The Takedown MMA News Report 09.18.09: MMA Broadcasting Bonanza

Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 09.18.2009

411’s Daniel Bonnizzio discusses Strikeforce's biggest event ever, Randy Couture's re-debut on free TV, the bloodiest Ultimate Fighter yet, UFC 103 predictions, thoughts on rankings, a bad experience grappling experience and more!

Hell all, I'm Daniel Bonnizzio and this is my debut column. Hopefully I can news you up and entertain you on the way. I understand that as you read this some of you will find it somewhat unfocused; well it comes with being the first column in a (hopefully) long line to come. I'm not gonna lie, I wrote this with worse jitters than any I felt in my entire high school wrestling career, and that included my ranking tournaments at seasons' end. Just keep in mind it will get better as I go on.

Today, I'd like to discuss a lot happening in the world of televised MMA, so, without further ado, drop to you shooting knee and welcome to:


In My Opinion…
Just a section to discuss my opinion on something
Rankings always are, and have always been, an incredibly subjective experience. Not many are able to set aside their personal feelings on certain fighters to rank them, but something that can be mostly agreed on is the value of a win. If Fighter A has a win, and Fighter B has a loss, and those are the only fights in their careers, A ‘should' outrank B. But, the name in the win and how they won should affect the ranking. If Fighter A managed a 20 second KO of somebody who has no knowledge of how to move their hands in the general direction to throw a punch, it should be slightly less acknowledged then B, who may have gone a full 15 minutes in every aspect of the sport against someone who is a former K1 champ and a ADCC champ, to lose a split decision. That's why whenever I have to rank fighters, not only do I look at how many fights they have won vs lost, but also WHO they won or lost against and HOW they did it.

A win over an outstanding opponent is enough to shoot you up the rankings, but if you lose a close match to them then your ranking shouldn't suffer too much. One man in the 170 pound division with a paltry 9-1 record is going to take a climb in my books because of his unanimous decision victory over Brock Larson at UFN 19: Mike Pierce took the former WEC contender to the limit and won the decision. Taking that man, a fighter with a 26-2 record going into the fight, all the way and winning shows skill and talent you can't ignore.

On the flip side, and many will agree, Fedor's fight against ZULU is a clear and away case of record padding and shouldn't affect his ranking at all in appositive way. Yes he won, and yes he won in a dominating fashion, but really, who didn't expect him to do that to Zulu?

I'd much rather see a fighter get ranked based on WHO they fought and HOW they fought rather than based on just a win-lose scenario.



Fedor faces The Grim on CBS!
Strikeforce, the consensus #2 US MMA promotion has able to land the deal of the century. It's been confirmed by sources close to the fight negotiations that Fedor's Srikeforce debut will be on November 7th on CBS. Yes, on CBS.

This is going to backup what I was saying in my opinion section up there. Fedor is far-and-away considered the #1 heavyweight of all time, but recently he's been accused of record-padding. This is going to be a fight for him. Should Brett win in a clear and away fashion, Fedor is going to take a massive hit in the rankings. Should Fedor win but by a close decision, I could see Brett maintaining or even going up in the rankings. I know I would consider it a win if I fought Fedor and lived past the first minute.

Hopefully Strikeforce will be able to do better than Affliction did and promote a solid card under Fedor's fight, because in all the Affliction commercials I saw, the only fight I was remotely aware of was "Fedor vs Tim Sylvia" or "Fedor vs Andrei Arlovski." I know Strikeforce is able to put together solid cards but this is going to be one they really need to promote and promote hard. Commercials should be flying everywhere. Promote every fight like it's the main event, then promote the main event like it's for the Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Championship of Championships of All Time in the World. EXC had Kimbo and they promoted Kimbo. Affliction had Fedor and they promoted Fedor. Let's see if Strikeforce can do better.

The card is advertised to have a four-fight main card much like Fight Nights have been) but as of right now, the only fights officially booked for the show are Fedor vs Rogers. That means three fights on cable TV are still open, so I'd expect to see some big campaigning to go down between the Strikeforce fighters to get that spot. Personally, I'd hope we could maybe see that welterweight title out go down between Nick Diaz and Jay Hieron.

Also unannounced and unknown to Strikeforce themselves is the venue for the event. Many would assume they aren't going to stray too far outside of their home in California, but I hope they decided to venture out into other areas, if for no reason other than Nick isn't licensed to fight in CA. Yes selfish I know.


The Natural and the Truth to face-off
In a world-shocking news announcement, it broke that Randy Couture, following his 15-minute humbling by Minotaruo Nogueria, has agreed to take on perennial midcarder Brandon Vera in his 205 pound re-debut, and to make it better it'll be at UFC 105 on free TV. I don't know about you but I will be sitting in front of my TV for this one.

