MMA's 3 R's 7.27.09: Affliciton, Tito, Aoki/Hansen III, Fight Night 19 and More!

Posted by Matt McEwen on 07.27.2009

From the death of Affliction, an elite title fight being announced, and a confusing UFC 103 main event to the return of Tito Ortiz, Josh Barnett's issues, and more, 411's Matt McEwen breaks down the Right, wRong, and Ridiculous from the week in MMA!



Welcome...

It certainly was not a quite week in the world of MMA.

Obviously, the big news was the saga that started with Josh Barnett testing positive for steroids for the second (third?) time in his career, led into the final demise of Affliction as a fight promotion and then the reunion of Affliction as a sponsor with the UFC. This topic is going to take up a big chunk of the column this week, but hidden behind the demise of Affliction is a whole bunch of other news worth talking about.

Some right, some wrong, some ridiculous...


The Column Concept:
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the column, here it is. The column will look at events and or happenings in the world of MMA. They will be broken down into the three categories, the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right will be the good and great fights or positive news items of the week. Perhaps even big fight announcements. The wRong will be bad fights, bad booking decisions and the like. Finally, the Ridiculous are the things that were just the worst of the world of MMA. They get grouped in their categories, and for a show, they will get a score from 1-10, based on the 411 ratings scale.

THE RIGHT:

Aoki/Hansen III
- On October 6th, at DREAM.11, probably the best lightweight bout that can be put on outside of the UFC will happen for the third time as the fourth and fifth ranked 155lbers in the world will step into the cage for the DREAM championship.

In their first fight on New Year's Eve 2006, Shinya Aoki busted out the coolest looking submission in MMA history, as he became supposedly the first man to successfully score a win in professional MMA with a gogoplata in under three minutes. Have a look:



On July 21st of last year, Hansen got his revenge when he escaped some submission attempts, got on top of Aoki and pounded the Japanese fighter until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. This was in the finals of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix, and also made Hansen the first DREAM champion.

Hansen's first title defense was canceled due to a head injury, and this rubber match against Aoki will be his first fight since stopping Mr. Cute Pants. Even with the UFC having a virtual monopoly on the top levels of the sport - and more on that soon - this fight shows that it is possible to put together high level, elite fights outside the Octagon.


Have Fight, Will Travel

Just six weeks out from UFC 102 in Oregon, Matt "The Hammer" Hamill was forced to pull out of his fight with Brandon Vera due to a knee injury. Certainly a bad break for Hamill as a win over Vera would probably be the biggest of his career, but this could end up being a good break for fans, as the replacement might be better than the original.

Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski has continued his willingness to fight anyone, anytime and stepped up to fill the void. Six weeks is certainly enough time to work out a game plan, but the willingness to step in against his best UFC opponent to date on short notice gives you a clue not only to the type of shape Soszynski is keeping himself in, but also about his confidence and desire to succeed.

Since losing on TUF, Soszynski is 3-0 in the UFC, with two nice submission wins via his dreaded kimura and, most recently, a brutal KO of a man who supposedly had a huge advantage on their feet in Andre Galvao at UFC 98. This time around, he will be facing another fighter with stronger striking skills in Vera who, like Soszynski, is a former heavyweight competitor.

Vera is 2-1 at light heavyweight, but won his last fight by TKO with leg kicks. His Muay Thai is quite good, and he seems to have finally found himself at 205lbs, making this possibly the biggest fight of his career as well. If Soszynski is able to win in the impressive fashion that he has been lately, it could very well spell the end for Vera in the UFC, which would be a stunning fall for a man who once talked about being the first man to hold the Heavyweight and Light heavyweight titles simultaneously.



Fight Night 19 Looking Fantastic

August is shaping up to be one of the best months to be an MMA fan in a long, long time. Couture vs Big Nog, a Miguel Torres title defense, Penn/Florian finally, Carano vs Cyborg, Silva vs Griffin.....you get the idea. But September might not be bad either...

