Cardio Freak MMA News Report 3.30.09: The Right Man Won

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 03.30.2009

Cardio Freak is back with a look at fights that changed the history of the sport. But these aren't the fights you're thinking of so you'll just have to read on to figure out what I'm talking about. Plus news on Penn vs. Florian and a quick preview of Fight Night 18. All that and the latest news from around the MMA world. It's more deadlier than Matt Brown, it's Cardio Freak on 411.



Welcome back to Cardio Freak everyone. I am your trainer Jeremy ‘Just Killin Time In Between Fights' Lambert.

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History Changing Fights

Throughout the brief history of MMA there have been plenty of big fights that have helped bring MMA to where it is today. But those fights may have not been possible if it wasn't for the fight that preceded it. In today's article I'll look back at eight fights that paved the way for bigger fights and how history could have changed if the other man won.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Bobby Southworth

I'm already cheating a bit as this fight didn't directly lead to the finals but there's no doubt that the entire course for The Ultimate Fighter 1 would have changed had Southworth picked up the victory. Bonnar and Southworth battled to a close decision that Bonnar ended up picking up in the end. Southworth was a heavy favorite early in the show because of his size and strength but Bonnar was able to neutralize him and move on to the next round.

Had Bobby Southworth walked away with the decision victory it's very possible that he would have won The Ultimate Fighter 1. And he would have likely won by being as boring as he is today. A Southworth victory over Bonnar would have sent home the eventual runner-up and maybe he'd be the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion today.

Bonnar vs. Griffin at The Ultimate Finale 1 almost didn't happen folks. Instead we may have been forced to watch Southworth vs. Griffin and I don't think that would have been as successful as what we ended up with. Instead of two guys putting it all on the line and viewership increasing as the fight worn on, we could have endured one man blanketing the other as the fans fell asleep or changed the channel. Stephan Bonnar will be forever linked to Forrest Griffin and Dana White will forever be in debt to Bonnar because of that fight but Bonnar should be rewarded more for his victory over Southworth than his fight against Griffin. Had Bonnar not eliminated the biggest competition in the house, the UFC could be drastically different today. So say what you will about Stephan Bonnar but never forget that not only did he have that fight against Forrest Griffin but he rid the UFC of having to pay Bobby Southworth a lot of money as he put fans to sleep.

Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Sobral 2

Chuck Liddell had just knocked out Randy Couture for the second time at UFC 57 and at UFC 61, it was announced that Liddell would fight PRIDE superstar Wanderlei Silva. But first, Liddell had to get past Renato Sobral at UFC 62. Liddell had previously defeated Sobral at UFC 40 but Sobral had rattled off 10 straight wins since that loss as he headed into the rematch. Liddell ended up winning the rematch against Sobral, finishing him quicker the second time around.

Really this was a tailor made fight for Liddell as Sobral wasn't much threat on the feet and his wrestling wasn't good enough to get Liddell to the ground. But we all know that anything can happen in MMA and Sobral could have won this fight. Had Sobral derailed the Chuck Train, Liddell vs. Silva likely would have never happened. Unfortunately, Liddell vs. Silva never happened anyway thanks to negotiations falling through. But really a Sobral win would have robbed the fans of Liddell vs. Ortiz 2.

Instead we got Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 at UFC 66 and that furthered the MMA boom as it was the first MMA PPV to crack the one million buy mark. I don't want to discredit the drawing ability of Renato Sobral because had he defeated Liddell, his value would have gone up but Sobral vs. Ortiz doesn't scream out "BUYS" like Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 did.

Royce Gracie vs. Dan Severn

Royce Gracie was no doubt the most feared and popular fighter of the early days of MMA. He won three of the first four UFC tournaments and the only reason he didn't win all four is due to an injury that didn't allow him to compete. At UFC 1, Gracie defeated Ken Shamrock in just 57 seconds. Ken Shamrock was considered the biggest threat to Gracie because he looked like an athlete and actually had talent. At UFC 3, Ken Shamrock won his semi-final fight but decided not to compete in the finals because he was injured but also because the finals wasn't against Gracie. At UFC 4 Royce Gracie won his third UFC tournament by defeating Dan Severn. The victory set up the first ever UFC Super Fight between Gracie and Shamrock at UFC 5.

