UFC 92 Results and Thoughts

Quick Results:

• Rashad Evans defeats Forrest Griffin via TKO in Round 3 
• Frank Mir defeats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via TKO in round 2
• Quinton Jackson defeats Wanderlei Silva via KO in Round 1
• Cheick Kongo defeats Mustafa Al-Turk via TKO (Strikes) Round 1
• CB Dollaway defeats Mike Massenzio via TKO (Strikes) Round 1
• Yushin Okami defeats Dean Lister via unanimous decision
• Antoni Hardonk defeats Mike Wessel via TKO in round two
• Matt Hamill defeats Reese Andy via TKO in round two
• Brad Blackburn defeats Ryo Chonan via unanimous decision
• Pat Barry defeats Dan Evensen via TKO in round one

Fight of the Night: Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans

Knockout of the Night: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Thoughts:

• Rashad Evans in underrated.  He is a great striker with great wrestling skills.  He is a force to be reckoned with in the UFC.  He is now the UFC light heavyweight champ and maybe the best light heavyweight in the world.  He boasts wins over Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and Forrest Griffin. 
• Forrest Griffin will be back, but I do not know who he will face.  If Shogun beats Mark Coleman there could be a re-match.
• I never expected Nogueira to get beat so badly.  Mir tore him a new one.  Nog didn’t show up.  Maybe he is past his prime.  Mir looke dreally good though.  Now we get the Mir vs. Lesnar re-match.
• I didn’t expect Rampage to KO Wanderlei either.  It looks like Rampage could get a title shot.
• C.B. Dolloway looked impressive in his win over a very good Mike Massenzio.  He showed good wrestling, good striking and good submission defense.
• Cheick Kongo really impressed in his vicious TKO over Al-Turk
• You say Yushin, I say Okami.  Yushin… (Okami).  Okami is deserving number one contender now that he walked through Dean Lister
• Pat Barry has really good kicks and is a force in the heavyweight division
• Antoni Hardonk keeps winning.  He may move up some rankings
• Matt Hamill really impressed and probably knocked Reese Andy out of the UFC along with Dan Evensen, Ryo Chonan and Mike Wessel
• This event set up some good potential match-ups…

                    – Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans

                   – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture

                    – Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Barry

                    -Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar

MMA Blog’s UFC 92 Preview and Predictions

UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 is one of the best cards of the year on paper.  This card features what many consider to be 3 super fights.  This card is sure to draw a good crowd and good pay per view numbers.  Also, this will end 2008 with a bang and the outcomes of these fights will dictate many key match-ups in 2009, including Brock Lesnar’s next opponent, possibly Anderson Silva’s next opponent at 205 lbs, and possibly the next contender at 205 lbs. 

Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans

Forrest Griffin		vs.	Rashad Evans
		Nickname	Sugar
	1	MMA Blog Rank	6
	205 Lbs.	Weight Class	205 Lbs.
	16-4 (7-2 UFC)	Record	12-0-1 (7-0 UFC)

This fight will be Forrest Griffin’s first title defense and a bout between the winner of the Ultimate Fighter 1 and the winner of the Ultimate Fighter 2.   Rashad is sort of a surprise number one contender here.  He earned the title shot with his highlight reel KO of Chuck Liddell.   Evans is an undefeated fighter with a solid wrestling pedigree and very impressive striking.  Forrest Griffin is already a future UFC hall of famer and one of the biggest stars.  He relishes being the undersog.  He was the underdog against Shogun.  He was the underdog against Rampage.  Forrest works as hard as anyone in the sport.  Forrest is also known for his incredible heart.  This is a very interesting match up style wise for me.  Forrest will stand and trade, but Rashad probably has the striking advantage (just ask Chuck Liddell and Sean Salmon).  The heart and toughness advantage would go to Forrest.  The wrestling advantage would go to Rashad, but the submissions advantage would go to Forrest.  Forrest will also have a slight size and reach advantage over Rashad.  Quite honestly I think this is a bad match up for Forrest.  I look for Rashad to use his wrestling to keep the fight standing or to scramble to his feet.  I also think that he may clip Forrest with a good shot.  However, he better watch for those leg kicks which devastated Ramapge.  Forrest would have to have the conditioning advantage.  If he is smart he will want to take Rashad past round 3.  Forrest is a proverbial “cardio machine”.  We saw Forrest win against Shogun due to his cardio.  This could be the achilles heel for Evans.  I think it is highly possible he will gas and that is Forrest’s best chance at winning.  Some people speculate that Rashad could be distracted due to the recent birth of a child.  However, I think that Rashad’s training with the legendary Greg Jackson will more than cover that possible distraction.  I expect Rashad to have a great game plan.  Hidden within this fight is a match up between two great camps Evans and Team Jackson and Griffin and Xtreme Couture.  Whoever has the better game plan will win.  It may be scary to say, but I do not know if we have seen the best of either of these guys yet.  I think rashad has more raw talent, but Forrest has the heart of a champion.  With that said, I pick Rashad to win by TKO in round 3 to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion. 

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira		vs.	Frank Mir
	Minatauro	Nickname
	1	MMA Blog Rank	3
	Heavyweight	Weight Class	185 Lbs.
	31-4-1 (2-0 UFC)	Record	11-3 (9-3 UFC)

I am just gonna call this one the way I see it.  Nogueira is a legend in the sport.  He is a near consensus number 2 heavyweight in the world.  He has fought the best in the world.  He is nearly impossible to knockout or submit.  He has the best heart in MMA.  Frank Mir has had good days.  He is a former UFC heavyweight champ.  He has solid all around skills and good ground skills.  However, I do not think Mir is near the calibur of Nogueira.  The two Ultimate fighter coaches will pair off for the interim heavyweight title and a chance to fight Brock Lesnar sometime in 2009.  Nogueira holds the interim title and is the first person to be PRIDE and UFC champ.  This fight gained exposure through season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter.  Nogueira was the clear fan favorite of the coaches.  In fact, Mir may have entered the reality show as the fan favorite, but the season ended with Nogueira being by far the favorite coach and becoming endeared by fans.  At the end of the season of TUF, I posted a poll on MMABlog asking about the favorite coach and 88% of the 200 people polled said Nogueira was their favorite coach over Mir.  I say that to say that Nogueira will be a fan favorite in Mir’s hometown.  In fact I cannot think of one area where Mir will have an advantage.  I think the key is mental.  Mir has not been the same since his bike wreck.  I also get the sense that he is intimidated by Nogueira.  Many interviews Mir speaks of Nog as his hero, as a “Frankenstein”, and as nearly impossible to beat.  I think Nogueira wins by submission in round 2…maybe even round 1.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson

Wanderlei Silva		vs.	Quinton Jackson
	The Axe Murderer	Nickname	Rampage
	4	MMA Blog Rank	2
	205 Lbs.	Weight Class	205 Lbs.
	32-8-1 (2-2 UFC)	Record	28-7 (3-1 UFC)

This is the third installment of this particular fight.  Two times Wanderlei Silva has destroyed Jackson.  For those that have not see the previous two fights they are must sees, check them out here and here.  Jackson claims to be in better shape and better prepared than he has ever been.  Jackson also claims that Wanderlei is not the same guy he was in his days of dominance in PRIDE.  Jackson is coming off of a defeat to Forrest Griffin, a bizzare string of events and eventual arrest, and a change in camps which saw him move to England to train at Wolfslair.  Wanderlei is coming off of an impressive win over Keith Jardine at UFC 84.  He looks to build on that.   The winner of this fight could very well be in line for a title shot. 

        I do not know what makes this fight different than the previous two.  I have to wonder if Wanderlei does not just have Rampage’s number.  This fight will answer many questions such as: Is the difference in rules between PRIDE and UFC a big factor?  Is Wanderlei past his prime?  Is Rampage really better now than he was against Forrest?   All I know is that Rampage better avoid the clinch and the knee of Silva.  I do not see this fight going the distance.  I think that we will see this also be fight of the night.  I look for Wanderlei to win by TKO in round 2.

C.B. Dolloway vs. Mike Massenzio

C.B. Dolloway		vs.	Mike Massenzio
	The Doberman	Nickname
	27	MMA Blog Rank	28
	185 Lbs.	Weight Class	185 Lbs.
	7-1 (1-1 UFC)	Record	11-2 (1-0 UFC)

I am not going to defend the placement of this fight on the main card over Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister, but I will tell you this will be a good fight.  These guys may not be as high up the middleweight ladder as Okami and Lister and they may not have the same name recognition, but both of these guys are solid prospects. 

     C.B. Dolloway burst onto the scene in the Ultimate Fighter 7.  He was the heavy favorite throughout the whole season, but was upset in the semi-finals by Amir Sadollah.  However, he was given a second chance following the booting of Jesse Taylor.  C.B. beta Tim Credeur handily to earn a second crack at Sadollah for the TUF title.  C.B. lost int he same way to Amir int he finale.  However, he bounced back with a highlight reel submission of Jesse Taylor by way of peruvian necktie a submission that many consider a submission of the year candidate.  C.B. is an accomplished wrestler out of Arizona State University who trains at Arizona Combat Sports with other MMA stars like TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader, WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner, and WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit. 

     Mike Massenzio is 1-0 in the UFC.  He won is his UFC debut quickly over UFC vet Drew McFedries.  He sunk in a kimura forcing McFedries to tap.  Massenzio is a very good prospect who is very good on the ground.  Massenzio is one of the fighters the UFC picked up from the now defunct IFL. 

        The question for me on this one is can C.B. avoid Massenzio’s submissions.  He couldn’t avoid Amir’s.  C.B. may elect to keep the fight standing if he can.  He also may want to work some ground and pound.  A lot of people like Mike Massenzio in this fight.  However, I think C.B. is going to prove too good standing and too strong on the ground.  I pick C.B. to win by unanimous decision.

  

 

Cheick Kongo vs. Mustapha Al Turk

Cheick Kongo		vs.	Mustapha Al-Turk
		Nickname
	5	MMA Blog Rank	12
	Heavyweight	Weight Class	Heavyweight
	12-4-1 (5-2 UFC)	Record	6-3 (0-0 UFC)

This fight will be the first fight to air on the main card.  Cheick Kongo may be one the most inconsistent fighters in the UFC.  He beats Cro Cop, but eats a loss to Heath Herring.  I do think Kongo is one of the top 10-15 heavyweights out there, but he needs a big win.   Kongo wants a title shot.  He makes no bones about it.  A win here may inch him closer, but it won’t put him next in line.  He still has guys like Carwin, Gonzaga, and Couture ahead of him.  However, rumor has it that a win here could garner him a fight between former UFC fighter Jeff Monson. 

    Al Turk is the former Cage Rage hevayweight champion.  I am sure Al Turk would like to get out of here unscathed.  Either way we could see Al Turk return at UFC 95 in England against new heavyweight signee Neil Grove.  Al Turk seems to be a decent striker, but I do not know if he can hang with Kongo.

I pick Kongo by unanimous decision.

The Undercard:

Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister

Lister is a world calss grappler and jiu jitsu player.  Okami is a top 3 middleweight in the world.  Many people (including me) think Okami is deserving of a title shot.  If Okami beats Lister it will be hard to withhold a title shot from him.  There are two reasons Okami has not gotten that shot.  First, he is not very marketable.  Second, he is coming off of an injury.  He would have gotten the shot over Cote, but an injury slowed Okami.  Tehre are tons of people in line at 185 lbs. including Thales Leites, Nate Marquardt, Michael Bisping, and Demian Maia.  I believe Lister could submit Okami, but I have to pick Okami to win this by decision.