If there an advertisement for how the UFC having a virtual monopoly at the top end of the sport can be a good thing for fans, it is Fight Night 19 scheduled for September 16th as a lead in to the Kimbo Slice season of TUF (come on...you know that's what we'll all be calling it).

The main event is an interesting match up between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard, as Diaz will be fighting for his UFC career coming of two straight losses and Guillar is looking to finally reach the potential he's had since his run on TUF.

While that's the listed main event, the real one on the card is likely lightweight title contender Gray Maynard looking to secure his title shot by ending Roger Heurta's UFC career with a bang. Both guys can be exciting fighters, so the liklihood that it will be a good fight exists, and the extra intrigue in this one makes me even more interested. Other than Maynard fighting for a title shot, Heurta has been sitting on the sidelines ever since refusing to resign with the UFC due to his desire to go become a movie star. Since they started marketing him as the Hispanic face of the sport, the UFC brass was less than pleased, and are hoping Maynard gives him a solid beating as a going away present.

Beyond that, we get a very interesting middleweight bout as Nate Quarry takes on Tim Credeur, a rematch of the final WEC 205lb title fight as we get the rubber match between Brian Stann and Steve Cantwell, top ten welterweight Carolos Condit looks to get his first win in the Octagon against the always exciting Chris Lytle, and other fights featuring the likes of Ed Herman, and Sam Stout, among others.

And this is a FREE card on tv. Yeah, it's short a big main event to make it PPV worthy, but to have the kind of roster where you can give this kind of fight card away for free certainly isn't a bad thing at all.


America, meet your new King

Mohammed Lawal has made a name for himself in Japan as "King Mo" - the athletic and muscular MMA neophyte who has beat the 4 men put in front of him in impressive fashion.

Now, the King is coming to America.

On this week's MMA Live on ESPN.com, Mo said he is a free agent and is looking to get into the UFC as soon as possible (though he really hopes Dana White did not mean what he said about blacklisting anyone lined up to be in the EA sports video game), but first he has a fight with MMA legend Don Frye at M-1 Global's first American event on August 28th.

Of course, if you're an MMA internet hound, you may have seen the video of Mo having a discussion with Rampage Jackson that boiled down to Rampage essentially asking "Who the hell are you?" Rampage even took to blogging to explain the disagreement and add a little fuel to the war of words.

For the record, Mo has A LOT of talent. He was a Division II national champion and a Division I All-American, has a ridiculous amount of power in both hands and has more potential than just about any other 205lber not in the UFC right now. But he has only had four pro fights, his stand up is powerful but technically sloppy and he would be destroyed by the likes of Rampage right now. He trains out of Team Quest with Dan Henderson in Temecula, so he is at a good camp and will only get better, but he needs more seasoning before getting to the top of the division.

His fight with Frye will be exciting for as long as it lasts, and should give us an idea of Mo's chin as Frye WILL hit him a few times. Form there....the Octagon may very well beacon....


The battle for Relevancy, Heavyweight Edition

At UFC 107 on December 13th, it looks like Frank Mir will return from the beating that Brock Lesnar put on him to take on tough striker Cheick Kongo, according to Sportsnet, the UFC's Canadian broadcaster.

With both fighters coming of big and disappointing losses, this will likely be a fight to determine both men's future at the top end of the division. Mir needs to show that his wins over Lesnar and Nogeuira prior to his UFC 100 loss were not flukes, and were indicative of his skill level rather than failings in his opponents at the time. It should also be interesting to see how Mir responds to the disappointment of losing the biggest fight of his career, as his dedication to training has been questionable in the past.

As for Kongo, we all know his striking is excellent, as is his power, but his supposedly improved take down defense and ground game were exposed as lacking against Cain Velasquez in a fight that knocked Kongo out of title contention for the moment.

This is a classic fight where one man's strength is the other man's weakness, but I would say Mir's striking has improved enough that he should be able to survive long enough to get Kongo down, who's going to end up on the ground at some point.


The Battle For Relevancy, Middleweight Edition

Rumors over the past week have linked Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva as possible dance partners this fall. Since the initial rumors floated out, Silva's management has kind of cooled them off, but in all honesty, this is a fight that SHOULD happen.

