Toney Pulls in a Sweet Half Mil
By Gan on Sep 03, 2010 at 6:29am
For his efforts (or lack thereof) against Randy Couture this past Saturday night, James Toney collected himself a sweet little $500k paycheck. That buys a lot of Burger King. And James likes Burger King. So that works out nicely for him.
Randy, on the other hand, got $250k, scant in comparison. And BJ Penn got a mere $150k. Two of the promotions biggest stars put together received less than the night’s freakshow. So what gives? I’m already hearing people say what bullshit it is, and blah blah blah.
First off, James Toney is a big name in combat sports, or at least he was a dozen years ago. This is not a sport based solely on merit. It’s a sport where if you can put asses in seats you’ll make more that a better fighter who cannot. These guys have contracts. Frankie Edgar beat BJ and made less. It’s just the way it is. Toney received a nice payday because the UFC was banking on his name selling pay per views. The estimates (the UFC does not release pay per view data) are not in yet, but Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer guesstimates just over 500,000 buys, and he’s usually pretty spot on. What James Toney will not get that Randy and BJ do is pay per view percentages, which can kick their paychecks up over a million bucks. Not too shabby. So don’t go feeling all bad for those guys. They did just fine Saturday night.
Toney deserved a large sum because of who he is and the masterful job he did of promoting his fight. Many very knowledgeable MMA fans, my brother included, actually bought into that hype and gave Toney a chance of winning. Basically, he sold his fight. He did his job. And win, lose, or draw, he earned his paycheck.
If Meltzer is correct and this card did around 500,000 buys, it should be considered a success, although not a glaring success. The UFC puts on about sixteen pay per view events a year. Not every show will be a homerun, unless Brock Lesnar is on the card. Half a million buys at the non-HD price of $45 comes to $22,500,000 in pay per view sales alone, not counting merchandising, sponsorships, or ticket sales. If that isn’t considered a success then people’s expectations are far too great. Dana White has Ferraris he touches less than I touch the Bowflex in my basement. He’ll drop what he paid Toney in a couple hours at the blackjack table and still go home with a stiffy. That’s not because 500,000 pay per view buys is putting him in the poor house.
James Toney fought unsuccessfully on a successful card. He earned his paycheck.
Karo is Back
By Gan on Sep 03, 2010 at 7:07am
Has BJ Lost the Fire?
By Gan on Sep 02, 2010 at 6:31am
BJ Penn is a Hawaiian savage; a throwback to the tribal days when Polynesian chieftains fought not only each other for power, but outsiders from all over the globe. He’s always been very intense before a fight, standing in his corner with fire in his eyes and hate in his heart, giving his face more of a beating than he would take in most fights. Then after his foe was subjugated and defeated, he would lick the poor bastard’s blood from his gloves as a ritualistic sign of complete conquest.
Lately though, BJ has seemed much more calm before his fights. He stands there, ready as ever, but without that same fiery war face. So what happened?
First off, allow to me say this little analysis is in no way whatsoever intended to impugn Frankie Edgar’s wins over BJ. Even with that old fire I’m not sure BJ would have fared much better against Frankie, who has the speed and discipline to keep BJ guessing. But this isn’t about Frankie. It’s about BJ and where he stands now.
In Rocky III, Mickey breaks down why he didn’t want Rocky to fight Clubber Lang, “The worst thing happened that can happen to any fighter, you got civilized.” I believe the same thing happened to BJ.
He lacks that kill switch now, whereas not long ago he was a blood-thirsty killer. BJ seems content to just hang back and box, using his reach and quickness to counter his opponents with jabs until he sees an opening to explode instead of creating those openings. BJ used to come out like a tornado. Now he’s more like a spring breeze. Buffalo Bill didn’t just sit back and wait for Catherine Martin to find him. He stalked her and tricked her into his creepy van.
Another factor could be his own hype. BJ has always been the darling of the hardcore fans who jumped at every chance to swing from his sack. It’s not that he didn’t deserve such grandiose accolades; he certainly did. This is a guy who didn’t give two shits about weight divisions, moving all the way up to 190 pounds to fight a 220 pound Lyoto Machida. He burst into Matt Hughes’ welterweight division and choked the dominant champion out in the first round. He didn’t care about boundaries. BJ punched a cop in the face during a melee outside a nightclub several years ago. He told Georges St Pierre, with a straight face, that he was “prepared to fight to the death,” showing his attitude that this was more than sport to him. It was war. The guy was just an outlaw.
James Toney Challenges Randy to Boxing Match
By Gan on Aug 31, 2010 at 6:03am
After playing Randy Couture’s grappling dummy at UFC 118, James Toney would now like for Randy to play his punching bag in a boxing ring. Here’s what James had to say:
"My thing with Randy Couture is he is a legend in his sport. He seems like a good person. I don't know him personally, but from when I met him, he seems like he's a great dude, man. And if he is a real man, come put the gloves on. I did it his way, now come do it my way. I'm glad they got respect for me because my background speaks for me. Everybody knows that I ain't got no bitch in me."
It’s unlikely that Randy would entertain such a proposal. For one, unlike James, Randy is smart enough to know he stands no chance crossing over to a different sport. And for two, he’s under contract with the UFC and there’s no way in hell Dana White would allow this to happen. This is merely a platform for James to defend his ass whoopin’. He says “I did it his way, now come do it my way.” But there’s a huge difference. James sought out a fight in MMA. Randy did not ask James to come fight in the UFC. Nor did Dana White. James chose to get embarrassed. I seriously doubt Randy will do the same.
D White Criticizes Florian
By Gan on Aug 31, 2010 at 6:23am
After his painful loss to Gray Maynard, Kenny Florian was subjected to some more hurt at the press conference. His boss, UFC President Dana White let his feelings about Kenny be known:
"I hate to say this because I don't want to take anything away from Gray Maynard, but I think Kenny is just one of those guys who chokes in big fights. I'm not bad-mouthing him or trying to disrespect him; I'm just being honest. Every time it's a big fight and there's a lot of things on the line, Kenny just ... Kenny's hands are unbelievable. Kenny's ground is unbelievable. Kenny usually kicks guys to the body and legs so hard that he busts guys up. You didn't see any of that tonight. He stood there and stared at Gray Maynard for three rounds."
I vehemently disagree with Dana. Kenny is 11-4 in the UFC. His first loss was to Diego Sanchez at the Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, where he was very green and simply outclassed by the more experienced Diego. His next loss was the title shot he earned against Sean Sherk at UFC 64, where he just could not stop the relentless takedowns of Sherk. He then went on to win six straight with five finishes. Then he lost to BJ Penn for the title at UFC 101 where he was faced with a fighter superior in every facet of the game. He then destroyed Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi. In his latest loss to Gray Maynard, Kenny was outwrestled, just as current champion Frankie Edgar was when he met Gray two years ago. Kenny didn’t choke in the fight, he just knew a takedown awaited any kick he tossed.
So yeah, on the surface it can appear that Kenny does choke in the big fights. He lost the finale of the reality show, both title fights he’s been in, and now a number one contender’s fight. However, there are circumstances that make this erroneous conclusion much thornier than meets the eye.
I think Kenny was simply out-fought in all those fights by better fighters. There are levels in each weight division. You have the lower tier, which consists of UFC newcomers, MMA journeymen plucked from a local circuit when the UFC needs a body, etc. Then you have the mid tier, more experienced fighters with lots of talent but are maybe just a couple more fights or a little better training away from the top. Then you have the top tier, bad ass sumbitches who can beat most other fighters on any given night. Finally, you have the championship level, normally only a few fighters are at this level in each weight division at any particular time. At lightweight that’s currently Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, and Gray Maynard. Kenny, by his history of wins and losses, is in a unique position in the sport—he seems to be sandwiched in-between the top level and the championship level. He’s good enough to beat just about everyone at the top and mid levels, but cannot get past the biggest dogs.
Kenny may never wear the strap, but it’s not because he’s a choker. He’s just getting beaten by guys better than him.
Post Bellum: UFC 118
By Gan on Aug 30, 2010 at 6:37am
The dust has settled. The wounded have been tended to. The treaties have been signed. Here’s what happened.
The story of the night was Frankie Edgar. Frankie proved the first fight was no fluke. He solved the BJ Penn puzzle with a dominating performance for the unanimous decision. Not only did he beat BJ to the punch again, but he was able to put BJ on his back several times, and was able to thwart BJ’s potent jiu jitsu game when put on his back. Again BJ just looked like he had no clue how to deal with what Frankie brought to the table. I sit here happily eating my humble pie, as I was one of the many who thought BJ would take this one. Up next for Frankie is the only man holding a win over him: Gray Maynard. BJ gets to go home and reevaluate his career. Don’t be surprised if we hear some serious drama coming out of the Penn camp, like retirement, exorcism, etc. Ultimately, BJ will fight because that’s what he is, a fighter. He can still demolish most lightweights, he just can’t seem to figure out the quickness and solid game-planning of Frankie.
Randy Couture did, to the letter, exactly what everyone expected him to do. He shot in with a real low single leg to avoid any incoming artillery, easily put James Toney on his back, pounded on him a little, then secured a head and arm triangle for the tap at just over three minutes. It was Couture’s easiest paycheck of his career. Nothing was settled of course in the whole boxing vs MMA debate because it’s a silly debate. They’re different sports. Toney was simply out of his element and had no chance.
Demian Maia put on a grappling clinic, as he’s very fond of doing, against Mario Miranda. He couldn’t get the submission, making several attempts, but dominated the action against a game BJJ black belt in Mario, and had to settle for the unanimous decision instead. Demian didn’t exactly impress, but a win is a win is a win. Mario cannot be faulted for dropping one to a Top 10 middleweight on short notice so we’ll see him again in the UFC. Nate Marquardt fights next month, should he be victorious, how about a rematch with Maia for contender status?
How Gray Maynard makes 155 is beyond me. He’s a monster at that weight, and with his superior wrestling and strength it’s no wonder he’s undefeated in the UFC at 8-0-1. UFC President Dana White announced that Gray will get the title shot, now White just has to figure out how to market it. Kenny Florian appeared as though he was terrified of the takedown all night, with good reason. He was hesitant to toss kicks, hesitant to toss much of anything really. After stuffing an early takedown attempt, I think Kenny realized the force of Gray and that psyched him out for the remainder of the fight. Not much Kenny can do actually, he’s already improved his wrestling by leaps and bounds, it was just a tough match-up for him. Gray is an animal, and he deserves the title shot. He holds a fairly dominant win over Frankie Edgar from 2008, so it should be interesting to see how that one goes down.
Nate Diaz represented his set well with a dominating submission victory against Marcus Davis. He used his reach advantage to bust Marcus up pretty bad, making his eye look like a softball, then choked him out in the 3rd round. Nate’s striking is looking more and more like his brother’s. He throws many strikes, and even though they don’t have a lot behind them, they’re plentiful and do lots of damage. He continues his welterweight climb with an impressive victory. Marcus has dropped three out of his last four, and is on the down slope of his fighting career. He just doesn’t have that punching power anymore, and for a guy who relies a lot on boxing that’s not good. Both men, however, took home a Fight of the Night $60k bonus, which can wipe away a lot of tears.
In undercard action, Joe Lauzon came out like a madman and wiped the floor with Gabe Ruediger for the 1st round armbar win and a $60k Submission of the Night bonus.
Nik Lentz put on an underwhelming performance in victory over Andre Winner, but gets the unanimous decision W.
UFC 118 Predictions
By Gan on Aug 28, 2010 at 7:52am
A’ight fools, it’s time to get yo’ dancin’ shoes on and lube up the ole o-ring because tonight it is on! I can’t freakin’ wait. The UFC has put together a monster card in UFC 118. Normally I’m somewhat of an introvert, preferring to spend my weekends at home—reading, writing, cooking, watching movies, and enjoying the luxury of a warm bubble bath whilst humming along to some Pachelbel. Don’t judge. But this entire month of August I’ve been partying it up until 5am on Saturday nights, which renders me pretty much worthless on Sundays. And there goes the weekend. But this weekend I have absolutely nothing to do, and God I cannot wait. All I have to do is make sure the wings are crisp and sit my ass back to watch some crazy ass controlled violence. Let’s get to it.
Frankie Edgar vs BJ Penn
Back in April at UFC 112, no one gave Frankie Edgar much of a chance against BJ Penn. BJ was the man, considered unbeatable at lightweight, and it was thought that after he disposed of Edgar with little trouble that he would move up to welterweight to test his skills in that division. Someone forgot to send Frankie the memo. I hate when people say that, I know, but it just seemed appropriate, and I couldn’t think of anything better. Go screw. Anyway, in a stunning display of boxing and lightning-quick movement Frankie seemed to have BJ confused all night. Frankie didn’t dominate, and the fight was by no means a runaway victory, but Frankie won, and in my opinion, deserved to win. BJ just didn’t seem equip to handle what Frankie brought to the table.
BJ has the entire package. If they were to genetically engineer a fighter, it would look like the current BJ—superb striking skills, other-worldly grappling ability, almost impenetrable takedown defense, excellent cardio, great strength, inhuman flexibility, and the heart of a savage. But, the man is human, and humans are infallible creatures susceptible to their own egos. And in my opinion, BJ took Frankie lightly. Yeah, yeah I know the “new” BJ was supposed to be above all that nonsense. After all, he corrected his one glaring weakness: his conditioning, but, no one is above the hype, especially when their name is BJ, and every hardcore fan in the world is swinging from their nutbag 24-7.
Frankie is a workhorse. He’s insanely skilled, possessing perhaps the best hands in the division, and hands down the best lateral movement, some of the best quickness, awesome wrestling skills, better-than-average jiu jitsu, and endless cardio. But, he’s not BJ as far as skill is concerned. And as the old adage goes, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Now, I’m not suggesting BJ didn’t work hard in his last fight, but I am suggesting he took Frankie lightly, and in doing so perhaps didn’t work smartly, which can be just as damaging, if not more so, that not working hard enough.
That being said, I have to go with BJ in this rematch. The dude is pissed dawg, and BJ pissed is scarier than the Rapture, the Second Coming, and any other fucked up parts of the bible put together. A guy like BJ feeds off of emotion, and while that could be a detriment for a fighter, in BJ’s case it’s an asset. He’s just a bonafide bad mutha fucka, and as good as Frankie is, on his best day a focused BJ hands him his ass, then performs a ritualistic Hawaiian luau with Frankie’s tongue as the main course.
BJ by submission in the 3rd.
Randy Couture vs James Toney
This is just a fun fight, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve been hearing other MMA writers talk about how this fight is a disgrace, it’s bullshit, blah, blah, double blah. I love this freakin’ fight. I can’t wait to see it. It kind of brings back some of the old flavor of the UFC, where style vs style was the format.
Who could ever forget Art “One Glove” Jimmerson walking into the Octagon to face Royce Gracie, and yes as his nickname would allude to, the man actually had on one boxing glove. What he was thinking is beyond my realm of comprehension, but it matter not as “One Glove” was easily submitted in just over two minutes.
If this fight goes two minutes I’ll actually be surprised. James Toney is simply not prepared to fight a world class grappler like Couture. Four or five months of MMA training is not going to cut it. Plus he was rocking some pretty hefty boobies at the weigh-ins. James has one path to victory—the homerun shot on Randy’s chin before he picks James up, plants him on his head, hammers him a few times before James gives up his back for the choke. Can James land that punch? Sure, it’s a possibility. It’s just not a good one.
Randy by submission in the 1st.
Kenny Florian vs Gray Maynard
It’s not often you get four Top 10 fighters from the same division fighting on the same card. Personally, I would go so far as to say we have four Top 5 lightweights on this card, but that may offend the Japanese MMA loyalists who still insist Shinya Aoki wasn’t disgustingly overrated all this time, he just couldn’t wear his little spandex grip pants into the cage. While BJ/Frankie is the main event, this is the #1 contender’s fight to see who gets next crack at the strap. And it’s a serious tussle.
Gray is one of the largest guys in the division with perhaps the most dominant wrestling skills. He’s since added some surprisingly quick hands to his arsenal. Kenny is better-than-average in all areas of fighting, and he’s improved his wrestling by leaps and bounds since being dominated by Sean Sherk in his first title shot, but I’m not sure he can handle the wicked combination of Gray’s strength and superior wrestling ability. That being said, if Kenny can stay active and keep this a stand up affair, he should hold the advantage.
Who knows though, Gray may just make it easy on Kenny in that regard. The dude hasn’t gone 7-0-1 in the UFC (including a pretty one-sided win over the current champ) without getting a title shot for no reason. Recently Gray realized he was in serious danger of entering Yushin Okami territory—winning his fights but putting on less than thrilling performances—so he’s since been choosing to keep his fights standing. I’m betting he stays with the same strategy, even though he is capable of grinding out a horrific decision here.
Kenny Florian by decision.
Nate Diaz vs Marcus Davis
Davis still insists he’s the greatest, most powerful boxer in the welterweight decision, that if he touches your chin you go down, even though he’s only actually flat-lined two opponents in his entire career. How that makes him a knockout artist is anyone’s guess. That certainly doesn’t mean he doesn’t have great hands, he does. But at 37 years old, with twenty MMA fights and eighteen boxing matches behind him, Marcus is slowing down. And it’s been noticeable lately.
Nate may not have Marcus’ boxing acumen, but he’s good enough to exploit the six inch reach advantage he’ll enjoy in this fight. And if the fight hits the mat, Diaz is as crafty as they come.
