The Takedown 10.09.09: Fighters Come In, Fighters Go Outdan

Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 10.09.2009

The Takedown looks at Tito Ortiz needing an opponent, Strikeforce’s lack of a Heavyweight Champion, Urijah Faber’s comeback, a preview of WEC 43, the Ultimate Fighter getting exciting, a review of DREAM.11 and much more!

Welcome to week THREE of The Takedown!

Drop to your shooting knee and welcome to:


In My Opinion…
Just a section to discuss my opinion on something
So I realize last week I totally contradicted myself on the stance of title shots. I would like to point out that Vitor is the only viable contender for the UFC Middleweight Title, and at least Vitor has fought for the UFC at something other than catchweight fights.

That being said, I think that there needs to be some sort of compromise in all the different scoring systems in play all over the globe. Some mix of what is currently here would be best. Here's my ideal system for what a promotion I run would use:

1. Weight Classes: Featherweight (140), Lightweight (155), Welterweight (170), Middleweight (185), Light Heavyweight (205), Heavyweight (265)
2. Rounds: 2 rounds; 10 minute first round and 5 minute second round. No extra rounds.
3. Fights scored on a whole fight basis not round by round
4. Fought in an 8 sided cage approximately 15 feet across
5. Winner determined by effort to finish fight, aggressiveness, striking/grappling, cage control
6. Fouls:
a. Soccer kicking downed opponent
b. Stomping the head of downed opponent
c. Groin shots
d. Hair pulling, fish hooking, small digit manipulation, grabbing clothes
e. Stalling
7. Ref has the right to yellow card someone who repeatedly fouls or red card
a. 1 yellow card = forfeit 15% of purse
b. 2 yellow card = forfeit 40% of purse
c. 3 yellow card = forfeit 75% of purse
d. 1 red card = DQ + 75% purse forfeited; red card given on obvious and purposeful foul (Wes Sims/Mir I, example)
8. There are no draws, a winner must be declared
9. If a fighter is unable to continue fighting due to accidental foul in first round, a NC is issued; if fouled in 2nd round a technical decision is awarded

That's about it for now, anything else I think of I may add later.

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The Huntington Beach Bad Boy is Alone

Mark Coleman has officially pulled out of the UFC 106 event to be held November 21 where he was to match up against longtime former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz due to a second degree tear of his MCL, sustained during his training camp in preparation for said fight.

While injuries are always terrible things to hear about, this could be better for Coleman than he thinks. While he may not like it, he was trying to be fed to Tito so the former champ's return would be as a win. This way, unless Joe Silva and Dana White decide to reschedule the fight, Tito has to face someone else at UFC 106 and while the card is not terribly low on star power – Brock Lesnar is STILL the main event – having Tito on the card would help sell it to the more hardcore fans who still have yet to buy into Brock as legitimate.

While this is bad for Tito it could also be good. The UFC's 205 pound division is arguably the deepest one in the world and the ladder runs so far that it would take days to rank everyone in the division fairly. There are plenty of names for Tito to face but the problem is to find one that would LOOK like a challenge but on paper should spell a win for the Bad Boy. While I can't think of any off the top of my head that would fit that bill, there are plenty of young men who would gladly step up and face the former champ because even after a year's layoff I still think that Tito has the skills to be a top 15 Light Heavyweight easily. He was the closest to beating Lyoto out of anyone I can think of in addition to drawing with Rashad Evans in their bout, and those are not accomplishments to mock at all.

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Strikeforce has no Heavyweight Champion

Once again we are going to see the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion fight, but not for the promotion whose belt he currently holds. Instead, Alistair Overeem is scheduled for a bout with Golden Glory's mixed promoted event with kickboxing and MMA fights on the same card.

This event is scheduled to take place Octover 17 in the Netherlands, and then a week later on the 25th he is scheduled to fight at DREAM.12 in Japan. Both of these events, coincidentally, are for places which do not require the fighters to undergo drug testing.

It's long been public opinion that Alistair has been using steroids while fighting in Japan and as such has been unable to make any fights in the US due to the many drug tests they fighters must pass. Ask Gegard Mousasi and Fabricio Werdum about how they feel on steroids.

Strikeforce has really dropped the ball when it comes to dealing with their championships, and this is the prime example anyone will point to. The Strikeforce heavyweight division is not lacking and there are plenty of matchups they could put together. If Overeem is so intent on staying out of the US then he needs to either vacate the title or Strikeforce needs to strip him of it. Even Babalu defended his Strikeforce title after he won it.

I could easily see the winner of Fedor/ Rogers to next fight to determine the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. If Fabricio Werdum wins, they could set up Werdum vs. the winner of that fight for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship sometime soon and start with the defenses. Strikeforce has been able to show they are the real deal in many ways but dealing with their championships has not been one of them.

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The Ultimate Fighter is Finally Exciting!

