UFC Primetime: Brock Lesnar Vs Cain Velasquez

Silva: Chael Sonnen doesn't deserve a rematch

Fighting Words With Mike Straka - Cain Velasquez Interview

Interview with Cain Velasquez via HDNet.

Part 1 of 2



Part 2 of 2

UFC 119: Where do they go from here?

For those who are underwhelmed by UFC 119 to those who enjoyed it, let’s breakdown each fighters prospects after the event.

Frank Mir – “All talk, no action” Mir has turned into the resident basket case of the Heavyweight Division. At this point, can he even get out of his own way to resume his once promising career? Now with Dana White against him, being cut from the UFC looks more and more inevitable. Personally I think that if he keeps his mouth shut and doesn’t lash out at the criticism, he gets one more shot…but more than likely Hubris gets him cut - Strikefarce anyone? Potential fights would include Nogueira, Gonzaga or even Pat Barry.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic – Cro Cop looked good when he decided to let his hands go but that was few and far between in his match. With age and motivation a growing factor in his career and coming off a flash knockout it will be interesting to see how he mentally handles this latest loss. As long as he wants to fight I see another go around with a middle-tier Heavyweight like Gonzaga. On a personal note, after Mir spoke so highly of his own standup in comparison to Crop Cop’s, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Cro Cop slip and move making Mir look silly on some exchanges.

Ryan Bader – “Darth” Bader continued to impress with a quality (in my opinion) win over Nogueira. Right now most experts are talking a Bader vs. Jon “Bones” Jones matchup. I see that matchup as self-defeating with the loser taking an unnecessary hit to his career and I hope that is postponed for a few more fights. Bader’s standup is still limited to one punch and while his athleticism may match up better to Jones, his lack of an overall game would be a severe handicap.  The down side to this thought is that the LHW division is stacked with talent and anyone in the top ten is a tough out.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – Not a bad loss but that is two borderline fights in a row which have really put him nowhere in the division.  He displays good hands and good Jiu-jitsu but needs to start a streak of convincing wins to put his name into any discussion. Do you put him against a mid-level fighter or let a top 10 fighter show what he is made of? With this being a loss that doesn’t drop you too far I see a high level fighter in his future with my eyes on Rich Franklin being a real good matchup.

Chris Lytle and Matt Serra – As I stated in my preview, this was a “you’ll never be a contender again but people enjoy watching you fight”. Which means their real prospects at meaningful fights is Zero but at entertaining fights - high. I do see a Matt Hughes rematch for Serra in the future if Hughes isn’t given a meaningful final run at the title. On the bright side, they are both top of the list of people to invite if you are planning a kick-ass pillow fight!

Sean Sherk – Controversy aside, Sherk showed a lot of good things in his fight except for sticking his head into a guillotine attempt over and over again. If this fight is to be believed he is still a force in the lightweight division. However, the elemental force that is Dana White’s ego will probably not allow for Sherk to enter any title discussion due to his age, positive steroid test and White’s opinion that he lost the fight. Looks for another steady diet of re-runs unless the rest of the division fails to impress, then he will be put back in the mix.

Evan Dunham – Midget wresters strike again as Dunham was on the losing side of a split decision this time (see Tyson Griffin fight). In fairness the power of a compact high level wrestler is tough for anyone to handle and most thought that Dunham handled it well enough to win the fight 2 rounds to one.  Bright future for this fighter as even Sherk stated afterwards that he sees Dunham as a future champion. This loss won’t hurt him at all, especially in the eyes of Dana White, and he will continue to be given high level matches.  Kenny Florian?

Melvin Guillard and Jeremy Stephens – What an underwhelming fight that lived up to none of its hype. Let’s state the obvious and move on - Guillard needed the win to continue to reinvent himself while Stephens was out struck and had no clue what to do when he couldn’t hit him (Think Dan Hardy). One small move up the Totem Pole for Guillard and purgatory for Stephens.

Other Thoughts & Notes

- Dana White on Frank Mir – “"I have no clue about Frank. To talk the stuff he does and then fight like he fought, that's a little frustrating. Once "Cro Cop" stuffed his takedown attempt, his heart fell out on the floor. If Frank Mir can't bully you, his heart shrinks to the size of the Grinch's. If he can't take you down, his heart shrinks to the size of a pea."

