MMA Legacy 07.13.10: Vladimir Matyushenko
Posted by Bill Wannop on 07.13.2010
MMA Legacy is back, this week focusing on one of the tougest ground and pound fighters around, Vladimir Matyushenko! From dominating victories early in his career to his battles with Tito Ortiz and Nogueira, join us as begin the build to his big match up with Jon Jones on August 1by reliving the career of Vladimir Matyushenko!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko set to take place August 1, MMA Legacy will look at the career of one of the fighters in the main event, Vladimir Matyushenko!
Early Life
Vladimir Matyushenko was born January 1, 1971 in Recyca, Belarus. Like most MMA fighters of his skill set, he started his career by becoming an accomplished freestyle wrestler. He became a two time National Junior College champion at Lassen College, before moving on to the University of Nevada, graduating with a degree in Health Science.
Early MMA
He started his MMA career on September 5, 1997, at IFC5: Battle in the Bayou in a single night tournament. Matyushenko would go on to defeat Vernon White by submission due to a neck crank, Robert Lalonde by submission due to punches, and Anthony Macias also by submission due to punches all in the first round to start his MMA career with a bang going 3-0.
Matyushenko would continue to fight on the independents defeating Anthony Macias in a rematch this time only taking 16 seconds to dispose of him. Matyushenko would gain a record of 7-0, before competing in a close fight in a rematch with Vernon White at IFC: Montreal Cage Combat. White had learned a lot from their previous meeting and this time was able to squeeze out a split decision victory giving Matyushenko his first defeat of his career. Matyushenko would dominate two more fights on the independent circuit before making his official debut in the UFC with a record of 10-1.
Early UFC
His first UFC fight came at UFC 32: Showdown in the Meadowlands where Matyushenko faced off against Yuki Kondo. Matyushenko used his wrestling skills well in the fight, taking down Kondo and utilizing his ground and pound. Matyushenko would get a huge slam in the second round and continue his pounding on Kondo, but Kondo would survive and the fight would go to a decision with Matyushenko taking the victory.
Matyushenko would get a huge opportunity at UFC 33: Victory in Vegas when Vitor Belfort became injured and could not compete against Tito Ortiz in the main event. The UFC replaced Belfort for Matyushenko giving him a light heavyweight title shot. Perhaps it was the short preparation for the fight, but Matyushenko was outmatched, as his wrestling was simply not on the level of Ortiz, whom was able to get the takedowns and use his ground and pound to win the decision victory.
Matyushenko would bounce back immediately against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFO: Legend. Matyushenko would use his wrestling to take down Nogueira and ground and pound out a submission victory. He would then return to the UFC to take on Travis Wiuff at UFC 40: Vendetta. Matyushenko would dominate Wiuff on the ground finally stopping him with strikes near the end of the first round. Next up would be a big fight with Pedro Rizzo at UFC 41: Onslaught, the fight would be a little slow, with again Matyushenko using his wrestling to control where the fight took place. The most exciting part of the fight would be when Matyushenko reversed an attempted takedown by Rizzo by utilizing a dominator ala Ron Simmons from WWE. In the end Matyushenko would get the unanimous decision victory.
Matyushenko would get close to title contention, by facing Andre Arlovski at UFC 44: Undipsuted with the winner likely earning a shot at the heavyweight title. Matyushenko would get caught early with some strikes from Arlovski and immediately attempt a takedown, not wanting to match strikes. Arlovski would defend all the takedowns, and eventually connect with two huge uppercuts to put Matyushenko down and out.
The huge loss to Arlovski actually knocked Matyushenko completely out of the UFC, and back to the independent organizations, where Matyushenko would go on a tear going 6-0, and finishing all fights in the first round both by either TKO or submission. Matyushenko would have the most success in the the IFL, where he would face Tim Boetsch in the semifinals of a tournament to crown the first IFL light heavyweight champion. In typical Matyushenko fashion, he would dominate Tim on the ground and win the unanimous decision victory. The finals of the tournament would take place at IFL: World Grand Prix Semi Finals where Matyushenko would take on Ultimate Fighter Season One cast member Alex Schoenauer. He would not be able to control the wrestling of Matyushenko however, as he was continually taken down with Matyushenko winning the unanimous decision victory and taking the title.
Matyushenko would only defend the title once before the IFL would cease operations, with the defense coming against Jamal Peterson at IFL: New Jersey. Peterson was no match for the takedowns of Matyushenko and was finished by TKO in the second round.
After the collapse of the IFL, it would take almost a year before Matyushenko would fight again. He would eventually fight at Affliction: Day of Reckoning where he would take on Antonio Rogerio Nogeuira in a rematch from earlier in their careers. Noguiera would make the necessary adjustments from their previous meeting, and keep the fight on the feet, where he was able to pick Matyushenko apart, and finally finish him off with a huge knee.
