The Takedown 09.25.09: Rampaging Out!
Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 09.25.2009
Join 411's Daniel Bonnizzio as he looks into Rampage's comments on leaving the UFC, various important Strikeforce announcements, another Strikeforce champion talks, a new yet familiar feature to join the ranks of Japanese MMA, and his thoughts on catchweight bouts. Join him for the Takedown!
Welcome to week 2 of The Takedown!
I enjoyed the support and comments I got back and hope I managed to produce another good one this week. This week seemed pretty Strikeforce-heavy, minus the clear and away shocker of one UFC fighter's ‘'retirement.''
Drop to your shooting knee and welcome to:
In My Opinion… Just a section to discuss my opinion on something
Catchweight fights are kind of pointless. Sure they might help establish a fighter's position in the P4P rankings because of the whole actual meeting-at a weight thing, but they do not advance that fighter in his real weight class.
Take Mr Chronic himself, Nick Diaz. The man has fought two consecutive fights at a catchweight of 182 and 180 pounds against Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith respectively, yet I don't see him climbing any catchweight rankings soon or being given shots at Strikeforce's Catchweight World Championship. Sure, a good catchweight superfight is fantastic, especially for someone in the possible twilight of their career, but for people like Vitor, Nick Diaz, Franklin and any other recent catchweight fight I'm too lazy to look up right now, they haven't been in the twilight yet (minus Mr Shamrock, of course).
Sure Nick has looked great and crisp in those fights, but it's doing him no real good. Sure he was going to be given the Strikeforce 170pound championship shot, but how many welterweights has he beaten lately? None, and certainly none ever for Strikeforce. So to be given an immediate title shot in a division he hasn't competed for (an issue I will most likely address eventually).
Sure Franklin is nice at 195, but that extra "10" pounds between there and 205 is a lot, especially considering how much some guys cut (Forrest cuts on average around 20 pounds). And sure he's nice at 195, but that's so much bigger than the 185 guys will fight at. So what can you do? You give him a ranking increase in the middleweight rankings? No, because the weight advantage is too vast. Do you give him a boost in the 205 ranks? No, because the same argument applies: the weight just differs too much.
The only time I think that a catchweight fight SHOULD happen is when a fighter is looking for superfights with guys in other weight classes and wants to put on that fight, and NOT because the company has nothing else to promote.
Jackson Rampages Out of the UFC
The UFC has done a lot for me but I think I have done more for them. The UFC bought WFA to get my contract & they saved my life, so I felt loyal to them. They pushed me into a fight with Chuck Liddel even when I clearly stated I wasn't ready to fight for the belt because the American fans didn't know me but I took the fight and didn't complain & after I won the American fans booed me for the first time which changed the way I saw them & it hurt me deeply.
Then before I can even get out of the cage they announced that I was fighting Dan Henderson without even asking me. After I beat Dan Henderson, I made history in becoming the first undisputed champion in MMA but was never even given the pride belt in the cage & I was never promoted as the undisputed champ. Later Anderson Silva was.
Then they had me coach TUF season 7 and fight Forrest and the fight was very controversial & normally when a fight is that close & controversial there is normally an instant replay. I can name a couple of instances. Instead they offered me the Vanderlei Silva fight which I gladly accepted even though I know it was a very risky fight for me to take because of all the drama that was happening to me at the time. I fought that fight with a jaw injury and then a couple weeks later Dana called me and asked me to fight Rashad. For the first time I said no, I didn't want to fight because it was such short notice & I wouldn't have had a long break between camp. Dana talked me into fighting Rashad anyway but Rashad refused the fight and so I had to fight Jardine as a favor to the UFC instead of getting my belt back (which wasn't even worth it to me financially).
Then I reinjured my jaw in the fight with Vanderlei & Jardine. Frank Mir gets hurt so they wanted to switch my fight from UFC 100 to the fight Frank couldn't make it to but I couldn't fight cause I needed jaw surgury. So they give Machida the fight against Rashad & they told me they want me to coach TUF season 10 against Rashad. That's why I wanted Rashad to win so bad but when Rashad got knocked out I told them I wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUF against Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was a different type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signed the contract Dana then changes his mind & says I have to fight Rashad & even told me what to say in the press & so my fans think I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still never complained & I did it all.
