Cardio Freak MMA News Report 12.14.09: A Good Write Up

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 12.14.2009

This week in Cardio Freak: A review of UFC 107 featuring BJ Penn making Diego Sanchez look like an amateur, Frank Mir getting under everyone's skin, Kenny Florian back to finishing fights, and much more. Plus a preview of WEC 45 featuring Donald Cerrone vs. Ed Ratcliff and a preview for Strikeforce: Evolution featuring Cung Le vs. Scott Smith! Also, thoughts on Dan Henderson and Bobby Lashley to Strikeforce and more UFC 108 changes. It's more dominant than BJ Penn, it's Cardio Freak on 411.



Headline News

After defeating Diego Sanchez this past Saturday at UFC 107, BJ Penn walked by the media table and said, "Give me a good write up." Although I wasn't at that media table, I'll still take the advice (or threat) of Penn because after his performance, how could anyone give him a bad write up?



BJ Penn is the best Lightweight in the world and there's no one even close to being on his level right now.

Like Kenny Florian and Sean Sherk before him, Diego Sanchez was undisputed #1 contender to Penn's crown. And like Kenny Florian and Sean Sherk before him, Diego Sanchez didn't look like he belonged in the same Octagon as BJ Penn. It went downhill fast for Sanchez as Penn rocked him with a right hand early that he never seemed to recover from. The rest of the fight played out a lot like Penn vs. Florian from UFC 101. Penn won every exchange on the feet and Sanchez' entire offense was to force Penn against the cage, grab a single, and effectively burn himself out trying to get Penn to the ground. Needless to say, it didn't work. The fight ended on a cut after Penn opened up a nasty gash over the eye of Sanchez with a head kick. I'm sure Diego would have liked to continue and at least survived to lose a decision, which he could have taken as a morale victory, but I don't know how Sanchez could find any type of victories in this fight. Sanchez was thought to be the toughest fight in the Lightweight division for Penn and Joe Rogan was already talking about his next opponent by round two.

So who is Penn's next opponent? Rumor has it that if Gray Maynard beats Nate Diaz, he'll get a shot at Penn but is anyone buying Maynard as a threat to beat him? He has a chance just because he's a big Lightweight but Sean Sherk and Diego Sanchez were big Lightweights and we saw how that turned out. Nate Diaz would probably be the most fun fight for Penn just because it would be Nate Diaz vs. BJ Penn but I'm not naïve enough to believe that Diaz would have a chance. Rogan mentioned, "stealing (Shinya) Aoki from Japan" but we all know how that one would end (Spoiler: Penn by KO in Round One). BJ Penn is just on another level right now from every other Lightweight in the world. His chin is legendary, his boxing is the best in the division, no one can take him down, and his jiu-jitsu is the best in the division. So who can beat this man at Lightweight? Your guess is as good as mine.

Diego Sanchez is still a really good fighter. He'll be back and I expect him to come back better, hungrier, and weirder then ever before. He's going to need to take a lot off time off though after the beating Penn laid on him.



While BJ Penn turned in an impressive performance for nearly 25 minutes, Frank Mir turned in an impressive performance for just over a minute.

Frank Mir put on a lot of muscle leading up to this fight, feeling he needed it to compete with Brock Lesnar. Well it remains to be seen if all that muscle will help him against Lesnar but it certainly didn't hurt him against Cheick Kongo. The general consensus leading up to this fight would be that Kongo would knock out Mir on the feet and Mir would tap out Kongo on the ground. Well Mir tapped out Kongo on the ground but he first knocked him down on the feet.

It's tough to say that Mir would do any better against Lesnar based on his additional muscle and his performance in this fight. Sure it was an impressive performance but you don't learn much about a fighter when they're only in the Octagon for just over a minute. But it was an impressive performance and that's what Mir needed. This performance gets the fans thinking, "I know Lesnar dominated him last time but did you see how good he looked in his last fight?" You're only as good as your last fight and right now Frank Mir's last fight features a heavy left hand and a tight guillotine choke. Combine this performance with Mir's ability to talk shit and hype a fight and who knows how much business Lesnar vs. Mir 3 would do. We likely won't see it until late 2010 at the earlier but if Lesnar gets past Carwin and Mir gets past the winner of Nogueira vs. Velasquez, Dana White better not make any buyrate promises that he can't keep when it comes to predicting how big that fight will be.

