Cardio Freak MMA News Report 8.11.09: It's Always Runny in Philadelphia

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 08.11.2009

This week in Cardio Freak: A review of UFC 101 featuring a live perspective on the fights and where certain fighters go from here! Plus, thoughts on WEC 42, Fedor in Strikeforce, and a preview of the ever changing Strikeforce card. It's faster than Forrest Griffin, it's Cardio Freak on 411!



Headline News



"Who's the fucking master?"

UFC 101 saw two of the top pound for pound fighters in the world prove why they are two of the top pound for pound fighters in the world.

There were a lot of BJ Penn doubters headed into this past weekend. He was coming off a brutal beating at the hands of Georges St. Pierre and many questioned if Penn's head and heart were still in fighting. Kenny Florian was given a fair shot by many critics because of how much he improves from fight to fight and the fact that he just seems to win. I said it 100 times leading up to the fight, "whoever wins the first round will win the fight." Look at the faces of Penn and Florian after the first round. You saw who won the fight right there.

Florian's gameplan seemed to be to go for multiple takedowns in order to wear out Penn and possibly finish him in the later rounds. That gameplan sucked. What he ended up doing was wearing himself out, allowing Penn to finish him in the later rounds. Florian's gameplan should have been to use his height, reach, and striking advantage. He couldn't match Penn in the power department but as an overall striker, Florian is far more diverse. He should have worn down Penn using body and leg kicks. Maybe that was his gameplan. Everyone has a gameplan until they get hit and once Florian got hit, he seemed as if he didn't want anything to do with Penn on the feet. When Penn got Florian to the ground it was all she wrote for "Ken-Flo". That begs the question, why the hell did Florian want to be on the ground with Penn in the first place? Sure St. Pierre dominated him on the ground but Kenny Florian isn't Georges St. Pierre. If you don't believe me then ask Mandy Moore. I think had Florian got him down earlier, Penn would have finished him earlier.

There's no question in my mind that BJ Penn is the best Lightweight in the world. He claims to be fighting for himself now and he looked in great condition for this fight. His next opponent will likely be Diego Sanchez and while I give him a better shot than I did Florian, I'd still favor Penn by a good margin. It's back to the drawing board for Kenny Florian who looked like the second saddest man in the world after Saturday night. He's still a top fighter at 155 and I'm sure he'll take plenty away from this loss. I could see him fighting Clay Guida or Gray Maynard (if he beats Huerta) next.

I watched this fight on TV when I got home and I love Mike Goldberg but someone needs to tell him that not everyone in MMA is "pure class." BJ Penn is one of the best fighters in the world and I personally love his personality but I don't think accusing the Welterweight champion of greasing and being on steroids plus whining the way he does makes him, "one of the classiest individuals in the sport." Sure he's classy after he wins but true class is shown when you lose.



The saddest man in the world after Saturday night had to be Forrest Griffin. I'm going to make this about myself for a second (because that's what I do best) and say that the Cardio Freak Curse lives on. I've been to three live MMA events and at UFC 88, the biggest star in the building (Chuck Liddell) got knocked out, at EliteXC: Heat the biggest star in the building (Kimbo Slice) got knocked out, and at UFC 101 the biggest star in the building (Forrest Griffin) got knocked out. I need to further test this curse and go an event in Canada headlined by St. Pierre.

Forrest Griffin has always said that he's next the best but he'll never break. I think Anderson Silva broke him. In the arena it looked as if Griffin waved off the fight himself on the final knockdown. On replay it showed that he was sort of getting his hands up to try and protect himself but he was clearly done, Gus. He got up after the ref called the fight, ran to the back, was booed on his way out, and wasn't heard from again. Like Florian, I think Griffin had a bad gameplan. Maybe he wanted to feel things out on the feet but after he was dropped the first time he should have realized that getting into a striking battle with Silva was a bad idea.

This was fight proved that Silva just needs to be tested. I'm sure everyone has now forgotten about the UFC 90 and 97 main events and they're willing to place 100% blame on Patrick Cote and Thales Leites. He's still the best striker in MMA and arguably the best fighter in MMA. He made Forrest Griffin, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, look like an amateur who should have never been on The Ultimate Fighter (any season) much less won it. He knocked out Griffin with what I'm calling a fade away jab. I know Griffin's chin isn't BJ Penn-like but that's still an impressive feat.

