The Juggernaut MMA News Report 10.14.09: Fight of the Year?

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 10.14.2009

The Juggernaut examines WEC 43 and a potential fight of the year candidate, looks back at the UFC 59 battle between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, has your latest TUF preview, thoughts on Carwin talking trash and the 11/7 Strikeforce show, and more!

WEC 43: Fight of the Year


This cat has nine lives!

Say what you want about WEC but time in and time out, they produce some of the best fights in the world. It's amazing it appears so routine by now. WEC 43 had a main event that produced on every level, an interim lightweight championship bout to decide who will fight champion Jamie Varner (who has been out of action since January with an eye injury and is now healthy). Donald Cerrone was the favorite but nobody told Ben Henderson. Henderson had the perfect strategy to go against Cowboy Cerrone and with his almost immortal like ability to not tire and escape submissions, he scored the upset.

Immediately when the fight began, Henderson employed the strategy that helped him win. He shot in for a takedown but Cerrone caught him with a guillotine, a deep guillotine. Henderson never freaked and Cerrone transitioned to a triangle choke but could not keep it. Henderson finally scored his first takedown and had to fend off a triangle attempt. Henderson stood in Cerrone's guard and threw down punches and never let Cerrone stand for the rest of the round. As it turned out, the first round decided the fight. Either you scored it for Cerrone based on the submission attempts or you scored it for Henderson based on his submission defense, takedown and strikes. In conclusion, each judge scored it 48-47 for Henderson which meant they all scored the opening round for Henderson.


One of the many submissions Cerrone locked on, and Henderson escaped

Rounds two and three were undoubtedly Henderson rounds. He used his wrestling to take Cerrone down and fire shots from his guard. While standing in the guard, Henderson would trade shots to Cerrone's body, his head and mix them up with fluid combinations. It was not until round four that Cerrone began to make his comeback. Ironically, he applied another guillotine choke and it ended up as a north south choke. Somehow, as color man Frank Mir said it was as hooked in as it could be, Henderson was never in danger of tapping or passing out. The camera had a great shot of Henderson's face while in the hold and he looked like he was playing with a child based on how calm he appeared. Henderson ended up powering his way out of it and had trouble getting takedowns the rest of the round as Cerrone's sprawl finally helped him. Cerrone started finding his groove in the striking game in the fourth round as well.

In the fifth round, both announcers Todd Harris and Frank Mir assumed the score would be tied with Cerrone taking rounds 1 and 4 and Henderson with rounds 2 and 3. They were wrong. Cerrone once again defended the takedowns in the fifth round and made Henderson pay for it with big strikes. Cerrone went from applying an omaplata to a triangle choke but Henderson maneuvered out of it. Cerrone kept a hold of his limbs though and locked on a kimura as Henderson's shoulder bent. Once again, Henderson survived. The round ended with Cerrone going for a triangle and armbar.

It was as good a fight as I have seen this year (off the top of my head). Now, Ben Henderson will meet Jamie Varner (perhaps in December) to decide the undisputed WEC lightweight champion. As for Cowboy Cerrone, he drops down the contender ladder and must battle his way back. Somehow, I think he will.




The opener of the show was a quick and action packed bantamweight showdown between Damacio Page and Will Campuzano. Both men came out swinging with Page as the heavier aggressor. Uppercuts galore were thrown until Page had a takedown. Campuzano nearly had an armbar but Page passed his guard, had a rear naked choke but lost it. Campuzano could not lose Page who had both hooks in, found the rear naked choke again and this time, Campuzano had to tap.

Damacio Page is now 12-4 and 3-1 in WEC. Does he deserve a rematch with Brian Bowles (who defeated Page last summer) ahead of guys like Dominick Cruz and Miguel Torres? Tough decision. I would imagine Page needs another win before he can get a title shot.



Yves Jabouin and Raphael Assuncao had an explosive first round. The smaller fighters pack so much power in their strikes and movement, it looks like the fight may end at any moment. Jabouin looked more fluid in his stand-up, bouncing around like a boxer and landing powerful jabs. Assuncao landed a few knees and kicks and when the fight went to the ground, he pulled guard until Jabouin escaped. It was a very close opening round and I would not bat an eye if you thought it was a draw.