Matyushenko would then participate on an independent organization where he would defeat former UFC fighter Jason Lambert at Call to Arms 1. Again Matyushenko would outwrestle his opponent a gain the unanimous decision victory.
Back to the UFC
Following the victory Matyushenko would resign with the UFC, with him returning at UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort. His opponent would be Igor Pokrajac., and Matyushenko would beat Pokrajac up in all areas in MMA but could not finish him and would walk away with a unanimous decision victory.
Matyushenko last fight was at UFC Live On Versus 1 when he took on former Ultimate Fighter Cast member Eliot Masrhsall. While Matyushenko was able to control the wrestling aspect of the fight, Marshall is good off his back and took Matyushenko to the limit, however Matyushenko was able to do enough o hold on for the split decision victory.
Future Outlook
Vladimir Matyushenko is a very tough fighter who has accumulated a MMA record of 24-4 being only finished twice. He uses his greatest wrestling ability to take fighters down and grind them out, with the majority of his fights going to a decision. His major problem however as that his style can become boring if he is facing another fighter with good ground defense and can withstand his ground and pound. This leaves him with a lot of decision victories, and does not put him on TV very often.
While he will probably never be in contention for a UFC title any time soon he is a sold mid tier fighter in the light heavyweight division, who is a good test for up and coming contenders such as Jon Jones. The two will meet at UFC Live on Versus 2 on August 1 and this should be the toughest test to date for Jones. Matyushenko is a very powerful wrestler with a lot of strength, so he may be able to put Jones on his back which should be interesting. As well Matyushenko is very tough to finish so this could be an exciting three round wrestling battle. In the fight however, I look for the much younger, more explosive fighter in Jones to put Matyushenko on his back and keep him there. While I don't think Jones will finish Matyushenko, I think he will do enough to win the decision victory.
Random DREAM 15 Thoughts
I had the opportunity to catch DREAM 15 this weekend headlined by the huge matchup (in Japan at least) between Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri. The fight was all Aoki, as he went for a takedown that transitioned beautifully into an Achilles lock wrenching the ankle of Kawajiri until he was forced to tap.
While it was an impressive win, the fact still remains that fighters in Japanese organizations do not seem to be on the same level as UFC and Strikeforce fighters. When Aoki fought a Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce, he was dominated in every facet of MMA. After the fight Aoki said he can't wait for the rematch with Melendez in September. I think he is on the minority there, as I can definitely wait and if the rematch takes place I plan on not watching it (or at least viewing if in fast forward. Their first fight was majorly boring due to Aoki being able to do nothing to the superior wrestler and striker in Melendez. While Aoki may be able to dominate in Japan, he is far too one dimensional to ever transition over to a major organization in the United States.
Other interesting things coming out of the event saw Gegard Mousasi defeating Jake O'brien with a simple guillotine in 31 seconds. After easily defending the takedown, Gegard locked in the standing guillotine that quickly forced O'Brien to tap, and the look on the face of Mousasi was priceless as he simply walked back to his corner like it was no big deal. Gegard needs to fight in Strikeforce again, where he will be matched with real competition if he ever wants to be considered seriously.
Lastly Melvin Manhoef was forced to submit to a kimura locked in by Tatsuya Mizuno. After Manhoef came out like a house of fire, landing big shots, he made the mistake on going to the ground with Mizuno. Mizuno was able to capitalize and eventually lock in the submission. Manhoef is a personal favorite of mine, as he always makes fights exciting and I wish to see him more in Strikeforce, but again he is too one dimensional and seriously needs to work on his ground game if he wishes to be successful.
All in all it was a decent show, but the main event was anti-climatic and if that is the toughest challenge for Shinya Aoki in Japan, then the disparity between fighters in Japanese promotions and American promotions is even larger then I thought.
Well that does it for another week of MMA Legacy join us next week, when we examine the career of one of the craziest legends around, and a pioneer of MMA, Ken Shamrock!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko set to take place August 1, MMA Legacy will look at the career of one of the fighters in the main event, Vladimir Matyushenko!
Matyushenko would get a huge opportunity at UFC 33: Victory in Vegas when Vitor Belfort became injured and could not compete against Tito Ortiz in the main event. The UFC replaced Belfort for Matyushenko giving him a light heavyweight title shot. Perhaps it was the short preparation for the fight, but Matyushenko was outmatched, as his wrestling was simply not on the level of Ortiz, whom was able to get the takedowns and use his ground and pound to win the decision victory.