Finally we get a fight in the TUF house that doesn't disappoint. Seeing Brendon Schaub of Team Rashad take on Demico Rogers and not only show some good skill but see him finish the fight with an anaconda choke was amazing.

The personality dynamic shown to us in this episode was Matt Mitrione, or ‘The Snitch' as he will be known as now. After his coaches discussed their possible matchup ideas with him he went to his roommate Scott Junk and told him of their potential plans (of which included the aforementioned Schaub v Rogers fight).

While this presents an interesting part of the show's ‘plot' I don't think it will have too much of an effect on the overall tournament as Rampage is still a bad coach, even knowing who is probably going to fight who. I still see Rashad's team possibly winning the entire prelims and I still see Rampage becoming worse and worse as a coach.

We also saw the coaches' takes on their methods of teaching. Rashad was smart in deciding that he wasn't going to change the fighters' styles, just modify them slightly and refine what they already knew. Rampage made a note that these guys are still relatively green and they aren't ready for the nuances and advanced techniques of the sport which Rampage's staff has apparently been working on. Maybe he finally sees he's a terrible coach and will work better here on out?

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The California Kid is Back!

It's been announced that longtime former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber has signed a new multi-fight, multi-year contract with the world's premier lightweight organization which will replace his old contract which still had one fight left on it.

Still one of the company's most talented featherweights and coming off his second loss to current champion Mike Brown, Faber will have to work his way back into a title shot instead of getting one right off the bat. Though few would pick against the Kid, this is MMA and anything can happen, and it's better to err on the side of safety to give him a fight to tune back up rather than throw him right back to Brown.

Coming off of a loss to Brown and breaking his hands in the process, Faber will be ready to come back in late 2009 or early 2010 which is much quicker than earlier anticipated due to Faber's use of a hyperbaric chamber where he spent some time in. The device reportedly helped his hands to heal at twice the rate as it normally would take,

While Faber is in a tough spot, I wholly expect Brown/Faber III to take place sometime in 2010 because while the first fight could be called a lucky punch, the second was Faber giving his all after winning the first round and staying in the fight with two broken hands and barely losing. A third fight would be the only logical conclusion to really show which man is the better featherweight. Come on, if they got away with Shamrock/Ortiz three times they can get away with these two fighters going at it one more time at least.

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WEC 43: Who Knew?

So I'll admit that if I didn't constantly surf MMA sites and such I would have no idea that WEC 43 was this weekend. Normally I see a lot more promotion for these events out of the little promotion that could but not this time around. Maybe it's because it's on a Saturday? Either way, here are my predictions for the big fights on the card.

Wagnney Fabiano vs. Mackens Semerzier
Someone hates Fabiano. Fighting a newcomer and on the prelims? Hopefully we'll see Fabiano submit Mackens quickly so they can show it on the main card.

Winner: Wagnney Fabiano, Submission, Round 1

Manny Tapia vs. Eddie Wineland
Tapia's comeback from Miguel Torres trouncing him from back when was derailed by Akitoshi Tamura at WEC 40, but he's going to rebound strong here. Both men are coming off of losses at that event, but Tapia was undefeated up until he fought the then champ, and I think that his striking is still going to be enough to slot him into the W column after this fight via a few fantastic rounds full of trading leather.

Winner: Manny Tapia, TKO, Round 2

Dave Jansen vs. Richard Crunkilton Jr.
Both men here are rather good grapplers and while some would expect them to cancel each other out I don't think that will be the case here as most of this fight is going to take place on the mat. Crunkilton looks to have the better striking but that's all the more reason for Jansen to take it to the mat and after a fight full of submission attempts by Jansen we are going to see him walk home with the decision.

Winner: Dave Jansen, Split Decision

Will Campuzano vs. Damacio Page
Page is coming off his ridiculous beheading of Marcos Galvao and still has some immensely powerful hands despite belonging to the bantamweight division. His only loss in the WEC has come by way of the current champ Brian Bowles so we know he's a tough guy. By the time he steps off the mat, we're going to see another highlight knockout added to Page's reel.

Winner: Damacio Page, TKO, Round 1

Rafael Assuncao vs. Yves Jabouin
Ah yes, the classic striker v grappler matchup. On one hand Yves has some of the quickest and most dangerous extremities in all of Canada, but on the other hand we have submission ace Rafael Assunaco who knows that if he wants to stand and bang his head is going to the 49th row. That being said, look for Assunaco to take this to take mat however he can and submit the kickboxer with ease.

Winner: Rafael Assuncao, Submission, Round 2

Donald Cerrone vs. Benson Henderson
Possibly the most under whelming main event in recent WEC memory due to lack of star power, the sheer skill both men bring to the cage is going to more than make up for it. Henderson is a massive lightweight and uses his strength and skill to easily take his opponents down and choke them out, but here that might be his downfall as Cowboy is one of the most well-versed fighters in all areas of the game the WEC has to offer. An overwhelming majority of his wins by way of submission despite being a national Muay Thai champion puts him at a clear advantage, and his only loss was a split technical decision to champ Jamie Varner and I think that Cerrone takes the W home after beating on Henderson for two rounds then submitting him in the middle of the third for the win.

