked Alvarez down and mounted him. Alvarez escaped to standing and they were both slugging it out out with both of them getting knocked down and still punching. Alvarez kept pushing forward and knocked Kawajiri down yet again and referee made him finish Kawajiri off on the ground. This wasn't the kind of fight to engage in as part of the tournament though. Alvarez had a big mouse with a cut under his right eye to go into the final against Aoki.
Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem - Meaningless fight? Yes. Are Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem fun to watch? Yes. Thats another thing Japanse MMA always offered over MMA - can't be serious all the time so once in a while it's ok to put on fight purely cause they'd be fun to watch! Hunt landed a few hard shots on Overeem to start off, then he kinda just pushed Overeem down and ...gasp.. he proceeded to intelligently pass Overeems guard. Good for you Mark Hunt! Hunt passed Overeem's guard into side mount but Overeem managed to lock in an Americana from the bottom, which he proceeded to crank like crazy and working in his legs as if he was going to go for an armbar on the other arm. He turned Hunt over and submitted him with a kimura from the guard. I wish it was longer, but it was fun while it lasted.
Tournament Final: Shinya Aoki vs Joachim Hansen - Turns out Eddie Alvarez couldn't continue with one eye shut, so Joachim stepped in as a winner of the alternate fight earlier. Hansen had a shorter earlier fight, but Aoki had a go-go plata submission win over Hansen only 2 years ago. Aoki took a charging Hansen down and kinda took his time working for position. Hansen proceeded to literally pester Aoki with a lot of punches from the bottom and making him move. Aoke is forced to stand up and Hansen accidentaly, though lightly, kick Aoki in the groin. To Aoki's credit he takes a very short break and they restard. Hansen throws wild puches, they scramble and Aoki plays rubber guard. Hansen gets out to land some hard punches form the top. He works to get out, stands up and lands a HUGE punch falling down and finishes and stunned Aoki. Hansen in the tournament winner.
Hansen said he want's to fight Alvarez next, but for me I think Alvarez should fight Aoki to resolve the real winner of the tournament.
MMA Tournaments are so exciting to follow and Japanese MMA has always provided us with some amazing events based on the tournaments. While Dream's tournament wasn't the best ever, it was still a decent tournament with excitement and unpredictability that only tournaments can provide. MMA Fighters that won tournaments or had to fight several times in one night always stand out for me as fighters who are just a little bit tougher than others. Vovchanchyn, Fedor, Noguiera, Henderson, Silva, Shogun, CroCop, Gomi are men's men.
Versus TV network has established itself on of the major MMA destinations on cable TV in recent years. Carrying World Extreme Cagefighting live events and replays has not only been beneficial for both Versus's and WEC's exposure, but also for the millions of MMA fans that get quality MMA events on free TV. WEC has the very exciting 145lb weight class that UFC currently doesn't. WEC's current 145lb champion Uriah Faber is one of the most exciting and dominating pound for pound fighters in MMA today.
About a year ago Versus introduced MMA fans to their new reality series revealing trials and tribulations of the TAPOUT crew's quest to find future MMA star fighters that could represent the TAPOUT brand. When I first saw it, I was surprised by the show's production quality. It turns out that the show's producers also produced popular reality series like American Choppers and Dirty Jobs. First season of the show was a success and was viewed by more than 40 million viewers, so they're back with more.
I really liked the show because it gave MMA fans like me a unique look into the roots of MMA - what happens at the smaller MMA shows and yet unknown MMA fighers with promise. Stuff like that was gold during the cable PPV black out times and was only shown by a few small documentary films and now it was on weekly! Tapout clothing is one of the oldest MMA companies that has been around since beginning of MMA rise in US. It was neat to hear their history from the founders themselves - the non-stop laughing face-painted MASK, tall and afro wearing SKYSCRAPE and the most sensible of the trio PUNKASS. Even though Tapout now is a major MMA brand that is sold even in regular mall stores and endorse major MMA stars, these guys stay down to earth and still support the small MMA shows and up and coming fighters. Over the course of the shows they've gone to different MMA camps and brought the promising fighters they picked to the shows on their own bus and at times were the only support during the fights.
