The Juggernaut MMA News Report 07.01.09: Hey Lashley, Fight SOMEONE

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 07.01.2009

Ultimate Chaos thoughts and why Bobby Lashley HAS to start fighting serious competition. Plus, the latest on Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, news on potential fights such as Liddell/Franklin, a look at the best heavyweight prospects, Silva impersonates Michael Jackson, and more!


Forget Kanye or Penn, Bobby Lashley is the 32-year old Prodigy!

ULTIMATE CHAOS~!

Well how about that?

Bobby Lashley beat Bob Sapp down. Lashley took The Beast down within seconds and used his ground and pound to make Sapp submit in about two to three minutes. Sapp's good eye was damaged during the fight and he had two large knots near his left eye. Lashley has the tools to become a great fighter. He has awesome wrestling abilities, some power and a great training camp (American Top Team).

Bob Sapp should probably call it a career as far as MMA fighting is concerned. It's simply not worth it. He probably makes a fortune from being an A-list celebrity in Japan and other business ventures. So why risk any injuries when it's not necessary? Unless he fights a total tomato can, he is likely going to be on the losing end of a beating, submission or knockout. After 2005, his only wins have come against a man who was 2-1 and lost to Hong Man Choi (that being Bobby Ologun) and a cartoon character (or a/k/a Akihito Tanaka).

At least I can feel pretty comfortable in saying Bobby Lashley will have a more accomplished MMA career than The Beast when it's all said and done. Then again, Sapp did fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in only his third professional MMA fight. Let's talk once Lashley fights some real competition.

Bobby Lashley is a great prospect. When does he stop becoming a great prospect and become a very good fighter? I want to see Lashley face some serious heavyweight competition. The problem is (at least publicly) Dana White has expressed little to no interest in Bobby Lashley (partly because he feels it would be too similar to Brock Lesnar...although if true, that makes no sense to me). Where can he go to fight some real solid heavyweights (not named Fedor or Barnett, ie. elite heavyweights)?

Andrei Arlovski, come on down.

Arlovski's boxing career is on ice. Affliction and the UFC don't want him. So why not look for a pay day somewhere and fight Bobby Lashley? I know you probably don't want to see Arlovski fight these days but you can't tell me that fight would not intrigue you.

Right now Lashley is 4-0 although two of those wins were against rookies or scrubs. Jason Guida and Bob Sapp are veterans although neither are all that great. Enough with the rookies or has-been's, let's see some real contenders fighting Lashley!






Gilbert Yvel laid down the law against Pedro Rizzo with a devastating knockout. By my estimation, he landed four to six unanswered shots once Rizzo was already out. Where was the referee? Who the hell knows.

Yvel talked about fighting Paul Buentello on August 1st for Affliction (you know, what was going to be Tim Sylvia's fight) and his desire to head to the UFC. I chuckled at that one. Tom Atencio had to be pleased.


Picture proof that Yvel's power was no fluke.


Affliction promoter Tom Atencio is now 2-0 in his professional MMA fighting career. He broke the nose of his opponent, MMA rookie Randy Hedderick (now 0-1) en route to a 2nd round TKO victory. Actually, Hedderick could not answer the bell after the second round and the fight was stopped. Say what you want about the guy but he's not the worst fighter out there, Atencio, that is. In a funny moment, after his win, Atencio cut a promo on Dana White for talking crap about Hedderick. You see, Atencio challenged White to a fight a while back and White laughed it off.

The point is Atencio is trying to get his name out there and try to keep the Affliction promotion up and running as long as he can. Dana White's "F^%$ YOU!" attitude won't let him jut ignore Atencio, but that's exactly what he should do. No sense in giving the man any publicity when you can just as easily ignore him and talk about your own company.

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Respect goes out to all those touched by the loss of the King of Pop, Mr. Michael Jackson. In honor of his famous entertaining abilities, here is an MMA version (somewhat) of his dancing.

Mr. Anderson Silva, circa PRIDE, with an entertaining (as hell) entrance.