          

- Cro Cop related this exchange with Mir to the media:

CroCop: Let me go, lets go to the centre and fight

Mir: Let's go to the mat

CroCop: OK - if I'm on top

Mir: We'll stay in the clinch

- Props to Sean McCorkle on his undercard victory. Sean seemed to make it his personal mission to shit talk on every MMA forum but went out and backed it up.

         

- Matt Mittrione – The self-proclaimed “meathead” from Ultimate Fight impressed me with good athleticism and a body that is filling out as he dedicates himself to MMA. Maybe this ex-football player has something. Now if he didn’t carry his hands like Joe Frazier he’d be set.

          

- Ryan Bader is listed at 6’2” with at least 5’8” dedicated to his abs. WTF!

          

- CB Dollaway won submission of the night with a very patient guillotine. Find the video if you can. Too many fighters would have gassed themselves out at the initial attempt instead of trying to improve their position.

Hope you enjoyed my future thoughts. Sound off below with your comments!

~ John

UFC 119: A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action Please

4 fights going to decision. Probably the worst main event in a long time for a UFC event. A controversial end to an unbeaten start to a career. At least three fights almost devoid of action and dangerous situations for the fighters. Joe Rogan apologizing in the middle of the main event and basically calling the two fighters out for not fighting.

Dana White can spin this any way he chooses: This was a bad night for the UFC.

The main event, which saw heavyweight gatekeeper Frank Mir take on Mirko Cro Cop, ended up being the worst slow dance on any fight card. Mir’s strategy, albeit a smart one, was to attack quickly in tight, and use his superior size – a phrase I’ll probably never use to describe Mir at the heavyweight level again – to muscle Cro Cop against the fence for takedowns.

Too bad the takedowns never happened, and neither man could land any clean shots. Add in the fact that Cro Cop never took a risk and only threw a handful of kicks (possible overstatement: I only remember one, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt), and you had a masterful jiu-jitsu artist and a heavy striker spending most of the 14-minute bout groping each other. Even a flash KO via knee by Mir couldn’t save this stinker of a main event.

Sadly, this may start to spell the end for Cro Cop, one of the most feared strikers in MMA history. For Mir, all this fight showed is that he can fight a smart fight and beat someone who's not on his level in terms of overall skill or size - but the minute he goes back up the heavyweight ladder, the beasts at the top will probably smack him right back down.

Bookending UFC with a snoozefest at each end, Melvin Guillard and Jeremy Stephens lived up to exactly zero of the hype they pushed. Guillard stayed on the outside and landed ineffective shots for most of the fight, and Stephens, save for a right at the beginning of the fight and a hook to the body in the 3^rd, didn’t have the speed to keep up with him. Guillard took the split decision, setting up the night from the get-go.

Out of the five fights, Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham was easily the most entertaining, and also displayed the most of what MMA normally has to offer. Sherk had excellent takedowns for the first half of the fight, seemingly taking down Dunham at will. Dunham, to his credit, worked the guillotine choke during the takedown attempts, causing announcer Mike Goldberg to almost call the fight over in what’s sure to be remembered forever on YouTube. However, Dunham couldn’t put away Sherk with the submission, and eventually went to a very effective striking game for most of the second and third rounds.

Unforunately, the judges saw the cut that Sherk opened up on Dunham early in the fight and must hate blood, because they gave Sherk the split decision even with a significant advantage in submission attempts and striking to Dunham. It really was a sad way for an undefeated streak to end, and though Sherk didn’t deserve the boos at the end of the fight, the fans certainly had the right to be upset about the decision.

In what was the most confusing of the bouts on the card, Matt Serra decided that it was a good idea to stand toe-to-toe and trade punches… with a former Indiana state boxing champ in Chris Lytle. While it certainly takes guts to be punched by someone who has an advantage in the striking game, the fact that Serra threw very few kicks nor attempted many takedowns (once again, if at all) seemed like a serious lack of good fight planning by him and his corner. Lytle easily took the decision, since he seemingly ran out of gas and couldn’t put Serra away.

Ryan Bader and Rogerio Nogueira followed up with a co-main where Bader got stuffed on seemingly 2 out of every 3 takedown attempts, but “Little Nog” couldn’t make him pay for it. Even when Bader got him to the ground, only once did he do any damage after the takedown, and Nogueira couldn’t get his striking game together in fear of the takedown. Bader in a very unentertaining decision.

