The Juggernaut MMA News Report 04.21.11: Couture vs. Machida Preview
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 04.21.2011
Will Lyoto Machida send The Natural off into retirement with a loss at UFC 129 or can Randy Couture score the upset one last time? 411's Jonathan Solomon takes a look! Plus, news on Jon Fitch's injury, Cruz vs. Faber and more!
The Juggernaut MMA News Report's coverage of UFC 129 continues this week with a preview of one of the most anticipated fights on the card, an historic light heavyweight match-up between UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and former champion Lyoto Machida. To say this fight means something different to each competitor would be about as big an understatement as saying judging in MMA is flawed. Different motivations, different paths, separate goals are what this fight is all about despite the fact that at the end of the day, it will be a fight with a loser and a winner, well, unless they fight to a draw.
The fight has taken on an added sense of significance because earlier this week, Randy Couture has said win or lose, this will be his last fight. He intends to focus on other opportunities including his acting career (he reportedly is scheduled to go to work on at least two films within the next year). While he has said such things and retired at various times in his career, it sounds like this is the final straw.
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
Two years can lead to major changes in one's career and if you look at each man's standing as of October 2009, it was almost entirely opposite. Randy Couture had lost the heavyweight championship to Brock Lesnar in November 2008 and took time off before returning in August 2009 to take on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Despite a close fight, it was Nogueira who walked away the winner at UFC 102 and as a result, Couture dropped down to light heavyweight. Consecutive losses and being a natural light heavyweight made that decision easy for The Natural.
Meanwhile, in October 2009, Lyoto Machida successfully defended his UFC light heavyweight championship for the first time when he won a decision over Shogun Rua. At that point, Machida was 16-0 and had defeated Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua in the same year. He was seen as one of the best fighters in the sport in any weight class.
Then things changed.
In November, Couture dropped to 205 and won a controversial decision over Brandon Vera. He followed that up by choking out Mark Coleman at UFC 109 in February 2010. Machida returned in May in another fight with Shogun but this time, he couldn't make it out of the first round. Shogun knocked out the champion in over three minutes. In the summer, Couture returned to heavyweight for one last time when he fought professional boxer James Toney and choked him out quickly in the first round. Machida returned after his first loss in November to fight Quinton Rampage Jackson. It was another close decision and this time, Machida lost and is now on a two-fight losing streak while Couture will look to end his career with his 20th win and a four-fight winning streak.
Randy Couture (19-10) has talked about fighting Machida for at least two years because he's the type of fighter who loves to strategize and develop a gameplan to try and beat opponents. That's how he has been able to beat the likes of Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, Tim Sylvia, Gabriel Gonzaga and a host of others. While Machida was winning, he appeared to be an insolvable puzzle with his unique striking style that no one could solve.
This fight, on paper, does not offer many question marks leading up to it. Couture will want to close the distance and hurt Machida with his dirty boxing background. If he can take the former Brazilian champion down, then great. If he cannot, I doubt Couture would be opposed to throwing a mixture of elbows and knees to weaken Machida's core. As far as what Couture will have to look out for, that's probably the million dollar question. Will Machida be hesitant at all in this three round fight? He has said he should have been more aggressive against Rampage throughout the fight and blames that for his decision loss. Over the past month, he has even hinted that he will have to overcome judges in Toronto because of Couture's beloved status. While that is an odd thing to talk about before a fight, perhaps he is right.
Machida will need to keep Couture at bay with his reach and odd combination of kicks, strikes and footwork. Whenever the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion comes near, he should pepper him with shots while making sure he never keeps his feet settled. If Machida becomes a stagnant target, what will prevent Couture from taking him down and wrestling with him for the remainder of a round?
Couture has lost over the years to opponents who refuse to get caught into fighting his style a fight. Liddell, Lesnar, Nogueira had all been able to stay within themselves and never overreach or do anything too costly. Against a hobbled (injured back) Sylvia, Couture rocked him in the first round, battered and rode him for the remainder of the five round fight. Gabriel Gonzaga was sucked into a clinch battle and ended up being battered with punches and elbows (although during this fight, Couture broke his left arm defending a kick).
Looking past this fight, assuming Couture really means it when he says this is his last fight, we'll see the final fight of an MMA legend here. Couture has accomplished more than anyone could have ever imagined and although his record isn't as good as others, you cannot deny the man's accomplishments. He won the UFC 13 heavyweight tournament, he's a three time UFC heavyweight champion, a two time UFC light heavyweight champion and he has won against big names (Liddell, Belfort, Sylvia, Randleman, Horn, Rizzo, Maurice Smith, Coleman). Even if he does retire after this fight, win or lose, he's the man many will aspire to be in MMA for decades. But if he can defeat Machida on his way out, it's another notch on his plaque.
As for Machida, this is the most important non-title fight in his UFC career up to this point. Although he's not in danger of being fired, the idea of losing three consecutive fights is excruciating for a career. If he loses to Couture, he is out of title contention for a LONG time. However, if he wins (and he is the favorite here), he gets a much needed win over an MMA legend. The win immediately gets Machida back into the discussion as far as future challengers for champion Bones Jones.
