The Juggernaut MMA News Report 11.18.09: Brown vs. Aldo
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 11.18.2009
The Juggernaut is excited for WEC 44 tonight with Mike Brown defending his gold versus Jose Aldo. Can Dan Hardy beat GSP? What is next for Randy Couture, plus Brock Lesnar news and updates on Minotauro Nogueira, Takanori Gomi, which MMA company may go out of business and more. Will Kimbo Slice fight again? Find out this week after reading the weekly TUF preview.
WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo
The WEC may not be the most profitable MMA promotion in the world and it damn sure is not the first that will come to mind if you ask fans to name one. However, for some reason, WEC is able to consistently put together fights that are not only great match-ups on paper, but result in some of the best fights of the year. Since 2008 alone, WEC has produced 12 shows (not including tonight's program) including such big main events as Faber vs. Pulver I, Torres vs. Mizugaki, Varner vs. Cerrone, Torres vs. Bowles and Cerrone vs. Henderson. That is a pretty good record for a promotion with few big names.
Tonight on the Versus network, WEC 44 takes place from Las Vegas, Nevada and The Pearl at the Palms. The main event will see WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown (22-4) make his third title defense when he fights Jose Aldo (15-1).
Simply put, this is as big a fight the WEC has seen since Brown fought Urijah Faber this past summer. Brown has not tasted defeat since December 2, 2005 when he was caught in a submission in Japan. Aldo lost only once and that was on November 26, 2005 when he was choked out with a rear naked choke in Brazil. Since both men last lost a fight, they have each reeled off terrific winning streaks and dominant streaks to boot.
Matt Brown is the most powerful featherweight in the world (unless there is a 145-pound beast in a gym somewhere we don't know about...yet) and combines a great wrestling base with a stout striking skill set that few men have. Jose Aldo is also a special kind of fighter who mixes his BJJ skills with phenomenal striking. This is not just your standard wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu practitioner, these are two men who can knock heads off shoulders, they are so powerful.
One of the few knocks against Aldo during his WEC run is the simple fact that he has not had to display his BJJ skills in his wins. He is a black belt in that discipline and still, won his five WEC fights by knockouts. In Aldo's last fight, he knocked out Cub Swanson with the flying knee. You cannot simply look to defend his hands because Aldo will use his legs or knees to punish his opponent. Aldo's hands are as fast as any striker in WEC which pose the question of who can win out, speed or power?
Mike Brown quietly bursted on the WEC scene by beating Jeff Curran by decision. Then he shocked the world by knocking out Urijah Faber with a brutal shot. In his first title defense against a game Leonard Garcia, Brown pummeled Garcia, then finished him off with an Arm-Triangle choke. Brown last fought in June in the rematch with Faber that went the full twenty-five minutes. Brown was never in danger of losing the fight and with his striking as most damaging asset, defeated Faber again.
It is no secret, the key to Brown retaining his gold will be his wrestling. Brown has even talked about testing Aldo's ground skills. As long as the fight remains a kick boxing match, Aldo will likely be thought of as the favorite. Brown will need to use of all his power on the ground to pummel Aldo and make him give up. Of course, that is when the intrigue comes into play. With Aldo being a black belt in BJJ, you have to assume he will be plenty comfortable fighting from his back. Are his submissions slick enough to catch Brown on the ground, and keep hold of him?
For predictions on WEC 44 and coverage of the rest of the show, check out the 411mania MMA Roundtable Preview. It's up now, no sense in not CLICKING IT.
Check out my UFC 59 - Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin 1 rewatch from a few weeks back by clicking HERE. Who really deserved to win the first meeting?
For all the UFC 106 coverage and predictions you could ever want, bookmark 411mania.com and check Friday for the 411 MMA Roundtable Preview.
Sobering news over the weekend broke revolving around the status of UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. As has been known for a few weeks, he has been hit with mono which forced him to pull out of UFC 106 this month and then UFC 108 in January. According to Dana White, while trying to rest in Canada, he collapsed and was taken to a local hospital. It was discovered that there is something seriously wrong with his health besides mono. Right now, Lesnar is hospitalized in North Dakota and White is looking to transfer him to the Mayo Clinic for further treatment.
