Cardio Freak MMA News Report 9.14.09: What's Old Is New

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 09.14.2009

This week in Cardio Freak: A preview of UFC 103 featuring thoughts on all the big fights. Plus a quick preview of Fight Night 19 and thoughts on a bunch of fight announcements including Couture vs. Vera, Lil Nog vs. Cane, and Hamill vs. Jones. All that other big news from around the MMA world. It's more stacked than UFC 73, it's Cardio Freak on 411.



Headline News



"He's still as explosive today as he was then"

UFC returns to Texas this weekend with UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort. If you remember correctly this card was originally headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson 2 but after an outrage that had people complaining that the fight wasn't interesting and made no sense, it was scrapped. Enter the death of Affliction, the freedom of Vitor Belfort, and UFC decided to go with Belfort vs. Franklin as that fight was interesting and made more sense. The fight is a 195lb catchweight fight as Franklin is a full time Light Heavyweight now while Belfort will likely move to Middleweight after this weekend.

Whenever Vitor Belfort fights you're bound to hear the following phrase, "will the old Vitor Belfort show up?" Feel free to take a shot every time Mike Goldberg or Joe Rogan bring up the "old" Vitor Belfort this weekend. I'm going to give you some inside info on the "old" Vitor Belfort: he doesn't exist. A "old" fighter implies that this fighter always fought the same fight in a consistent manner and usually won against top guys, reached a peak, and has since fallen off. You can't say Belfort has always fought to KO people in 30 seconds. Sometimes he has, sometimes it just happened, and sometimes he's had a completely different strategy. He's also never consistently beat top guys with quick KO's nor has he had a definitive peak (sorry but I'm not counting accidently cutting Randy Couture with your glove in 0:49, winning the Light Heavyweight Title, and then losing it in your next fight to Couture a definitive peak.) Without that peak, he's never really fallen off either. There is no "old" Vitor Belfort. There's the Vitor Belfort that knocks out fighters quickly and impressively and the Vitor Belfort that gets taken past the five minute mark and fades. Of his 12 (T)KO victories, nine have come within the first two minutes. Belfort has made a career out of knocking guys out quickly, beating guys he should beat, and usually losing to top fighters. He has eight career losses but they were against Randy Couture (twice), Tito Ortiz, Alistair Overeem (twice), Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Chuck Liddell. Not exactly horrible competition. The problem with Belfort is that if he doesn't score the quick KO, he mentally fades and that's what leads to losses. He can get away with that against mediocre competition but it's been his downfall against top fighters.

Franklin on the other hand is a mentally strong fighter who has mentally broken other fighters in the past (Jason MacDonald, Matt Hamill, David Loiseau.) The only time we've seen Franklin break mentally is when he's fought Anderson Silva and Silva broke more than his mental spirit in those two fights.

The fight is expected to stay on the feet and then it just becomes a matter of if Belfort can explode or if Franklin can take him to deep waters. Both fighters fight out of the southpaw stance so the usual advantages of standing southpaw are out the window. They've both faced other southpaw strikers before with Belfort knocking out Matt Lindland in his last fight while Franklin had success standing against Yushin Okami but didn't fare so well against Anderson Silva. Franklin likes to feint a lot with the right hand and then throw the straight left. He uses a lot of left body kicks but drops his left hand when he throws it. He usually doesn't set up the body kick but he often follows it up with a right hook followed by a left hook. He has good movement although has a tendency to move left when he's backed against the cage, leading him right into the right hook. Belfort does a good job circling away from the power of his opponent, feinting the right hand, and then throwing a quick left straight.

It's almost a wash on the ground. They each have good wrestling and good jiu-jitsu but nothing that will likely catch the other off guard. If someone decides to put the other on their back then they shouldn't have too much trouble and they could probably grind out a decision but these are two fighters who like to keep if standing. If anyone tries a takedown it'll likely be Belfort. His wrestling isn't good enough to get Franklin on the ground with a single or double leg shot but he does have a good ability to takedown his opponents off of body kicks. He may try and takedown Franklin if he feels he's eating too many stiff body kicks or he'll take him down on the first body kick just to get into Franklin's head that, "hey, anytime you throw a body kick, I'm putting you on your back so stop throwing them or you'll lose this fight based on the takedowns." Although if Franklin actually says that too himself before throwing a body kick he'll probably end up on his back anyway, he'll just forgot how he got there.