Then this movie role came about that I have been trying to get for over a year & as soon as I found out I was close to getting it, I called Dana right away & asked to push the Memphis fight back just a month or so. I told him what this movie role meant to me. I told him that I used to bond with my father watching the tv show as a kid when my parents where still married & it represents the memories I had with my father when we lived together. My dad became an alcohalic & addicted to drugs & we grew apart. But after my dad got his life back together, I was so proud of my dad & I told him I would always take care of him in the future & make him proud of me. My dad & I are still very big fans of the show & I am basically doing this for the childhood memories I had spending time in front of the tv with my dad. Dana went on the internet & mocked me because of that & I still did nothing. Dana & I finally talked & we made up & then after that he went back on the internet & said some bullshit & he was talking bad about the movie when information is not even supposed to be released & talking about payments which is not even true could really hurt my future acting career, which could very well last longer than my fighting career. I'm not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties & neither do I want to fight that long. So I feel like my second career could be in jeopardy.. so I'm done fighting. I've been getting negative reviews from the dumb ass fans that don't pay my bills or put my kids though college. So I'm hanging it up. I'm gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they'll follow me to my new career & I will gain more loyal fans along the way. & all you hater fans out there can kiss my big black hairy ass! & anybody that don't like what I just said can come try to kick my ass!
I still feel the UFC is a great organization and I felt like I was very loyal to them but they didn't respect my loyalty but I wish the UFC the best. I did a lot of things for them. I wish no bad blood between us but I have kids & a family back in Memphis to provide for & thats all that matters to me!
And thus spake Rampage. Once considered the greatest light heavyweight in the world and a true entrant in the top 5 pound for pound rankings, the former UFC Light Heavyweight and last PRIDE Middleweight champion has walked away from the sport.
Citing an inability to come to agreeable terms and a poor set of already present conditions as his reasons, Quinton Jackson has decided to walk away from the eight-sided cage to focus on his acting career which starts with his role as B.A. Baracus in the A-Team movie reboot.
While I think Jackson has a few good points, especially his fight selections and timing while in the UFC, he went about the whole thing in the wrong direction. I could see how getting an ‘immediate' title shot (after beating Marvin Eastman of all people) would make him look like he was given special treatment, especially considering how few American fans really know of Jackson, but I'd think that a consistently top 2 Middleweight in PRIDE would give you enough leeway to get an early title shot. Besides, I'm sure in the 90 seconds it took him to KO Chuck he more than showed he earned that title shot. Plus, he became the only man to have 2 (T)KO wins over Chuck, and the only person to beat Chuck twice.
Then he complains about having to fight Dan Henderson without any say on his part. Well, as much as I don't like saying it this was Jackson being a baby. When you're the company champ you don't get the luxury to pick and choose your way up to the top. There is no declining a fight here. Plus, the UFC had just acquired PRIDE and had to get Dan's titles unified into the UFC titles. Jackson was the 205 champ at the time so the two had to fight and it had to be the next fight for both men. You couldn't have them fighting other people while another champion existed in the same promotion in the same weight class. Then the whole idea of true #1's go out the window and you have two people fighting for it when both have a legit claim. I will agree with his gripe about not getting the PRIDE belt; he did win the title from Dan and he deserved it.
He knew what he was getting into when he agreed to go on TUF opposite Forrest, and the inevitable risk that comes with fighting anyone with a title on the line. That was no excuse. Fighting Wanderlei on an injured jaw was his own fault. He could have cited medical reasons for not accepting fights at that time. I will admit Rashad claiming ‘short notice' and such on his potential UFC 96 matchup with Rampage was a load of crock; they both fought at 92 so there was no real reasons there. Then he gets legit mad because Machida gets the shot at Rashad ahead of him and Rashad loses. So now Rampage has gone twice without being able to win the title back, first from the guy who took it from him, then from the guy who ducked him in a fight. Going on TUF10 was almost guaranteed him a shot at fighting Rashad, but then this whole fiasco broke and we lose Rampage.