Cheick Kongo needs to stick to fighting mediocre fighters. I never understood the appeal of Kongo as he's proven nothing to me except that he hits hard and does well against fighters who aren't good or are past the prime. Lets not forget that this is a guy who lost to Heath Herring, the Heavyweight division gatekeeper. I actually laughed that people when I read that people were picking Kongo based on the fact that they hated Frank Mir for his comments. I understand picking Kongo because you thought he could KO Mir before Mir could take him down but picking Kongo because of what Mir said? Well then Mir is much more talented than given credit for because he was able to get under the skin of not only Kongo but some smart fans and writers as well.



While Frank Mir needed an impressive performance and delivered, Jon Fitch did not.

We all saw what happened the first time Jon Fitch faced Georges St. Pierre. It wasn't pretty. Fitch has had three fights since that time to try and give the perception that he's improved and that he could challenge GSP again and things will be different. He hasn't proved that. Since losing to St. Pierre, Fitch has turned in three rather unimpressive performances against guys that the alleged #2 Welterweight in the world should beat and beat rather easy. None of his three performances were more unimpressive than his victory over Mike Pierce this past Saturday. It seemed like he was on his way to delivering the performance he needed in first round when he had the back of Pierce and was looking to finish with the rear naked choke. Pierce was able to fight him off though and survive the round. The second round was rather even on the feet but Fitch was once again able to take the back of Pierce although he wasn't nearly as close to finishing him as he was in the first. The third round was more of the same until the very end when Pierce rocked Fitch with a big punch that had Fitch desperately trying to clinch and hold on until the round ended. Luckily for him, he was able to do just that.

I don't know where Fitch goes from here. He obviously hasn't been impressive enough to earn a rematch with St. Pierre and because they all train at the same camp, he won't step in the Octagon with Mike Swick or Josh Koscheck. The fight that makes the most sense for all parties is probably the rematch with Thiago Alves that was originally scheduled for this event before Alves had to pull out.

Mike Pierce is clearly a tough guy and maybe he'll turn into a future a contender but Fitch still should have put him away.



Kenny Florian turned in what I consider his most impressive performance to date with his victory over Clay Guida.

Florian showed much improved boxing in this fight and really seemed to tighten up his wrestling as well. Both of those areas were his perceived weakest points as a fighter and he's clearly improved in both areas. Florian no longer relied on just his kicks in the fight proving that he has good boxing skills and some power to go with it. Guida, who is usually relentless with his takedowns, was completely stifled by the sprawl of Florian. The end came when Florian dropped Guida with a beautiful counter punch, took his back, and submitted him with a rear naked choke.

Like Frank Mir, Florian turned in an impressive performance that will make some fans say, "I know BJ Penn just beat him but damn did Kenny Florian look really good in his last fight." Unfortunately for Florian, Penn just happened to be on the same card as him and by the end of the night, as impressive and improved as Florian looked, Penn just looked unbeatable. With BJ Penn seemingly out of challengers though, if Florian can turn in another impressive performance against someone like Frankie Edgar or Tyson Griffin then maybe he'll convince the right people that he does deserve a rematch.

As for Guida, it's back to the drawing board. His striking is still rather pedestrian and he wasn't as strong on his takedowns as he usually is although I think that's more of a credit to Florian than a discredit to Guida. Guida is quickly falling into gatekeeper status in the Lightweight division. He's beating the guys who will likely never challenge for the Lightweight title but he's losing to fighters who are contenders in the division.



Stefan Struve spoiled the UFC return of Paul Buentello by eeking out a majority decision victory in what was a fun way to kick off the live event.

As I stated last week, I've become a big fan of Struve based on his recent performances and while he wasn't overly impressive against Buentello, he still beat a guy who is a veteran of the sport and a game fighter. He dominated the first round as he had the back of Buentello for the majority of the round but couldn't put him away with strikes or sink in the rear naked choke. Struve seemed to gas himself out in the first round trying to finish Buentello when he had his back but he hung in there for the rest of the fight. The second round belonged to Buentello as he knocked down Struve with a big right hand as Struve leaped in with a flying knee. If only Buentello had Fedor's power and Struve had Arlovski's chin. The third round was close and if Cecil People was judging he probably would have given it to Buentello based on the fact that Struve won the round largely in part to the number of leg kicks he landed.

Struve obviously has a long way to go but he's only 21, he's still growing into his body, and his size gives him an advantage over a lot of fighters. UFC would be smart not to rush him along too quickly and instead let him develop a bit before throwing him in there against the perceived Heavyweight contenders.

Buentello is a solid Heavyweight to have around but we all know that he only got a UFC Heavyweight title shot all the years ago because the Heavyweight division had about as much depth as anyone on the show Jersey Shore. Now Buentello is just a mid-level fighter who will have exciting fights against the right people but won't make a significant impact overall in the division.



