Cardio Freak MMA News Report 02.22.10: All Aboard The Cain Train

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 02.22.2010

A complete review of UFC 110 featuring the Cain Train charging full steam ahead, Silva getting back on track, Sotiropoulos leaving the station, and "Cro Cop" just showing up. Thoughts on all the fights and where fighters go from here. Plus thoughts on Heath Herring's recent comments towards UFC and Bellator officially hitting the big time. It makes the checks like Wanderlei Silva, it's Cardio Freak on 411.



Headline News

UFC 110 was the most anticipated fight card of the year and it was certainly a night that fans won't forget.



It was too short to be the best Heavyweight fight of the year but it still turned out to be the best performance of Cain Velasquez' young career.

The fight never truly hit the ground and it wasn't the relentless wrestling and pace of Velasquez against the relentless jiu-jitsu of Nogueira. Instead it was the well rounded striking and quick hands of Velasquez taking out the slower Nogueira. Velasquez continued to beat Nogueira to the punch with his hands and then threw off the timing of Nogueira by mixing in kicks to the legs and body. Nogueira was jus a step behind on everything he threw, including the ending sequence when Nogueira connected a little too late after Velasquez landed a right hand on the chin. The right dropped Nogueira, turned his lights out, and on the ground Velasquez turned the lights back on and off again with brutal punches until the referee jumped in. I guess this will put an end to questions about Velasquez' poor striking and power. Who am I kidding? No it won't.

With this win you could argue that Cain Velasquez deserves a title shot over the winner of Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin. He won't get it (unless one of them gets injured) but it's going to be tough for one of them to look more impressive than Cain did in this fight. If he wanted to I'm sure Cain could sit on the sidelines until the end of the year and then fight the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Mir/Carwin but we all know that won't happen. This guy wants to the best fighter in the world and has a hunger and desire that is second to none. I can bet you that as good as he looked at UFC 110, he'll find 100 flaws in his performance and only care about those flaws over what he did right. Knowing that he'll likely fight again before he gets a title shot, I would think that he'll fight the winner of Junior dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga. I just hope that it ends up being dos Santos because him vs. Velasquez should be a really good fight and there would be no question that the winner would deserve a title shot over any else in the division. I'm still conducting the Cain Train but jump aboard now as seats are quickly filling up.

I don't want to hear anyone say that Nogueira is washed up now that they have the luxury of hindsight. That would be a discredit to Cain and even unfair to Nogueira. Many people said he was shot before he fought Randy Couture and look what happened. He dominated Randy Couture, who had just faired very well against Brock Lesnar until getting caught and has won two straight since losing to Nogueira, and after that everyone said the "Old Nog" was back. Based on all reports and the claims by everyone, the best Nogueira ever was entering the Octagon this past Saturday and physically he certainly looked in great shape. Maybe the best Nogueira has been in too many wars over the years to compete with the younger fighters but he certainly shouldn't be written off. Cain Velasquez was just a better fighter this past Saturday. It's not because Nogueira is washed up, it's just the truth. Nogueira will be back though and right now I'd like to see him face Mirko "Cro Cop" or Frank Mir if he loses to Shane Carwin. Nogueira vs. "Cro Cop" 2 is a rematch that fans have wanted for a long time and even though they might now be what they once were, hell, we're getting Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz 3 so why not Nogueira vs. "Cro Cop" 2? Plus that fight will establish who can still compete with the top Heavyweights and who is not likely to regain past glory. The rematch with Frank Mir obviously makes sense because there's been a lot of talk between the two and others since it came out that Mir finished a Nogueira that was just getting off his deathbed. The rematch would allow fans and the fighters to see once and for all who the better fighter is. Until someone loses and excuses just happen to come out that is.



While Rodrigo Nogueira wasn't able to slay the young lion, Wanderlei Silva lived to fight another fight with his unanimous decision victory over Michael Bisping.

Maybe the fight wasn't as exciting as it could have been and maybe Wanderlei didn't "make the check" in this fight but sometimes winning is more important than being exciting. Don't get me wrong, the fight had some exciting moments but it wasn't an all out brawl and Michael Bisping was still conscious at the end of it so anything less was a disappointment to fans.

Silva fought a smart fight though. Maybe if he had just pressed forward aggressively and threw caution to the wind he would have finished Bisping because every time he went for the big flurry at the end of the round, he had Bisping on the ropes but he chose to stay patient for most the fight and pick his spots. Bisping scored very well with the jab while Silva used leg kicks as his jab and Bisping managed to get a few takedowns but never did anything with them and Silva was also able to shrug off multiple takedowns. Every round was even until the final 10 seconds or so of each of them. In the first Silva had Bisping backing up with flurry, in the second Bisping got a takedown but Silva locked in what appeared to be a tight guillotine, and in the third Silva dropped Bisping with a flurry. Those end of round sequences likely cost Bisping the fight although the rounds were so even up until those points that who knows how the judges were looking at things.