I just cannot envision a scenario where Davis wins this fight. And as always, during the post-fight interview we’ll get to enjoy young Nate struggle with the English language while brother Nick yells to Marcus’ kids what a punk-ass their daddy is.
Nate Diaz by submission.
Demian Maia vs Mario Miranda
Mario has a ton of support in the hardcore MMA community. They’re saying this will be his coming out party. Maybe it will be, I have no freakin’ idea. I know he’s very talented both on the ground and standing, but against Maia, the ground is always an iffy prospect.
Maia is simply the greatest grappler in MMA. His striking is still very elementary though. If Maia cannot get the takedown he could be in trouble, but thus far he’s only been stifled against a very good wrestler and a pound-for-pound great.
It’s difficult to gauge where Mario is in relation to Maia because Mario is just entering the big leagues. His level of competition hasn’t been tested. Until it is, I’ll stick with the greatest limb tweaker in the game.
Demian Maia by submission.
Bonnar Gets Intimate with His Feelings
By Gan on Aug 27, 2010 at 6:36am
UFC underacheiver Stephan Bonner let loose some pent up feelings in an interview with Mike Straka, saying:
“Forrest, Forrest, Forrest! Do I get sick of hearing Forrest Griffin's name? Yeah, real sick of hearing Forrest Griffin's name. You know, it's great being known for a great fight, but God, I get called Forrest so many times, you know?"
Sounds like Stephan has “Jan Brady Syndrome” regarding his more famous light-heavyweight counterpart. Both men of course took part in the most defining fight in UFC history at the Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, but Forrest has went on to fame and fortune, even briefly holding the strap, while Stephan has kinda stalled at the mid level.
Kimbo Heading to Boxing
By Gan on Aug 27, 2010 at 6:12am
We haven’t really been hearing the name Kimbo Slice lately since he got cut from the UFC. And this is a very pleasant development. But you knew damn well the bearded brawler wouldn’t stay out of the public eye for long. Kimbo sat down with ESPN and shared his plans on beginning a professional boxing career at 36 years of age:
“I feel like a baby all over again. I’m thinking about this at night. I’m gonna be a problem in the heavyweight division. I’m going to be coming in with a bad demeanor. I want to see what it’s like to break some ribs, break a jaw with one punch. This is a career move. I love fighting. I like to knock people the fuck out. I love engaging.”
James Toney Pre-Fight Interview
By Gan on Aug 25, 2010 at 5:55am
The time is almost upon us. For all the MMA reporters calling this a freak show and questioning this fight, I say you bastards are nuts. I cannot wait to see this! This week is all UFC 118, and James Toney vs Randy Couture is going to sell if to the casual fans. It’d be one thing if this was the main event, but the UFC knows this is a freakshow, and has assembled a serious cast of legitimate UFC stars around this fight. Nothing at all wrong with just a fun fight every now and then.
Winner of Florian vs Maynard “Should” Get Title Shot
By Gan on Aug 25, 2010 at 5:12am
Dana White said in a recent interview that the winner of Kenny Florian vs Gray Maynard at UFC 118 this Saturday night “should get the next shot.” It’s an interesting choice or words considering Kenny and Gray are hands down the top contenders at 155, and considering that they’ll be battling it out on the same card as UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and former champ BJ Penn it seems like it “should” be a no-brainer. But D White has taken this approach with Gray Maynard before. The fact is that Gray is not a finisher, and against Kenny it’s entirely possible that Gray could resort back to his old takedown, lay and pray style of fighting. The UFC is entertainment sport, and the fact remains that Gray, aside from his first official UFC fight which ended in a no-contest, is 7-0 in the organization, with his last six victories coming via decision. Fighters that have a habit of going to decisions aren’t easily granted title shots. Just look at Jon Fitch. But you cannot keep a great fighter down forever. Fitch had to win eight straight before getting his shot. Could Gray be in the same boat should he emerge victorious Saturday night in tedious fashion? It’s unfortunate for the legitimacy of the rankings, but it’s possible. This is, after all, a sales business.
Brandon Vera Not Sold, Definitely Should Be
By Gan on Aug 25, 2010 at 5:00 am
Back in March, the young, up-and-coming wrecking machine Jon Jones fought former wrecking machine Brandon Vera. Jones, simply put, destroyed Vera, effortlessly planting him on his back and then breaking his face in three places with his elbow. It was pretty brutal. But Brandon still aint buying that hype all us MMA folk are slingin’, saying:
"During the fight I remember thinking, ‘Man, really? All the hype was about this guy?’ I specifically remember saying to him in my head, ‘Man, you (expletive) suck.’ Right when the ‘k’ came out in my head, I got blasted. It’s hard for me to say because he beat me, but I still don’t believe the hype. I like Jon Jones as a fighter, but I owe that (expletive). He’s definitely not coming to my house for Christmas.... I’m still babying [the broken face], but it’s getting better. At one point, I couldn’t even touch it.”
Of course this is ridiculous on so many levels that it almost doesn’t even merit a response. Almost. I think Vera went and dun lost his damn mind. He got owned. If they were in prison he would be washing Jones’ underwear right now and massaging his feet with baby oil. Brandon, come on dawg, reality is sometimes difficult to except, but DAYUM.
Toney’s Manager Wants a
Boxing Match after His Guy Gets Stomped
By Gan on Aug 23, 2010 at 6:23am
Don Goosen is James Toney’s manager, and is apparently so concerned that his boy is going to get brutally violated this coming Saturday night by Randy Couture that he’s already in damage control mode for Toney’s career. Goosen would like Couture to fight Toney in a boxing match after their MMA fight, a fight in which few outside the boxing world give Toney much of a chance of winning.
“Win, lose or draw with Randy Couture, I'll match whatever he's making for this fight. "And let's see if he's got the same warrior makeup that James Toney has to cross over to the boxing business," said Goosen. It’s an interesting statement.
This was never about Randy Couture saying he’d beat up a world class boxer in a boxing ring under boxing rules. It’s about James Toney saying he’d smash a world class MMA fighter in a cage under MMA rules. Randy knows where he stands, and should he win Saturday night he has nothing further to prove. Straight from the horse’s mouth: "I have a lot of respect for what boxers do and I’ve never had any illusion that I’m a world-class boxer. I’m a mixed martial artist." Randy knows he’d get owned in a boxing match against Toney. That’s the difference.
Since MMA exploded onto the pay per view scene in 2006 many a boxer has had some choice words for mixed martial artists. From Floyd Mayweather to Bernard Hopkins (Hopkins has since become an MMA fan who also thinks Toney has very little chance) to now James Toney, they’ve viewed their fellow combatants as inferior, as “street fighters.” I’ve yet to hear an MMA fighter say anything negative about boxers, except to invite them into MMA to test their ignorant stereotypes. Had a guy like Randy been talking smack about how MMA guys could beat boxers in a boxing match, then yeah he’d deserve to get called on it and go get his ass handed to him in a boxing ring. But he never said anything like that.
Feijao takes King Mo out
Strikeforce: Houston Results
By Gan on Aug 23, 2010 at 6:48am
I did not get to watch Strikeforce Saturday night. I was out at a bachelor party, watching the whitest girl of all time swing from the ceiling, getting Southern Comfort poured down my throat straight from the bottle, and of course getting ignored by the bar’s female patrons. It was glorious. I am currently without DVR, long story. And Sunday morning, I fought through the pain of the previous night’s debauchery and tried to find the fights on YouTube. The only one I could get was the last round of the main event. So I cannot really comment on the action as usual. All I can do it offer you the results because I just suck like that. Sorry.
Rafael Cavalcante is the new Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion. He used some brutal striking, and some downright vicious elbows to the side of Mo’s head to score a third round KO.
Jacare Souza fought out a unanimous decision from Tim Kennedy to snatch the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight Championship belt.
KJ Noons knocked Jorge Gurgel stupid in the beginning of the second for the big win.
Chad Griggs laid a pretty good ass whoopin’ on Bobby Lashley for the second round stoppage.
Fan Mail
By Gan on Aug 22, 2010 at 11:53pm
It’s fan mail time again y’all; where I air my dirty laundry because apparently that’s what you sadistic bastards want. How about some freakin’ MMA questions people? This personal shit is killing me.
Gan, why do you curse so much? Don’t you know it makes you sound like a moron? From Jim in White Plains
Jim, thank you for your comment. And thank you for setting me straight. I was not aware that cursing made me sound like a moron. I must have been operating under the mistaken impression all this time that I’m writing for a raw MMA website, not some obscure literary magazine that only librarians and pseudo-intellectuals read, ya know the kind of rag filled with stories that take nine pages to describe the protagonists’ morning bowel movement. Real interesting shit there, Jim. I’ll bet you read McSweeny’s don’t you? For those of you not familiar with McSweeny’s, or similar literary magazines, just think back to your school days. There was always a group of misfits in the library, huddled together, talking about the artistic integrity of true literature and how shameful it is that the world doesn’t appreciate that sort of writing anymore. Well, those are these people. They love reading an entire chapter dedicated to describing a rolling landscape, and consider that true writing. Maybe it is, I do not know, but it sure is boring. So Jim, allow me to express, from the bottom of my heart, my true feelings about your remark: Stick it up your ass! Is that moronic enough for you? Thanks for reading Jim. Keep writing in with your comments. Peace out brother.
Hey Gan, you seem like a pretty insightful guy. I need some advice. My boyfriend gets late night text messages. When I inquire about them, I’m told to “stop being so paranoid.” I know something is up. What do you think? From Stacy in Philadelphia.
Stacy, you’ve come to the right place. And might I say that I’m flattered. You’re the first fan to seek my counsel on a personal matter. I think I can help you.
You know that little feeling in your gut that tells you something is amiss? Well that’s your instinct, and it is never to be easily dismissed. It won’t always be right, but usually it’s in the ballpark. As for your boyfriend, UH-DUH, of course he’s fucking around. Late night text messages, accusations of paranoia, I bet he even takes his phone with him into the bathroom, doesn’t he? That’s because he’s screwing around and he knows you suspect and will not hesitate to check his phone, where you’ll almost certainly find pictures of another woman’s bare breasts. Yes, that is the same woman he’s banging behind your back. Sorry to be so frank, but come on, you know this to be true. The real question though, is why is he cheating on you? There are several possibilities: One is he’s just a lowdown animal and cannot help himself. Another is that he has pathetically low self-esteem and validates his pitiful existence by the number of women he sleeps with. Another, and this is the most likely, is that he’s just not happy with you. He wants something else and is scared to tell you, because he’s not an evil guy deep down, just a little fucked up, and he doesn’t really want to hurt you. In fact, to avoid seeing you cry uncontrollably, he can justify going behind your back, because a man would rather see the Tossed Salad Guy approaching with a family size bottle of Aunt Jemima’s than a woman’s tears.
So, that being established, you should begin planning your revenge. The best way to do that is to get nasty with someone else, like real nasty, Asian porn type nasty. Lucky for you I’m available! I’m only about 30 miles from Philly. Bring your fine little self to my crib and we can do the things you’ve always wished of doing but have been too scared to let your man see what a little freak you really are. No woman is better in the sack than a woman scorned, for nothing is off limits. Praise God. You bring the car antenna and the jumper cables, I’ll bring the ball gag and Gimp costume. It will be beautiful. I’ll be awaiting your call Stacy.
Dear Gan, are you single? Because I cannot imagine any woman putting up with your sarcasm and immaturity. From Lynn in Savannah.
Lynn , how’s it going babygirl? As a matter of fact I am single. It’s more a matter of choice than anything else. Yeah, that’s it. I love the single life. It’s wild and crazy man, I’ll tell ya. When I get home from work there’s no one there to annoy me, to tell me I have to mow the lawn or drive the kids to karate, so it’s my time to do whatever I want—to sit, drink some beers, ponder the meaningless, terribly lonesome direction of my worthless fuckin’ life; ya know fun stuff like that.
So now let me ask you a question Lynn. Why do you gotta get all personal ah? This is a freaking MMA website! You’re supposed to ask MMA related questions! But all I get from you people is “hey Gan you’re kind of a jerk,” or “hey Gan why do you suck,” or “hey Gan are you single cause I know aint no woman putting up with your shit.” Fuck you all! Goodnight.
Gan, do you think if WWE star Batista enters MMA he can be successful? From John in Little Rock.
Finally, an MMA related question. Thank you John, because if one more person told me how much I suck I was going to lose my shit.
As for your question, allow me to respond with a resounding HELL NO. The dude is 41 years old and has torn so many muscles his limbs are being held together by chewing gum and rubber bands. There’s talk of him entering Strikeforce and fighting Bobby Lashley. In a scripted WWE ring, yeah he’d put up a good fight. In the harsh reality of an MMA cage, he gets devoured and shit out faster than a triple quarter-pounder. With cheese.
Maybe had he gotten into the sport at a younger age, without all the injuries he could have been successful. The guy is, after all, a great wrestler and a natural athlete, but MMA is not a sport you just jump into at 41 years old with a decade of WWE bodily abuse weighing you down.
Batista’s made a lot of dough. I hope he tucked some of it away or he may end up like Randy “The Ram.”
Strikeforce: Houston Predictions
By Gan on Aug 20, 2010 at 11:32am
Saturday night Strikeforce presents a very good lineup of violence for our viewing pleasure. I’ll be watching the next day because I have a bachelor party to attend. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes I do actually enjoy some semblance of a life. And Saturday night, shiiiit bitch it’s gonna get ugly, I might even lose my mind…up in here…up in here. Normally I get ignored by girls at the local bar in NJ, but there’s really nothing like getting ignored by girls at a poppin’ Manhattan club. God I can’t wait. On to the fights.
King Mo vs Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante(Light-Heavyweight title fight)
Feijao is a heavy hitter who trains with the savages down at Black House in Brazil, who all of a sudden, considering the mortality of Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida we’ve witnessed recently doesn’t seem so intimidating anymore, but in reality they can still wreck some shit.
King Mo is the champ, and according to him he’s the perennial underdog, even though he’s really not. I suppose he just enjoys that role. He also doesn’t give two shits what you say about him. His message to the fans is “Fuck y’all.” No seriously, he said that.
It doesn’t matter though, because Mo can wrassle his ass off, and that’s really what this fight comes down to. Feijao is a bad dude, but he will not be able to stop Mo from planting him on his ass. For this he will be soundly defeated.
King Mo by TKO.
Tim Kennedy vs Jacare Souza (Middleweight title fight)
Here’s the thing about this one: Jacare is a serious dude, and in a three round fight I believe he would beat Kennedy. But, and this “but” cannot be stressed enough, but, in his last fight he withered in the 3rd, badly. He looked awful. Kennedy has cardio man, and he’s skilled and tough enough to drag Jacare into the deep water. Look for the upset here, and a star being born as Kennedy roughs out a hard fought victory.
Tim Kennedy by decision.
Jorge Gurgel vs KJ Noons
Jorge is the BJJ blackbelt who long ago abandoned his craft to stand center cage and get into school-yard slug fests. They’re not technical. They’re often ugly. But damn if they aint fun to watch. They’ve also made Jorge a pretty popular fighter, and stuffed his pockets with more than one Fight of the Night bonus.
KJ Noons is a boxer. A pretty good one at that. He’s the only guy I’ve seen out-strike Nick Diaz in quite some time. So in this one, Jorge may want to go back to what got him here in the first place. He won’t though. He’ll stand and bang because that’s what the fans want to see. And he’ll get beat.
KJ Noons by decision.
Chad Griggs vs Bobby Lashley
Lashley is the WWE transplant who looks like an action figure and doesn’t want to fight anyone in the Top 20 but thinks he deserves a title shot in 2011.
Griggs is tough, but not the guy to beat Lashley. Basically, they would like a reputable guy to fight Lashley because of his WWE fame people know who he is and Strikeforce would like to build him into a star, but he doesn’t really want to fight guys he might lose to so they’re stuck putting him up against guys like Griggs.
Griggs could probably rough Lashley up if not for the fact that he’s never faced a wrestler nearly as good as Lashley. Bobby will put him down and pound him out, and it won’t be pretty.
Forrest Wants No Part of Bones
By Gan on Aug 20, 2010 at 6:45am
Forrest Griffin sat down with BloodyElbow and in usual fashion, spoke some unbelievably candid words. When asked if he’s fighting Jon “Bones” Jones next he said:
"I hope I am not fighting Jon 'Bones' Jones. I might be. Fuck it; if I am, I am. I will do it, but I am not even training right now. That is a bad dude. That dude will whoop my ass. Fuck it. What is the worst, I mean, it could not be worse than Anderson Silva. It should not be worse than that, right? Every fight I go into, no matter what happens, it could not be worse than Anderson Silva. Because that shit was a year ago and literally every day people ask me something about that - 'What happened? What happened?' [Anderson punched me in the chin] Repeatedly and I was very confused. I tried to punch him and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it. He looked at me like - 'Why would you do such a stupid thing?' He looked at me like - 'Oh, did you really think you were going to hit me? What a stupid thing to think, you slow slow white boy.' Then he punched me. I felt embarrassed for even trying to punch him.”
Crazy Old Guy Gets Owned
By Matt on August 19, 2010 at 9:45am
Nelson Declares Tweet War on Carwin
By Gan on Aug 18, 2010 at 7:40am
The business of war has changed dramatically over the centuries. Old school armies used to charge across fields yielding pitchforks and swords and slice each other to pieces—Braveheart style. Guns soon became the weapons of choice, which brought about perhaps the most idiotic form of battle ever devised, just kinda standing there and shooting each other—Civil War style. In WWII it was beach assaults, where swarms of men would attack from the sea, charging up the beach, getting mowed down by heavy machine gun fire.