Despite losing, Dan Severn took Royce Gracie almost 16 minutes, longer than any other opponent up until that point. If Dan Severn defeated Royce Gracie, it could have still set up a Super Fight between Severn and Shamrock but that's not the fight Shamrock was hyping and I don't think that's the fight the fans wanted to see at the time.

In the end we got the UFC Super Fight between Shamrock and Gracie and we also got our first ever draw in UFC history as Shamrock and Gracie battled for 36 minutes without a victor. It was certainly the biggest fight in early UFC history and it ended up being Gracie's last fight for five years.

Quinton Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona

One of the most memorable highlights in PRIDE history was Wanderlei Silva's destruction of Quinton Jackson in the Finals of the 2003 Grand Prix. Since that loss, Jackson maintained he could beat Silva if it was a one-fight night instead of two. Jackson battled Arona to determine the top contender for Silva's belt and ended up defeating him via powerbomb to set up the big rematch.

Arona vs. Silva would have been a big fight at the time because Wanderlei Silva was the draw in Japan but Quinton Jackson was loved by Japan fans thanks to his charisma, a charisma that Arona didn't have. Plus many considered Jackson vs. Silva 1 to be the best fight in 2003 and fans were foaming at the possibility of a possible rematch. Plus Arona was known for being a decision machine and nobody paid to see Silva go to a decision in Japan.

Jackson and Silva met against PRIDE 28 and the result was largely the same. Jackson did well early but in the end was left unconscious thanks to the knees of Silva.

Ken Shamrock vs. Sparring Partner

Ken Shamrock was set to headline EliteXC: Heat on CBS against Kimbo Slice in a fight that was viewed as a big time fight by many casual fans and would have likely been the most watched MMA fight in TV history. 24 hours or less before the fight, Ken Shamrock decided to spar harder than he should have and ended up getting cut and being ruled out of the fight against Kimbo.

Had Shamrock done what normal fighters do and that's take it easy the day before and of the fight, who knows what would have happened. Shamrock could have been the first man to defeat the Kimbo myth or Kimbo could have had another win over a perceived legend and EliteXC wouldn't be called Strikeforce.

But Ken Shamrock decided to roll harder than he should of (or he took a razor to his own head, depends on who you want to believe) and we all know what happened. Seth Petruzelli stepped up on late noticed, knocked out the street legend in 14 seconds, opening his mouth while hung over, and managed to kill an entire company. Since this incident, Kimbo has only been seen in Japan, Petruzelli has only been heard doing horrible commentary, and Shamrock has continued a downward spiral. The sparring partner should have tapped.

Randy Couture vs. Mike Van Arsdale

Although the UFC Light Heavyweight division is arguably the deepest division in the world right now in terms of talent and star power, it used to just be Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, and everyone else. Mike Van Arsdale was part of everyone else. Couture and Van Arsdale battled on the undercard of Chuck Liddell's first UFC Light Heavyweight title defense and the consensus was that the winner would be the next challenger. Couture was going through a rough period in his life and looked rather lethargic throughout the fight. In the end, sheer talent, will, and skill allowed Couture to pick up the victory early in the 3rd round.

Couture was ripe for the picking in this fight. Van Arsdale was never considered a threat but his only career loss to this point was against Wanderlei Silva and when a fighter isn't on his game, he can be beat. If Van Arsdale wins this fight, UFC either scrambles to find a fight for Chuck Liddell (maybe an early return for Tito Ortiz) or we get Liddell vs. Van Arsdale in a fight that no one would have cared about thanks to Van Arsdale not really being able to sell a fight and his style being perfect for Liddell.

Thanks to a Couture win, we got the first big trilogy in UFC history. Liddell vs. Couture 3 turned into the biggest post-TUF fight at the time and the first retirement of Randy Couture after falling victim to Liddell's right hand for a second time.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Guy Mezger

Everyone knows Kazushi Sakuraba as "The Gracie Hunter". His first Gracie win came against Royler Gracie via submission. A few months later, PRIDE held their first ever Grand Prix and matched up Sakuraba and Mezger in the first round. After 15 minutes of fighting, Mezger decided to forfeit, allowing Sakuraba to advance to the next round where he would battle Royce Gracie.