R.I.P. Michael Jackson

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UFC 100 Programming

The UFC is rolling out all the fun and games before their biggest show (isn't that every show?) on Saturday, July 11th. Beginning on Sunday, SpikeTV will air the 100 Greatest UFC fights in separate one-hour installments each following night. You can debate which fights should go where but it's safe to assume men such as Frank Shamrock, Matt Lindland and fighters on the outs with Dana White and/or Zuffa will not be making many or any appearances. The preview states all UFC fights, from 1993 and on, were considered and voted upon so who knows what we will see. You can count on the famous Griffin/Bonnar I fight taking a top spot.

For the record, I am predicting Griffin/Bonnar I being ruled the greatest UFC fight of all-time. Other potential fights to round out the top five, how about Couture/Sylvia, Liddell/Tito (b/c Chuck whooped that ass!), and even the late addition between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida. Perhaps a top-five spot would be too high but it was a damn good fight and many people did see it.

The UFC 100 Countdown show will air on Tuesday night, July 7th with replays airing in the days afterwards. Sadly, it will only be a 60-minute (figure 47-minutes with commercials) edition of the show. They have three big fights to cover including the double main event featuring Brock Lesnar/Frank Mir and Georges St. Pierre/Thiago Alves. The other fight they will cover is the middleweight fight between Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping. One of those fights will get the shaft and get maybe 5-8 minutes of coverage. Hopefully, the UFC can air full previews without time constraints on their web-site (as they did with the Dan Hardy/Marcus Davis UFC 99 fight, which was cut from the Countdown show but was made available on UFC.com).

In any event, gear up for one hell of a week. July 4th is just three short days away and then the MMA fun shall kick off.

A fun ride, it shall be~!

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The MMA Zone at 411mania has been exploding in recent months and the surge continues. Recently a host of new writers have jumped on board to bring you entertaining work. Here are just some of the fresh blood, don't worry, Adam Tool's job is safe (word around the office says he has pictures of Boss Csonka in a compromising position....don't ask me though).


The WEC Wreckage Reports are BACK courtesy of John Lamb. In his first offering, Faber vs. Brown I is featured.

From the boxing zone, Patrick Mullen debuts his newest MMA column, The Blueprint, talking all things Lyoto Machida.

Brandon Longe joins the staff with Fan Favorites and in his first column, preaches love for the one, the only, Nick Diaz.


Sure, he may have been round for some time now but check out Jeffrey Harris' DVD review series, The History of Pride FC. His latest entry reviews the great Final Conflict 2005 show featuring the awesome fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Cro Cop.

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- Breaking news in the WEC and it is not great news. According to a FiveOuncesofPain report, Jamie Varner (reigning WEC lightweight champion) may be forced to retire due to a broken foot he received during his last fight with Donald Cerrone. I could have sworn it was a broken hand that was being lazy as far as recovering, perhaps it's a combination of injuries or perhaps not. The word is WEC is planning to strip Varner of the belt and put the vacant strap up for grabs in the WEC 43 fight between Cowboy Cerrone and Ben Henderson.

The shocking part of this is the talk of Varner possibly being forced to step away from fighting for the foreseeable future. Hopefully it's a case where WEC is just impatient about his recovery time and not a career threatening injury.


- A potentially HUGE lightweight fight in the UFC is close to being finalized according to Sherdog. Tentatively scheduled for UFC Fight Night 19 (Wednesday night, September 16th) although it may be moved to UFC 103 on September 19th. Right now the plan would be for Roger Huerta and Gray Maynard to fight at the Fight Night show prior to the debut of the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Huerta has one fight remaining on his UFC contract and his issues with the UFC have been well documented. It would be hard to disagree that if the fight goes down, who UFC President Dana White would likely be pulling for. If Maynard were to win, he would likely jump into immediate title contention with Diego Sanchez (or perhaps be the top contender after Sanchez fights the BJ Penn/Kenny Florian winner). On the surface, Maynard should be the favorite. He is a better wrestler and striker than Huerta who lost his first professional fight last year to Kenny Florian at UFC 87.


