MMA's 3 R's 08.03.09: Tito Is Back, Useless Conference Calls, Fedor, Fighters Getting New Homes, Jerry Millen, More

Posted by Matt McEwen on 08.03.2009

Fedor has dominated the talk over the past week, but there has been plenty of other interesting news this week as well.



Welcome...

The dog days of summer are certainly upon us, but that has not meant a reduction in news in the MMA world. In case you have not heard yet, Fedor has signed 3 times with the UFC and once with Strikeforce, at least I think that's how many times deals have been "broken" online. We won't know what's going to happen until it happens, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been plenty of noteworthy events this past week.


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:

Fighters finding new homes

Last week, when Affliction threw in the towel and admitted defeat at the hands of Josh Barnett's failed drug test, it left more than a few fighters wondering where their next paycheck would be coming from, and under whose banner they would be fighting. It also left a lot of fans wondering when they would be able to see some of their favorite fighters again.

Now, 10 days later, we have answers on more than a few of those fighters, and it is hard to see how things could have worked out better for MMA fans.

During his conference call on Friday (more on that in a lower R), Dana White revealed that several free agents are now under contract with the WEC and the UFC.

UFC vet Mark Hominick will be returning to ZUFFA, but this time under the WEC banner, where he is 0-2. A talented fighter, Hominick will be taking on fellow former Affliction talent Deividas Taurosevicius in what should be an exciting fight at WEC 43 next month.

The UFC also snapped up exciting welterweight striker Paul Daley. If he figures out the ground game, "Semtex" could be deadly, but even if he doesn't, potential action fights with the likes of Marcus Davis, Dan Hardy and Chris Lytle are certainly on the horizon. Another fighter with good striking and weak ground skills was also added in the selective sweep of Affliction assets as American Kickboxing Academy veteran Paul Buentello will also make his return in the heavyweight division. No match ups have been announced as of yet, but the UFC has recently begun to add something of an "action striking" aspect to the division with the return of Mirko Cro Cop, and the upcoming battle between kickboxing standouts Antoni Hardonk and Pat Barry. While none of the four are likely to be considered threats to Lesner at the top of the division, mixing and matching them could give fans a few exciting KO's to enjoy.

Add in underrated heavyweight Ben Rothwell, J-Lau's little brother Dan Lauzon and Rafaello Oliveira, and the UFC added a lot of depth to several divisions. They added some star power too, and more on Vitor Belfort's return in another section.

Strikeforce was not left out of the fun either, and probably did their promotion more immediate good than the UFC as well.

With their August 15th card slowly falling to pieces as their three of their four scheduled title fights fell apart, Strikeforce took full advantage of Affliction's demise and scooped up some exciting fighters and, arguably, put together a card that is actually better than the original plan.

Out are the heavyweight title fight between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, the welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs and the lightweight title rematch between champion Josh Thompson and challenger Gilbert Melendez. A good set of fights, but the replacements have me even more excited.

First, they poached the Renato Sobral/Gegard Mousasi fight off of the Affliction card, put on August 15th and made it for Sobral's Strikeforce 205lb title. Now we get five rounds of a fight that should answer a lot of questions - the winner will be undeniably a bona fide top 10 light heavyweight, and likely the best outside of the UFC. Mousasi is only 23 and has racked up a long list of accolades already, and, despite a contract with M-1, has sparked a few rumours about wanting to be in the Octagon sooner rather than later. "Babalu", on the other hand, is a known commodity, but Mousasi is the biggest challenge since his punishment/release from the UFC, and win would certainly put him high on the UFC wish list as soon as he is contractually available.

Next up, Riggs has been replaced with Jay Heiron, who was scheduled to face the above mentioned Paul Daley. Heiron is currently the 16th ranked welterweight in the world, one spot below Diaz. They are two of only 6 non-UFC competitors in the top 25, making this just about the best welterweight fight you could find outside the Octagon.