The X factor in this fight is conditioning. We know Rich Franklin will come in shape and ready to go 15 minutes at a good pace. Belfort has shown in the past that he has a tendency to gas out. Now that he's training at Xtreme Couture and he's fighting at a comfortable weight, I don't think his conditioning is as big of a question as it once was but until he proves he has an answer, it'll always be a question.




The co-main event of the evening pits two Heavyweight strikers against each other as Mirko "Cro Cop" takes on Junior dos Santos.

While there is no "old" Vitor Belfort, there is an "old" Mikro Filipovic. That was the fighter who went on a tear in PRIDE losing only a handful of fights, considered the most dangerous striker in MMA, and reaching a peak with his 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix win. The fighter we've seen since that time seems a little more tentative and noticeably being dominated in the clinch. He's won four fights since defeating Josh Barnett to win the PRIDE 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix and those were against Eddie Sanchez, Tatsuya Mizuno, Hong Man Choi, and Mostapha al Turk. When your biggest win is against Eddie Sanchez, things aren't going so well. He's lost Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo while also going to a no contest against Alistair Overeem in a fight that he wasn't fairing so well in. "Cro Cop" is a mystery in this fight. Is he still the same tentative Mirko we've seen for over two years now or is his head on straight (or as straight as it can be following Gonzaga's head kick) for the first time since late 2006?

There's a lot of hype behind Junior dos Santos but he might be a bigger mystery than "Cro Cop". He exploded into the UFC with a quick victory over a clearly out of shape and mentally unprepared Fabricio Werdum and then followed that up with another quick victory over Stefan Struve. We know dos Santos hits really hard and given that he trains with the Nogueira brothers I think it's safe to assume that his jiu-jitsu is better than average but he's never made it out of the first round in his career and he's never been in any danger in his UFC career. Although quick KO's look impressive, it's important not to get caught up in the hype behind them because they're not always going to happen and you never know how a fighter will react when it doesn't happen.

Much like the main event, this is expected to be a striking battle. We know what "Cro Cop" does on the feet. He stands southpaw, throws a heavy left straight and has some of the stiffest kicks in MMA. He likes to circle to his left, avoid his opponents right hand, and counter with the left straight. He's doesn't put too many combinations together, unless he has his opponent hurt, but he doesn't have to because of how accurate his striking is. And of course Mirko always has his kicks, which are some of the most powerful kicks in MMA history. He likes to set up the left head kick by first attacking the legs and body then going up top with the cemetery kick. Junior dos Santos likes to start his fights by attacking the body of his opponents with two shots and the going up stairs. He always seems to lead with the left hand and then follows it up with the right hook. Mostapha al-Turk had success against "Cro Cop" by using a lot of leg kicks that for some reason Mirko decided not to check although the reason could be as simple as he didn't respect al-Turk's striking and figured he was going to knock him out quickly so why bother wasting time checking leg kicks. At any rate, look for dos Santos to use leg kicks in this fight.

Mirko has good takedown defense and I don't know what kind of wrestling dos Santos has but I'm guessing it's not good enough to put Mirko on his back unless it's from a clinch situation. On his back Mirko is very defensive using a closed guard and trying to control opponents wrists and posture, dos Santos is a purple belt under the Nogueira brothers and the only person to submit "Cro Cop" in his MMA career is Rodrigo Nogueira.

The one place where Mirko hasn't fared so well in a lot of his recent outings has been the clinch. Cheick Kongo and Alistair Overeem were able to really control him in the clinch and batter him with knees to the body (and balls.) Like Overeem and Kongo, dos Santos should have a height and weight advantage in this fight so it shouldn't shock anyone he decides to get in tight with Mirko and fight on the inside.



Martin Kampmann was originally scheduled to take on Mike Swick in a fight where the winner would receive a Welterweight title shot against Georges St. Pierre. Due to an injury, Swick was forced off the card and undercard fighter Paul Daley stepped in to take his place. No word yet if the winner will get a title shot but my guess is that they won't.

Both fighters are primarily strikers with a background in muy-thai. Daley has never lost by (T)KO so even though Kampmann is a good striker, he's probably better served trying to get this fight to the ground. Training out of Xtreme Couture, Kampmann has decent wrestling but Daley has solid takedown defense. The real intrigue will come if the fight hits the ground as Kampmann is very active on top, always looking to set up submissions, while Daley offers up nothing from his back. If Daley wants to take the fight to the ground he probably won't have much trouble as Kampmann doesn't have great takedown defense. Of course Daley probably wants nothing to do with the ground game as Kampmann is active off his back and Daley doesn't have much in the way of submission defense.