- According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, while THQ was developing the UFC Undisputed 2009 video game, they ran into trouble with Clay Guida. The reason he is not among the fighters in the game is due to the fact the gaming company could not include his hair style. THQ went so far to offer money to Guida to cut his hair but "The Carpenter" (thankfully) refused the offer.



Imagine Clay Guida without the hair. Exactly.


- The 2009 ESPY Awards will feature at least two MMA fighters among the nominated athletes. Personally, I find the ESPY's to be as unimportant as anything in sports. Sure there have been some awesome moments during the show's history but on the whole, does anyone care? Anyway, Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva will each be nominated for the 'BEST FIGHTER" award. They will be up against professional boxers and who knows who else. You can head to ESPN.com to vote for either MMA fighter.


- Twelve fighters who competed on the TUF9 Finale were drug tested and all tests came back negative. All main card fighters safe for Kevin Burns and Nick Diaz were tested. Fighters in the prelims tested included Melvin Guillard, Tomasz Drwal, Nick Osipczak and Brad Blackburn.


- One of the world's most famous MMA rookies, Satoshi Ishii will make his professional debut on November 7th on the Sengoku Battle show. Ishii won the gold medal representing Japan in judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is just 22-years old and fielded offers from Japanese and American promotions and Japanese professional wrestling promotions. Dana White of the UFC recruited Ishii however, he could not fault the former amateur athlete from cashing in, in his native land. His opponent in November is unknown at this point.


- The UFC is hitting the Chinese market with the news that they reached an agreement with Inner Mongolian Television. Potentially up to 80 million households and nearly three times as many viewers will be able to watch UFC programming. That's quite the brand new market for the UFC. Most businesses have been foaming at the mouth to crack the Chinese market in recent years, whether it's the NBA, WWE and other entertainment companies or other sports leagues. The UFC has had trouble carving a niche in Japan after the purchase of PRIDE so it will be interesting to see whether they can build a solid audience in China.


- (written prior to the new WEC news mentioned above) The anticipated WEC Lightweight Championship fight between champion Jamie Varner and challenger Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone may not be happening anytime soon. Varner's hand is still broken and he may not be able to fight before the end of 2009. With that news, WEC is reportedly considering instituting an interim-championship so the belt is not iced for too long. WEC has talked about the possibility of having an interim-title fight in the fall. Number one contender "Cowboy" Cerrone has been booked for WEC 43 in September to fight Ben Henderson. WEC has not confirmed whether the fight is for an interim belt. Henderson is 9-1 during his MMA career, having not lost since 2006. He is 2-0 in WEC, last defeating Shane Roller by TKO in round one of their fight at WEC 40 in April.


- A lot of rumors are floating about possible UFC 103 main events. The Dallas, Texas show in September may feature one of the following or none. According to Inside Fights, Shane Carwin may fight Cain Velasquez ; Mike Swick may fight Matt Hughes ; and Chuck Liddell may fight Rich Franklin. All are possible contests for UFC 103 or later. The first two fights would help determine future title contenders in their respective divisions.


- According to MMAWeekly, a UFC 103 bout between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann is all but official right now. The two have agreed to fight one another in Dallas, Texas later this year. The fight poses a big obstacle for Swick who is knocking on the door to title contention. With a win over Kampmann, Swick may be the next contender for the GSP/Thiago Alves winner. Should Kampmann be successful against Swick, he too would become among the top contenders in the division (along with Jon Fitch).


- KJ Noons (remember him?) told MMA Weekly Radio that he is planning to return to MMA before the end of 2009. Noons has one or two professional boxing fights lined up before then. Noons is not willing to give up his boxing career which means even if the UFC was interested, they lost any interest because of that. Strikeforce would be the obvious choice and I doubt they look to book a Nick Diaz/Noons rematch. Right now, Diaz is one of the best fighters in the promotion and Noons is just some dude. Let Noons prove he is a worthy competitor before they book that fight. At least that is how I would handle it. Noons has talked a lot (remember the death of EXC and all the crazy talk?) so let's see if he really is planning an MMA return.