Quick Picks:

Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy – Hamill by Unanimous Decision

Brad Blackburn vs. Ryo Chonan – Blackburn by Unanimous Decision

Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessell – Hardonk by TKO

Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry – Barry by TKO

Breaking Down the UFC Heavyweight Divison

The Champion: Brock Lesnar

The Top Contender: The Winner of Mir vs. Nogueira

The Next Tier:

·         Frank Mir

·         Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

·         Gabriel Gonzaga

·         Cheick Kongo

·         Fabricio Werdum

·         Randy Couture

 

On the Rise: 

·         Cain Velasquez

·         Shane Carwin

·         Junior Dos Santos

 

Other Notables:

·         Heath Herring

·         Jake O’Brien

·         Antoni Hardonk

·         Mustafa Al Turk

·         Justin McCully

·         Eddie Sanchez

 

Scheduled Fights:

·         Eddie Sanchez vs. Justin McCully @ UFC Fight Night 16 on December 10

·         Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira @ UFC 92 on December 28 (For Interim Title)

·         Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al Turk @ UFC 92 on December 28

·         Antoni Hardonk vs. Mark Burch @ UFC 92 on December 28

·         Dan Evensen vs. Patrick Barry @ UFC 92 on December 28

·         Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellish @ UFC 94 on January 31

 

Match Ups I’d Like to See:

·         Heath Herring vs. Gabriel Gonzaga or Cain Velasquez

·         Shane Carwin vs. Junior Dos Santos

·         The loser of Mir vs. Nogueira vs. Randy Couture

 

Other Thoughts:

·         The status of Fabricio Werdum is unknown.  Rumors circulated that he was released from his UFC contract following a breakdown in contract negotiations.  Then it was reported that Werdum was not leaving the UFC.  If he stays he is a serious contender.  I hope the UFC would consider this and want to keep him around

·         The status of ProElite is uncertain, and I mention this because the UFC has the potential to sign a couple of good fighters from the EliteXC heavyweight division such as Brett Rogers and Dave Herman.  It looked like Antonio Silva will head to Sengoku and Kimbo Slice, well….who cares!

·         It is time for Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez to get more exposure and fight the best.  They are real threats to Brock’s belt. 

·         A 2009 bout between Lesnar and the winner of the Mir vs. Nogueira fight is exciting

·         We are hoping Randy Couture has a few fights left in the tank, and they probably will be at Heavyweight, but don’t expect him to fight no name fighters.

·         Not sure where Mark Coleman fits into the heavyweight picture seeing as how he will be fighting Shogun at light heavyweight

MMABlog’s Heavyweight MMA Rankings

 

Below I posted my heavyweight rankings.  My other rankings will be posted today as well.  Certainly the rankings could change a litte bit following UFC 90.  I’d love to hear your debate and arguments as these rankings are somewhat subjective.

 

Rank	Name	Organization	Next Fight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Affliction	Arlovski (#4) 1/24
2	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	UFC	Mir (#11), 12/27
3	Randy Couture	UFC	Lesnar (#16), 11/15
4	Andrei Arlovski	Affliction	Emelianenko (#1) 1/24
5	Josh Barnett	Affliction	1/24
6	Fabricio Werdum	UFC	Do Santos (NR), 10/25
7	Gabriel Gonzaga	UFC	Hendricks (NR), 11/15
8	Tim Sylvia	Afliction
9	Alistair Overeem	DREAM/Strikeforce
10	Cheick Kongo	UFC	Al Turk (NR), 12/27
11	Frank Mir	UFC	Nogueira (#2) , 12/27
12	Ben Rothwell	Affliction
13	Aleksander Emelianenko	Affliction
14	Mirko Cro Cop	DREAM
15	Sergei Kharitonov	DREAM
16	Brock Lesnar	UFC	Couture (#3), 11/15
17	Roy Nelson	Affliction
18	Cain Velasquez	UFC
19	Antonio Silva	EliteXC?
20	Shane Carwin	UFC
21	Heath Herring	UFC
22	Dave Herman	EliteXC?
23	Pedro Rizzo	Affliction?
24	Brett Rogers	EliteXC?
25	Ricco Rodriquez	EliteXC?

UFC News: Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al-Turk At UFC 92

It looks like Cain Velasquz has been forced to withdraw from his fight with Al-Turk at UFC Fight Night 16 and now the Former Cage Rage Heavyweight Champ, Al-Turk will face Frenchman heavyweight Cheick Kongo at UFC 92. This from MMAweekly.com

According to his coach and manager Alexis Demetriades, it appears that the fight is off due to injury. “We got word from Joe Silva that Velazquez has pulled out due to injury and will be undergoing knee surgery to fix it. It’s a shame as we had a strategy in place and we were all set to go.”

The announcement of Velazquez withdrawing from the fight will leave many disappointed as the fight guaranteed fireworks. All is not lost, as a replacement has been found in tough Frenchman Cheick Kongo, who is coming off a TKO win over Dan Evensen at UFC 87 in Minneapolis.

“We were offered Kongo by Joe and we accepted the fight. We were just waiting for Kongo to get his signed bout agreement back before we could confirm it,” clarified Demetriades, adding, “Everything else is the same. Mus will be fighting on the main card, on pay-per-view. It’s a good fight.”

For his part, Kongo has been in the press recently, announcing an affiliation with The Wolfslair camp in the U.K. in order to refine his training. Part of that training will no doubt be focused on developing his ground game with the excellent wrestling capabilities available in-house at the ‘lair.

The two are expected to fight on the UFC 92 main card on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas.

UFC News: Brock Lesnar to Return at UFC 91

UFC Heavyweight star Brock Lesnar is reportedly making his return to the octagon in November at UFC 91.  His opponent is not yet set, but many assume and expect that it will be Cheick Kongo.  That should be a solid match up of two big heavyweights.  Lesnar and Kongo are both comong off of wins at UFC 87.  Lesnar by far had the mroe impressive win over a more highly touted opponent in Heath Herring.  I find it hard to believe anyone would want to face Lesnar.  Kongo seems to be a good match up for Lesnar as his stand up is solid, but he is not known for his wrestling or submissions.  This card is already rumored to have a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson and potentially a fight between Wanderlei Silva and Rampage Jackson.  Wow.