From Versus TV's press release on what will be on in the Season 2 premier:
In the season two premiere, the TapouT crew travels to San Luis Obispo, Calif. to ‘The PIT’ to see one of John Hackleman’s up-and-coming MMA fighters, Scott Lighty. Scott is accompanied by his best friend and training partner, Glover Teixeira and the crew quickly realizes the potential Glover has, and decides to sponsor both Scott and Glover who are fighting on the same card. UFC legend Chuck Liddell, who is both Scott and Glover’s trainer, makes a special guest appearance.
Below is the video promo for TAPOUT season 2 on Versus that starts on July 30th and will be on every Wednesday at 10 pm. Full Schedule
I'm sure it's been talked about to death by other MMA outlets, but I'm going to chime in on this anyways. Dana White says he isn't "threatened by a T-Shirt company" (Affliction Clothing's first PPV event evah), YET he goes out and puts on a free Fight Night on Spike TV with a STUPID main event with only a few decent match ups. Ya, I get why UFC did it but as most I'm sure predicted it turned out for the worse. Anyways... I still watched it.
Anderson Silva vs James The Scrub Irvin - well, they circled for a while, sure enough Irvin throws a low kick, Silva catches it, counters and Irvin folds for a paycheck. WTF was the point?
Brandon Vera vs Reese Andy - I used to make excuses for Vera and his crappy performances after his contract disputes, which didn't do him any good, but after his tonight's performance I say stick a fork in him for a while and let him go see Tony Robbins, who did wonders for Chuck Liddell. I don't buy Vera's lack of any type of triggerering mechanism against a guy who can't take you down or strike with you on weight cutting. After the first round even a strategerist like Tito Ortiz would have realize that his opponent had nearly non-existent offence and that all Vera had to do is jab Andy's chest and follow up with some crosses or jumping knees or high kicks or wtfever. Seriously, I like Lloyd Irving's Grappling Plan and all, but he isn't doing anything for Vera's obvious flaws with his mental aspect of the fight game.
Hermes Franca vs Franky Edgar - at first I thought - cool, former title challenger vs rising star but then the fight took place. Franky Edgar kept a fast pace and Franca didn't care at all about getting taken down. So Edgar took him down and worked him over with repeated elbows. Joe Rogan tried to defend Franca's relaxation routine under elbow assault saying he's just waiting to explode. Good timing for Rogan cause Franca did almost pull off a nice armbar, but Edgar just as nicely escaped and proceded to gift Franca with face swelling elbows. It was all Edgar most of the fight for a relatively unanimous decision. This fight left me wondering though why would Franca just give the fight away? He's just one of those guys that tries to do everything last minute, unfortuntely for him the hard workers of the world will cosistenly come out on topof the slackers.
Cain Velasquez vs Jake O'Brien - Heavyweight division is kinda hurting so it was good to have this fight to expose Velasquez a bit. He was on a mission and he completed it with non stop punching of trapped O'Brien's head. Kudos to Yamasaki for letting it go for a while so that there weren't any doubts.
Anthony Johnson Vs. Kevin Burns - Burns did impress everyone by beating a really tough Roan Carneiro with a submission in his last fight. However Anthony Johnson made him look very average. The fight was ok until Johnson started feeling more comfortable in the second round and began to pick Burns apart, however lazy. Burns poked Johnson in the eyes about three times in second and in the third round he did it again and really deep. Johnson falls downs, he can't continue, replays show a finger jab going straight into his eye and they award victory to Burns? WTF?
Jesse Taylor Vs. CB Dollaway - I'm glad Jesse was brought back, but at the same time why make such a big deal on the TV show, take him off the Finale show and bring him back not a month later. When did he have time to go to the Alchoholics Anonymous, EH? Anyways, the fight was good, Jesse was controlling CB pretty well, till CB pulled a nice Marcello Garcia move to get behind Jesse and set up his now famous peruvian neck tie choke.
On it's own and without the stupid main event, this Fight Night was ok for me. But considering why it was put on, it was bust. Especially knowing how the competing event went. Dana should be ashamed of his ego, not willing to set up Randy vs Fedor and trying to be a bastard when others do it without him.