If Sakuraba had to forfeit and not Mezger, Guy Mezger might be remembered as "The Gracie Hunter" instead of "The guy who Tito Ortiz beat that led to the Shamrock vs. Ortiz feud". Or the legend of Royce Gracie may have never taken a hit by Sakuraba.

Sakuraba did advance to the 2nd round though where he met and defeated Royce Gracie after an hour and a half of fighting. That's where the legend of Sakuraba being "The Gracie Hunter" took off. A win over Royler was nice but Royce was always looked at as the MMA crown jewel of the Gracie family thanks to his dominance in the early UFC. Sakuraba would then go on to defeat Renzo and Ryan Gracie before losing a 2007 rematch against Royce. After the fight Gracie tested positive for steroids and many still consider Sakuraba undefeated against the Gracie clan.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Heath Herring

Before Fedor Emelianenko became a world-beater in PRIDE and now Affliction, he was a world-beater who had only suffered one career loss (via controversial cut) in RINGS. While Fedor was running over everyone in RINGS, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was running through people in PRIDE (he was previously running through people in RINGS as well). Fedor came to PRIDE and promptly defeated kick boxer Semmy Schilt before being matched up against Heath Herring, the man Nogueira defeated to be crowned the first ever PRIDE Heavyweight Champion. Fedor went on to turn Herring's face into raw meat, forcing the doctor to stop the fight after 10 minutes.

Back then, Herring was a lot like he is today: A scrappy fighter who is tough to finish. Nogueira, despite his submission wizardry, failed to put Herring away and Fedor was a rather unknown commodity. If Herring won this fight, it could have set up Nogueira vs. Herring 2 before its time or Mirko "Cro Cop" could have gotten a title shot in 2003 and not 2005 (throwing out his fight against Nogueira for the Interim PRIDE Heavyweight title). And Fedor may not have been the Fedor we know today if he failed to beat a relative gatekeeper in Heath Herring.

The legend of Fedor was born in this fight. He exhibited some of the most brutal ground and pound ever on the face of Herring and then went on to dominate everyone in his way, only suffering a no contest against Nogueira.

Playing to Your Strengths

Ultimate Fight Night 18 is this Wednesday (April 1st). Here is the card:

-Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann
-Tyson Griffin vs. Rafael dos Anjos
-Ryan Bader vs. Carmelo Marrero
-Cole Miller vs. Junie Browning

This looks like a promising card on paper. I'm really looking forward to Condit vs. Kampmann because many are pegging Condit as the next challenger to St. Pierre while I've always been a fan of Kampmann. Condit hasn't fought since August of 08 where he picked up an exciting victory over Hiromitsu Miura as both men battled until they had nothing left. Condit has won eight straight fights and ran roughshod through the WEC Welterweight division en route to winning the WEC Welterweight title. Kampmann won his Welterweight debut at UFC 93 and was a force in the Middleweight division until he ran into Nate Marquardt. Both guys are well rounded, rarely go to a decision, and like to put on a show so I expect this to be a very exciting fight. I've always sung the praises of Kampmann and have been accused of being on his bandwagon so I see no reason to get off now. A Condit win won't shock me but I'm going with Kampmann in this one.

Tyson Griffin looks to bounce back after a loss to Sean Sherk and he's getting an opponent he should beat and finish. Like every UFC Lightweight, Rafael dos Anjos has the skills and potential to be competitive but the last time we saw him in the Octagon, his head flew off thanks to a Jeremy Stephens uppercut. This is a fight that Griffin should win and look impressive in doing so. And thank God it ended up on the main card because I thought it was stupid to be a preliminary fight to begin with.

Believe it or not, Carmelo Marrero has been around since UFC 64 (where he defeaed Cheick Kongo by split decision) so UFC isn't throwing Ryan Bader some new guy that he should steamroll. Instead they're throwing him some old guy that everyone has forgotten about that he should steamroll. Bader's wrestling is good enough to keep it standing and his power should be enough to take home the (T)KO victory.

