The Juggernaut MMA News Report 09.02.09: Big Nog Kills Haters

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 09.02.2009

The Juggernaut looks at the re-emergence of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira following his UFC 102 destruction of Randy Couture. What's next for both men and is Nog the man to defeat Brock Lesnar? We have all the UFC 102 wrap up and your week's worth of news. Is Brett Rogers the man to topple Fedor? Plus watch as Mayhem Miller unleashes a choke on a TV anchor and much more.


The Happiest Man in Portland, Big Nog

UFC 102 is in the books and an impact has been felt. After months of talk that the legendary Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was done as a top fighter, he stepped into the octagon Saturday evening and dominated Randy Couture for three rounds. Minotauro looked as good as he has ever looked inside a UFC cage and used a perfect mixture of skill and power to limit Couture's ability to inflict pain from the ground. Several times throughout the fight the two legends slugged it out as if they were doing their best impressions of Frye/Takayama or Griffin/Bonnar. Twice during the fight, Nogueira was a hair away from locking on a submission that likely would have ended the fight. He was a d'arce choke and a head-and-arm choke away from certain victory if it weren't for Couture's calm demeanor in avoiding the end. A fellow BJJ Black Belt and maybe simply Randy Couture are likely the only fighters who could have avoided the submissions in each instance. Do you think Brock Lesnar would have snuck out?

Best yet, neither man looked old in this fight. Both appeared to be in great shape and as competitive as can be. The win puts to sleep all the talk of Nogueira being past his prime and opens up potentially awesome fights in the near future for him. The immediate thought in my head is whether the UFC is interested in seeing a rematch between Big Nog and Frank Mir. Would Mir be interested? I would say Nogueira may love the opportunity to avenge the first time he was knocked out. Remember how smarmy Mir tended to be in the build up to their UFC 92 fight? It may have simply been confidence but imagine how awesome the interviews would be to build a rematch.

After winning, Nogueira said he wanted a chance to fight Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight championship. Obviously, Lesnar is tied up with Shane Carwin later this year but would anyone have an issue if Nogueira was promised the winner of that fight? Should he have to earn another victory before getting a title shot? How about fighting the winner of the fight between Cain Velasquez and Ben Rothwell? As for Randy, he has signed a brand new six-fight deal with the UFC for the next two-plus years. He needs to win though because I don't see the UFC continuing to book him should he lose his next two fights. What could they do with him if he ends up being 0-4 in as many fights?

If Couture and the UFC decide he should remain at heavyweight, where does he go from here? The anticipated rematch between Lesnar and Couture appears out of the questing barring a loss to Carwin in November. Frank Mir is unofficially slated to fight Cheick Kongo in December so those two men are out of the equation. How about Mirko Cro Cop after his UFC 103 fight with Junior Dos Santos? It's no secret there would be more options at light heavyweight. Tito Ortiz is back and although I doubt they would do it, there can always be another rematch with Chuck Liddell, right? Fights with Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida would require Couture to win a fight or two I assume so those would take some time to develop. At the end of the day, the UFC and Couture have several options open and it's a matter of deciding where they want to go.



RESPECT


Nate Marquardt has done everything he can to earn a rematch with Anderson Silva. In one of the more anticipated fights on the card, Marquardt knocked Demian Maia out in less than half a minute. I thought the fight would go longer than that and Maia had a great chance to submit Marquardt, but the man simply was caught with a punch. After the fight, Marquardt told the fans if they wanted to see someone go in there and kick Anderson Silva's ass, he should get the fight.

After his UFC 100 when Dan Henderson knocked out Michael Bisping and UFC 101 with Silva's win over Forrest Griffin, Dana White talked about the idea to book a rematch between Silva and Henderson for the middleweight championship. However, apparently Silva's camp does not want that fight. Would they have issues with a fight with Marquardt? Someone get Ed Soares on the phone.

