The Juggernaut MMA News Report 11.11.09: MMA HYSTERIA
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 11.11.2009
The Juggernaut reports on a stellar Strikeforce debut on CBS featuring Fedor's monster knockout, Strikeforce Challengers and Sengoku. Plus all your news including which new heavyweights Strikeforce may sign, which promotions will go head-to-head with LIVE TV next month and a preview of the Ultimate Fighter quarterfinals. Is Roy Nelson going to steamroll his way to the finals?
America Loves Fedor
Strikeforce's debut on CBS should be considered a success and a great start to hopefully, more entertaining shows on network television. The final ratings saw the entire broadcast come in with a 2.5 rating with just over 4 million viewers. The main event (from 11pm est to 11:15pm) clocked in with a 3.3 rating and 5.46 million viewers. While CBS was behind other networks for the night, Strikeforce was the number one program in the all important 18-34 demographic, which rarely happens with CBS' normal Saturday evening programming. Success!
Of course, there is room for improvement. Marloes Coenen, the next challenger to Cris Cyborg Santos was never shown on television despite the fact she on her preliminary fight in just over a minute by submission. Not only did they not show the fight or any highlight of it, they never once mentioned her at all. Obviously, they have plenty of time to get some mojo going for that title fight, but it would have been nice for them to begin to promote it when they have their biggest audience watching.
The fact they did not air the entrances for the main event did come off as bush league. As a matter of fact, the only fight they did air entrances for was the championship fight and that was strictly because of Jason Miller's colorful antics. Otherwise, it certainly wasn't for Jake Shields' lumbering self. In the end though, they have to serve their masters and that was the network. They did not want to go too long past the eleven o'clock hour for fear of pissing off television executives. At the end of the day, does it matter too much? We got to see some of the best fighters in the world in legitimate match-ups for free. You can't beat that.
Perhaps the most surprising turn of events on the show was the fact that Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva went to a decision. Silva came out strong but could not maintain that aggression for the full fight. Werdum looked so tiny compared to Big Foot but I guess every heavyweight would, too. I was surprised Werdum was never able to display his jiu-jitsu skills for a prolonged period during the fight. It was an entertaining fight when you consider a couple of BJJ black belts went the distance. I will say I am not too excited to see a Werdum fight with Fedor Emelianenko. Junior dos Santos rocked Werdum's chin and there is no reason to believe Fedor would not be able to, either.
Gegard Mousasi continues a tremendous run of success, having not lost a fight since Akihiro Gono submitted him in 2006. Mousasi's win over Sokoudjou makes it fourteen consecutive wins since that time and there is no reason to believe he will lose anytime soon. It may not be saying much but Sokoudjou did look as good as he has while fighting in the United States since he last won here, back at UFC 84. Sokoudjou can have great physical gifts but for whatever reason, he cannot seem to put it all together against top notch competition in the cage. What happened to the guy who knocked out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona each in a combined two minutes and twenty two seconds?
Sokoudjou will step into the ring on New Year's Even to fight Ikuhisa Minowa in the finals of the DREAM SUPER HULK tournament at the K-1 show. I fully expect Minowaman to walk away victorious.
Mousasi gets a lot of heat for his nonchalant demeanor inside the cage but it's awesome in my eyes. He's as calm as can be in any situation, it's so "FEDOR" like, and the two do train together. How about that foot sweep off his back during the fight? Pure gold.
The fight between Jake Shields and Jason Miller went as you would expect. Shields could not win the fight if it were a kick boxing match and so he decided to do what he does best, take it to the ground and keep it there. You cannot fault the guy for wanting to win and doing just that. It was a great display of grappling as they seemingly rolled around the cage for the majority of the twenty-five minutes the fight lasted. Shields better improve his striking because one day he will fight a great wrestler who can box and he will be knocked out.
You know it sucked for Mayhem to have to lose that locked in rear naked choke at the end of the third round due to the bell. I was certain Shields would be forced to tap or he would go to sleep. He was able to hold his breath for about ten seconds and that was probably something that happens a lot while training with Gilbert Melendez and Nick & Nate Diaz. On his Twitter after the fight, Miller said he did not train enough grappling for the fight. WTF?