Dan Henderson is going to test Silva next and while I think he'll be smarter than he was at UFC 82 and smarter than Griffin was on Saturday, I still don't know if it'll be enough to dethrone "The Spider". I say that because a lot like Griffin, Henderson has the tendency to want to brawl when he gets hit and getting into a brawl with Silva only benefits Silva and the local hospital.

UFC is in a tough place with Forrest Griffin now. Despite his performance and the fans booing him, he's still one of the most popular fighters in the sport but he's lost two straight in rather embarrassing fashion. Losing three straight, no matter who you are and who you lose to just isn't acceptable in the UFC. Maybe he fights Mark Coleman if Coleman loses to Ortiz or possibly Thiago Silva if Silva beats Keith Jardine (I don't think they want have a fight between two guys where one would lose three straight, which is why I don't think he'll fight the loser of Jardine vs. Silva and I think Jardine vs. Griffin 2 would be a disservice to Jardine should he beat Silva) but this isn't an ideal situation for the company. Obviously they're not going to release Griffin but he needs win fights in order to stay in contention. Maybe they'll do Griffin vs. Bonnar 3 on free TV. Come on, if they can get away with Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3 then they can get away with Griffin vs. Bonnar 3.



Aaron Riley picked up a nice win over Shane Nelson although no one really cared. I thought the fight was decent for what it was but it was just on a bad spot on the card. Everyone in the crowd was still upset about the Hendricks vs. Amir stoppage and they knew Griffin vs. Silva was next so they were just politely waiting for Riley and Nelson to finish fighting so we could get to the real main event. Also throw in the fact that one woman was so pissed that she only got to see Amir for 30 seconds that she decided to take it out on the woman next to her and that scuffle turned more heads than the actual fight in the Octagon. I think Riley played it safe given what happened in March as he usually is much more exciting fighter but I can't say I blame him. Rogan hinted at Nelson dropping down to 145 so maybe that will be his next career move.

After the Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson fight I nicknamed Dan Miragliotta, "That Stoppage Ref" for his stoppage of that fight. Well "That Stoppage Ref" was back at UFC 101. I'm usually one to give the benefit of the doubt to the refs because they have to make a split second decision and I would rather fights get stopped early rather than late. But what I can't forgive is that Miragliotta was so far out of position when he stopped the fight that I had a better view from 13 rows back. Not only could "That Stoppage Ref" not see that Amir Sadollah was getting ready to grab a leg or get up but he couldn't see Johny Hendricks tagging Amir in the back of the head multiple times. A few months ago when replay in MMA was a hot topic, I argued that we don't need replay, we just need better refs. I stand by that. We need refs who are in position and can see what they need to see in order to make the correct call.

I feel bad for Amir who spent virtually a year preparing for this fight and it got cut short because of bad positioning by the ref. I wouldn't be shocked if UFC does a rematch between these two much like they did the Riley vs. Nelson rematch after a bad stoppage in that one. Hendricks is a good prospect given his wrestling pedigree and heavy hands. With some more seasoning he could be a top contender in the Welterweight division.



Ricardo Almeida beat Kendall Grove but the fight wasn't anything to write home about. The closest anyone came to finishing the fight was when Grove caught Almeida in an armbar that looked tight but Almeida was able to escape when Grove changed his grip. Grove is a fighter who should be a lot better than he is given his height and reach advantage but he's horrible and using that advantage and fights on the inside far too often. Not only does that get him in trouble but his takedown defense isn't very good as Almeida, a natural Welterweight with average at best wrestling, was able to take him down multiple times. I was disappointed that Almeida, a far superior grappler, couldn't finish Grove on the ground despite having him in bad positions multiple times. Almeida in the Welterweight division is going to be a threat given his top level jiu-jitsu but I don't know if he'll be a contender.

Kurt Pellegrino fought a smart fight against Josh Neer and was able to pick up the victory. Pellegrino was able to put Neer on his back at will, stay active on top, avoid any submission attempt by Neer on the bottom, and win the decision. It was as exciting as it could have been but I didn't think it was horrible either. I expected Neer to turn in a better performance than he did but I also credit Pellegrino for executing a good gameplan. I don't think Pellegrino is going to be a top Lightweight anytime soon but stranger things have happened.