If the fight stays on the feet then I'd favor Daley just because he hits harder and even though Kampmann is a good striker, his striking defense isn't so great and he eats far more punches than he should. On the ground though Kampmann should have his way with Daley.



Frank Trigg returns to the Octagon this Saturday and he's back in the Welterweight division to fight Josh Koscheck.

If you've read this column long enough then you'll know that I'm really not the biggest fan of Frank Trigg. I respect that he fights and I respect that he's a good fighter but he's far more cocky than he should be and he's a horrible announcer. The cockiness I can put aside a bit because most of the time he's just trying to sell a fight and trying to make you hate him. That's fine. For some reason though I can't get behind Trigg's hype like I can Frank Mir or Tito Ortiz who are just as cocky but of course they've actually accomplished something. His announcing makes me dislike him even more because he'll discredit fighters, which is something an announcer should never do, and I just don't think he's very good at it yet he continues to get used. Personal dislike aside, I promise to be unbiased during this preview.

This fight is a battle of two wrestlers expect one wrestler has become very boring while the other wrestler thinks he's a striker. I'll let you figure out who's who. On the feet Trigg has the better striking only because Koscheck's striking defense has a lot of holes and I'd even say that his chin is a bit suspect. Plus the only tool Koscheck really offers on the feet is a winging right hand set up by the jab. Trigg's striking has also improved a lot sense moving to Xtreme Couture and working with Shawn Tompkins.

While Trigg is a wrestler by trade, his biggest career losses have come against wrestlers. Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre outwrestled Trigg en route to first round rear naked choke victories with Hughes doing it twice. As far as amateur credentials are concerned, Josh Koscheck is a better wrestler than both Hughes and St. Pierre. Obviously this isn't amateur wrestling but suffice to say if Koscheck decides to smart fight and go back to his wrestling roots then he should be able to put Trigg on his back. The one submission every wrestler has is the rear naked choke and that's the biggest weakness in Trigg's game.

The thing that worries me about Trigg in this fight is that while he's on a four fight win streak, he's fought mediocre fighters and outside of a quick submission victory over Edwin Dewees he hasn't looked very impressive. Now he's stepping up to fight Koscheck, who is still a very good Welterweight, and a hungry Koscheck at that.



Tyson Griffin battles Hermes Franca in what is bound to be a striking contest despite that fact that Griffin is a wrestler and Franca is a grappler. I say that because Griffin has really gone away from his wrestling as of late and turned things into a kickboxing contest while Franca, despite probably wanting to take the fight to the ground, is going to have a hard time getting Griffin there.

On the feet Griffin likes to throw a lot of one-two combinations. He keeps things very simple and crisp and doesn't take too many chances by getting over-aggressive. In fact, that lack of aggression has turned a lot of people against him after his last fight against Rafael dos Anjos as every time he had dos Anjos hurt on the feet, he clinched rather than trying to put him away with strikes, I guess feeling that if he had got careless swinging wilding and trying to finish the fight, he could get caught. Franca's striking isn't as conventional as he throws most of his punches from wide loopy angles. They pack more power but he also leaves himself wide open for quick straight punches.

If the fight hits the ground then Franca will have the advantage from a submission standpoint but Griffin has good submission defense and also seems to have a very high threshold for pain. If Griffin decides to take the fight to the ground then he'll like fight very defensive and just use the takedown to score points more than anything.



Official Predictions:

*Rich Franklin to defeat Vitor Belfort by Unanimous Decision
*Junior dos Santos to defeat Mirko "Cro Cop" by TKO in Round One
*Martin Kampmann to defeat Paul Daley by Submission in Round Two
*Josh Koscheck to defeat Frank Trigg by Unanimous Decision
*Tyson Griffin to defeat Hermes Franca by Unanimous Decision

Major UFC/WEC News



UFC Ultimate Fight Night 19 takes place this Wednesday, September 16. Here is the main card airing live on SpikeTV:

-Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard
-Gray Maynard vs. Roger Huerta
-Carlos Condit vs. Jake Ellenberger
-Nate Quarry vs. Tim Credeur

This event is really under the radar but there are some intriguing fights on the card.

Diaz vs. Guillard is a big deal because Nate Diaz was thought to be a perennial Lightweight contender but his star has faded a bit thanks to two straight losses to Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson. He truly is the Lightweight version of his brother as Nick's UFC career featured beating guy impressively, having exciting fights, cutting senseless promos, and losing close decisions to good fighters. Melvin Guillard is a fighter than Diaz should beat. He has powerful striking but Diaz seems to have the legendary Diaz chin and his takedown defense is good but he offers up no defense on the ground. If Diaz can get the fight to the ground then he should have no trouble submitting Guillard.

