In what appeared to be a less than stellar night of fights, the participants in tonight's UFC offering exceeded expectations. From the opening bell of the first bout contested between Tim Credeur and Nate Quarry, we saw a back and forth brawl that saw the "Rock" win a tough unanimous decision. With the win, it looks like Nate moves toward the next up and comer as the resident gatekeeper for the UFC middleweight division, and Credeur goes back to the drawing board.
In a fight most thought would be a convincing win for the former WEC champ Condit, Jake Ellenberger decided to contest that thought by corking The Natural Born Killer with a couple of steaming right hands. Fortunately for Condit, Ellenberger was not on the same level when the fight hit the floor. Condit recovered his wits to end the first round and scored with several sub attempts and ground and pound through rounds 2 and 3 to manage a split decision win to nab his first win in the Octagon. Condit showed he has the gusto to keep on trucking in the UFC welterweight division, while Ellenberger remains a developing prospect.
In farewell match for Roger Huerta, The Bully Gray Maynard managed to utilize improved boxing and his bread and butter wrestling to manage a hard fought if not uber exciting win. Maynard started the first by catching Huerta with a couple of glancing shots, then got rocked by a flurried combination by El Matador. Maynard managed to recover, but without much else occurring in the round, Huerta stole the first by a score of 10-9. Round 2 found a faster paced exchange, with Maynard earning the round with more accurate punching and a jab induce knock down. The final stanza saw Maynard finally use his D1 wrestling ability and take Huerta down. Once the fight hit the ground, it was only a matter of time as Huerta showed his inability to get off the ground and his lack of a submission game. Maynard managed a nasty kimura that saw Huerta's shoulder get twisted like a Rob Zombie film. The round ended with both fighters standing in a weak clinch as the buzzer sounded. Maynard takes the fight by split decision, moving himself one step closer to a title fight, while Roger "El Model" Huerta moves on to greener pastures.
The make-no-sense main event of the evening saw Smokey the Bandits 'lil brother Nate Diaz face off against controversial lightweight, Melvin Guillard. Guillard managed a knock down in the opening seconds of the first round, landing a ginormic right hand on Diaz. Diaz managed to recover, but ended up losing the remainder of the first round to the elusive Young Assassin. The end came just after 2 minutes in round 2 when Guillard decided to get lazy and stick his neck out giraffe style on a takedown, thusly getting put in a modified guillotine that ended the fight. With the expected win, Diaz gets to keep his job. Guillard experiences his first loss in 2 years, and shows some maturity as a fighter in a loss that will likely land him in the vicinity of Dana White's cut list.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Rankings: P4P
While rankings tend to be severely subjective and in may cases altogether without merit, there are also instances that the rank of a fighter is justified. Unfortunately, it all comes back to opinion when determining who the top 10 fighters in the world are and how they line up sequentially. And we all know the old saying when it comes to opinions, just like assholes, everyone has one.
Well, here's this asshole's opinion on who ranks where, when, and how. Flame away my friends....
P4P:
1. George St Pierre
While most pundits have chosen one Anderson Silva as the p4p king of our sport, I must go with the UFC's resident French Canadian phenom. His record speaks for it self. His last 10 wins have been top 10 wins. No one else can boast that kind of record against that kind of competition. If not for the Serra loss, this would not even be a conversation. Silva's dominance comes very close, but I feel that GSP has more than redeemed himself of the Matt Serra loss.
2. Anderson Silva
His utter destruction of former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin was like watching a cartoon. Silva's ability to finish guys and make them look like 1-1 fighters is unparalleled. The only reason he is not #1 is the lackluster performances against Leites and Cote and the fact that, though not his fault, his competition has not been to the level of George St Pierre's.
3. Fedor Emelianenko
Despite his sheer dominance over the last 7 years, outside of Mirko Cro Cop and Nogueira, Fedor's Pride run has been filled with opponents that were beneath him, or not relevant at the heavyweight class. Yes, yes, some will argue that guys like Heath Herring and Semmy Schilt were relevant, but those fights were 7 years ago, not to mention that those oppopnents no longer matter now. The Arlovski and Sylvia fights were quality wins, but at this point it seems that those fights were more of an indictment on the 2 former UFC heavyweight champs than kudos for the Last Emperor. Regardless, until he's beaten or goes back to fighting guys like Zulu or a featherweight, he will remain a top 10 mainstay.