As of right now, both these fighters are big names with a lot of questions. Bisping was dismantled by Dan Henderson and his future as a title contender is being questioned by more people than ever at this point. As for Silva, he's put in some good showings (against Liddell and Franklin) in his UFC career, but he's had a bad one mixed in against Rampage, with only his killing of Keith Jardine a mark in the win column for him lately.

In short - these two almost need to fight. The winner might have life yet in the division, and the loser will be a non factor. Both guys have enough of a name that they could be placed into fights people will want to see even with a loss, but both need a win in order to keep their career going forward.


ESPN top executive at UFC 100

In news first reported by Michael Rome at BloodyElbow.com, Executive Vice President of ESPN in charge of content John Skipper was a personal guest of Dana White in Las Vegas for UFC 100.

While the UFC has a cable exclusive deal with SPIKEtv, ESPN is also the sports provider for ABC, which would likely mean that ABC could be the leading contender for the network debut of the Octagon. With NBC and CBS already having dipped their toes into the MMA waters with bit players and having some success, you would have to imagine that ABC would be VERY intrigued by what kind of ratings the UFC could do in the big time.

White said that Skipper got the product when he saw it live, and from experience, even for a fan, it is a different experience to go to a live UFC than to watch on TV. It's not just an event - it is a big time SPORTING event, and on that the likes of ESPN should have been all over for a long time.



UFC 100 sets buy record

It looks like UFC 100 most likely surpassed 1.5 million buys, making it easily the biggest UFC event in history, but also among the top PPV broadcasts of all time.

Nothing more needs to be said......this is VERY GOOD.



Tito's Twittered Triumph

In a tweet (? Is that what you call these stupid things?), Dana White seems to be welcoming Tito Ortiz back to the UFC. As much as I hate Twitter (and that's a lot, trust me), I am glad that White is (sort of) letting us know that Ortiz is returning.

I could go on a rant about how the hostility between the two is all bull, Tito's contract expired right at the time he was going to need back surgery and be out 18 months, they always knew he'd never fight anywhere else and that his return to the Octagon when he was ready to fight again was always assured.....but I won't. I don't like conspiracy theories.

It is good that Ortiz is (or probably is) back in the UFC fold, as he really is a top 15 light heavyweight and the best fights available for him are in the UFC. He is not a title contender at this stage of his career (though he did come closer than anyone else to beating Machida), but he should be the gate keeper to the elite level - if you can beat him, you're a legit title threat, if you can't, you're not.


You shouldn't pull your groin in public

Good news out of the Georges St. Pierre camp, as it looks like the groin injury he suffered during his dominant victory over Thago Alves is not as serious as first feared. Originally, concerns were that it would require surgery, which could have left GSP out of the cage for up to a year, but now it looks like a few weeks of rest are all that are needed and that GSP will be back training by early fall. That time frame would make an early January or big Superbowl weekend title defense possible or even likely, as the winner of the Martin Kampmann/Mike Swick bout scheduled for Sept 19th would likely be ready to go then as well.


Affliction Goes Under - Part 1

No, I am not one of those idiots out there who are dancing on the grave of the promotion saying "I told you so!"

While it existed, Affliction put on one very good show, one great show, gave me two high level Fedor fights and entertained me - I was a fan. So, no, it's not all good that Affliction is gone, but there are some silver linings in this cloud.

First, like I said, I am a fan and anything that gives me the best fights possible is something that I am in favour of. So, with that in mind, the UFC purchasing selective contracts of Affliction talent is a good thing. It looks like Vitor Belfort and Renato Sobral were the main acquisitions, and even if they are the only ones, I will not complain.

Belfort has been re-invigorated as a middleweight, and his aggressive style should create a very exciting fight with Anderson Silva. It is a fight the would most likely end with Belfort rather quickly taking a nap, but I think it would be exciting getting there. A rematch with Wanderlei Silva would be a big time fight, and there are already rumors of Belfort/Henderson taking place sooner rather than later. All these are good things.

