The Juggernaut MMA News Report 09.30.09: Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson TONIGHT

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 09.30.2009

The Juggernaut wonders whether Shogun Rua & Vitor Belfort can knock off Lyoto Machida & Anderson Silva, reviews Strikeforce Challengers featuring a U.S. Olympian, plus your weekly news briefing including a damn good UFC 105 card. Tonight is the night we've all been waiting for as Kimbo Slice fights on TUF against Roy Nelson. Read on for a preview of the night's action on Spike plus more.


Brazilians Try to Knock Off Fellow Brazilians

UFC 104 and UFC 108 will pose interesting main event championship match-ups. Dominating champions will face viably dangerous challengers who at one time or another were believed to be the most dangerous men in the sport. Lyoto Machida makes his first light heavyweight title defense next month against Mauricio Shogun Rua. Rua poses a dangerous match-up because he brings to the table extraordinary jiu-jitsu and striking skills.

The day after New Years in 2010, Anderson Silva will make his sixth middleweight title defense against Vitor Belfort, fresh off his thrashing of Rich Franklin at UFC 103 earlier this month. Silva has rarely had to rely on his jiu-jitsu to win inside the octagon, instead he has only needed his Muay Thai and almost godly ability to avoid strikes to put down his opponents. Vitor Belfort is famous for his striking, specifically famous for throwing everything at his opponent early on and bludgeoning them shortly thereafter.

Machida is as unique a fighter as there has been in the modern UFC. He made his name fighting calmly and cautiously, before he began knocking out opponents to earn a championship shot against Rashad Evans, and then knocking him out. Machida is the first man to bring back karate as a fight discipline that won't make people laugh out loud at the thought of it being atop the UFC. He has tremendous power, jiu-jitsu and defense which mixed together create a fight cocktail which nobody has been able to crack. Shogun Rua has said he knows he has to be both calm and aggressive and know when to be which during the fight. That appears to be the key to beating Machida, knowing when to relax and when to strike. Rashad Evans and his trainer Greg Jackson had their chance and could not beat Machida.


Silva may be the most dangerous fighter in the world. He is a fighter who puts fear into the minds of his opponents before they even step into the cage. Silva has literally kicked Rich Franklin out of the division, he choked out Travis Lutter, knocked out James Irvin and Forrest Griffin and the other victims reads like a laundry list. In his UFC run, the most difficulty he has had was against Lutter. Most pundits say the way to defeat Silva is someone who can take the fight to the ground and win it there. Hell, some say Dan Henderson won the first round of his fight with Silva before being choked out in the second. I think Lutter won the first round of their fight before he was battered in the second.

Belfort holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but rarely uses it in fights, rather than use his powerful and fast hands. Unless he thinks (and of course he does) he can knock Silva out, the way to victory may be on the ground against Silva. I think it's safe to say nobody will expect their fight to go the distance like Silva did with awful Thales Leites. Hopefully Belfort will not be as scared as Leites was or else we may be in store for some history making awfulness. Thankfully, if anything, Belfort may charge at Silva early and lead himself into a knockout before the cage girls can get their ROUND 2 signs ready.

In thinking about which fighter has a better chance to win, Shogun or Belfort, I am torn. After all, Shogun is still the same fighter who struggled to defeat Mark Coleman earlier this year. His only impressive performance in the UFC was a 2009 knockout of Chuck Liddell. Part of me always thinks the "PRIDE version" of Shogun will bust out one of these days and he will reign supreme in the light heavyweight division again. That is a lot to be asking however. As for Belfort, he is so powerful and dangerous with his strikes. The old saying goes, he has a punchers chance.

At this rate, maybe that's the best route to take against Silva. Well, maybe not. Forrest Griffin would probably disagree.

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Strikeforce Challengers Coverage

Daniel Cormier, the two-time American Olympic wrestler made his MMA debut weeks after signing with Strikeforce. His opponent, Gary Frazier (an accomplished high school wrestler) is 1-0 in MMA although he was built as also making his professional MMA debut with this fight. Cormier is a big boy at over 250 pounds and just under six feet tall. He has been training with the American Kickboxing Academy in preparation and while his total MMA game is in development, his foundation is solid. Frazier tried to move as best he could to avoid Cormier's weak looking strikes but the former Olympian packed a lot of power behind the slow shots. It was almost comical watching Cormier control Frazier on the ground with his almost unfair leverage power. Frazier did show some positives such as avoiding a takedown slam but he slipped anyway, gave up his back and the referee stopped the fight while Cormier unleashed his ground and pound.