With the victory (for this fans), Silva has breathed new life into his career. He looked very comfortable at Middleweight and didn't seem to have much a problem cardio wise. I suspect that in his fight he'll look even better as now he's used to the weight cut and knows what to expect. The fight that makes sense for Silva is against Yoshihiro Akiyama. That fight was scheduled for UFC 110 before it was changed to Silva vs. Bisping for no real reason at all.

For Bisping, I'm sure he'll ask for another top fighter following this loss. Nate Marquardt is my pick for Bisping's next opponent. They're both coming off tough losses and they both want to get back on track against good competition.



The man who turned in the most impressive performance of the night in my eyes was no doubt George Sotiropoulos.

After his victory over Jason Dent, I wanted Sotiropoulos to fight a top fighter just so we knew just how good he was. While I knew he was good, I thought Joe Stevenson was too much of a step up too quick for him. He seemed better suited to fight someone like Spencer Fisher, who is clearly a mid level fighter. Sotiropoulos showed in this fight that he's ready for any competition and that he has the skills to be a serious threat at Lightweight.

First thing I noticed was just how big Sotiropoulos was. I know he used to fight at Welterweight but he still looked huge compared to Joe Stevenson, who isn't a small Lightweight by any means. On the feet, Sotiropoulos really schooled Stevenson. He used his reach to keep him at bay with his jab, he ducked under every slow hook Stevenson threw, and he counted with the right hand. Sotiropoulos was just too quick and too skilled for Stevenson on the feet. The ground is where Sotiropoulos was really impressive though. His control and positioning on top was outstanding in the first round and his sweeps and positioning on bottom was outstanding in rounds two and three. Stevenson is a very grappler but Sotiropoulos showed that he was far superior.

I'd like to see Sotiropoulos face Gray Maynard next. He showed that he's ready for the best the division has to offer, I don't think UFC or fans are really behind Maynard due to his lackluster performances, and Sotiropoulos is someone who I think matches up well against Maynard.

I honestly think Stevenson took Sotiropoulos too lightly and I'm basing that on nothing but their walk ins. Sotiropoulos looked very focused and had the look of someone with something to prove while Stevenson was all smiles and dancing around. I'm not a body language expert but I know that Tiger Woods looked like a robot at his "press conference" and that Sotiropoulos won this fight before the bell rang. I'd like to see Stevenson fight Sean Sherk next. Both guys are used to fighting top competition and they each need a win to prove that they still deserve to fight top competition.



I didn't care about Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine heading into the event and until the ending sequence, they gave me no reason to care about them or the fight during the contest.

The first round was won by Bader as he got a takedown and proceeded to do nothing with it. The second round was won by Jardine as he stuffed the takedown and controlled the fight on the feet even though I never felt he damaged Bader. The third round was going much like the secound until Bader stumbled Jardine with a right, backed him up with a flying knee, and knocked him out with a left hook. It was a nice ending sequence to a fight that I just couldn't get into.

Although he didn't do much to impress me, this is certainly the biggest win of Bader's career. His striking still has a long way to go as he just loads up on his right hand with no real set up and maybe his wrestling isn't as good as advertised but a win is a win. I don't care who he fights next as I don't care about him. I'll say he fights the winner of Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera though.

I don't know what UFC does with Keith Jardine. He's living off his victories over Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell even though they were in 2006 and 2007 respectively, he's 1-4 since then, and he's not a major draw. I don't think he'll be released after this loss but I can't say I would be shocked if he is. He'll probably be bumped to the preliminary card of the undercard of a Fight Night event and if he loses there then UFC might not have a choice but to let him go. For some odd reason I'd like to see him face Stephan Bonnar. Maybe because I feel he got a bad decision in their first fight and because they're both 0-3 in their last three so at least one of them will finally win.



Mirko "Cro Cop" unfortunately didn't beat Ben Rothwell. Instead he beat Anothony Perosh and he wasn't overly impressive in doing so.

I can't knock "Cro Cop" for this performance though. It's tough to fight a guy who spends the entire fight running from you. Mirko did the best he could but Perosh wanted no part of him on the feet and couldn't get the fight to the ground so we ended up with a rather lackluster fight where the outcome was never in doubt. It would have been nice if Mirko unleashed a few more kicks as Perosh clearly wasn't going to take him down but Mirko decided to play it safe. Mirko should have been able to put him away much earlier but I like to believe that he half assed it knowing some guy on two days notice wasn't going to beat him rather than believing he's just really slow and afraid to pull the trigger.

I still like the idea of Nogueira vs. "Cro Cop" 2 for the reasons I mentioned above. If he's going to lose, I'd rather him lose to good fighters than someone like Ben Rothwell, who doesn't deserve to have the name "Mirko ‘Cro Cop' Filipovic" listed under his win column. Unfortunately Dana White and Joe Silva aren't as smart as me and it looks like "Cro Cop" will face Ben Rothwell next and possibly very soon. Hopefully Mirko makes short work of Rothwell and we end up getting Nogueira vs. "Cro Cop" 2 after that.

Perosh will get another shot in the UFC simply because he stepped up and took on fight on short notice. We all know he's not very good but give him someone like Joey Beltran and we'll see how he does.