I really hope Lorenzo Fertitta is calling Dana White right about now, starts off with a huge sigh of disappointment and says:
"I should have quit my casino job about a year ago. --another sigh-- I just watched Affliction's , as you called a T-Shirt company's, PPV event and I gotta ask you Dana, W..T..F... Better yet, How TF did you F that up? Why wasn't this a UFC card? Crazy Russians you said? Who cares if they wanted a few bum Red Devil fighters bundled with Fedor? So what? We have bums fight all the time in UFC! I mean, take tonight for example! I wish you didn't have that black mail on me, so I could Fn get rid of your rude "personality" and non existent negotiation abilities. Did you see Arlovski? Did you see Barnett? Did you see Fedor? WTF Dana!"
Anyways, as of now I only caught the few last fights of the event and in short it was awesome!
- John McCarthy is one of the most elloquent commentators/interviewers ever and who comes with the unmatched experience of being "in" the most fights ever. He was always good in interviews, but he was great as a commentator. Why didn't UFC add him on their commentating team?
- Production Quality - who cares!? It's about the fights for me, but I liked the whole "boxing like" atmosphere and the production was pretty good for a first event.
- Celebrities - Affliction by far beat UFC Fight night in this category. UFC had like what? Usher and some basketball dude who was texting instead of watching fights. PFFFFT! Affliction had like a whole part of the show where they showed Donald Trump and announced like over ten+ other celebrities. Say what you will Dana, but "T-Shirt" companies do pretty good with celebrities cause they like "all the cool kids are wearing it" t-shirts.
- Josh Barnett is one the top guys at heavy. It was a pretty good fight and he knocked Pedro Rizzo out cold with a hook ala Roman Zentsov, in a sense that Rizzo fell the same way after a hook. After the fight he said he wanted to avenge his loss to Rizzo from 7 years ago, I don't believe it though. Come on, Rizzo used to be tough, used to. He had way too many knock outs in recent years and since this event was Barnett's return to US and a big deal, he played the revenge angle to get an easy fight. No matter, he'll take other top competition after this warm up.
- Andrei Arlovski was awesome in his third round TKO victory over Ben Rothwell. Arlovski was the agressive fighter he used to be during his UFC heavyweight champion days. He did it all, flurries of puches, kicks, flying knees and leglock attempts. Rothwell did ok for a while but Arlovski kept a fast pace. Rothwell did have a good chance to do some damage after Arlovski's failed leglock attempt, but didn't take full advantage of it.
- Donald Trump is a pimp and I'm glad he's somehow involved in Affliction's or WAMMA's or whatever event. He was all up Lennox Lewis during last apprentice because he likes fighting. So hopefully he can make an impact in MMA too, especially if this event was any indicator of what may happen in the future.
- Many thousands of Afflictions shirts in one place was making me dizzy. I hope they can scale back on requiring everyone to wear them, especially Fedor's old coach. It was just wrong.
- Fedor Emelianenko is freakin awesome! He yet again proves everyone why he is the number one heavyweight fighter in the world! Cause he is Fedor, that's why. Again when everyone is doubting his chances against an ugly huge and dangerous monstrocity in Tim Sylvia, an effective UFC representative in this case in my opinion, Fedor comes out and punches Tim Sylvia with such ferocity and speed that Sylvia falls where Fedor follows up to punch him some more, take his back and choke Sylvia out! Fast, furious and easy. About 30 seconds is all it took to dispose of Dana's boy. Dana's next best boy is Noguera who Fedor already beat 3 times!
The stars lined up for Affliction's event tonight, the fights turned out great and they shut Dana's big mouth up with Barnett, Arlovski and Fedor having awesome performances. I don't know who else they have on payroll as far as fighters go, but I'm willing to bet there will be many fighters trying to get involved with these guys. I hope Affliction made good money or please investors to do another event or more.
Oh, ya, I almost forgot a minor happening at the event. Fedor Emelianenko vs Randy Couture does actually look like a possibility, cause Fedor said he's interested and Randy came out to say he is too and called Fedor a TOVARISH. He messed it up, but at lease he tried. Respect was the aura of that face off. I can't wait for it and will definitely be buying it. If you consider yourself an MMA fan YOU should too, even if you split it with your buddies that's ok too.
Second round started off even better for Tibau, he took Stevenson down and even mounted him at one point. Stevenson scrambled out of it back to standing as soon as Tibau tried to go for a triangle from the mount. Then after a little bit of standing and Tibau striking he shot at Stevenson who locked up his trademark guillotine and finished the fight.
