Hit the Mat 4.27.09: Random Rantings

Posted by Matt McEwen on 04.27.2009

A relatively quiet week after the Silva debacle leaves Matt McEwen to randomly ponder Shogun Rua's place in the world, the possible boredom of UFC 98, an early prediction for UFC 100 and just how meaningful are rankings?

Call this one, Random Thoughts, Lost in the Shuffle edition.

The past week of internet MMA punditry has been soundly dominated by Anderson Silva's lackluster UFC 97 performanc (with a dash of hand & footless amateur fighting), but there were more than a few other storylines to grow out of the Montreal event, not to mention a few things to look forward to over the coming summer months, that were pushed to the back burner as a result.

Iceman Meltdown

Ok, so this wasn't exactly lost in the mix over the past week, but I thought I'd put in my two cents.

Dana White is behaving oddly. Even if you believe his suggestion that he's talking more as Liddell's friend rather than his employer - and honestly, I don't really doubt that - White "officially" announcing Liddell's retirement post-loss to Rua was strange. Not often that you see an owner or coach of a team announce the retirement of a player while the player himself is saying, "Maybe, but we'll have to see." That's odd in my book. No one wants to see Liddell get permanently hurt, and I can't be alone in not really wanting to see Liddell fight again at all, but in the end, the choice should be his. Of course, if White doesn't want him to fight, it's pretty doubtful that he will be able to.

Is Rua Back?

Here's the question inherent in his win - If Liddell is a washed up shell of his former self, does beating him mean that Rua is one of the best in the world again? His KO punch on Liddell was not a thing of beauty, and we got no answers to questions about his stamina, so the 180 degree turn a lot of people took in regards to his standing in the UFC has been interesting to me.

I say make the proposed fight with Luiz Cane happen by September and we'll know for sure.

UFC 98 Is Just What The UFC Does Not Need Right Now...

Having Silva put on a snoozer of a fight was a bad thing.

Having the most prestigious title in the sport defended in the second consecutive boring main event would be a worse thing.

While most of the hardcore fans out there are likely to enjoy the gamesmanship and skill that Evans and Machida will put on display May 23rd, it is likely that the casual fan turned off by Silva's performance will turn the channel on this one too, even after paying $50 or so for the PPV.

That is if they make it that far.

The rest of the televised card is short on obviously exciting fights, and long on fights that might be slow, drawn out decisions.

Matt Hughes and Matt Serra finally go head to head in a grudge match that had some heat and interest behind it 18 months ago, but now is the only relevant fight either seems to have left for themselves. Neither guy is particularly dynamic at this point, and neither has put in a really good showing in quite a while (though in defense of Serra, he's only fought twice in the past two and a half years). Beyond that, we get Yushin Okami, who conspiratorial rumor has it is being held out of the middleweight title picture for being boring, Sean Sherk and Frankie Edgar in a battle of wrestlers, and in the only other guaranteed broadcast fight, the night's lone guarantee of fireworks as James Irvin takes on Drew McFredries.

Personally, I have no problem with the card (outside of Sherk....his fights really do tend to bore me), but the casual fan could very well have a hard time not turning the channel on this one....$50 PPV be damned.

...but UFC 100 should cure all ills

I won't go into too much depth on this one yet, since we're still more than two months away, but that is one STACKED card.

My gut says Brock falls to 3-2 and Mir is new heavyweight champ come July 12th.

I won't know for about 3 or 4 days afterwards though...I'm in a wedding the night of the fight and will have to make an effort to be spoiler free until I get home and get to watch the fights.

Rankings Rant

Am I the only one who finds rankings generally pointless? Are they there to decide who is contending for a title, or are they subjective "fighter A would beat fighter B" deals? And if it's to decide title contenders, wouldn't that mean that inter-promotion rankings are useless? And if it's just subjective, does it matter at all?

A short bit of random thoughts this week, but let's try a little experiment. We've got the lovely comment section located right below the article, so dear reader, What do YOU think about ranking fighters? Are they uselessly subjective? Are they a good guide? Do they mean ANYTHING to anyone?