Quick Prelim Thoughts:

-George Sotiropoulos is either really good on the ground or George Roop just has no clue what he's doing. It's likely a mixture of both.
-Thales Leites continued to prove me correct in saying that his MMA jiu-jitsu is overrated as he had Sakara on the ground a few times and even mounted him but failed to put him away. Leites should have won the decision but really neither man did a damn thing on the feet.
-I was disappointed in Tamdan McCrory's performance. I expected a lot better out of him but he just didn't deliver. Hopefully he does better at Middleweight. Another good win for John Howard.
-Danillo Villefort rightfully lost to Jesse Lennox. Of course he protested the doctor stoppage but when you say, "I can't see" in the middle of a fight then you're looking for a way out and I believe the referee or doctor should immediately stop it no matter what.
-Matt Riddle dominated Dan Cramer and that was that.

Full Results:

-BJ Penn defeated Kenny Florian to retain the UFC Lightweight Title via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:45 in Round Four
-Anderson Silva defeated Forrest Griffin via KO (Right Jab) at 3:23 in Round One
-Aaron Riley defeated Shane Nelson via Unanimous Decision (30-27 across)
-Johny Hendricks defeated Amir Sadollah via TKO (Strike) at :29 in Round One
-Ricardo Almeida defeated Kendall Grova via Unanimous Decision (30-27 across)
-Kurt Pellegrino defeated Josh Neer via Unanimous Decision (30-27 across)
-John Howard defeated Tamdan McCrory via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
-Alessio Sakara defeated Thales Leites via Split Decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
-Matt Riddle defeated Dan Cramer via Unanimous Decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27)
-George Sotiropoulos defeated George Roop via Submission (Kimura) at 1:59 in Round Two
-Jesse Lennox defeated Danillo Villefort via TKO (Cut) at 3:37 in Round Three

Major UFC/WEC News



On August 9 WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles took place at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Here are the results:

-Brian Bowles defeated Miguel Torres to win the WEC Bantamweight Title via KO at 3:57 in Round One
-Dominick Cruz defeated Joseph Benavidez via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
-Danny Castillo defeated Ricardo Lamas via TKO at 4:15 in Round Two
-Takeya Mizugaki defeated Jeff Curran via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
-Leonard Garcia defeated Jameel Massouh via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

It was WEC, it was good.

Never doubt the generic white boy in WEC. Twice now we've seen rather plain white fighters defeat the ultra-charismatic WEC champions. First Mike Brown planted Urijah Faber with a big right hand and on Sunday night Brian Bowles planted Miguel Torres with a big right hand and followed that up by pounding him (past the point of when it should have been stopped) unconscious. This was a pretty even fight until the end. Bowles caught Torres early with a right hand that seemed to stumble Torres but he was able to come back and land a big flurry that had Bowles in trouble and covering up. Torres maybe came in too hot with his hands down and he paid as Bowles unloaded with a big right that dropped him. As Torres was trying to regain his senses and go for either an armbar or triangle, Bowles just pounded on him until the ref stopped it. Everyone figured Bowles had a punchers chance but Torres had always shown a great chin. Sooner or later your chin goes, especially when you get hit right on the button. I don't think WEC benefits right now from Brian Bowles being champion over Miguel Torres because they really didn't put a lot of hype into Bowles (much like they didn't put a lot of hype into Mike Brown) but if he wins a couple of fights and defends the title then it will help out WEC in the long run. Bowles will probably make his first title defense against Dominick Cruz while I think they'll do a Torres vs. Mizugaki rematch because they love doing "former champion vs. guy he last beat before losing the title" rematches.

Cruz vs. Benavidez was a hell of a scrap. The Urijah Faber trained Benavidez is a fiery little Bantamweight but the height and reach Cruz possessed over him was too much. Unlike Kendall Grove, Cruz knows how to use his physical advantages and did so brilliantly in this fight, moving away and countering every time Benavidez came in with a flurry. When they did end up in tight, Cruz was able to muscle his opponent down. It was a pretty close fight for the most part but I felt Cruz did just enough in each round to rightfully win the decision and his dominant positioning at the end of the fight really solidified the win for him. He'll likely take on Brian Bowles next and that should be a hell of a fight.