The true main event of the night is Cole Miller vs. Junie Browning. I've never understood why UFC always gives the TUF losers the more high profile fights than the TUF winners. I guess they want to protect the winners but logic would tell you that the winners should be the best fighters on the show, thus they should fight the better fighters when the show is over. Anyway, Browning and Miller have gotten into a war of words via the Internet in the past couple of weeks so this fight is either going to be fireworks or fizzle. I like to think that Junie is the real deal and not the product of Ultimate Fighter antic hype but Miller is no slouch. The problem is I have no clue just how good each fighter is. Miller lost to Jeremy Stephens and was on his way to losing to Jorge Gurgel until Gurgel found a way to lose like he always does. Junie has looked good in his two training camp fights (his first fight on TUF and his fight against Dave Kaplan) but he didn't look so hot on the show. I think Junie will pick up the victory but this fight, much like the main event, could go either way.

I'm looking forward to this show more so than recent Fight Nights. We haven't had a UFC event in almost a month and two fights could go either way, it's always interesting to see how Ultimate Fighter winners will do, and Tyson Griffin is always a Fight of the Night candidate.

BJ Penn will defend his UFC Lightweight title against Kenny Florian at UFC 101 in Philadelphia

And the wait is finally over. Kenny Florian truly established himself as the top contender at UFC 87 with a win over Roger Huerta, he took a risky fight against Joe Stevenson at UFC 91, and then sat on the sidelines for months while Penn dragged out his feud with Georges St. Pierre. Finally Kenny Florian gets a title shot in August of 09 that he earned in August of 08 while BJ Penn defends his title for the first time since May 08.

Everyone seems to be down on BJ Penn after he spent the better part of 20 minutes against St. Pierre on his back eating punches but BJ Penn is still one of the most talented fighters in the world when he wants to be. St. Pierre just proved that when the talent level is almost equal, size matters. A lot of people are doubting Penn right now and that could serve as great motivation for the current Lightweight champion. Or maybe Penn is doubting himself right now. Maybe St. Pierre damaged more than just the body of Penn but he damaged the mind as well.

On paper, this looks like it will be a great fight that could go either way. But I think someone is going to get blown out in this fight and we'll know who that someone is when as the first round ends. BJ Penn will either come into the fight motivated and looking to prove doubters wrong and he'll be looking to take his aggression out on Kenny Florian. Or BJ Penn will be deflated and mentally beaten and Florian will just outwork him en route to capturing the title. Whoever wins the first round of this fight will win the fight and it's very possible that we'll see this fight finish in the first round.

Anthony Johnson vs. Matt Brown is scheduled for The Ultimate Finale 9

The Ultimate Finale 9 is shaping up to be a hell of a card with this fight, Guida vs. Sanchez, and Diaz vs. Stevenson.

This is what I like to call a "hype fight." I'm still not sold on Matt Brown and I doubt a lot of people who follow the sport regularly are sold on Matt Brown but the casuals fans are sold on him because his last performance consisted of him killing a man who had the body of a world champion although anyone who has ever seen a Pete Sell fight knows that he gets knocked out in every fight. Matt Brown also benefitted from the referee not stopping the fight when he should have because if the fight is stopped on time, Brown scores a quick KO where he just caught the guy. Because the fight continued though, it looks like Matt Brown is a legit killer. Anthony Johnson is a better fighter than Matt Brown and should win this fight relatively easy and I won't consider it a big victory. But others will consider it a big victory because the perception is that Matt Brown is kick boxing killer.

I'm not trying to take away from this fight or take away from Johnson's possible victory and I'll eat my words if Brown wins but Anthony Johnson should win this fight and if he does, I hope everyone realizes that it's not as big of a win as it will be made out to be.