Maynard vs. Huerta is a really intriguing fight because of where bother fighters are in their career. Maynard is undefeated with good wins on his resume over Frank Edgar and Jim Miller. A win over Huerta could easily put him one win away from a title shot. Huerta on the other hand was in line for a title shot before he lost to Kenny Florian and then decided he'd rather do straight to VHS movies than be a fighter. A win for Huerta sets back Maynard and but could but the passion back into fighting for Huerta. If Huerta still decides he'd rather do low budget films over fighting then a Huerta win really hurts the UFC as they essentially lose two top Lightweights. Clay Guida didn't have much trouble wrestling Huerta to the ground so if Maynard decides not to Gurgel it and get into a striking contest with Huerta then I see him riding out a decision.

Condit vs. Ellenberger seems like a mismatch on paper but don't count out Ellenberger. He's a wrestler out of Team Quest and if Condit's biggest weakness is his takedown defense. Condit is a very good striker and he's active off his back but he can be taken down by even the most mediocre wrestlers. I expect Condit to win but don't be shocked if Ellenberger puts Condit on his back and uses his superior wrestling to batter Condit with punches and control him on the ground. It's interesting to note that in 28 career fights, Condit has never won a decision and neither fighter has ever lost by (T)KO.

Quarry vs. Credeur could be a fun fight but it honestly doesn't mean a whole lot. Quarry is closer to being a title contender than Credeur but he's still three fights away from even being considered for a title shot and Credeur has been doing well for himself since TUF7 but he's still an afterthought. I think Credeur is in for a long night on Wednesday because Quarry is a better striker and he hits a lot harder plus his wrestling is good enough to keep the fight on the feet, which sucks for Credeur because his specialty is jiu-jitsu.

This whole event leads in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 10, which features Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans coaching Kimbo Slice, Roy Nelson, Wes Sims, for NFL players, and more. So even if this event sucks at least you know TUF10 is going to be awesome.



On September 13 BloodyElbow reported that Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera is the rumored main event of UFC 105. Later in the day, TheSun reported that the fight had been agreed to and was official.

Talk about an out of left field main event. I thought Randy Couture only wanted "interesting" fights. Is a fight against Brandon Vera really that interesting? I'm a big fan of Vera but I also realize that almost every other MMA fan has turned against him and no one really cares about him anymore. I'm also not sure how many people care about Randy Couture unless he's in a title fight or against someone perceived as a star. UFC 102 did average at best numbers (you could credit that to UFC running two PPVs in a month) and there just wasn't a lot of interest behind Couture vs. Nogueira (due to Nogueira's performance against Mir, which had many fans sour on him) so why should anyone believe there is interest behind Couture vs. Vera with the way Vera has fought lately? Couture isn't like Chuck Liddell where Liddell vs. Rua was the big draw at UFC 97 despite Rua coming off a poor performance against Mark Coleman. People will pay to see Chuck Liddell fight anyone, those same people will only pay to see Randy Couture fight big fights. It's really a moot point since this event is free on SpikeTV but I still don't know how much interest there is in Couture vs. Vera.

It's a smart but risky fight for Couture to take. Being 46 years old, he needs to fight as much as possible because who knows when father time will finally catch up to him. A win could earn him a title shot (everyone wants to see him fight for the belt, business trumps sport, and there won't be definite contender with Jackson/Evans pushed back) and it's easier to earn a title shot by beating Brandon Vera than it would be to beat Anderson Silva. Plus I'm sure UFC threw some extra cash his way since he won't be getting any type of PPV cut. A loss for Couture gives him three straight losses and this loss would be against someone who a lot of fans perceive as overrated and never great to begin with. If Vera goes on to accomplish what many thought he would when he burst onto the UFC scene then the loss won't look as bad but if Vera beats Couture and then fades away again, what does that say about Couture? I know he just signed a new six fight contract but a loss to Vera really limits where Couture can go. UFC wants to set up Couture vs. Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida but those fights may be nothing more than a dream if he loses at UFC 105.

This is a huge opportunity for Vera. A win over Couture puts him right in the mix at Light Heavyweight and certainly gives him his biggest career win to date. A loss doesn't hurt him too bad because no one seems to expect much from him anyways. As long as he's competitive then he'll be fine.