While this may seem odd it makes some sense. Vera is currently on 2 fight win streak so if he takes a loss, eh, it's fine. Not many see him as the Muay Thai wrecking machine he was when he entered the UFC. If he wins, he gets that name win he needs (his win over Mir was a joke) to launch him into title contention. Should Randy win, it solidifies him as a possible contender in the ultra-deep LHW division because like it or not, Vera still has talent and a dominating win would propel Randy up the 205 rankings. Should Randy lose though, well, nobody cares really. Some will point to his age; some will point to the first weight cut in several years. We all know that the UFC would never fire Randy.

I would see this being a fantastic match. Both men are Olympic caliber Greco wrestlers so their clinch games should be strong. Maybe we'll get to see another Frye/Takiyama moment like Couture/Nog did at 102? I can dream… Should the fight stay standing up and apart though, Vera's Muay Thai is slick enough that he could combat Randy's ever growing boxing skills and we could see this turn into a slugfest. If it hits the ground, I could see Randy getting his infamous halfguard-mount and body-body-heading Vera into a TKO. Vera's wrestling might be good enough for him to get up but I don't see Vera even remotely muscling Randy around enough to mount him. Neither man is known for their submission skills so this si going to go the distance in a fantastic match or one man is going to have his head knocked clean into the 90th row.

The reason this fight is not an entirely bad idea for Randy to take, especially on just 3 months notice, is that Randy is always in shape and – especially for a 46 year old – he's still going strong. We all know that Randy is going through yet another divorce and needs the money, but to take this on such short notice, especially after fighting once or twice a year for the past few years, and at heavyweight, this is going to show us how much Randy wants to fight, and how much he just wants to cash in while he can.


The Ultimate Fighter is back and bloody!
I'm watching the TV as UFN19 is coming to a close 10 minutes late, waiting for the Ultimate Fighter to start. I get up to make a snack, and when I come back I see the coaches Rampage and Rashad sitting on a bench, talking enough trash to each other to fill up a dump the size of Vegas. I instantly knew this was going to be a fun season.

The fighters come in, and as Rashad said "each one was bigger than the next." These guys were HUGE. And then comes in Big Country himself Roy Nelson. Dana comes out, says line-up, and starts talking. BUT WAIT. Only 15 fighters present? Dana had to go and make it special that Kimbo was on the show. As cool as it is (and as scary as Kimbo looks to me) it wasn't worth it. As Roy said, "[Dana] had a big announcement; I thought I was the big announcement." Two points for tooting your own horn, but you should have put it together than if the show was exclusively heavyweights and as much shit as Dana talked about Kimbo needing to go on TUF and win, the big announcement was clearly going to be Kimbo.

We see a short evaluation session consisting of Greg Jackson telling Rashad what to do and Rampage watching the fighters beat each other up. The teams get picked and I can see while Rashad is making smart choices, Rashad is all about the style and ‘fun' with his. I'm picking a clean sweep by Rashad's team all the first round. We see some training, we see some cheesing coming from Rampage, and we see bad blood. Then we get to the first elimination fight, and we see some REAL blood.

Jon Madsen (1-0) faced off against Abe Wagner (6-1) in what I would call the most boring match ever, but not because of the action because Jon was hella busy on top. It was because it was the same 20 second stretch every time they got stood up because Abe would just hug him from the bottom until they got stood up, and Jon went for a fake overhand-takedown and got it every time. Rampage got so frustrated he left the fight 10 seconds before it was over. The bloody part was Jon landing a nasty elbow that shook the cage when it dropped and a huge cut opened in the hairline of Abe (ala Joe at UFC 80) and the blood was dripping all over, and anytime Jon landed another big punch it splattered all over. The final scores were 20-17 and 20-16 both for Jon. I feel bad for Rampage's team.


In lieu of an actual photo, please take this artist's rendition.

This is looking to be a good show so far because I can see how all the people in the house with the big personalities (Rampage, Rashad, Kimbo, Wes Sim, Big Country) are going to make it a fun 13 weeks. And we are going to cry the whole time knowing we won't get the coaches fight until possibly much later.



Official Takedown Preview of UFC 103: Franklin vs Belfort
Catchweight (195) bout: Rich Franklin vs Vitor Belfort
This is definitely looking to be a good fight. From what I've seen Vitor has his blazing hands back and is using them to knock off heads left and right at his new home at 185 pounds. While this fight is going to be against somebody who will undoubtedly come into the fight weighing nearly 200 pounds, Vitor has formerly competed in that division (and even became a champion) before leaving to make himself over in the middleweight division. Now, rattling off an impressive 4 fight win streak with the last 2 being by way of KO, Vitor is back against the man who is confused as to where he wants to fight, Rich "Ace" Franklin.