Striking is something Joe Stevenson still has to work very very hard at to get more comfortable with during the fights, even to only be defensive and for takedowns. They can show him hitting mitts all they want, but it didn't change one bit since his last fight. Lack of striking is limiting him quite a bit especially against opponents like Tibau who had strength and striking. Tibau should definitely be in the mix at 155 for a few more fights, he's got all the skills to be extremely competitive and he just has to pull out a few wins. Not sure what's next for Stevenson, may be Griffin or Sherk?
I would say this was an easy fight for Koscheck and just proved that he's one of the top fighters at 170 and is only improving. Not sure what's next for him, but for Lytle I think it's time to hang them up as there are not much in terms of chances at ever getting the title.
I forgot how much of an aggressive little tank of muscle Tyson Griffin was. He has some great stand up that he wasn't afraid to use even with the shorter reach. He initiated and dominated the stand up portions of the fight with ease. When the fight did go to the ground due to Tyson putting it there he showed great ground and pound landing some good strikes and completely thwarting any submission attempts Aurelio managed to muster up.
I gave Aurilio too much credit based on his fights against lesser competition the likes of Griffin and Guida. He's done, stick a fork in him, he already lost to two of the fighters that are near the top of the division and will show about the same if not worse against Franky Edgar or Sean Sherk. Will Dana give Tyson a shot at BJ Penn now?
This is going to be a great event with an excellent main event in Rampage vs Forrest and some great undercard fights. Quick picks is all I have time for these days so here they are.
Corey Hill Vs. Justin Buchholz - picking Corey Hill to win by height and ferocity.
Melvin Guillard Vs. Dennis Siver - Guillard is like a mini Randleman in a sense that he has better physical tools than most fighters but lack other important qualities like hard work and mental aspects of the fight game. On talent alone and lots of trashtalk mixed in with some substance abuse in the last year he only managed two very embarassing losses to Stevenson and Clementi. It seems to me he's on his last chance to stay in UFC and this fight with Siver is make it or break it. Siver has good striking credentials and has decent ground game, at least defensively. Siver's loss to Gray Maynard only showed his toughness and ability to stay in the fight when the going gets tough. Picking Siver because he is a serious fighter unlike the underachiving Guilldard.
Jorge Gurgel Vs. Cole Miller - hmm.. I could be entertaining for a little bit, but neither are impressive fighters. Miller should be able to land a tonn on Gurgel's face early on given his reach advantage and hopefully finish it there. There is a chance that Gurgel could smarten up for this fight and try doing the ground game as soon as can, but I think Cole's been training with Marcus Aurelius for this fight at American Top Team and his ground game should be as tight as ever. Picking Cole by Gurgel's inability to do anything serious.
Gabriel Gonzaga Vs. Justin McCully - Gonzaga was on top of the world after KOing Mirco CroCop and should not have had much shame inlosing to Randy Couture. But then fell apart in his cowardly loss to Fabricio Werdum. He definitely took a giant step back as a fighter that night. So hopefully he got some type of help with the mental aspects of the game which nowadays is becoming a necessity for many top fighters, see Chuck Liddell's use of Tony Robinson. Zuffa is throwing Gonzaga a bone here and having him face a scrub really, Tito "The embarrased" Ortiz's training parner Justin McCully. Should be an easy win for Gonzaga by whatever he wants, picking him by a head kick probably.