An interesting note is that UFC tried to put together Couture vs. Rashad Evans but Evans turned that fight down. While I understand why Evans turned down the fight (doesn't want to risk a loss before fighting Jackson) that fight would have been far more interesting and made a lot more sense.

All that said, the fight will be free on SpikeTV so I really don't have much to complain about as a fan.



On September 9 Josh Gross reported that Dan Henderson is officially a free agent. Negotiations with UFC are ongoing but they have yet to reach a new contract.

This is an obvious power play by Dan Henderson. Right now the only fight Henderson wants is against Anderson Silva and he's going to make sure he gets it. There were talks of him fighting Nate Marquardt or Rogerio Nogueira but if Henderson has his way, he'll be fighting Silva or moving to the 205 division until he can fight Silva. I can't say I blame him. After defeating Michael Bisping it was pretty common knowledge that Henderson had earned a title shot because of three straight victories and the marketability he gained after a coaching stint on TUF. Now because Nate Maruqardt impressively defeated Demian Maia, everyone thinks he should jump Henderson and face Silva. Henderson knows he's the #1 contender and he'll be damned if he has to fight another fight to get his title.

UFC is trying to kill two penalties right now. Silva has his power play where he wants Marquardt and Henderson to fight each other and the winner can fight him and Henderson has his power play of holding out for Silva or moving back to 205. UFC doesn't want to allow Silva to score because if Henderson vs. Marquardt is a boring fight then the loser gets knocked out of contention for the time being and the winner's stock will take a hit, which is something they don't want as right now Henderson and Marquardt are as marketable as they've ever been. By not allowing Silva to score, they're also not allowing Henderson to score by giving him the title shot against Silva. So the only compromise that seems likely is Henderson moving to 205, Marquardt fighting another top contender (I'm thinking Wanderlei Silva as it's guaranteed to be a great fight where the winner looks good. Plus if Wanderlei wins UFC can book Silva vs. Silva, a fight they've already promoted), and Silva missing a big payday against Henderson.

That's what I don't understand about Anderson Silva right now. He wants to leave MMA for boxing because he thinks the money is better but right now he's leaving a lot of money on the table by refusing to fight Henderson. Right now, Silva and Henderson are easily the two biggest draws in the Middleweight division and would very likely do great numbers on PPV. Silva's fear seems to be, "it didn't draw well the first time, I beat him, why would it draw well again?" I guess he doesn't realize that a lot has changed since March 2008. Not only would Silva vs. Henderson 2 do good numbers but if Silva wins again and wins impressively again, he'll be an even bigger star than he is now and his next fight will do even bigger numbers.

Back to Henderson, it's very unlikely that he's going anywhere. The only place for him to go and fight top guys is Strikeforce and even then the only two interesting fights are against Fedor Presented by M-1 Global and Gegard Mousasi. With no PPV bonus on either fight, I doubt Strikeforce could make it worth his time financially.



On September 11 Sherdog reported that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira would take on Luis Arthur Cane at UFC 106 on November 21. The fight was originally reported as being scheduled to headline UFC 105 but things changed quickly.

No one expected Rogerio Nogueira to get an easy fight out of the gate and he certainly isn't. Luis Cane is a hell of a striker with good movement, good power and someone who can go toe to toe with Nogueira on the feet. They're both well-rounded but it just seems like Nogueira is a little bit better than everything. Cane's striking is good but Nogueira was an Olympic boxer and Cane is good on the ground but Nogueria is Nogueira. Cane is the more diverse striker though as he uses kicks and knees while Nogueira usually relies strictly on his hands.

This is a big fight for the 205 division as Cane was a rumored opponent for Rich Franklin at one point (a fight and a win that would have really put him on the map) and Nogueira was considered the best Light Heavyweight not in the UFC plus the fact that he is related to Rodrigo Nogueira helps him out from a marketing standpoint. With Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson on hold, the winner of this fight could easily be one fight away from challenging for the title.

Minor UFC/WEC News



On September 8 MMAMadness reported that Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones would be the co-main event of The Ultimate Finale 10 on December 5.

I'm really looking forward to this fight. There's a lot of hype behind Jon Jones right now and Matt Hamill will be by far his toughest test inside the Octagon. Hamill has fallen into the "wrestler who thinks he's a striker" trap but he has a hell of a chin and packs a stiff punch albeit a slow one. Jones is much more explosive and quicker of the two and he's got to use that athleticism to wear out Hamill. Jones is a good wrestler in his own right but Hamill is just so strong at 205 that if he gets his hands on anyone then they're going to have a tough time staying on their feet. This is also a big fight for Hamill because every time he's stepped up in competition, he's fallen just short. A lot of people thought he beat Michael Bisping and he hung in there against Rich Franklin but at the end of the day, he still lost both fights.