At the end of the “event” – which concluded, quite appropriately with the crowd booing for half of the main event – UFC President Dana White tried to explain away that the fans had unreasonable expectations for the card, and that every fight can’t be a crazy train wreck.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable, however, for the top MMA promotion in the world to display better than the ineffectual mess that passed for a monthly PPV.

Oh well, better luck next month when Lesnar jumps back in the octagon. At least he finishes his fights.

~ David

Preview and Predictions: UFC 119

What’s up MMA heads?!

Tonight we have UFC 119 airing Live from Indianapolis and while this is not the most star-studded card, there are plenty of interesting fights. So without further ado, here are my completely un-scientific picks:

Frank Mir vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

Going solely on star power, this fight should be more important than it really is. On one side we have a two time former champion (Mir) vs the Lion of Pride Cro Cop. Reality is that in Mir, we have a former champion who can no longer beat the best of the division (yes, his two thrashings at the hands of Carwin and Lesnar allow me to say that) and is fighting off the dreaded “gatekeeper” label as well as his own demons at the same time (Lesnar obsession much?). Cro Cop isn’t much better, looking a step slow in his last few fights and openly discussing his lack of motivation to fight anymore.  Personally, I believe the fight itself will be more entertaining than people think as Cro Cop has honed a very good take-down defense over the years and Mir is very still a talented fighter against anyone else not bigger than him.

My Pick: Has to be Mir, still good enough to beat anyone else in the division. Sub in the 2nd with an outside shot at a decision 

Wildcard: “Right leg, hospital; Left leg, cemetery” is always a consideration.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader

This is the fight that intrigues me the most. Classic example of the wily veteran vs. the up and comer. Rogerio is the seemingly fresher of the Nogeuira twins and while winning a controversial decision in his last outing, has impressed so far in the UFC with very nice jiu-jitsu and hands. Bader on the other hand is another wrestling stand-out that has found a home in MMA and seems to get better with every fight.  I would pick Bader outright but Rogerio has demonstrated he is a very tough out and I don’t think Bader’s stand up has yet to evolve past having one specialty punch yet.

My Pick: Ehh…………..going with Bader since wrestling overall has been on a roll vs. jiu-jitsu guys lately. Or maybe just because I want the rise of new talent to continue. This one’s a decision.

Wildcard: Who knows, I am completely prepared to be wrong on this one.

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra

“Lights out” vs. “The Terror”..a fight that should be fought on nicknames alone.  This is a “you’ll never be a contender again but people enjoy watching you fight” match. For me, I believe the most interesting part of the fight will be on the ground. Lytle, the hometown hero tonight, has won most of fights via submission and Serra displays very good flexibility and jiu-jitsu. How they get to the ground however is anyone’s guess.

My Pick: Lytle via decision. Between the two there are 40 wins with only 5 of them coming via (T)KO. I don’t see that changing here.

Wildcard: Serra’s punching power ::laughs:: see above

Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham

Our second up and comer vs. veteran fight. Sherk has put up a nice record over his career with his 4 losses coming to current or potential hall of famers however he is getting up there in age (37). Dunham on the other hand is looking very impressive and is another good talent in the lightweight division. Dunham will have the length advantage in the fight (5’10” to 5’6”) and both will push the pace. 

My Pick: Sherk with the upset. Sherk has tons of experience and is still extremely explosive. I don’t think he is done yet.

Wildcard: Dunham relies on his length to pepper Sherk and stuff any take-downs.

Jeremy Stephens vs. Melvin Guillard

Did you see the stare down at the weight-ins?? This fight promises to be entertaining with two explosive free swingers going at it. Guillard has had a resurgence since hooking up with Greg Jackson’s camp and has won 5 of his last 6. Stephens on the other hand came off a very impressive victory over Sam Stout in which he out-punched Stout for three rounds. 

My Pick: Guillard via knockout. Jackson’s camp is a gold mine and Guillard will come with the winning game plan and skillset. Also tabbing this one for Fight of the Night or at the very least, KO of the Night.

Wildcard: In a slugfest, there is always a chance for either fighter at any time to land the winning punch.

Undercard Interest:

Matt Mitrione: He is a head case from the Ultimate Fighter but the former NFL player has looked pretty good since the show. It will be interesting to see how he continues to apply his athleticism to MMA.

There you have it, my picks for tonight’s UFC. Sound off below on your thoughts and check back in to see how I did!

~ John