In the second round we heard from Uriah Faber (who was a guest commentator for the fight) that fighters said the mat was a bit slippery. Both guys slipped at various times in this round. Assuncao did a better job on his feet despite Jabouin's varied striking. Jabouin did land a few jabs that looked like they hurt but Assuncao pushed the pace more. With twenty seconds left, Assuncao grabbed a guillotine choke but Jabouin flipped over and lasted the final ten seconds. Another fun round but Assuncao made no bones, the round was his with the final showing.



Take THAT!

After a nice kick and a right hand, Assuncao grabbed Jabouin in the clinch and took him down, then his back. Assuncao did nothing on the ground but did land a knee on the way up. Jabouin landed a hard spinning back hand but did little else as the fight went to the decision. I scored the fight 30-28 for Assuncao, who showed better striking than I've ever seen from him.

The judges scored it 30-27 Assuncao, 30-27 Jabouin and 29-28 Assuncao. Wow, the judge that scored all three rounds for Jabouin was not watching the same fight. That's crazy.




Do You Know This Man? You Will Now.

Wagnney Fabiano fought Mackens Semerzier (pictured above) in the prelims but the fight made television. Holy crap!!! Semerzier, in his WEC debut, tapped out BJJ black belt Wagnney Fabiano with a triangle choke. Fabiano had Semerzier down but simply got caught. Amazing.


Forget Kanye! This is amazing!


In review, WEC may have produced two of the top fight of the year candidates. Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber 2 from June and now Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson from October are going to get a lot of votes at the end of the year.

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Brett Rogers says Fedor will be knocked out on November 7th. Well, check out the video above to see the power of Fedor's chokes. The equivalent in force to an Alaskan Brown Bear. Uh oh!

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Rewatching Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin 1

With the news that UFC 106's co-main event will be a rematch between former light heavyweight champions Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, memories rolled on down. These two first fought at UFC 59 in April 2006.

The show was held about a week after the premiere of the third season of The Ultimate Fighter where Ortiz coached against Ken Shamrock. Off the top of my head, this was the first and only time where an active TUF coach fought during the airing of the season he was on. Tito Ortiz put together a two-fight winning streak after his losses to Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. Ortiz defeated Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort and was heading into the Griffin fight fourteen months after the Belfort win.

Griffin was 12-2 heading into this fight, his first against a legit superstar. Griffin was 3-0 in the UFC and coming off a TKO win over Elvis Sinosic six months prior. Tito Ortiz was the betting favorite on this card, the first UFC event ever to be held in the state of California.

The referee was Big John McCarthy.

They come out swinging and Ortiz lands a left hook that rocks Griffin. Ortiz works the jab and a leg kick. As the crowd chants his name, Ortiz double-leg's Griffin ad throws some elbows from his guard. Griffin tries to control Ortiz's wrists but Ortiz lands some good punches. Griffin is cut above the left eye. Solid ground and pound from Ortiz, punches and elbows. With 90-seconds left, Griffin finally kicks off Ortiz and gets back to his feet. Griffin lands a nice right hook. Griffin tries to sprawl but gets taken down again. Griffin working elbows from the bottom but Ortiz drops a few punches. Ortiz appears a bit tired. They trade punches as the round ends. Clearly 10-9 for Tito Ortiz.




Ortiz starts with a nice jab. Griffin throws a kick as Ortiz goes for the takedown but Griffin quickly gets back up. Ortiz misses a high kick. Griffin comes forward with combinations but doesn't land much. Crowd chants his name as Griffin throws more combinations. Ortiz is looking to counter or else he is just standing there. Griffin lands a leg kick. Ortiz misses a takedown again. Griffin sprawls and avoids another takedown attempt. Griffin throws a combination and finishes with a nice left hook. Ortiz tries and fails again at a takedown and appears slower despite landing a right hand. Griffin comes back with a four-punch combination. Ortiz says bring it. Griffin working the left hook. Ortiz goes for a single-leg and fails. Griffin lands more punches. Ortiz is tired. Griffin lands a jab. Griffin lands an overhand right to end the round as Griffin says something to Ortiz after the bell sounds. A clear 10-9 for Griffin.