Now, we have Twitter, baby! That’s right, we’ve gone seriously hardcore with war, taking it from some childish nonsense straight into some fire and brimstone shit. Now when adversaries wish to do battle, they use the phenomenon of social networking to insult each other.
Roy “Big Country” Nelson is just such a tyrant. In light of Shane Carwin’s implication in a steroid scandal, Roy took the opportunity to launch the first missile, posting “Just woke up and was reading the mma news websites and only one had real news ufc champ shane carwin steroids court case. I am surprised that athletes in mma do steroids ;( that explains body types." The last part is especially revealing.
Let’s get all psychological for a moment. Roy’s a corpulent fellow. He has adopted that as his persona, rubbing his big belly after victories and talking about how bad he wants him some Burger King. But deep down, he seems to have regressed feelings of embarrassment and shame. Most people go through painstaking measures to keep their inner child hidden, but something always slips out. Through careless statements, Roy let’s the little fat kid out of the bathroom, where’s he’s been hiding for two decades, crying into the dog’s loving mane, “The just don’t understand, NO ONE understands!” It’s sad, but it’s just that sort of thinking that caused Roy to launch his preemptive attack.
Shane has responded with force, saying “I love Roy Nelson trying to elevate his status by talking smack. Hopefully he is doing so on a treadmill. Some have rolls he has a bakery.” Notice how Shane recognizes the weakness Roy let slip out and focuses on it. That’s intelligent, ruthless psychological warfare, regardless of how old and played the “bakery” jab is. He must have recognized the feebleness of the statement though, because he later shot back with authority. When told of Roy’s upcoming surgery, Shane tweeted, “what surgey? Roy getting the lap band.” Oh man, that’s cold. He didn’t have to go there.
Dos Anjos Illustrates How to Make an Excuse
By Gan on Aug 18, 2010 at 6:56am
Rafael dos Anjos is a highly skilled, exciting young lightweight with a bright future in MMA. He’s also pretty well versed at misdirection and making excuses. After suffering a broken jaw in his defeat to Clay Guida at UFC 117, Rafael offered tatame.com his summation of why he lost, and yeah it’s pretty ridiculous:
“Well, on the first minute of fight I was going inside him and he punched me twice and it broke my jaw in two different places ... When I touched my teeth with my tongue I felt that everything was out of place and I had swallowed a lot of blood ... The truth is that, after he broke my jaw, I felt it like if it was a series tiny electric shock on my head, it was very weird, and it got sensible too. Any punch or pressure on that area would make the shocks become harder and harder and I got dizzy and lose my strength. When he pressured me on the grid I couldn't handle it. Joe Silva said I'll come back. I think everyone could see I was better in the fight. If I hadn't broken my jaw, I would have won that fight.”
Programming Alert
By Gan on Aug 18, 2010 at 8:24am
Don’t forget boys and girls tonight at 9pm the WEC will be holding a very solid event which will air on the Versus network for all to enjoy. For me, that means a post work nap is imperative if I’m to stay up until midnight and not be a complete wreck tomorrow. Yeah, I got some problems. But I am aware of them, and even though I’ve done nothing to address them, acceptance is still the most important part. Go screw!
In the main event, WEC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz will defend his belt against Joseph Benavidez. These two have already met once, with Cruz thoroughly beating the explosive Benavidez. I have little reason to believe the outcome of this one will be any different, but Benavidez is a bad ass dude and it should be an exciting battle.
The co-main event features two of the WEC’s best lightweights in Anthony Pettis and Shane Roller. Pettis is a graceful striker with questionable takedown defense who’s all too willing to work off his back, having not yet realized that unless you get the submission you just don’t win fights from the bottom position. Roller is an excellent wrestler with enough submission acumen to stay out of trouble on the ground. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Roller should grind out a decision, but don’t be surprised if he taps Pettis out. Shane’s jiu jitsu is looking real solid, and a few good shots from the top could have Pettis rolling and giving up that neck.
Disturbing Shit Alert
By Gan on Aug 17, 2010 at 6:35am
Check out this pic of Roy “Big Country” Nelson chilling out in the hospital about to go under the knife for minor knee surgery. I actually found it difficult to come up with the words to describe just how disturbing this is. Take note, if you will, of the hospital gown. It doesn’t look like any hospital gown I ever saw. Your run of the mill hospital gown ends at the knees, but Roy’s looks like it goes down to his cankles. No, it looks more like a moo moo that he borrowed from his granny, or worse brought from his home. Plus it has some sort of funky print on it, again, not like your typical hospital gown. Next, notice Roy’s mullet in all its glorious splendor. Not only is it getting creepily long, but it’s getting high on top. The more I look at the picture, the more I see a cross between Buffalo Bill and the Big Bad Wolf. I’m half waiting for Junior Dos Santos to bust in and yell, “Hey grandma, what big hair ya got!”
Gan's new MMA crush, it's better than his last one - "Shogun" Rua!
MMA Roundup
By Gan on Aug 16, 2010 at 10:00am
The MMA scene was alive and kicking this weekend. Lots of goodies to share and thankfully for your sakes I am not feeling especially verbose this morning, so without further ado, let us get to it.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira sustained an injury in training and will not be able to partake in his rematch with Frank Mir at UFC 119 next month. Mirko Cro Cop has reportedly stepped up to face Mir in his place. I’m actually a little more excited about this event now.
Tim Sylvia knocked out Paul Buentello Saturday night in a PWP event. No one really paid much notice.
Jens Pulver fought on the same event, and sadly, was defeated…again…by a choke applied by a guy no one’s ever heard of. I know Jens talks about needing the money, but there’s got to be a better way than getting the shit kicked out of you. He’s just not competitive in the sport any longer. And eventually promoters will tire of paying him to get demolished. So the sooner Jens finds a better way to earn a living the better.
Shane Carwin was implicated as an old recipient in a steroid ring. Dude’s a monster now, check out one of his fights from a few years ago. Big shock here, if true.
Ontario officials have indicated that they will give the green light for MMA sanctioning. This is good news. The rumor mill has it that the UFC may decide to delay the championship fight between Georges St Pierre and Joch Koscheck so it could be held in Ontario in March. Not so good news. If they pull this shit, I’m giving up MMA and watching hockey. This is complete bullshit. They already keep their champions on the shelf for far too long, especially when that horrible fuckin’ show is involved. Dana White says his champs fight three times a year. Horseshit! They fight maybe twice. The UFC is allowing its best fighters to sit for too long in the prime of their athletic years. I understand GSP is a huge star in Canada and they want him on the card, but keeping the guy inactive for a whole year is ridiculous.
Strikeforce put on a very solid Challengers event Friday night. Meisha Tate stole the show by winning the women’s 135 pound tournament. She struggled through a very tough first fight where it appeared she may have been a little gassed out, but came out very strong for the finale, securing the victory with a dominant third round against a very game Hitomi Akano. And, Meisha is smoking hot. Forget Gina Carano, we don’t need her anymore. Meisha is better. Carano is more classically pretty, resembling the girl next door. Meisha is a roughneck, but so fine. The way she looked after the fight, hair all a mess, a little busted up, hot damn! Market this young lady correctly and we have us another female superstar.
Also from Strikeforce, Ryan Couture won his pro MMA debut with an impressive triangle choke. He’s much more fluid on the ground than his daddy, but getting tossed like he did with a fireman’s carry shows that just maybe he doesn’t have the wrestling chops of daddy either, and that could be an issue. But, we should give him the benefit of the doubt seeing as it was his first fight, and it was on a fairly big stage, Showtime, so maybe he was a tad nervous. He’s a humble young man as well, saying how he was well aware that his name is what got him the co-main event slot on Showtime.
In the main event, Joe Riggs took his sweet ass time in disposing of an overmatched opponent who kept coming in with his chin on a platter. Joe caught him eventually, and finished him off with some ground and pound from the crucifix, but he didn’t look that great up until then. His feet were so wrapped with tape it looked like he was wearing casts, so who knows, maybe he has some issues with that. Riggs, at just 27 years old with 46 professional fights under his belt, may just have too many cage years behind him just as he should be coming into his athletic prime. We’ve seen this before with young guys who fight a whole lot. Riggs was always seen as an immense talent, but over the past few years it seems the sport is passing him by.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Pat Miletich is a great commentator and should be promoted to the big Strikeforce shows. Frank Shamrock should not be demoted, but fired, and made to spend eternity selling braces on infomercials.
“Brown Pride”
By Gan on Aug 13, 2010 at 7:08am
There's some crazy shit going on in this country right now. People are straight livid over illegal immigration, so much so that no corner of our society is immune, not even MMA. 28 year old heavyweight title contender Cain Velasquez sports a big-ass "Brown Pride" tattoo across his chest. And even though Cain was born in America to legal residents, meaning he’s not an “anchor baby,” sports a college education, is a humble, hard-working young man, and is generally just a productive member of our society, still he catches shit for it, and feels the need to explain himself. Said Cain:
"I got this tattoo for two reasons. One, for everything my parents did to come over to this country, all the hardships they had crossing the border. 'Brown pride' when we were growing up meant ‘Mexican pride.' That’s how we would say it. It’s something to say if we’re proud about where we came from. What my Dad did, my Mom did to get over to this country to me means a lot. I’m proud of where I came from. I’m proud of what Mexican people stand for. We’re known as hard working people. We’re known as fighters. We’re known to have a lot of heart. We’re known to never give up in the gym and have a lot of cardio. To always work hard. The work ethic that my Dad, all the Mexican people bring out in the fields and stuff, we bring to the gym and whatever else we do. Another reason why I got is because when I was growing up I didn’t have anybody to look up to. There’s nobody that was my size that was Mexican that looked like me that I could see in the media. I pretty much didn’t have those dreams of 'Hey, I can do that stuff. I can be in the media, I can play professional sports.' I didn’t have that. I didn’t have nobody to look up to so now that I’m in that position, I put 'Brown Pride' on my chest to let people know 'Hey, I’m Mexican. I’m proud to be Mexican. I’m doing good things.' For those people that just don’t know the story behind it, that’s all I can say. The only thing I can do is clear it up by doing interviews like this."
There’s a problem when this sort of thing is placed under a microscope. It means shit is out of control. How different is this from an Italian dude getting the Italian flag tattooed on his arm? Or a German getting “Heil Hitler” tattooed across their forehead? Kidding, relax. The point is that it’s a simple showing of ancestral pride. When the World Cup rolls around I don’t see too many Germans rooting for the US to win, or any other nationality for that matter. They ALL root for wherever the hell their families came here from. Is that disrespectful to America? Of course not.
There’s a wave of, I believe, unhealthy ethnocentrism sweeping the nation right now, and it’s all because the economy sucks. Take even a cursory glance throughout our short history and you will see that whenever shit is bad we blame who we perceive to be the outsiders of the day. Currently, it’s the Mexicans. But in the late 19th century it was the Chinese, then it was the Italians, Irish, Japanese, you name the ethnicity, we’ve blamed it for our problems.
Programming Alert
By Gan on Aug 13, 2010 at 6:47am
Unless you’re a freak whose pathetic existence consists of lots of lying down, Friday night bubble baths for one, trolling online for dates, and fights, you probably haven’t heard that there’s a pretty damn good Strikeforce show on tonight, tournament style. That’s right boys and girls, Strikeforce is putting on a four fighter tournament tonight, and the best part: it’s a women’s tournament. Yup, ignoring all contemporary medical advice and socially accepted mores, they are going to have four female fighters batter each other in a one night tournament. I love it!
In addition to the tournament, perennially cursed former UFC contender Joe Riggs will make an appearance in the main event. And MMA legend Randy Courture’s son, Ryan Couture, will look to follow in his father’s formidable footsteps.
Here’s the lineup:
Joe Riggs vs Louis Taylor
Ryan Couture vs Lucas Stark
And then the tourney is all jumbled, no one really knows what’s what just yet. But the participants are Hitomi Akano, Carina Damm, Maiji Kujala, and Meishe Tate, who’s fine as hell in kind of that dirty way, not that she’s dirty in a literal sense, but you just know she would be down for the funky shit, and would probably assume the dominant role and send you packing highly shamed, yet surprisingly satisfied.
BJ Getting Heated
By Gan on Aug 12, 2010 at 6:25am
After it was announced that BJ Penn had lost a unanimous decision to Frankie Edgar back in April, BJ didn’t protest. He didn’t cry. He didn’t make excuses. That’s not his style. He congratulated Frankie and walked away. But now, just two weeks out from his rematch with Edgar, Penn is fired up and talking him some of that good shit. From the former champ’s mouth:
“He's running around. Just step up and fight. And then I see his whole team run and pick him up. All your boys put you on their shoulders and dance you around in front of the judges and try to steal the victory. I'm not gonna be a part of that," Penn said. Whatever, man. That's the man you are. You're the "ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPION?" Okay. I got you. It's a joke.”
"I'm not afraid to exchange with him in any way. I don't think he wants to exchange with me. He's going to be running around. He's just going to try to jazz up what he did last time. A little quicker, a little better, maybe throw in a little kick. His corner, they don't have much to work with. They've just got little Frankie Edgar. They don't have the knockout king or the submission king. They've just got Frankie Edgar."
Wow, BJ is breaking out the big guns up in this bitch. The problem with psychological warfare is that saying things like “It’s a joke,” and “they don’t have much to work with,” and “little Frankie Edgar,” while meant to disparage and emasculate, falls way short of that efficacy when spoken from the guy who was beaten by the guy who’s a “joke,” and “don’t have much to work with,” and is too “little.”
Clearly BJ saw something the judges didn’t. One judge had Edgar taking all five rounds. I totally disagree with that, but judges don’t give a guy every round because his corner tosses him on their shoulders and parades him around the cage. Regardless though, a fired up BJ is at least as scary as the “Put the fucking lotion in the basket scene,” so Frankie had better be ready.
What to Do With the Losers
By Gan on Aug 12, 2010 at 5:35am
So after Saturday night, what does the UFC do with the losers? It’s an important question. It’s easy for the winners. They should be bumped up to bigger and better fights, and be permitted to sleep with the wives of their conquered foes. But what about the guys who came up short? Let’s take a look.
Roy Nelson—Dana White said before Saturday night that Shane Carwin awaited the loser of the Nelson/Dos Santos fight. That alone is some serious incentive to win. But Roy lost. Should the UFC really toss him in the cage against a bonafide killer? Sure, once you reach that top level there are no easy fights, and nor should there be, but come on. Carwin is a savage who will more than likely destroy Roy, rip out his meaty ribs for a leisurely Sunday barbecue, and scalp him to wear his mullet in a pagan anti-Lesnar ritual. Roy just lost to the fourth best heavyweight in the UFC. He shouldn’t be tossed as country chum to the second best. How about a fight with the winner of Frank Mir/Big Nog? But I know, business is business, and the UFC hopes to set up a Lesnar/Carwin rematch because it will draw sick numbers.
Ricardo Almeida—While Ricardo is busy dealing with his shame for getting out-struck by Matt Hughes and being a high level BJJ blackbelt who got choked with a Dave Schultz special, the UFC has to figure out what to do with him. Before this fight he was on a three fight win streak, including an impressive submission victory over Matt Brown in his welterweight debut. The great thing about the welterweight division for UFC matchmaker Joe Silva is that it’s so stacked with talent that he has many choices. How about a fight with Johny Hendricks? The kid was victorious on the undercard and is 4-0 in the UFC, more than earning a step up in competition and a televised showing.
Rafael dos Anjos—Rafael was hanging in there, some would even say winning his fight against one of the better lightweights in the UFC in Clay Guida until his chin finally said, “Whoa, hey I’ve had enough of this shit.” He has sick jiu jitsu, very tight striking, and good tenacity and conditioning. All he lacks is wrestling. Now, in the 155 pound class that’s a serious issue, but it’s not an issue that cannot be corrected. At 25 years old with tons of talent he has nothing but upside. After losses to Guida and Tyson Griffin though, if Rafael is serious about advancing in the lightweight division he needs to get with a camp with good wrestling pedigree. Until he can correct this glaring deficiency I wouldn’t mind seeing him fight Thiago Tavares or another BJJ guy. It would make for a hell of a high pace grappling display.
Thiago Alves—First and foremost, Thiago needs to deal with his weight issues. Once he settles on a suitable strategy that convinces the UFC he is capable of staying at welterweight he’s going to need a good opponent. Thiago is still a top level welterweight, and his opponent should reflect that advanced level. Hey Jake Shields just signed with the UFC and is slated to fight Martin Kampmann in October. The winner is likely to be awarded with a title shot, or at the very least be right up there. Why not give Thiago the loser? That will give him plenty of time to rectify his weight issues.