Ricardo Lamas was beating Danny Castillo and then he just got caught. "Shit happens and shit." Castillo has "Mark Coleman-Syndrome", which means he's a wrestler who hits really hard. Those guys are always scary.

A bad decision in my book was Mizugaki over Curran. Yes Mizgaku was able to takedown Curran and hold him there for the better part of 15 minutes but Curran was far more active on the bottom than Mizugaki was on top. The ending of the fight was insane as Curran had Mizugaki in what look to be a deep triangle for almost a minute yet Mizugaki was able to hang on and survive. Despite winning, this was not the Mizugaki that fought Miguel Torres.

I thought Massouh won the decision against Garcia. You could arguably call the first round a draw because even though Garcia knocked down Massouh, Massouh came back in that round, was close with a couple of submissions, and finished the round strong. Even if you thought he lost that round, I still think he won the final two rounds. He clearly won the second round and while the third round was close and neither man went to finish, I thought he did a better job countering while all Garcia was doing was winging the right hand. You could argue that "you have to beat the champion/popular fighter to be the champion/popular fighter" but we've seen a few times in the past (Liddell/Jardine, Griffin/Jackson) where the champion/popular fighter lost even though they weren't really beat. I think Massouh ended up gaining more fans in the end so at least there's that.



On August 3 411Mania learned that Joe Stevenson would take on Spencer Fisher at UFC 104 on October 24.

Despite his last performance, Spencer Fisher is usually an exciting fighter and I expect this to be an exciting fight. I chalk up Fisher's bad performance against Caol Uno as just being a bad style fight for him. He was clearly worried about the takedown and afraid to let his hands go so it made for a rather dull contest. He still has to worry about the takedown of Joe Stevenson but Stevenson is more likely to stand and strike with Fisher while Uno wanted no part of the fight on the feet at UFC 99. Due to his superior wrestling, I favor Stevenson in this fight. Uno had a tough time getting Fisher to the mat but that's because he never threatened with anything on the feet. When he finally put Fisher on his back, he easily controlled and dominated him, it was just too little too late. Stevenson is much more of a threat on the feet and will use his hands to set up the takedown, something Uno didn't do. Fisher's takedown defense is still rather weak and while he is a threat off his back, he's not a threat enough to catch Stevenson. This should be a fun fight and I'm really looking forward to it at UFC 104.

Minor UFC/WEC News

On August 5 Sherdog reported that Ed Herman would take the place of James Irvin against Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102. On August 7 MMANews reported that Wilson Gouveira dropped out of the fight with a back injury. No replacement has been announced for Ed Herman.

Disappointing news for and about Wilson Gouveia because James Irvin and Ed Herman were guys that Gouveia could have and should have beat. Gouveia is far better than what he showed at UFC 95 against Nate Marquardt, he's just a mental flake and doesn't always show up for every fight. When he's on, he's one of the most dangerous fighters in the Middleweight division. Irvin was a good opponent for him because of his superior ground game and Herman was a good opponent because if anyone is goes through more mental cramps than Gouveia, it's Herman.

For the sake of Dustin James, I hope Herman remains on this card. Kendall Grove wasn't too banged up after UFC 101, maybe they'll do a TUF3 Finale rematch. After all, that fight earned them both winners contracts and they really tried to push it as being just as good as Griffin vs. Bonnar 1.

On August 7 MMAJunkie reported that Dan Miller would take on Aaron Simpson at Fight Night 19. Miller would be replacing Ed Herman.

As almost everyone knows, I'm a fan of the Fighting Miller Brothers so I look forward to Dan returning to the Octagon after a less than stellar performance at UFC 98. Aaron Simpson is a good striker with heavy hands but Miller should be able to put him on his back and either grind out a decision, pound him out, or submit him.

Major Strikeforce/Miscellaneous News



On August 3 Strikeforce announced that they had signed Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in a co-promotion deal with M-1 Global. His first fight will be in the fall on Showtime.