My UFC 87 Thoughts and Results

Georges St. Pierre defeats Jon Fitch via Unanimous Decision

Brock Lesnar defeats Heath Herring via Unanimous Decision

Kenny Florian defeats Roger Huerta via Unanimous Decision

Demian Maia defeats Jason MacDonald via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round Three

Rob Emerson defeats Manny Gamburyan via Knockout in Round One

Tamdan McCrory defeats Luke Cummo via Unanimous Decision

Cheick Kongo defeats Dan Evensen via TKO (Strikes) in Round One

Jon Jones defeats Andre Gusmao via Unanimous Decision

Chris Wilson defeats Steve Bruno via Unanimous Decision

Ben Saunders defeats Ryan Thomas via Submission (Armbar) in Round One

* I had a good night as far as predictions go, I predicted 8 of 10 correctly. 

Submission of the Night: Demian Maia
Knockout of the Night: Rob Emerson
Fight of the Night: GSP & Jon Fitch ($60k each)

My Disappointment of the Night: Manny Gamburyan or Andre Gusmao

My Thoughts:

• The Maia McDonald fight was a great battle in round one especially.  Maia is awesome.  I am seriously a believer.  I think he is a top flight middleweight and can contend for the belt.  His submissions are sick, he showed some great ground and pound skills.  He stood toe to toe.  Maia is a real deal fighter and he will get some respect now.
• The Huerta vs. Florian fight was a good fight, but it wasn’t the fight of the year that it was billed to be.  I scored the fight 30-27 Florian as did the judges.  I believe the score doesn;t show how close the fight was, but Florian was clearly more technical and better all around.  Florian is now officially the number one contender in the UFC lightweight divison
• Who would have predicted Emerson to KO Manny in 12 seconds?  I was disappointed with that.
• Cheick Kongo is huge and I am glad his fight made it onto the card.  He looked good againt Evensen.  He is a top ten maybe top 5 heavyweight.  However, why call for the belt after you beat Dan Evensen?  Sorry Cheick get in line behind Werdum and beat someone of note.  You need some type of win streak to get a title shot. 
• Brock Lesnar silenced any doubters.  He showed he has the skills to fight, and not just fight, but to win.  And not just to win, but to win against top tier fighters.  He has a lot of areas to improve upon.  He need to improve his submission skills.  He had a dominant position countless times and did nothing with it.  That comes from his wrestling background.  He needs to learn something about keeping the mount and dropping elbows.  He is strong as an ox.  He hits hard.  Man was that first punch hard!  I thought it was funny in the countdown Herring said, “I have fought bigger, stronger, better and more accomplished wrestlers.”  He was wrong.  He has not fought a wrestler of Brock’s calibur and strength and Brock dominated him.
• I was disappointed with Lesnar’s WWE antics and unsportsman like conduct.   He shoved Herring away after round 1.  He acted like Herring at the end of the fight.  He pointed at him and laughed afterwards.  He acted like he was lasoing him.  I don’t have a problem with some of that.  I know adrenaline gets pumping and I know other fighters do things like act like the are burying a guy or the Barnett throat cut, but Lesnar needs to learn respect for his opponent. 
• Speaking of respect for opponents how about the St. Pierre vs. Fitch fight.  A possible fight of the year candidate.  Fitch was out of his league.  He looked good a few minutes during the fight, but St. Pierre dominated.  The story following this is not as much St. Pierre winning and keeping his belt as it is Fitch’s toughness.  Fitch is one tough dude.  I gained respect for him.  How about the show of class between these two after the fight?  That is why I like St. Pierre. 
• It looks like Penn vs. St. Pierre will indeed happen, hopefully in December.  Wow!  What a fight that will be. 

Mid Year MMA Awards

Best Knockout

Honorable Mention: Luis Arthur Cane KO Jason Lambert, Shane Carwin KO Christian Wellish, Murilio Rua TKO Tony Bonello, Matt Wiman KO Thiago Tavares

5. Anthony Johnson KO Tommy Speer

4. Wilson Gouveia KO Jason Lambert

3. Brian Stann KO Doug Marshall

2. James Irvin KO Houston Alexander

1. Wanderlei Silva KO Keith Jardine

Best Submission

Honorable Mention: Antonio Nogueira submits Tim Sylvia by Guillotine, Yoshiyuki Yoshida submits Jon Koppenhaver by Anaconda choke, Nate Diaz submits Kurt Pellegrino, Cole Miller Submits Jorge Gurgel by Triangle Choke

5. Demian Mia Submits Ed Herman by Triangle Choke

4. Frank Mir Submits Brock Lesnar by Kneebar

3. Rousimar Palhares Submits Ivan Salaverry by Armbar

2. Dustin Hazelett Submits Josh Burkman by Armbar

1. Shinya Aoki Submits Katsuhiko Nagata by Aokiplata

Best Fight

Honorable Mention: Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias Calvancante, Cung Le vs. Frank Shamrock

5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Tim Sylvia

4. Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver

3. Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith

2. Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin

1. Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda

Best Fight Card

5. WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver

4. UFC 80: Rapid Fire

3. UFC 81: Breaking Point

2. DREAM 4

1. UFC 84: Ill Will

Upset of The Year:

Honorable Mention: Jason Day over Alan Belcher,

5. Thiago Alves over Karo Parisyan

4. Kevin Burns over Roan Carneiro

3. Fabricio Werdum over Gabriel Gonzaga

2. Josh Thomson over Gilbert Melendez

1. Forrest Griffin over Quinton Jackson

Fighter Of The Year:

Honorable Mention: Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Michael Bisping, Georges St. Pierre, Diego Sanchez

5. Miguel Torres

4. Forrest Griffin

3. Thiago Alves

2. Shinya Aoki

1. B.J. Penn (2 Impressive wins over Sean Sherk and Joe Stevenson)

Best UFC Newcomer:

Honorable Mention: Shane Carwin, Brock Lesnar

5. Rousimar Palhares

4. Dong Hyun Kim

3. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

2. Goran Reljic

1. Cain Velasquez

Worst Calls By A Ref. or Judges

5. Forrest Griffin over Quinton Jackson –  Not just that Forrest got the win, but that it was unanimous.  Many, including me scored the fight either a draw or to Jackson

4. Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum- Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight in round 1 when Werdum was mounted on Vera throwing down punches.  There was just 10 seconds remaining and Vera seemed to be defending himself well. 

3. Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites — Leites got the win, but lost the fight.  He lost the fight due to two points taken away from Marquardt.  One point was justified, but the other was due to elbow to the back of the ehad that wasn’t to the back of the head.  I will confess, that another point could have fairly been deducted for an illegal slam, but I hated to see Marquardt get a loss on his record that I feel he won

2. Phantom split decisions — How was Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove a split deicsion?  How was Heath Herring vs Cheick Kongo a split decision?  The right person got the decision, but how was it split?

1. Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson – Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight in the 3rd round while Thompson was still standing and failed to stop it when Thompson was mounted on Kimbo raining down elbows

UFC News: Heath Herring vs. Brock Lesnar

When the UFC announced Brock Lesnar’s next opponent as Mark Coleman, I thought it was the UFC’s attempt to get a win for Lesnar over a proven fighter, but one he could beat because he was past his prime.  Lesnar needs that win to earn the respect.  I think Brock will be a great fighter as he is a great athlete.  In my opinion, they put him in against a top guy to quickly.   He almost pulled out a win against Mir.  He needs a guy he can take down and ground and pound.  Coleman is out with a knee injury, so he was going to replace him?  I predicted it would be Justin McCully.  However, it looks to be Heath Herring.  There is good and bad to this math up.  The bad: Heath Herring is experienced and has fought the best of the best in his career, Herring is tough and can hang with top guys.  Herring nearly beat Nogueira and he beat Kongo.  We will see how Lesnar does taking a kick and a punch.  Herring seems to be renewed andlooked great against Kongo.  The good:  Herring is a good fighter and a win catapolts him into a state of being legit.  If he can get Herring down and get on him and beat him I think he will win.  This is interesting.  Brock needs a win here.  The other good is Brock will nearly always be much, much bigger than his opponent and will out wrestle anyone.  Good match up I think if it holds true. 

    This is shaping to be a good card.  I expect one more televised card worthy fight to be added.  That would mean we would have St. Pierre vs. Fitch.  Lesnar vs. Herring.  Huerta vs. Florian and one more good bout at least. 

MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that Heath Herring has agreed to fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 87 on Aug. 9 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship makes its debut in Minneapolis, Minn.

Lesnar was originally slated to face UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in the main event of UFC 87. Coleman, however, suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in training, which will sideline him for at least six weeks. He was forced to withdraw from the bout with Lesnar due to the injury.

Herring has been on a roller coaster ride since his UFC debut in January of 2007. The former Pride heavyweight title contender has gone 2-2 in the Octagon, most recently defeating Cheick Kongo at UFC 82 in Columbus, Ohio.

I disagree with MMAweekly, where they said on their site that Lesnar had a “less than stellar performance against Mir”.  I think Lesnar looked great. he just got caught.  He was beating Mir badly and even through a loss showed he is for real.  With some more training he will be a force.  I think of him as one of the up and coming guys in the UFC Heavyweight divison.  The fight with Herring is important. 

Tournaments in the UFC

What if UFC had a 16 man tournament.  In other words a little bigegr version of what DREAM is doing with lightweights and middleweights.  A tournament would doa  lot of good things.  It would give an underdog the chance to win and fight the top dog.  You would have to have some type of ranking to do it and seed the guys like with the NCAA basketball tournament.  It would ease match making.  It would give exciting fights and intriguing possibilites.  Can you imagine all the possible scenarios of what could happen and who could fight one another?  I bet guys would fight passionatley.  There would be upsets.  So…I played around and came up with this…I took my 16 top guys in each class and made a bracket.  The fight one winner will fight the fight 2 winner and so on…

Lightweight:

Round One Match ups:

B.J. Penn vs. Rich Clementi

Clay Guida vs. Gray Maynard

Marcus Aurelio vs. Frank Edgar

Kenny Florian vs. Manny Gamburyan

Sean Sherk vs. Spencer Fisher

Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson

Joe Lauzon vs. Tyson Griffin

Roger Huerta vs. Mac Danzig

Welterweight:

Georges St. Pierre vs. Chris Lytle

Thiago Alves vs. Mike Swick

Karo Parisyan vs. Matt Serra

Josh Koscheck vs. Ryo Chonan

Jon Fitch vs. Roan Carneiro

Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fiorvanti

Marcus Davis vs. Akihiro Gono

Matt Hughes vs. Chris Wilson

Middleweight:

Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites

Martin Kampmann vs. Nate Quarry

Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida

Yushin Okami vs. Demian Maia

Rich Franklin vs. Evan Tanner

Nate Marquardt vs. Jason MacDonald

Chris Leben vs. Michael Bisping

Dan Henderson vs. Jorge Rivera

Light Heavyweight:

Quinton Jackson vs. Goran Reljic

Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Matt Hammil

Wanderlei Silva vs. Sokoudjou

Chuck Liddell vs. Houston Alexander

Keith Jardine vs. Jame Irvin

Forrest Griffin vs. Wilson Gouveia

Thiago Silva vs. Rashad Evans

Lyoto Machida vs. Stephan Bonnar

Heavyweight:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Dan Evenson

Cheick Kongo vs. Eddie Sanchez

Heath Herring vs. Cain Velasquez

Frank Mir vs. Christian Wellish

Fabricio Werdum vs. Antoni Hardonk

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin

Brock Lesnar vs. Justin McCully

Brandon Vera vs. Neil Wain

 

This all could make some interesting match-ups.  What you would do would be take all five divisons and make 5 fight cards with 8 fights each.  You could split them up or have a “lightweight card”.  5 cards would finish round one.  Then you could have two 10 fight card and that would finish round two.  Then you could have another card that would do the semi-final match ups and another card for the championships.  Try making an un-televised undercard out of any of these fights.  That would be awesome.  Of course you could put more thought into match ups and potential second and third round “dream match up” in where you placed fighters, but it is a great idea.  The one flaw is that if the UFC had one card a month this tournament would take 9 months to finish and that would keep a lot of fighters from fighting in that time.  I guess you could break it up and have non-tournament fights mixed in there too.  Just food for thought…

UFC’s Best Divison

I went to HDnet’s fighter rankings and based this on which UFC weight divisons had the most top 20 fighters.  I know there are other ways to judge the best, but this is interesting…

1. Light Heavyweights –  They are stacked in the UFC.  This is where the light heavyweight competition lies.  They have the top 11 (Jackson, Henderson, Griffin, Liddell, Jardine, Machida, Wanderlei, Evans, Thiago Silva, and Sokodjou) guys in the world and 20 of the top 25 guys.  This is a great divison, full of star power.

