The Juggernaut MMA News Report 02.24.10: The Best of PRIDE in the UFC

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 02.24.2010

Wanderlei Silva may be on a path to clash with Anderson Silva, discussion of which PRIDE star has done the best in the UFC, Frank Mir's apology, another Bellator update, the Bonnar vs. Soszynski controversy and much more!


Cain Velasquez Arrives! Look Out Brock!

The new boss of the UFC heavyweight division is here and his name is Cain. I admit, I had his fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira all wrong. I expected Big Nog to look sharp on his feet and hurt the less experienced Velasquez. Nope. Nogueira looked slow and old as Velasquez used his quick hands and much improved boxing to hurt the famed heavyweight. Cain Velasquez dominated Nogueira like no man in the history of the sport.

That was amazing.

Velasquez is a beast of a fighter with what appears to end in sight. He last fought in October and was criticized for his lack of ability to land a knockout blow against Ben Rothwell. Well, that changed. In the span of four months since that fight, Velasquez's boxing has improved immensely. It is to the point where Velasquez may now be the best striker of the elite heavyweights. He is already recognized as if not the very best wrestler, then among the top two heavyweights with Brock Lesnar. Many think he can run right through Brock Lesnar should they fight each other later in 2010.

Although I hope we get to see Lesnar/Mir 3, I want to see Lesnar fight Velasquez. It would be as epic a fight as any imaginable right now because both are huge wrestlers with powerful hands. Brock is a bit slow in his striking (at least from what we have seen thus far) but he has so much power, it almost makes up for the lack of speed. Perhaps Velasquez's improved hands can hurt Brock unlike anyone we've seen yet.

Some people will still criticize Velasquez for knocking out an "old man" in Nogueira who has shown tendencies that he is declining. You cannot please everyone but what more could you have asked for from Cain in this fight?




Wanderlei Silva looked as small as we have ever seen him inside the cage over the weekend. At 185-pounds, he looked faster and less bloated but did not lose any of the power that made him famous. Michael Bisping tried to avoid his powerful strikes throughout the fight and ultimately got caught at the end of the fight as the bell sounded. I felt Silva's guillotine choke at the end of the second and his striking display at the end of round three earned the the fight, and rightfully so.

Bisping fought a smart fight early on, getting several takedowns. However, he could not keep Wanderlei down and did not do any damage on the mat. Bisping fought a hesitant fight in rounds two and three, backing away and fighting not to get knocked out. There was one exchange which was hilarious to watch as it seemed Silva was about to used a banned foot stomp (that he made famous in Japan), but luckily caught himself before he let go.

Poor Michael Bisping, the former TUF golden boy just cannot seem to take that next step towards the top of the division. When he was fighting at light heavyweight, he lost a close fight to Rashad Evans. He dropped to middleweight and after a three fight winning streak, lost in the famous Dan Henderson fight. After a solid victory over Denis Kang, he lost a decision here to Silva. At least he'll always be popular in Britain though, right?

Wanderlei Silva looked as good as you could expect as a middleweight right now. All the talk is about having Silva fight Yoshihiro Akiyama who wants the fight. Whether the rumors of the UFC going to Japan to host a show with that fight as one of the drawing cards remains to be seen. If Silva can defeat Akiyama, perhaps he would be in play for a title shot in 2011 once the whole Silva/Sonnen/Belfort saga is complete.

The full results for UFC 110:

Cain Velasquez def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via KO in round 1
Wanderei Silva def. Michael Bisping via unanimous decision
George Sotiropoulos def. Joe Stevenson via unanimous decision
Ryan Bader def. Keith Jardine via KO in round 3
Cro Cop def. Anthony Perosh via TKO at the end of round 2

Krzysztof Soszynski def. Stephan Bonnar via TKO in round 3
Chris Lytle def. Brian Foster via submission in round 1
C.B. Dollaway def. Goran Reljic via unanimous decision
James Te-Huna def. Igor Pokrajac via TKO in round 3

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PRIDE HIGHLIGHTS

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The Best Former PRIDE Star in the UFC? Rampage Jackson

We saw three of the biggest superstar fighters in the history of MMA compete over the weekend at UFC 110. It just so happened the all three of them are likely at the latter end of their careers after being involved in DOZENS of battles. From the period right before the death of PRIDE Fighting Championships in 2007, some of the big stars began their movement to the U.S. and the UFC (Rampage Jackson, Mirko Cro Cop). After the UFC purchased PRIDE in early 2007, other fighters would eventually make the jump (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua, Dan Henderson). If you want to be current, nearly three years from the time of the sale, Takanori Gomi finally signed with the UFC.