I found out about this news while I was having lunch with my mom when my Blackberry e-mail alert went off. I opened it up and much to my surprise I saw the press release that Strikeforce sent out announcing they had signed Fedor Presented by M-1 Global (FPM-1G for short). My first reaction was disappointment as the news broke on Monday about my column had been posted and I knew I wouldn't get my opinion out on this until over a week later. Once again, this column is about me. My second reaction was shock. And my third reaction was more disappointment because does anyone really care about Fedor Presented by M-1 Global vs. Brett Rogers or Fabricio Werdum? I think it's clear that FPM-1G or his management only cares about protecting his legacy rather than building it. He'll always be considered one of the best Heavyweights ever based on his current resume but if he never fights in the Octagon, can he really be considered THE best Heavyweight ever? It's very debatable in my mind. Really he's risking his legacy more by signing with Strikeforce because losing to Brock Lesnar or Randy Couture wouldn't be a horrible thing given that they're Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture. Losing to Brett Rogers or Fabricio Werdum would damage his legacy far more.

I credit Strikeforce for signing FPM-1G because anytime you can acquire one of the best fighters on the planet, you have to do so, especially when you don't have to pick up the full tab. But they've already dropped the ball on this signing. Scott Coker recently stated that FPM-1G would not fight for the Heavyweight title first and instead they would build towards a fight between him and current champion Alistair Overeem. One problem with that, they could lose. Maybe Overeem losing wouldn't be a huge deal because really FPM-1G is the real draw but if FPM-1G loses then they're blowing what is easily their biggest fight. Book fights when you have them. It's not a hard concept to grasp.

If anyone listened to the conference call promoting this signing then you'll know that this deal has trainwreck written all over it. M-1 Global isn't successful and Scott Coker is good but I think overrated as a promoter. Plus you now throw in that they're also co-promoting with DREAM and that has disaster written all over it as well simply because we all know Japan is shady and nothing has gone right for DREAM thus far.

And before anyone gets on my case about me calling Fedor, "FPM-1G" just think of it as if Fedor is a prisoner of the Russian mob. I mean, he pretty is anyway. It's either that or The Artist Formerly Known As The Best & Most Feared Heavyweight in the World Before He Decided to Turn Down 2 Million Dollars and Duck Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture. TAFKATB&AMFWBEHDTD2MDBLRC is too damn long though.



On August 15 Strikeforce presents "Strikeforce: Carano vs. Santos" from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. The event will air live on Showtime at 10PM. Here is the card:

-Strikefore Womens Title Fight: Gina Carano vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos
-Strikeforce Interim Lightweight Title Fight: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Gilbert Melendez ©
-Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title Fight: Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral ©
-Jesse Taylor vs. Jay Hieron

This is buried below the FPM-1G news because even Strikeforce feels the signing is more important than this event. It's rather sad because Carano vs. Santos should be huge (and on CBS) but it just feels flat (chested) thus far. Hopefully it will pick up steam later this week but by then it might be too little too late.

Given that the Carano vs. Santos fight will be five, five minute rounds, I would favor Carano because I trust she'll be in better condition than Santos. I'm not sure if Santos can contain herself from coming out and swinging for the fences like she's in a three, three minute round fight while I think Carano can. I wouldn't be shocked if Carano tries to get this fight to the ground early and often. Given that she's training at Xtreme Couture under Randy Couture, you know she's going to have improved wrestling and a good gameplan (not that that worked for Forrest Griffin) and Santos has never showed a great ability to fight off her back. Even if it stays standing, I give Carano the advantage because she's a lot more composed and technical with her striking while Santos is a crazy woman who is pissed that she only got to see Amir Sadollah fight for 30 seconds.

I'm leaning towards Melendez avenging his loss to Ishida simply because he's been training for a five round fight while Ishida hasn't. I think Melendez will come out, push the pace, and wear down Ishida by the end of the fight. It's not like he got blown out in their first fight and many thought he won the decision but the judges gave it to the Japanese fighter. Ishida will probably try and do what he does best and that's get the fight to the ground and control Melendez but I don't think he can do that for 25 minutes. Sooner or later Melendez is going to catch him.