In between rounds, Ricco Rodriguez shouts at Tito, wanting a combination followed by a shot. Griffin meanwhile is pumped up and shouting at the crowd.




Griffin comes out swinging with a hook. Ortiz shoots in but Griffin sprawls, then stands up. Ortiz does it again and a sprawl keeps Griffin standing. Ortiz lands a left and a right. Griffin lands a pair of lefts. Ortiz lands a hook. Ortiz shoots and Griffin avoids the takedown for a THIRD time. Ortiz works the jab. Ortiz with an overhand right. Griffin throws wildly, then lands a combination. Griffin lands a leg kick and Ortiz's takedown attempt goes nowhere. They trade leg kicks. Griffin lands a jab. Griffin with a right hand. Two minutes left. Griffin lands an uppercut then a left hook. Ortiz lands a big right hand. FINALLY, Ortiz shoots and gets the takedown. Griffin loses a guillotine and closes guard. Ortiz throws punches and elbows. Ortiz can't pass the guard and Griffin throws elbows from the bottom. Ortiz throws punches and elbows. Griffin kicks off Ortiz and gets back up with under thirty seconds left. Griffin lands a left hook with ten seconds left. Griffin works the jab, a leg kick and an uppercut as the round ends and they embrace.

Eddie Bravo scored the fight 29-28 for Griffin.

The official judges scored the fight 30-27 Ortiz, 29-28 Griffin and 29-27 Ortiz.

Ortiz says he had a partial tear of his LCL and ACL stemming from his work on TUF and apologizes to the Fertitta's and Dana White for his holdout in the previous year. Hopefully he won't be injured (or at the least, claiming to be) heading into UFC 106.


Wacky Judges

Well, I don't understand the one score that had Ortiz winning each round. There was NO way Ortiz won the second round.

Cecil Peoples scored it 29-27 for Ortiz meaning he won the first round 10-8. I have no issue with that because Ortiz dominated it and did a lot of punishment.

Whether Griffin should have won or not, he did a great job as long as you don't look at the first round. It did appear as if Ortiz tired after the first round ground and pound. Griffin on the other hand defended all but one take down in the final two rounds and did well with his combinations.

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- According to Sherdog, Strikeforce has signed King Mo Lawal to a multi-fight contract and he may make his debut as soon as December. Muhammed Lawal is 28-years old and is 5-0 as a professional MMA fighter. He was an All-American collegiate wrestler at Oklahoma State.


- Chuck Liddell was eliminated from Dancing With The Stars last night. He nearly made it to the half way point of the season but was axed in favor of one of the Backstreet Boy's little brother.


- I know they have run some ads in the recent past but Sunday afternoon, I saw (for the first time) CBS promoting the November 7th, Strikeforce special. They referred to Fedor Emelianenko as the best fighter in the world and were only promoting him and the date. Good stuff, hopefully they run more ads as we get closer. After all, it's only about three weeks away.


- Shane Carwin continues to talk about his upcoming fight with Brock Lesnar in November. Despite talking about being a respectful and professional fighter, he sure is doing a lot of talking. He is defensive over Brock's knocks about the fact Carwin was a NCAA Division-II wrestling champion. Carwin spoke to FiveOuncesofPain.com and said, "I feel like I have paid my dues and so have a lot of fighters waiting for their shot. Brock is what they call a 'Draw,' I am what they call a 'Fighter.' I know he thinks he will be representing "good" at UFC 106, but he is getting a bit annoying. Brock Lesnar paid his dues in the sport just as Carwin did. Carwin is 11-0 since his pro debut in late 2005. Lesnar is 4-1 since his pro debut in the summer of 2007. Both guys are beasts who can kick ass and I can't wait to see it.


