Category: Mixed Martial Arts

I will be attending UFC 81 in person in Las Vegas this weekend. Incidentally it’s Superbowl weekend, so Vegas will be filled with sports betters and fight fans. Headlining the event are two fights; Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar and Tim Sylvia vs. Rodrigo Nogueira.

Ever since Frank Mir’s motorcycle accident he has not been himself in any of his last few fights. He’s 2 for 2 in his last four fights and those wins came from non-ranked fighters. Brock Lesnar is more famous for his Pro Wrestling days, and he only has one MMA fight under his belt. We have yet to see his talent as a fighter. On paper Frank Mir is a sure win against the Pro Wrestling juggernaut. But don’t count Lesnar out too quickly. Lesnar is a four-time all american collegiate wrestler. So with a solid wrestling background and a mountain of muscle it’s going to give Mir a tough time in the cage.

UFC’s Heavyweight division is so thin that about half of Syliva’s fights are either for the number 1 contender spot or a title shot. It’s kind of ridiculous. Hopefully Lesnar can shuffle the division up a bit. The Sylvia/Nog fight is a fight I’m looking forward to watch. Sylvia likes to stand and box and Nog has one of the slickest ground game in the heavyweight division, but he is not afraid to stand toe to toe, but we’re going to have to wait and see what kind of gameplay Nog will bring to the cage

My picks:

-Headliners-
I see Brock Lesnar beating Mir via ref stoppage. Mir is going to have a hard time controlling Lesnar’s strength. The only way Mir can win is to get a quick submission or somehow tire Lesnar out and put him in a choke.

Sylvia will beat Nog by decision. Nog doesn’t have the cage experience on the level of Sylvia. Nog will try to stand, but he will be flustered by Syliva’s longer reach. Even though Nog has faced tougher competition those epic battles have put so much wear and tear on his body that if he wants to beat Syliva he as to come in the cage with a game plan that Sylvia has never faced.

-Undercards-
Nate Marquardt beats Jeremy Horn
Ricardo Almieda beats Rob Yundt
Tyson Griffin beats Gleison Tibau
Chris Lytle beats Kyle Bradley
Terry Martin beats Marvin Eastman
David Heath beats Tim Boetsch
Keita Nakamura beats Rob Emerson

The biggest boxing match of the decade is happening tonight at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton. Both fighters are undefeated. Mayweather, the outspoken, brash and overwhelming confident fighter will try to use his speed and technique to stop the British slugger. This fight will be exciting. Not because of the big attraction, but their contrasting styles of boxing. Mayweather is the favorite, but I see Hatton pulling out the win with his relentless pressure and powerful body shots.

The Ultimate Fighter Finale is tonight. The finalist; Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer will be fighting for the six-figure UFC contract. Ironically, Danzig and Speer were the only team mates on the Hughes team to win also made it to the finals. Headlining the event is the Roger Huerta and Clay Guida fight. Both fighters are known for their fast-paced fights. Clay Guida have been in battles with some top fighters making him the more experienced fighter. Huerta an up and coming fighter who has racked up a string of wins and beating his oppenent convincingly has built a large fan base.

My picks are Danzig and Guida. Danzig’s experience and skill will trump Spears freakish power. Guida will be Huerta’s toughest opponent to date, and it’ll be Huerta’s lack of experience that will put him on the losing end of a decision.

There are dozens of MMA organizations worldwide. There are some that fans don’t even know exist and there are those that stand out such as UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC, K-1, and the newly formed M1. Similarly to the “Dot Com boom” of the 2000/2001 and the Real Estate market it ended abruptly and saw the decline of many businesses and jobs. MMA falls into the category of a fast-rising industry only to be stop dead in its track due to an over glorified and over estimated forecast of its own success.

Regulated business-competition is healthy for any industry, but when an industry starts to exceed its boundaries trouble may arise. Ironically, the abundance of these MMA organizations will cannibalize each other by spreading talented fighters thinly across different organizations. Sure, fighters will benefit by going to the organization that pays them best, but will they be fighting top competition? Look at Randy Couture, the Heavyweight champ of the UFC. And Fedor Emelianenko, the undisputed Heavyweight champ outside of UFC, according to fans and many others. Will we ever see the two meet up in an MMA match? It depends. As long as they are in different organizations the chances are very unlikely even when fan are willing to pay their hard earned money to see it.

I’m not saying there should only be one MMA organization. Instead, the industry should take a step back and take a look at the big picture. They need to take a look at what the fans want and what the fighters want. A perfect balance between the two can only bring success. No one wants to see a champion in one organization beating up-and-coming fighters when there are perfectly 2 or 3 contenders elsewhere in the sport that can bring a challenge. Fans want great match-ups and exciting fights. An organization won’t be successful if they can not produce what the fans want. Fighters want to be compensated for what they contribute to the sport and to be champions. How far can a career fighter go in an organization when their top fighter in their organization is not the best. To be a champion you have to fight and beat the best. And if your organization doesn’t have the best then their fighters have no where to go.