Quick Thought the on Preliminary Fights:

*Alan Belcher vs. Anderson Silva would be a fun massacre.
*Matt Wiman continues to deliver exciting fights.
*Johny Hendricks has the talent to make a real impact in the Welterweight division.
*I was really pulling for Linhares to beat Palhares although I didn't expect it to happen. Hopefully Linhares gets another fight with the company.
*Props to DaMarques Johnson for being an idiot and getting away with it.
*It's sad to know that Kevin "THE FIRE" Burns will likely be cut by the end of the week.



Full Results:

*BJ Penn defeated Diego Sanchez by TKO (cut) at 2:37 in Round Five to retain the UFC Lightweight Title
*Frank Mir defeated Cheick Kongo by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:12 in Round One
*Jon Fitch defeated Mike Pierce by Unanimous Decision (29-28 across)
*Kenny Florian defeated Clay Guida by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:19 in Round Two
*Stefan Struve defeated Paul Buentello by Majority Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)

*Alan Belcher defeated Wilson Gouveia by TKO (Strikes) at 3:03 in Round One
*Matt Wiman defeated Shane Nelson by Unanimous Decision (30-27 across)
*Johny Hendricks defeated Ricardo Funch by Unaimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
*Rousimar Palhares defeated Lucio Linhares by Submission (Heel Hook) at 3:21 in Round Two
*DaMarques Johnson defeated Edgar Garcia by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 4:03 in Round One
*TJ Grant defeated Kevin Burns by TKO (Strikes) at 4:57 in Round One

Major UFC/WEC News



On December 12, Matt Hughes confirmed that he will be fighting Renzo Gracie at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

This is a clear example of Matt Hughes not wanting to be on someone's highlight reel. No offense to Renzo Gracie but he's 42 years and hasn't fought since 2007. I can't say I blame Matt Hughes. If the fight with Matt Serra was any indication then it's clear that he's not the same fighter he once was and likely can't hang with the young Welterweights in the division. UFC is very good at protecting their legends by giving them fights with other legends. Just look at recent booking history. Chuck Liddell is fighting Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture is fighting Mark Coleman, and now Matt Hughes is fighting Renzo Gracie. All of those fights will tell us more about the loser than the winner.

Hughes vs. Gracie will probably end up being a lot like the first time Hughes fought someone with the last name Gracie. Matt Hughes is still a powerful wrestler who can throw around guys without much wrestling ability and that's a guy like Gracie. He's also still strong enough and been around long enough to know how to avoid any type of submission Gracie may throw at him. No Matt Hughes isn't the same fighter he was in 2006 when he beat Royce Gracie but Renzo is still 42 years old and will be coming off a three year lay off. I just don't think that's a good combination.



On December 9, MMAWeekly reported that Carlos Condit withdrew from his UFC 108 fight with Paul Daley due to an injury. Later in the day it was reported that Dustin Hazelett would step in for Condit to fact Daley. On December 12, Sherdog reported that Tyson Griffin had to pull out of his UFC 108 fight with Jim Miller with an injury. Later in the day it was reported that Sean Sherk would replace Griffin against Miller. UFC 108 in scheduled for January 2nd in Las Vegas.

I expect January 2nd will put out of that date with an injury in the coming days.

Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva is the only remaining fight from the originally released main card that featured Nogueria vs. Velasquez as the headliner. Not many people know this but former 411 writer Adam Tool and myself have a friendly bet going on in that fight where I'm picking Evans to win and he's picking Silva. At the rate of injuries hitting this card, I fully expect that Adam and I will not be backing our respective main event picks but that we'll actually be the main event of the show. Neither of us are in intense training so unless Adam gets hurt reading comic books or I get hurt acting like a spaz while rocking out to my Taylor Swift music, we should be good to go on January 2nd. Just make sure to give me a good write up after I win, Adam.

I'm a fan of Dustin Hazelett replacing Carlos Condit mainly because I'm a fan of Dustin Hazelett. It could turn out a lot like the Daley vs. Martin Kampmann fight though as Hazelett's striking is rather mediocre, especially compared to Daley's, and I'm not sure Hazelett has good enough wrestling to put Daley on his back. Obviously if it hits the ground then Hazelett will be on his way to another Submission of the Night bonus but this will be a tough fight for Hazelett coming off major surgery and a long layoff. I still think my idea of Koscheck vs. Daley is much better than what we're currently getting.

As far as Sherk vs. Miller, it's pretty much the same fight as Griffin vs. Miller. Sherk and Griffin are very similar as they're both wrestlers who have relied way too much on their stand up in recent fights. Given that his stand up failed him against Frankie Edgar, I suspect Sherk will be back to his relentless lay and pray ways against Jim Miller.