Tyson Griffin Vs. Marcus Aurelio - Clay Guida vs Marcus Aurelio should have been a barn burner too, but Marcus supposedly got the "UFC debut jitters" and Clay shaked his long hair enough for a split decision. I believe in Tyson Griffin to not be too scared of Aurelio and really push the action. But I think Aurelio got past the jitters and being more comfortable being in UFC should be able to at least decision Griffin, if not submit him. Picking Aurelio
Josh Koscheck Vs. Chris Lytle - this one is a tough one for me to pick because Lytle has fought some tough competition and even responded to recent critisims of being to timid with being more agressive. Koscheck will be definitely stronger of the two and I hope he'll not be smart and stand with Lytle. Picking Lytle by TKO of some type
Joe Stevenson Vs. Gleison Tibau - Stevenson will most likely come back strong from his bloody affair with BJ Penn and show off his great ground game coupled with constantly pushing the action. Picking Stevenson by decision
Patrick Cote Vs. Ricardo Almeida - I really like Cote and glad he has a 3 fight winning streak with some cool knockouts in his last two fights, but he has very little chance against Almeida. Many years ago, Renzo Gracie's top dog Almeida had a rough run in UFC, then he went to beat up a bunch of tough guys in the longest running Japanese promotion, Pancrase, including Nathan Marquardt and then decided to take an unexpected break to concentrate on the art of jiu-jitsu and teaching. Well, not that UFC is out in the open and is very popular I guess he got another itch to fight and make some serious money this time. His comeback fight in UFC was quick and impressive. Picking Almeida to make a statement and get a title shot at Anderson Silva, though I don't he's ready for that one just yet.
Quinton Jackson Vs. Forrest Griffin - I have lots of emotions about this one. I've been following Rampage since his days in KOTC and Pride, UFC should man up and release Rampage's greatest Prefight Interviews DVD cause there is some funny stuff there. He did pretty good for himself since his entrance to UFC and if Chuck's KO could be argued as a fluke, he did beat Dan Henderson handily. Forrest beat Mauricio Shogun in his last fight which was awesome. I think everyone was rooting for him and he pulled it off smashingly. That night he certainly could hold his own and push for a decisive win. So Forest beat Shogun, Shogun beat Rampage, so....blah blah blah. In reality Rampage wasn't well when he fought Shogun, Shogun wasn't well when he fought Forrest. Rampage has loads more experience of facing top notch competition than Forrest and it will show tonight. I have a feeling this will be some what similar to Wanderlei Silva showing everyone Keith Jardine isn't quite there yet and Rampage will do the same with Forrest. Picking Rampage
Now go order it ......it starts in 30 mins!
I just got a chance to watch UFC 84 and can't wait to write a bit about - it was one of the better overall UFC cards in a while. During the broadcast UFC's smaller weight cousin World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) ran a clip for a featherweight (145) blockbuster fight between the very energetic Urijah Faber and UFC/Pride Bushido veteran Jen's Pulver. WEC is a great promotion that's been showing their cards on Versus sports TV channel, many of which are quite a bit better than UFC's own Ultimate Fight Night.
One thing that WEC has over UFC is the featherweight 145 class that many lighter fighters have been waiting for a really long time, veteran guys like Jens Pulver who always was the smaller guy when he championed the UFC's 155 division and in his stint in Pride Bushido. WEC's 145 class fights are always fast, action packed and just plain fun to watch. On the very top of the class is Urijah Faber. Faber has it all - decent striking, great wrestling, good submissions and tenacity that few fighters have. If you haven't seen his fights, you must! Catch them either on Versus or any youtube-like video sharing site over there.
Here is a little promo video of the fight. I can't wait because it's going to be great! For more info of Faber vs Pulver check http://www.versus.com/faberpulver
I am really excited for the main event of this UFC. UFC went with the one big main event carrying the rest of so-so fights. Many fighters are coming off losses but because it's the first Canadien UFC card their local appeal will certainly help the event. I'm surprised they didn't get Patrick Cote fighting on this card though. Check out Fightlinker.com for local Montreal coverage
Matt Serra Vs. Georges St-Pierre - I'm betting the lightning will not strike twice for Matt Serra and his 15 min are over. I'd like to say that St. Pierre's performance against Hughes should be a good indication of what kind of mental and physical state he is in, but I won't because he beat Hughes convincingly right before the first Serra fight too. So I'm just going to say St. Pierre will murder Serra because he's just a better fighter and will not let this one get away. Georges St. Pierre by TKO (Canada 1 - USA 0)