Rampage has had a fine and storied career. Spanning 37 fights, he's only lost to top competition. Being the first unified champion in MMA and being arguably the UFC's biggest assert to acquire once PRIDE fell through (even though he wasn't under PRIDE contract at the time) is enough to pad him for the rest of his life should he choose to actually retire, but honestly, unless the A-Team movie does even marginally well at the box office, I don't see Rampage making a whole career out of it. While he is honest in saying that he's not Randy Couture and he actually has had injuries in his career, he is still a top man at 205 and has a lot of fights left in him.
I really hope Jackson clears his head (again) and steps back into the Octagon soon.
Overeem says 2009 for K1, Fedor for 2010
Strikeforce's current heavyweight champion has admitted to focusing on K1 for the remainder of 2009 but expects to defend his title against Fedor Emelianenko sometime in 2010. Normally, I'm okay with the second half of that kind of announcement, but for now let's go ahead an dissect the no-no's of his statement.
First and foremost, he is the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. He's the one holding the belt right now and he's the one who gets to call himself Strikeforce's number one guy. Deciding to take that long of a layoff between winning the belt (he won it back in November 2007) and defending it just once is a huge no no. You have an obligation to defend that title against the best Strikeforce can offer, whether it be the cyborg known as Fedor Emelianenko, the mammoth known as Brett Rogers, the one who directly challenged you in Fabricio Werdum or even the NFL guy Herschel, you step into that six-sided cage and you fight who they say you fight.
Second, remember what I said about guys walking around in the same promotion as champions? Fedor still has that cereal box belt known as the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship and while it has zero real credibility to its name, he's at least defended it at least once against a VERY quality opponent in Andrei Arlovski. Alistair, not so much. He needs to stop juicing and get back to either win that WAMMA belt off of Fedor or lose the Strikeforce title to Fedor. You just can't have two champs in one promotion. It doesn't work that way man. That or just have Fedor really acknowledge the WAMMA title has no meaning.
Next, that fight may never happen because of November 7 and one hungry Grim. Fedor already has a fight scheduled with Brett Rogers, and I think Brett has the greatest chance out of anyone Fedor's fought recently to beat the Last Emperor. Should Brett pull off the win of a lifetime and beat Fedor, where does that leave Overeem? Not in a Fedor fight I'll say that much.
Alistair has made it clear with his juicing that he doesn't want to really fight in the US anymore where he can't get away with it. While it would kill the Strikeforce heavyweight division some more, I honestly think Alistair needs to drop the title and just focus on DREAM and K1. For all we know, DREAM might have a heavyweight GP soon that he wins.
Strikeforce deepens the Lightweight Division
In a news week already full of Strikeforce, the promotion has announced that they have signed top lightweight Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro toa multi-fight deal with Striekforce.
This is great news to hear. Despite coming off a decision loss to Shinya Aoki, Shaolin is still a top lightweight and would give anyone fits with his BJJ wizardry. His last win a grappling clinic put on over Katsuhiko Nagata before stopping him with a disgusting cut over the eyes, Shaolin could be an instant contender for the Strikeforce lightweight championship.
Having fought in Shooto, Cage Rage, Rumble on the Rock, WFA, K1 HERO'S and DREAM, Shaolin brings a depth of experience to the 155 pounders in the company not many can say they are able to match. Let him have a good showing in his debut, then put him against a top quality opponent and we could have a title contender by early to mid 2010. Let's hope Shaolin doesn't disappoint in his debut, eh?
