The Takedown MMA News Report 1.22.10: Just Scrap the Fight
Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 01.22.2010
Taking a look at the Bobby Lashley/Strikeforce situation and what they should do about it, announcements regarding Sengoku's 2010 debut, fight announcements, free MMA, backyard MMA, Mark Burnett in MMA and more!
Welcome to another edition of
In My Opinion… Just a section to discuss my opinion on something
I spend a lot of time on the Sherdog forums. Like, an embarrassing amount of time on the forums. And often times I find myself going to the training forums which are where the grappling, striking, gear, strength and conditioning forums are located. And, being the wrestler I am, I often gravitate to the grappling forums.
While there, more often than not I see far too many threads from people who are clearly no older than 17 going on about how they want to start MMA and asking what's the best way to go about it. That is fine, in fact I welcome it. What I don't like are the guys who go about saying they want to get into MMA (and I quote) "because I've gotten too good at our backyard league and want to fight better people."
Every sport needs to have a good feeder leage. Baseball has Little League followed by rec leagues and high school, then the minors and then the majors. Basketball has the YMCA team, etc.
MMA has several camps, all of which involve a combat sport. Boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, etc. form the basis for MMA. I am fine with people wanting to learn it, but only if they want to learn it for good reasons.
In the future, I would not mind having an MMA fight, but in the far future, like when I'm 25 or something, not when I was 16. I knew it wasn't a kind sport, and knew it would be smart if I waited until I was both mature and had put in years of practice and training, not rolling around the backyard with friends.
Long story short, I am all for people who want to get into MMA in their life because GSP, BJ, Brock, Shogun, Mousasi, those kinds of people aren't going to be around forever and we will need to replace them someday. But if you're into MMA because it's the ‘cool' thing to do and because you're ‘bad,' then stay out of the way for the real athletes.
Lashley's Fighting Nobody
First, it was supposed to be Ron Waterman. Scratched. Next, it was supposed to be Shane del Rosario. Also scratched. Following that, it was supposed to be Yohan Banks, but the FSBC said it was noncompetitive and they scratched that one. Next, Jimmy Ambriz was tapped to fight him, but for unknown reasons, Strikeforce decided to not follow through with the fight. The company is desperately now trying to get Wes Sims of all people to fight him.
Bobby Lashley just needs to tell them they either need to commit to finding somebody for him to fight, or they need to cancel his fight and move him to another card. Strikeforce: Miami is coming up in one week and there is still no opponent. While it isn't as bad as PRIDE used to be, keeping fighters in the dark until mere days before the event, it is getting there and it seriously messes with a fighter's performance when they aren't given enough time to prepare for their fight, and especially if their opponent as a unique style.
It's no secret that good, quality competition anywhere outside of Zuffa-owned companies is getting harder and harder to find. The UFC already has an almost crippling monopoly on the 205 pounders of the world, leaving very few good names outside of Babalu Sobral and Gegard Mousasi. While the grip they have on the heavyweights is nowhere near as deathly, they are still squeezing it pretty hard.
If Bobby wants to be taken seriously as a Heavyweight contender, he needs to up his competition just a bit. Bob Sapp and Jason Guida are good starting opponents, but he handled them so thoroughly that he could step his game up without too much fear of losing badly. For instance, I am of the opinion they should match Lashley up with fellow undefeated standout Shane del Rosario at a future ShoMMA event. It would be a step up for both men and most likely be an exciting fight.
If they can't find an opponent by Monday, though, they need to totally scrap Lashley from the event and just move Hieron/Riggs to the main card. 5 days is not enough time to totally get ready for a fight, no matter who it is.
More Free MMA!
Longtime running show Survivor's producer Mark Burnett has invested into the King of the Cage promotion and has managed to get a deal with HDNet to start airing their events on the HD network. The first event scheduled to be broadcast on the channel following this deal is their upcoming show on March 26, in Reno, NV.
But that is just an aside. HDNet is quickly becoming a channel I watch more and more, and HDNet Fights is an organization that I just admire. They take so many regional shows and get them phenomenal worldwide exposure. Maximum Fighting Championships, Sengoku, DREAM, K-1, Adrenaline MMA, Aggression MMA, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Global, and its own fight events.
I'm just using this space to thank HDNet for all they do for MMA.
In the Lands of the Rising Sun
SRC 12 Participants
Starting off the year with a March 7 event, Sengoku has announced a few participants for their March 7 SRC 12 event.
