Tapping Out With TBerg 08.21.09: Episode XLIV: Roster Warfare

Posted by Todd Bergman on 08.21.2009

Strikeforce and the UFC are at war when it comes to acquiring fighters. 411’s Todd Bergman takes you inside this war and lets you know why firing more fighters is the best option along with a list of the fighters who could potentially be cut next in this edition of Tapping Out With TBerg.

Just in case Scott Coker and Strikeforce didn't know, they are officially at war with the UFC.

You really only have to look as far as the recent Fedor-gate that became, if I may reference my pro wrestling roots, the Black Friday of Mixed Martial Arts. From there, the UFC has done everything that it can to demean the once friendly promotion while trying to steal every fighter with decent talent in the process. Some will call the recently declared war as very one-sided, while some will claim that the UFC is just doing it's job as the #1 MMA company in the world. I'm just excited to see both companies doing something with their rosters to prevent them from becoming stagnate and dull. Think about it for a second, when was the last time that the UFC actually released a handful of fighters and also signed a great amount all within a week? Granted, the collapse of Affliction had a lot to do with the recent signings, but it's still a step forward in my book. My goal in this article is to take a closer look at the recent signings for both the UFC and Strikeforce then to explain why I think more fighters should be losing their jobs in the process of this roster warfare.

You're Hired
Roster additions shouldn't be happening at this moment according to the financial experts who claim that we, as Americans, are buried in a supposed recession. However, the UFC is in the business of making MMA exciting and to quote Brad Pitt, "business is booming." The leftovers of the Affliction deal left the UFC with a lot to behold: fighters such as L.C. Davis, Mark Hominick, Little Nog, Vitor Belfort, Denis Hallman and Phil Baroni among others. Both the WEC and the UFC benefited from the great blunder of Josh Barnett. Strikeforce was also a great success with the fall of Affliction. Fedor and Gegard Mousasi have already paid huge dividends to the once regional company.

When breaking down each companys' additions, it appears that the UFC might have gotten more just by star power alone, but when you look a little closer it becomes more apparent that the UFC's recent signings probably have more to do with a video game battle than anything else. You're probably scratching your head, right? Yes, I think that the only reason that the UFC is going back into the time machine and signing a great amount of these fighters is simply because they want to keep these guys away from the upcoming EA MMA game. The UFC has already lost a great name in Randy Couture to the game, even though I don't think this will help sell videogames, but EA will market the "great showdown" of Randy vs. Fedor to the moon when it comes to marketing this product. Think of how the newest Fight Night was marketed: Tyson vs. Ali, the greatest showdown tonever happen. Didn't you get tired of seeing that stupid commercial that had more to do with everything but boxing. Anyway, off my soapbox and back to the signings of the UFC and how they won't matter for much in the future. Davis and Hominick are nice additions to the WEC, but it's doubtful that they will become household names any more than they have ever been. Vitor Belfort makes a little bit more sense as a signing, but it boggles my mind that Dana White and company would place Belfort in a catch-weight showdown with Rich Franklin instead of just going ahead and giving Vitor a shot at Anderson Silva's 185lbs title. Doesn't it botch the whole process if Vitor loses to Rich or perhaps the catch-weight is just a built in excuse. Either way, it would be like signing Fedor and then promply placing him in the Octagon with Rampage Jackson. It's a nice showdown, but what traction can someone gain with a victory in a catch-weight fight? The Hallman signing is a head-scratcher at best and this leads more to my video game theory. I can see the UFC using Hallman vs. Hughes I or II, take your pick, and putting it as a historic fight on the next UFC game. The pick up of Little Nog is a tremendous gift to the 205lbs division. While Nog won't fight current 205lbs champ, Lyoto Machida, Nog can have some fun match-ups with the likes of Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, and Tito Ortiz. The possibility of those match ups is reason alone to enjoy the Nog pick up. I also love the pick up of Phil Baroni and not because he's a friend of the article and a normal participate here. Phil can sell a fight with the best of them and his fights are always exciting, regardless of the outcome. I used to be a huge believer in being successful in MMA over anything else. I'm not saying that winning isn't important but being exciting in every fight is something that is quickly outweighing a boring victory. Now on to Strikeforce and their additions.