2. Welterweights – They have 10 of the top 20 (St. Pierre, Fitch, Hughes, Serra, Koscheck, Sanchez, Alves, Parisyan, Davis and Gono), but 8 of the world’s top ten.  They have a near top ten monopoly only missing out on Shields and Condit.  I feel that there are other UFC guys to mention in top 20 talk (Chris Wilson and Chris Lytle), but the divison is strong and has the top tier welterweights in the world.

3. Lightweights – In most rankings the UFC gets cheated in the lightweight divison.  The system I used ranked 8 of their guys as top 20 in the world (Penn, Sherk, Huerta, Stevenson, Florian, Guida, Tyson Griffin, and Gray Maynard).  I know some of those other guys are good, but they are overrated.  Gomi can’t beat UFC guys.  Nick Diaz, B.J. Penn and Marcus Aurelo all beat him.  Aoki, Melendez, Calvancanti and bunch are unproven in my opinion against top guys.  Plus I feel some guys unfairly got left out of rankings.  Where is Marcu Aurelio?  FranK Edgar?  or Joe Lauzon?  or even Nate Diaz?  You mean to tell me Edgar is not a top 20?  This divison is stacked and has more contenders than any UFC divison.  DREAM does have some great lightweights.  I’d love to see a fight card of UFC’s top lightweights against DREAM’s top lightweights.  I think UFC would win easily.

4. Middleweights – They have 7 of the top 20 fighters in the world at this divison (Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Dan Hemderson, Marquardt, Okami, Bisping and Leites.  I put this above heavyweights first of all because I believe there are some guys that could be in the top 20 mix (Quarry, MacDonald, Leben, Cote, Kampmann and Almeida). It still is weak, not because it isn’t deep, but because they can’t find anyone to compete with Anderson Silva.  Anderson Silva is the second reason I put this divison above Heavyweights…enough said.

5. Heavyweights –  They also have 7 of the top 20 fighters in the world at Heavyweight  (Nogueira, Werdum, Gonzaga, Kongo, Vera, Mir and Herring).  Only 3 of those guys are top ten in the world.  All this assumed Arlovski signs with Affiction.  If that happens Affliction will have 6 of the top ten (Fedor, Sylvia, Barnett, Rothwell, Arlovski and Aleksander Emelianenko) plus Pedro Rizzo.  This is a weak divison for the UFC, but they do have some good prospects in Carwin, Lesnar and Velasquez.  This divison was once strong, but since has lost Couture, Cro Cop, Sylvia, Arlovski, and O’Brien.

The UFC Heavyweight Title

There is a huge mess for the UFC heavyweight title.  Right now Randy Couture is still the UFC Heavyweight champ, but he says he is not coming back.  All the litigation and the news of him signing with HDNet fights and Mark Cuban seems to verify that.  Therefore, the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champ is Antonio Rodrgio Nogueira.  It is reported that Randy Couture has been offered the fight with Nogueira.  I don’t know why he would take it.  I would say there could be a few motivating factors to accept the fight for Randy.  First would be to get the UFC off his back and fulfill his contract.  Second,  many people rank Randy as the third best heavyweight behind Fedor and Nogueira.  If he really is concerned about fighting the best he could prove himself against Nogueira.  Third, the Fedor fight is still possible in the UFC.  With the news of Fedor becoming a free agent, the UFC could sign him.  If the UFC signs him I look for Randy to have two more fights.  One with Nogueira and one with Fedor. What a way to end his career.  A much better ending than the chaos and controversy of lawsuits.  He could end his career beating the number one and number 2 guys in the world to solify himself as the best. 

   Previously, Dana White indicated that Fabricio Werdum was next in line for a title shot.  At first it sounded maybe one win premature.  However, if you run through the division who else will it be?  Arlovski’s contract is over.  Tim Sylvia just lost to Nogueira.  Kongo was the apparent other option, but he just loss to Herring.  Vera is coming off a loss.  Mir is still a few fights away from the title shot. Therefore Werdum seemed like a decent option.  However, werdum is going to fight Brandon Vera this summer.  The winner will be a contender.  I would assume that before that fight the UFC will book a fight for Nogueira.  Since Werdum is fighting someone else that only leaves me to conclude the UFC has someone else in mind.  They could have counted on Kongo, but his loss blew that.  I think that leaves just four options…

1. Randy Couture could fight Nogueira.  That all hinges on Fedor being signed.  This is the firsdt option for the UFC.  However, if the UFC signs Fedor and Randy first fights Nogueria, a loss would make it hard to make the Fedor vs. Randy fight work.  Fedor is bound to get a title shot right away.

2.  Andrei Arlovski could fight Nogueira.  Event hough his contract has expired and he is a free agent, he could still get the fight.  He is the best heavyweight in the UFC besides Randy and Nogueira.  However, he has to sign first.  If he signs this is a good possiblity and could come with Randy’s belt beign stripped. 

3. Fedor could sign and fight Nogueira.  We would assume Fedor would win and then Randy would be offered this fight.  That is very possible.  However, I remember when everyone planned on the Chuck vs. Wanderlai fight and Rampage messed that up. I don’t want Nogueira to spoil that fight, even thoguh I like Nogueira. 