Cormier is still new to the sport but training with AKA, he should come along just fine. As long as nobody expects Brock Lesnar type of immediate successes, people should be following his MMA career for a long time, even though he is 30 years old. Just from watching this fight that barely went through the first round, Cormier has some power and his wrestling power and overall skills are apparent. He obviously has to work on his submission defense skills, overall jiu-jitsu and boxing to really become a fierce heavyweight in MMA. Imagine if he learned big combinations to throw on his feet and with his ability to avoid being taken down, he would be a dangerous opponent for most, if not all opponents.


In a match-up of Oklahoma local fighters, Thomas Longacre defeated Travis Calonoc by decision. The majority of the fight was fought with both men throwing strikes. Longacre, a kick boxing veteran, dominated the stand-up with a great combination of an assortment of kicks and punches. Calonoc nearly pulled off the come from behind victory but he could not lock on his guillotine choke attempts or arm bar attempts. The end of the fight, the final ten seconds saw both men throw their defenses away and they simply went balls to the wall. It brought up comparisons to the famous Forrest Griffin/Stephan Bonnar fight to which color man Pat Militech referred to it as a more technical version of the famous brawl.


Thomas Longacre highlight reel from his time in Chuck Norris' WCL


In another key match-up, Tyron Woodley met Zach Light. Light is a veteran and one of the lead trainers of the Wolfslair in England although he is coming off three losses last year. Woodley, a two-time All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri is a good welterweight prospect with an undefeated record in now, six fights. Woodley took Light down with a noisy take down, went to the mount and locked on a head and arm choke. Light was calm in avoiding being forced to pass out or tap but Woodley's power base was too good to get out of the mount position. In the second round, Woodley tagged him with an overhand right, took him down and resumed his ground and pound and head and arm choke attempt. Woodley took Light down again, locked on an arm bar and forced Light to tap out. An awesome performance for Woodley, indeed.




The heavyweights returned when Ray Sefo stepped in for a his second professional fight against veteran Kevin Jordan. Jordan won the first round with dominant ground control but at the start of the second round, he fell to the mat and the fight was called off due to an apparent knee injury. Sefo explained Jordan went in to shoot and his knee gave out. A win for Sefo in the worst way possible. Sefo has been training at Xtreme Couture and definitely has a lot of work to put in after that first round. He's a nice guy however has he's the first fighter (if not one of the very few) to tell the crowd to drive home safely and not to drink and drive. That was nice of him.


The Strikeforce Challenger's main event featured Tim Kennedy (11-2) against Zak Cummings (10-0). Kennedy took Cummings down and dropped bombs from that point forward. Whether it was from the mount, or with Cummings' back and his hooks in, half guard, Kennedy did not stop nailing his undefeated opponent with bombs, for over four minutes. This was the definition of a 10-8 round and I couldn't argue if you wanted to score it 10-7. It was total domination on Kennedy's behalf. A funny moment during the first round came when analyst Stephen Quadros compared Kennedy to a blanket because he was all over Cummings and Mauro Ranallo deadpanned, "a blanket doesn't throw punches" and caused Pat Militich and Quadros to crack up laughing.

In the second, Cummings came out throwing big shots and tried to shoot in for a take down. Kennedy sprawled and locked on a standing guillotine until Cummings fell to the mat, Kennedy never let go and had the north/south choke locked on for the win as Cummings tapped out.

Impressive performance for Tim Kennedy as he dominated the first round and won via submission in the second, never leaving himself in jeopardy of losing.



And let me remind you, the only promotion of the November 7th CBS Strikeforce show featuring Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers was one brief mention before the main event. Yes, Strikeforce promoted the NFL and Showtime's NFL programming more than their own (rather important) prime time network show in about five weeks. That sucks.

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- In the face of accusations of ethics violations, the chairman of the California State Athletic Commission, Timothy Noonan has resigned. An LA Times article from two weeks ago reported the state's ethics agency opened an investigation into charges that CSAC members abused their positions to acquire free tickets to sporting events in the state. Noonan was one of two members of the CSAC appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor will have to appoint new members to the board which regulates both professional boxing and MMA in the state. Prior to Noonan's appointment (he was in the process of State Senate approval when the scandal became public), then commission head Armando Garcia resigned and later it became public he did so due to allegations of sexual harassment and a lawsuit for that matter.