What‘s up ladies

I've always liked Gegard Mousasi, and there were some people who thought that he was a fluke. All of those people still haven't picked up their jaws from the floor since Gegard destroyed Babalu last weekend. While Mousasi is a tremendous pick up and potential crown jewel at the 205lbs weight class, the splitting of time between Strikeforce and DREAM might hurt the possible title defenses that Mousasi could have. You would have to look no farther than Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Allistair Overeem when it comes to title defenses. They just haven't happened, and in defense of Gegard, Allistair's situation is completely different in the fact that there are a great deal of performance-induced questions regarding Overeem. Having a champion split time between companies can do you no good when it comes to trying to schedule upcoming matches, including the rumored CBS card in November. You might have heard of the other roster pick up: Fedor. Everyone under the sun has an opinion about this, but it comes down to the fact that Fedor has to fight the best that Strikeforce has to offer. That being Brett Rogers. I could care less if Fedor fights Overeem because, while Alistair is the champion, I don't think that he stands a chance against Fedor. After the Rogers fight, it becomes a pretty sticky situation. I suppose Fedor could go to DREAM and fight one of those giant tomato cans that he has become accustom to. Relax Fedor fans, I'm not saying his PRIDE days were full of crushing cans, other than Zulu, but I am saying that the Ho Man Choi fight was quite questionable. The other aspect of the recent Strikeforce pick ups is the addition of the DREAM talent exchange. Sure, I said that it sucks for Mousasi and how he isn't exclusive to Strikeforce, but there are some fights that could be exciting to think about. Here's a list of the fights that I want to see happen in the near future.

1.)Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
2.) Jake Shields vs. Paulo Filho or Jacare
3.) Hellboy Hansen vs. Josh Thomson
4.) Sakuraba vs. Nick Diaz
5.) Shinya Aoki vs. Gilbert Melendez
6.) Marius Zaromskis vs. Nick Diaz
7.) Frank Shamrock vs. Sakuraba

Your Fired!
So while picking up fighters is always nice, I think that the recent releases of UFC fighters was the best possible option when it came to keeping the rosters fresh. The recent releases of Tamden McCrory and Thales Leites have brought forth a wave of confusion amongst MMA fans. Some think that the UFC made the right call and some think that Dana White has completely lost it. I'm going with the former. I think that both guys were certainly ok to release and, actually, there should be more fighters that lose their jobs within the UFC. It's not a pleasant thing to say and I'm certainly not wishing for people to lose their jobs; however, I am hoping that the UFC keeps up with the terminations in order to keep each fighter on his toes. Again, there should be some sort of guidelines to the termination process, but I think that anyone who has lost a couple of fights in a row or has just become a boring fighter should be reevaluated. There will always be fighters who want to take your place, and the thought of termination should keep fighters ready to give it everything they have each time out. In the case of Leites, he utterly stunk up the place against Anderson Silva and then put the crowd to sleep against Alessio Sakara a few weekends ago. After finding out about the release, Thales said that he was going to work hard and get back into the UFC. Sounds like the release has already worked on Leites, right? Maybe Thales is just saying the right things at the right moment, but time will only tell if Leites becomes a different fighter. The "Barn Cat" cut is also something to respect. Tamden is apparently still growing and is hoping for a move to the Middleweight division. Being removed from the UFC means that Tamden can fight at some smaller shows and get the weight cut, or lack thereof, to a heavier division down before feeling the pressure inside the Octagon. I see the chance of Tamden competing in the UFC again much higher than Leites'. With UFC 102 around the corner, next weekend to be precise, here's a sneak peak at the guys who could be in the unemployment line if they aren't successful next Saturday night.