4. Werdum could fight Nogueira.  The fight with Brandon Vera could be scratched and he could fight Nogueira if all the above doesn’t work out.  Or the UFC could hold off until Fall sometimes on any title defense in the division and Werdum could beat Vera and still be the next to fight Nogueira. 

5.  It could be someone else to fight Nogueira.  Not likely.  Who would it be?  Kongo lost.  Herring just fought and lost to Nogueira.  Sylvia just lost to Nogueira a re-match would be a horrible idea.  Gonzaga is coming off two losses.  Jake O’Brien lost.  Frank Mir is a possibility, but he still seems a fight or two away from contention.  Brock Lesnar?  Ha!  Eddie Sanchez?  Haha! Cro Cop left and went to DREAM for now.  Another guy not currently in the UFC?  Who?  It won’t be Josh Barnett.  It won’t be the other Emelianenko.  It won’t be someone like Kimbo…yet.  It won’t be Ricco Rodriguez.  It won’t be Ben Rothwell.   That exhausts the MMA heavyweights….

The bottom line is the only realistic options are Randy, Fedor, or Werdum, with Vera and Mir standing on the outside looking in.

The Impact of UFC 82

I believe that UFC 82 had a much greater impact that some will see right away.  Let us look at some of the impacts and break it down…

1. Many of the top tier welterweights competed and won their fights (Fitch, Koscheck and Sanchez)

2.  Jon Fitch established himself as the next guy to get a title shot, sorry Karo. 

3. The Heavyweight divison lost a contender in Checik Kongo.  Kongo dropped in the rankings following his loss to Herring.  Previously Kongo was in line for a title shot if he had pulled off a win.

4.  The title in the Heavyweight divison is a mess.  You still have Randy Couture.  You have Nogueira and the Interim Champ.  Initially, Dana White suggested that Fabricio Werdum was in line to get the next title shot after his win over Gabriel Gonzaga.  However, it appears Werdum will fight Brandon Vera this summer.  I doubt they could hold off a title defense until after the outcome of that fight.  I believe the UFC expected Kongo to win and get the title shot.  I will write more on this later. 

5.  Anderson Silva solidified himself as the top pound for pound fighter in the world and caused everyone to wonder if anyone can ever take his middleweight belt.  If anyone was to beat him I thought it would be Dan Henderson.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Dan fought badly, I just think Anderson is that good.  I believe the UFC is now forced to find another contender.  It looks like Yushin Okami will get the next shot, and I believe it is well deserved.  However, if Silva beats Okami he has literally cleaned out the top of the divison, who will contend Cote? Bisping? Kampmann?  The UFC can either let him walk through the three or four other guys he has yet to beat or they can sign a top tier guy to challenge him.  I see only two options: Matt Lindaland and Paulo Filho.  Or someone can drop down from light heavyweight (Wanderlai) or go up from welterweight (St. Pierre or Hughes). 

5. Evan Tanner’s comeback was halted.  Can he compete in the UFC? Yes.  Can he re-gain hsi title?  I doubt it.  Okami by the way looked very good and I believe is very underrated.  I don’t think Anderson Silva will walk over him and he deserves the next title shot. 

My UFC 82 Predictions

 John Halverson vs. Jorge Gurgel

Jorge Gurgel is tough.  I think Gurgel is an excellent fighter and is good ont he ground.  I think Gurgel will win by submission in round two. 

Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fiorvanti 

Luigi Fiorvanti is a hard hitting crowd favorite. I don’t think he is a top tier guy, but I think he is going to KO Luke Cummo in the second round. 

Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden 

Diego has lost two in a row.  He chose not to drop to lightweight, which I think is a good decision for him, however if he looses here he better drop.  I doubt he will loose.  He should win this fight and I think he will win it easily.  He will win via ref stoppage in round one.  Again, sometimes fighters overlook guys, but this seems to be a fight the UFC set up to get Diego back on track. 

Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett 

Josh Koscheck has looked good in every fight he has been in except the St. Pierre fight.  This is a tough fight for him coming off a loss.  Hazelett is no push over.  He has a lot riding on this fight.  If he wins he climbs the ladder.  Hazelett is coming off a win vs. Goulet.  While Dustin is a good fighter I would be hard pressed to pick against Koscheck.  I pick Josh Koscheck by a rear naked choke late in the second round. 

Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien 

This fight is main card worthy.  Arlovski has not looked great lately.  Jake O’Brien hasn’t fought for a while.  I think O’Brien is better than people give him credit for an he is a legit top ten heavyweight.  He has a great record.  However, Arlovski is a former champ.  The question for him is whether or not he cares about winning.  Has he trained hard or is he just fighting here to fulfill his contract?  Is he wanting to leave with a bang?  Is he wanting to convince the UFC that he is worth big bucks in a new contract?  Is he trying to market himself to another organization?  Does he want a quick KO so the fight may get on the televised card?  If I knew those answers I could pick this fight better.  Because Arlovski cannot just coast through this fight.  I am tempted to pick O’Brien, however it is tough to pick against Arlovski.  O’Brien beat Heath Herring in his last fight.  I don’t know how he will look with over a year off.  I am still going to pick Arlovski although a O’Brien win would not shock me and would be great for him.  If Arlovski plans on staying in the UFC I hope he wins.  He will get the next title shot.  If he plans on leaving I hope he gets KO’d. 

Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara

This is going to be a war.  I doubt it wil last past one round.  Both guys love to strike. Leben showed a lot in his win against Terry Martin.  He was rocked when he KO’s Martin.  Leben is tough.  This fight is tough to pick because it will come down to who gets rocked first and while there is some skill involved I think there is a lot of luck.  I do not think leben is as good as he or many others think, however he is heavy handed.  Sakara has fought bigger and stronger guys than Leben.  I know that Leben will be the favorite, but there has to be an upset somewhere, so I am going to pick Alessio Sakara via second round KO.

Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson

Don’t overlook Chris Wilson in this fight.  I hear rumblings about how good he is.  A win here and Jon Fitch will get a title shot.  Karo Parisyan has to be rooting for Chris Wilson because the only way he gets the nest title shot is a Fitch loss.  It could happen.  I am close to picking Wilson in the upset.  The UFC could use another good welterweight fighter.  However, I cannot pick an unproven fighter over a proven fighter.  I like Jon Fitch and think he will win this fight by split decison.  In loosing I also think Wilson will solidfy himself as a top ten fighter in the UFC’s welterweight divison. 

Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner

The bottom line with this fight is that there are too many unknowns.  How will Evan Tanner do after such a long lay off?  I do not know why he is being thrown in against a top 5 middleweight fighter.  Okami is big and strong.  I think you can bet on a slow paced fight that Okami will control.  He could even capitalize on a mistake Tanner makes.  If Evan Tanner comes out liekt he Evan of old he could win, but he better win early.  The longer this match goes the more it favors Okami.  I predict Tanner will look rusty at best and Okami will get on him and control him for three rounds.  I will pick Okami by unanimous decison. 

 Cheick Kongo vs. Heath Herring

Heath Herring looks refocused.  Cheick Kongo beat Cro Cop.  The question I want answered here is whether or not Kongo can consistently beat top tier fighters.  There is much talk that the next title fight will not be Werdum, but Kongo if he wins here.  Regardless I do not think Kongo is ready for a title shot, but because of the way things have happened he is in the mix with a win.  Heath Herring hit Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira hard and nearly beat him.  The ref could have stopped that fight.   Heath Herring may be a top ten UFC Heavyweight, but I do not think he can beat Kongo.  Checik is so huge and strong that will pose a problem.  I look for Checik Kongo to win via strikes in the first round. 

Dan Henderson vs. Anderson Silva 

On paper this match is one of the best fights you could imagine.  Of course how it plays out in the octagon is a different story.  I believe this fight will live up to hype.  Dan Henderson will be the toughest match up for Anderson Silva in the UFC.  Rich Franklin is a great fighter, but his style seemed perfect for Anderson to walk through.  Dan Henderson is a different story.  Dan Henderson is tough, I mean never been knocked out tough.  He has fought the best fighters in the world, so he has the experience.  Dan Henderson is great in the clinch.  He is a good wrestler and a good ground and pound guy.  However, Anderson Silva can kick hard and he can submit a guy.  This is a tough fight to predict.  I really like Anderson Silva.  He is a class act.  He is tough to beat.  This fight is pivotal for the UFC.  If Anderson Silva wins this fight the UFC will be forced to go out and sign someone else like Fliho, Lindland, Lawler or Jason “Mayhem” Miller.  If Dan Henderson wins this fight I look for Wanderlai Silva to drop down and seek revenge for Dan beating him and taking his belt.  Of course the is a  tough fight to pick because you never know how the fight will go.  I will pick Dan Henderson by third round stoppage.   I do not see Anderson knocking Dan out.  His one chance I see is to submit him a la Travis Lutter.  I will pick Dan because I need to pick someone, but I do not know how anyone can really bet against Anderson Silva.  If he wins he is unstoppable. 

The Collapse of the UFC’s Heavyweight Divison

It all began after Randy Couture beat Gabriel Gonzaga.  Everything was looking promising for the UFC’s heavyweight divison.  The divison has the most popular of the title holders and had many contenders lined up.  Then out of nowhere Randy Couture left the UFC and the feud began with Dana White.  Randy didn’t care to fight anyone the UFC had, he wanted Fedor.  When Fedor decided to sign with M1 over the UFC it lead to a collapse that is still making ripples.  The UFC was once strong, but now guys like Brandon Vera, Frank Mir, Cheick Kongo and Eddie Sanchez are becoming the top contenders.  Why?  It is because of the collapse. 

          The UFC lost its star and champ in Randy Couture.  They missed out on the best in all MMA in Fedor Emelianenko.  Andrei Arlovski, the former champ and who many consider to be a top 3 heavyweight is disgruntled and seems to be on his way out of the UFC following his fight with Jake O’Brien.   Mirko Cro Cop, who at one time was the most feared fighter in MMA has lost two in a row and Dana is giving him an ultimatum.  He may fight once more in the UFC and finish his contract, but after that I can’t imagine Cro Cop in the UFC.   It is now reported that Tim Sylvia may be looking elsewhere after he finishes his contract.  He wants more money.  He is frustrated that an unproven guy like Brock Lesnar would make more than he does.  I can’t blame him.  All the problems that have come hinge from three things, which I believe are colossal mistakes by the UFC and Dana White. 1. The failure to sign Fedor 2. The rift between Randy Couture and the UFC 3. The failure to pay some fighters what they feel they deserve and the marketing of unamed and unproven guys like Lesnar.  Arguablly the biggest heavyweight names is the UFC are Arlovski, Couture, Sylvia and Cro Cop and they want out, mostly because of pay issues.  It looks like the UFC messed with the wrong guy when the messed with Captain America.  Dana White has never been one to back down, but this time it has bit him in the butt.  They not only failed to work things out with Couture, but they have attempted to hurt him.  They are suing him, forcing commentators to say little about him, and banning Affliction sponsorship.   They messed up when they failed to sign Fedor and even more so messed up when they rejected M1’s offer to work the fight out between Fedor and Randy.  Well, now we see the collapse of the UFC.  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a great champ regardless, but who is left.  It looks like Werdum is now the number one contender.  The You have Cheick Kongo and Frak Mir.  Then you have others good fighters like Brandon Vera, Jake O’Brien and Heath Herring.  You have a potential star in Lesnar, but when Eddie Sanchez makes it into the top ten of the heavyweight divison you know the divison has gotten weak.  The UFC better do a few things.  First, it better reconcole with Randy Couture.  Second, they better pay proven fighters better.  Third, they better get another couple good heavyweights, because with the departure of Arlovski, Cro Cop and maybe Sylvia M1 could become deep at Heavyweight and UFC weak.  I would go get a big name guy if I was Dana, like Josh Barnett or even Kimbo Slice, but he keeps burning those bridges.  The ball is in your court Dana!