And finally, as a replacement for Thompson - who pulled out with a broken leg - Strikeforce tabbed Japanese fighter and PRIDE veteran Mitsuhiro Ishida to take on Melendez for the interim title. Ishida was the first man to beat Melendez, so while the fight may not have the appeal of a rematch with "The Punk" - there is a good sporting reason for the fight to take place.

Ortiz officially back

I said last week that - tweets and twoots aside - that Ortiz finally getting back to the business of fighting is a good thing, and doing so inside the Octagon is an even better one. Those two things have been officially announced now, along with new rumors about when Ortiz will actually fight and against whom.

I think Ortiz is a top 15 talent in the division (and despite the year off, is still 18th in the world), so other than possible fights with Lil' Nog and Babalu, there are not great fights available for him. Back in the Octagon there are. But first - Mark Coleman. At first, the fight sounded a bit odd to me, but it will actually give Ortiz a chance to work of ring rust without fear of getting KO'd by a good striker, while still being a competitive match up. Should happen by November, with the winner likely being just two wins away from a title shot in a stacked division.


Henderson getting next 185lb title shot

Speaking of stacked divisions, remember when the middleweights were the most derided class of fighters in the UFC? A dominant champ and then....not much else.

My, how times have changed. In his conference call Friday, White stated that Dan Henderson earned another title shot against Anderson Silva with his devastating KO of Michael Bisping. Of course, that would beg the question of why they announced he would be fighting Rich Franklin, but since that will be forgotten, I won't bother asking it.

It is a bit surprising that they announced Henderson outright as the challenger though, as it had long been thought that the winner of the upcoming (and eagerly anticipated by me) fight between Nate Marquardt and Demian Maia would be in contention for the fight, depending on how that fight went.

Of course, if Silva comes out of his fight with Forrest Griffin Saturday night worse for wear (and I'll go on record as saying a quick KO is not likely for The Spider), he might need more than his usual three months off to prepare for a title defense. That would leave the possibility of a Henderson versus the Marquardt/Maia winner fighting in the meantime, with the winner of that one getting a title shot.

That's all conjecture though, and as it stands, Henderson will get another crack at Silva. We know he has the wrestling skill and chin and to the champ a run, but we will have to see if his ground defense and stamina will afford him the time to do so.

THE wRong:


Worrying about Fedor

I do not care about how much money Fedor makes, I do not care what the conditions of his contract are, I do not care if he fights in a co-promotion, I do not care if it is a six fight deal or a one fight deal, I do not care if it is an exclusive deal or if he can fight in Sambo tournaments.

I DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT BS.

All I care about is when Fedor will be fighting, who he will be fighting and how I can see it. As a fan of the sport, all the rest is superfluous BS that I do not need to hear about. As an MMA blog hound though, it is a topic I could not escape this week until I threw in the towel and skipped every story involving the words "Fedor", "Negotiations" and "Continuing". I will continue to do so until one of those headlines starts with "Fedor signs deal with...".

I just want to watch Fedor fight. Yes, it would be nice if it is with the UFC, as that is where the best fights can be made. But, if it's with Strikeforce or with DREAM, there will be some good fights to be made there too, and I will watch. Like I said, I am a fan. I am not an MMA fighter or an MMA agent and therefore I do not care about contract negotiations or how much Fighter A is being paid. I just do not.

So, until Fedor signs somewhere, this week will be the last you hear me speak of all this kerfluffle.

MMA instant replay

This is one of those things that sounds kind of good, and is being considered with the best of intentions, but I really hope that the NSAC decides against this option.

Raised in the aftermath of the Kevin Burns/Anthony Johnson and Mirko Cro Cop/Mustapha Al-Turk fights that were both decided by eye pokes, the idea is for the referee to have access to replays of the final seconds of fights if they miss an obvious foul. And, at the heart of the idea, it is not a bad one at all. Both of those fights should have ended differently, but starting replay could open up a Pandora's Box of complaints.

Will a fighter cry foul if a ref misses a low kick, and the fighter ends up taking damage from that? How far back will they be able to look? What if a poke in the eye does not result in an immediate finish, but rather just gives a fighter control of a round that wins him a fight?