UFC 103 in Review
My Guess: Vitor Belfort, RD3, TKO; Actual: Vitor Belfort, RD1, KO
I had the right end but the wrong time. I knew Vitor was gonna be too much. This just goes to show that if it's going quickly enough, even a clipping blow can throw you off. My Guess: Junior dos Santos, RD1, KO; Actual: Junior dos Santos, RD3, Submission (injury)
Again, right(ish) end, wrong time. I think it's justified, because if the fight went on even another minute, dos Santos was landing some quality shots that would pick Cro Cop apart. And seeing that uppercut directly to Mirko's eye socket was almost disgusting. To see this get called a submission is gonna be sad but it's what it was: Mirko submitted he couldn't see, and dos Santos stamped that application with a proper uppercut. My Guess: Martin Kampmann, RD2, Submission RNC; Actual: Paul Daley, RD1, TKO
So I was way off here? I knew that Daley was a good striker but for him to outclass Kampmann like that on the feet was more than ridiculous. I expect good things in Daley's future. Sorry Martin, back to the prelims for you. My Guess: Frank Trigg, Un. Decision; Actual: Josh Koscheck, RD1, TKO
And the boxer-Kos showed up, but it was a faster-than-Trigg boxer Kos. I liked Kos in the fight because he saw that he mnaged to land a few good ones to Trigg early and while Trigg was able to answer, Josh showed up with that clipping hand and just unloaded on Trigg's face. I can see him going on to fight Hughes as he called him out post-fight. But, hopefully, he doesn't fight every month. My Guess: Hermes Franca, RD3, Submission Armbar; Actual: Tyson Griffin, RD2, KO
Hermes, Hermes, Hermes! First you come in all doughy at 159, beg Joe to make a catchweight fight (damn you you catchweight fights!!) and then lose in terrible fashion? Griffin was picking him apart in the standup and Hermes decided to ‘Gurgel it' and forget he is a world-class grappler and didn't do any BJJ until Griffin was already intruding his fist to Hermes's nose in spectacular fashion. On the other side, bonus points to Griffin for not only finishing his opponent, but finishing Hermes who had yet to be KO'd My Guess: Efrain Escudero def. Cole Miller, Un. Decision; Actual: Efrain Escudero, RD1, TKO
The Lightweight Season 8 TUF winner is for real. That is all. My Guess: Drew McFedries def. Tomasz Drwal, RD2 TKO; Actual: Tomasz Drwal, RD2, Submission RNC
Drew McFedries, you are asked to step down and let people who perform halfway consistent come forward to take your spot. We all know you love to stand and bang, but you half to work on that non-existent ground game if you're gonna stay remotely employed. Good work by Drwal who looks to move up the 185 pound dead end. My Guess: Jim Miller def. Steve Lopez, RD1, Submission Guillotine; Actual: Jim Miller, RD2, TKO (injury)
Owie owie ow. That was the most painful-looking dislocation I've ever seen. This is where I wish they;d employ PRIDE rules and go to a technical decision. Poor Joe. Hopefully they get the Aaron Riley/ Shane Nelson treatment and we get a rematch soon. My Guess: Nik Lentz def. Rafaello Oliveira, Un. Decision; Actual: Nik Lentz, Un. Decision
Nailed it! Although I admit it was a coin toss, I nailed it! My Guess: Rick Story def. Brian Foster, Un. Decision; Actual: Rick Story, RD2, Submission arm-triangle
So the rumors abound as to why Foster tapped. Was he hurt? Was he looking for an out? Was he worried? No, I think that it just hurt. He looked like he was go
ing out and knew it. To see someone tap from an arm-triangle like that while in the half-guard (although that could be debated considering he didn't really have one) is unheard of. Either Story is freakish strong or we have a submission wuss on our hands. Hopefully, the former is true. My Guess: Eliot Marshall def. Jason Brilz, RD2, TKO; Actual: Eliot Marshal, Split Decision
Another TUF8 standout in Eliot Marshal got his 3rd win after the season, making him 3-0 in the UFC thus far. Will he go the Kryz route and step up only to fall down, or will he go 4-0 and prove he's more than a gatekeeper? Only time will tell. Jason, good showing. Try harder. My Guess: Vladimir Matsyushenko def. Igor Pokrajac, Split Decision; Actual: Vlad Matsyushenko, Un. Decision
Got another one(ish). Glad to see the Janitor have a successful comeback, but he's going to need to step up his game if he's going to stay competitive in the diving-section deep end known as the UFC light heavyweight division. My Guess: Rafael dos Anjos def. Rob Emerson, RD1 Submission RNC; Actual: Rafael dos Anjos, Un. Decision
And so dos Anjos finally picks up a win in the Octagon. I think he has the most deceiving 1-2 record out of anyone I know of. The out-of-nowhere KO of 2008 against Jeremy Stephens in a fight where he was winning, and the razor-thin decision to perennial Fight of the Night collector Tyson Griffin showed his heart, and in his performance turning Rob Emerson's left inside leg to mince meat is an indication he could be a top player in the 155 division.