At the time, there was a lot of talk about how well the former PRIDE stars could compete in the UFC. Like they did during the promotion's glory days, most figured they would steam roll over the UFC competition. For a variety of reasons, that did not happen. In fact, whether you want to talk about age, the mental/physical tolls their bodies have taken, drugs, the differences of the cage/ring, different rules, etc., many of the PRIDE stars have looked no more special than the fighters made famous in the UFC.

Let's take a look.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic
Record Before the UFC: 21-4
Record Since Signing with the UFC: 5-3 (1 No Contest)

Cro Cop's record since signing includes three fights in Japan for DREAM (he went 2-0 with 1 No Contest in that run). To put it bluntly, Cro Cop looks old and slow right now. He is 35-years old and if it were not for a cut, would have gone to a third round with Anthony Perosh. Two of his most recent losses came against Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo, who now appear to be middle of the road heavyweights these days.


Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
Record Before the UFC: 25-6
Record Since Signing with the UFC: 4-1

Rampage has actually fared the best since making the jump. He remains one of the more feared strikers in the light heavyweight division and is a razor-thin decision away from still being the UFC light heavyweight champion. He ended the historic reign of Chuck Liddell in 2007 and bested Dan Henderson in a PRIDE/UFC title unification bout later that same year. Rampage has had his fair share of non-fight issues as he ran from police after his loss to Forrest Griffin, then he "retired" from fighting late last year because of comments Dana White made about his decision to film the new "A-Team" movie. Either way, Rampage is back with the promotion and will return in May.


Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Record Before the UFC: 29-4-1
Record Since Signing with the UFC: 3-2

Nogueira has looked tremendous at times and has looked old (he's only 33-years old), slow and horrible at other times. In his debut against Heath Herring, he was knocked for a loop but regained his composure and won a decision. He looked impressive while choking out Tim Sylvia to become the UFC interim heavyweight championship. Going into the UFC 92 bout with Frank Mir, he was ill and ended up being knocked out for the first time in his career. He came back to win an impressive fight with Randy Couture last summer and had most people figuring he could get a title shot with Brock Lesnar at some point. Instead, this past weekend, he was knocked out in just over two minutes by Cain Velasquez. Now people are back to wondering whether Nogueira can still compete with the very best of the division. If not, is it his apparently weak chin to blame?


Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
Record Before the UFC: 16-2
Record Since Signing with the UFC: 2-2

Shogun has had a lot to deal with since coming to the UFC. He had a bad knee injury that he took care of after his UFC debut loss to Forrest Griffin. His first UFC win was not a pretty one as he struggled to defeat Mark Coleman in the third round in 2009. He seemingly has been as healthy as he could been in his most recent fights, a knockout win over Chuck Liddell and the controversial decision loss to Lyoto Machida. Shogun may be the youngest of these men but he may soon be the top light heavyweight as he gets a rematch with Machida in May.


Wanderlei Silva
Record Before (His Most Recent Stint in the) UFC: 31-7-1 (1 No Contest)
Record Since Signing with the UFC in 2007: 2-3

Silva began his American MMA career with the UFC back in 1999 but left for Japan and became a megastar there. Looking at Silva's last two fights in PRIDE, he was knocked out by both Cro Cop and Dan Henderson. Then he lost an exciting decision to Chuck Liddell in his UFC return. After knocking out Keith Jardine, Silva found himself knocked out by Rampage. At a catchweight of 195 lbs., he lost a close decision to Rich Franklin before debuting at middleweight this past weekend and defeating Michael Bisping. There will be significant questions as to whether the 33-year old can continue to slug it out with guys who are willing to do the same. Luckily for him, the UFC's middleweight division (safe for Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort) is not built with a lot of heavy handed strikers.


Dan Henderson
Record Before (His Most Recent Stint in the) UFC: 22-5
Record Since Signing with the UFC in 2007: 3-2

Dan Henderson's return to the UFC began with two BIG fights. He lost the first one to Rampage Jackson via decision. Next, he was submitted by Anderson Silva. Since then, he finished his most recent UFC run on a three-fight winning streak. he won a pair of decisions over Rousimar Palhares and Rich Franklin before knocking the living hell out of Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Along with Rampage and Shogun, Henderson appears to still "have it" despite the fact he will turn 40-years old this summer. He will fight Jake Shields for the Strikeforce middleweight title in April on CBS so only time knows that next chapter.


Takanori Gomi
Record Before the UFC: 31-5 (1 No Contest)
Record Since Signing with the UFC: ?-?

Since his final PRIDE fight, Gomi has fought six times and is 4-2. He comes to the UFC after losing much of the luster that made him one of the most popular fighters in the world in 2005. He will debut in the UFC at the end of March against Kenny Florian, who next to Satoru Kitaoka (who beat Gomi in 2009, by Achilles lock submission), may be his biggest test since fighting Nick Diaz in 2007.

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- Strikeforce announced the main event for its Challengers VI show will be the women's welterweight title fight between Sarah Kaufman and Takayo Hashi. Trevor Prangley vs. Karl Amoussou and Luke Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley will be the other featured fights with two others on the Showtime broadcast set for this Friday night.

