The Juggernaut MMA News Report 07.15.09: Justice Served at 100

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 07.15.2009

The Juggernaut's UFC 100 coverage continues examining the Brock Lesnar controversy, whether Dan Henderson hit on Michael Bisping was cheap and Mark Coleman shocking the world. All your news including Cro Cop signing with UFC (again), Dana declaring war on EA Sports, monster popularity of UFC 100, silly ESPN talking (brainless) heads and much more. Plus, check out the awesome new commercial hyping the upcoming TUF season.

"JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED"
-BROCK LESNAR





And oh hell yeah, it most certainly was. Brock Lesnar hates to lose and does not like most things about being a public figure. However, on Saturday night, he beat the hell out of the only man to defeat him and talked down the booing of the Vegas crowd. Lesnar's power was just too much for Mir who could not contend with his wrestling.

The first round was nearly a mirror of their first fight with Mir trying to sweep Lesnar's leg. Lesnar was able to stay close to Mir and kept that distance close throughout the first round. Lesnar was in Mir's half guard and throwing hammerfists that bloodied Mir's nose and bruised his face. In the Countdown preview, Lesnar said Mir's face after their first fight looked like hamburger hill. Well, it looked worse here.

In the second round, Mir was getting the better of Lesnar on the feet until Lesnar took the fight to the ground. Lesnar cornered Mir against the cage, trapped his arm and blasted him with big punches that knocked him silly. Referee Herb Dean only stopped the fight after Mir's body went limp for a moment. Mir had trouble getting back to his feet and needed help to get his legs under him.

Lesnar was thoroughly happy and even got in Mir's face afterwards to exchange some more trash talk with the greatest MMA rival of his young MMA career. In his post-fight interview, Lesnar promoted Coors Light instead of the UFC sponsor, Bud Light (because they won't sponsor Brock) and suggested he was going to possibly be intimate with his wife. The promo was hilarious and wonderful because Brock was finally able to get all that pressure of the one loss, all the training and media off his back all with those punches.

In Lesnar's post-fight interview, some will hate it and say it's horrible for the sport. I disagree. Would it have been nice if Lesnar 'touched gloves' with Mir prior to the fight, instead of turning his back on him? Sure, but this is not candy land. These men are paid to beat each other into submission. While Lesnar is an overzealous man, and it's to be expected after such a big win, should he have flipped off the fans? Probably not, but this is sports entertainment. Lesnar was boo'd by the fans and he reacted to show he did not care one bit. It's all in fun and now Lesnar is the man with the big target on his back, the man most want to see get his ass kicked. That equals money.


Now the question becomes, what's next. For the heavyweight champion, it appears the top contender may be the winner of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (minus the staph infection that plagued him in his fight with Frank Mir) against Randy Couture next month. Other potential candidates could include Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez down the line. Brock Lesnar versus Minotauro Nogueira is an intriguing fight if Big Nog is healthy and frankly, I think Brock will be king for a long time to come.

Frank Mir must now take a step back and finds himself needing at least two solid wins to get back into title contention. The good thing is they can always promote a third fight between the two but Mir needs to look good on the path back to a title shot.



The fight consisted mainly of GSP showcasing his wrestling skills.

In the co-main event, Georges St. Pierre dominated Thiago Alves. Simple as that. For five rounds, GSP had no trouble taking down the near 200-pounder and doing pretty much whatever he wanted. During the later rounds, after an attempt at a rear naked choke on the ground from GSP, Alves actually was in GSP's guard. That meant that yes, GSP was on his back for the first time in over a year. Unbelievable. Early in the fight, GSP nailed Alves' nose and it was bleeding like a faucet.

A win like this really proves just how dangerous GSP is. There was never a point where he was in danger of losing. That is despite likely injuring his groin at some point during the middle rounds. Is there any welterweight who can beat him right now? Probably not. It's a question Joe Rogan asked as he wanted to know if GSP was considering moving up in weight to fight Anderson Silva. GSP said he would consider it. Frankly, are there any fights at 170 that you want to see with GSP? He's beaten Koscheck, Alves, Fitch, Hughes and Serra.



Dan Henderson with the KO of the night as he sent Michael Bisping to la la land.

In the big middleweight contender fight, Dan Henderson's powerful overhand reared its head again as he knocked the HELL out of Michael Bisping in the second round. Bisping was out for quite a while before he could walk out of the cage with some help and even then, he had no clue what had happened. Understand this, Dan Henderson acted in accordance with all rules. It was not a cheap shot. Henderson's overhand right knocked Bisping to the mat and he followed suit with a single punch. Fighters fight until the referee steps in, simple as that. That is not to say it was Mario Yamasaki's fault that Bisping took the extra shot, it's what happens in MMA. Sometimes fighters take a punch after being knocked out, it's part of the game. The first example of it that comes to my mind is at UFC 92, Quinton Jackson knocked out Wanderlei Silva and landed an extra shot while Silva was out before the referee stopped the fight. Like Henderson, the shot by Rampage was not cheap.