It is a good idea at heart, but a better idea might be to have the referees better trained since they do miss a fair bit of stuff, and maybe to have a second official watching on a monitor who would be able to quickly correct mistakes by calling time in a fight.

Vitor vs Franklin

Rich is fighting at 195lbs AGAIN? Either make this a new division, or let the poor man get on with the business of trying to get a title shot at 205lbs.

Everything I said last week about Franklin getting screwed with these catchweight fights still stands, only now they are messing with Belfort as well.

Vitor - a great addition by the UFC out the Affliction ashes - should be a middleweight, not 10lbs over that. He has looked fantastic fighting at that weight, and could be a well received challenger to Anderson Silva with a fight or two and some build up. Instead, he takes on Rich Franklin at the annoying catch weight, and the works just continue to get muddled up.

A win at 195lbs doesn't mean as much to mean in terms of the middleweight title as a win at 185lbs does. Make the cut, fight someone trying to challenge for the belt you want to challenge for, and earn a title shot. The way the UFC has been yo-yoing Franklin between weight classes and coming up with these catch weight fights to use him as a gate keeper to the middleweight title is not fair to him or all the competitors trying to earn a shot within the division.

THE RIDICULOUS:


Jerry Millen

A long time annoyance to MMA fans, the walking quote machine that is Jerry Millen struck again this week, weighing in on the Fedor contract situation thanks to his role as the American VP of M-1. I'll just let his words speak for him:

Q: Going back to co-promotion, so you're saying co-promotion for M-1 means a 50/50 investment between the two parties?

A: Yeah, yeah. You sit down with the hard numbers. What's the fight purses? What's the venue? What's the advertising budget? Travel, food, throw it all in a pot, split it down the middle, and at the end of the event if the ink is black and there's a profit, split the profit, and if the ink is red, then just split the loss.

Q:How has other miscellaneous topics that have been reportedly been an issue in the past, such as Sambo, the inclusion of other Red Devil (Fedor's camp) fighters, the amount of M-1 branding, played into negotiations?

A: You know all of that stuff is negotiable. If the UFC would have sat down, and conducted as a true co-promotion and say "ok we'll do half M-1 fighters, and half UFC fighters," all that can be worked out. At the end of the day it's about the main event card. That's what they want: Brock vs. Fedor. Everything else can be worked out as long as they're willing to work with us. That's all. And at the end of the day if you're really a fan of the sport - not a fan of the UFC - You got to step back and see what is best for the sport. Fedor sell his soul to the UFC for an X amount of dollars? Or break their model? I know they have a business model but to me they're the WWE of MMA.

The WWE thing really speaks for itself for the stupidity of however he meant it, but really, the entirety of these answers qualifies this for the ridiculous.


Useless Conference Calls

Fedor and the M1 folks had one on Wednesday to tell us...well.....I'm not 100% sure what they told us other than they hadn't signed a contract yet and that they were M1. And pull the classic US politician move of ignoring the question asked and answering the one you wish had been asked.

Then, Friday, Dana White had a press conference/conference call that he had been hyping for a week to tell us.....things we had all already known for about a week. Ortiz and Belfort's returns, Belfort vs Franklin, getting on ESPN UK and the pick up of Affliction fighters had been guessed at already. The only really new thing was Henderson's title shot. But the big thing....the "deal that would change the UFC forever"....that deal wasn't finalized yet so he couldn't talk about it.

I'm going to take the same approach to Dana White "big deals" that I'm taking with Fedor signing....I'll worry about it when it gets announced. Until then, it just doesn't matter.




Coming next week.....


Next week, I will actually have actual, honest to goodness, REAL fights to talk about. UFC 101 has me drooling for Florian finally getting his title shot in Penn's first defense in over a year, Silva in Griffin in a fight that I think might be the most interesting all year and Amir Sodallah finally getting in the cage for the first time since winning TUF. Then, the next night, WEC 42 with Miguel Torres taking on the #2 bantamweight in the world in Brian Bowles, and the usual bevy of action the WEC serves up to boot. Not sure how much WEC stuff will get in under the deadline, but hopefully it will be more rather than less.

Until next week folks....