- One of the major lightweight fighters in Japan over the years has been Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro. He has signed a multi-fight contract with Strikeforce and becomes another major name to compete with the likes of Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson. Shaolin is 20-3 in his MMA career, a native of Brazil he holds a black belt in BJJ. Saying he is a world class grappler is an understatement. Since his 2009 return to action (he spent all of 2008 on the sidelines), he is 1-1 with a win over Katsuhiko Nagata and a loss to Shinya Aoki. Over his career, he holds wins over Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Eiji Mitsuoka, among others. In the latest 411 MMA Lightweight Rankings, Ribeiro was rated the 15th best lightweight in the world.


- A bout featuring former TUF competitors has been signed for UFC 106 in November. Jason Dent will fight George Sotiropoulos in a lightweight bout. Dent defeated Cameron Dollar in June at the TUF 9 Finale and earned submission of the night honors in the process. He is 1-2 lifetime in the UFC (he was 0-2 in fights against Roger Huerta and Gleison Tibau at UFC 63 & 68, respectively). Sotiropoulos is 12-2 over his career and 3-0 in the UFC with wins over Billy Miles, Roman Mitichyan and George Roop.


- Houston Alexander fought with his UFC contract on the line at the Adrenaline IV show last week and defeated Sherman Pendergarst. Now he plans to return to the UFC in December. In recent months, he has been training jiu-jitsu with Jeremy Horn according to MMAJunkie Radio.



- Anderson Silva's next middleweight title defense is probable for UFC 108 on January 2nd, 2009 with his opponent being friend and fellow Brazilian, Vitor Belfort. Belfort has said although the two are friends, he has no problem fighting him with a championship on the line. It is not official but the LA Times has sourced Dana White as saying the fight is all but official.


- Mike Swick will fight Dan Hardy at UFC 105 in England in November to determine the number one contender to George St. Pierre's welterweight championship. The news first came from AOL Fanhouse via Dana White and Dan Hardy has since confirmed the news. GSP's next title defense is expected sometime in early 2010. You know Martin Kampmann must feel like crap having lost to Paul Daley in a fight that was originally scheduled against Swick and the winner also would have been pegged against GSP. Since he started fighting as a welterweight in 2008, Swick is 4-0. Hardy is 3-0 inside the UFC and 6-0 in his last six overall fights.


-Speaking of UFC 105, the card has turned out to be a pretty solid one for a Spike TV special in the United States. The complete televised card (which will air on a tape delay since it takes place live in England) will feature: Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera (at light heavyweight), Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang, Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy (for future title shot at GSP), James Wilks vs. Matt Brown and Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley.


- The 2009 Abu Dhabi Combat Club World Championships were decided last week in Barcelona, Spain. The grappling competition is held every two years and includes the best of the best from different regions of the world in a tournament. Fabricio Werdum won the +99Kg division (Jeff Monson came in third), Xande Ribeiro won the -98.9Kg division (Vinny Magalhaes came in third), Braulio Estima won the -87.9Kg division, Pablo Popovich won the -76.9Kg division and Rafael Mendes won the -65.9Kg division. The Absolute division was won by Braulio Estima. In the womens divisions, Luanna Alzuguir took the -59.9Kg division and Hannette Staack won the +60Kg division while Cris Cyborg Santos came in third.



- Tim Sylvia will not be able to fight at DREAM 12 in October due to an injury stemming from his victory over Jason Riley at Adrenaline IV. Sylvia broke his right hand in the win and will be out of action for the rest of the year.


- According to MMAWeekly, WEC co-founder Reed Harris has said the Zuffa owned promotion will run one show a month starting in October until the summer of 2010. WEC will run eight events in 2009, the most in the promotions history. The next show will be October 10th in San Antonio, Texas featuring Cowboy Donald Cerrone against Ben Henderson for the interim lightweight championship. WEC plans to travel outside the United States in 2010 with possibilities including Mexico and Canada.


- Yoshihiro Akiyama will train for the next month at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and according to Loretta Hunt, will "focus on 'refining his striking'" with the training camp.


- Randy Couture's fight with Brandon Vera at UFC 105 will not be the only meeting between a Couture and a Vera. Kerry Vera, Brandon's wife will fight Kim Couture, Randy's ex-wife on the November 20th, Strikeforce Challengers show.


- Josh Thomson, the reigning Strikeforce lightweight champion is still healing from a broken leg sustained in practice. Thomson hopes to be ready for a December show on Showtime but according to a SI.com report, he plans to get x-rays taken next week to see how the leg is healing. It is assumed as soon as he is healthy, Strikeforce will finally match him with their interim lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez. The two were scheduled to fight several times thus far but each time has been axed due to Thomson's leg/ankle.