Henderson's comment that the second shot was to shut Bisping up, was probably a bit tasteless, but why are more people on Brock's case?

Now it appears Dan Henderson will get a shot at Anderson Silva's middleweight championship (perhaps later this year). On paper it's a solid fight because we know Henderson won't dance around with Silva resulting in no action. Henderson was a big fan favorite to the Vegas crowd so if they can book Hendo/Silva 2 there, perhaps he would again be treated like a hero.

For Bisping, he now joins the rest of the heap known as UFC middleweights. Sucks for him because he's not getting a title shot anytime soon, so he has to walk back up that ladder.



Despite not being able to see out of his left eye, Akiyama continued to press the action.


The debut of the man known as 'Sexiyama' or Yoshihiro Akiyama proved to be an entertaining affair in his fight with Alan Belcher. The fight ended with a split decision with scores of 30-27, 28-29, 29-28 in favor of Akiyama. The fight was fought mostly on the feet to the point that by the end, Akiyama was in pain from all the shots he absorbed throughout the fight. Despite that, I still gave Akiyama the first two rounds for landing more shots and doing more damage. It was a close fight and either of the first two rounds could have easily been scored for Belcher. The fact Akiyama's left eye was nearly swollen shut may have swayed some judges, apparently not two of the three who watched the fight though.

Akiyama was diagnosed with a fractured orbital bone (OUCH~!) and will not be allowed to fight until the new year unless he gets proper clearance from a doctor.


For those paying attention, of the five main card fights, my picks went 3-2. Check out the Roundtable Preview from last week and you shall see I was wrong in picking Alan Belcher and Michael Bisping to win their fights. However, I correctly predicted decision wins from Jon Fitch and Georges St. Pierre along with a second round TKO by Brock Lesnar. Oh yeah~! Much better (over .500) than last year when I began making picks here at 411mania.com.


On the undercard of the historic show, in the two bigger match-ups there was one shocker. UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman upset Stephan Bonnar with a unanimous decision win. Coleman's classic offense of takedowns and ground and pound controlled Bonnar throughout the fight. Bonnar could not handle his wrestling and spent the majority of the fight on his back.


Coleman looks relieved after he wins his first UFC fight since UFC 12 in 1997. Yes, the longest drought in between UFC wins, ever.


Bones Jones maintained his record of entertaining fights with a second round guillotine choke victory over Jake O'Brien. The first round was fought on the feet as Bones was able to defend against O'Brien's takedown attempts. Jones seemingly won the striking battle of that round. In the second round, Bones Jones kept moving to avoid any strikes. Jones landed some combinations and kicks which forced Jake O'Brien's hand as he was caught in the choke about three minutes into the round.



Bones Jones with a flying knee

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The 100 greatest fights in UFC history concluded last weekend prior to UFC 100. The top ten fights in company history, as voted on by fans went as follows:

10. Shogun Rua vs. Forrest Griffin - UFC 76 - September 22, 2007
9. Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga - UFC 70 - April 21, 2007
8. Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan - UFC Fight Night 6 - August 17, 2006
7. Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin 2 - UFC 77 - October 20, 2007
6. Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin 1 - UC 64 - October 14, 2006
5. Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 1 - UFC 81 - February 2, 2008
4. Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn 1 - UFC 58 - March 4, 2006
3. Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg 2 - UFC 52 - April 16, 2005
2. Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva - UFC 79 - December 29, 2007
1. Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar - UFC Ultimate Fighter Finale - April 9, 2005


Most are sound choices and the top three were a given. However, the absence of Randy Couture's win over Tim Sylvia here was a bit shocking. The inclusion of both Silva wins over Rich Franklin was surprising. That is due to the fact that when you think of the best UFC fights of all-time, rarely do I think of Silva's dominance over Franklin.

Remember that bouts where Tito Ortiz or Frank Shamrock won were not eligible to be voted on by fans. So the UFC 22 fight between the two, held by some to be the best pre-Zuffa UFC fight was nowhere to be found. Ironically, the top ten list consisted of fights from the beginning of the Spike TV era until last year.

Voting was expanded late to include the Ultimate FIghter 9 Finale bout between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida.

For those wondering, check out a similar list conducted by the 411mania MMA staff. The whole gang wrote about our favorite UFC main events.

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Larry Csonka kicked off our post-UFC 100 coverage off with the MMA 3'Rs feature taking a look at the historic show.

