The Greatest MMA News Column 11.03.09: Fedor vs. Rogers
Posted by Dan Plunkett on 11.03.2009
411's Dan Plunkett discusses Fedor vs. Rogers, Shields vs. Mayhem, Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou, Werdum vs. Bigfoot, tonsof changes to future UFC main events, Koscheck vs. Johnson, and much more!
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers
In one corner you have "The Last Emperor." At 33-years-old, one has to wonder how much time he has left atop the world of mixed martial arts. On March 16, 2003, Fedor gained that top spot by battering the durable Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for twenty minutes. Needless to say, he never looked back.
By the time he steps into the cage on Saturday, Fedor will have reined the heavyweight division for 2,430 days. That's just five months shy of seven years. Here's what's happened in the world of MMA since the beginning of Fedor's dominance: Then: Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva were considered to be the top 2 light heavyweights in the world.
Now: Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua are considered the top light heavyweights in the world. Wanderlei has lost five of his last six fights and will make his middleweight debut in February. Tito Ortiz hasn't won a fight since 2006.
Then: Matt Hughes had defended his welterweight title three times and was on his way to becoming the most dominant welterweight of all time.
Now: Hughes has lost three of his last five.
Then: 6'8" Tim Sylvia had just won the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Now: Sylvia has lost four of his last six, including an embarrassing nine second knockout loss to 48-year-old Ray Mercer.
Then: UFC only sold 60,000 PPVs for UFC 41, featuring 2 title fights.
Now: UFC sold 1,720,000 PPVs for UFC 100, featuring two title fights.
Then: Brock Lesnar was feuding with Kurt Angle over the WWE Championship.
Now: Brock Lesnar is the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
As you can see, MMA has had a major overhaul in the past six-and-a-half years. During this time though, one this has remained constant. One man, I should say. That's what makes Fedor Emelianenko the greatest fighter of all time.
Standing opposite to Emelianenko on November 7 will be Brett Rogers. Rogers' story is Rocky-esque: not too long ago he was working at a Sam's Club. After a little luck (Affliction's demise, Fedor-UFC negotiations falling through) Rogers finds himself taking on the best heavyweight in the world. Unlike Rocky though, this fight makes sense for both fighters.
Rocky Balboa had no business being in the ring with Apollo Creed. If you recall, it was Mac Lee Green that was supposed to get a shot at Apollo, only to injure his left hand in training. Ever the self promoter, Creed conceived an idea to give a local Philadelphian a shot at the heavyweight champ on New Year's Day, 1976. That is where Rocky came in. "The Italian Stallion" was a fighter the public could get behind, though on paper he looked to be no threat at all to the champion.
To Creed, this was all about putting on a show for the audience. Had he thought Balboa was going to give him a tough fight, there's no way he would have fought him without making him earn it first. The fight was tough though, but in the end Apollo pulled out a split-decision victory in the end. After the fight Creed received letters from fans saying the fight was fixed or he had gotten lucky. Now Creed did have something to prove, so he challenged Rocky to a rematch. This time, Creed was defeated by knockout in the fifteenth round.
You see, Creed put himself in a position where he didn't need to be. By setting up the fight with Rocky, Creed risked his popularity, championship, and money. He didn't need to set up the fight and he shouldn't have. As a result of the first Rocky fight, "The Count of Monte Fisto" lost his career (and his life, but that's an entirely different story).
Fedor Emelianenko, like Apollo Creed at the time, is the best heavyweight in the world. However, in the United States Fedor isn't well known. Luckily for him, CBS will give him a national television audience to showcase his skills to. Brett Rogers certainly isn't the best heavyweight in the world, and he really didn't even earn his shot at Fedor. However, if the audience sees this big, scary looking guy (Rogers), they're probably going to assume he'll win. This gives room for a Fedor win to impress the viewing audience, which will be full of people getting their first glance at him.
This isn't (though it may end up being) an automatic win for Fedor (they would have kept Kimbo had they wanted that to be the case). Brett Rogers could very well knock Fedor out. Badly. In that case, Strikeforce can keep chugging along even after their biggest star is dethroned. That's the difference between them and EliteXC. Rogers is a promotable fighter, he's just not as promotable as Emelianenko. Strikeforce can make it work with whatever result they get on Saturday.
With Strikeforce only putting on a major show every two months or so, they were able to stack the main card. The semi-main event will be Jake Shields vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller for the vacant middleweight title. Despite Miller being one of MMA's biggest showmen, this is the odds on favorite to be the most uneventful fight of the night. The reason for that is both are great ground fighters and I think Shields will put Miller on his back throughout the fight. With that said, it could turn out to be a great ground battle, thus making me eat my words. I hope that is the case.