Taking the words from Mike Goldberg (UFC’s color commentator), MMA is on a “meteoric rise”(isn’t that an oxymoron?). But how high before it falls and crashes? When, not if, the MMA bubble bursts the fighters will be the first to feel its impact. MMA organizations will not have the monetary funds to pay their top fighters or even mid-tier fighters and will file bankruptcy. If they are lucky, a larger organization will buy them out, but only keeping a handful of the top fighters (look what happen to PrideFC). In the end, only a few organizations will be left. The growth of the industry will come to a halt as a career in MMA is not as lucrative anymore.

It’s almost like a civil war. It takes a drastic event that sacrifices many innocent lives, in this case the fighters and fans, to have a revolutionary change. Maybe after an MMA bubble burst will we get unified MMA rules and judging, a single governing MMA body, and World Champions that are actually World Champions.

The event is this Saturday. A lot of the people, mostly on Sherdog.com, are posting about how weak the card is. The lack of big-name fighters and a title fight leaves them wanting more. I have to disagree. This fight card is badass!

UFC will be introducing a couple of Japanese veterans brought over from PrideFC; Akihiro Gono and Ryo Chonan. These guys may not be well-known in the US but in Japan they’ve made a name for themselves. Gono’s skill and experience (Over 35 fights) will make it a dangerous fight for any opponent in his division. Chonan was one of Japan’s up and coming prospect. He was the last person to defeat Anderson Silva (excluding DQ fight with Okami). Chonan is fighting Karo Parysian, a Judo practioner, that have been in some wars and beaten top level fighters. If Chonan wins, it’ll quickly put him in title contention.

Marcus “Maximus” Aurelio is also a new addition to UFC. He is a very dangerous fighter in the lightweight division. One of his biggest wins came from choking out Takanori Gomi with an arm triangle.

One of the fights I’m excited about is the Frank Edgar v. Spencer Fisher. Edgar was an unknown that was brought into the UFC to be defeated by up-and-coming and seemingly indestructable Tyson Griffin, but Edgar surprised everyone with his lightning quick hands and solid wrestling and pulled out a huge upset win. Spencer Fisher is a no-nonsense brawler that is looking to hurt you. These two’s fighting style will showcase an awesome stand-up war.

Houston Alexander is a riding on this huge wave of hype-ness. His wins over Jardine and Sakara has put him in the spotlight. With a 2-0 record in UFC and all coming by KO has made him popular with the casual fans. I’m still not sold on the Alexander bandwagon. But if he can pull a win against Thiago Silva then I will definitely consider him to be legit. Thiago Silva, is no joke, whatsoever. He’s well-rounded and he can submit you or out-strike you on your feet. Alexander relies on his freakish strength to win fights and it’s going to be interesting to see how Silva will try to nullify it.

The main event is neither a huge name draw or a title fight, but instead it’s two TUF winners from different seasons. Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans. Both are undefeated in their career. Bisping is coming off a contraversial win and Evans is coming off a draw from the Tito Ortiz fight. The winner of this fight will likely be setup for a title-shot soon. Bisping is well rounded and loves to strike; throwing punches, kicks, and knees from all angles. His ground game is solid. Matt Hamil wasn’t able to control him on the ground and I doubt Evan’s would be able either. Evans is a solid wrestler and uses it skillfully to control his opponent, but in Evans’s last few fights he showed his strong standup skills by KO-ing Salmon with a gut wrenching kick to the head, and putting Lambert to sleep with some vicious pounding. This match-up could be a big slugfest or a technical wrestling match, but in the end only one will walk out still undefeated, unless its some gay-ass draw.

It looks like I only post on my blog when there’s a UFC event, but this time I’ve been pretty busy with work and other personal stuff. I know I always say this, but things should slow down and be steady within the next few weeks, so hopefully I can start blogging. Okay, lets get back to UFC stuff.

Couture is defending his newly held Heavyweight title from Gonzaga, the man who KO’d CroCop by giving him a taste of his own medicine; a high kick to the temple. Again in this fight Couture is the underdog. It’s understandable because Couture is of 44 years of age and he going up against a guy who skills can nullify Couture’s strengths. Keep in mind when the odds are against him Couture always proves us wrong.

Gonzaga is riding high with his last win over a seemingly invincible opponent; the knockout artist, Mirko CroCop. Gonzaga dropped CroCop like a sack of potatos with a right high kick. The suprising thing is that Gonzaga is known as a Brazilian Jui Jitsu practioner. Seeing Gonzaga standing toe to toe against one of the top strikers in the world and knocking him out made a defining statement in the MMA community, “I’m here to be the next champion!”

What’s your pick?

I’m going with Gonzaga. Couture has his hands full with this fight, and technically his only weapon is to win this fight is to pin Gonzaga against the fence and use his ‘dirty’ boxing and his Greco-Roman takedowns.