After the show, Shields called out Cung Le for not wanting to fight him. If you're Cung Le, do you want to fight a guy who is just going to take you down and ride you? Probably not. Hence, Cung will be fighting Scott Smith in what should be a fight filled with BOOM! and POW! because someone is getting knocked out.
As for Miller, success inside the cage/ring in America eludes him yet again. I hope this is not the last time we see him fight inside a Strikeforce cage. Obviously Robbie Lawler is fighting next month but after that, I'd love to see a rematch between the two. Mayhem submitted Lawler with an arm triangle choke in 2006 to win the ICON Sport middleweight strap.
Like everyone else, I left the main event with a feeling of WOW. After that, I was impressed with Brett Rogers. He went toe to toe with the best and despite losing, and losing BIG, he did damage to Fedor Emelianenko. Rogers was pissed at himself for getting knocked out and not going all out in the fight. Despite what he said throughout his time with the media in the build to the fight, he was cautious because of who he was fighting. Plus, if you believe the reports out there, Rogers' training camp was anything but smooth leading up to the fight.
Right away, Rogers landed a jab that broke Fedor's nose. Thankfully, the cut was nowhere near blocking Fedor's vision because the last thing anyone wanted was a repeat of Fedor's infamous first and only loss. Fedor came back however and rocked Rogers with a left. Rogers was on the ground but was able to roll out of any Fedor submission attempts. I felt the fight was ending when Rogers had Fedor on the ground and was landing big shots with his ground and pound. Alas, Fedor persevered (like he always does) and transitioned to a submission. In the second round, there was a feeling of "holy crap, could he do it?" in the air as Rogers' power obviously was one strike away from ending the fight.
Ironically, so was Fedor's. Emelianenko's power is unquestionably dangerous as he landed one punch which knocked Rogers loopy.
Obviously, any fighter can lose when they step into the cage or ring. But Fedor is as complete a fighter as there is. The positives for Strikeforce are they were able to get Fedor over as a superstar to the American MMA fans. At least the fans in Chicago on Saturday night because there was no doubt, the people wanted to see Fedor win. The question now is, what's next? Fedor has a broken nose and a damaged hand so he will not be fighting until the spring of 2010 in my uninformed opinion. Who is there for him to fight? Strikeforce was leaning towards Fabricio Werdum if you listened to comments to the media.
There is no way they should or will promote a rematch right away between Fedor and Rogers. Unless Bobby Lashley does sign with Strikeforce and wants a BIG step up in competition (I doubt he wants to take that leap right now), the only intriguing fight to me is between Fedor and Alistair Overeem. Brett Rogers may have called out Overeem but if the Strikeforce heavyweight champion is fighting anybody in the promotion, it will be Fedor.
I assume we will see Fedor vs. Werdum and if not, I will be surprised.
Team FEDOR Would Totally Own the Survivor Series!
Main Event Entrances from Strikeforce
STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS BOMBASTIC!
Friday night on Showtime saw Strikeforce present another entertaining Challengers card from Fresno, California. The five card show may have featured a pair of decisions but none of the fights were boring.
First up was a female 135-pound bout between Zoila Frausto (or The Warrior Princess!) and Elisha Helspur, fresh off a three-year lay off. Helspur is a wrestler while Frausto is more of a kick boxer/Muay Thai style fighter. Frausto's kicks were on display throughout the fight. One such kick cut Helspur below one of her eyes and made for an easy decision. I will say the referee (not one of the main referees you will see) was dumb for standing them up once Helspur got a takedown in the third round when there was no warning. Frausto earned the unanimous decision victory and becomes another name in a stout Strikeforce women's division.
The first lightweight bout of the broadcast saw Merritt Warren fighting for his career as he said beforehand if he lost he would likely retire (he was 4-2 heading into the fight). Warren fought striking specialist and Frenchman, Thomas Diagne. For some odd reason, Diagne took Warren down in the first round and after moving into his guard, he got locked into a leg lock. Warren turned it into a heel hook for the tap out victory. Retirement averted as Warren nearly did a full backflip to celebrate.
The lone middleweight bout of the night saw Jesse "J.T. Money" Taylor compete against Luke Rockhold. Taylor has been training with Dan Henderson at TEAM QUEST and was really looking to get a win in Strikeforce. He did not. He was able to take Rockhold down but Rockhold did some great groundwork and was able to pass over and take Taylor's back. After expending a lot of energy avoiding the inevitable, Rockhold locked in a rear naked choke for the win. Luke Rockhold is now 6-1 with his last four victories coming by way of rear naked choke. Taylor is now 0-2 in Strikeforce having lost to Jay Hieron a few months back.