Urijah Faber will challenge Mike Brown for the Featherweight title at WEC 41 on June 7th. The show will not be on PPV

I'm a little surprised that Zuffa didn't put this fight on PPV because if there were ever a fight to be on PPV, this would be it. Maybe it wouldn't have been profitable but you don't know if you don't try. I hope WEC and VS. treat this fight like they treated Pulver vs. Faber 1 because I think it's important to try and establish Mike Brown as he could be the champion for awhile. Right now Mike Brown is still a generic looking fighter with a generic name who really looks like a killer in the cage. Unfortunately people care more about the genericness than the killerness. Even after his win over Leonard Garcia, he didn't really say anything thought provoking to make me care about him. Instead he put over Urijah Faber and made Faber look like the champion. If Mike Brown is going to be the champion for a long time, he needs to be established. It's up to WEC and VS. to establish Brown leading up to this fight. That way if Brown wins they have a new dominant champion that everyone buys into but if Faber wins, his win won't look like St. Pierre vs. Serra 2.

It will also be interesting look at Urijah Faber as instead of being the dominant champion facing a legend, he'll be the challenger for the first time in a long time against the man who defeated him. I still think Faber is by far the most popular fighter in the WEC but he's looking at being in the "Franklin position" if he loses this fight. You could easily chalk up the first loss as Faber making a mistake and getting caught but if he loses again, it would be tough to call Mike Brown a lucky fighter.

I expect this fight to do a bigger rating than Faber vs. Pulver 1 if it's pushed properly because it will be featured after a long WEC break and I would think that UFC would push the event hard during UFC 98.

Studying Tape



Just in case you forgot who Carlos Condit is.

Underwater Ice Bath

The New Jersey State Athletic Commission would not allow Tim Sylvia to fight Ray Mercer in a boxing match. The fight has been moved to Alabama

This is more up the alley for the boxing guys here on 411 as they can tell you everything you need to know about Ray Mercer while my knowledge of him begins and ends with his loss to Kimbo Slice.

I mainly included this piece of news because I pride myself on my long, never tiring columns and it's been an extremely slow news week. Also because I want to warn Tim Sylvia (because I know he reads) that he's making a big mistake in trying his hand at boxing. I'm not a fan of Tim Sylvia but I respect anyone who has fought as many top 10 fighters as he has. But Sylvia is a mixed martial artist. Not a boxer. KJ Noons thought he was a boxer as well and he ended up dropping a decision to some no name fighter instead of headlining a Strikeforce event. Do you think KJ Noons regrets his decision? And if Noons decides to come back to MMA, do you think he'll regret not training for a MMA fight so he could train for a boxing fight? This is why I'm worried about Andrei Arlovski and his decision to pursue a boxing career. Arlovski has the talent to be a top Heavyweight in the world but he's going to stunt his MMA growth and career if he tries to become a boxer. Maybe Arlovski will end up as the top Heavyweight in the boxing world, I don't know. But I have a feeling that he'll end up like KJ Noons, dropping decisions on the undercard of an event that no one knew about until it was over.

I give Tim Sylvia credit though. At least he's fighting a guy who has some name value in boxing. If he loses, he loses to a former world champion and if he wins, he beats a former world champion. Of course that former world champion is 47 years old and hasn't been a threat in boxing for years now but perception is sometimes greater than reality. But Tim Sylvia should be focused on his next MMA and not some boxing fight that no one cares about. Maybe there's interest in the first ever fight between a Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion vs. a Former Heavyweight MMA Champion but this isn't Chuck Liddell vs. Mike Tyson or something of that magnitude.

I hope Ray Mercer knocks out Tim Sylvia in round one and MMA fighters realize why they fight MMA and boxers fight boxing. You would think they would have realized this when a guy like Ray Mercer tried his hand at MMA and got submitted by Kimbo Slice of all people but I guess they want to experience it for themselves.

Taking Time Off

I just want to take this time off to wish my friend Melinda a happy birthday. So Happy Birthday Melinda and I hope to celebrate with you this weekend.

AND IT'S ALL OVER~!

That does it for me folks. I'll be back next week with a preview of Strikeforce.Take care everyone.

Remember to bookmark 411Mania.com for easy access to the latest news in MMA, wrestling, and pop culture.

Cardio Freak Sources: Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer, Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly, MMAWeekly, and MMAMania