Of all the fights on the card, I'm actually looking forward to Mousasi vs. Sobral the most. "Babalu" is a treat to watch because he's usually in entertaining fights and he's a crafty veteran that you have to respect. Mousasi is on the rise though and this will be the toughest test of his career. I favor Mousasi on the feet as I think he's the more technical striker of the two and Sobral has a tendency to want to brawl more than he should. Mousasi also has the power advantage in his hands. Sobral is far more accomplished on the ground and that's been Mousasi's weakness in his career. His two losses were by armbar and he was controlled well on the ground by Denis Kang and "Jacare" Souza before eventually catching them. I usually favor experience over youth (and it's gotten me in trouble plenty of times) and I'm doing so here. I think Sobral will be able to get the fight to the ground and control Mousasi for the better part of 25 minutes, possibly submitting him late.



Jay Hieron was scheduled to face Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce Welterweight title but Diaz was too busy training or smoking weed or running a marathon or swimming in saltwater to show up to his licensing drug test. So Strikeforce ended up with Jesse Taylor vs. Jay Hieron in a fight that no one cares about. The funny (and sad) part about all of this is that Hieron turned down a UFC contract because Strikeforce offered him a title shot but because Diaz is out of the fight, the title is no longer on the line. I wonder who Strikeforce wanted to win the Welterweight title. Now Hieron isn't fighting for the title, likely making less money, and certainly getting less exposure. He should beat Jesse Taylor just because I don't think Taylor is that great but I imagine that he's extremely pissed off at Nick Diaz because he refused to piss in a cup.

Of course instead of punishing Diaz, Strikeforce will likely use him on the next possible show because he actually has a personality and they can't have the guy that beat up Frank Shamrock unemployed. It's on Strikeforce to make a call on Diaz. Since I love making high school analogies, if Diaz had cheated on a test and passed then the school would punish him however they saw fit. Diaz just didn't show up to take the test, so he automatically gets a 0 as his score. It's up to the parents to lay down the proper punishment on Diaz for skipping the test. The CSAC is the school, Diaz is Diaz, and the parents are Strikeforce. If they don't want to punish him then they don't have to but that's also encourage him to do it again because he can obviously live with getting a 0 or in this case, not fighting. If I were Strikeforce, I would release him in order to send a message that something like this won't be tolerated. We already know Diaz is a headache because of his personality but it's never harmed the promotion until now so he was a headache you could live with because you knew he would show up, fight, and be entertaining. Now you can't even trust him to do that. Scott Coker has already publicly stated that he would continue to do business with Diaz, so I suspect he'll face the winner of Hieron vs. Taylor for the Welterweight title.

Almost everything has gone wrong for Strikeforce with this event except Carano vs. Santos. So far we've had three dropouts due to injury, one main card fighter being dropped to the prelims, and another dropout due to idiocy. You just know Carano or Santos will miss weight on Friday. It wouldn't have shocked anyone if that happened when this fight was announced and given the bad juju surrounding this card, it really wouldn't shock anyone now.

Minor Strikeforce/Miscellaneous News



On August 6 Dave Meltzer reported that Andrei Arlovski attempted to commit suicide by playing Russian roulette with a revolver and one bullet.

I really feel bad for Andrei Arlovski. After losing to Brett Rogers you could tell Arlovski was very upset as he was nearly in tears in the corner. Some fighters take losses very hard and he's one of them. Look at what happened with Quinton Jackson after his loss to Forrest Griffin. Or just look at how Griffin reacted after he lost to Anderson Silva. To be fair to Griffin, he claims in his book "Got Fight?" that once he leaves the arena, he's the same ol' Forrest Griffin. After his loss to Keith Jardine that saw him crying and running out of the arena, he said five minutes after leaving the arena he was back to joking around. So maybe Griffin takes a loss hard on camera but once he gets it out of his system, he's back to normal. Sean Sherk is another example of a guy taking a loss hard.

That's the thing about fighting. When you lose, YOU lose. There's no team in fighting. It's the ultimate individual sport. Losses in other individual sports don't hurt as bad because they're not fighting. Think about it like this: You're a popular guy in high school and you're dating a good looking girl. You have to lose in something that only involves you. Every single person reading this column would rather lose a tennis match or a golf tournament or a game of chess or anything else. No one wants to lose a fight. Why? Because fighting is a the manliest of manly sports and if you lose a fight, you lose your manliness. Some people deal with losing better than others but no one wants to lose. I hope Arlovski bounces back but I'm not sure how you bounce back after something like this. Obviously fighting and winning would be the best cure but what if he fights and loses again? I think the best solution for Arlovski would be to see a psychiatrist.

