T-Berg's Top 10 10.23.09: Week 5 - 10 MMA Things You Can't Miss This Weekend

Posted by Todd Bergman on 10.23.2009

From Shogun vs. Machida and Velasquez vs. Rothwell to Sakuraba returning and the debut of the WHITE CAGE in DREAM, 411’s Todd Bergman breaks down the Top 10 Can’t-Miss MMA Things Happening This Weekend in the latest edition of T-Berg’s Top 10!



MMA fans should rejoice because this weekend is chalked full of great MMA action. During this weekend, UFC 104 and DREAM 12 both take place and both give MMA fans much to look forward to. In this edition of T-Berg's Top 10, I'm going to highlight the top ten things that I think will be the best for MMA fans this weekend. Whether it's a fight, a fighter, or the debut of a new fighting structure, rest assured that it will be mentioned here. Before I begin the journey of this week's column, I wanted to say a big Thank You to everyone for the positive feedback that last week's column received.



10.) Yoshihiro Maeda vs. Chase Beebe

DREAM hasn't done a great job of promoting this event, but this fight should be worth the hassle of waking up at the butt crack of dawn to see it live from Japan. Maeda was always electric in the WEC, and he takes on a former WEC Champion Chase Beebe in this fight. Maeda is more than likely best known as the guy who gave Miguel Torres all that he could handle back at WEC 34. That fight actually won a T-Bergy for Fight of the Year for 2008. Beebe, on the other hand, has taken the long road back to relevancy. After being absolutely tooled on the ground by Torres, Beebe returns to Japan in efforts of trying to earn some respect. Four defeats in a row can't be good for anybody's ego or career. The DREAM 12 card isn't stacked but it's quality match-ups like this that make the show worth the preverbal squeeze. Just for the record, I'm taking Maeda to destroy Beebe with strikes midway through the 3rd round. Chase will have the advantage with this fight taking place in a cage, but eventually Maeda will get his shots in.



9.) Dong Sik Yoon vs. Paulo Filho

It's very rare that Paulo Filho would make any list that I could conjure up; however, his opponent is the reason for the ranking here. I'm a huge fan of Yoon as he is always geared up to fight and is always just seconds away from locking on his trademark "Dong-bar" submission. Filho is the type of guy that can also lock on a submission out of nowhere but his personal demons have become the biggest story. For everything great that Filho has done, fans will always bring up his mind-numbing weight issues in the WEC with the word "steroids" usually following. The theory of steroids doesn't hold up because Filho never failed a drug test while fighting in the WEC, but then again, he did look quite different there, didn‘t he? The match-up is fairly even with Filho holding a slight advantage in the ground department. It will be interesting to see if the foot injury that Yoon suffered against Jesse Taylor holds up in this fight. It may be equally as intriguing to see what new, horrible tattoo's Filho has acquired as well. As for a prediction, I'm going with Filho to ride out a boring decision.



8.) Patrick Barry vs. Antoni Hardonk

There's a lot of history between these two that no one really knows about. It's a pretty long and complicated story but it ends with Barry leaving the famed Vos Gym in Holland and having a falling out with the same people that went on to train Hardonk. True fans of kickboxing will love every minute of this fight, even though I think that it will definitely go to the ground at some point. I embarrassed myself (not the first or last time) when I named Pat Barry as a future contender for the UFC Heavyweight title. Of course, that could still happen, but with each passing fight it looks more and more like a long shot. Hardonk will never get the credit that he deserves for trying to develop a ground game. His performance against Justin McCully was one of the worst in UFC history. Hardonk looked like a fish out of water and has quickly adapted without much hype. You must remember that before Frank Mir turned Hardonk's arm into swiss cheese, Antoni had a nice Kimura. Obviously, Mir reversed and got position, but Barry isn't great on the ground and could find himself in a world of hurt. I'm hoping that these guys stand and kick the shit out of each other, but things rarely happen like you want them to.



7.) Eddie Alvarez is fighting

I know that I'm doing Katsunori Kikuno a great disservice by not mentioning him in the title here, but Eddie Alvarez is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet. His epic wars in the DREAM Lightweight GP were something that had to be seen to be believed. That Grand Prix was truly the greatest ever to be held in MMA. Alvarez competed in three fights that could've been considered Fight of the Year. If it weren't for a freak eye injury, Eddie Alvarez might have been the DREAM Lightweight Champion. It appears that Alvarez's opponent will stand in front of him and slug away, which is always a delight to see. If it does hit the ground, Alvarez is more than capable in the ways of choking out an opponent. There will be no crazy Aoki pants in this fight, so Eddie shouldn't have to worry about any sort of ankle locks. Dana White and company need to find a way to get Alvarez inside the UFC's Octagon because the sky is the limit when it comes to this guy.



6.) Rumble Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Rumble Johnson is the type of fighter that everyone should love. He's violent and dangerous inside the cage and a respectful warrior outside the fight. This match up with Yoshida can really vault Johnson's career to the next level if Rumble is successful. Yoshida is the type of fighter who will catch you sleeping and make short work of you. You have to look no farther than Yoshida's showdown with War Machine and how he turned out Koppenhaver's lights with a sweet choke. Yoshida bounced back from the horrifying KO loss to Josh Koscheck with a schooling of Brandon Wolff at UFC 98. Rumble Johnson has shown very little weakness inside the Octagon (save taking a fight on extremely short notice and not wearing protective ear wear), so it will be interesting to see what strategy Yoshida takes. Obviously Yoshida doesn't want to play the "hit me in the chin numerous times" game just to get a takedown because it didn't work against Koscheck and his suspect striking. Johnson is said to be cutting around 50 pounds to make the Welterweight limit, so maybe it's cardio that will do Rumble in, but I wouldn't bet on it.