Arguably the most anticipated fight on the card was a big heavyweight fight between a pair of undefeated prospects. Brandon Cash (5-0) fought Shane Del Rosario (8-0). Cash came in swinging and dropped Del Rosario with a big right cross. The ground and pound commenced and the referee was about to step in to call it, but stopped himself when he saw Rosario able to keep himself alive in the fight. Rosario got back to his feet but was taken back down by Cash (a wrestler). On the ground, Rosario tried several submissions but failed until he locked on an omoplata for the victory. This was one hell of a fight and a great performance for Shane Del Rosario who was on the verge of being knocked out by survived to win moments later. Yes, Brandon Cash has a boatload of power in his hands, too.
In the main event which was hyped as a fight to determine the next contender to the lightweight championship, Billy Evangelista fought Jorge Gurgel. The fight was definitely a close one with both men banging often, utilizing kicks and some combinations. I had the first round for Evangelista and was leaning towards him for round two. That was until Gurgel landed a nice head kick and then had a guillotine choke locked in for about fifteen seconds until he let go. Heading into round three, I had it a tie (Pat Miletich scored round two a draw). Round three saw the action pushed by Gurgel moreso with nice combinations. Towards the end of the fight, Evangelista scored a takedown but got kneed in the head in the process which opened up a nasty cut above his left eye. I thought Gurgel would win the fight but the judges scored it for Billy Evangelista by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27 and 29-28).
Not a ton of controversy but the 30-27's were a bit puzzling. No, Cecil Peoples was nowhere to be seen, I believe.
Interestingly enough, fight professor Stephen Quadros asked Evangelista after the fight what he would say about a potential fight with champion Josh Thomson. Evangelista is either not too smartened up in the fight promotion business or he is not too thrilled with fighting Thomson. My mind is saying, WHAT HAPPENED TO GILBERT MELENDEZ?!
Is Strikeforce not planning on having the fight to settle the interim issue between Melendez and Thomson? I sure hope that fight happens before the end of the year.
SENGOKU 11 - DAMN!
In a weekend chock full of action, World Victory Road's Sengoku 11 show took place early Saturday morning (our time) and aired on the wondrous network that is HDNet. I'll run down the show based on what may have an impact on American MMA fans and then the rest of the card.
Dave Herman returned to Japan for the first time since suffering his first and only loss, against Choi Mu Bae in January. He took on Jim York who surprisingly went for a leg submission in the first round. Herman did not panic, and dropped the boom with his free leg. He landed about three clean shots to York's chin which knocked him out, all this happened with both men on their backs. Dave Herman is now 17-1 since New Years Eve 2006, although the biggest names he has beaten are Ron Waterman and Don Frye.
Akihiro Gono defeated Yoon Young Kim by unanimous decision. Gono started off slow while Kim was able to keep alive but Gono finished the fight strong with solid striking. This is Gono's first win since beating Tamdan McCrory at UFC 78. He was on a three fight losing streak (losses to Dan Hardy, Jon Fitch and Dan Hornbuckle). After the win, Gono said he wants a rematch with Hornbuckle. Gono is now 30-15-7 in MMA.
Kevin Randleman fought a second fight within a five month span, something he has not done since 2005. He took on Stanislav Nedkov in a fight that went to a decision. Nedkov was awarded the split decision victory. Often in the fight, Randleman was able to take Nedkov down but he had to deal with a referee quick to stand them up and did not do nearly the damage he would have wanted. In the third round, the referee issued a yellow card to both men for not enough action while on the ground. They were also issued red cards, taking away more purse money. As the round ended, Nedkov landed knees and took Randleman down. This was not an entertaining fight to say the least.
In one major upset on the show, one of the world's best middleweight fighters fell to defeat. Jorge Santiago was knocked out in the first round by Mamed Khalidov. Amazingly, Khalidov did it from his back with hammerfists. Khalidov is now 20-3-1 while Santiago's record now stands at 21-8.
Opening up the televised portion of the show, Ronnie Mann defeated Shigeki Osawa by unanimous decision.