Cat-Smasher says what?!

1.) Chris Leben- I really want to say that this decision has nothing to do with the positive steroid test, but it does. Leben deserves a second chance but only if he is truly are sorry for making the mistake. Leben's recent comments lean towards him more sorry that he got caught rather than being sorry for the action. While he is a fun brawler, and that's what the UFC seems to building towards, Leben simply won't last if he loses next Saturday night. The "Cat Smasher" is basically the UFC's version of Scott Smith, so take that for what it's worth. Leben wouldn't be on the sidelines for long as I'm sure that Strikeforce, or some smaller promotions in Hawaii, would want the services of the former The Ultimate Fighter bad boy.

2.) Brandon Vera - There's little hope that Brandon Vera will return to his former glory days of being a Muay Thai wrecking machine, but taking a step up in competition might be too much for him. Krzysztof Soszynski is a tremendous fighter and could present some problems for the once-bright star. I'm not sure of Vera's popularity or of the possible reaction from his release, but I don't think that a lot of people would be upset. A rash of boring decisions landed Vera on the undercard for the UFC 96 after appearing in a highly touted bout with Keith Jardine at UFC 89. While he might be cut, I can see Vera coming back to the UFC at some point, just as long as he doesn't listen to more bad advice from his manager that nearly cost him a year of his career back in ‘06-'07.

3.) Keith Jardine/Thiago Silva- This is another questionable call since Keith Jardine has always been a game fighter; however, his lack of chin has cost him on the biggest stage of them all. I will go out on a limb and state that I think Jardine will win against Thiago Silva, but things never go as planned in the UFC. For instance, Jardine's fight with Houston Alexander: it was a Jackyl and Hyde performance when it came to the "Dean Of Mean." Thiago Silva, on the other hand, has been almost perfect inside the UFC; however, he hasn't fought a high caliber of opponents in the UFC. It would be a shocker to see either go, but at the end of the day, who really knows what can happen when money is a factor? The winner of this UFC 102 showdown will most certainly become the new gatekeeper of the division; therefore, the loser could be left without a place in the very good 205lbs. division.

4.) Gabe Gonzaga- It would be a shame to see Gabe Gonzaga fighting outside the UFC; however, Gonzaga has been great against the less-than-stellar opponents and choking big time when fighting better opponents. It's pretty plain and simple when it comes to this fight: Gabe Gonzaga must win to keep his job. A loss hurts, but a loss to Chris Tuchscherer would be a UFC career killer for manbearpig.

5.) Randy Couture- Again, I don't think that this will happen, but it's not out of the scope of reality to see the UFC terminate Randy's contract with a defeat to Big Nog at UFC 102. The conspiracy theorist in my head leads me to believe that Dana White is not happy about Randy appearing on the EA Sports game, which I touched on above. Randy has always marched to a different drummer regardless of the fact that the UFC has given Randy every single thing that he has wanted outside of the Fedor match up. Randy might even get a shot at Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida with a victory in the fight with Big Nog. The rational side of myself, says that the UFC won't cut Randy because they don't want to give Strikeforce the high quality "Fedor vs. Randy" Pay-Per View headline fight, especially since both companies have become rivals as of late. If you were not to mention his name and only mention that a fighter could become 16-10 with a loss here, would you think that he is safe from a cut? I'm curious as to who everyone thinks might face the firing squad after UFC 102.



Last week, I was battling death and didn't submit an article. I'm hoping that my loyal six readers weren't too upset. Let's have a look at what all of you said nearly two weeks ago to my WEC ∧ UFC upset article in which I hit 3 out of 5.

Brad becomes one of the few T-Bags: "I've never really liked Forrest Griffin and I know that I'm one of the few that feel that way but I just can't stand the over-the-top amounts of love that he receives."

I love you so much for that Todd.
When Silva crushes that hairy overrated monkey hack I will be happy.
I feel is Griffin doesnt finish Silva it means nothing, he couldn't beat someone not in his weight class.