Give Chael a 2nd shot, he whooped the shit out of Silva
UFC 117 PPV Numbers
By Gan on Aug 11, 2010 at 6:44am
The Wrestling Observer reports their preliminary pay per view estimates for UFC 117 to be in the one million range. This is a staggering figure if correct, and the Observer is usually pretty much on the money. While the card was an outstanding one, it lacked a single huge draw that normally equates to a million buys, such as Brock Lesnar. Instead, we had a main event of Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen, with a co-main event of Thiago Alves vs Jon Fitch. While both were stellar match-ups, none of those participants has ever been a huge draw. Matt Hughes is a solid draw, but in a fight against Ricardo Almeida, who isn’t much of an attraction, his presence kicking the figure up that high is doubtful. Roy Nelson vs Junior Dos Santos probably intrigued a respectable number of fans, but not enough to drop $50 to stay in on a Saturday night. But rather, the card in its entirety was good enough to sell half a million buys, maybe more. So I have to assume that Chael Sonnen’s insane, yet highly entertaining one-sided war of words is what interested that many people enough to slap down their hard earned duckets for this event. This is very illuminating. Usually, when there’s some shit talking a going on, it’s from both sides, and that attracts interest in a fight. Chael was the only one doing the talking in this one. That means he’s just that good at flapping his gums. You gotta give it to him. Until this point, Chael was probably one of the poorer draws in the sport. And now, with a couple months of yammering, just like that, he’s a star. It doesn’t hurt that be backed up a lot of that talk, in a losing effort no less, which makes him somewhat of a martyr, especially seeing as Anderson Silva was viewed with some disdain prior to the fight. Hopefully Chael has a good agent, because when it comes time to renegotiate, pulling down numbers like this can make a fellow wealthy.
Alves Should Stay at 170
By Gan on Aug 11, 2010 at 6:52am
After Thiago Alves failed to make weight Friday night for his fight against Jon Fitch, I, like many jumping the gun idiots, called for him to move up to middleweight. After all, it wasn’t the first time he’s had issues with his weight. But now that I’ve had a few days to digest the situation, I must say I was completely wrong. Moving up to 185 pounds is the worst possible move Thiago can make.
First of all, standing at a generous 5-9, he’s simply too short for 185. Middleweights are just lighter heavyweights. Most stand about 6 feet and walk around at about 210 pounds. They’re big guys. And the fact that Thiago is primarily a stand-up fighter means his range would be severely affected. All other things being equal, size matters in fighting.
Thiago is just too big for his fighting weight. He’s packed on too much muscle in the past few years. He probably wanted to get stronger to contend with the grappling disadvantage he had. And it worked for him, for the most part. He’s displayed some nasty takedown defense. But cutting that much weight leaves a fighter flat, which was evident against Fitch, who was able to toss the monstrous Thiago around like a grappling dummy. So really that size is now acting against him.
He needs to shed some of that mass. Done correctly, it should not impede his fighting at all. Actually, it could only help him. First, he’ll be able to easily make weight. Second, his speed should improve slightly. Third, he’ll be more flexible and able to use his natural athleticism more to his advantage. And last, his conditioning will be better. It’s a simple fact that the more muscle you have the more oxygen it takes to feed those muscles. The only thing that will suffer is his strength, and that should be a minimal deficit if done correctly. The cost benefit analysis heavily favors dropping some pounds. This is MMA, not bodybuilding. How many guys have we seen concentrating more on their physique than their skills only to go nowhere in this sport. Phil Baroni comes to mind.
Does Chael Sonnen Deserve Immediate Rematch?
By Gan on Aug 10, 2010 at 6:31am
Normally when a big fight is a very close affair there’s talk right afterward about an immediate rematch. Such is the case with the Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen fight this past Saturday night.
Chael bullied the champion all over the cage for about twenty-three minutes of the twenty-five minute contest. But he was tapped out with two minutes remaining. Getting tapped out is a decisive loss, just like winning a fight only to get knocked out at the end. There’s no judges involved, no question who won. But this time we have people calling for the rematch. It’s not like in the first Lyoto Machida/Shogun Rua fight, where most people believe Rua won, but the judge’s decision went to Lyoto. That was the perfect example of a fight that demanded and deserved an immediate rematch. So why is this fight garnering such interest?
The reason is simple: Because it was Anderson Silva, MMA’s Superman, and we’ve never seen him get beat down like that before. Because we witnessed someone finally able to take it to him and put him in serious danger, there’s a feeling that maybe that someone deserves some special consideration. And maybe he does. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch. But two other guys are waiting in the wings as well: Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami.
Okami is a long shot, let’s be honest. Outside of the hardest of the hardcore fans, there’s almost zero interest in that fight. Vitor, however, is a guy people want to see Silva fight. Not only is Vitor a beloved fighter, but it’s thought that since he came into the UFC last year and mopped the floor with former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin that he would make a good opponent for Silva.
Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, doesn’t think Vitor deserves a shot, saying because his fight with Franklin was at a catch-weight of 195 pounds that he hasn’t really proved himself at 185 yet. And there’s some logic there. But Silva came in back in 2006 and needed only a single win against Chris Leben to get his title shot. Of course Leben was and is a middleweight, but Franklin at any weight is a better win than Leben at middleweight. Soares isn’t too keen on a Chael Sonnen rematch either. And why would he be? Sonnen came dangerously close to ripping the belt from his boy. Ed would probably love it if they granted Okami the shot, but I wouldn’t bet on that one.
More than likely the UFC will give the next crack at the gold to Vitor. It’s a big-time fight they want to make happen. And as a fan this is the fight I have the most interest in watching. However, as for Chael, I do believe that he’s probably the most deserving candidate. Sure, he was tapped out, beaten decisively, but he handed Silva his ass on a platter for the majority. No one has ever done that before, not in the UFC, not in Pride, not in Cage Rage, not in Shooto, not anywhere Anderson has ever fought. And I don’t mean getting beat, he’s been beat, I’m talking about getting his ass whooped. So yes, there’s some special consideration because it’s Anderson Silva.
But so what? The fight game is all about special consideration. If it wasn’t, Yushin Okami would have gotten his shot a couple years ago. Chael would have to notch another good win or two before receiving another shot, even though he’s already destroyed top contenders Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt. And Vitor, at 1-0 in the UFC in this latest run, and 2-3 in his mid-2000’s UFC run with one of those wins coming off a cut to Randy Couture’s eyeball, wouldn’t even be close.
Post Bellum: UFC 117
By Gan on Aug 09, 2010 at 7:00am
The smoke has cleared. The wounded have been tended to. The treaties have been signed. Here’s what happened.
Saturday night’s event reaffirmed just why I get a stiffy watching scantily clad men get into a cage and inflict as much bodily harm upon one another as possible. It’s because nothing else, not even the prospect of scoring a woman completely out of my league (a rarity indeed but it happens occasionally), makes me jump out of my chair and dance around like an overactive infant.
Anderson Silva took the beating of his life for twenty-three minutes. Chael Sonnen opened up an industrial sized can of hurt on the champ, more than holding his own in the brief stand up exchanges, taking him down effortlessly in every round, and tirelessly beating on Silva once down there. It was a very impressive performance by Sonnen, and if not for the lapse in fight awareness that has plagued him his entire career, he’d be the middleweight champion right now. Of Chael’s eleven career losses, eight came by submission. Getting your neck and arms in compromising positions is a serious danger when you spend so much time in the guard, posturing up and dropping bombs, and that’s Chael’s game. Someone with a style like that had best have some major submission defense, and Chael apparently does not. Even still, Chael comes out of this a big winner. He did what no other man in the UFC has been able to do: beat Silva’s ass. Silva on the other hand, is also a big winner. Even though most of the talk is about Sonnen, Silva ultimately got the W, and in spectacular fashion. He gets his seventh consecutive title defense, and keeps his UFC undefeated streak going at twelve. Both runs are UFC records. Both participants won Fight of the Night bonuses of $60k, and Silva took home an additional $60k with Submission of the Night. In addition to putting on a great show headlining a stellar card, not a bad night’s work for either man.
Before Saturday night, UFC President Dana White said whoever won the Fitch/Alves fight would get a title shot. Well Jon Fitch won. Now White says he’s “in the mix.” Why? Because it’s Fitch dawg, and even though he wins so damn often—13-1 in the UFC and 22-1 since 2003—he wins ugly. In yet another grind down, underwhelming performance, Fitch absolutely dominated Thiago Alves, grappling him to death for a unanimous decision win, and while his showing may have not thrilled the fans, it was quite impressive for its sheer supremacy. More than likely Fitch will have to fight again to earn a shot at GSP—should GSP defeat Joch Koscheck—but if Kos wins the UFC will look to pit teammate against teammate for the strap. Thiago desperately needs to move up to 185. Not making weight once is forgivable, but this is the second time in four fights. Clearly Thiago is just too massive for welterweight. 20% of his purse will go to Jon Fitch for missing weight, which if his contract is still the same as it was for his last fight amounts to 12 G’s, and I imagine that’s gotta suck pretty badly. Not only did he get his ass handed to him, but he has to hand over thousands of dollars to the guy who whooped him. Ouch.
In round one Clay Guida appeared to be getting edged out by Rafael dos Anjos in the striking department, so in round two he did what he does: started putting Rafael on his back, and it worked. But a shot Clay landed to Rafael’s jaw in round one paid dividends in round three as he was going for a head and arm triangle, the pressure being applied to Rafael’s jaw was too much for him to bear and he tapped out. Nice win for Clay. Too bad for dos Anjos. Clay looked a little better standing up than he has in the past, and that is the missing piece in his game. If he can continue to improve he may advance beyond the mid level. For Rafael to advance his game, he desperately needs to drill some more takedown defense. The 155 pound division is inhabited by crazy-psycho wrestlers who’ve learned the level of submission defense that Chael Sonnen should learn. A guy who relies on jiu jitsu alone isn’t going to the top of that class.
When you get outstruck by Matt Hughes, you seriously need to reevaluate things. Hughes made himself a legend by beating guys up on the ground, not punching them out. But in his last two fights, even though his striking hasn’t looked any better, he’s won with fisticuffs. He didn’t knock Ricardo Almeida out cold of course, but he stunned him good with a shot, which allowed Hughes to put him to sleep with a crazy school yard bully headlock that he must have perfected beating up the local sissies back in junior high. Had he not rocked Almeida, I seriously doubt he would have been able to finish the high level black belt with such a choke. But Hughes gets the big W, a cool $60k for Submission of the Night, and perhaps a feeling that just maybe he has enough left in the tank for one last title run. Almeida can take solace that his master Renzo Gracie was also beaten by Hughes in the striking department, which may lessen his shame.
Junior Dos Santos is one nasty dude. He is such a good striker that everyone in that division had best be put on notice that to stand with him is a fool’s endeavor, although I’d like to see him incorporate more kicks into his attack. He goes to the body well, and with the fear his uppercut instills in his opponents a few good kicks to the body could really pay off while they’re covering up from his brutal assaults. He’ll get the next shot at the title, and regardless of who wins between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez, Junior had better have his ground game up to snuff, because fending off takedowns from Roy Nelson is one thing. Fending off takedowns from those other two freaks of nature is something altogether different. Roy Nelson is as tough as his creepy hillbilly with a mullet thing make him appear. He was brutally beaten by Dos Santos, but never stopped pushing forward, and survived to the final bell even though he was thoroughly outclassed. Roy’s a bad dude, but not championship material. If what Dana White said is true, that Shane Carwin awaits the loser of this fight, then Roy had better damn well figure out a way to drag Shane into the deep rounds or he’s in danger of dropping two in a row.
In televised undercard action, Stefan Struve and Christian Morecraft put on one hell of a tussle. Morecraft impressed in his debut by pummeling Struve for the entire first round. But he may have gotten a tad overzealous in the second, learning the painful lesson that standing center cage and trading shots with a man who stands 6-11 with an 83 inch reach is not a wise idea. Not only was Morecraft KTFO early in the second round, but no fighter in all of MMA is in more dire need of a nickname. Struve gets $60k for Knockout of the Night.
In un-televised undercard action:
Rick Story beat Dustin Hazelett via 2nd round TKO
Phil Davis beat Rodney Wallace via unanimous decision
Johny Hendricks beat Charlie Brenneman via 2nd round TKO
Tim Boetsch beat Todd Brown via unanimous decision
UFC 117 Predictions
By Gan on Aug 05, 2010 at 6:10am
America is going up in flames the past couple of days. A judge just overruled the California ban on same-sex marriage. The city of New York is going to allow a Muslim house of worship to be built two blocks from Ground Zero. And it seems that contrary to popular belief, folks who work for beer companies aren’t the happiest people on the face of the earth. At least we have some violence to look forward to Saturday night to take our minds off the impending apocalypse.
Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen, through his powers of speech—sometimes entertaining, often ridiculous, has done a masterful job of making people believe that he actually has a good chance to win this fight. He does not. He has a chance of course, but it’s such a difficult road to victory that the gods will have to seriously favor Chael that night. He must take Anderson Silva down at the beginning of each round and hold him there for the duration, inflicting enough damage to avoid a stand up by the referee. He can get the takedowns. There isn’t an oxygen breathing being with two feet at 185 Chael cannot plant on his back, but Chael lacks finishing power, and keeping someone planted for twenty-five minutes isn’t easy.
Every round starts standing, and assuming Silva can stall Chael’s ground attack to warrant a couple of stand ups, Silva will have seven or eight chances to knock Chael’s block off. He will not require that many to succeed. Most strikers are at a disadvantage against a strong wrestler. Silva is the exception. He’s so good at inflicting damage with his superhero combination of power and accuracy that anyone who must get close enough to him to put him down is at serious risk of some major hurt.
The questions remain though: Will Anderson Silva come to fight Saturday night? Or will we be treated to yet another nauseating display of fistic foolishness? If Silva comes to fight he should dispatch Sonnen within two rounds. I envision Chael landing a very early takedown and putting a decent little battering on Silva, which will awaken his inner savage. Round two will see Silva unleash a hellish fury on Sonnen that would make William Wallace proud.
Anderson Silva by TKO.
Jon Fitch vs Thiago Alves
These two first met back in 2006 with Fitch scoring the 2nd round TKO. In the past four years though, Thiago Alves has made monumental improvements to his game, most notably his impenetrable takedown defense for anyone without the initials GSP, while Jon Fitch is much the same fighter he was back then, only more effective at grinding out lackluster decisions. Things should go differently this time around.
Thiago is a vastly superior striker, but Fitch is a very smart fighter. He will not be engaging in any extended kickboxing with Alves, only just enough to set up clinches, which is where he prefers to work from. Fitch is going to look to make this an ever uglier fight than usual. He’s going to push Thiago up against the cage, try to wear him down, all the while fighting for those takedowns. Thiago must control the distance with his striking, especially his kicks. Still though, Fitch will find a way through. He’s just very good at getting his hands on guys. Because of this I believe this fight will come down to who has the better conditioning.
Fitch will burn lots of calories trying to take Thiago down, but so will Alves trying to fight Fitch off. Depending on who you ask, both these guys are the 2nd best welterweight in the world. Even still, this is not a title eliminator fight. It’s more of a fight to see which guy definitely does not get another crack at GSP, seeing as both were absolutely dominated by the champion to the point where rematches are simply uninteresting. Toss a coin.
Thiago Alves by TKO.
Clay Guida vs Rafael dos Anjos
Clay is an energizer bunny with Geico caveman hair. He never runs out of steam and uses that to set a frenetic pace that some opponents just cannot deal with. He employs takedowns, lots and lots of takedowns, where he smothers guys with his sweaty mane and grinds them down.
Rafael is a decent kickboxer, has very nasty leg kicks, and deploys rare submissions like the “calf slicer,” which by nomenclature alone should be banned for the sake of civility.
Guida’s striking hasn’t advanced much. It’s still as poor as it was a few years ago. So don’t look for much striking in this one. A few leg kicks by Rafael will be enough for Guida to go to his faithful takedowns, where he is good enough to avoid submissions, yet reckless enough to get caught by Rafael , who has some very tight jiu jitsu. It all depends on how crazy Guida wants to get down there. I’m betting not crazy enough to get caught in something.
Clay Guida by decision.
Matt Hughes vs Ricardo Almeida
A few years ago this would have been a no-brainer. Hughes by dominant TKO. Now, after watching Hughes struggle mightily against a very old, very rusty Renzo Gracie, he’s officially reached “shell of former self” status. Hughes could not get one takedown against Gracie. And that’s his bread and butter. When your bread and butter goes, shit just aint good.
Almeida may not be a wrestling champion, but he’s probably good enough, and young enough in cage years to give Hughes some fits. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised to see Almieda take Hughes down.
Neither guy has much in the area of striking, so God forbid the grappling gets canceled out and we are forced to sit through another excruciatingly bad kickboxing affair like Hughes had with Renzo in his last fight. I doubt it though.
Hughes’ slide from the top has been apparent for a couple of years now, but so long as he was losing to guys named GSP and Alves he was able to justify his continued fighting existence. A loss to Almeida may be what’s required for Matt Hughes to hang up the gloves.
Almeida by submission.
Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson
Both of these guys are very good, very entertaining fighters, but the way I see this is a level of competition comparison. Junior has been taking out guys like Gabriel Gonzaga and Fabricio Werdum, while Roy has been taking out guys like Brendan Schaub and Kimbo Slice.
Roy has the skills to make a fight out of it, along with the belly and the mullet, but Junior is just a better fighter, faster, stronger, more athletic, more ferocious. The only question mark is his ground game, and I do not believe it will be answered in this one.
UFC 117 Matt’s Short Predictions
By Matt on Aug 05, 2010 at 6:10am
I have to throw my two cents in here. With all the mud slinging that Chael is doing it would be crazy not to weigh in on this fight.
Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen
I will be adding Chael to my Christmas card list if he can beat Silva.
Chael Sonnen by takedown, smother and ground and pound decision.
Jon Fitch vs Thiago Alves
I am pulling for Alves but I see Fitch winning this for the second time.
Fitch by decision.
Clay Guida vs Rafael dos Anjos
Guida by a grind out W decision.
Clay Guida by decision.
Matt Hughes vs Ricardo Almeida
Pulling for Big Dog to take Hughes out and avenge Renzo Gracie’s loss.
Almeida by submission.
Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson
I want to see Junior take Nelson out but Roy is taking Junior down and will smother him to a knock out.
Nelson by knockout.
Thank you for reading, when you have a minute go to TMZ.com and watch former UFC lightweight fighter Roger Huerta face stomp some punk who beats up a girl. Roger very nice stomp.
James Toney Wants to Whoop D White’s Ass
By Gan on Aug 04, 2010 at 6:39am
After Toney breaks either Randy Couture’s rib or jaw, or both, he’s going to walk up to UFC President Dana White and knock his ass out cold. In an interview with BJPenn.com, James lays out his plan:
"In order for you to wrestle, you have to get close and once you get into that range, it’s over with. All I need is three inches to hit you – that’s all I need. If it’s a rib, I’m gonna break it. Put it this way, on August 28, I’m gonna break something on Randy Couture. I’m either gonna break his jaw, or I’m gonna break his ribs – either or, whichever comes first."
"If he don’t like me, f*ck him, …but, you know what, after the fight, since he’s been running his mouth lately like a little pig, I’m gonna knock his ass out too, right after the fight. He gettin’ it. Dana White your ass gettin’ it. I ain’t playing with you."
"You ran your rotten mouth at the wrong dude. I’m not Rashad Evans, I’m not Quinton Jackson, I’m not going to kiss your ass. I’m gonna beat your ass. If he talk to me like I’m a b*tch I’m gonna show you. I’m gonna holler at you, baby."
Post Bellum: UFC on Versus 2
By Gan on Aug 03, 2010 at 6:49am
The dust has settled. The wounded have been tended to. The treaties have been signed. Here’s what happened.
Jon Jones showed once again just what all this hype is about. The affable 23 year old has the full toolbox. He’s a very good striker right now, in time he will be great, his wrestling is top shelf, his top game is downright vicious, and his athleticism is on par with the very best, perhaps the best. He’s just a very gifted beast. I hesitate to put him at the top just yet, because we’ve seen time and again a great prospect run through the low to mid ranks only to be stifled at the top, but it’s hard to deny him. Sure, Vladimir Matyushenko isn’t the greatest test in the world, but it wasn’t that Jones beat him—he was expected to beat him—it was how he beat him. He destroyed Vlady in just under two minutes. Takedowns come too easily for Jones, and against some very strong wrestlers in Jake O’Brien, Matt Hamill, Brandon Vera, and Vlady. Here’s a good benchmark to consider: Randy Couture, one of the very finest wrestlers in the game, spent fifteen minutes trying to drag Brandon Vera to the mat, unsuccessfully. Jones put him there effortlessly. This kid will be a champion one day, maybe even sooner than you think. He’s 5-1 in the UFC, and his one loss was a disqualification against Matt Hamill who he was destroying up to that point. Dana White said Jones will get a top guy in his next fight. Should he pass that test, then one more good win should be enough for a title shot. Who cares that he’s young. Georges St Pierre got his first shot at 23. Jones is awesome, and if he continues to advance he deserves the chance.
I bet Dana White wishes he had a take-back on his statement that Yushin Okami is close to getting a title shot. Okami is one of the most difficult middleweights in the world to deal with, but damn he’s a stale fighter from a fan’s perspective. He’s 9-2 in the UFC, losing only to a former champion in Rich Franklin, and the current title contender in Chael Sonnen, but there’s a reason he usually gets buried on the undercard: the guy just doesn’t bring much excitement to the cage. But he wins. And even in an entertainment sport like MMA where selling pay per views can make the difference between a job as a fighter and a life of fame and fortune, rankings do mean something. Okami continues to win, he cannot be denied forever. He just has to be patient, which he’s been, but he’ll continue to get passed over until there isn’t a single legitimate challenger left. Mark Munoz needs to revise his cage strategy. One of his coaches should instill in him the lesson that if his opponent proves he can stuff his takedowns, it’s okay to tweak the game-plan a little and try something else, especially when he did see some success with his striking in the 2nd round. Very poor fight IQ displayed by Munoz. Let’s hope he can rectify that next time out. Another poor showing like that could demote him to the undercard.
Jake Ellenberger is a tough customer. He’s the prototypical wrestler/boxer that came to prominence in the late 90’s. He displays no jiu jitsu prowess, doesn’t even attempt to pass guard most times. He’s just content to take a guy down and beat on him from the closed guard. It’s a very safe strategy, and thus far Jake has seen good success with it, but it will not get him to the top. He needs to round out his game if he’s to reach his full potential. He’s a solid prospect and with some fine tuning could go somewhere. John Howard has to learn how to deal with great wrestlers if he hopes to survive in the welterweight division. Indiscriminately winging power bombs will get you a couple Knockout of the Night bonuses, but it won’t make you a champion. Jake was able to continually take John down and work him over, turning his left eye into a soufflé for the doctor stoppage in the 3rd. Had John been able to stuff a few of those takedowns his striking game would have been much more effective.
UFC on Versus 2: Jones vs Matyushenko Predictions
By Gan on Jul 30, 2010 at 6:15am
This Sunday (that’s right, Sunday) night from beautiful San Diego, the UFC will host their second event on the Versus Network, and just as last time, the name is still just stupid. I mean seriously, the UFC on Versus 2? I’m telling you, this had to be the demented brain-child of some empty suit from Versus who was probably thinking, “hey it’s the UFC, if we can get them to put our shitty brand that no one cares about next their very recognizable, very respected name we can get some props.” Actually, since I put it that way, from their perspective, it was a good idea. Versus is a real bootleg network. They boast of being an official network of the NHL, but who outside of Canada and a few undesirably cold climates in America really gives two shits about hockey? Take the fights away and it’s horrifyingly boring. They also air rodeo. Yup, rodeo! And fishing. Yup, fishing. And hunting. Yup, hunting. Look, I’m sure getting up on a thousand pound bull and sending your testicles through the ringer with nothing but a few creepy clowns to save your ass when the bull tosses you off of his back is loads of fun, but it sucks to watch. Same with fishing. I got no beef with fishing, nice leisurely activity, but it’s like watching slugs hump. Hunting too. Nothing like chillin’ in a tree stand for nine hours with muskrat piss scent all over you waiting to cap a deer, but it’s just not entertaining to watch. Now, fights on the other hand, are fun to watch. Everyone likes to see a good tussle. So in that respect, yeah the network execs at Versus were smart to work that little detail into the deal. Anyway, on to the violence.
Jon Jones vs Vladimir Matyushenko
It’s not that I’m not excited about this card. I am. But the main event is a tad silly. Jon Jones is a juggernaut, a young buck who’s demolished every man put in front of him with relative ease. The possible exceptions were Andre Gusmao and Stephan Bonner, both of whom he soundly defeated by unanimous decisions yet could not finish, but I chalk that up to them being his first UFC fights and that when they occurred he was barely able to legally order a drink. And not to forget his lone loss to Matt Hamill, who he absolutely crushed, but was disqualified due to illegal elbows. Hamill still sports the dazed look of a bombing victim in the Gaza Strip from that devastating fight, which he won, which will forever be the greatest W on his record that he can tell his grandkids about. But in reality, he got his ass whooped. That’s because when Jon Jones gets his hands on you, you’re going for a ride, and when you get there is when the real hurt begins. He gets straight nasty. He broke Brandon Vera’s face with a single elbow strike. A’ight?
Vlady is old. He’s 39. His best days are behind him, and even on his best day he would offer nothing to threaten Jones. Vlady hasn’t won a meaningful fight since 2003 when he beat Pedro Rizzo. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a tough SOB, a powerful, grind out, blue collar fighter. And if you allow him to get you on your back he’s pretty fuckin’ ferocious. But he will not be able to get Jones on his back.
Basically, this is just a fight to keep Jones active. He’s being groomed as a future champion, and I’d bet a testi that he will be, but they don’t want to throw him into the shark tank too early. After he dispatches of Vlady though, I would like to see him get a Top 10 opponent to really see where he’s at. The only question in this fight is when Jones will finish it. I’m betting the 1st.
Jon Jones by TKO.
Mark Munoz vs Yushin Okami
Munoz has stated he will be fighting to avenge his country’s crushing defeat to the Japanese almost seventy years ago. He said he will use Okami as a living voo-doo doll to make up for the horrors of Bataan. He also said after he beats Okami, he will make him his live-in man-servant for the remainder of his life. Duties will include dishes, preparation of meals, and washing Mark’s feet. I’m kidding, Munoz said none of these things. But it would be pretty cool if he did.
This one seems simple, unless Munoz all of a sudden became a better striker and figured out how to translate his elite wrestling pedigree into MMA, he should offer little threat to Yushin.
Okami is a crushing grappler, deploying a wicked combination of strength and technique to terrorize his foes. But, in his fight with Chael Sonnen, he showed his vulnerabilities to the takedown. Shouldn’t matter though, as mentioned earlier, Munoz hasn’t had much success with his wrestling in the cage.
I think Okami’s time as a top contender is almost up. He doesn’t seem to be improving significantly enough in any area to remain a viable threat at the top level. Sure, he’s not someone you want getting his hooks on you, but guys are hip to that game now. Yeah his striking looked good against Lucio Linhares, but so would mine, or yours, or my cat’s. You’d be hard-pressed to find a poorer striker in the sport than Lucio.
But still, he should bring more than enough to win this one in fairly dominant fashion.
Yushin Okami by decision.
Jake Ellenberger vs John Howard
Jake is proving himself to be damn tough competitor, coming just short of upsetting Carlos Condit in his UFC debut and then beating the snot out of Mike Kyle. He’s a powerful wrestler with TNT in his hands.
Howard slings a lot of power in his punches as well. He also slams fools on their heads, scoring a sweet knockout in his last fight against Daniel Roberts. I think Howard will have the striking edge in this fight, but Jake has enough power to make him think twice about unloading. Ultimately, I think Ellenberger will prevail, but not without some tense moments. Possible Fight of the Night here.
Jake Ellenberger by TKO.
Tyson Griffin vs Takanori Gomi
Like many a Pride star, the UFC signed Gomi after his prime had expired. Even in his prime though, I don’t think Gomi would have been the force in the UFC that he was in Pride. There are just too many dominating wrestlers at 155 in the UFC, and Gomi, even though he comes from a Japanese wrestling background, Japanese wrestling isn’t American wrestling. With his best days behind him, I cannot see him hanging in with Griffin unless Griffin decides to display his kickboxing skills, which he’s been doing for quite some time now. Gomi still has very dangerous hands that need to be respected. Look for Gomi to stun Griffin and make him realize he needs to go back to his roots in this fight.
Will Dana White Stick to His Guns?
By Gan on Jul 28, 2010 at 6:37am
Tito to Face Former Protégé Matt Hamill
By Gan on Jul 27, 2010 at 7:59am
Sonnen Not Completely Delusional After All
By Gan on Jul 26, 2010 at 10:28am
Just when you thought Chael Sonnen couldn’t get any more convoluted with his verbal insanity, he basically goes and says, “Hey ya’ll, I was only playin’, I aint bat-shit crazy.” After speaking some serious nonsense ranging from saying upcoming opponent Anderson Silva speaks perfect English and is a tribal lunatic, to suggesting Silva may be somewhat “gay” for wearing an earring and wouldn’t last a day in his hood, Chael actually says some very sensible, true stuff this time. Here’s what the challenger had to say:
“At the end of the day, he’s still going to be better than me. He’s still going to punch better that me and kick better. He’s going to have a black belt in jiu-jitsu and I’m gonna have no belt in jiu-jitsu. Who cares who is better? In 25 minutes, it’s a matter of who is tougher, who can stand out there and go harder for a longer amount of time. Who can be hurt and stay in the fight anyway. Who’s going to get tired and stay in the fight anyway. That’s really it. He’s gonna be better, and I’m fine with that. He’s going to hurt me when he punches me, and I’m fine with that. But I’m gonna walk straight up to him, put him on his ass and beat a hole in his face. And so long as this sport has been around, that strategy has never been beaten.”
Matthew Roman – Future MMA Talent
by Matt on July 24, 2010, 12:25 am
A little over a month back I had the pleasure of watching a local aspiring MMA talent train at his gym in Elmwood Park, NJ. Matthew Roman has been tearing up the submission-grappling scene with a fury over the past several years and as of early May 2010 was ranked . On the day I met with Matt at Tiger Schulmann's Mixed Martial Arts Headquarters he was training for his upcoming fight at NAGA – North American Grappling Association in Massachusetts to keep his number one ranking. Matt has trained under Abel Ekonomakos, Shane Burgos undefeated at Asylum Fight League and MMA standout and Bellator Fighting Championships Welterweight Champion Lyman Good 10-0 fights for Team Tiger Schulman. Matt has the opportunity to get extensive MMA training from solid grappling and striking coaches and powerhouse MMA competition in his own gym. To test his skills Matt travels all over the East Coast he has competed in Massachusetts, Virginia and Rhode Island with great results. To round out his fighting skills Matt has twelve years of wrestling experience and two years of kickboxing training. In early June Matt entered his .
After watching Matt train and having the opportunity to ask him a few questions I was impressed at his drive and determination in training and preparation to be an MMA fighter. But what really stood out that I liked the most was that Matt speaks from a place of loyalty and family when he talks about his training. He mentioned how he likes that kids, women and men train together and that the TSMMA family is so supportive and how he loves training there. Matt trains over eight hours a week and looks forward to every minute. He works at a local fast food restaurant to help pay for training and maintains solid grades at Secaucus High School and is looking forward to college.
Programming Alert
By Gan on Jul 23, 2010 at 6:34am
It’s been a very slow few weeks for MMA since Brock Lesnar weathered the Shane Carwin tsunami in early July to establish himself as the world’s top heavyweight, and if you’re bloodlust is as un-satisfied as my ex-girlfriend, there’s something for you tonight. Showtime will feature a Strikeforce Challengers card, which is kind of like the Strikeforce version of a UFC Fight Night, where they display their mid-level talent, only the UFC’s mid-level talent makes Strikeforce’s look like pee-wee wrestling. But still, fights are fights and Strikeforce always puts forth a quality product, plus they have the ladies slugging it out which is just awesome. Here’s the televised lineup:
Shane Del Rosario vs Lolohea Mahe
Sarah Kaufman vs Roxanne Modafferi for the welterweight title
Abongo Humphrey vs Mike Kyle
Cory Devela vs Bobby Voelker
Thomas Diagne vs Caros Fodor
Shawn Tomkins Speaks Again
By Gan on Jul 22, 2010 at 6:35am
Famed striking trainer Shawn Tomkins loves to talk smack on his fighters' opponents. In his latest salvo, Shawn takes aim at Chael Sonnen, who will be fighting middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 117 on August 7th.
Shawn has some not so kind words for Sonnen, saying he "talks better than he fights," and that "we all know he's a boring fighter." I cannot necessarily disagree with Shawn. Chael does talk better than he fights, but that doesn’t mean he can’t fight. It just means he's a great friggin' talker. And as far as Chael being boring, yeah for the majority of his career he was, but after his loss to Demian Maia something awoke Chael's inner killer. Something about being an Olympic caliber wrestler and getting tossed like a little bitch, then submitted with the quickness much have woke Chael up, because since then he hasn't really been boring. Chael does what Chael does. He takes guys down and punishes them, but since that Maia loss he's been bringing the punishment something fierce, disposing of Dan Miller, Yushin Okami, and Nate Marquardt with unanimous decisions wins in anything but "boring" fashion. Sure, Chael has serious finishing issues, but so do lots of great fighters. Perennial P4P great Georges St Pierre has only finished one of his last four opponents, and that was BJ Penn due to a corner stoppage. At least Chael's in good company there.
But anyway, Shawn is simply looking out for his guy: Vitor Belfort. Certainly they're rooting for Anderson Silva to beat Chael Sonnen. Vitor is getting the next shot. Of course Shawn wants to see Vitor fighting a guy who is not only a bigger name opponent, but presents a much bigger money fight. Not to mention, and this fact cannot be discredited, Vitor has historically had problems with great wrestlers. Chael is a great wrestler. Both Randy Couture (twice) and Dan Henderson have beaten Vitor with wrestling. Sure Vitor flat-lined Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland, but Matt was past his prime and never even got a chance to get his hands on Vitor as he was knocked into the next millennium in only thirty-seven seconds.
Shark Fights 13 Shaping Up Well
By Gan on Jul 22, 2010 at 6:22am
There are regional MMA promotions all over the country. Usually they're bootleg productions stacked with young, exciting, up-and coming-fighters you’ve never heard of. But every once in a while one of them scores a few stars who've fallen from grace and they become that much more exciting. Shark Fights is a solid organization based out of Amarillo, Texas. They're one of the better know regional promotions, but it's not common for them to feature four ex-UFC fighters in their main and co-main events, especially when those fights are Keith Jardine vs Trevor Prangley and Houston Alexander vs Rameau Thierry Soukoudjou. Granted, all these guys were cut from the UFC for a reason, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Jardine was a Top 10 ranked UFC mainstay who defeated Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, or that Prangley sports a 22-6 record with a submission win over current UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen, or that Soukoudjou is a blitzkrieg (at least in the 1st round) who knocked out Little Nog and Ricardo Arona, or that Alexander, before his horrific ground game was exposed, knocked the soul out of Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara. On September 11th though, this regional promotion makes its push into the bigtime, well the middle-time if you will, with this very cool card that I really hope is available on something other than HDNet, which I do not get, which is a constant source of some major ass chappage for me.