As for Babalu, his exile from the UFC following his lingering choke out of David Heath may have been the best thing that could have happened to him. He has one four straight outside the Octagon against good if not elite competition, and is now a top ten light heavyweight. Rumors of Babalu moving into the UFC 102 main event against Rich Franklin may be a bit premature, but if that is the kind of fights we get, again, these are good things.

The biggest fish in the sea, though, remains Fedor Emelianenko. Reports are that the UFC declined to pick up the Russian's Affliction contract, presumably making him a free agent.

To that wit, further rumors are out there suggesting that Strikeforce is making a strong play for Fedor. The "non-exlusive" terms might be the most attractive aspect of the Strikeforce offer, as Fedor has time and again stated his desire to continue his combat sambo career.

However, news coming from MMA Junkie on Sunday morning suggests that Fedor's management team might be making a huge push to finally get the world's best heavyweight into the world's best promotion.

And if that happens, it is a VERY GOOD thing.

The other good thing - for fighters, if no one else - is that Affliction is back as a sponsor for UFC fighters. They were major enough sponsors that, at the time of their ban, it was speculated that fighters like GSP might walk away from the UFC due to the financial hits they were taking. That was obviously an exaggeration, but Affliction returning as a sponsor is nothing but good for the bank accounts of many, many fighters.

THE wRong:


The Rematch we didn't need to see...and maybe won't?

Earlier this week, the UFC announced that UFC 103 in Texas would be headlined by a rematch between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson.

Seriously?

They fought back at UFC 93 in January, and while it was a good fight, it certainly was not one the world was clamoring to see again, especially so soon. Adding to the confusion was the weight class issues between the two fighters. The first fight was at 205lbs, but the winner would coach the next season of TUF and fight at middleweight against Michael Bisping. Former middleweight champ Franklin has made it clear that he can no longer make 185lbs as he has been fighting above that weight class since September 2008, but did fight his last fight against Wanderlei Silva at a catchweight of 195lbs. He has clearly stated that he is now a light heavyweight and seemed to be working towards a title shot in that division.

After beating Franklin, Henderson coached the season of TUF and then brutally KO'd Bisping in their season ending fight. and seemed to be angling towards a rematch with 185lb kingpin Anderson Silva.

So what the hell were these two doing fighting each other?

Apparently, the public irritation of the announcement reached the ears of the UFC as it seems the fight will not happen, even though Franklin's camp knows nothing about the change. While reports that the fight was removed from the 103 website were wrong (the fight was never listed), it does seem that the search is one for a new opponent for Franklin.

As mentioned above, there are rumors that Babalu might step in, but it seems Franklin will be the headliner of the card, and Franklin vs Babalu is more likely to main event a SPIKE card rather than a PPV. Ortiz's name has been floated, and that fight would certainly sell, but it is questionable if Ortiz would have ample time to train since he was just cleared by doctors for workouts last week.

Hopefully, over the next week, the immediate futures of Franklin, Henderson and UFC 103 are clarified.


Not as newsworthy as Affliction, but still not good

Palace Fighting Championships out of California shut down operations this week as well. While not a major player in the sport, they were a strong regional promotion of the type necessary to get fighters ready for the next stage. More than a few recognizable names have made there way through PFC, so hopefully the promoter is able to find a new home sooner rather than later and restart.


Before the positive test, Barnett kills concert goers

Prior to the announcement of this positive test, Josh Barnett took part in some Affliction: Trilogy hype, and was caught stage diving. I would hate to look up and see a 260lb man falling on me. And it's not like you could punch the guy for doing it if you survived either.

Afterwards, Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones does a surprisingly good interview with Barnett, though it's all for not now.





Bad reactions to bars, drugs rob Strikeforce fans of two title fights

First, heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem had to pull out of his scheduled defense against Fabricio Werdum due to the lingering effects of getting into a bar brawl against a group of bouncers last year. One title fight down.