Winner: Donald Cerrone, Submission, Round 3

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In the Lands of the Rising Sun
Here I'll cover the happenings in Japanese MMA

DREAM.11 – "It's not UFC, it's DREAM!!"
DREAM.11 happened Tuesday morning at 7 AM my time and my god was it a great show. We saw fights gets finished, we saw upsets happen, we even saw the first Japanese DREAM champion crowned in a fantastic co-main event.

Shinya Aoki def. Joachim Hansen via 2nd round armbar to win the DREAM Lightweight Championship

While many figured that the only way Aoki was really going to win was by submission, it almost didn't happen. The first 13 minutes of the fight was basically Aoki holding Hellboy down and smothering him, occasionally hitting him while the champ struck and struck and looked for submission after submission. An accidental groin kick/upkick combo by Hansen stalled out the first round for a few minutes, but I don't think it made any real difference in the results. Round 2 was basically more of round 1 but with slightly more standup action, then a takedown led to some real ground-fighting and with a minute or so left in the round Aoki locked in the start of an armbar on the champ. Hellboy was calm and collected but made the mistake of trying to roll out instead of ride the clock out and win the decision; Aoki took advantage of the mistake and locked in the full armbar making Joachim tap almost instantly. Afterwards, we saw Aoki cry (again) but happy tears this time. I really love Japanese MMA, and as Aoki put it in his victory speech: "It's not UFC, it's DREAM!"

Bibiano def. Joe Warren via 1st round armbar (semi-final) and Hiroyuki Takaya via split decision (final) to win the 2009 DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix and the inaugural DREAM Featherweight Championship
I'll be the first to admit that I honestly think Joe didn't tap, but the fact is he would be much like Mr. Sylvia now if the fight weren't stopped and for that I take the stoppage. Hopefully Joe will keep fighting for DREAM before Zuffa sees that he is a monster and gets drafted up to join the WEC's featherweight division.

Can you ask for a better champ right now for DREAM than Bibiano? He defeats the man who beat Japan's hero in KID in the semi-finals and in the finals goes balls-out against Takaya for the whole fight to win a razor thin split decision to become DREAM's inaugural Featherweight champion. Bibiano showed he has serious BJJ skills but he's not afraid to stand and trade leather if he wants to and he didn't seem half bad. I would love to see him go on to defend his title a lot because he looks like the real deal.


Super Hulk Finals: SET
Mixed martial arts greatest pro wrestler Minowaman channeled the spirit of David himself and toppled the colossal Hong-man Choi in the semi-finals of the Super Hulk tourney en route to a second round heel hook. The fight saw the smaller man try overhand after overhand and shot after shot. A few shots worked, some didn't, but the one that counted the most was effective: Minowaman landed directly in side control and landed knee after knee into Choi's ribs and tore his side up. I agree with Schiavello though, in that had he gone after Choi's head he would have done much better. You can knee the head in DREAM, use it!!

In the other Hulk match we saw legit fighter Sokoudjou take on THE BEAST in what was a short and sweet match. Bob tried to rush in and get a quick KO over the man from Cameroon but Soko stayed calm and circled away, eventually landing a slick judo trip that landed him into side control where he landed bombs on Sapp's head. But, like in the quarters we saw Sokoudjou continue dropping shots after the ref stepped in and while I think once is possibly fine this is starting to get ridiculous. The point of a ref stoppage is to protect fighters and if one of the fighters keeps going someone could get hurt. Soko needs to get help before he faces Minowaman at Dynamite!! 2009.

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Quick Jabs
· Cyborg has officially pulled out of the Nov 7th Strikeforce event due to a shoulder injury sustained at the ADCC Barcelona event on September 29. See, this is where Dana's exclusive clause where he refuses to let people compete outside of the UFC makes sense.
· Junie Browning was released from his UFC contract following a short stay in a hospital and an arrest that came out of that short stay. Apparently he shoved one nurse, punched another, and told a third he would kill him and rape his family. Junie better watch out before the nice men in the white jackets come for him.
· M-1 Global has confirmed that Gegard Mousasi's match on the November 7th Strikeforce event will in fact be a title match. Wait, no it's not. Wait, yes it is. Wait, no it's not. Oh, it is? Two title matches and neither of them will be the main event. Come on Strikeforce, this makes your belts seem like worthless pieces of junk!

Completely unrelated is this picture of Fedor modeling a stylish-looking belt buckle.

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Bozo's Corner
Just stuff about me for the week.
So I think that I have a morning problem because even though my first classes aren't until like 9:30 at the earliest I still find myself rushing to get there in time, despite getting good sleep before. I know I like to sleep but my bed's not even that comfy so why do I want to stay in it? Maybe having Calculus first thing in the morning is a bad idea.

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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].