More James Toney Stuff
By Gan on Jul 22, 2010 at 6:13am
If the MMA media actually took James Toney or his upcoming fight against Randy Couture seriously, James would be ranked in the Top 3 for hyping fights. It seems every single day James is has a bout of brilliant verbal diarrhea. In his latest, James says Randy is heading to the hospital. Here's the full quote from MMAMania:
"You talk about Anderson SIlva as the best striker in the division, I'm the best striker in MMA period. I'm gonna show everyone how to punch for real. I've been in there with the best fighters in the world period. I aint talking about boxing or talking about MMA. Boxing is all that matters. Whatever it comes down to, when Randy Couture sees me ready to shoot that right hand up, I'm telling you he's not even gonna see it coming, it's gonna be over and he’s gonna be on his way to the hospital."
James is presenting somewhat of a flank strategy here. On the one hand he keeps saying how boxing is the best and how he isn’t worried about takedowns or any MMA stuff, but on the other hand, he's been working with some serious dudes in the grappling department: King Mo for wrestling and Dean Lister for jiu jitsu. However, I'm not buying into Dean's talk about how James almost tapped him in practice, or Mo's talk about how quick James took to wrestling. A few months of grappling is hardly enough to deal with a world class grappler like Couture. I think that's just his camp trying to psyche Randy out a little. Regardless, whatever his plans for August 28th, it's refreshing to see James actually engaging in some real preparation for the fight, for real.
MMA Olympics
By Gan on Jul 21, 2010 at 6:29am
Cagepotato has pointed out a rather intriguing fact about UFC 117: The entire main card is USA vs Brazil. The UFC hasn’t promoted a country vs country event since UFC 58 when the USA went head up with Canada, and this one isn’t being marketed in that manner, but I find it difficult to believe they didn’t at least notice this scenario. Here’s the lineup:
Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen
Thiago Alves vs Jon Fitch
Rafael Dos Anjos vs Clay Guida
Ricardo Almeida vs Matt Hughes
Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson
King Mo Likes James Toney's Chances against Randy
By Gan on Jul 21, 2010 at 6:13am
In preparation for his August 28th fight against Randy Couture, James Toney needed to find out if he could stuff a takedown, so naturally he brought in King Mo, one of the best wrestlers in the game and a very sharp student of the sport. At first Mo was unimpressed with Toney, but after a bunch of tries he had to give Toney some credit, "After about eight tries, he kind of got me. I said, Damn. He's kind of strong too. The dude is kind of strong." So there you have it. King Mo says Toney is at least competent at stopping takedowns and is strong as an ox. So can he survive a double leg from Randy? Maybe. Randy isn't exactly known for his shoot takedowns. But should Randy get his hooks on Toney in the clinch, training with King Mo won't be able to save him from taking a ride. I still see this fight as a lopsided event favoring Randy, and more than likely will not be very competitive, but it's definitely a fight I'm looking forward to.
Tim Sylvia Looking to Make a Statement Against Buentello
By Gan on Jul 21, 2010 at 6:16am
Tim Sylvia will face off against Paul Buentello in a monumentally important heavyweight fight on August 14th, and the big fellow is looking to impress. Tim said:
"In the MMA world, I need to win this fight in fashion to make a statement that I'm back. We were supposed to fight once or twice and now it's finally going to happen. It's going to be a great fight and show. Paul's a gamer. He's a good striker with a lot of knockouts. He likes to bang, just like me, and that's what the fans want to see."
By these words, we must assume that Big Tim-eh has finally gone off the deep end. Fighting Paul Buentello, beating Buentello, even if it's a knockout in eight seconds, is not being back. It's not even in the vicinity of the parking lot of the ballpark of being back. While the tail-gaters are out there frying up Ballpark franks and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon six hours before the opening kickoff, Tim-eh cannot even smell the food nor see the smoke he's so far out of the vicinity of the parking lot of the ballpark of being back.
No Tim, you won't be back until you get your big ass into a reputable organization and fight some decent guys. The UFC, Strikeforce, Dream, even Bellator, ok? Not Moosin, nor Shine Fights, nor any bootleg-ass promotion that will pay you 50 G's and let you show up over three bills.
Frank Mir Thinking About Politics
By Gan on Jul 21, 2010 at 6:09am
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir already has one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. He voluntarily gets into a locked cage with another very large man skilled in the arts of hurt and they punch each other and try to snap each others limbs. But apparently that's not enough for Frank. He told the Las Vegas Journal-Review that when he retires from fighting he may seek out a career in perhaps the most nasty of professions: politics. "I never want to be one of those guys that bellyaches in a bar about the president or Congress and at the end of the day you never vote or talk about what's going on or do anything as far as having any kind of influence." Frank has a point. The bars are filled with self-styled political science experts who've never voted and don't know the most basic things about how our government works. I know. I spend a lot of time in bars instigating political conversations with complete strangers just for the sheer entertainment value in it. Frank is a natural for politics. He's well-read on dystopian literature, well-spoken, highly condescending, arrogant, and he looks very comfortable fake smiling for the camera.
Rampage wants no part of the Machida secret formula
Rampage Not Interested In Machida Fight
By Gan on Jul 20, 2010 at 7:59am
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is on the hunt for an opponent he has a good chance of defeating. He wants a rematch with Forrest Griffin, the man who dethroned him back in 2008, starting an avalanche of road rage, public feuding with the UFC over money, and “retiring” from the sport to pursue a movie career. After then returning to the sport and dropping his very public grudge match against Rashad Evans, Rampage was offered a fight against Lyoto Machida, but apparently isn’t interested in that fight because Machida is “too boring,” according to Rampage. Seems to me that “too boring” is being used as an excuse because Rampage probably realizes Machida will more than likely make him look foolish as he defeats him rather easily.
In all fairness to Rampage though, he’s not the only one who doesn’t want any piece of Machida. Rashad Evans also turned down a rematch with the indefinable Machida, opting instead to wait for Shogun to recover from knee surgery and take the title shot he was promised. I can understand that though. Title shots don’t come easily, and certainly not in the 205 pound division where five or six savages are looking to knock him down a few notches.
Noons Says Cyborg Can Beat Up the Dudes at 145
By Gan on Jul 20, 2010 at 6:46am
KJ Noons made some interesting comments recently when he told Sherdog that he believes Cristiane “Cybrog” Santos could compete at 145 in the WEC and do well. His words:
“I believe (male vs. female fights) wouldn’t be that competitive, but every now and then there is a special athletic woman that can compete with men in fighting. I believe Cris is one of them. Can she be competitive if she fought in the WEC? Yes, she could. Would she be champ? If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a billionaire and I wouldn’t be fighting.”
At first glance I figured he was just talking shit. But from his words it seems he truly believes them. Cyborg’s trainer adds a little depth and insight to the discussion:
“She’s agile, but she’s still a female. There’s still a big difference. They don’t have that natural testosterone production that men have. Men are built more for strength and there’s just a big gap between the two. She could go in there and do well against some of those guys, but there’s still a big difference between men and women and the dynamics of their own strength levels and agility. She doesn’t have the foundation of wrestling that some of the guys have in that division. There’s no way you could throw her against Urijah Faber Jose Aldo and expect her to do great."
Big Nog/Mir Rematch Set for UFC 119
By Gan on Jul 20, 2010 at 6:34am
Frank Mir shocked everyone, himself included, when he destructed Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira back at UFC 92. The Brazilian looked like someone had slipped something in his drink, and Mir took full advantage, flooring Nog several times with crisp combinations to go on and become the first man to ever score a TKO over Nog. After the fight it came out that Nog had been sick and was getting over a staph infection. It’s unfortunate that these things are leaked to the media because whether intended or not, it’s making excuses. Maybe Nog was indeed banged up, but he took the fight, and when you take the fight, it’s on you. Mir was understandably perturbed at the excuses. It impugns his win.
So now they’re going to do it again on September 25th. The fight makes perfect sense. Neither of these guys is going to get very far in a neo-heavyweight division being terrorized by space monsters with All-American wrestling credentials. When Shane Carwin is only the second best fighter in a division, it’s for real. So why not have the experienced veterans fight each other. Mir has already been demolished by Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, while Nog got taken to the new school by Cain Velasquez.
Ken Shamrock Gets Kicked to Yet Another Loss
By Gan on Jul 18, 2010 at 7:42am
Not that you would know it from the marketing blitz that Impact FC put on, but once again from Australia there was an event last night with some very recognizable names on it. Only problem was, once again, those names were matched up against guys no one has ever heard of. Aged veterans Ken Shamrock and Pedro Rizzo headlined the card.
Rizzo did as Rizzo does. He kicked Kenny's leg, over and over and over until Shamrock couldn't continue. Shamrock simply has nothing left as a fighter. It's a lot of fun to break Ken's stones because he makes it so damn easy, but it is sad to see a legend of the sport make a spectacle of himself like this just for a paycheck. You know Ken, you can do something else for a living. It's not written into the rule book that Ken Shamrock has to continue fighting until someone finally finishes him off for good with the dreaded Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. Enjoy the quiet life Ken. Get a regular 9-5 and live like the rest of us slobs. I know you'll miss the bright lights, big bucks, and easy booty that the world-wide fame of headlining obscure cards in Australia provides, but it's over man. It's over.
In other notable action, Paul Daley defeated Daniel Acacio via 3rd round TKO. Talk about your fall from grace. Daley went from fighting in a title eliminator fight on MMA's biggest stage to fighting a guy battling to get ranked in the Top 40 on a card that likely no one but the hardest of the hardcore fans saw. For the record, at a price tag of $29.99 I opted to catch the action on YouTube this morning.
MMA's biggest psycho, Paulo Fihlo, went up against MMA's most overrated fighter, Denis Kang, to decide once and for all who the more irrelevant fighter is. The verdict: Draw--both men are equally irrelevant.
Ninja Rua continued his quest to fight on every minor league MMA promotion in the world by submitting Jeremy May in the 1st round.
Last, and probably least, Jesse "Mongo" Taylor ground out former UFC Middleweight Champion Murilo Bustamante when after a stand up by John McCarthy Murilo signaled that he could no longer fight. Murilo hadn't fought in three years. I guess he needed to see for sure if he was really done. He was.
So now that Impact got a couple quick shows out of the way and established themselves as a competent organization, hopefully next time they'll put together some fights that actually mean something or are at the very least interesting.
Butterbean Gets Raw on Pudski
By Gan on Jul 16, 2010 at 6:30am
Butterbean has two goals in his immediate future: build his MMA promotion Moosin into a successful business, and eat himself into the Jabba The Hut role in the next Star Wars film. Ok, that’s not really his second goal. His second goal is to piss off the strongest dude in the world, Marius Pudzianowski, to set up a big money fight between himself and the muscled Pole. After watching Tim Sylvia batter Pudksi, the Bean is probably fairly certain he could beat his ass with little trouble. So maybe that Sylvia/Pudksi fight was an experiment so Bean could see if Pudski posed any threat to him. Hmm, I never knew the Bean was so crafty. Here’s what the incredibly big fellow had to say:
“I know he allegedly broke his foot in the fight against Sylvia, but he didn’t show anything before he quit. Pudzianowsli has no stand-up and as strong as he is, he punches like a girl. All he does is throw arm punches. He needs a lot of help. He’s the 5-time World’s Strongest Man but hits like a 130-pounder, not a strong man weighs 270 pounds.”
Shields Signs with UFC
By Gan on Jul 16, 2010 at 6:37am
Strikeforce Gets All Kinds of WWE on Us
By Gan on Jul 15, 2010 at 7:16am
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker says he is actively trying to sign popular professional wrestler Dave Batista, a 41 year old dude with a history of injuries. They would like his first MMA fight to be against fellow WWE convert and physical freakjob Bobby Lashley. They also have designs to feature that fight as their main event for their first pay per view event. WTF? Coker said of the potential match-up, “Absolutely. That’s a pay per view fight.” Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou couldn’t agree more, saying “That’s not a free television bout. That’s a pay per view fight.”
Am I missing something here? Why is this fight between the real life version of Randy “The Ram” and Bobby Lashley, a guy who has made it abundantly clear through his actions that he has no desire to fight top MMA fighters, somehow above free television? I wouldn’t pay $9.99 to see these two evolutionary nightmares go at it. Why would anybody? Just tune into Monday Night Raw and you’ll get the same shit for nothing.
Coker is desperate to get on pay per view, and he’s apparently willing to sacrifice the reputation he’s built up as a legitimate MMA promoter to get there. If he wants to do a pay per view he should stack the card with legitimate, popular MMA talent, and then throw these guys somewhere on the main card. No harm, no foul. But putting two rookies, one completely unproven, atop real fighters is downright insulting and gives the entire idea a circus-like feel.
I understand the business aspect of it. This is sporting entertainment. They need to sell. But it’s also a legitimate sport, and if Coker cannot figure out a way to sell it as it is he should just get into the wrestling business. Putting two WWE guys against each other in the main event is cheap, and compromises the integrity of the sport. It’s the same path that the now defunct EliteXC followed by banking on Kimbo Slice. You need draws, but you need legitimacy as well. Strikeforce has both. For now.
The move to pay per view is a big one for Strikeforce, and it requires precision delicacy. There’s no guarentee that CBS will want to be part of another event after the infamous brawl between Mayhem Miller and Team Ceasar Gracie. If that happens they’re left with Showtime, which is much more reputable than squeezing an event between 1970’s American kickboxing and Kung-Fu Theatre on the Black Belt Network, but still not a channel that a whole lot of people care about paying for. This move has make-or-break potential written all over it.
Growth is a tricky thing. There’s no shortage of companies that have seized on a wrongly perceived opportunity only to fail. A weak showing on pay per view may very well put Strikeforce under. Now they’re smarter than Affliction, who paid exorbinant fighter purses without a proven business model, but with top guys jet-setting, fighting all over the globe, and the fact that many of their best fighters are not very well known, they may not be able to construct the roster for success on pay per view. They would need at the very minimum: Gina Carano, Fedor, Cung Le, Cyborg the chick, Dan Henderson, Gilbert Melendez, Nick Diaz, et al. Bascially, they need a heavenly shower of perfect circumstances to come together at just the right time without flaw to pull this thing off. It can happen, but it’s a risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained is a slogan for the poor who took a shot and came out on top. For the already wealthy who just want more, it doesn’t apply.
James Toney Wants the Big Fella
By Gan on Jul 14, 2010 at 7:11am
James Toney is a wild man. We already know this. He likes to hit the BK after winning a big fight for a couple of Whoppers. He likes to stand in front of microphones and show off his oratory skills while one of his lackies stands behind him licking his ass. And he likes to hit people…hard. James is banking on his ability to hit people hard carrying him right to the top of the heavyweight mountain. He’s got a pretty tall order in front of him next month in Randy Couture. Even though Randy is fast approaching fifty years old, he’s still not a guy you want putting his hands on you. Now Toney says that not if, but when he knocks Randy out, he wants Brock Lesnar next. Normally I would simply dismiss this sort of nonsense as shit-talk, but I think James really means it. Here’s what he had to say:
“I couldn’t come in the UFC and fight a bum, or a tune up fight. I have to fight the best. I am the best. I wanted to fight Brock Lesnar, but unfortunately at the time he was sick. I will be boxing and UFC champion at the same time. I’m officially a two-sport athlete. After I knock out Randy Couture, I’m coming for Brock’s bitch ass next.”
Machida got ruined by Shogun but he still wants an Interim title shot - Crazy dude!
More Nauseating Interim Title Talk
By Gan on Jul 14, 2010 at 6:40am
After Rashad Evans defeated Rampage Jackson he was guaranteed a title shot against newly crowned champion Shogun Rua. But then Shogun injured his knee in training, again, and will be out until the first quarter of 2011 barring any complications in his recovery. Rashad is content to wait. But the man Shogun defeated for the belt, Lyoto Machida, thinks Rashad should face him for an interim title in the meantime.
My feelings on interim titles are well documented. In most cases, they suck. They're pointless. No one cared that Shane Carwin held some fake-ass belt when he stepped in to fight Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was the real champ. Creating that belt was pointless. It would be equally pointless in this situation. Machida needs a win before he goes fighting for any titles anyway. Shogun’s camp says he’ll be back in January. Assuming they’re a bit too optimistic in their assessment, let’s say March is a safe bet. In that case he would have been out only ten months. The UFC routinely shelves top fighters for that amount of time to film The Ultimate Fighter. There’s just no reason to create another worthless belt for a ten month period.
Toney is Fired Up
By Gan on Jul 12, 2010 at 6:23am
ays drop whatever they're doing to listen to. When he's pissed, shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit son you had best dismount your old lady, drop your baby, bounce from whatever coma-inducing meeting your in, whatever it is because he's black gold when he talks. Here's what ole James had to say:
"Give him the message, tell Dana White to excuse these nuts. I'm going to make an example out of him and his fighters. After I knock out Couture, if he wants he can get in there too. Dana White say he want to make an example out of me, I make an example out of everybody else. Dana White, I don't care what he say, he can say whatever he want to say, but his ass too scared to get in the cage. That boy don't fight in a cage. I ain't got no problem with Dana outside of fighting; me and Dana are cool. Two peas in a pod, but other than that when it comes to this fighting thing, Dana better stay behind a desk and push a pen, and don't predict nothing cause he'll lose his company doing that."
It’s very likely that Randy Couture is going to come out, plant Toney on his head, and commence to either choke him out quickly, or pound him unmercifully to make a point. But, BUT, if Toney can rock Couture and win this fight, he would not only shock the MMA world but make Dana White his bitch. We shall see.