Current Sengoku Middleweight Champion Jorge Santiago will be making an appearance following his upset loss from Mamed Khalidov, and lightweight prospect Maximo Blanco will also be on the card. As of right now, no opponents are officially announced. One rumor floating around is that Santiago will be fighting a rematch against Kazuo Misaki as opposed to the widely preferred rematch with Khalidov, with the championship on the line. Instead, Khalidov will be fighting Joe Doerksen.
Don't watch Bas Rutten while he teaches you… you will be punished!
Which led me to find this bad boy…
Where I promptly found myself shouting out "TO DAH LIVAH!!" about 87 times.
Future Fights
A small recap of potential fights in the future announced over the week.
· Kenny Florian vs Takanori Gomi, UFC Fight Night 21
· Sarah Kaufman vs Takayo Hashi, Strikeforce Challengers VI (for the vacant Strikeforce 135 lbs women's championship)
· Cole Miller vs Andre Winner, UFC Fight Night 21
· Mike Pierce vs Rob Kimmons, UFC on Versus 1
· Nate Diaz vs Rory Markham, UFC 111
· Yushin Okami vs Lucio Linhares, UFC Fight Night 21
· Gleison Tibau vs Caol Uno, UFC Fight Night 21
· Leonard Garcia vs Diego Nunes, WEC 47
· Derrick Noble vs Yves Edwards, MFC 24
· Rashad Evans vs Quinton ‘Rampage' Jackson, UFC 114
· Ross Pearson vs Dennis Siver, UFC Fight Night 21
Quick Jabs
· And Bellator has signed a very interesting lightweight to their Season 2 tournament with former Judo Olympian Ferrid Kheder (16-5 pro MMA). All these signings are really turning the little promotion that could into something to keep an eye on.
· WEC Bantamweight contender Damacio Page is starting up his own MMA promotion based in the Southwest US, and (aptly so) it will be named Southwest Cage Fighting. As of now, the paperwork to approve the promotion is still in limbo but Page feels confident. All I can say is I wish I still lived in Arizona.
· The Brock Lesnar-diverticulitis scare was apparently due to a high-protein diet the champ was on. How much protein do you have to eat before it starts to eat away at your gut?!
· UFC Primtime returns for GSP/Hardy, set for UFC 111. Got to give the UFC credit for trying to get Hardy over as a legitimate contender to GSP because, let's face it: nobody is giving him anything more than a puncher's chance.
· Spike is airing another set of the UFC Prelims on the night of UFC 109. The two fights confirmed for the Prelims show are Mac Danzig taking on Justin Buccholz and Melvin Guillard taking on Ronnys Torres. Again, if Mac loses this one, 4 in a row.
· "Razor" Rob McCullough is joining Tito's team for the TUF 11 season as an assistant coach. The former WEC Lightweight champ should be a great addition, especially opposite Jake Shields on Chuck's team.
· UFC 113 is pushed back one week to May 8 as opposed to May 1, due to a large-scale boxing event featuring Floyd Mayweather on the same night. The event is still being held in Montreal.
· Dana White has stated that, for the UFC Heavyweight Championship scene, the ‘ideal' case would be that the winner of Mir/Carwin is healthy enough right off the bat to face Brock to unify the title at UFC 114. If the winner is not healthy enough and/or needs time to recover, then the winner of Nogueria/Vleasquez will be granted the shot at Brock at UFC 114. Either way, we get to see Brock at UFC 114.
Bozo's Corner Just stuff about me for the week.
Well, I finally feel better thanks to my improved sleep schedule and some nice NyQuil. Go medicine.
Another tournament coming up in March, going to try and make it (and if I can find a gi between now and then I might enter the gi divisions too).
And in a week where the biggest news is the lack of an opponent for Bobby Lashley….. I hate slow news weeks.
Thanks for reading again, hope to see you all sometime in the future!!
"The Brock Lesnar-diverticulitis scare was apparently due to a high-protein diet the champ was on. How much protein do you have to eat before it starts to eat away at your gut?!"
I know it was a joke, but nutrition is the single most misunderstood topic in the Western world, so be careful what you say or we'll start seeing all these "expert" message posters talk about how protein is bad for you.
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on January 22, 2010 at 01:28 PM
Pfft, I know EXACTLY how much protein you should be eating a day.
It equates to about 1g of protein for every pound of lean muscle you have (give or take).
Let them talk!
Posted By: Bozo (Guest) on January 22, 2010 at 06:53 PM
Ah yes, and determining lean mass is beyond the scope of most, so an easier way for the average Joe is to say 0.8-1.2g per kg of total weight. 1.2 being for high end athletes.
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on January 23, 2010 at 01:33 AM
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