In featherweight action, Marlon Sandro knocked out Yuji Hoshino and declared his desire to receive a title shot. Sandro landed a nice right hook and landed several more punches to finish the fight in the first round.
In a big lightweight action, Kazunori Yokota defeated Eiji Mitsuoka by unanimous decision. Yokota landed a lot of strikes in the final round while Mitsuoka seemed to have tired down.
In more lightweight action, Jorge Masvidal knocked out former champion Satoru Kitaoka in the second round. Masvidal actually locked in a guillotine choke in the first round but Kitaoka was saved by the bell. He was so tired in the second round he could not muster up much defense when Masvidal knocked him out with punches on the ground.
In the night's main event, Michihiro Omigawa defeated favorite Hatsu Hioki by split decision in a featherweight fight. After the fight, Omigawa admitted to the crowd he did not agree with the judge's decision.
JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS
- The UFC has confirmed a heavyweight bout pitting Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira against Cain Velasquez at UFC 108 on January 2nd will take place. Initially, the UFC did not want to book the fight but was forced to due to injuries to Anderson Silva and Brock Lesnar which took away two potential championship fights from the card. The winner of the fight is practically guaranteed a championship shot at the Lesnar/Carwin winner.
- Official word on Fedor's injuries straight from Scott Coker: a fractured left thumb with some tendon damage and a fractured nose (although there was word that Fedor's nose was busted during training). He is expected to be out for up to six months.
- Several fighters appeared at the weigh-in's and the Saturday night Strikeforce show who may be on the verge of signing with the promotion. Bobby Lashley appeared on HD-Net's Inside MMA show to talk about the show, DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki was present and Dan Henderson was as well, although he cornered Sokoudjou (TEAM QUEST).
- In an interview last week, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he would have an announcement within the next two weeks about new signings in their heavyweight division. Unless Andrei Arlovski or Josh Barnett are on their radar, the only free-agent with a big name would be Bobby Lashley. Lashley is an active member of the TNA Wrestling roster and Strikeforce would allow him to do both pro wrestling and MMA. It remains to be seen whether Lashley is taking that next step up the MMA ladder.
- Shinya Aoki may be on his way to Strikeforce next year. Scott Coker told Sherdog, "He's fought for Dream and we're hoping he's one of the guys that we can bring over to our stable in the first quarter."
- Dan Henderson is a free-agent and does not appear to be heading back to the UFC. Last week, Dana White (through Yahoo!'s Kevin Iole) said Henderson had already signed with Strikeforce. Coker came out to dispel that rumor and said unless we hear it from him or Henderson himself, don't believe it. It appears the UFC does not want to pay Henderson what he think's he is worth while Strikeforce also does not want to pay THAT much. Strikeforce could gain a lot by signing him while the UFC is in need of some draws with the news that Brock Lesnar and Anderson Silva are not available for UFC 108.
- Strikeforce is not done for the year, not at all. They will promote a show for Showtime set for December 19th in San Jose, California. Already confirmed for the show is a middleweight fight between Jacare Souza and Matt Lindland. Also, Muhammad Lawal or KING MO will make his Strikeforce debut. According to MMA Junkie, another fight has been agreed to that will see Cung Le return to fight Scott Smith. Le has not fought since he defeated Frank Shamrock in March 2008 to become the middleweight champion. He has since vacated the belt to further pursue his acting career. I guess he's not quite ready to give up active competition.
- In more Strikeforce news, Electronic Arts announced on Friday that the California-based MMA promotion will be one of the featured organization's in it's EA MMA title for 2010. In additional gaming news, both Brett Rogers and Jake Shields have been confirmed to be in the game. Also confirmed is Big John McCarthy as the referee for the game. Other confirmed fighters include Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Babalu Sobral, Jay Hieron, Tim Sylvia, Benji Radach, Tim Kennedy, Jason Mayhem Miller, Kevin Randleman, Cung Le, Bas Rutten, Frank Trigg, Frank Shamrock and King Mo. The commentating team will feature Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock with Jimmy Lennon Jr. as ring announcer. EA Sports has said they are still looking to add talent to the game.
- UFC 106 is now complete and official. The main card features: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson, Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah, Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Dustin Hazelett vs. Karo Parisyan. The preliminary portion features: Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann, Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes, Marcus Davis vs. Ben Saunders, Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt, Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster and Jason Dent vs. George Sotiropoulos.