4. Lyoto Machida
Undefeated, 3 top 10 wins in his last 5 fights, 2 top 15 wins in his last 5 fights, current reigning UFC light heavyweight champion. Machida's record speaks for itself. But what is more notable about him is his fighting style. His use of Shotokan Karate as a base for his fight style sets him apart from his contemporaries. Most critics and pundits alike feel that he is at least 2 years ahead of the rest of the division if not the rest of the MMA world. His new found aggression and ability to finish opponents only adds to the most unlikely UFC draw. Should he keep his current pace, Machida may surpass Chuck Liddell as the most dominant light heavyweight champion the UFC has ever seen. Since Liddell, no light heavyweight champion has defended the title more than once. Machida's march to greatness begins with Shogun Rua in October.
5. BJ Penn
One of the most charismatic and polarizing figures in all of MMA. He is either considered by most to be either the most talented fighter in the world or the most overrated. Regardless, Penn's endless quest to test himself has availed him a spot here on the top 10 P4P rankings. Beginning with his improbable win over then P4P king Matt Hughes, to his domination of Takanori Gomi, Penn has made a habit of defeating fighters he wasn't supposed to, and losing fights he should perhaps have taken easily. Regardless, the run Penn has put together in the lightweight division has been impressive. It looks like BJ Penn may finally live up to the potential that so many thought he had.
6. Mike Thomas Brown
MTB goes from quality lightweight to the best in the world at featherweight. Proving that when skill and ability are fairly equal, size matters. Brown fought for years as a healthy sized lightweight fighter and had great success doing so, earning quality wins over fighters like Mark Hominick and Yves Edwards. Fast forward a few years and move down a weight class and you get the #6 best fighter in the world. Brown's run at 145 lbs has run through Jeff Curran, Leonard Garcia, and a former pound for pound stalwart Urijah Faber, twice. Thusly showing that MTB is the RFD (Real Fucking Deal).
7. Jon Fitch
While I wouldn't put the boring label on Fitch, he is the MMA equivalent to Tim Duncan. Calling him the Big Fundamental would certainly not be a stretch as he is well rounded in all facets of the game. With a shiny 10-1 record inside the UFC, Fitch has cemented himself as the perrenial 2nd best welterweight fighter in the world as he is unfortunately the Scottie Pippen to George St Pierre's Michael Jordan. Regardless, Fitch has dominated the competiton he has faced outside of GSP, putting him in the upper echelon of the MMA world.
8. Quentin Jackson
5 top 10 fights at 205 with 4 wins out of those 5 puts Mr Jackson at the numero 8 spot on our rankings. While controversy still swirls around Jackson's 2008 road rage rampage, it cannot be denied that he has racked up the neccesary wins to keep himself in the mix in the pound for pound rankings. Jackson is receiveing some flack for taking on a movie role instead of participating in his scrapped match with Rashad Evans in December, however, a return in early 2010 against Evans is tenatively planned. Should he win that fight, Jackson can only climb higher on this list.
9. Miguel Torres
A stinging defeat by TKO at the hands of relative new comer Brian Bowles drops Torres to near the bottom of the list. However, Torres'record prior to the loss was as impressive as they come. Torres needs to win his next fight to stay relevant in the pound for pound conversation, but his ability and talent cannot be denied.
10. Rashad Evans
"Sugar" was on the run of his life before he hit the wall in the form of Lyoto Machida. Undefeated in 13 fights, Rashad saw his streak crumble as Lyoto put a punctuation on his win against the Greg Jackson trained fighter by knocking him out cold. Regardless, a KO of Chuck Liddell and a TKO of Forrest Griffin land Evans in the last spot on this list.
Well, here's this asshole's opinion on who ranks where, when, and how. Flame away my friends....
P4P:
1. George St Pierre
While most pundits have chosen one Anderson Silva as the p4p king of our sport, I must go with the UFC's resident French Canadian phenom. His record speaks for it self. His last 10 wins have been top 10 wins. No one else can boast that kind of record against that kind of competition. If not for the Serra loss, this would not even be a conversation. Silva's dominance comes very close, but I feel that GSP has more than redeemed himself of the Matt Serra loss.