- Everybody's favorite welterweight, Matt Serra is likely to return to the UFC on February 6th, 2010 according to a conversation with Fanhouse. Although no opponent is confirmed, the leading possibility is Frank Trigg.


- The CBS Strikeforce show set for Saturday night, November 7th has a complete television card (about time). The main event will see Fedor Emelianenko fight Brett Rogers. The vacant Strikeforce middleweight championship will be decided between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Jake Shields. In a non-title fight, Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi will fight Sokoudjou. That fight was originally scheduled for the DREAM Super Hulk Tournament but Mousasi pulled out of that one. Finally, Antonio Silva will make his U.S. MMA return when he fights Fabricio Werdum. I would expect the winner of that one to challenge the winner of the main event at a later date. Finally, Marloes Coenen will fight Erin Toughill in a fight that will air on CBS in the event either of the previous four bouts is cancelled. Otherwise, it is set for the preliminary portion of the show.


- The UFC has signed welterweight Mike "The Joker" Guymon to a four-fight deal. He is the reigning King of the Cage champion and has not lost a fight since 2007. He is 35-years old and has a career record of 11-2-1. This is an especially inspiring story after the fact that Guymon attempted suicide twice this summer after issues in his personal life went south. Luckily, he caused no harm to anyone (including himself), went through psychiatric care, reunited with his wife and is fighting and training as well as he ever has.


- Cole Miller is tentatively slated to fight Dan Lauzon at UFC 108 on January 2nd, 2010. Dan is 12-2 and 0-1 when in the UFC (loss to Spencer Fisher in 2006), and is on an eight-fight winning streak. Miller is coming off a knockout loss at the hands of Efrain Escudero last month.


- WEC bantamweight phenom Miguel Torres spoke at a Q&A session after the WEC 43 weigh-ins last Friday. He said he is planning to return in January and wants to fight Brian Bowles, whether it's a title fight or not. Right now it seems like Dominick Cruz will get the first crack at Bowles' bantamweight championship and according to Torres, he's willing to fight whomever the WEC books. Torres suggested should Cruz defeat Bowles (if they fight), he would still want to fight Bowles.


- WEC 43 fight bonuses included $10,000 to Mackens Semerzier for best submission, $10,000 to Anthony Njokuani for best knockout and $20,000 each to Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone for their fight of the night. Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta spoke with WEC official Reed Harris after the show and told him to increase the fight of the night award to $20,000 from $10,000. That was one hell of a fight.


- The Sydney Morning Herald reports the UFC has contacted the Combat Sports Authority with an interest to host a show at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia in February 2010. No official date or confirmation is of yet known but the arena holds about 21,000 fans.

- Reigning WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner has issued an apology to Donald Cerrone with an online posting: "First of all I want to apologize to Donald Cerrone for every ill word I ever said about him. I'd also like to apologize to all his fans and anyone else I may have pissed off by my actions. Donald Is a great fighter that fights with all heart and he's my toughest fight to date. I wish him nothing but the best and it was an honor to fight a fighter with such heart and skill.

I have a tough test ahead. I'm really looking forward to getting back in there and proving to all of you why i am the WEC light weight champ. I know there are always gonna be haters I hope most of you accept my apology because you guys are the reason why im able to do what I love for a living. Thanks for taking the time to read this and its time to go train."

This won't stop Varner from continuing to be booed whenever his face is shown in a live shot in arenas. Those who go to WEC live believe Varner lucked out in his last title defense against Donald Cerrone in January.



- The entire WEC 44 card set for Wednesday, November 18th is confirmed. The televised card will feature the main event between 145-lbs. champion Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo, Manny Gamburyan vs. Leonard Garcia, Rob McCullough vs. Anthony Pettis and Danny Castillo vs. Shane Roller.

Minnesota Vikings' all-pro defensive end Jared Allen's MMA coach, Alex Karalexis will fight on the preliminary card against Kamal Shalorus. L.C. Davis will also fight on the preliminaries, against Diego Nunes.