Despite what some people are putting out on the internet, Lesnar's illness is not believed to be life threatening. However, Dana White has said there is a chance Lesnar's fighting career is over. White told TMZ on Monday that Lesnar may have an intestinal disorder that would require "major surgery."
White also said Lesnar does not have cancer or HIV/AIDS.
Monday evening, Dana White spoke tot he Associated Press and said Lesnar is suffering from a bacterial infection in his intestinal tract. White said he has also suggested Lesnar go to the Mayo Clinic for treatment. According to a CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, Lesnar has a severe case of diverticultis (which tends to happen in the large intestine and cause problems for the colon). Surgery is needed in very severe cases where doctor's would remove the afflicted area of the colon.
Yesterday afternoon, Brock Lesnar underwent minor surgery in Bismark, North Dakota according to White, who also tweeted Lesnar felt better but may not be out of the water.
Obviously Lesnar's fighting career is not all that important when you look at the fact that he is apparently fighting a serious disease that may have repurcussions on how he lives the rest of his life. Lesnar is only 32-years old and has been on television for the better part of the last seven years so it feels like he's been around in some fashion for a long time.
Whatever happens inside the UFC, here's hoping that Brock Lesnar can fight these illnesses and have a full recovery.
UFC 105 - The Aftermath
What is next for Randy Couture? He came away with a unanimous decision victory over Brandon Vera in a fight that was anything but impressive (for either man). Couture said after the fight that he intends to remain in the light heavyweight division to fight guys who are more his size. Smart move.
Who does he fight? Would Forrest Griffin have any interest in fighting one of his coaches? Does anyone want to see another Couture fight with Tito Ortiz?
Does Rich Franklin still have anything to his name as a light heavyweight? How about the Rogerio Nogueira/Luiz Cane winner?
Unlike the heavyweight division, there are plenty of options for Randy Couture but I am just not sure where he may go.
Dan Hardy is in for a world of hurt. He "won" the right to fight Georges St. Pierre, one of the best fighters on the planet.
Hardy bested Mike Swick in ways I did not expect. He was the better striker for the majority of the fight and even opened up a nasty cut on Swick's head later on. Hardy impressed me with his striking, which I knew was his strong point already. Now the situation becomes, how well can he defend takedowns?
Georges St. Pierre is the best wrestler in the welterweight division. Surprising, in a division with guys like Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and others, but it's true.
According to the UK Telegraph, the UFC is considering using both GSP and Hardy as coaches on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. My first reaction was anything but excitement. GSP is tremendous, he's great, but he's not the type of guy who excels in such a situation as a TV personality. He's one of the nicest people in the sport, humble and frankly, the only man to get under his skin in recent years was Matt Serra. That was only after Serra knocked him out. Hardy on the other hand has a great knack for talking and would probably make himself a bigger star, which is the big reason I think the UFC may do it. Right now there is no big steam behind this fight and they need all the help they can get because nobody thinks Hardy can win.
Except Hardy.
Hardy said, "I will never know until I have a go, and I'm here to have a go. I have all the skills to cause him a lot of problems, and he is only human. He's a great athlete very good at winning and putting together a gameplan; but he is not a fighter like me. And I'm going to get in there and my intention is to hurt him, put a beating on him. In a 25 minute fight, it's a long time to keep my hands off his chin."
That is a fine attitude to have. Sounds almost word for word like what Brett Rogers said about Fedor Emelianenko, right? Except for the great fighter part, that is. It is an interesting statement from Hardy because he outright said, GSP is not a fighter. He means GSP is not going to enjoy being involved in a real fight where his opponent is giving it just as much as he takes. If you think about it, the last time GSP was involved in a real war was when he was knocked out by Matt Serra over two years ago. His fights with Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Jon Fitch, B.J. Penn and Thiago Alves were mostly one sided.
Another reason they may be interested to use them as coaches is GSP's health. He is still recovering from the groin injury he sustained at UFC 100 and may not be ready to begin training until March or April at the earliest.