Yes, the overrated monkey was squashed badly in that fight. His post fight antics were something that should be considered more than ridiculous. It makes you wonder why places like ESPN and Fox Sports didn't consistently talk about how it was bad for the sport and compare it to the WWE. Then again, Griffin isn't, and won't be, nearly as popular as Lesnar, so apparently that makes it ok for him to act like a complete tool post-fight. Sure, he did the same thing against Keith Jardine, which means that he should be held even more accountable for acting like a disrespectful punk. Apparently Dana and company still can't get over how Forrest saved the company years ago. Thanks for the comment Brad and keep it up.

Rogi gets rowdy: See the reason why people like Forrest so much is the overwhelming amount of strenght, natural ability or excess skill is his willingness to fight and fight until he or the opponent wins. Now that (his willingness to fight) may seem like an attribute that is not something that is special, but it actually is. I am really tired of fighters that are very talented and very skilled and very naturally gifted who do not "show" up to "fight"...I would rather see a less skilled fighter compete in the cage or ring and lose then an overrated skilled fighte get by in fight by trying 20%. Japan or Pirde/ Dream is the prime example. Fighters are invited to compete at Bushido if they put up a great fight: effort to finish the fight by submission or knockout, push the pace and control the fight, win or lose they will and are usually incited back. Prime example: Heath H. (now a UFC HW fighter) has a less then impressive MMA record but has more heart and will power then Anderson Silva (as an example). The Japanes fans love him and his will to fight.

***Just a thought. Thanks MMA411.com for all the great MMA updates.

-Rogi

I agree with most of what you say. However, I get tired of hearing Goldberg and Rogan's constant nut-hugging when it comes to Forrest. It was bad enough hearing Goldberg claim that the "Old Spider was back." Where the hell did Silva ever go? He fought two guys who wouldn't engage him, but apparently the old spider is back and we should all run around doing subtle nods to dudes world wide because the true Anderson Silva has returned. I think that your thought of being exciting is finally starting to show with fighters in the UFC. Thales Leites was pretty successful inside the UFC but his fight was as boring as watching paint dry. Keep the comments coming and, 411 MMA appreciates your kind words.

Paco Smith has joined the Mexi-cool portion of the T-Baggery: Mr Berg I want to say you are my favourite 411 writer ever. You're opinions are always spot on and your intellect is next only to God. I am humbled in the presence of your column. Seriously though I could have worded lasts weeks comment a lot better than I did, I think I was channeling Dana White or something. Sorry, it should have started Mr Bergman or Mr Tberg.

Your channeling of Dana White was spot on. I always appreciate a comment regardless of it being positive or negative. In particular, your comments are some of the best and as I stated previously, you're one of the best on this site. Keep them coming and Mr. Berg, TBerg or Bergman works for me.

Wyatt "Not Sexton" Beougher says: Todd,

You're killing me, man. First you think Diego "Walks Forward With His Chin Out and His Hands Down" Sanchez legitimately has a better chance at beating BJ Penn than Ken Florian, and now your pick for the best chance at an upset is Brian Bowles? Most of the time, your analysis is spot-on; however, I think you must lose your mind a little bit when it comes to these lighter weight classes. Torres' footwork is robotic? Did you miss the Mizugaki fight? I just watched it again on Vs on Wednesday, and Torres looked considerably better than average on the feet. For my money, Torres is, hands-down, the best Pound-For-Pound fighter in the world today, and Sunday night is just going to be another chapter in his dominance.

I've waited nearly all my life to say this to someone and I'm sorry that it has to be such a loyal reader like you Wyatt, but SCOREBOARD!!!

Thanks for checking out this weeks article. Who do you guys think will be cut after UFC 102? Let your opinion be seen below. If you like what you are seeing here on 411mania.com make sure to add this wonderful site to your bookmarks for easier internet accessibility. Remember to support your local MMA and keep your tapping hand strong.