5.) Spencer Fisher vs. Joe Stevenson

This fight will more than likely start off the UFC 104 Pay-Per view as the UFC likes to start off shows with an exciting Lightweight bout. I'm going out on a limb here and am predicting that Joe Stevenson will want nothing to do with Spencer's stand up. Does that mean that we see Joe try to lay and prey like he did against Nate Diaz? I'm not completely sure that he can do that against someone as talented as Fisher. Spencer has been through a ton of wars inside the Octagon and is still coming back for more. This fight with Joe Stevenson is more than likely Fisher's last chance at being considered a contender for the 155lbs title. Stevenson has already received his title shot, and Fisher is looking to get back to that level. Most people forget that Fisher was one victory away from a title shot but tasted bitter defeat at the hands of a purple-haired Hermes Franca. Now, a recently rededicated Joe Stevenson stands in the way. This should be a great way to start off an underrated UFC card this Saturday night.



4.) Another chance to watch "The Gracie Hunter"

It's always a good day when Sakuraba fights. Never mind the fact that the guy just fought less than two weeks ago at DREAM 11. The end of the road is most certainly close for Saku ,but his impact on MMA will be felt forever. As chronicled in my last article, Saku is MMA's Best Showman and unquestionable one of the greatest of all time. I would still love the UFC to give Saku another chance, but only if it's a rematch with Royce Gracie. I think that would be the perfect Main Event for the UFC's re-launch in Japan. It would take a lot of work to get it done, but this match up would be a perfect showcase of the history of MMA. Whenever I talk about Saku, I always want to know your favorite entrance of his. My personal favorite is the Super Mario entrance against Kevin Randleman at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003. Feel free to list yours below.



3.) Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell

This is a big showcase fight for Cain as the UFC is finally giving him hype and lining him up as a legitimate threat to Brock Lesnar. Whether you believe that or not is up to you, but I'm not buying into the hype just yet. Cain's chin looked weak in his last fight against Cheick Kongo, and the only reason that Cain won that fight was because Kongo's wrestling skills are so awful. Cain won't have that luxury in this fight because Rothwell is a heady and steady fighter who possesses good stand up along with decent wrestling. I still think that Ben's MMA wrestling is better than Cain's, but that's a subject to debate for another day. Ben Rothwell has the opportunity to make a huge splash in the UFC and ruin a future title shot for Velasquez. Rothwell has gone to the media and stated that "Arlovski is much better than Cain." Well, that's fine to say, but Ben was left staring up at the lights in that fight, so what's the point of making that statement? In the past, Rothwell has been accused of ducking big fights, but he wont' be able to do that in the UFC. I'm not really sure how this fight will pan out but I know that the UFC Heavyweight landscape will be change greatly after this fight.



2.) DREAM's new experiment

I'm not really sure why DREAM is changing formats and adding a cage to their fights but I'm interested. I have zero idea what this thing will look like, but it's Japan so I'm not ruling out sharks swimming around the outside or fireworks and other random pyrotechnics being shot off the sides during the fights. Sure it might look a little too much like a pro wrestling event, but that's Japanese MMA for you. Truth be told, the cage makes most of these fights more interesting. Wrestling will be reintroduced to Japanese MMA and, while that could produce some boring results, it's still interesting enough to see how the rules over there conform to a cage. The Cage of the Rising Sun shouldn't be used at every show, but it's a nice change of pace from the tired ring. After all, this show is being built around this structure. I'm old enough to remember WCW using the Thunderdome cage back in the day and, for the time, it was pretty inventive. However, now when I see it, I think it's pretty cheesy. Do I think that the Cage of the Rising Sun is going to last? No, but let's try to enjoy it while it does. By the way, how creepy is that video?



1.) Shogun vs. Machida

Big surprise here? The Light Heavyweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua is the best thing to look forward to this weekend. I've been confused by this match up ever since it was announced. Why is it that Shogun is getting a title shot against Machida after beating an old man (Mark Coleman) and Chuck Liddell? Maybe it's the lack of real challengers for Machida. Maybe it's Zuffa trying to milk the "Shogun's possibly back" express before it gets derailed. I'm not really sure but I don't think that Shogun has anything to offer Machida in this fight. Machida is such a polarizing figure inside the Octagon that his style can't be matched. If Shogun is somehow able to shock the world then I'm staying off any type of message boards because they will likely erupt with PRIDE man-love. I should be fair to Shogun's abilities but I haven't witnessed him do anything inside the Octagon that has impressed me much. Sure, he beat down Chuck Liddell, but Rashad Evans did the same thing and got zero credit for it. I think that there are plenty of fights for Shogun to have in the UFC, but this isn't his style of match up. Chasing Machida and being picked apart will do nothing for his suspect cardio. In my eyes, the Machida-era will continue.

So for better or worse, there is the list of the Top 10 Things to look forward to this weekend. Next week, I will be doing a special Top 10 list related to Halloween. Remember to support your local MMA and keep your tapping hand strong.