2. Anderson Silva
His utter destruction of former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin was like watching a cartoon. Silva's ability to finish guys and make them look like 1-1 fighters is unparalleled. The only reason he is not #1 is the lackluster performances against Leites and Cote and the fact that, though not his fault, his competition has not been to the level of George St Pierre's.
3. Fedor Emelianenko
Despite his sheer dominance over the last 7 years, outside of Mirko Cro Cop and Nogueira, Fedor's Pride run has been filled with opponents that were beneath him, or not relevant at the heavyweight class. Yes, yes, some will argue that guys like Heath Herring and Semmy Schilt were relevant, but those fights were 7 years ago, not to mention that those oppopnents no longer matter now. The Arlovski and Sylvia fights were quality wins, but at this point it seems that those fights were more of an indictment on the 2 former UFC heavyweight champs than kudos for the Last Emperor. Regardless, until he's beaten or goes back to fighting guys like Zulu or a featherweight, he will remain a top 10 mainstay.
4. Lyoto Machida
Undefeated, 3 top 10 wins in his last 5 fights, 2 top 15 wins in his last 5 fights, current reigning UFC light heavyweight champion. Machida's record speaks for itself. But what is more notable about him is his fighting style. His use of Shotokan Karate as a base for his fight style sets him apart from his contemporaries. Most critics and pundits alike feel that he is at least 2 years ahead of the rest of the division if not the rest of the MMA world. His new found aggression and ability to finish opponents only adds to the most unlikely UFC draw. Should he keep his current pace, Machida may surpass Chuck Liddell as the most dominant light heavyweight champion the UFC has ever seen. Since Liddell, no light heavyweight champion has defended the title more than once. Machida's march to greatness begins with Shogun Rua in October.
5. BJ Penn
One of the most charismatic and polarizing figures in all of MMA. He is either considered by most to be either the most talented fighter in the world or the most overrated. Regardless, Penn's endless quest to test himself has availed him a spot here on the top 10 P4P rankings. Beginning with his improbable win over then P4P king Matt Hughes, to his domination of Takanori Gomi, Penn has made a habit of defeating fighters he wasn't supposed to, and losing fights he should perhaps have taken easily. Regardless, the run Penn has put together in the lightweight division has been impressive. It looks like BJ Penn may finally live up to the potential that so many thought he had.
6. Mike Thomas Brown
MTB goes from quality lightweight to the best in the world at featherweight. Proving that when skill and ability are fairly equal, size matters. Brown fought for years as a healthy sized lightweight fighter and had great success doing so, earning quality wins over fighters like Mark Hominick and Yves Edwards. Fast forward a few years and move down a weight class and you get the #6 best fighter in the world. Brown's run at 145 lbs has run through Jeff Curran, Leonard Garcia, and a former pound for pound stalwart Urijah Faber, twice. Thusly showing that MTB is the RFD (Real Fucking Deal).
7. Jon Fitch
While I wouldn't put the boring label on Fitch, he is the MMA equivalent to Tim Duncan. Calling him the Big Fundamental would certainly not be a stretch as he is well rounded in all facets of the game. With a shiny 10-1 record inside the UFC, Fitch has cemented himself as the perrenial 2nd best welterweight fighter in the world as he is unfortunately the Scottie Pippen to George St Pierre's Michael Jordan. Regardless, Fitch has dominated the competiton he has faced outside of GSP, putting him in the upper echelon of the MMA world.
8. Quentin Jackson
5 top 10 fights at 205 with 4 wins out of those 5 puts Mr Jackson at the numero 8 spot on our rankings. While controversy still swirls around Jackson's 2008 road rage rampage, it cannot be denied that he has racked up the neccesary wins to keep himself in the mix in the pound for pound rankings. Jackson is receiveing some flack for taking on a movie role instead of participating in his scrapped match with Rashad Evans in December, however, a return in early 2010 against Evans is tenatively planned. Should he win that fight, Jackson can only climb higher on this list.
9. Miguel Torres
A stinging defeat by TKO at the hands of relative new comer Brian Bowles drops Torres to near the bottom of the list. However, Torres'record prior to the loss was as impressive as they come. Torres needs to win his next fight to stay relevant in the pound for pound conversation, but his ability and talent cannot be denied.