While Franklin is going to have the clear and away size advantage here, the Phenom has that incredible boxing ability that should be able to nullify Rich's size. Neither man known for his grappling prowess or preference, this is going to be another stand up war. Vitor has phenomenal boxing and hand speed, while Rich has a very diversified arsenal of strikes to pick from. Expect Vitor to get in, hit Rich with a quick combination, then get out quickly before Rich is able to settle into a rhythm. In the end though, I think Ace's chin will give out from the massive amount of punches he is likely to receive through the fight and we'll see a late stoppage victory for Belfort.
Vitor Belfort, RD3, TKO

Heavyweight (265) bout: Mirko Cro Cop vs Junior dos Santos
The once-feared winner of the PRIDE 2006 Openweight GP has his second fight since his UFC 99 return to the Octagon against up-and-coming heavy hitter Junior dos Santos. For Cro Cop, this is a chance for him to both make the fans recall the moments when he head kicked every name on the list into oblivion and get himself inserted into title contention sometime in the future. For Junior, this is that chance for him to get that one win over a name that puts you on the map. Either way this shoots, so long as they don't lose immediately after this fight, expect to see the winner fighting for the title sometime soon.

Cro Cop has looked more than a bit hesitant to really unload on his set-up strikes he loved from hitting the base and working up until it was simple math for him to knock his enemy out. He's been holding back a bit, being a little more tentative and I think that's going to cost him against dos Santos. The Team Nogueria product has shown an absolutely tremendous power in his hands as he blasted Fabricio Werdum's head into the 90th row and beat on Stefan Struve en route to a TKO win. While neither man is exactly main event material, the speed and efficiency in which he has dispatched of his opponents has brought Junior's value up. I think that his heavy hands, combined with the boxing he's picked up along his way and Cro Cop's tendency to hold back from letting go is going to be enough to give him another highlight reel finish.
Junior dos Santos, RD1, KO

Welterweight (170) bout: Martin Kampmann vs Paul Daley
Could you have any worse luck then Martin Kampmann or Mike Swick right now? Before Swick was injured, both men would be fighting for a chance to become another notch on GSP's record. Now, Kampmann is going to be relying on the lack of real challengers in the welterweight division on getting a title shot should he win over Daley.

Daley, little known he may be to US fans, doesn't appear to be one to take lightly though. With 16 of his 21 career wins coming by way of some form of KO, he's going to try and take Kampmann out with his hands. However, should Daley end up on his back in the fight (and it's more than likely he will) Kampann's persistent attempts at submissions should prove to be the difference in this fight, because while Daley is definitely someone to be feared on the feet, Kampmann has only lost by TKO once (not a cut) to Nate Marquardt at 185 pounds, and I don't think Daley would be able to muster up the strength needed to hit that hard. Look for Kampmann's constant submission attempts to end Daley's night early.
Martin Kampmann, RD2, Submission RNC

Welterweight (170) bout: Frank Trigg vs Josh Koscheck
TWINKLETOES returns to the UFC against a man coming off of a wicked KO loss to Paulo Thiago in Josh Koscheck. Frank Trigg, fighting mostly in the middleweight division during his tenure away from the UFC, should come into this fight in relatively good shape. He hasn't been in many wars and unlike Koscheck, he was smart and didn't take fights too close together.

Trigg, while posting a 2-3 record during his original UFC run, stil remains a threat to anyone in the UFC's 170 pound division. His UFC losses coming tby way of Matt Hughes (twice during his championship reigns) and the current KING of the welterweights Georges St-Pierre, Trigg is no slouch. While many would point to the fact he lost all three matches by way of rear naked choke, that is not a kryptonite for him (unlike, say, Robbie Lawler who has zero ground skills at all), and I don't see Kos trying for it anytime in the fight.

The outcome will depend on which Josh shows up at UFC 103: the original TUF Koscheck who knew he was a wrestler and decided to basically LnP his way to his wins, or the newer, wrestling-amnesia Koscheck who thinks he can kickbox now. If the wrestler comes into the cage that night, Trigg is going to lose, because his wrestling is nowhere near enough to get past Koschecks. If Josh decides to stand and bang with Trigg, Trigg would most likely win because he has a tendency to do rather well on the feet. I think that once a mold is made its hard to break, so I see Trigg taking a decision win here.
Frank Trigg, Un. Decision

Lightweight (155) bout: Tyson Griffin vs Hermes Franca
And UFC 103 marks the return of the died hair of Hermes Franca to the main card! I can tell right now this is going to be the Fight of the Night. Lightweights always tend to have a good showing what with their endless energy and stuff, unlike us fat guys.