- According to reports from both Sherdog & MMAJunkie, UFC 110 (set for February 21st in Australia) is expected to have a double main event. The fights reportedly set for the show include Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama in middleweight action and Mirko Cro Cop vs. Ben Rothwell in heavyweight action. The UFC is also expected to sign a fight between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen for the show.
- Strikeforce's first major show of 2010 sounds to be scheduled (at least tentatively) for January 30th in Miami, Florida. The first title defense for women's champion Cris Cyborg Santos is set for the show and is likely to be against Marloes Coenen. Coenen competed on the preliminary card of the CBS show and defeated Roxanne Modafferi by armbar submission at the minute and five-seconds mark of the first round. Coenen is 17-3 in her MMA career which began in November 2000. Her win over Modafferi avenges a loss sustained againster her during a tournament in 2007.
- So much for Ricardo Arona's comeback. The former PRIDE fighter has a torn knee ligament and is considering surgery to repair it. Arona said the injury happened at some point during his victorious fight with Marvin Eastman in September. It was Arona's first fight since April 2007.
- Notes from the Strikeforce press conference: Jake Shields insists he still wants to compete at welterweight and company founder Scott Coker said he's interested in bringing in Hayato Sakurai to fight Shields (at welterwight). Shields also said he believes Cung Le is ducking him (Le was the middleweight champion but gave up the belt to pursue a busier film schedule, but something opened up and he will fight Scott Smith next month).
- Brett Rogers said he wants to fight Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, even if he has to go to Japan to fight him.
- Frank Mir told FightersOnlyMagazine.co.uk his single most important goal staring at him since his loss to Brock Lesnar: "To end Brock Lesnar's career. Really, it's what I think about all the time. Brock Lesnar exploited a huge weakness in my game and no matter who I crush after this, I have to crush him to show I've improved that weakness." Mir said he doesn't care much about vying for championship belts anymore but is motivated by his latest defeat. The only way a third fight between the two takes place is if Lesnar loses anytime soon and Mir wins any fights before that.
- In the wake of his most recent UFC loss, Mirko Cro Cop has shaken up his training methods. He is now working with famous Muay Thai coach Ivan Hippolyte and will travel between Croatia and the Netherlands to spar with quality partners.
- Scott Coker is quoted as saying Alistair Overeem will headline a Showtime card early in 2010. That remains to be seen.
- Yes, Saturday, December 19th will be one hell of an MMA night. Showtime and Versus will present live shows on the same night. Strikeforce on Showtime will see Cung Le vs. Scott Smith, Jacare Souza vs. Matt Lindland, King Mo vs. ???? and Robbie Lawler vs. ???. Meanwhile, WEC on Versus will see Donald Cerrone vs. Ed Ratcliff, Chris Horodecki vs. Njokuani, Joseph Benavidez vs. Rany Yahya and Takeya Mizugaki vs. Scott Jorgensen
The Ultimate Fighter Review and Preview
What's that Rampage?
Well how about that, Marcus Jones is one mean mother when he's inside the octagon. Heading into the series, the only attributes you heard about Jones was: 1) he's a former top draft pick in the NFL, 2) he's HUGE at over 6'6" and 3) he's got some jiu-jitsu skills. Well, he certainly was a first round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (for those who don't follow football, Jones mentioned Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. Both are former NFL superstars who led the famous Tampa Bay defense when they won the 2002 Super Bowl). He is the biggest fighter in the house and perhaps, the biggest fighter to ever participate on the show, ever.
Yes, Marcus Jones knows some jiu-jitsu.
Jones has a 4-1 record before the show while Mike Wessel was 6-1 (with the loss happening int he UFC). Wessel knew his gameplan was to ATTACK and he did just that. He came straight forward throwing punches, then swept Jones. Jones reversed positions and ended up on top. They rolled around as Jones went for a rear naked choke but Wessel turned over into top position. That lasted all over about two seconds before Jones had an arm and locked in a vicious armbar. At first glance, Dana White thought Wessel's arm was broken but it was not.
Holy crap!
The rest of the episode followed Jones and Wessel before their fight. Marcus Jones is too nice to be a fighter according to the way they edited the episode (every other episode he was featured in), but he's so damn big and he loves the sport. Obviously when you have a man the size he is, with his power and the ground skills he does, he will be dangerous. Frankly, I think Jones became one of the favorites to go to the finals to meet Roy Nelson. He's so big it will be extremely tough for any fighter to catch him in a submission and lock it on. The easiest way to beat him seems like a knockout and there are several big punchers on the show.