WEC 45 is this weekend, December 19, in Las Vegas. Here is the main card:

*Donald Cerrone (10-2) vs. Ed Ratcliff (7-1)
*Chris Horodecki (13-1) vs. Anthony Njokuani (11-2)
*Joseph Benavidez (10-1) vs. Rani Yahya (14-3)
*Takeya Mizugaki (12-3-2) vs. Scott Jorgensen (7-3)

There isn't much name value on this card but I think we've all learned by now that WEC is going to deliver a great show.

Cerrone and Ratcliff are two guys who like to stand trade and they'll likely do just that when they meet on Saturday. I favor Cerrone just because he's a more technical striker and has a hell of a chin. Plus if the fight does hit the ground, Cerrone's ground game is better than Ratcliff's. Cerrone always comes to fight in the three round bouts because there's less time for him to work. As I wrote after he lost to Ben Henderson, it seems like he's comfortable giving away rounds in a five round fight because he can just turn it on late. He can't afford to give away rounds in a three round fight and he usually doesn't. Cerrone would probably be best served to get the fight to the ground because that's where he has a big advantage but he's the type of guy who likes to put on a show so I expect him to bang with Ratcliff until it's not working. Leading up to this fight, Cerrone has been throwing around the idea of moving to Featherweight and calling out Jose Aldo. If that happens then we're looking at another top contender in an already deep Featherweight division.

Chris Horodecki makes his WEC debut in what should be another stand and bang battle against Anthony Njokuani. For those that don't know or forgot, Horodecki is the guy who looks like he's about 10 years old but he's a very good striker and was one of the stars of the IFL. Njokuani is primarily a striker as well and even though he's lost two fight in the WEC, those were to Cerrone and Ben Henderson who aren't exactly bad competition. This is a tough first fight for Horodecki but I expect him to take it and I expect it to be exciting.

Benavidez vs. Yahya is an interesting fight because Yahya's main strength is on the ground while Benavidez likes to strike but can hold his own on the ground. Benavidez is very much like a Batanweight Urijah Faber and he happens to be Faber's main understudy. He's an explosive creative striker, a good wrestler, and has a solid ground game. Yahya has never shown much in the striking department and none of his 14 victories have come by TKO. If Yahya can get the fight to the ground then he'll likely tap Benavidez because his jiu-jitsu is just that good. But I think he's going to have a tough time getting Benavidez down and the longer it stays standing, the more it favors Benavidez.

Mizugaki vs. Jorgensen is another interesting fight because Mizugaki is a well rounded fighter whose big weakness is wrestling while Jorgensen is a good wrestler who has good ground skills as well. If the fight stays standing I think Mizugaki is able to pick him apart with his boxing. Jorgensen hits hard but Mizugaki has excellent boxing and hits just as hard. Jorgensen's best bet is to takedown Mizugaki and grind out a decision because I don't see him submitting the Japanese fighter.

All together now: It's WEC, it's going to be good.

Major Strikeforce/Miscellaneous News



Strikeforce: Evolution is this Saturday, December 19, from San Jose, California. Here is the main card:

*Cung Le (6-0) vs. Scott Smith (16-6)
*Strikeforce Lightweight Title Fight: Josh Thompson (16-2) © vs. Gilbert Melendez (16-2)
*Matt Lindland (21-6) vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (10-2)
*Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (5-0) vs. Mike Whitehead (24-6)
*Robbie Lawler (18-5) vs. Trevor Prangley (22-5)

Let me go ahead and get this complaint out of the way: I hate that it once again appears that the title fight won't go on last for Strikeforce. I hate that they are once again putting their biggest draw on last over a title fight. It shouldn't happen. The belt should be more important than name value and it's not in Strikeforce. Stars are going to draw fans to the arena no matter where they're at on the card. So give the main event slot to the guys who the perceived #1 and #2 fighters in their division in the company. Is it really that hard? That's what she said.

We all know what to expect from Cung Le vs. Scott Smith. It's two guys who like to strike and will do nothing but strike. Cung is the far superior technical striker and we saw Smith get picked apart by Nick Diaz, whose striking isn't anywhere near the level of Cung's. Smith has a hell of a chin though, an amazing ability to survive and comeback to win fights, and one punch power. Cung has some deadly kicks and he used them to break the arm of Frank Shamrock and stop Sammy Morgan. Body kicks have been a weakness for Smith as shown in his two fights against Robbie Lawler. I would normally worry about Cung because of his long layoff but Smith might be in a worse position coming off two fights were he took a really bad beating against Benji Radach and Diaz. I think Cung takes this fight using a lot of body kicks and finishing with a head kick.