In the Lands of the Rising Sun
Here I'll cover the happenings in Japanese MMA
Enter the White Cage
DREAM.12, the only event DREAM has put on thus far not related to a GP of any kind is also going to be the first event to take place outside of the Japanese traditional 5-roped ring. Yes, that's right; DREAM.12 will be in a six-sided cage that's been painted white. Dubbed "The White Cage" by the promotion, this is going to be an experimental run because, as before stated, traditionally Japanese MMA has taken place in the familiar roped ring. This is going to be an unusual event to say the least.
I am personally excited for this for several reasons. First, I get HDNet so that means I get to see all the DREAM events (which are fun). Second, We'll see how some of these guys translate to fighting in a cage, which I feel is important because many of the guys who moved from PRIDE to the UFC were given the label that they couldn't adapt to the cage. This way, they get that cage experience if they don't already have it, and if they do have it they get an advantage. I've always called for the cage over the rped ring because the ring has corners you can back someone into, you always seem to fal out of the ropes and the ropes give you the ability to bounce off to get out of clinches easier. DREAM, I wholly support you on this.
Sengoku 10th Battle Quick Hits
• Antz Nansen def. Hiroshi Izumi via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 2:56
• Antonio Silva def. Jim York via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 1, 3:51
• Makoto Takimoto def. Jae Sun Lee via unanimous decision
• Kazunori Yokota def. Ryan Schultz via KO (punch) - Round 1, 2:31
• Fabio Silva def. Ryo Kawamura via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 2:28
• Dan Hornbuckle def. Nick Thompson via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 1:30
• Joe Doerksen def. Takenori Sato via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 4:27
• Maximo Blanco def. Tetsuya Yamada via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 1:12
• Ikuo Usuda def. Woo Hyon Baek via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 4:59
• Shigeki Osawa def. Ki Hyun Kim via unanimous decision
• Jae Hyun So def. Ryosuke Komori via unanimous decision
I did manage to catch this live and it was a fun event to watch. I laughed hard during the opening fight between Maxi and Yamada after Maxi kneed him in the tailbone. Kneed his ass. Ha.
Quick Jabs
• Herschel Walker got his own line of TapouT shirts recently. We all know how the last big black guy to get a deal with TapouT ended up, right?
• Couture vs Vera, or rather Couture-with-boobs vs Vera-with-boobs is currently in the works for a Strikeforce Challengers show. Sorry, couldn't help it.
• Keith Kizer has said that "Big" John McCarthy's referee license denial has nothing to with blacklisting, just protocol. Personally, I'd be jumping all over for the stamp if John decided to apply for a referee license.
• Because he lost to a top 5 welterweight in Josh Koscheck, Frank Trigg gets another chance in the UFC. This is where you give him a can. Send in Marcus Davis!!
• Cro Cop has officially retired. He instructed his head trainer to relieve all Team Cro Cop members from their duties and go about their lives. Ending a career spanning eight years and 35 fights, we saw a monster during his PRIDE run and we will never forget the legendary phrase… Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery.
Bozo's Corner Just stuff about me for the week.
So my lips are finally healed after the Sept 12 incident, but I get to have my mouth cut open again on Sept 25 at noon to get two impacted wisdom teeth removed. Fun fun! The only good I can see out of this is that I get to eat all the ice-cream I want. I mean, that plus not losing teeth and avoiding nerve damage. But ice cream!!
I'm also starting training for another grappling event on Dec 5; it's a submission only event so I'm thinking of using my wrestling knowledge to grind them out until they decide they're done and tap out from frustration. Sound good? Heh. For this one I'll mke sure I cut a decent enough weight so I'm not the smallest guy in the division.
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 411takedown@gmail.com.