UFC 110 will likely be remembered for the night the Cain Train reached full speed. Beyond that there was Wanderlei Silva shaking the crowd and George Sotiropoulos' coming out party.



Quick Thoughts on the Preliminary Fights:

*Shame Bonnar vs. Soszynski had to end on a cut caused by a headbutt as it was turning into a really fun slugfest where Bonnar would have lost a close decision but still get rewarded with a six-figure contract.
*Chris Lytle is a great fighter to have around. He's not top level but he's always exciting. The true definition of a gatekeeper.
*Goran Reljic was coming off a Mir Layoff. Now you know why he lost.
*Huna vs. Pokrajac was fun for what is was. A battle of Heavyweights going nowhere.



Full Results:

*Cain Velasquez defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by KO (Punches) at 2:20 in Round One
*Wanderlei Silva defeated Michael Bisping by Unanimous Decision (29-28 across)
*George Sotiropoulos defeated Joe Stevenson by Unanimous Decision (30-27 across)
*Ryan Bader defeated Keith Jardine by KO (Left Hook) at 2:10 in Round Three
*Mirko "Cro Cop" defeated Anthony Perosh by TKO (Cut) at 5:00 in Round Two

*Krzysztof Soszynski defeated Stephan Bonnar by TKO (Cut) at 1:04 in Round Three
*Chris Lytle defeated Brian Foster by Submission (Knee Bar) at 1:41 in Round One
*CB Dollaway defeated Goran Reljic by Unanimous Decision (29-28 across)
*James Te-Huna defeated Igor Pokrajac by TKO (Strikes) at 3:26 in Round Three

Major UFC/WEC News



In a recent interview with ESPN 1080 in Florida, Heath Herring said that he's making more money acting than fighting and hinted that UFC doesn't like him so they won't market him.

You know it's a slow news week when Heath Herring's comments are considered major news. No big fight announcements and not even good minor fight announcements worth mentioning. Just Heath Herring. On weeks like this I think it's our journalistic responsibility to make up stories so we have something to talk about. Did you hear that Georges St. Pierre started dating Taylor Swift but they quickly broke up because he claims that she couldn't handle the riddum and she claims that he was just too boring. Look for a song called "Not Impressed With You Hitting Me With Your Groin" on her next album. Man the columns I could write about a newstory like that.

Back to Heath Herring. I don't think he's ever been happy in UFC and I'm not quite sure why. UFC has been more than kind to him ever since his debut. They pushed him as a huge star before his debut at Fight Night 8, they put him on the UFC 69 card in his home state of Texas, they allowed him to try and avenge his losses to Rodrigo Nogueira, they put him in the co-main event against Cheick Kongo, who just beat Mirko "Cro Cop", even though he just lost to Nogueira, and they gave him a chance to essentially put Brock Lesnar out of the sport in the co-main event. They also gave him the chance to try and derail the Cain Train before it ever got started but he pulled out with an "injury" as most believe he just didn't want to fight Cain. UFC has given Herring plenty of chances to make his mark but he failed at almost every opportunity. Yet for some reason Herring never seemed satisfied with any of it. Maybe it was because he wasn't making enough money but if you win fight then you make more money. It's really that simple.

I wish Herring luck in his acting career that is bound to have him crawling back to Dana White and Company. These fighters need to realize that they're only getting acting roles because they're fighters and there's a reason why they always play tough guys. Quinton Jackson might be the exception (although he only got the A-Team role because he was a fighter) because he has a charisma that many others don't but look at every other fighter who has had a role in movies. Sooner or later Herring will stop getting roles because he's a terrible actor and he's no longer fighting and then UFC money won't be a problem anymore.

Major Strikeforce/Miscellaneous News



On February 16, Bellator announced that Eddie Alvarez will face Josh Neer in a Super Fight sometime in May.

I believe this is the first time Bellator has ever gotten some love in this column, which goes to show that they've finally made it in the MMA world. Congratulations Bellator.

I'm not sure if Alvarez vs. Neer really qualifies as a "Super Fight" but I guess that sounds better than "A Fight Between Two Guys that will Likely be Exciting but No One Really Cares." I like Eddie Alvarez and I like Josh Neer so I'm looking forward to watching this fight if I can find it on my TV guide. Neer caught some tough breaks in the UFC but he was usually in entertaining fights while Alvarez has been one of the more exciting fighters on the "Independent/Japan" MMA scene. It's a big chance for Josh Neer because a win over Alvarez would give him a win over a top Lightweight fighter and possibly another chance inside the Octagon. A win for Alvarez would give him a win over a tough fighter and certainly his biggest win since losing to Shinya Aoki.

I'm glad Bellator is finally making their way to FoxSportsNet as they delivered some good fights in Season 1 and their tournament/season format is certainly a nice idea that seems to be working for them. Of course now that I've officially recognized them, that means I'll now hold them to a higher standard that they'll never live up to.

No More News

That does it for me folks. I'll be back next week with something new. Take care everyone.

If you can't get enough Cardio Freak, make sure to check out the Cardio Freak MMA Blog for fight reviews, special commentaries, gambling advice you shouldn't take, and much more.

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