Bill Wannop features Vitor Belfort in his MMA Legacy column this week, just weeks before his battle with Jorge Santiago at Affliction: Trilogy.

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- The official and complete 16-fighter cast of the 10th Ultimate Fighter were revealed in the flesh at the UFC Fan Expo prior to UFC 100. The complete cast was covered by the Juggernaut News Report last month. The biggest news out of this weekend's reveal is that the rumor surrounding Kimbo Slice was false. A rumor running around the internet community (ugh) had Kimbo Slice losing his first fight and storming out of the competition/house. Slice was present at the UFC Fan Expo and regardless of how well he does in the competition, will certainly stick it out in the house with a potential UFC career at the end of the tunnel.


- UFC President Dana White is open to the possibility of a future TUF season that includes a Team Mexico in the same vain as this past season's Team USA vs. Team UK. The UFC recently launched a deal with Televisa (one of the most popular television networks in Mexico with enormous penetration) to air UFC 100 and future UFC programming. It's no secret that the UFC has wanted to run a big show below the border and fighting is one of the most popular sports (next to soccer). As a side note, it's ironic that the UFC's relationship with Mexico will almost certainly explode despite the fact their biggest Mexican fighter, Roger Huerta will soon be out of the company.


- UFC 100 is expected to do monster PPV business and as a tell tale sign, the Countdown special on SpikeTV last week was the most watched Countdown show of all-time. It clocked in with over 1.1 million viewers. For comparison, the UFC 91 (November 2008) Countdown special on SpikeTV drew 537,000 viewers. According to MMAPayout.com, in 2008, the first twelve editions of the series averaged just over 608,000 viewers for each show. UFC 91 ended up drawing a PPV buyrate under one million (about 900,000 according to reports) so UFC 100 should contend with UFC 66 for the biggest PPV business ever for a UFC event.


- UFC welterweight Anthony "Rumble" Johnson was arrested on June 27th in California on charges stemming from an alleged altercation with his girlfriend. Johnson's agent, Ken Pavia told MMAWeekly.com the following: On behalf of Mr. Johnson we would like to address this issue. On June 27th Mr. Johnson was arrested in Hayward California and was charged with misdemeanors stemming from an alleged altercation with an ex-girlfriend. Mr. Johnson is completely and unequivocally innocent of all charges. These charges are completely outside the realm of Mr. Johnson's character; he has no prior criminal record and has never been in trouble with the law. Furthermore, any assertion that the UFC played a part in posting his bail or in covering up the incident is completely untrue. As this has been a stressful time for Mr. Johnson, we ask that judgment is withheld until all relevant facts have come to light.

Johnson is set to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104, likely on the PPV portion of the show. The fight has been agreed to by both fighters and will be confirmed by the UFC soon.


- UFC 100 bonuses were bumped up to $100,000 each for the special event. Fight of the night went to Yoshihiro Akiyama and Alan Belcher, KO of the night went to Dan Henderson and submission of the night was awarded to Tom Lawlor. Each fighter earned the six-figure amount in addition to their purse money for winning the fight (or in Belcher's case, losing).


- Dana White was furious with Brock Lesnar for verbally slighting UFC sponsor Bud Light during his post-fight interview. According to reports, White pulled Lesnar aside backstage and unleashed a verbal tirade on the heavyweight champion. Afterwards, during the post-show press conference, Lesnar did apologize to Bud Light and the media for some of his actions after the fight.


- Shane Carwin penned some thoughts on Brock Lesnar at his blog. What Carwin was most upset about was Brock flipping off the fans when he was being boo'd. Somebody must not have clued Shane Carwin in on the entertainment aspect of the sport. Brock received a ton of heat from the fans because they want to see him lose, they want to see someone beat him. While Shane Carwin will be fighting Cain Velasquez in October, it is possible the winner will be one small step away from a possible title shot. Brock's antics will help line the pockets of his opponents, so I'd imagine Carwin would be grateful for the opportunity should he defeat Velasquez, to main event with Lesnar in 2010.


- Mirko Cro Cop and the UFC appear to be on solid ground as the Croatian fighter has officially signed a brand new three-fight deal with them. Cro Cop will fight Junior Dos Santos at UFC 103 in Dallas, Texas this September. Cro Cop was reportedly set to fight on the DREAM 10 card later this month but has since pulled out (big shock). Whatever really happened after UFC 99 and Cro Cop's win over Mustapha Al-Turk, things appear sunny for the Croatian slugger.


- UFC 103 is also the place where Sean Sherk will attempt is return to the lightweight championship mix. All but official is a fight pitting Sean Sherk against Gleison Tibau. Tibau is 2-3 in his last five UFC fights and most recently lost a split decision to Melvin Guillard. In 2009 he defeated Rich Clementi by submission and Jeremy Stephens by unanimous decision. The main event fight for UFC 103 is expected to include Rich "Ace" Franklin.