Gan and The Justin Rios Fans
Justin Rios locking in a submission in the co-main event to win the Bantanweight title
Amateur MMA--NJ Style
By Gan on Jul 11, 2010 at 8:08am
If you were looking for bright lights and A-level production, you probably would have left disappointed. If you were looking for big names, tough shit. If you were looking for crazy fight records, yeah, not so much. Most fighters came in sporting records of 1-0, 1-1. or even 0-1. Celebrities in the crowd? Negative. But if you were looking for action, crowd energy, and some true fighting spirit, you came to the right place.
Last night at Club Abyss in Sayerville, NJ amateur promotion Evolution MMA put on a stellar fourteen fight card rife with local talent. Matt and I attended to support one of his training partners and ended up loving the entire show. The crowd was fantastic, filled with passionate, knowledgeable fans who didn't immediately start booing once the action hit the mat. UFC fans could learn a thing or two. The fighters were hungry and whether they walked away in victory or defeat, left it all in that cage. The star ring girl had a big booty and a wonderfully abundant bosom. And the beers were only $3 each, which was an important element of the event. The last UFC event I attended I could have bought myself a jacuzzi for what I spent on beer. Nice to see the smaller shows keepin' it real.
Every fighter deserves respect for the performances they put on last night, but one in particular stole the show. Saddle Brook native Justin Rios submitted Noel Arcibal in the first round of the co-main event to win the Bantanweight title. Justin is a 21 year old philosophy major who trains out of The Edge gym in Saddle Brook. His W last night puts him at 3-0 as an amateur. With a couple of black belts hanging on his wall already, and a sweet looking submission game that is rapidly improving, Justin is someone to watch out for. Justin plans on attending law school after he earns his undergraduate degree, but if he chooses to stay active in the fight game, look out.
Congratulations from all of us here at CageChatter Justin, great job!
Gan calls out Melvin Manhoef - "Mr. Manhoef give me a call I have Gan's address for you"
MMA Wrap Up
By Gan on Jul 11, 2010 at 7:31am
The American MMA scene is on hiatus for the time being, but that doesn't mean there isn't a plethora of guys beating the shit out of each other elsewhere in the world, as well as some MMA related odds and ends. Here's the skinny.
Dream 15 took place yesterday, and if you're in the same boat as I am, you have to wait until its conclusion then watch it on shitty YouTube videos because for whatever messed up reason HDNet isn't available to you. I reject, on principle, that any network in America is unavailable to me. I've long ago accepted that I cannot get an In-N-Out burger on the east coast as some form of corporate plot against democracy, but a friggin' channel? Come on man. Anyway, check out the videos if you're so inclined. Gegard Mousasi easily defeats an overweight and over-matched Jake O'Brien, Shinya Aoki reasserts himself as the top lightweight in Japan by tapping Kawajiri with a nasty Achilles lock, as if that meant something these days, and perhaps the biggest surprise of the night--Melvin Manhoef still hasn't learned how to grapple. Mel, dawg, you've been figured out man. The cat's out of the bag. You really, really, really need to learn this whole grappling thing. It's kinda an important element of the sport you participate in and make your living off of.
Also on the fight circuit, there was Impact FC from down under. It was available to no one so I feel a little better about this card. That's right, I'm one of those bitter, "if I can't have it you can't have it," "I'm taking my ball and going home assholes." What? There were some big names on the card, only problem was they were all matched against inferior opponents, but it's all good son, because these guys gotta make a living and sometimes that means pointless fights in remote locations where not even the dollar whores at pay per view wish to do business. Josh Barnett, Sokoudjou, and Karo Parisyan all emerged victorious in what would have been impressive fashion had they been fighting opponents of similar skill level. Jeff Monson continued his quest to squash the injustices of capitalism by edging a decision against his vastly over-matched opponent. And former UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Newton lost to a guy no one's ever heard of. Yeah that Carlos Newton, the one who you thought hung up the gloves years ago. Maybe he should have.
CageChatter's favorite douche-bag, Jose Canseco lost a boxing match to former baseball coach Gary Hogan, who is just a few years shy of retirement age. God I love when Canseco makes as ass our of himself publicly, and he does it often, so for that I suppose I should show the man some gratitude. But losing to a 60 year old dude, well it just doesn't get much better than that for me. Here's to hoping Canseco continues to whore himself out in pathetic public spectacles for years to come.
Matt Serra and Chris Lytle, who took part in one of the worst fights in UFC history at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale back in 2006, are in talks to do it again. You may be asking yourself, "WTF? Why would they do a rematch of such a shitty fight?" It's a legit question, but keep in mind that last time they were fighting for the contract, so they were fighting safe. Neither guy has a a style that's even in the same vicinity as safe, so I'm thinking the rematch will bring a little more action.
Strikeforce has reportedly dumped it's great idea of holding a middleweight tournament to decide who will be the man for the not so great idea of putting on a title fight that has very little legitimacy: Jacare vs Tim Kennedy. What about Dan Henderson, Robbie Lawler, Nick Diaz? Jacare is the real deal and earned a top spot. Kennedy is a serious contender and may very well give Jacare a run for his money, but he hasn't been fighting the best. Eh, the whole tournament thing was probably a dumb idea anyway. Why would they hold a tournament in there deepest division with exciting fighters like Robbie Lawler, Cung Le, Jacare, Tim Kennedy, Dan Henderson, Scott Smith, Nick Diaz, and Benji Radach when they can haphazardly throw together a stupid title fight and call it a day?
Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez have agreed to fight at UFC 121 on October 23rd. I must commend the UFC for getting the big fella back in there right away. I thought for sure they were going to wait until the end of the year event to feature Lesnar. Cain has been shelved for five months already waiting for his title shot so this is good news. If art imitates life, with MMA consisting of the martial arts, then it's possible we may see the build-up for this fight take a nasty turn. Cain sports a Brown Pride tattoo across his chest, giving props to his Mexican heritage and his family. Brock is a white bred all American dude with a disdain for Canadian socialized medicine who hunts, fishes, and probably has strong feelings about the immigration debate that is tearing this country apart. Being a jackoff who enjoys chaos and mayhem, I wouldn't mind seeing this shit get ugly. Even though Cain is a natural born American citizen, an articulate, intelligent young man who loves his country, and a humble professional athlete, that Brown Pride tattoo rubs some people the wrong way.
And last but certainly not least, our favorite psychopath menace to society, War Machine was choked out Friday night by John Alessio. It's a fitting way to cap his final fight before he begins his one year jail stint for committing pretty much every crime imaginable. So what's the over/under on how much trouble this guy gets into in the can? War can't go to McDonald's without getting into some shit. He caused a rather large melee at what has to be the happiest place in the world: a porn party. For fuck's sake, this guy just seems to have an inherent problem getting along in civilized society. He may end up loving jail, no shortage of trouble to get into in there.
Dana White Owes the D O double G
By Gan on
You’d be hard-pressed finding two men more seemingly different than Dana White and Snoop Dogg. Dana White likes long walks on the beach, launching into profanity-laden tirades on fake MMA reporters, and crushing anyone with the gall to compete with him. Snoop Doggy Dogg likes sunsets, keeping his pimp hand strong, and rollin’ down the street smokin’ indo, sippin’ on gin and juice, laid back, with his mind on his money and his money on his mind. The common denominator in this weird collaboration is that both men like to gamble. D White bets on anything from blackjack to who can do more push-ups, he or one of his hapless assistants. He’s very white and hails from the
Post Bellum: UFC 116
By Gan on
The smoke has cleared. The wounded have been tended to. The treaties have been signed. Here's what happened.
The best card of the year, and really one of the best ever, is now in the books. Technicality, brutality, submission acumen, and downright brawling were all on display Saturday night as Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin headlined a card filled with amazing fights.
Brock Lesnar proved he's the world's top heavyweight by weathering a treacherous first round storm against Shane Carwin to come back and get the submission victory, and surprisingly, on a card featuring some very impressive submissions, he won the Submission of the Night bonus. Brock was the favorite going in, but no one called a submission. I was impressed with Lesnar's resilience and his defense off his back, but he continues to show serious holes in his game. It may not matter though. He may just be too big, too powerful, too athletic. Cain Velasquez is up next, and while Cain may be the better all around fighter, he'll be giving up about thirty pounds. That's not good. What he won't do though, is gas himself out like Carwin did. Shane Carwin is the most devastating first round fighter in the game, bullying Lesnar in what could have easily been a 10-8 round, but not every fight at the top level will end in the opening stanza. By the end of the first round, Shane had punched himself out, and coming out for the second it looked like someone slipped him a roofy. He was basically a grappling dummy for Brock. The takedown he so effortlessly shrugged off earlier was gotten with ease. Brock passed guard, mounted Shane, jumped to side control and was busy securing a head and arm triangle while Shane could do nothing but stare at the lights wondering what the fuck just happened. Brock proclaimed himself a humble champion; humbled by his bout with a near career ending disease, and he showed it. Shane heads to the Wheel of Pain, tortured with the knowledge that he really should have won that fight. Brock enjoys the accolades of earning the label as the #1 heavyweight in the world.
Chris Leben showed up like the Tasmanian Devil on speed for his fight with Akiyama. The dude was jazzed up. And it paid off for him. Chris gets the big W and an extra $75k in Fight of the Night loot. He wasn’t able to do much to counter Yoshihiro Akiyama’s judo takedowns, but it didn’t matter. Chris was able to goad Akiyama into a largely stand up brawl where he excels. And when Akiyama finally tried to ride out a decision in the third by taking Chris down he didn’t have the gas to avoid a very nice triangle by Chris. Impressive performance. Leben called out Wanderlei, and I don’t know about you, but
that’s a tussle I’d like to see. Akiyama was sucking wind hardcore even as Joe Rogan tried to interview him, which along with the language interpretation was indeed a painful interview to watch. Akiyama, through no fault of his own, is overrated. The UFC had hopes he would be the Asian superstar they’ve been so desperately searching for. He’s a real solid fighter, but that gas tank issue is serious, and he’s a little small for 185. A cut to 170 may tax his tank even further, but it’s worth considering if he can get his conditioning up to snuff. Both guys collected $75k in Fight of the Night bonus cash.
Chris Lytle and Matt Brown lived up to expectations, displaying a fine battle both standing and on the ground. Lytle may benefit from using a jab every now and again instead of trying to decapitate his opponents with every single punch thrown, but the dude is a well rounded fighter, busting out submission victories in his last two fights. Brown is a good ole boy, fights like a chainsaw, but just isn’t at the level yet.
Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski the rematch didn’t fail to pick up right where the first fight left off, with both combatants coming out slinging that leather. Bonnar was finally able to harness his inner psycho and earn the second round stoppage via sheer brutality. Stephan desperately needed that. He hadn’t tasted victory since 2007, and even though he’s one of Dana White’s favorites, he was in danger of being cut. Can’t just keep losing and expect to remain employed by the UFC, even if you were half of the biggest fight in UFC history. Bonnar gets to rest well for a while. K-Sos needs to learn how to avoid a punch. The straight forward, chin up strategy is good for Fight of the Night checks, of which both men collected (two were awarded for the event), but kinda counter-productive to career longevity and advancement.
George Sotiropoulos is fast inserting himself into the title discussion. He isn’t on the cusp just yet, he’d likely need one of two more good victories, but at 6-0 in the UFC with a couple of quality wins he’s getting there. He uses a high guard to completely nullify some very serious grapplers, has good striking even if it is downright ugly, and is well conditioned. The guy is just really, really good. Kurt Pellegrino remains a mid level fighter, a tough test for anyone, but is in danger of attaining the dreaded “gatekeeper” status if he doesn’t make some changes…soon.
Brendan Schaub scored his second straight fast ass knockout by devastating Chris Tuchscherer with strikes in just over a minute. I’d like to see Brendan against a good striker to really assess where he’s at in that department. Chris, well he’ll probably survive to fight another day in the UFC, but one more loss like that and he’s a goner.
Ricardo Romero came in with some hype. He didn’t look very good as Seth Petruzelli battered him in the first round, but the dude is tough as nails, survived some very bad moments and came back for the second round submission victory in which he damaged Seth’s arm pretty good. Seth could be heard screaming and seen writhing in pain under the despotic lock of Romero. How one can snap a limb and not get Submission of the Night is beyond me. Seth needs to improve his conditioning or he is history. Expect an even better performance from Romero next time out with the Octagon jitters behind him.
Gerald Harris picked up some walking around loot by slamming Dave Branch through the canvas for Knockout of the Night.
Silver Fox BJJ –
By Matt on July 5, 2010 at 11:45pm
I am reposting a portion of our Jerry Rinaldi coverage at the ADCC from
Former
By Matt on Sep 27, 2009 at 11:45am
While most 18 to 35 year old men where riding the couch and watching football today, a local Saddle Brook, NJ resident and former Lodi High School State Wrestling Champion, Jerry Rinaldi was battling in the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) grappling competition held this year in Barcelona, Spain. The ADCC is the world’s most prestigious “Invitation Only” submission grappling tournament, it is held every two years to determine the world’s best submission grapplers in a no-gi format. The ADCC bout is a ten minute physical chess match, twenty minutes in the final, where each grappler is looking to impose a submission or choke while earning points to advance to the next battle. Only 16 competitors in each of five weight classes and “The Absolutes” are selected and invited. The ADCC carries the reputation of the most difficult submission fighting event to qualify for in the world. Jerry Rinaldi earned his invitation by winning the ADCC East Coast qualifier held at
Some of the notable submission specialists who were invited to this tournament are Former Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 contestant Vinícius Magalhães, former UFC and current Strikeforce heavyweight Fabricio Werdum, UFC mixed martial arts veteran Jeff “The Snowman” Monson, Strikeforce 145lb. female champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and ex-WEC competitor Glover Teixeira who is most known for knocking out Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in the UFC owned WEC. Some other known competitors former UFC Heavyweight Champion “who took the belt from Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture” via submission Ricco Rodriguez, and former UFC veterans Dean Lister and Márcio “Pe de Pano”
The Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) invite only grappling competition can easily be explained to most couch potatoes as this, imagine Jerry Rinaldi as Frank Dux (Jean Claude Van Damme) in Blood Sport and the ADCC is The Kumite without the punching and kicking, the ADCC calls up the biggest, baddest, submission fighters in the world and invite them to prove their skills by competing for a chance to prove their worth among the elite. Local star Jerry Rinaldi was one of the chosen few and with his invite and his success this weekend at the ADCC he has earned his “Badass” stripes.
With less than two years of submission grappling experience, Rinaldi stepped into deep waters with some serious pro combat sports veterans and just barely missed the championship. CageChatter is giving a big shout out to a true warrior and proven elite grappler Jerry Rinaldi. Below is the bracket for Rinaldi’s division and some interesting information on the men that his parents let him travel to
Congratulations Jerry we will be watching your success closely and are big fans!
Rinaldi’s Road to the Finals/99kg (-218 lbs.) Division
Men’s -99kg (-218 lbs.) Opening Round
Xande Ribeiro (Brazil) def. Ilir Latifi (Sweden) via points (2-0)
Radek Turek (Poland) def. Rafael Davies (USA) via points
Márcio Cruz (Brazil) def. Anthony Perosh (Australia) via points (3-0)
Vinícius Magalhães (Brazil) def. Rodrigo Cavaca (Brazil) via leglock
Dean Lister (USA) def. Andreas Olsen (Norway) via triangle choke
Glover Teixeira (Brazil) def. Vesa Vuori (Finland) via points (6-0)
Tomasz Szczerek (Poland) def. Ricco Rodriguez (USA) via poinits (4-0)
Gerardi Rinaldi (USA) def. Yoshiyuki Nakahashi (Japan) via points (18-0)
Men’s -99kg (-218 lbs.) Quarter-Finals
Xande Ribeiro (Brazil) def. Radek Turek (Poland) via armbar
Vinícius Magalhães (Brazil) def. Márcio Cruz (Brazil) via flying armbar
Glover Teixeira (Brazil) def. Dean Lister (USA) via points
Gerardi Rinaldi (USA) def. Tomasz Szczerek (Poland) submission via anaconda choke
Men's -99kg (-218 lbs.) Semi-Finals ** Glover Teixeira is best known for knocking out Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. He trains with Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell and is a trainer at The PIT, the gym run by the Iceman’s trainer John Hackleman.
Xande Ribeiro vs Vinny Magalhaes - Xande by points 4 - 0 OT
Gerard Rinaldi vs Glover Teixeira - Rinaldi by points 5-0 OT
Men's -99kg (-218 lbs.) Final
*Xande Ribeiro (
*Xande Ribeiro is 2 x World Absolute Champion 06, 08, 4 x World Heavy Weight Champion 04, 06, 07, 08, 1x Silver Medalist World Championship 05, 2 x Bronze Medalist Absolute Division 02, 07, Pan American 1 x Absolute Champion 01, 3 x Division Champion 02, 05, 06, 2 x Silver Medalist Absolute Division 05, 06Brazilian Nationals, 1x National Absolute Champion 04, 1 x Heavy weight Champion 04, ADCC 1 x World Submission Wrestling Heavy Weight Champion 2007, Arnold Classic 2 x Arnold Gracie World Grappling Champion, Grapplers Quest: 2 x Professional Absolute Champion 2002, 2005
“Jerry battled this monster twenty minutes and lost by 2 points”.
Fan Mail
By Gan on Jul 04, 2010 at 7:31am
Some of it is incoherent. Some incomprehensible. Some possibly criminal. Some downright creepy. But, all of it is appreciated. Fan mail gives me a woody. I seek neither riches nor fame. All I've ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work and the unconditional adulation of the people. Here's some of the more intriguing gems we've received over the past few weeks. My responses are in italics.
