MMA's 3R’s 11.12.09: Fedor vs. Rogers, Weight Issues, Shamrock Commentary, More

Posted by Larry Csonka on 11.12.2009

From Fedor’s spectacular finish of Brett Rogers and Jake Shields winning the middleweight title to Frank Shamrock’s poor commentary and even CBS’s poor time management, 411’s Larry Csonka breaks it all down in the latest edition of the 3R’s of MMA!



* The Column Concept *
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the column, here it is. The column will look at events and or happenings in the world of MMA. They will be broken down into the three categories, the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right will be the good and great fights or positive news items of the week. Perhaps even big fight announcements. The wRong will be bad fights, bad booking decisions and the like. Finally, the Ridiculous are the things that were just the worst of the world of MMA. They get grouped in their categories, and for a show, they will get a score from 1-10, based on the 411 ratings scale.


* And now, the 3R's of…



FEDOR vs. ROGERS*


FIGHT RESULTS:
* Prelim Bout: Christian Uflacker defeated Jonatas Novaes by Unanimous Decision (29-26, 30-25, 30-25)
* Prelim Bout: Nate Moore defeated Louis Taylor by Submission (Strikes) at 3:24 in Round Two
* Prelim Bout: Shamar Bailey defeated John Kolosci by Unanimous Decision (29-27 across)
* Prelim Bout: Jeff Curran defeated Dustin Naece by Submission/Injury (Knee to the Body) at 1:39 in Round One
* Prelim Bout: Marloes Coenen defeated Roxanne Modafferi by Submission (Armbar) at 1:05 in Round One

* Main Card Bout: Fabricio Werdum def. Antonio Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
* Main Card Bout: Gegard Mousasi def. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:43
* Main Card Bout: Jake Shields def. Jason "Mayhem" Miller via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)
* Main Card Bout: Fedor Emelianenko def. Brett Rogers via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 1:48

THE RIGHT:

Fabricio Werdum def. Antonio Silva: The opening bout of the night was Big Foot vs. Werdum. Before his drug suspension I was a big supporter of Big Foot. Freakishly big, but good speed and a guy that could have been deadly in the HW picture. He went to Japan for a year and is now back in the US, and I personally picked him to win the fight. Early on I was happy about the pick as he dropped Werdum and was close to finishing I thought, but much to Werdum's credit, he stayed composed and survived the round as Silva stayed on his feet. The mistake he made was in round two as he decided to go to the ground with Werdum. While Silva is skilled on the ground, you don't just jump into another man's wheelhouse, and that is what he did. Werdum shifted the tide, and took round two. But the time we got to round three, the giant Silva was tired, and Werdum looked fresh and made the comeback after a first round that he was almost finished in. This was an enjoyable fight, and while I am not a big Werdum fan, he stayed composed, used his gameplan and just had more gas in the tank. This was a good win for him.

Gegard Mousasi def. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: The second fight of the night lasted much longer than I expected, as I felt Mousasi would walk through Soko. But much to the surprise of many, Soko used his judo and was able to control Mousasi in the first round. I didn't expect this, and Soko looked good here. Unfortunately for Soko, he is Soko, and like many fights he started string and then faded quickly. Mousasi got control, Soko gassed, and the he gave up as he offered no defense. The decision I expected, but again, it lasted longer than I thought. This was a fun fight, but they need to get some contenders in for Mousasi, because he looks bored right now.

Fedor Emelianenko def. Brett Rogers: And so we come to the main event of the show. There were a lot of things to consider in the fight. Could Fedor adapt to the cage? Could Rogers actually compete with the man that is considered the best ever? Well we got our answers. Rogers started well as he jacked Fedor straight in the nose and busted him up badly, but the simple fact is that he never went after him. Rogers was honestly caught in the mystique of Fedor. Yes he did well, but he was not the same fighter that we have all seen before. Round one was a close one, some called it a draw, I went with Rogers due to damage, but he survived the round, which is more than most expected. But when the second round came, Rogers was obviously tired, and Fedor did what he does, and that is finish him. The main event is everything the company could have asked for. They got a spectacular finish, Fedor won and Rogers looked competitive. The only real negative is that Fedor is hurt and likely will not fight for another 6-months.

puRgatoRy:

Jake Shields def. Jason "Mayhem" Miller: With Cung Le never once defending his title, and vacating it due to THE MOVIES, Jason Miller and Jake Shields were set to compete for the Middleweight Title. First of all, I am in the camp that liked Miller's entrance. I am all for some showmanship and wackiness in MMA. There is nothing wrong with showing some charisma, and Miller certainly has that. The fight was what I would have expected, Miller had mad reach on Shields, and considering Shields has a tremendous lack of standup, he would take it to the ground. Shields had great success as he was able to control Miller, and was in sound control until the end of round three, where he got caught in a choke. He barely survived and was saved by the bell so to speak. I think we all know that Miller would have won if he had another few seconds, but hey, shit happens. But then rounds four and five came, and as much as I appreciate a good ground battle, I did get bored. It just got repetitive, and if I wasn't recapping, I admit, I would have flipped channels to check out something else for a bit. Also, while you cannot control these things, this is the kind of thing that kills off casual fan interest. Not everyone, but I know a lot of people that occasionally watch (free shows) and they ALL turned the channel. Credit to Shields for having the gas tank to go five rounds, and to execute his gameplan and survive that choke, but it got boring as piss near the end.

THE wRong:

Piss Poor Timing/Planning: I have to say, one thing that really hurt the live broadcast was the planning by Strikeforce and CBS. When I was watching the show, I had many things run through my mind that I felt were not positives. Things that Strikeforce needs to improve in, because the UFC has these things nailed. I will share them below.

-First of all, not showing the Marloes Coenen fight or at the very least highlights of her fight was a HUGE mistake. Her fight only lasted a minute, and if they couldn't find time to show the whole thing, at the very least, they should have shown the final 20-seconds with the announcers putting over that with the win, she is the new top contender for the women's title. Strikeforce has to try and build stars and brand fighters, because they are behind in that aspect. They missed an opportunity here to do just that. Now, the women's title fight has ZERO buzz with the possible new audience.

-Another thing that bothered me was the rushing to the main event. Fedor and Rogers was THE draw of the show, and they should have gotten ring entrances. Everyone and their mom knew that Shields vs. Miller would likely go all five rounds, so if anything, they should have cut entrances for the opening fight and the Soko vs. Mousasi fight. The main event is just not a fight, it is a presentation, and they failed to make it seem as special as it could have. It is a small nitpick, but something that needed to be mentioned.

-The one thing that absolutely shocked me was the lack of promotion for future Strikeforce events. The show was on CBS, a Viacom property, and Showtime is also a Viacom property. Strikeforce has a Challengers event coming up this month as well as the Evolution show in December. The fact that they couldn't even get some plugs in there for these shows was horrible, and they missed a big opportunity to advertise the company to a new audience.

Fight Camp 360: Once again, I don't want to make this all about "UFC vs. Strikeforce", but that is how it will come off. While I feel that it was a great thing that Strikeforce was able to get the Fight Camp 360 special for this event. But with that said, the show did not do anything for me. The show just wasn't interesting. Perhaps it was because it was the first time they did the show, but I just do not think that it delivered its purpose. The UFC Countdown shows, 99% of the time deliver big time. They make me want to order the show, they make me feel that the underdog has a real chance to win the fight, and I usually learn something about the fighters that I did not know. The Fight Camp special did none of these things for me, sorry to say.

Frank Shamrock's "Commentary": And to close out the wrong section, I have to discuss Frank Shamrock. I am a Frank Shamrock fan, and tend to really enjoy his commentary, but I have to say that I found him generally useless on the show. A few times he had good things to say, but there was one thing that really bothered me. he was asked on more than one occasion "who he gave a round too", and he would respond, "I don't know." Dude, it's your job to give the opinion! Come on Frank, you're better than that.

THE Ridiculous:

PEOPLE MISSING WEIGHT!: I know that people will say that they are sick of hearing this from me, but I AM SICK of guys missing weight. This time undercard fighter Dustin Neace weighed in at 150.5 pounds, for a 145 fight! He failed to drop under 150, and Curran got 20% of his purse, and they made it a catchweight. I really hate when guys miss weight, do your damn job. Let's get some more serious punishments in here for missing weight, can we please? Once again, I beg that we have either same day weigh-ins, or a second day weigh-in to where you cannot re-hydrate more than 10-pounds. I am sick about hearing about the "science of cutting weight", guys need to fight closer to their walk around weight, because weight cutting is very dangerous. Ask Daniel Cormier.

* The 411 *

In the end the live show was a pretty good one, as far as he fights go, but when you look at the overall presentation, commentary, the lackluster preview show and the like, I felt that it just didn't deliver like it could have. I hope that Strikeforce realizes the problems that they do have, and improve on them, because I want nothing more than there to be another strong MMA company in the US.

OVERALL RATING: 7.0

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KYRA says goodbye…