George St. Pierre is back. He is coming of a devastating loss to Matt Serra. Serra was a 10-1 underdog and somehow dismantled GSP, a task that seemed impossible. GSP is now on the warpath and his opponent is Josh Koscheck.

Koscheck has improved leaps and bounds ever since his debut in the TUF show. His last win was against Diego Sanchez who was his toughest opponent to date.

What’s your pick?

George St. Pierre is on a different level than Koscheck. GSP is nothing like Diego Sanchez, and if Koscheck thinks he has the skills to bring down GSP he has another thing coming. If Koscheck want to stand up against GSP his striking better be sharper than a Ginsu knife. Koscheck relies a lot on his wrestling takedowns, but GSP has lighting quick feet and will stuff and sprawl any of Koscheck’s takedowns.

These two fights alone are worth buying this PPV event. I can’t wait. Then in two weeks, we have another UFC event and it’s to unify the Light Heavyweight title of UFC and Pride FC! It’s MMA history in the making.

UFC is back at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Ca. This time I got tickets and will be there in person. UFC 73 is aptly named Stacked because it literally has a ‘stacked’ card; Sherk v. Franca, Tito v. Evans, and Marquardt v. A. Silva. Fights like these usually span across two different events.

The match I’m looking forward most is Sherk. v. Franca. Both are excellent fighters and I can’t imagine how this fight can’t be exciting. Sherk is like a little ball of muscle that pounds his opponents into oblivion, and Franca is slick and crafty Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner that can pull a submission from the most unlikely positions.

Tito and Rashad Evans’s rivalry parallel’s that of him and Ken Shamrock’s. Tito is a very emotional fighter and his intensity thrives on it,so if this is a true rivalry and Tito really hates Rashad then Tito will win this fight. If it’s just scripted drama for entertainment then it’s a coin toss between the fighters. They both have similar fighting styles. They like to take their opponents down with their wrestling and pound their opponents away.

I believe we still haven’t seen Anderson Silva’s best yet. Everyone says that Marquadt is well-rounded and has a good chance of beating Anderson Silva. Being well-rounded just means you’re ‘okay’ at striking and ‘okay’ at the ground game. But Anderson Silva’s standup is the best in the division and his jiu jitsu is very underrated. I predict that Marquadt would not try to strike with Silva and try to take him down. That’s where Silva will submit him (Triangle Choke).

Last night’s event was great. None of the fights on the card went to a decision. That’s a rare case in any MMA event.

Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund

I was more excited about this matchup than the Shamrock vs. Baroni fight. Why? Fryklund is a very experienced fighter and Cung’s last opponents were pretty much cannon fodder.

Cung looked impressive and now improves his record to 4 – 0. I was a bit disappointed with Fryklund. It was appearent that Fryklund was losing the stand-up yet he continued stand and strike. I was expecting to see some ground work in the fight, but it turned out to be more of a kickboxing match than an MMA match. Even with this win, Cung didn’t really show much of his MMA skills, but rather his display of flashy kicks.

I want to see Cung go up against someone like Jeremy Horn. Horn would surely test Cung’s ground game. Or David Loiseau, and see how he fair against elbows.

Shamrock vs. Baroni

Shamrock was dominating, and it looked like the fight was going to end in the first round. Shamrock had the top position and was pounding on Baroni. The fight was stoodup by the ref after Shamrock threw some illegal blows to the back of Baroni’s head. Luckily for Baroni, he was able to get his barrings and held off Shamrock for the round.

It was the second round that saw Shamrock out of his element. He was tired. Shamrock has always been known for his conditioning and ability to take the fight to his opponents even into the later rounds. But Baroni was the fresher of the two coming into the second round. Baroni was winning the round up until his failed attempt of a takedown which Shamrock was able to take his back and sink in a choke.

Conditioning-wise Shamrock looked terrible. He couldn’t even walk himself out of the cage after the fight. He had to be carried out by his cornermen. During the interview Shamrock stated that he had two blown out knees which may have affected his training.

Now, Strikeforce should focus more on competitive match ups rather than marketing rivalies or glorificating local fighters. I’m starting to get tired of Frank Shamrock fighting an old washed-out Gracie or Cung Le padding his MMA record by fighting some “Joe Schmo” with a record of 3 – 5

This Strikeforce show is shaping up to be one heluva an MMA event. Every fight on the card has potential to be action packed. Seriously, check out the line up:

Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund
Joey Villasenor vs. Murilo Rua
Duane Ludwig vs. Paul Daley
Crazy Horse vs. Joe Boxer
Paul Buenatello vs. Carter Williams
Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni

In my opinion, Fryklund will be Cung’s true first MMA match. Fryklund has some serious MMA experience compared to Cung’s previous opponents combined. If Cung can win this fight it’ll prove that he does belong in the sport and maybe we can see him fight against more competitive opponents in the future.

If any of you are going tonight, I’ll see you there!