A light heavyweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Sokoudjou is also scheduled for the card. Despite Mousasi being the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, this fight isn't for the belt. It seems to me that the main reason it isn't a title fight is because of time constraints. I don't think it will really matter anyway, as I think Mousasi will put "The African Assassin" out within the first two rounds. In my mind the real question here is whether Mousasi takes Sokoudjou's place in the Super Hulk tournament should he emerge the victor. After all, this fight was supposed to take place at DREAM.11, but Mousasi had to pull out due to injury. I will be disappointed if Minowaman doesn't come into the cage for a stare down with the winner.
The last bout on the main card is Fabricio Werdum vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. If all turns out well, I see this fight ending one of two ways: Werdum submits Bigfoot (hopefully by heel hook) or Bigfoot knocks out Werdum. The winner may go on to face the winner of Fedor vs. Rogers, but at this point it's just speculation.
He's coming to Strikeforce..
4/5 UFC Champions out with Injuries
The UFC's year end show is typically the biggest show they put on all year. In 2007, Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre battled for a third time to crown an interim welterweight champion. Also that night, the long awaited Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva fight finally took place. Last year, Forrest Griffin defended his light heavyweight title against Rashad Evans, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defended his interim heavyweight title against Frank Mir, plus Wanderlei Silva met Quinton Jackson for the third time. Both of those shows did an exceptional amount of PPV buys, with the latter coming in at over a million.
This year, the show may do a million buys, but it won't be as stacked as previous years. After a fall that saw the UFC struggle to put together main events, it looks like UFC 108 will be left without the typical two big fights.
UFC 103 was a stacked event top to bottom, but the main event of Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort lacked star power as much as it did relevance. UFC 105's main event of Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera is great headliner for a Spike event, but the first choice to take on Couture was Rashad Evans. Brock Lesnar was supposed to take on Shane Carwin at UFC 106, but Lesnar got sick and had to pull out of the fight. Now Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin will headline the card, despite both fighters being at least a couple wins away from a title shot. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Rashad Evans was going to be a strong main event for UFC 107, but Rampage decided to film a movie and retire instead. That caused BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez to be moved to the card as the main event.
Anderson Silva was going to defend his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 108, but Silva's elbow surgery put a stop to that. The UFC also wanted Lyoto Machida to rematch Shogun Rua for the light heavyweight title on the card, but Machida's injuries sustained the first fight will cause him to miss that date. As of right now, Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin is set to be the main event of UFC 108. While that fight will bring a big buyrate, the event's semi-main event of Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva doesn't live up to the standards of the New Year's show.
Just a month after UFC 108, UFC 109 may receive a big boost from the injuries. That extra month may be enough time for Machida and Silva to recover from their injuries. Originally scheduled to main event this show was Georges St. Pierre, but he may not be back until March. So UFC 109 could feature 2 title fights, it's also the rumored event for the return of Matt Hughes.
Josh Koscheck vs. Anothony Johnson to Co-Main Event UFC 106
This is a very interesting fight. For the record, I think Anthony Johnson will make weight for this fight since he's already in shape from fighting a little over a week ago. At 25-years-old, Anthony Johnson is one of the top young welterweights in the world. He's a huge welterweight with good, powerful striking and good wrestling. If he improves more on the latter he would have all the necessary abilities to be champion.
Josh Koscheck is a great wrestler with knockout power in his hands. If he tries to stand with "Rumble," I expect the bout to go similar to his fight with Thiago Alves. To win this fight, Koscheck will need to take this fight to the ground. I'm not saying he can't stand with Johnson; he just needs to mix in takedowns to make his attack less predictable.
With this fight being made, it will be interesting to see who gets the next welterweight title shot. While Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy has been announced as a number one contender bout, both Koscheck and Johnson are more appealing challengers in my opinion. However, out of all the contenders Mike Swick has earned the shot the most. If I was the boss I'd give the title shot to Swick pending he defeats Hardy. Though I would give the title shot to the winner of Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson if Dan Hardy beats Swick.
Quick question about Fedor; how many times has he fought in a cage (not counting Saturday's fight)?
Posted By: Brian (Guest) on November 03, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Quick question about Fedor; how many times has he fought in a cage (not counting Saturday's fight)?
Posted By: Brian (Guest) on November 03, 2009 at 11:10 AM
0. Saturday will be his first fight in a cage.
Posted By: Plunkett (Registered) on November 03, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Why is everyone so high on Rumble Johnson? He's a natural light heavyweight who would rather cut drastic weight just to fight people significantly smaller than him. It's not really impressive when you beat on a guy who's 50 or so lbs your junior when you have a deep roster of guys his size who's more than able to beat the crap out of him.
Posted By: Steve (Guest) on November 04, 2009 at 03:46 PM