Josh Thomson finally returns to the cage to defend his Lightweight title against the man he took it from, Gilbert Melendez. In their last fight, which took place in June 2008, Thomson was able to stuff the takedowns of Melendez and pick him apart on the feet. Since that time Thomson has been injured about 10 different times and has had major knee surgery while Melendez has turned in impressive performances against Rodrigo Damm and Mitsuhiro Ishida. I'm pulling for Thomson in this fight but major knee surgery plus a year and a half lay off is never a good thing when facing a top level fighter like Melendez. For that reason I think Melendez will win.

I honestly don't care about Lindland vs. Souza. It'll likely be a boring fight with Lindland smothering Souza and avoiding submissions. Hopefully Souza catches one of those submissions and ends things quickly but Lindland has good submission defense. Win or lose, I just hope we get Jason Miller coming out at the end of the fight to talk trash to Souza.

KING MO makes his Strikeforce debut in what is a designed win against Mike Whitehead. The knock on Whitehead is that he can't win the big fight and this would be considered a big fight for him seeing as a lot of people, myself included, expect big things from KING MO. I expect KING MO to make a grand entrance that may last longer than the actual fight and continue to stay undefeated in MMA.

Speaking of designed wins, Trevor Prangley is being fed to Robbie Lawler, who looks to get back on track after losing to Jake Shields. Prangley is a good wrestler with a good ground game but Lawler is good enough to avoid the takedown and while he got caught in a guillotine against Shields, Prangley is no Jake Shields. I expect Lawler to catch Prangley early and make a statement in this fight.

Overall Strikeforce: Evolution is a good show on paper and Strikeforce has a history of putting on enjoyable events top to bottom. I expect this one to be no different.



On December 7, Strikeforce announced that Dan Henderson had signed a four fight deal with the company.

Well everyone figured this was coming after reports that Dana White wasn't giving in to Henderson's monetary demands.

Last week I wrote that Strikeforce had a rather deep and interesting Middleweight division and the addition of Henderson certainly makes it deeper but almost less interesting. Strikeforce's Middleweight division is filled with strikers with no ground game who Henderson would take down and grind out or grapplers with no striking who Henderson would KO on the feet. Jake Shields is currently the Strikeforce Middleweight Champion but does anyone care to see a fight between him and Henderson? Maybe Michael Bisping wants to see it because he knows after Henderson brutally KO's Shields that the punch he took at UFC 100 will be forgotten but that's about the only person I can think of. The two most interesting fights for Henderson are against Gegard Mousasi and Fedor Presented by M-1 Global. There's already the built in story of Mousasi defeating Sokoudjou, one of Henderson's understudies at Team Quest and if Henderson were to defeat Mousasi, that would be the perfect lead to a fight against FPM-1G.

The big question is, how hot is Dan Henderson right now? He was a superstar after UFC 100 when he KO'd Bisping but he's appeared to cool off since then. Obviously he cooled off enough to where Dana White wouldn't re-sign him despite desperately needing main event fighters right now. We likely won't know the answer until after Henderson's first fight for Strikeforce.



On December 10, Strikeforce announced that Bobby Lashley had signed a multi-year non-exclusive deal with the company.

The "non-exclusive" part of the deal is the part that scares me. Not because UFC could snatch him up anytime they wanted but because it means Lashley still has an out to be a pro wrestler. He shouldn't have that out. Lashley should dedicate his life to MMA, not go back and forth between the two. It does him no favors to put miles on his body by taking bumps in wrestling and considering that he's working for TNA, they do him no favors as a personality.

I really don't understand why Strikeforce would allow him to continue wrestling either. It's not like the 1.5 million viewers who watch TNA are going to watch Strikeforce just to see Lashley fight. Lashley isn't even looked at as a big star in the company. It doesn't do Strikeforce any favors because if they think they're getting some type of free publicity by having Lashley wrestle and fight, they're wrong. Plus if he's booked to look bad in TNA (and we are talking about TNA) then it further drives home that nobody will want to see him fight.

The only party this really favors would be TNA and that's only if Lashley keeps winning. The second he loses a fight is the second he goes from being "a legit bad ass who happens to do wrestling" to "a failed fighter who has to do wrestling." And again, given how TNA books their wrestlers, the "legit bad ass" part probably won't apply even if he does continue to win.

Just commit to MMA full-time Bobby. Everyone is better off that way.

No More News

That does it for me folks. I'll be back next week with a review of Strikeforce and WEC. Take care everyone.

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