On August 5 Strikeforce announced that they have come to terms with Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. The calls for multiple fights and Souza's first fight will likely be in the fall on Showtime.

This is part the DREAM/Strikeforce co-promotion that I'm against. I'm not a fan of promotions sharing talent because I really don't see the benefit in doing so. That's my business mind speaking though. As a fan, obviously I have no problem with promotions sharing talent because it opens the door for more big fights. According to Jason Miller's twitter, "Jacare" is now out of his DREAM fight with Miller so he can make his Strikeforce debut. That's why I would never co-promote. Too much scheduling conflicts and possible fights ruined with fighters losing in the promotion that doesn't promote them. It's a good pick up for Strikeforce because they desperately need depth at Middleweight and I expect Souza to fight Jake Shields for the Interim Middleweight title in the fall.



On August 10 M-1 Global announced that Mark Kerr would take the place of Don Frye against "King" Mo Lawal at M-1 Global: Breakthrough. Also added to the card is an exhibition sparring match between Fedor Emelianenko against Gegard Mousasi.

Mark Kerr is in the same boat as Don Frye where he's a name fighter who is no real threat to defeat "King" Mo. The only difference is Don Frye has a better moustache. The real big news here is that FPM-1G will continue to prove that he's the pound for pound best by facing Light Heavyweight/Middleweight/Super Hulk Gegard Mousasi in a sparring contest. Fedor already holds victories over multiple Super Heavyweights, multiple Heavyweights, Middleweight Matt Lindland, and Lightweight Shinya Aoki so obviously he needs to beat a modern day Light Heavyweight. Anything Anderson Silva can do, FPM-1G can do better under exhibition rules. Gegard Mousasi has a lot on his plate coming up, Sobral this weekend, FPM-1G in a few weeks, and Sokoudjou in a couple of months. The man likes to stay busy.

On August 10 InsideFights reported that Bobby Lashley would take on Ron "H2O" Waterman on October 3 under the Prize Fight Promotions banner.

Are they going to call spots in this fight? This is another designed win for Lashley that probably won't prove anything but will increase his exposure. Waterman is probably the most well-rounded fighter Lashley has faced but if Bobby Lashley is as good as advertised, Waterman is a guy he should beat. He shouldn't have too much trouble taking him down and pounding him out, much like he did against Bob Sapp.

On August 7 Strikeforce announced that Tim Kennedy vs. Evengelista "Cyborg" Santos would headline the September 25 Strikeforce Challengers event.

Is "Cyborg" Santos a modern day Tank Abbott? No matter how many times he loses, he keeps getting brought back and put into main events despite the fact that he's not even close to a main event level fighter. Is it written into Mrs. Santos contract that her husband has to main event until she loses? Somebody clarify this stuff for me. Thanks.

Tim Kennedy should win because Santos has no ground game and there's no reason why Kennedy shouldn't be able to take him down and pound him out relatively quick.

Minor Japan News

On August 8 World Victory Road announced that Ryan Schultz will take on Kazunori Yokota at Sengoku 10. The event takes place September 23

Ryan Schultz was the last ever IFL Lightweight Champion and the only man to beat Chris Horodecki but he's flamed out a bit since the IFL went under. He went to Sengoku and he's lost two straight both via (T)KO. Yokota is a decent fighter who lacks a killer instinct and always seems to go to a decision. Yokota will likely try and get this fight to the ground while Schultz will want to keep it standing. Schultz is a guy who has been finished a lot in his career so if Yokota is ever going to pick up a victory via stoppage, this would be the fight to do so.

No More News

Before I end this column I want to give a shout out to Larry Csonka for doing the live coverage of UFC 101 and WEC 42 this past weekend and Dan Plunkett for being kind enough to switch dates with me this week. Great men those two.

I'll be back in my usual Monday slot next week with a review for a Strikeforce show that I'm convinced won't take place because of a bomb threat. Take care everyone.

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