Jones' downfall may come mentally as he acts like a young buck sometimes. He freaked out when Team Rashad drew a picture of Marcus and wrote, "sucks balls" underneath. Jones was upset because his family may see it on TV. Well, he is the oldest fighter to compete in the show's history so he's not one to prank around the house.
How deos that explain Wes Sims?
The quarterfinal match-ups were booked by Dana White and both coaches.
Roy Nelson vs. Justin Wren
Brendan Schaub vs. Jon Madsen
James McSweeney vs. Matt Mitrione
Darrill Schoonover vs. Marcus Jones
Storylines be damned!
First up, Roy Nelson and Justin Wren will fight on tonight's episode. Dana White is rubbed the wrong way by Nelson's cocky attitude and demeanor. White exudes Vince McMahon at almost every turn (Nelson has never done anything of note because he has never competed in the UFC...in Dana's mind). Justin Wren is one of the young fighters in the house but he has sweet jiu-jitsu, choking out Wes Sims in the preliminary round. However, Roy Nelson is a veteran and has the striking and ground skills to beat anyone. Wren is an underdog and is considered an easy fight for Nelson.
Then we have Team Rashad's number two fighter, Brendan Schaub fighting Jon Madsen. Schaub may be the only fighter with great cardio remaining as he appears to be in the best shape. He is one of the guys who trained with Greg Jackson's camp prior to the show. He has ground skills as shown when he submitted Demico Rogers in the previous round. Jon Madsen is a wrestler who has trained with Matt Hughes' team prior to the show. Madsen won the first preliminary fight by beating Abe and cutting him with his ground and pound. This should be a good fight and pretty equal in my mind. Who you pick depends on either Madsen's wrestling or Schaub's explosiveness.
Third we have the weakest fighter of the bunch in Matt Mitrione. According to the hype on the show, he is forced to go to the hospital after experiencing continued head pains after his fight with Scott Junk. They teased (what is this, the 1000th tease?) Kimbo Slice returning to fight in his place. We will assume Mitrione fights. He is the least experienced MMA fighter remaining and has some power but poor cardio and a limited ground game. Meanwhile, James McSweeney was Team Rashad's first overall pick and he also trained with Greg Jackson's camp prior to the show. He is a kickboxer although his cardio is suspect as well. Simply put, McSweeney should walk to victory. Now if Kimbo Slice does sub-in, this fight will be a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
Finally, we have the last quarterfinal match-up and the only one that Rampage Jackson was able to choose. Darrill Schoonover (or as Rampage calls him, "Titties") will fight Marcus Jones. Rampage wants to see Jones rip him apart. Schoonover has some power and may not be as prone to leaving a limb out there for Jones to take. This to me, is a toss-up fight with either man being able to end it.
JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Randy Couture talks about what he needs to do to defeat Brandon Vera this weekend in England at UFC 105.
Don't forget to bookmark 411mania and check out our Roundtable Preview for UFC 105 later in the week with predictions up the ying-yang.
"What happened to the guy who knocked out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona each in a combined two minutes and twenty two seconds?"
He's still there, I think. Soko always appears superhuman the first few minutes, or at least, fares FAR better early. Some (not so knowledgeable) people think it's some 'proof' of Gegard being overrated that he struggled in the first round with the guy. Nuh uh, Soko, as a general rule, performs well in the first then gasses and gets finished in the second.
Posted By: Guest#2543 (Guest) on November 11, 2009 at 12:02 AM
hey is WAMMA still around? i havent heard anything of them or about them for acouple of months lately and then at the strikeforce event i saw a WAMMA ad in the cage and fedors wamma belt... anyone kno whats the deal w/ them?
Posted By: wylun (Guest) on November 11, 2009 at 06:29 AM
WAMMA is wacky. They said the Fedor/Rogers fight was for the belt but Strikeforce never said one way or the other. Not sure if it would have went to round 4 if it went that far. Jimmy Lennon Jr. never said it was a title fight, neither did the commentators. Make of that what you will.
Posted By: Empire411 (Registered) on November 11, 2009 at 09:40 PM
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