The Rear Naked Column 06.10.10: MMA World Cup

Posted by Samer Kadi on 06.10.2010

The biggest sporting event in the world is rapidly approaching as the FIFA World Cup begins this Friday. This week, 411’s Samer Kadi discusses the idea of a World Cup in Mixed Martial Arts featuring fighters from The United States, Brazil, Europe and Asia.

In November of 1993, an unassuming looking Brazilian by the name of Royce Gracie unknowingly wrote his name in the history books by submitting his way through an eight-man tournament in the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver Colorado. Fittingly, the event would later be known as "UFC 1: the beginning". Over a hundred UFC's later, Mixed Martial Arts, as Mike Goldberg often reminds us, has become the fastest rising sport in the world.

Instrumental in the promotion's national and global success, UFC president Dana White isn't resting on his laurels: "In eight years, the UFC will be bigger than the NFL, bigger than World Cup Soccer", he says.

Football, otherwise known as Soccer, has long been considered the most popular sports in the world. An estimated 715.1 million people worldwide tuned in when Italy and France squared off in the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany, far exceeding any number the UFC – or anything other sporting event – could hope to achieve.

White's comments, hyperbolic as they might have been, have inspired the idea of this column. In honor of the biggest sporting event in the world, "The Rear Naked Column" will go into fantasy land, and create the first ever Mixed Martial Arts World Cup:

- Four teams will compete in the tournament: USA, Brazil, Europe and Asia (Obviously, the relative lack of talent pool in Europe and Asia makes it impossible to form country-specific teams).
- Just like in Soccer, eleven fighters will represent each team: two heavyweights, two light heavyweights, two middleweights, two welterweights, two lightweights, and a featherweight.
- Brazil will be the top seed, followed by USA, Europe and Asia.
- By virtue of coin flipping, Brazil will take on Europe while the United States battles Asia.
- Teams will be formed based on fighter rankings: the two highest ranked fighters (according to the 411 rankings) from each division will make the team. For example, if the two highest ranked American heavyweights are Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, they will be taken. Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson will be the light heavyweight representatives and so on.
- The series will consist of eleven fights. The team who wins more fights advances.

Brazil:



Heavyweights: Junior Dos Santos, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Light Heavyweights: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Lyoto Machida.
Middleweights: Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort.
Welterweights: Thiago Alves, Paulo Thiago.
Lightweights: Gesias "JZ" Calvacante, Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro.
Featherweight: Jose Aldo.

USA:



Heavyweights: Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin.
Light Heavyweights: Rashad Evans, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
Middleweights: Jake Shields, Chael Sonnen.
Welterweights: Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck.
Lightweights: Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn.
Featherweight: Urijah Faber.

Europe:



Heavyweights: Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem.
Light Heavyweights: Gegard Mousasi, Vladimir Matyushenko.
Middleweights: Michael Bisping, Melvin Manhoef.
Welterweights: Dan Hardy, Paul Daley.
Lightweights:Terry Etim, Ross Pearson.
Featherweight: Joachim Hansen.

Asia:



Heavyweights: Yoshihiro Nakao, Kazuyuki Fujita.
Light Heavyweights: Kazuhiro Nakamura, Sanae Kikuta.
Middleweights: Yoshihiro Akiyama, Yushin Okami.
Welterweights:Dong-hyun "Stun Gun" Kim, Akihiro Gono.
Lightweights: Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri.
Featherweight: Hatsu Hioki.

Brazil will take on Europe while the United States will take on Asia. The match ups will be determined via-coin flip as well. We'll the Brazil-Europe match up as an example, I'll flip a coin to see if Junior Dos Santos faces Fedor or Overeem. Drum roll… Junior Dos Santos will indeed take on the great Fedor Emelianenko, meanwhile, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faces Alistair Overeem.

The fight outcome will be determined by you, the reader. At end of the column, I'll write down the match ups, and all you have to do is leave a comment stating who you think would win. This week, we'll start with Brazil taking on Europe. Next week, the US faces Asia and the tournament reaches its conclusion the week after that.

No worries needed, future columns will not entirely be dedicated to fantasy match ups. There simply will be too much going on in the world of MMA to do that. Instead, at the end of each column, I'll announce the winners, the team advancing, and write down the match ups for the next week. So without further ado, let's get down to the match-making. It's time for some serious coin flipping.

Brazil vs. Europe:

- Junior Dos Santos vs. Fedor Emelianenko
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Alistair Overeem.
- Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Gegard Mousasi
- Lyoto Machida vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
- Anderson Silva vs. Melvin Manhoef
- Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping
- Thiago Alves vs. Paul Daley
- Paulo Thiago vs. Dan Hardy
- JZ Calvacante vs. Terry Etim
- Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro vs. Ross Pearson
- Jose Aldo vs. Joachim Hansen.

So there you have it. All you have to do is drop down the name of the winners in the comments section. That will do it for this week. Please take the time to leave your fantasy predictions and I'll be back in seven days with some UFC 115 talk, write down the second semi-final match ups and announce the results. Have a good one.