- After the success of doing it before UFC 103, Spike TV and the UFC have announced the network will air two preliminary fights from the UFC 104 show on Saturday night, October 24th. The hour before the PPV begins, Spike will air at least the following two fights: Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer; Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Barry. It's possible more fights are shown as Spike/UFC ended up showing four fights as time permitted.


- Apparently, the rumored fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Gabe Gonzaga for UFC 107 was just that. Now word comes from Fighters.com that the UFC is planning a fight between Gonzaga and Junior Dos santos for UFC 108 the day after New Year's. It's not official so stay tuned.


- Johny Hendricks will make his UFC return at UFC 107 against the debuting Ricardo Funch (7-0). Hendricks knocked out Amir Sadollah in his UFC debut in August and increased his pro record to 6-0. The fight is expected to be named to the preliminary portion of the December card.

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Watch the special MMA themed episode of The Simpsons from this past weekend

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The Ultimate Fighter Review and Preview

Last week's (episode four) TUF was plain boring. Sad to say it but once they finished reviewing episode three's Kimbo/Nelson fight, it was a group of average heavyweights working out. Powerhouse Marcus Jones broke into a feverish sweat for no apparent reason and doesn't recognize his own power, hurting teammates in practice. We learned not to tell Matt Mitrione any secret, Justin Wren (Team Rashad) and Scott Junk (Team Rampage) are close buddies and Rampage Jackson is still not a good coach.

There is no doubt that several of the heavyweights have different qualities that stand out. Whether there is anyone (besides Roy "The Ringer" Nelson, who could have competed in the UFC last year) who can put it all together to be a viable contender in the UFC, that is a huge question mark. Demico Rogers is a young prospect in MMA with few, if any, professional fights. He appeared to have explosive wrestling via the editing process and he said his Jiu-Jitsu is very good. One of Rashad Evans' top picks (and fellow Greg Jackson student), Brendan Schaub seemingly had no issue getting out of Rogers' attempts for the mount, and applying an Anaconda choke for the win.




Right now the obvious statement is unless someone can knock out Roy Nelson, "Big Country" is going to easily waltz to the finals and ultimately earn the big UFC contract.

At the end of the fight, Rampage did not even bother to get up out of his seat to go into the cage with his fighter. In a scene that must have been the first time in series history, a fighter was left to stew after a defeat inside the cage. I may be wrong but even Andy freaking Wang had B.J. Penn by his side after he lost and cried. In tonight's episode, Rashad Evans and Rampage get into another verbal spat and Evans brings up Rampage's treatment of his fighter. Rampage comes off worse than he did when he looked foolish coaching against Forrest Griffin. At the end of last week's episode, he sat with his coaches and told them to stop giving extensive instructions to the fighters because they are too green (young, experience wise). Rampage was pissed because Rogers had Schaub in side control landing strikes when he tried to transition to the mount, allowing Schaub time to get away and ultimately win by submission.

As for the season as entertainment, people have bitched for a long time about the in-house craziness and how it's bad for the sport. Whether you think that to be the case or not, the fact is this season has no drama amongst the fighters past the fights themselves and that means (besides Kimbo and Nelson) this season has been something of a let down. A large part of that is also the fact that (for the time being) Rampage Jackson is retired and Rashad Evans will be fighting Thiago Silva. So while Rashad Evans comes off as a good coach, Rampage looks like the opposite and since he won't be fighting, why should we care?

While there may be some serviceable fighters who can have solid careers in the UFC amongst the cast, it seems the rest of the season will be about whether or not Kimbo Slice can fight again and big Marcus Jones fighting Rashad Evans' dominating team.

I hope something happens to light a fire under this season because it was and still is being hyped as the most entertaining one since season three. I'm not feeling it right now.

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JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

WEC's next big show is November 18th, when Jose Aldo challenges Mike Brown for his featherweight championship. Here is a custom highlight reel for Aldo.








Thanks for reading and stay tuned until next week when I cover UFC 104 in all its glory. Only one more week and a half of seeing those rising sun advertisements. YAY~!



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