- The long awaited civil suit stemming from the car chase Quinton Jackson led Orange County police on last year was filed last week. A woman filed the civil suit arguing that Jackson was involved in a hit-and-run incident during the chase which resulted in her losing her baby (she was pregnant at the time). For those who don't know or forgot, Jackson led police on a car chase and during it, and rammed a few cars along the way. Jackson ended up pleading guilty to charges revolving around evading police and the chase itself with the possibility of jail time being removed as an option. The Orange County D.A.'s office decided not to charge Jackson with anything relating to specifically to the woman losing her baby because they concluded that the loss was not related to anything Jackson did. The civil lawsuit is asking Jackson for $25,000 in damages for personal injury and emotional distress. First of all, I think it is horrible that the woman lost her baby and can't imagine what she had to go through. With that said, I have no idea whether it happened because of Jackson or regardless of him. The Orange County authorities believed one had nothing to do with the other. I am no lawyer so I do not know what kind of case the plaintiff's lawyers have to build. Again, without any real legal knowledge or specifics involving the case, I would throw out a guess that Jackson's lawyers offer a sum of money to end the case.


- Erin Toughill (10-2-1 in MMA) told MMAWeekly she will be fighting on the Strikeforce August 15th card. It sounds like she will be on the prelim portion of the show that will air on Showtime with the first womens main event in the history of major American MMA. I'm not an encyclopedia but I would imagine it would be another first for females in MMA as it may be the first time where two different matches featuring women will take place on a major U.S. card. Her opponent is unknown at this point. She has competed twice this year, both being victories. She defeated Karen Williams by first round TKO in February and Emily Thompson by decision in May.



Ms. Toughill may be blasting her way to victory on Showtime.


- According to GracieMag, Roger Gracie is set to compete on the August 15th Strikeforce show. He is a 2-0 MMA heavyweight prospect who stands 6'4. He made his MMA debut almost three years ago, submitting Ron Waterman at a Bodog event in Canada. His last MMA fight was last May, a submission win over Yuki Kondo at Sengoku 2 in Japan. Roger Gracie has competed in several submission grappling tournaments and has wins in such competition over the years over the likes of Shinya Aoki (2005), Fabricio Werdum (2005), and Ronaldo Souza (2005). He holds a second degree black belt in BJJ under his uncle, Carlos Gracie Junior. As of today, it's unknown who is opponent will be on August 15th and whether he will fight on the preliminary or televised portion of the Showtime card.



Roger Gracie after winning the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2005, submitting each of his eight opponents. He was the first fighter to accomplish that feat.


- In more news revolving around the August 15th Strikeforce show on Showtime, it is being reported that Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs are set to fight one another on the televised main card. Riggs is coming off the recent win over Phil Baroni while Diaz has won his last five fights. Riggs defeated Diaz at UFC 57 in 2006 via unanimous decision so the clear story here is Diaz looking for vengeance. I could have sworn Riggs said both his hands were broken after he defeated Baroni, but maybe that was just talk afterall. On paper, this is an exciting match-up between two guys who love to throw tons of punches. My early pick for this proposed fight would be another Diaz win by TKO. He is on such a roll and you think someone can avoid taking the punishment from his constant barrage of jabs, but nobody can. Perhaps Riggs can strike lightning twice on August 15th, but I won't predict it.


- In an update to the story regarding MMA in New York State, the story will be delayed. The State Assembly session ended last week with the bill including MMA legislation being stuck in the mid. The legislation was still in front of the Ways and Means Committee and any chance it would be passed along to Governor David Paterson was dashed. The most realistic hope for legislating MMA in one of the biggest states in the union is looking more like next year before summer. The earliest time a MMA show may be legally promoted in the state may be in the fall of 2010 if that early. The MMA bill will now return to the Tourism, Arts & Sports Committee in about six months where the process shall begin anew. Those damn politicians (in Albany, New York) the past two and a half weeks have literally done absolutely nothing but play with themselves to try and gain some power of each other. Ugh, what a disgrace.