You have to feel for Mike Swick. For the second time in his career, he was on the verge of receiving a title shot and lost. It happened when he lost to Yushin Okami and again on Saturday night. The Josh Koscheck disease is in full effect here.
Tito Ortiz talks with Fox Sports
JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS
- World Victory Road (Sengoku) may be forced to close its doors as fight promoters after their top sponsor, Don Quijote (a retail chain) withdrew their support and are now backing DREAM. According to a report from MMARising.com, Sengoku's status has been questionable as of late due to small crowd sizes and low television ratings. The speculation that is making rounds now says look for WVR to merge with DREAM and bring some of their fighters over. WVR was planning to run a New Year's Eve show but has since cancelled it and reports say they will join the promotion of the Dynamite! show with K-1 and DREAM.
- Speaking of the New Year's Eve Dynamite K-1 show, they announced earlier in the week the big year-ender will consisted of 19-fights featuring fighters such as Shinya Aoki, Sakuraba, Tamura and the debuting Olympic Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii.
- I asked earlier, what's next for Randy Couture. Well, the UFC answered that pretty damn quickly. Couture will fight Mark Coleman in the co-main event slot at UFC 109 on February 6th. It will be the first time two Hall of Famers square off in the octagon (as HOFers).
- Of the co-main events for UFC 108 is off the books. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has been diagnosed with a staph infection and will not be prepared to fight on January 2nd. According to one report, Rodrigo Nogueira still wants to corner his brother Rogerio Nogueira in his UFC debut this Saturday night. The main event for UFC 108 is now Rashad Evans fighting Thiago Silva.
- It was originally reported that Shane Carwin underwent knee surgery and would be unavailable to replace Big Nog at UFC 108 to fight Cain Velasquez. However, a recent update said Carwin only had an MRI done and was told not to train for a few weeks, making him ineligible for UFC 108. If this is true, expect the UFC to book a fight between Velasquez and Carwin as soon as they figure out what to do with Brock's championship.
- Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported over the weekend that Shane McMahon (son of WWE owner Vince McMahon) had a meeting at UFC Headquarters recently. When asked about it, Dana White issued no comment. Shane announced his resignation from his father's company last month, effective in the new year. Shane has been a major MMA fan for several years and was interested in having his family purchase PRIDE before Zuffa did in 2007. Perhaps McMahon is interested in purchasing some fraction of ownership in the company or just interested in working for Zuffa.
- Takanori Gomi is in the United States and will meet with the UFC about the possibility of a contract. Gomi spoke with the UFC after PRIDE ended but ultimately returned to fight in Japan. Gomi has said he wants to fight B.J. Penn again but the UFC's restrictive contracts may not be the right fit. Gomi's blog mentioned he is possibly going to meet with Strikeforce if a deal with the UFC does not work out. Obviously, Gomi's stock has greatly declined since PRIDE but he is still a solid fighter and if motivated, a potentially great fighter.
- The UFC has announced Fight Night 20 and it is thus official. It is set for January 11th at the Patriot Center at George Mason University (take that UWC). The main event will see Gray Maynard fight Nate Diaz (if Maynard wins, can the dude get a title shot?). Efrain Escudero and Chris Leben are expected to fight on the card, too.
- WEC may not have a deal in place with DirecTV, but yesterday they announced a brand new deal with Combate Brasil, a Brazilian television network. The network is a pay-channel that already airs UFC programming throughout South America. Their relationship with WEC begins tonight when they air WEC 44 live.
- According to Vitor Belfort, the delayed bout with Anderson Silva is now all but official for UFC 109 on February 6th, 2010. The bout was originally scheduled for UFC 108 in January but Silva had to pull out due to an elbow injury.
- According to a Dave Meltzer story, Georges St. Pierre is talking these days about the potential for a move up to middleweight. In the past, GSP has walked around at about 187 pounds and leaving him just 17 pounds to cut during training camp. Right now, GSP's walk-around weight is about 195 pounds with more muscle (imagine that) and said whenever the weight cut to fight at welterweight becomes too much, then he will seriously consider moving up to the middleweight division. GSP was quoted as saying, "I'm not afraid of any man in the sport."