10. Rashad Evans
"Sugar" was on the run of his life before he hit the wall in the form of Lyoto Machida. Undefeated in 13 fights, Rashad saw his streak crumble as Lyoto put a punctuation on his win against the Greg Jackson trained fighter by knocking him out cold. Regardless, a KO of Chuck Liddell and a TKO of Forrest Griffin land Evans in the last spot on this list.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Rampage......I pity the fool!
Another season of TUF wasted with news that Rampage Jackson will be taking on the role of BA Barackus in the A-Team remake coming next year. Filming for the movie begins this month, meaning Rampage will not be able to train for his fight against Rashad Evans as planned in December. While I understand fighters need to have a back up career once they are done in the fight biz, being a fighter means fighting comes first. The Evans fight was as big a fight as there was coming this year as it pits 2 top 10 fighters against each other in the hopes of lining up the next possible title contender. With Rampage going Cung Le on us, it looks like we will have to wait for not only the Evans fight to materialize, but we also now have a stall out for the next genuine contender for Lyoto Machida's title. As is, Shogun should not be contending for the belt, now who knows who is next for the Dragon?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Size Difference?!
BJ Penn has spoken ad nauseum about going up and down in weight to fight champions in every weight class because he feels that size is not an issue when it comes to fighting. Well, sorry BJ, but size matters. Especially if 2 fighters have the same level of skill, as we saw with the BJ/GSP fight, the smaller guy probably won't win when the difference maker is sheer bulk. What spurred this thought was seeing a video of BJ meeting up with Anderson Silva, Silva was the Hulk to BJ's Bruce Banner. See it here:
http://mmabay.co.uk/bj%20and%20anderson.html
http://mmabay.co.uk/bj%20and%20anderson.html
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
.....To The Rescue!!!
With Affliction folding like origami, the talk coming from fans and media have been mostly about where Fedor will end up (Strikeforce) and what will happen to Affliction. What has not been getting as much attention is where the fighters who were supposed to fight on that card would end up. Big ups to the UFC and Strikeforce for pulling in a lot of these fighters who were left floating in limbo. Nice to see Coker and the big D (Dana) stepping in to help out the guys who would otherwisw be left in the cold.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Beware my white belt level jiu jitsu......
*Started BJJ classes, going to keep updates of my experience with it here on ye ole MMA blog, enjoy!
Had my first official BJJ class today, I am outta f%$#@&* shape! Warm ups killed my ass so fast it wasn't even.....well, I suppose it was actually pretty funny. Just worked on basic guard passes, arm bars, triangles, side mount, full mount and hip escapes. Very fun, very energy consuming. How guys can gas out after training like that on a daily basis is beyond me, I am wiped! Looking forward to the next class, not looking forward to the exhaustion. And so we go.....
The Steroid-Faced Assassin
The title is a little harsh, but not by much. If you're a hardcore and have not heard the story, you've been living under Mark Hunt's dirty underwear over the last week. Josh Barnett, former UFC heavyweight champion, has tested positive yet again for a banned substance 11 days prior to his showdown with the toughest chubby guy alive, Fedor Emelianenko.
I don't even really know what to say. We were finally going to be given a fight that fans and pundits alike have actually been clamoring for for years, and in less than 2 weeks out from the battle of his life, Barnett gets popped with a positive test by the CSAC. Given I don't know the whole story, and Barnett may have a good, or at least plausible, explanation for the positive, but where there is smoke, there is fire, and where there is fire, there is an ass LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH! (Excuse me, that was uncalled for.)
In any case, the worst of this situation may not even be that we lost a fantastic and relevant heavyweight tilt, but that we have most likely lost another major promotion that was attempting to compete with the Zuffa regime. Fresh off the heels of the Barnett sitch, Affliction announced that they are canceling Trilogy all together and the UFC has brought them back into the fold as a sponsor. What this says to me is that like Kimbo Slice, Josh Barnett has single handedly sunk a major fight promotion. Booooooo!
I respect Josh Barnett tremendously as a fighter. He's a guy that is capable of beating any heavyweight fighter on the planet on any given night, including Fedor. Problem being is that he seems to make bad choices at inopportune times that cost the fans great fights and costs MMA in general some legitimacy. I am no one to judge a professional MMA fighter, but from my POV, Barnett and professional do not go hand in hand. Just my opinion........
-R
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