Actually, Silva's camp is talking about the idea to book Henderson and Marquardt in a fight to determine the next contender. I'm not sure whether the UFC would do such a thing and risk losing a potential PPV main event by losing one contender. At the same time, is Silva willing to fight either man instead of fighting a "bigger" name as a light heavyweight? It sounds like politics will be played here by Silva's camp to get the fight they most want, and I have no idea which one that is. This is one of many instances where you do not want to be Dana White or UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.

As for Marquardt, he is definitely improved as a fighter now then he was back in the summer two years ago when he lost to Anderson Silva. Silva is still great but is Marquardt the man who can put an end to his term of destruction?


Momma Said Knock You Out; Hey Silva, You Watching?!


The actual fight promoted right next to the main event was the light heavyweight bout pitting Thiago Silva against Keith Jardine. Well, this was the one fight I predicted correctly in the UFC 102 Roundtable Preview. Like I said last week, I was pulling for Jardine but I expected Silva to thrash him early. In Jardine's pro career, his six losses have come by decision (three) or quick knockouts (three). Silva knocked him out in just over 90-seconds and now Jardine is in a rough spot. He has lost three of his last four fights and may be entering the portion of his career where he's simply a well known veteran who has the ability to win a fight but has trouble against top talent. As for Silva, he is now 14-1 and obviously rebounded well from his Lyoto Machida loss back in January. Silva has not won a fight by decision in over three years, meaning he is 10-1 in three years with each win coming by KO or submission. He's a talented and fierce fighter, to say the least.





In a surprise to me, Jake Rosholt finished Chris Leben in the third round with an arm-triangle choke. The win is huge for Rosholt who risked being cut if he lost his second UFC fight. Without an impressive performance in the first two rounds, Rosholt came out for the third round and almost immediately took Leben down. Rosholt mounted Leben, applied the chokehold and put the famous TUF1-veteran to sleep. The win for Rosholt is over a recognizable name and should boost his confidence tenfold.

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Mr. White, Where's The TV?


Last week, Dana White confirmed the bout pitting UFC lightweight champion against Diego Sanchez was going to happen in November but knocked down ideas the fight would main event UFC 105. When asked exactly when the fight would happen, White only mentioned it was in the works and would not air on PPV or Spike TV. White told the media, "Wait and see boys...If I can pull this one off."

For over a year, there has always been rumblings the UFC was close to a deal with another television partner whether it was HBO, ESPN, ABC, NBC, etc. with nothing ever coming to fruition. According to MMAWeekly, after UFC 102 White said he would be flying to Los Angeles earlier this week to meet with television executives again.

While nothing is confirmed nor out there, as has been talked about for years, if the UFC can get a major network in bed with them, it would be a huge coup. Not to say Spike TV is low rent, because it is not. Assuming the UFC is working on a deal with a TV network, I would think that network is bigger than Spike. Imagine the breakthrough it would be for the sport to return to prime time network television, this time without any of the catastrophe's involving EliteXC.

A live UFC special on (for example purposes) ABC would be arguably as big a 'get' for them as getting 'The Ultimate Fighter' put on Spike TV back in 2005. The other thing to think about, if Penn vs. Sanchez is booked for November, when will it happen? UFC 105 is slated for November 14th in Manchester, England and will air in the United States on Spike TV. One week later, UFC 106 will air on PPV in Las Vegas with a stacked card featuring Brock Lesnar's title defense against Shane Carwin, Tito Ortiz's return against Mark Coleman, Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida and more.

If they do add a third live show to the November schedule, it will be even more busier than the UFC's September schedule. On September 16th, a live Fight Night special on Spike will emanate from Oklahoma City (that same night, TUF10 debuts) featuring Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard, Gray Maynard vs. Roger Huerta and Nate Quarry vs. Tim Credeur. Three nights later on the 19th, UFC 103 will hit PPV from Dallas, Texas featuring Vitor Belfort's return against Rich Franklin, Cro Cop vs. Junior dos Santos, Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann, Frank Trigg's return against Josh Kosceck and more.

The moral of this story, GET READY because the UFC will be running themselves ragged over the next few months, all for our enjoyment.