Tyson is a very strong wrestler with good submission defense which he is going to need all night against Franca. While he hasn't quite fallen into the wrestler-turned-kickboxer trap many have found themselves in (Hamill, Sherk, Koscheck, Rashad) he has gained a recent tendency to stand and trade leather with his opponent instead of taking things to the mat. However, his dauntless energy and ridiculous strength lets him do this safely, and when the fight hits the ground, he is more than ready to lay on the ground and pound, which he is able to safely administer while still defending submissions effectively, but is not all perfect as seen in his fight with dos Anjos where he was very nearly caught in several triangles and armbars.

Franca, on the other hand, would like nothing more than for the fight to hit the ground so he can show off his BJJ skills and be the first to submit Griffin. Franca's ability to weaken his opponents with knees from the clinch will be his main weapon against Griffin on the feet, and should Griffin be able to shrug off the clinch game, he's going to pull guard and be relentless in his submission attempts on Tyson. In the end, I think Franca's clinch striking and BJJ is going to be too much for Griffin to handle and I see a late submission victory for the Brazilian.
Hermes Franca, RD3, Submission Armbar

Prelim Quick Picks
+ Efrain Escudero def. Cole Miller, Un. Decision
+ Drew McFedries def. Tomasz Drwal, RD2 TKO
+ Jim Miller def. Steve Lopez, RD1, Submission Guillotine
+ Nik Lentz def. Rafaello Oliveira, Un. Decision (coin toss)
+ Rick Story def. Brian Foster, Un. Decision
+ Eliot Marshall def. Jason Brilz, RD2, TKO
+ Vladimir Matsyushenko def. Igor Pokrajac, Split Decision
+ Rafael dos Anjos def. Rob Emerson, RD1 Submission RNC


In the Lands of the Rising Sun(s)
Here I'll cover the happenings in foreign MMA, mostly in Japan such as DREAM or Sengoku.

The Beast is back!
As we knew earlier, Gegard Mousasi injured his shoulder in that stupid ‘exhibition' sparring match with Fedor at M1 Breakthrough. This effectively took him out of DREAM's beloved Super Hulk tournament set to wrap up at DREAM.11, and left Hong Man Choi opponent-less. Well, the suits over at FEG decided to bring back one of Japan's all-time favorites in Bob Sapp. Sapp, already out of the tournament due to a leglock by Pro-wrestler-fighter Minowaman will be returning to take on the Korean giant. I see this as a win-win scenario for both Gegard, Bob, and DREAM in general. Nobody took the SuperHulk seriously, and now that Gegard is out of it he can focus on more important things, such as defending his newly won Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship. For Bob, he gets a second chance at winning the tourney, and for DREAM they do huge business because Bob is a huge draw in Japan. Everyone loves Sapp.

Judoka and Judoka; Gold vs Gold
Sengoku has announced the MMA debut of Satoshi Ishii for their little promotion. Ishii managed to earn a gold medal in the most recent Olympic Games in the +100kg division. Weighing in at 240 pounds, Ishii is looked to be a heavy contender due to his judo skills. His opponent will be fellow judo gold medalist in Hidehiko Yoshida, who won the gold in the 1992 games in the 78kg division. Needless to say this match will be a lot of throwing or no throwing.

Quick Jabs
+ Diaz submitted Guillard after Guillard tried to rope-a-dope him. I loved it because I saw it coming a mile away once he ‘stumbled' to the cage.
+ Anderson Silva is NOT undergoing elbow surgery; instead, he's going to be using that elbow to wave goodbye to Dan Henderson because Dan's still out of the UFC.
+ Seth Petruzelli is hinting at a possible UFC comeback if he can get Joe Silva to find a match for him soon. I'm thinking Kimbo-Seth rematch eventually.
+ The Ultimate Fighter is BLOODY.

Bozo's Corner
Just stuff about me for the week.

In case you're wondering Bozo is my nickname among my friends, cause half of them couldn't pronounce my full name (Bonnizzio) so they shortened it to Bozo.

I did a grappling tournament on Sept 12, and I didn't do too bad considering. I walked in and weighed in at 206.5, but the next lowest class was at 205 so I was gonna be the small man again. First match went almost the full 5 minutes but after defending the RNC for the better part of 4 minutes I got tired of him putting his hand on my mouth and muffling me so I let him have it. The next guy decided to do a pretty nice sweep after I threw him to side control and got on top, then RNC'd me again but got his forearm in my mouth somehow. Next match (absolute division) I got triangle'd by not passing explosively enough, then got matched up against the RNC-in-mouth guy again. He decided to not tie up with me (which I wanted to do) and he grabbed my leg and did some nice trip. I got him in half guard but he grabbed my arm and I'm still working of that crank he put on the Americana. Word to the wise: unless you know you're going to be somewhat competitive, compete in a lower division. Yikes.

And that finishes the shot for today people. If you wanna say something, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you have to say, or you can drop me a line at my email at [e-mail].