The Ultimate Fighter Review and Preview
The quarterfinals of the TUF10 tournament kicked off last week with the fight between buddies Roy Nelson and Justin Wren. Perhaps Roy Nelson is not as good as we thought he would be? Or perhaps the opposition is a bit better than expected on the show. Either way, Roy Nelson has made it clear, he intends to waltz his way to the finals in an effort to guarantee his opportunity to earn the big six-figure contract. It's tough to argue with the strategy because the man who comes in second place may get a contract, but it certainly won't be for a maximum value of six figures.
WINNER
Roy Nelson decided to stand, as did Justin Wren, for the entire fight. Wren's best qualities was said to be his ground submission defense, but we were not clued in to whether it was true. In the first round, Wren did well early on but by the end, I scored it a 10-10 tie. Neither fighter substantially beat on his opponent and by the end, they were on equal footing in my book. I did not think Wren came as close to finishing as Dana White believed.
The second round saw Wren gas out which allowed Nelson to pick him apart with jabs and cautious striking. I scored the fight 20-19 for Nelson and was not all that surprised by the result of the judge's decision (19-19, 20-18, 20-18 for Nelson), unlike others.
Obviously they do not air a lot of what goes on in training but from the little we have seen, WHY DO THEY NOT WORK MORE ON IMPROVING THEIR CARDIO?
You would think in a division of big men, the guy who doesn't gas would have a HUGE ADVANTAGE. Too bad most of the men gas out in their fights. To his credit, Nelson appeared to be in shape despite his gut.
Last week also saw the first real prank of the season, something that would make Krysztoff Soszynski sad. Rampage Jackson and Tiki Ghosn brought several chickens to the parking lot and placed them in the rent-a-cars of Rashad Evans and one of his coaches. Evans and the coach were not pissed at all, took it in stride and joked around with Rampage. In the end, Rashad got a better rental car so Rampage could not even catch a break out of the cage.
The other storyline revolved around Matt Mitrione again. He returned from his overnight hospital stay and continued to complain of lightheadedness, headache's and overall discomfort due to what he considered a potential concussion. Everyone else in the house safe for Brendan Schaub did not seem to believe Mitrione was sincere. The big story is if Mitrione is not cleared by a doctor to fight, it's possible that Kimbo Slice will get a second chance as a substitute.
The fight in tonight's episode will feature Brendan Schaub fighting Jon Madsen. Madsen is a wrestler while Schaub is more of a striker with some jiu-jitsu skills. This should be a close fight and definitely more entertaining than Nelson/Wren. At least I hope so.
JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK
To commemorate the man's return after a year off, here is a highlight video for Tito Ortiz. He''s back.
Don't forget to bookmark 411mania and check out our Roundtable Preview for UFC 106 later in the week with predictions up the blow hole.
I agree people were gonna see what dan hardy is about I believe this kid has a lot of potential don't know too much about his background but the final test is gsp, I think this we'l be the final test for both who ever wins will dominate for quite some time
Posted By: Sgt Mac (Guest) on November 18, 2009 at 01:43 AM
Heres what I don't get
other than a big name for nothing to do with mma, why does kimbo deserve a second shot? He did not do great in his fight who's to say that anybody in the else deserves just as much chance at regaining their feet in the competition? what about demico rogers? or why not bring in the only other guy who lost on there team why wouldnt they bring somone from the same team a guy cannot fight on? Other than ratings....its complete b/s
Posted By: Sgt Mac (Guest) on November 18, 2009 at 01:29 AM
Sgt Mac gets a gold star for intelligent insight. Ratings are the ONLY reason he would be on there.
Posted By: Steeler Steve (Guest) on November 18, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Who else would they bring back besides Kimbo? The rest of Team Rampage was awful outside of maybe Demico?
Posted By: Wyku (Guest) on November 18, 2009 at 01:21 PM