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Awesome promo, Fedor: Coming Soon

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- Representatives from Anderson Silva's camp told MMAJunkie they believe Nate Marquardt should fight Dan Henderson to determine the number one contender to Silva's title. Whether the UFC agrees with that sentiment remains to be seen, chances are they won't. It's unclear whether Dan Henderson would even agree to a fight at 185 unless it's against Silva.


- UFC President Dana White admitted the company messed up by pricing tickets for UFC 102 in Portland, Oregon similarly to how they priced tickets for Los Angeles. The UFC failed to set the gate record for the Rose Garden, an issue based on the fact expensive priced tickets were not sold as well as lesser priced seats. Regardless of the fact the show did not sell out, UFC officials were pleased with the Portland crowd who were red hot during the show.


- WEC 44 is slated for November 11th at a building and city yet to be determined. A fight added to the card reportedly will see LC Davis fight undefeated lightweight Diego Nunes. The show will be headlined by Mike Brown's third featherweight title defense when he fights the amazing Jose Aldo. Cub Swanson is also expected to fight on the card as is Razor Rob McCullough.


- The UFC is planning on running a show in Brazil for the first time since October 1998. According to Dana White, the UFC has hired a major public relations company to help them in the local market and existing UFC television programming is considered a success. The 2010 live event schedule will be created and finalized before the end of the year so expect updates by October.


- UFC 102 bonuses consisted of $60,000 per fighter. Fight of the night was awarded to both Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture. Submission of the night went to Jake Rosholt and knockout of the night went to Nate Marquardt.


- Todd Duffee now owns the record for fastest knockout in UFC history. At UFC 102, he nailed Tim Hague with a straight right and finished him on the ground in seven seconds. Duffee bested James Irvin and Don Frye who each knocked out opponents inside the octagon at the eight second mark. Duffee, a heavyweight fighter, is 5-0 in his career with each win coming by knockout. He is 1-0 in the UFC.


- Tickets for WEC 43 (October 10th in San Antonio, Texas) will go on sale to WEC.tv newsletter subscribers tomorrow morning (if you're interested, head over to WEC.tv and subscribe). For the general public, the tickets will officially go on sale this Friday morning. The official card features a main event interim-lightweight title fight between Cowboy Don Cerrone and Benson Henderson. The undercard features Dave Jansen vs. Richard Crunkilton Jr., Damacio Page vs. Akitoshi Tamura and Rafael Assuncao vs. Yves Jabouin. The preliminary card features six fights, some of which include Manny Tapia vs. Eddie Wineland, Charlie Valencia vs. Coty Wheeler, Mark Hominick vs. Deividas Taurosevicius and Scott Jorgensen vs. Rafael Rebello.


- In bad news for the customer, DirectTV has cut the Versus network from their line-up due to a disagreement regarding fee increases. That means DirectTV customers will not be able to watch WEC programming or their NHL programming (the season kicks off soon). DirectTV blames Comcast for asking too much of a fee increase. Hopefully this gets settled soon because usually I see this happen with larger networks than Versus. It's a nice little station and (my personal opinion) their WEC live shows are the best stuff on the network. So it won't hurt, if you're a DirectTV customer, to e-mail or telephone the company requesting the network return.


- Shine Fights II: American Top Team vs. the World is set for this Friday night in Miami, Florida. For $9.95, you can order the online PPV or if you wait until the day of the show, it will cost you $14.95. The main card features: Roan Carneiro vs. Jorge Patino, Yves Edwards vs. James Warfield, Luiz Firmino vs. Ryan Healy, Micah Miller vs. Anthony Morrison and Flavio Alvaro vs. Jean Silva. Check out shinefights.com for more information.


- The September 25th Strikeforce Challengers show on Showtime has been finalized. The Bixby, Oklahoma show will feature a main event where Tim Kennedy fights Zak Cummings. Also set to air on television will be Kevin Jordan vs. Ray Sefo, Zach Light vs. Tyron Woodley and Travis Calonoc vs. Thomas Longacrevs.