- The first official fight for DREAM 12 (inside their six-sided cage) will see Eddie Alvarez return to the promotion for the first time since running through Bellator. Alvarez will fight Katsunori Kikuno, the DEEP promotion's lightweight champion.


- While the entire UFC 106 card is not yet official, the UFC has confirmed two additional prelim fights set for the November 21st event in Las Vegas. Phil Baroni will make his return against Amir Sadollah and Marcus Davis will try to return to the winning side when he fights Ben Saunders.


- Thales Leites is no longer a free agent. He has signed with the Maximum Fighting Championship promotion out of Canada. He will next fight at MFC 23 on December 4th against an opponent yet to be named. Leites is 14-3 as a professional and is on a two-fight losing streak. It was just five months ago when he lost a unanimous decision to Anderson Silva and last month when he lost a split decision to Alessio Sakara.

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The Ultimate Fighter Review and Preview


Last week we learned Kimbo Slice is a good student in the gym and took quickly to lessons Team Rampage taught about getting off his back. How well those lessons work in the course of the fight and whether Kimbo recalls them is a different issue. Rampage Jackson sees a semblance of himself in Kimbo and the first thing you interpret from the show is how impressed the coaches are by Slice's work ethic.

Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson continued their feud, this time, arguing over training time. Even while trying to be nice, Rampage Jackson was quick to note he didn't want to knock anyone out before he could get a good training camp in. As for the second preliminary fight, Rampage went straight for Team Evans' jugular, picking their first overall pick James McSweeney to fight former NFL player Wes Shivers. Shivers is a 6'7 fighter while McSweeney has a kick boxing background and has been training with Greg Jackson's camp out of New Mexico prior to the show.

The fight itself went much like both sides predicted. McSweeney came out throwing leg kicks and Shivers landed straight rights and used his height advantage to control the cage. Shivers took McSweeney down from the clinch, locked a kimura on for a brief moment before action returned to their feet. At the end of the round, Shivers was completely gassed while McSweeney landed a few strikes but nothing close to finishing. When he wasn't striking, McSweeney was running around the octagon to avoid any strikes from Shivers. I scored it 10-9 for Shivers considering his early work.

The second round, both men really tired out. McSweeney started to get wild with his striking with looping shots that did not do much damage. Shivers was so gassed he left his hands on his hips until his coaches shouted to keep them high. Shivers caught a kick and took McSweeney down, heading to the mount position before landing several shots. McSweeney rolled to give up his back and eventually reversed position into McSweeney's guard. Late in the round, McSweeney lands a straight right and locks in a guillotine choke as Shivers takes him down. Shivers popped out with about ten seconds left. This was a closer round but I had it 10-9 for Shivers again because of the mount work and the fact McSweeney's real action came later in the round but Shivers never appeared as if he was about to be finished.

I expected a draw and a third round but Dana White announced a judges decision. He read the results as 19-19, 20-18, 20-18 for James McSweeney by split decision.

Cardio is going to be a huge problem for most of the fighters it seems. Kimbo Slice cannot last a full fight and retain his ability to throw powerful shots. In the fight with James Thompson, Slice was about to pass out and if he didn't crack open Thompson's cauliflower ear, who knows what would have happened.. Lucky for him, these are two round fights with the potential for a third.




Tonight is week three of the season and the most anticipated fight and according to the narrator, the "biggest fight in franchise history." Kimbo Slice was chosen by Rashad Evans to fight Roy Nelson. This is no secret that as soon as Evans received match making power, he booked Slice to fight as well rounded a fighter as there is in the house. Obviously Nelson is the favorite to win and really, the only feasible way Kimbo walks out of the cage a winner is by knockout. Nelson is an accomplished jiu-jitsu fighter and has power of his own. He was close to locking Andrei Arlovski in a submission hold before an untimely referee decision to stand them up. Needless to say, Slice does not have one tenth the ground game Arlovski does.

A win for Rashad Evans again would be three in a row and would really set Team Rampage back by taking out his prized pupil.

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JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Tonight's episode of The Ultimate Fighter is being promoted as featuring the biggest fight in the shows history. While that is correct, I thought we should remember the original biggest fight in the shows history. I believe it was either the highest rated or second highest rated episode (before this season) in TUF's history and it is the sixth episode of the first season when Chris Leben and Josh Koscheck finally fought inside the octagon.

Thanks for reading and next week will be about Kimbo Slice's defeat or a major upset. Either way, it should be interesting.



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