- The main event of UFC Fight Night 19 on September 16th (the lead-in for TUF10) is set between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard. The bout is especially important for Diaz who has lost two fights in a row, fights against Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. Guillard is on a three fight win streak and two straight wins in the UFC. He recently defeated Gleison Tibau on the TUF9 Finale last month. This confirmation means the officially announced bout between Gray Maynard and Roger Huerta will not be a main event fight, as previously thought.


- Less than a half hour after UFC 100 ended along the east coast, among the Twitter trending topics (or most talked about/used phrases), 'UFC 100' was the number one phrase. 'Frank Mir,' 'Brock Lesnar' and 'GSP' were also among the top ten items. Perhaps not monumental but definitely a sign that UFC 100 was a huge hit in terms of eyeballs on the product. MMA was also a hot commodity on Google over the weekend as related phrases were among the top searched for items out of all phrases, not exclusive to sports.


- The topic of Fedor Emelianenko in the UFC came up again, this time during the post-show press conference on Saturday night. Dana White insisted he wants to see Brock Lesnar fight Fedor and that Fedor will be in the UFC some day. Keep chasing that great white whale...


- Muhammad Lawal, otherwise known as KING MO, is now a free-agent according to an interview he gave to MMAJunkie Radio. Right now, King Mo is set to fight Don Frye on an M-1 show in August. He is 4-0 in MMA having won all of his fights in Sengoku, three of them by TKO. King Mo insists he can fight at middleweight, light heavyweight or even heavyweight if that is where the money is.


King Mo appears on a Japanese TV show; clips include fights and his hilarious entrance



- The supposed "war" between Dana White and EA Sports is slowly becoming the thing of legends. Dana/Tito, Dana/Shamrock (either one), Dana/PRIDE, Dana/Fedor's Management Team, etc., all those past feuds may pale in comparison to what is brewing between the video game developer and White. According to Dana White, he is at war with EA Sports and promises fighters who appear in the game will not work in the UFC. He mentioned he worked with Randy Couture the fact Couture will appear in the game (stemming from Couture's court battle with the UFC last year). According to White, EA Sports laughed at him and the UFC when the fight promotion was looking for someone to make their video game. EA Sports could not stand the sport and did not even think of it as a sport to begin with. In Dana White's mind, he loathes any companies or people that try to leach off MMA, a sport he has dedicated his life to help build over the past several years. That is the crux of his point of view here. What will be interesting is with the likelihood that fighters such as Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Bobby Lashley, etc. appear in the EA game, will they be shunned by White? After all, Dana has publicly said he would love to have Nick Diaz back someday. We shall see...


- On Monday afternoon, I caught a glimpse of ESPN's Around The Horn when they were discussing UFC 100. The host along with the ever logical Woody Paige supported the idea that Brock Lesnar was good for the sport and what he said was not all that wrongl. When Paige and the host compared Brock's promo's to that of Muhammad Ali, Kevin Blackistone was offended and said never to compare the two. Hmm...with all respect towards Ali, when did Lesnar ever race bait or blatantly cheat on his wife? (Jay Mariotti questioned why Brock had to offend his wife) I recall the excellent HBO documentary on the Ali/Frazier rivalry and a segment where Ali's wife flew all the way to the Philippines because she saw Ali with another woman on television. Ali was no saint but people loved to support or hate the man. It's things like ESPN's no-brain crew (Mariotti, especially) talking about something they have limited knowledge of, that pisses me off. Mariotti demanded the UFC/MMA must lose all characteristics of "WWE" (a/k/a/ pro wrestling) for it to be taken serious. Hmm...should the NFL lose the overhead on-field camera because Vince McMahon's football league came up with that first? Should boxing stop producing the great 24/7 series because they are selling a pair of personalities who will compete against one another? Of course not, so why should MMA halt awesome promos? After all, it's not like Brock Lesnar bit someone or threatened to eat children. /rant

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JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

The Ultimate Fighter, season 10...oh hell yeah! We are now just over two months away from the debut of the new season (which has already completed all its filming) and the hype videos continue to roll out from Zuffa and Spike TV. The one below features three storylines including the rivalry between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, the NFL players inside the house and KIMBO SLICE~!

In fact, as far as I know, this video includes the first sight of Slice inside the octagon and about to compete.





I have not been this excited for an upcoming season of TUF in years!




Thanks for reading this week's Juggernaut. The time off from big action doesn't last long as we soon have the Affliction show, UFC 101 and WEC 42 coming up within the span of three weeks. Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.



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