On September 8 MMAMania reported that Marcus Davis would fight Ben Saunders at UFC 106 on November 21.

It's a battle of two guys who have made a living off beating mediocre fighters. I actually like Ben Saunders but he was in way over his head at UFC 99 against Mike Swick and I of course can't stand Marcus Davis nor do I understand the hype behind him. I think this is the fight that finally takes Davis' name out of the discussion as a top Welterweight. Saunders is going to have an insanely huge reach and he's a big guy for the Welterweight division. He's also the more diverse striker of the two and could probably just keep Davis at bay for 15 minutes with kicks. Davis is going to have to get inside to strike with Saunders and if he does that, he risks getting put in the plum clinch and eating a bunch of knees. If Davis can win this fight then I'll give him credit because even though Saunders isn't a top Welterweight, it'll still be the biggest UFC victory for Davis.

On September 9 MMA Live reported that Clay Guida vs. Kenny Florian had been moved from UFC 106 to UFC 107 on December 12.

They're really trying to make up for Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans being off UFC 107 by stacking it with important fights that should be exciting. They've essentially replace Evans vs. Jackson with a Lightweight title fight in BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez and they added Florian vs. Guida. Plus Cheick Kongo vs. Frank Mir and Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago remain on the card. Even though the local crowd will be disappointed that hometown hero Quinton Jackson is off but I don't see how they could complain with the addition of a title fight and an important Lightweight showdown.

I already gave my opinion on this fight last week so click back if you care.

On September 10 Jon Anik reported that Frank Edgar would take on Kurt Pellegrino at The Ultimate Finale 10 on December 5.

Sort of a letdown for Edgar. He's coming off a big victory over Sean Sherk and now he has to fight Kurt Pellegrino, who is good but not a top Lightweight. Pellegrino beat Josh Neer by taking him down and holding him there for 15 minutes and won a decision even though Neer was more active off his back. He's not going to be able to takedown Edgar, much less hold him down for 15 minutes if he somehow gets him down. This really just seems like a showcase fight for Edgar who shouldn't have too much trouble with Pellegrino before moving back to fighting the upper echelon of the division. Of course I say all that and now Kurt Pellegrino will win.

Major Japan News



On September 9 MMAWeekly reported that Bob Sapp would replace Gegard Mousasi against Sokoudjou in the Super Hulk Tournament. Mousasi pulled out with a shoulder injury that he suffered in the exhibition fight with Fedor Emelianenko.

I'm actually disappointed that Bob Sapp is the replacement for Gegard Mousasi. I don't know about my readers but I certainly couldn't have been the only one hoping that Jose Canseco would get called on to fight Sokoudjou. Admit it. You're now intrigued by the idea. Of course the real story here is that Mousasi got hurt in a meaningless fight meant to do nothing more than showcase that Fedor Presented by M-1 Global is the greatest fighter in the world and can beat up people smaller than him. It's not a big deal that Mousasi pulled out because everyone figured he was going to win anyway and no one is really taking the Super Hulk tournament serious but it's the way that he dropped out. It's better to get injured training that to get injured doing something as dumb as an exhibition sparring contest that no one cared about and most people thought was a glorified pro wrestling match.

On September 11 Sherdog reported that "King" Mo Lawal would take on Kevin Randleman at Sengoku 11 on November 7.

Another fight for KING MO where he'll add a name to his resume but it really won't prove where he's at as a fighter. Really KING MO is everything Kevin Randleman never was. Randleman is one of the saddest stories in MMA because you could tell the guy had talent and he had a look and charisma to him but he could just never put it together. I'm sure KING MO hopes he'll be taking the Quinton Jackson path of "big black dude with crazy strength who hits hard" and not the Randleman path. It's a fight Mo should win and hopefully his last tune up fight before making the jump to Strikeforce or UFC and facing some real competition.

No More News

On a personal note, tomorrow (September 15) is my Birthday. For those of you that care, I'll be turning 21. That's right 21. See ladies, not every writer is old, fat, or old and fat. Of course if you ask my friends, followed me on twitter, or have read this column for a long period of time then you'll know I'm really turning 11. SpongeBob SquarePants is still the best show on TV.

That does it for me folks. I'll be back next week with a review of UFC 103 and Fight Night 19. Take care everyone.

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