The Takedown MMA News Report 2.12.10: Future Endeavors
Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 02.12.2010
UFC 109 was the final event for three UFC fighters, including one hall of fame member, Vitor Belfort is out of UFC 112, Kampmann's nasty cut, Chael Sonnen is the new middleweight contender, news from overseas and much more!
In My Opinion…
Chael Sonnen is a rather unusual fellow, I will give him that. Relatively unknown in the rankings until his recent dominations of Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt, Sonnen has pretty much been flying under the radar for most people. However, he has a rather legit claim to being the #1 contender to the Middleweight championship in addition to having the style and smarts to beat both men at UFC 112 in the Middleweight Championship bout.
This brings the question as to what exactly constitutes a number 1 contender in the first place.
There are several factors to consider, in my opinion. First, there is the obvious: a better-than-average (or great) win/loss ratio. You don't want to give a title shot to someone who has a 9-7 record, for instance, when you have someone in the same division with a much more pleasing record of 14-2. Many a person cried when Matt Serra was granted a shot at GSP, despite having only an 8-4 record at the time. 2 wins per loss is not exactly a worldbeating record.
Second, there is the win streak. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day once. That is fact. You can catch him in a submission, flash KO, or just happen to get lucky on the scorecards. However, it takes someone who is regularly beating down whoever is placed in front of him: someone known for submitting people easily, someone known for bullying people around and getting the decision, or someone known for knocking people out. Also important is that these people they beat are of a varied nature. For instance, Frank Mir is widely considered the #2 or #3 heavyweight under Zuffa contract (depending on who you ask) and has made a name for submitting people easily. However, what many fail to see is that – outside of Roberto Travern – his opponents have not exactly been black-belt caliber competitors. Antoni Hardonk, Cheick Kongo, Tim Sylvia, Tank Abbot? Where are they in ADCC, IBJJF, NAGA, Grappler's Quest? Exactly.
Finally, there is the marketability. Anderson Silva has probably been the biggest victim of this. Sure the man has more highlight material than 90% of other fighters combined. However, due to his inability to speak English, many casual fans turn away from him in favor of people like the Market Machine himself in Brock Lesnar. There's a reason why Brock's PPVs have done so freaking well. If you can't sell a fighter as a legit threat, then it will be hard to name them the #1 contender. Chael Sonnen, however, has started his selling early with his trash talking of Anderson Silva.
The matchmakers have a really hard time deciding who gets title shots and, while sometimes we get FANTASTIC matches like Anderson Silva vs Patrick Cote or Tito Ortiz vs Elvis Sinosic, generally they can provide a good match-up.
Future Endeavors
Over the past week, due to their losses at UFC 109, the UFC has cut three of its fighters. These three fighters weren't considered big players in their respective divisions, but I think that at least two of them should have had one more fight before being cut.
Tim Hague
Tim was cut following a "highly controversial" majority decision loss to Chris Tuchserer at UFC 109. Tim, known recently for being on the receiving end of the UFC's fastest "official" KO, was cut for the second time with a record of 1-2 in the company. A ‘fluke' submission win over Pat Barry at UFC 98 followed by the infamous KO at UFC 102 from Todd Duffee, and finally the aforementioned loss to Chris Tuchserer.
Personally, I think that they needed to keep Hague for a few reasons. First, he seems like a likable guy. Everyone loves to love a fighter, and who can't love a former kindergarten teacher? Second, their Heavyweight division – despite some recent growth – is still rather thin and could use all the help they could get. Maybe face him off against Cheick Kongo in a last-ditch effort to give one of them a win. Finally, it was a rather disputed loss. Joe Rogan said (although he is known for some hyperbole) that it was one of the worst decisions he'd seen in years. Anytime a fighter loses a majority decision, especially in one where they truly owned the fight whenever they weren't being subject to lay and pray, they should get one more chance. If Mac Danzig got three tries, why not Hague?
Mark Coleman
The original Hammer is known for his pure wrestling, his brutish takedowns, and his ground and pound. What he is not known for is his winning ability. However, in a division where there is never a dominant #1 contender, every person itching to climb the ladder needs that name win to really validate themselves, and while it may seem bad to say, Mark Coleman could play that role. Since rejoining the UFC in 2008 he lost an almost-decision to Shogun Rua at UFC 93, managed to control the crap out of Stephan Bonnar for three round at UFC 100, and suffered a dominant submission loss to Randy Couture at UFC 109. A 1-2 record is not bad, especially when the losses did not happen in a row. While he won't be lighting any fires soon, if he gets to fight a lower fighter who is trying to climb up the ladder and loses then he can give that fighter the rub he needs.
Frank Trigg
The one fighter I feel was rightfully released by the UFC this week, Trigg posted an 0-2 record since he signed a new contract in mid-2009. His devastating one-round KO losses to Josh Koscheck at UFC 103 and Matt Serra at UFC 109 proved that he is not able to compete at the top level anymore, and he himself admitted he can't compete at the top anymore.