- UFC 110 fight bonuses were awarded as follows: Submission of the Night went to Chris Lytle, Knockout of the Night went to Cain Velasquez and Fight of the Night was awarded to George Sotiropoulos and Joe Stevenson. Each fighter will earn an extra $50,000 in addition to their purse money.

- The official end of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's stint away from the UFC is over. News broke early over the weekend that Jackson had signed a contract to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 114 in May. Jackson was in Australia to help corner fellow Wolfslair fighter, Michael Bisping. Jackson has not fought since he defeated Keith Jardine in March 2009.

- At the UFC 110 post-show press conference, UFC President Dana White said Wanderlei Silva's next opponent will likely be Yoshihiro Akiyama. Akiyama has expressed a great desire to fight Silva and it is expected to happen sometime this summer. Akiyama was originally expected to fight Silva on this show but a while back, that fight was nixed for what became Silva/Bisping. Akiyama is finally healthy after his UFC debut victory over Alan Belcher at UFC 100. Silva did not sustain any injuries in the fight Saturday night.

- The referee's ruling in the Bonnar/Soszynski fight is final because nobody can overturn it. The fight ended due to an accidental head butt that opened up a cut on Bonnar's face that resulted in the end of the fight. The referee apparently did not see the head butt and ruled the fight in favor of Soszynski. If the fight had happened in Vegas, the fight would have stopped and they would have went to the judge's scorecard (which would have resulted in a draw in this case). The UFC does not have the authority to overturn the referee's decision. According to some reports, the UFC will book a rematch between the two fights as soon as possible.

- In a recent interview, Frank Mir said "I want to fight [Brock] Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That's what's going through my mind."

- Frank Mir issued an apology for his comments on Tuesday, saying "I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and the UFC fans for my stupid remarks. I respect Brock, all the other fighters, and the sport of mixed martial arts. I'm sorry that I stepped out of line." This is after Dana White said publicly that Mir "had been talked to" and also "he won't be saying anything like that again." (In bold because this is my opinion here. I think everyone can realize Frank Mir's original comments were simply to describe how he walks into every fight he takes. Away from the cage, he doesn't want to kill anyone since all professional MMA fighters are simply trying to support their families and themselves. However, you cannot have a high profile guy like Mir making comments about killing anyone in the cage. At the same time the UFC is trying to be sanctioned in as many states as possible and still competing with the view their sport is criminal, those comments can come back to bite them.)

- The UFC Prelims special will return to Spike next month with UFC 111 Prelims featuring Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown and Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham.

- After UFC 110 concerns were raised about George Sotiropoulos's in-ring attire at UFC 110. He wore ankle supporters, knee supporters and long tights under his shorts that went as far as his knee. The poster mentioned how the Aussie got around the rule that does not allow grappling pants in the UFC through this. According to a report from MMAFighting.com in which they spoke with NSAC's Keith Kizer, American commissions always check to see if any equipment gives fighters an edge when grappling. In the past, Sotiropoulos's gear has not been a problem and it was not at UFC 110 because neither the referee nor Joe Stevenson's corner had issues.

- Paulo Filho originally withdrew from a fight scheduled tomorrow at Bitetti Combat 6 in Brazil. According to reports, Filho is still dealing with "personal problems." Replacing Filho against Yuyi Sasaki was going to be Thales Leites. However, Sasaki said he would only fight Filho. Paulo will now fight as scheduled.

- Jacob Volkmann will make the drop down to lightweight and fight Ronys Torres at UFC Fight Night 21 on March 31st.

- Josh Barnett no showed a California State Athletic Commission hearing on Monday and the CSAC delayed his appeal until April 20th. Barnett's attorney was present but the commission would not continue without Barnett. The former PRIDE fighter and pro wrestler recently said he is allowed to fight anywhere in the U.S. besides California and has spoken with Strikeforce.

- Ben Rothwell is expected to fight Mirko Cro Cop as soon as at UFC 115. Rothwell came down with an illness prior to this weekend and could not fight.

- The UFC Primetime series returns to hype the UFC 111 main event between champion Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy. The first episode will air Wednesday night at 10 p.m. eastern on March 10th and new episodes will air in the same timeslot the following two weeks.

- Bellator has announced the brackets for their featherweight tournament which will begin on April 8th and continue the following week. The first round match-ups include Joe Warren vs. Eric Marriott and Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Bao Quach for the April 8th show. Shad Lierley vs. Wilson Reis and Pitbull Freire vs. William Romero will take place on the April 15th show. The semi-finals will happen in May with the finals expected for June.

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JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Frank Mir is BACK on the scene as his fight with Shane Carwin is coming up at UFC 111. Here is a funny video posted after UFC 100. Frank Mir, the karate kid.









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