Travis Lutter Vs. Rich Franklin - Eh, both fighters are coming off a loss to Anderson Silva. Lutter lost over a year ago and hasn't been active. Franklin lost to Silva twice and last one was about six months ago. UFC's 185 division, except for the undisputed champion, is very weak right now and this match up shows it. It really has no meaning, Franklin isn't going to move up in the ranks by beating Lutter and if Lutter does win he won't jump that high either, especially considering this record and lack of dedication. Back to the fight though, given how close Yushin Okami came to submitting the former champion, Lutter definitely has a good chance with his submissions if he can pull off a take down, but I doubt it because his striking is very weak. So I think Franklin will be able to keep this standing, working his striking from angles. I'm thinking this will end up like his fight against Evan Tanner, where Tanner came out beaten to a pulp. Picking Rich Franklin
Mark Bocek Vs. Mac Danzig - This fight is on the card because Bocek is Canadien and to make Mac Danzig look really good, not that he needs it really. I really think it's mismatch where Danzig will beat Bocek standing and if it does go to the ground Danzig will beat on Bocek even more. Picking Mac Danzig (Canada 1 - USA 1)
Nate Quarry Vs. Kalib Starnes - Another Canadien with a loss coming in, Kalib Starnes, is getting a tough match up in robotic Nate Quarry. This should be a good brawl and based on both of the fighters last fights Quarry should pull through this one on toughness and chin alone. Picking Nate Quarry (Canada 1 - USA 2)
Charles McCarthy Vs. Michael Bisping - May be UFC thought, "well since we only have one really big matchup, how about we put in a few mismatches bound to produce some spectacular beatings". This is the second one of the night, Bisping is given Charles McCarthy go beat on. It may go to the ground early, that's where McCarthy would like to take it, but in the end will turn out to be like McCarthy vs. David Loiseau with Bisping taking over with striking to finish the fight. Picking Bisping
Joe Doerksen Vs. Jason MacDonald - Both Canadien. Say what you will about Doerkon's losing record, the guy comes to fight and puts on exciting fighting to watch. So him being in the fight alone should make it at least fun to watch. Doerkson has some good ground skills and even some cool takedowns and throw to go with that, but I think MacDonalds strength and size will make a difference big enough to ward off anything Doerkson throws at him and pull off a submission or a TKO of his own. Picking MacDonald. Since at least one Canadien will win this fight, I'm throwing it in the Canada vs USA mix to help Canadiens out (Canada 2 - USA 2)
Jason Day Vs. Alan Belcher - Haven't seen anything on Day, so I'm going with Belcher and his exciting stand up to win.
Ed Herman Vs. Demian Maia - Herman is slick on the ground and has some power in his striking (ex knocking out Doerkson in his last fight), however Maia's ground fighting credentials are phenomenal exept not really tested in MMA all that well. I'd like to think Herman could keep it standing for a while, but his stamina isn't that great so I'm picking Maia by submission
Rich Clementi Vs. Sam Stout - Clementi made out good in publicity/popularity with his handing of Melvin Guillard and backing up his side of the trash talking. I see this fight against Stout going exactly the same way. Clementi will stand for a little till he had enough and proved himself he can stand with good strikers, then he'll easily take Stout down and submit him. Picking Clementi by submission (Canada 2 - USA 3)
Brad Morris Vs. Cain Velasquez - Haven't seen either guys, but will go with Velasquez taking Morris down and beating on him there. I don't think Morris, being an aussie, has ever faced wrestling of Velasquez's level. P
Kuniyoshi Hironaka Vs. Jonathan Goulet - Goulet is a local Canadien favorite but a journeyman at best. Hironaka's record isn't stellar either but he's faced tougher competition and even took Jon Fitch to a decision. Picking Hironaka capitalizing on Goulet's mistake. If Goulet wins I'll add him to the Canada vs USA mix. I'm really pulling for them.
The goal now is to actually follow up on my UFC 83 picks and write up some thoughts of the fights. Wish me luck!
So apparently Dana White is so sick p**sies sneaking covertly on the show that couldn't take it any longer and for this block buster season of The Ultimate Fighter show featuring the first Ultimate Fighter winner, top light-heavyweight contender and a big fan favorite Forrest Griffin versus the current UFC light-heavyweight champion and Pride FC veteran Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Dana decided to turn the show "upside down"..well...at least for the opening of it.
He must have though to himself real hard - "hmmm.....no matter how hard the coaches make the contestants work out in the opening show, some how the "p**sies" still make it through....I got it!.... it's cause may be possibly "pu**sies" can be good at working out and be all into fitness and stuff but can't really fight!....so now I'll make them fight for the opening show! Ha, let them try sneaking in now!"