- The state of Maine has now legalized mixed martial arts. Governor John Baldacci signed the new bill into law earlier this week. He spoke about his inexperience with the sport but since watching it, he has appreciated the fighters and the training and hard work they go through. The new law establishes the MMA Authority of Maine and definses the sport as "a combative sport for compensation that features a mixture of karate, jiujitsu, Muay Thai, tae kwon do, boxing, kick boxing, wrestling, judo and striking and grappling techniques." Baldacci was supportive of the new law because it provided a clear definition of the sport as well as provided clear oversight and rules to protect fighters and the mass public. Some public representatives have been anticipating the state holding shows and bringing much needed money into their economy. This was a fight to get MMA legalized in Maine despite some people's opinions of the sport. Representative Joe Wagner argued during debates that "unlike boxing rules, mixed martial arts contests can be very brutal, even sadistic." UFC fighter Marcus Davis gave testimony months back to talk of the positives the sport would bring to Maine. Thanks to Mal Leary of the Capitol News Service for the story.

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Is this the man who will defeat Fedor?

Brett Rogers, Can He Do It?

Fedor Emelianenko will make his Strikeforce debut later this year, believed to be in November and on Showtime. His opponent will be the undefeated Brett Rogers. Some of the last names Fedor has fought who have had about as much MMA experience (or less) than Rogers include such heralded stars such as Zulu, Naoya Ogawa (pro wrestler) and Yuji Nagata (pro wrestler). Both Ogawa and Zulu were undefeated until they met Fedor in PRIDE. With all due respect to those names and their MMA lives, I think it's safe to say Brett Rogers takes his MMA career a whole hell of a lot more serious. Rogers could only comfortably quit his "day job" at Sam's Club after defeating Abongo Humphrey this past April.

If Rogers were to even be competitive against Fedor, I think the internet may explode. Rogers is not Josh Barnett, he's certainly not Randy Couture or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He's a man who had his first professional fight just three short years ago and did not fight a "name" until he knocked out James Thompson last year. He really forced people to look at him after he knocked out Andrei Arlovski after just twenty-two seconds of action in June. In fact, Rogers has ended nine of his ten wins by knockout, the other he won by submission after striking his opponent too much. Rogers does not train with a well known, famous fight team.

Sure Rogers is not the best heavyweight, but he's no slouch either. Best yet, he's not scared of Fedor. Some men in his shoes may be intimidated by the legend that precedes Fedor. Not Rogers.

I'm God then. I'm the God of MMA. I'll become the God of MMA, right? Isn't that how it goes? I'm the soul snatcher; I'm the grim. I'll take all his wins and put them under my belt, and then everybody can just hush up...I'm going to knock him out. He's going to give me his chin, somehow, someway. He's going to get sloppy with that overhand right that he loves to do or he'll try to shoot in for a takedown, and I'll catch him with either a knee or an uppercut ... something. I'm going to drop him. I want the crowd to go (gasp). I want to get that reaction out of people. So I can't wait.
- Brett Rogers to AOL Fanhouse's Ariel Helwani on if he were to defeat Fedor and how the fight may go.


I won't say Rogers will win because anybody (besides the man himself or his trainers) who would is stupid. However, Fedor is human. He is not indestructible. Since PRIDE closed up shop, Fedor has only seen eight minutes and forty-two seconds of fight time inside a ring. That's not even ten minutes of actual fight time in over two years. Plus, who knows how the switch to fighting inside a cage will effect him. Let's remember again, the man is human. Sure he may say all the right things about not looking past his current opponent and respecting everyone, but will he truly not underestimate Rogers? Only he knows for sure but all these questions creeping up need to be taken into consideration.

Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers will not clash for at least another two months but the outcome will be as interesting as any other fight coming up and potentially bring a HUGE impact for Strikeforce. Positive or not, we shall soon see.



JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Mayhem Miller tries to explain BULLY BEATDOWN to a group of local news anchors and ends up unleashing a rear naked choke. This is from earlier in the year, but never loses a bit of hilarity.









Rolling the credits, thanks for checking out the Juggernaut this week and hopefully you return for another helping in seven days.



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