Hey Gan, I'm a psychology student and we're studying the rhetorical concept of ethos. I notice you use a lot of self-deprecating humor. Are you aware that it is a tell-tale sign of major depressive disorder? From Ashley at the
Ashley, thank you so much for the brilliant dime store analysis. Yes I am well aware that self-deprecating humor illuminates one's own self-esteem issues. I am also horribly aware of my own limitations, and unfortunately, self-deprecation is what I have. If I had the natural gifts of say a George Carlin, or the observational powers of a Jerry Seinfeld, I wouldn't be writing for some fuckin' low rent website now would I? Oh my, that was self-deprecating wasn't it? Why it gotta be low rent? Ultimately, we must all utilize the tool belt we were given in life. I have self-deprecation. You have the arrogance and pomposity of a college freshman who snatches phrases like "major depressive disorder" from your $170 textbooks and practices back alley psychology on people like me who leave our dysfunction on paper for your easy analysis. Bravo Ashley! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call my therapist and beg for an emergency session.
Yo guys why don't you do more heroes? You do almost all pricks. Our society is so focused on the negative. It would be nice to see someone be more positive. From Rich in
Rich, Gan here to answer your question. I do hear you. It would be nice if the news, websites, just people in general would accentuate more the beauty of this world and give all that negativity a rest. I don't know about you, but the daily kindness of my fellow man never ceases to amaze and enlighten me. Why just the other day I was riding along in my car, using all the proper turn signals, going the speed limit more or less, no cell phone glued to my ear, when I had the audacity to make a perfectly legal turn down a narrow street and force an oncoming vehicle to swerve slightly to avoid hitting me. I was met with the middle finger and some nasty words that I do not care to share at this point. Boy I'll tell ya, random acts of kindness, the patience and tolerance of others, just kinda brings a tear to the eye. No Rich, we live in a fuckin' cesspool of a world where unfortunately pricks outnumber heroes about 17 to 1, so take your kumbaya bullshit back to the camp site and leave us bitter jackoffs alone to stew in the stink of this garbage can we call a society.
Gan, why don't you quit the pontification and just write? You seem like a real loser. From Brook in
Brook, I appreciate your position, although the "loser" comment was a tad unnecessary, don't you think? I will attempt to explain why some "pontificate" as you say, and some simply write. This is the age old dilemma in journalism. In journalism school they preach objectivity, basically straight reporting free of one's own personal opinions. Pick up a newspaper, read some of the crappy articles by AP journalists, that's objective writing. Now turn to the editorial section, where reporters take more of a stand on issues. That's subjective writing, basically arguing for or against something. It's much more entertaining. Now, take that even further to something called gonzo journalism. Gonzo is a style of writing that allows the writer to tell a story as a first person narrative. It doesn't put much stock into editing. Instead, it allows profanity, total subjectivity, sarcasm, pretty much whatever to produce something raw and powerful. Now, I'm no journalist. I didn't go to journalism school. Hell I never even graduated from community college. I'm just some asshole who writes. So what that means is that I will adopt whatever-the-fuck style I damn well please. There are plenty of MMA websites out there that deal in objectivity. MMAJunkie comes to mind. It's uber-informative, doesn't miss a beat, and excruciatingly boring. I suggest you check it out Brook. You seem like a straight missionary girl, no kink, no naughtiness, no ball gags or edible undies. You'll love it.
Who do you think will get the next heavyweight title shot after Brock Lesnar smashes Shane Carwin? From Hal in
Hey Hal, hope all is well out there in the OC. Here's the deal thus far. The UFC has already said that Cain Velasquez is next in line. After demolishing Big Nog back in February, the UFC offered, and Cain accepted the title shot. The caveat is that he has to wait a while. With Brock and Shane hookin' em up July 3rd, it's likely that the winner will not be ready to fight again for a while, probably the last show of the year. They always try to stack the New Years show and no better way to do that than a heavyweight title fight. In my opinion, Cain should not have agreed to such a lengthy period of inactivity, but I get it, shit a guaranteed title shot is just too much to pass on. More than likely Cain will be sitting cageside July 3rd and will be brought into the cage after the fight to face off with the winner. Whoever it is doesn't really matter, because Cain against either of those evolutionary nightmares is another monster battle.
Well that's it for now. Please keep on writing in. I don't care if it's MMA related or whatever. If you just wanna write in to tell me I'm a douche, which seems to be getting very popular, go right ahead. Later yo.
UFC 116 Predictions
By Gan on Jul 01, 2010 at 6:27am
Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
With the new found fallibility of Fedor, this fight, by default, has become even more important. It was huge before, but now it will truly determine the #1 heavyweight in the world. We’re about to find out what happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object, and damn son it’s gonna get nasty up in there. As a card-carrying Shane Carwin nut-hugger, I am admittedly biased. But that does not mean for one second that I don’t think Brock is a beast that can slay and devour just about any man quick, fast, and in a hurry. But still, I gotta go with Shane here. I’ll give Brock the wrestling advantage, and not because it’s proven, he did have issues with a 220 pound Randy Couture, but simply because he was a champion in Division I while Shane was the man in Division II. That may mean something. It may not. So based on the law of presumption, I must go with Brock in this area. But that does not mean he will be able to toss Shane around like a little ho. It simply means he may be able to control Shane if this becomes a grappling affair. Then again, he may not. The only fight I was truly impressed with Brock in was his second fight against Frank Mir, and not because he was able to man-handle Frank--any great wrestler can plant Mir on his head, but because he fought smart, controlling Frank’s hips and head whilst pummeling him unmercifully. Conversely, every time Shane has stepped into the cage he’s impressed me, especially against Gabe Gonzaga. He had his nose shattered into a thousand pieces, was mounted by the hairy BJJ monster, and was still able to get right back up and knock Gabe’s ass out with a shoulder punch--basically a lame ass shot from the shoulder with no swagger behind it. That means he can handle adversity in the cage. Can Brock? We have no idea. He’s still so raw. When Brock touches your chin, you hide in the corner suckling your thumb trying to find your happy place like Lloyd Christmas. When Shane touches it, you go down for the dirt-nap. I believe that Shane will test Brock’s chin, and I believe Brock’s chin will fail miserably. Not to mention that Brock has a year of ring rust to contend with.
Carwin by KO.
Chris Leven vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Originally scheduled to be Wanderlie Silva vs. Akiyama, this fight took a major dump when Wandy went down with an injury. But such is the business of MMA, where training is grueling and unforgiving. Thank God there are dudes like Leben out there who will step up two weeks after they’ve just fought to take on a dangerous opponent and save the day. Leben is a wild man. His strategy offers no surprises. He wants to punch you in the face, and he wants you to punch him in the face. The reason is because he has a head like a cinder block. He will gladly take three to deliver one of his own. Not the greatest of strategies in terms of career longevity or advancement, but hot damn it’s fun to watch. He also showed some really solid takedown defense against Aaron Simpson. Chris himself said it best when he described himself as a “meat and potatoes” fighter. That’s what he is. Akiyama is a little more flashy. He likes to bang, but uses more head movement, something Leben doesn’t seem all too concerned with. He’s also shown a strong jaw, taking the best Alan Belcher had to offer. So, it’s not a stretch to say this fight will more than likely not end up on the mat. I believe Akiyama is overrated, made into an overnight star by the UFC because they wish for him to be their golden boy when they break into the Asian markets. I see Leben spoiling those plans. Standing there and going hard to the head with Leben is the sum of a poor cost/benefit analysis for a guy like Akiyama, who possess very decent stand-up skills but lacks the power to put him away. And while perhaps Akiyama has the judo skills to out-grapple Leben in what would be a downright fugly fight, the man is way too interested in how he looks and will seek to keep this a Rock-em-Sock-em-Robot affair, where he will taste some canvas at some point.
Leben by TKO.
Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
Putting these two guys in a cage together is a brilliant exercise in marketing. These lads are going to hit each other…a lot. They’re going to push forward at all times and launch scud missiles. This is kind of like what would have happened during the Cold War had cooler heads not prevailed. You don’t know who’s going to get destroyed first, but rest assured both are in for a world of hurt. Lytle, at least statistically, has earned his place as the UFC’s most exciting fighter, earning a staggering seven “Something” of the Night checks. I expect this fight to be much the same. Even if they do not win the bonus, they will put on a brutal showing. I got Lytle only because I think he’s the better banger. Brown is really good against lesser opponnets, but he hasn’t really shown us much when faced with a tall order.
Lytle by decision.
Kryzysztof Soszynski vs Stephan Bonnar
The rematch. These two guys were pummeling each other until a nasty gash on Bonnar’s face halted the action. Doctor stoppages suck, but they always set the stage for a nice rematch. Bonnar is riding a three fight losing streak and desperately needs a W. K-Sos has won seven of his last eight and looked pretty good doing it. I thought the last fight was pretty even until the stoppage. Flip a coin. I got K-Sos only because he’s tougher and meaner looking, and has lots of cool tattoos, but he really needs to stop smiling so much in the cage, makes him look more like an overgrown special needs child than a Polish-Canadian serial killer. Bonnar, well, is just a pretty decent fighter. I think the game is passing him by.
K-Sos by decision.
George Sotiropoulos vs Kurt Pellegrino
Both these guys are cruising in the victory lane right about now. Kurt has four in a row, George five. That shit ends Saturday for one of them. George was super impressive against Joe Stevenson, completely nullifying the feared grappler’s game. Kurt is a grappler too, a good one, but George seems to be heading for the top while Kurt seems incapable of advancing past the mid level. George will show Saturday night why so many Greeks are named George, because win or lose, that’s the question that’s been bothering me for years and dammit I require answers.
George by decision.
Grove Sounds Off
By Gan on Jun 30, 2010 at 7:02am
You would have thought after General McChrystal got canned for making some not so flattering comments about his bosses that people would tuck that little nugget of wisdom in their brain housing groups and maybe pluck it out from time to time when applicable. But oh no, not Kendall Grove.
"Spike TV pretty much runs everything on The Ultimate Fighter. They could be sub-leasing the UFC name, but I'm sure Dana and the UFC are getting a nice little pay check from Spike but other than that, Spike runs the thing. Dana doesn't choose who's going to be on the show, it's Spike executives."
"Even when I was on there in the earlier seasons, they were picking a couple guys with funny personalities. I'm pretty sure I got on there not because of my good looks, but because I had a pretty good personality."
"Everything is ratings to these guys. Just like that season where they shot [expletive] inside the fruit...people do that stuff. Why? Because of ratings. Is it a health violation? Yeah, but did you see the Spike TV people stop that from happening? It sells ratings and that's all they care about. They could give two [expletives] about our career."
"They just care about the six-weeks that they're shooting and get as much drama and stupidity out of us. That's all we are to them is cattle and sheep. They way they run things, they're slowly controlling us to be like that."
Kendall, oh
Fighters get sponsorship dollars dependent on many factors, one of which is how many eyeballs will see the fight? This is a Brock Lesnar headlined card. That means millions of people will be watching. That equals big dollars for not only Brock, but any fighter lucky enough to be riding his diamond encrusted coattails.
As to the issue of people speaking out, well, when it affects your pockets it's simply unsound policy. If you're a person of great principal and feel that this is somehow a free speech issue, I say grow up. This isn't a question of right or wrong. In the real world words have consequences. The general learned that. Now so did Kendall Grove.
Thanks to MMAJunkie for the scoop.
Fedor will have some time off for some Ice Cream
Post Bellum: Strikeforce Fedor vs. Werdum
By Gan on
The smoke has cleared. The wounded have been tended to. The treaties have been signed. Here’s what happened.
Saturday night’s Strikeforce event went pretty much according to script--until the end that is. No one gave Fabricio Werdum much of a chance. Even the pundits who told us to not so easily discount this guy picked Fedor to win. Apparently someone forgot to tell Werdum he was supposed to lose. That’s the beautiful thing about MMA. It doesn’t happen often, but heavy underdogs do occasionally win in this sport, and you gotta love it. So will Werdum’s win prevent me from using idiotic terms like “never,” or “no chance” ever again when making fight predictions? Hells nah, dawg! That’s the fun of picking winners. You get to say outlandish shit, and since I don’t bet money because I’m the world’s worst gambler, the only thing that gets hurt is my pride, and God knows I’ve actually gotten worse at picking winners so I’ve grown accustomed to sucking. Here’s the breakdown.
With the notable exception of Dana White, almost every other MMA observer in the world had Fedor as the #1 heavyweight going into this fight. So now does that make Fabricio Werdum the #1 heavyweight? I’m very reluctant to declare that because I do think the UFC’s Big 4 would beat him, and indeed one of them already has in devastating fashion, but fairness requires me to say yes--you beat the best, that makes you the best. Hey, when Matt Serra beat GSP he was the #1 ranked welterweight in the world. That’s just pretty much the way it goes. That’s the confusion in having the world’s best fighting outside of the world’s top promotion. Sorry. Werdum shot his stock into outer-fucking space with a beautiful 1st round triangle/armbar win over a man that has never truly been defeated. He’ll go on to face Alistair Overeem, a man he has already defeated, for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship. Werdum really threw a wrench into Strikeforce’s plans by beating Fedor, but hey such is the business of MMA. Anyone who thinks this sport is fixed has a worse business sense than I do, and mine is pretty bad. Strikeforce does not want Werdum as their champ. He’s a great fighter, but he’s not a star. Fedor is a star, a legend who would have fit much more neatly into Strikeforce’s business plan. But he got cocky, recklessly jumping right into the open guard of one of the sport’s finest grapplers. And it cost him…bigtime. Should the two ever meet a second time I would not hesitate to pick Fedor to demolish Werdum once again. But I must give Werdum his accolades. He prevailed where so many others have failed. The man is a bonafide pimp, and proved that top level jiu jitsu cannot and should not ever be discounted.
Cung Le avenged his crazy loss to Scott Smith by battering Smith around the cage once again, only this time he was able to finish the affair early in the 2nd before Smith could land one of his patented come-from-behind grand slam blows. That’s exactly what he needed to do. The longer you allow Smith to hang around the better the chance he knocks your ass out. Spinning back kicks and knees to the body are brutal, and Cung landed a few spot on, busting Smith’s insides up. I’m reminded of Mickey, who advised Rocky to not “let that bastard breathe.” Not allowing your opponent a clear passageway for oxygen to flow from the lungs to the rest of the body is a fine strategy in any combat sport, and Cung executed the plan perfectly. He’s really just a better stand-up fighter than Smith, and that’s the deciding factor. Cung earns himself a place in the middleweight tournament Strikeforce is rumored to be considering, and the same reminder that Rampage got that success in MMA requires a full time commitment. Smith gets to piss blood for a few days and seriously rethink his strategy of minimal movement.
Cyborg, as expected, demolished Jan Finney in brutal fashion, scoring the stoppage in the middle of the 2nd. Cyborg is simply a brute, a savage, and stands so far above any other known female fighter in the world that they’re going to have to recruit some jungle girl who spends her days fending off the unwanted advances of the village’s dominant males and killing lions with her bare hands for food, and then spend about six years teaching her MMA even stand a chance with Cyborg, and then only because maybe she’ll be past her prime. That or just damn the gender separation and put her in with the swords. There aint too many dudes that would fare very well against her either. Jan was game, and proved she could absorb a vicious beating, but the way Cyborg just walked through her best punches shows this is not your ordinary gal. She’s straight nasty. On a related note, I’d like to give a shout out to referee Kim Winslow, who really showed her neutral feminism by allowing Jan to take an absolutely hellacious, unnecessary beating to prove that women belong in this sport. Even the fans voiced their displeasure via booing to beg Kin to stop the fight in the 1st. Kim would have none of that soft ass, politically correct, Feminie Mystique bullshit though. She was going to show that women can take just as severe a beating as men regardless of how many of Jan’s brain cells has to pay the price. That’s commendable.
My man Pat Healy was taking it to Josh Thompson, cruising his way to a decision until Josh was able to secure a fight ending choke in the 3rd. Pat is a huge lightweight, a grinder kinda like Jon Fitch, just not nearly as good. Josh needs to work on his game, because if this fight was any indication, a rubber-match with Gil Melendez is really not too desirable at this point.
Frank Shamrock used this event as a stage to announce his retirement from fighting. They made a whole big to-do about it, even though most current MMA fans don’t even know who the fuck Frank is or why he’s significant. Listen, no one has given Frank a harder time than I have, but I’ve never not recognized his importance in the annals of the sport. Frank really was the first prototypical MMA fighter, well rounded and well conditioned, but even going out Frank was just a dick, invoking the lessons his brother Ken instilled in him that got him started in MMA, after ratting his own bro out for steroids. He also just couldn’t simply call the Werdum submission without trying to make it all about him, bragging that he knows the pain of being caught in a double submission. Coming from a cool guy like Pat Miletich, it’s informative and pertinent. Coming from a tool like Frank, it’s arrogant. Congratulations Frank on your retirement, just do us a favor and make it a complete retirement and end your horrific announcing career as well. Walk away man, it’s ok, no one will even notice.
And last but certainly not least, what analysis of Strikeforce would be complete without some commentating bashing. Mauro Renallo was his usual suck job self. Gus Johnson must have taken issue with the incessant bruising he took after the last event he called because he actually improved a little, a very little. And the continued absence of Stephen Quandros gives me hope for the future of the broadcasting team.
Leben ready to KO Sexyama
Akiyama Mans Up
By Gan on Jun 25, 2010 at 7:08am