I have to say that it was definitely the most effective show opening for the series since ever. What a better introduction to the aspiring ultimate fighters than having them fight right off the bat and show everyone what they have as far as fighting skills versus fitness. The fans in turn got to watch a bunch of exciting fights with most of the fighters really putting it on the line to stay on the show. If the series will continue it's run, this should definitely the way to start the next runs.
Anyways, I'm sure you've seen the show yourself by now, so a few quick notes:
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I don't know why but the 5 minute rounds seemed like forever, even in exciting fights. May be cause of the atmosphere of a small warehouse and just a few people cheering.
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Amir Sadollah won tough fight and is the fighter to watch in my opinion
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I didn't think the producers did a good job with the play by play that Forrest and Rampage were doing, they should have had the Picture-in-Picture of the both at all times and even Dana too and turned up the volume a bit.
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Dana should have changed the rules a bit and kicked both those guys that had the most boring fight of the night off the show and kept the guy that cut 17 pounds that gassed against Cale, he was good and exciting and would have been a contender I think, with some stamina of course.
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Poor Dave Roberts! The guy somehow got to debut in MMA at UFC 20 against some pure BJJ'er at 19! Those were the dark ages of UFC for many, at least me and a few other people. Dammit, I watched that show in an empty hockey rink's coach's room by myself on DirectTV....I can't believe I did that just to watch a crappy UFC card.
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Dana is such as sellout, he was willing to scare "the bejesus!" out of both Rampage and Forrest by making them watch the new horror flick "The Ruins"....just for a damn commercial!
Great show but I'm looking forward to more of Rampage entertaining for the rest of the episodes. I want to see more stuff like below!
First half of round 1 was pretty good. In fact the beginning started out kind of like I predicted with Lauzon taking it to the ground and Florian immediately looking to cut with an elbow from the ground. The fight was stopped for a warning to Florian because supposedly he was elbowing the back of the head. Myself and Joe Rogan, as I'm sure thousands of MMA fans were a bit perplexed with Herb Dean's call. It's nearly impossible from that position and angle to elbow the back of the head directly, kind of like trying to bite your own elbows - highly unlikely.
It'll be interesting to see if this sets a precedence for fighters being in the top guard of trying to really bury their head to defend elbows from the bottom or even try to turn the back of their toward the strikes, think Frank Mir getting a "get out of a beating" card from Steverino Mazagatti against Brock Lesnar. I'm willing to bet we'll be seeing this more and more in the near future, unfortunately.
So I'm wondering if it was the huge body kick that Kenny Florian landed right into Lauzon's side and immediately followed up with the cross to the side/liver that completely drained a usually very long lasting Lauzon? Cause shortly after Lauzon who loves ground and pound all of a sudden gave up a good top position to go for a leglock and started gasping for air. It was immediately obvious at that point that he couldn't go on for much longer. Florian took over quick in the second round, got to the mount and started throwing punches on top of helpless and out of gas Lauzon.
To Herb Dean's credit he wasn't stopping the fight just because Florian was arm flailing, he made him work for a while and gave Lauzon all kinds of chances to improve his position. I hope this sets yet another precedence of the refs actually making sure that the arm flailing is doing actual damage from now on. As much as I like Arlovski and that he got a so so win against Jake O'Brian at UFC 82, the ref didn't make him work that hard and do actual damage at arm flailing from the mount.
Good win for Kenny Florian, he seems to hang in there and find a way to win.
Well gotta run, I hear Dana White is sick of p**sies coming on to his Ultimate Fighter show, which is funny cause doesn't he pick them himself every time? Rampage and Forrest are going to make this entertaining for sure!
Ya.....so....I have had zero to none time to write last 2 months due work, extensive work travel, excellent paying part time work that I wanted but just couldn't get until, of course, I started to get into regular MMA blogging posting and actually getting a few readers. I mean it's been over a month since my really good picks for UFC 82 and I didn't even get a chance to pat my back in writing for them. I've got a lot to catch up on and as soon as my part time gig's money well will run dry I'll be back on here spouting opinions.