Frank is a good talker (so long as he doesn't ramble) so if he can land a gig as a commentator than good for him, otherwise he needs another job ASAP. Sorry Frank.
The Phenom: Not Invincible
Sadly, it seems the injury bugs keep biting. Recently, Vitor Belfort has been announced as suffering a major shoulder injury during training which will be enough to keep him out of his UFC 112 date with Anderson Silva. Vitor was all set as the new contender that Anderson needed. Known for his ridiculous flurries, Vitor was one of the only people many think could outstrike the Spider and push him into not giving us another UFC 97 appearance.
Never have I wished harm on someone, but this is not as bad as it could be. As far as what has been revealed he will not be needing surgery so he will not be out for too long. In the meantime, the executives at Zuffa have decided to keep Anderson Silva on the card, but no official replacement has been made. I would like to present Chael Sonnen as a more than suitable replacement.
The only downfall to this plan is that Sonnen was issued a 30-day ‘no contact' suspension from the NSAC which mean he wouldn't be able to train until March 9, giving him little more than a month to prepare for Silva. If he can work around that, and if he is offered the fight, he should take it.
Hopefully in the meantime, Vitor can heal nice and well and have a good fight with another top middleweight to really validate his original shot at the title, despite never competing in the UFC at 185 pounds.
Bellator News
Bellator has announced some more signings in the past week.
Two-time UFC fighter Ryan Thomas will be joining the promotion's Season 2 welterweight tournament. Thomas looks like he will be able to really give it to the other 170 pounders in the tournament. Alson joining Season 2 will be middleweight Matt Major. Major, recently began training at the famous AKA, but the promotion is also hoping to cash in on his personality to sell. Finally, Season 1 semi-finalist and tournament favorite Wilson Reis has re-signed with the promotion for the second featherweight tournament. Hopefully he can win so he can avenge that loss to Mr. Joe Soto.
In the Lands of the Rising Sun
Sengoku 12: Initialized!!
More fights have been made official for Sengoku 12.
So far the fights made official for the event are:
· Jorge Santiago vs Mamed Khalidov (for the SRC Middleweight Championship)
· Wilson Reis vs Yuji Hoshino
· Shigeki Osawa vs Kyung Ho Kang
· Akihiro Gono vs. Diego Gonzalez
· Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller
· Leonardo Santos vs. Kiuma Kunioku
Also confirmed for the card are Maximo Blanco and Ryo Chonan.
Good bye, Yoshida
Hidehiko Yoshida – known for spoiling the MMA debut of highly touted Satoshii Ishii – has started to put together a fight card on which he will make his final MMA appearance, although no opponents have been named. This event will be known as "ASTRA."
Also expected for the card are Kazuhiro Nakamura, Tatsunao Nagakura, Michihiro Omigawa and Makoto Takimoto. So far, no fights are confirmed or announced. In addition, no opponents for any fighters listed have been named.
I saw this cut and nearly threw up and cried, all at the same time.
Future Fights
A small recap of potential fights in the future announced over the week
· Tom Lawlor vs Tim Credeur, UFC 113
· Jake Ellenberger vs Ben Saunders, UFC 111 (Ellenberger replacing injured Martin Kampmann)
· Jon Madsen vs Mostapha al-Turk, UFC 112
· Jake Rosholt vs Rudy Lindsey, XFL
· Ryan Jensen vs Jesse Forbes, UFC 114
· Gerald Harris vs Mario Miranda, UFC Fight Night 21
· Efrain Escudero vs Dan Lauzon, UFC 114
· Courtney Buck vs Fredson Paixao, WEC 47
· Amir Sadollah vs Dong Hyun-kim, UFC 114
· Antonio Banuelos vs Damacio Page, WEC 48
· Chris Leben vs Aaron Simpson, UFC 114
Quick Jabs
· Welterweight standout Jason High has signed a four-fight deal with the UFC and will be making his promotional debut against also-recently signed Charlie Brenneman at UFC Fight Night 21.
· Andrei Arlovski is signed to appear in a four-round boxing match with Freq Oquendo on Feb 27 in an exhibition bout. Now we can finally see if Andrei's boxing is really as nice as made out to be.
· UFC 116 has been targeted for July 3 in Las Vegas. The UFC is hoping to have Brock Lesnar headline the card, possibly against the winner of either Mir/Carwin or Nogueira/Velasquez.
· All 13 fighters tested for drugs at UFC 109 came back clean. Whoopee. Step 3 of Csonka's fight plan completed.
· The Lauzon brothers have decided they will no longer fight each other, let alone fight on the same card as the emotional stress it put on their family was too much. As such, older brother Dan has allowed Joe the first pick to fight on the card when the UFC makes their Boston debut (the Lauzon brothers are from Boston, MA).
· Chael Sonne has decided to run for the Oregon State Representative position. He identifies as a Republican. Coincidentally, his Team Quest teammate Matt Lindland ran for office. He was soundly defeated.
Thanks for reading again, hope to see you all sometime in the future!!