- Over the past five to six days, the UFC has released three fighters from their stable. Welterweight Frank Lester (of recent TUF fame) was cut after losing in his UFC debut at the Finale last week. The truth is, Lester still has a lot of room to grow as a fighter. You can look at the decision to drop the heavier weight classes from WEC in this situation as a negative. Lester will find fights elsewhere, continue to train with Dan Henderson and improve. Hopefully someday we will see an improved Lester back in the octagon. Other fighters cut include light heavyweight Tim Boetsch and heavyweight Mike Ciesnolevicz.


- Sengoku fighter Kazuo Misaki was able to avoid jail time last week by agreeing to a plea deal. The case stems from an incident in March in Japan. A Tokyo police officer found Misaki in his car talking on a cell phone while driving. Misaki ignored the officer's request for him to stop and left the scene. In the process of driving away, one of the side mirror's struck the officer which reportedly resulted in some type of injury. He was arrested in May and posted bail. Misaki pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and avoided over a year in jail by receiving a three-year suspended sentence by the presiding judge. Now Misaki can focus on his scheduled fight with Kazuhiko Nakamury set for August 2nd in Saitama, Japan at the Sengoku Ninth Battle show.


- Lee Murray's last professional MMA fight was in 2004, a decision loss to Anderson Silva. He is 1-0 in UFC competition, defeating Jorge Rivera by submission at UFC 46. But he is infamous for his alleged role in the largest cash heist in history. Murray is one of over 30 people who have been arrested internationally for their alleged role in the February 2006 robbery in England, plus suspicion of kidnapping and other offenses. He was arrested in Morocco in 2006 and was released on June 23rd of this year after they determined he was a Moroccan citizen. However, the United Kingdom desperately wants to get their hands on him to try him for the $92 million cash heist. The U.K. has been unsuccessful in their extradition requests, but Murray was re-arrested in Morocco and will likely be tried in that country for his alleged role. It seems like if the U.K. can't bring him into England for justice, they just hope he will receive punishment from some legislative body. Last summer Variety reported XYZ Films optioned the Sports Illustrated article, highlighting Murray as the alleged mastermind behind the plot, for a potential film. I have yet to hear anything recently about the project. The negative aspect of the potential film is it may depict Murray as something other than a thug or criminal. Hollywood isn't the most morally sound business after all.


- Hawaii will begin regulating MMA this week under their Hawaii Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs' Boxing division. Do not expect the UFC (or any other major group) to run the islands however, due to a major tax issue. If the UFC were to run a show in Hawaii, besides the extra costs of heading to the island, they would have to fork over a healthy amount of profits to their government in taxes. Unless they lower the taxes, the UFC won't touch them. It's been long rumored the UFC has been interested in having a show at Aloha Stadium (the location the NFL uses for its Pro Bowl), feeling a B.J. Penn headlined card would do monster business (probably so). Hawaii passed legislation to regulate MMA last year, here's hoping they lower the taxes ASAP.

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JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

MMA as we know it has been on the big stage since 1993. That means about 16 years worth of fun times. Below is a comical video package set to some funky foreign music (at least I think it's foreign).






Thanks for reading another edition of the Juggernaut. The UFC may be approaching their "100th," but the Juggernaut is quickly approaching the 50th anniversary (weekly anniversary) soon. What does that mean? I'm not quite sure but August 5th is the special date. As for next week, I will be covering the HUGE UFC 100 card in all its glory with picks and thoughts from all sides of the cage.





Be on the lookout next week as 411Mania MMA will present a week full of special UFC content in the build for UFC 100 on July 11th. The MMA staff has written lots about memories of the great and terrible UFC history over the past sixteen years. It will be a lot of fun, so remember to check that out, starting Monday.




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