It's old news of course in the fast moving blogging game, but I gotta say... how freaking dumb and clueless Heath Herring's after fight comments at UFC 82 were? If the fight was in Pride he'd kill Kongo? WTF are you smoking Herring? If it was in Pride, Kongo would have made Herring bleed his own blood with all the knees he would have pummeled into him before he either got tired of tooling a supposedly experienced Herring on the ground and though he did enough for a win or just was tired to escape side mount/north south. Whatever, point is Kongo tooled Herring on the ground, kudos to him for improving, and had knees been allowed would've destroyed him completely. As for Herring, I've said that before, he sucks. Even if he didn't train ground supposedly, he still shouldn't have been tooled on the ground by Kongo.
Anyways, back to Lauzon vs Florian. It's a little tough to pick for me, but I think Lauzon will be a bit stronger and more aggressive on the ground, cause that's where this fight will go if Lauzon has any say, and Florian will be on defensive hoping to cut Lauzon from the bottom. I pick Lauzon
Not going to get into why posting has been lacking lately, that's for a later post about life getting in the way.....
Anderson Silva Vs. Dan Henderson - it's one of those fights for me where it's just very difficult to pick. I really like both fighters. Anderson Silva is really well rounded and only lacks in takedown defense where Dan Henderson excels. Henderson also, in my opinion, has more power to his wild punching style but Silva is extremely accurate with his. That's the beauty of MMA, this fight can end in a number of way. I'm picking Anderson Silva by slow methodical pick apart.
Heath Herring Vs. Cheick Kongo - I really don't like Herring and how perpetually over hyped he is even though he's been show up numerous times for what he is - sloppy mediocre fighter unwilling to improve any aspect of his MMA game. Just look up a pinnacle of his MMA evolution - fight against Gan McGee. Anyways, Cheick Kongo looks to be always in shape and his imposing size and reach combined with his good striking should lead him to beating the always under performing sloppy Herring. Picking Kongo.
Alessio Sakara Vs. Chris Leben - Already addressed this one. WTF is Sakara doing in UFC? I'm glad Leben is thinking exact same thing. In his last knockout victory, Leben showed he can improve himself to be a better fighter with good composure and go crazy when appropriate. Picking Leben to clean Sakara's clock and send him packing once and for all. Warm up the bus Sakara!
Chris Wilson Vs. Jon Fitch It's no secret that Jon Fitch has been the top 170 "parallel" contender for while now. Remember Chuck Liddell when Tito Ortiz was terrified of fighting him? Well, it's kind of the same with Jon Fitch right now except it's not the current champion who's scared, it's the UFC and the fact that their promotion strategies and campaigns take forever to unravel. In the mean time Jon Fitch has been winning. Picking Fitch to continue his "parallel" contender streak.
Yushin Okami Vs. Evan Tanner Evan Tanner? Really? How desperate does an organization have to be to dig up a serious alcoholic homeless former fighter after years of drinking away his life?? Yushin Okami could have been fighting Anderson Silva tonight had he not picked a wrong "coast till 3rd round and try a submission them" strategy in his fight with Rich Franklin, which he could have won with more effort early on. He's not the most exciting fighter, but he's cleaned the 185 division's middle tier and is due for a desperate shot at Anderson Silva/Henderson winner. Picking Okami by mouthwashing with vodka before the fight and making sure Tanner gets a whiff and the ground and pounding for the win.
Jake O'Brien Vs. Andrei Arlovski It's garbage what UFC is doing to Arlovski after a boring loss on one knee to The Lame-iac Sylvia and a boring win over coma inducing Werdum. I hope the show the fight tonight because I think Arlovski is due for dealing out a vicious beating with a KO or at least a submission. Picking Arlovski to come back with a bang.
Luigi Fioravanti Vs. Luke Cummo Cummo looked pretty good in his last two fights and Fioravanti lost his last two, but I'm picking Fioravanti because he's faced much better competition than Luke did.
Dustin Hazelett Vs. Josh Koscheck Koscheck should be ready to rip his opponent up after his loss to Georges St. Pierre, it just happens to be a less experienced Hazelett. Picking Koscheck
David Bielkheden Vs. Diego Sanchez Sanchez just dropped two close fights to Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck and should be getting back on track in this one. Picking Sanchez to win in an exciting fashion for which he's been known for in the past.
John Halverson Vs. Jorge Gurgel not really sure about this one, but leaning toward Gurgel by decision after taking a good beating as usual.