Then, due to to a "bad reaction from an undisclosed drug", Joe Riggs has pulled out of a long awaited rematch with Nick Diaz for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title. Riggs scored a unanimous decision win in their UFC fight, though supposedly Diaz got the better of the following hospital rematch. The rubber match would have been entertaining, but hopefully a suitable replacement can be found on short notice. I hear Jay Heiron is free....


Affliction Goes Under - Part 2

Honestly, it was inevitable

From the day they announced that they would start their own promotion, I never thought Affliction would last very long. When I saw who they were basing the promotion around, as a fan I was greatly excited, but you took one look at the proposed payroll and you knew they would not last long.

And here's the reason why - The UFC is massively popular in the US, MMA is not. That might sound confusing, but there is a reason why no other promotion has become 1/100th as popular as the UFC. They have brand recognition and are entrenched in the American sporting mind as the end all, be all of MMA. Most fans don't even know what MMA is, but they love the UFC, if you know what I mean.

So, when Affliction based their entire promotion around the best fighter in the world, the hardcores thought it would be great - and in the ring, it was - but without the marketing and legitimacy of the UFC behind him, Fedor doesn't mean that much in the grand scheme of things. The second he gets inside the Octagon and does what he does, he'll be the biggest star in the sport.

In that reality, Affliction was doomed from the start, but it as a fan, I'm sad to see them go. Their last show was legitimately great, and they managed get the "Big Fight" atmosphere for Fedor/Arlovski, and as far as fighters go, they loved having an alternative to the UFC that paid enough to live on. For those reasons, the death of Affliction MMA is something to lament.

THE RIDICULOUS:


Waking up to your own death

Before Affliction became the melodrama of the week, we had weird, weird story of the death of Kimo.

A big name in the sport as the result of a cool look and being the first man to make Royce Gracie REALLY work for a win, news broke Monday night that Kimo had died of a massive heart attack via a post on the infamous Underground. Several blogs ran with the story, though several of the larger sites did their best to try and confirm before they did. All hell broke loose when, on Tuesday, TMZ and the New York Daily News reported the rumor as fact, and a lot of comments about meth and steroids were thrown around. (Sidenote - As this topic was discussed on ESPN Radio's "The Herd" with Colin Cowherd, I came to learn the very weird and fascinating fact that meth users seem to really enjoy scrounging in empty fields for Indian arrowheads. I like learning weird things, and that was about as random as it gets.)

The problem came later on Tuesday when Kimo woke up to phone calls of people checking on him (sidenote 2 - if he really were dead, what did they expect to happen when they called?). Thankfully, Kimo is not dead, and now seems to be looking for the source of the rumors for a possible lawsuit.


Affliciton Goes Under - Part 3

Yes, the end result might give us some good fights in the UFC.

Yes, the business model was questionable from the very beginning.

But, a big load of responsibility for this fiasco has to rest squarely on the shoulders of one Josh Barnett.

For the second official time, Barnett tested positive for a banned steroid. I say second official time as there are unconfirmed reports that Barnett tested positive BEFORE his title fight with Randy Couture, but wasn't punished as it was just a trial run for the NSAC's drug testing. Last time, he got stripped of his heavyweight title and had to fight in Japan for years, but this time he was able to kick the final leg off the table holding up the entire Affliction promotion and cost a whole lot of fighters a whole lot of money. I'm going to guess that Barnett is even less popular among fighters right now than he is even among fans. And that's saying something.

First, it's ridiculous that he was cheating. If you don't agree with me on that one...well, that's a sad statement.

Secondly, it's ridiculous that he got caught. By no means do I know much about taking steroids, but how hard is it to get something out of your system, or if you're going to do it, do something they're not testing for.

I got into a few discussions about the timing of the testing, and while Barnett is the source of the problem no doubt, the CSAC is partly responsible for the fallout of this, in my book. Yes, they did their job and caught a cheater (and in such a high profile case, maybe they'll even deter some future ones) but they also brought down an entire company. I know random means random, but if it's going to take 3 weeks to get results back, maybe you randomly pick a time more than 4 1/2 weeks before a show and give a promotion a chance to recover IF someone tests positive.

Again, the CSAC did their job, but man, their timing sucks.