BELLATOR 42 on MTV 2
Last week's Bellator show featured the most controversial decision of the season as Joe Warren won a unanimous decision over Marcos Galvao in a non-title catchweight fight at 137 pounds. Despite the fact that Galvao rocked Warren twice in the first two rounds, one judge (more on him later) scored the fight 30-27 for Warren. Ridiculous judging, but we have come to expect it unfortunately. The rest of the TV card was a controversial-free zone as each fight was stopped during the third round. In one featherweight tournament semifinal, favorite Patricio Pitbull Friere knocked out Wilson Reis (Pitbull is now 2-0 against Reis) and in the other semi, Daniel Straus choked out Kenny Foster. Freire will fight Straus in the finals (the winner earns a title shot against Warren) on a show to be determined.
The final TV fight saw bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky win by stoppage against Chad Robichaux after the champion was landing unanswered strikes. The bout was a non-title affair.
Turn the page to this weekend and it's Bellator 42! Unfortunately, the scheduled main event has been scrapped because Paul Buentello suffered a back injury, leaving heavyweight champion Cole Konrad without an opponent (he will not fight a replacement since the news broke yesterday). All this means is a pair of other fighters will have the opportunity to fight on MTV 2.
Richard Hale vs. D.J. Linderman
This is possibly the new main event and it's also one of the semifinal tournament fights in the light heavyweight division. Hale is 16-3-1 and is definitely the most well known fighter remaining following his tremendous inverted triangle choked win in the first round last month. Linderman is 9-1 and earned his semifinal spot by defeating Raphael Davis by TKO. Amazingly, Linderman is a BIG light heavyweight who cuts well over 20 pounds to make the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds. Since he last fought less than a month ago, I would not expect that fact to be an issue in this one.
Both men are well rounded so this fight is likely to go anywhere in the cage and neither man would run from the opportunity to turn it into a grappling match. Hale has not been stopped since his second professional fight and even once fought to a five round draw in 2009, so his endurance is not much of a question at this stage. Linderman has never been finished and likewise, fought to a five round decision (although he won) over Daniel Stewart last summer as a heavyweight.
Following his highlight reel submission win in his last fight, it will be tough to pick against Hale. However, Linderman is just as dangerous and this fight should be considered a pick-em.
Tim Carpenter vs. Christian M'Pumbu
The first of the light heavyweight tournament semifinal's will see 7-0 Tim Carpenter take on tournament favorite Christian M'Pumbu (16-3-1). In his first round fight, the French judoka took out Chris Davis in the third round via TKO. Since 2009, he is now 5-1-1 with that loss coming by split decision in Japan to Yoshiyuki Nakanishi. This weekend's match-up is intriguing because of Carpenter's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background. In his first round fight, he went toe to toe with Daniel Gracie and won via split decision.
M'Pumbu's strength is his ability to take opponents down and work towards submissions or thrash with his ground and pound. With Carpenter, will M'Pumbu be able to take him down and work him over? He has fought around the globe since making his professional debut in 2004 so based on experience alone, it's tough to pick against M'Pumbu.
Ronnie Mann vs. Josh Arocho
Finally, Mann is ready to make his Bellator debut. This fight was originally planned to take place earlier in the season but visa issues forced a delay. With that in the past, Mann can return to building his career in America. The English featherweight is 18-2-1 and is best known for being a top contender in Sengoku's division. His only two losses came two years apart, first in 2007 when he lost a decision to Robbie Olivier to the Cage Rage championship and then in 2009 when he lost by submission to Hatsu Hioki in Sengoku's Grand Prix tournament. Mann bounced back from the latter loss to defeat Shigeki Osawa by decision at Sengoku 11 before making his United States debut, defeating Doug Evans by decision (five rounds) to earn the Shark Fights championship.
With 21 professional fights on his record and being just 24-years old, he figures to be a name in MMA for awhile. Like many British fighters, he's known as a boxer but he has also trained in BJJ and wrestling (although I surmise saying that is silly since this is MMA and if someone doesn't do that, they're a fool).
His debut opponent is 6-9 Josh Arocho who is 2-4 in his last six fights since June 2009. Ironically, all six of his wins have come by submission. I don't know much more about Arocho other than the fact he has fought good talent (Alvin Robinson, Clay French, Zach Wolff, Eric Marriott).
Clearly, this fight is about showcasing Ronnie Mann as he hopes to enter a future featherweight tournament so he can challenge for the championship.
Luiz Alberto Nogueira vs. Jerod Spoon
With the line-up change, this is a bantamweight bout between prospects. Specifically, Luiz Alberto Nogueira, who trains in Brazil with the Renovacao Fight Team. Nogueira (no relation to Rodrigo and Rogerio) is 10-1 since his 2008 debut with his only loss coming by armbar submission against Eduardo Dantas in November 2008. Since then, he is 6-0 including his last fight in October when he defeated his opponent with an Arm-Triangle choke.
Spoon is an American prospect who made his debut in April 2009 and after losing, has gone 5-0-1. He has finished his last four fights, with only one making it out of the first round.
REMEMBER: Bellator Fighting Championship airs at 9 PM EASTERN on MTV 2 this Saturday.
JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS
- If you want to know which judge pushed Mr. Cecil Peoples out of first place in "MOST INSANE QUOTES FROM AN MMA JUDGE", say hello to one Chuck Wolfe. Mr. Wolfe scored the Joe Warren/Marcos Galvao fight from Bellator's show last weekend as 30-27 for Warren. Despite the fact in my humble opinion, Galvao won at least one if not two rounds, Wolfe obviously saw the fight different. Well, he spoke to MMAFighting.com's Michael David Smith and said, "He (Galvao) had three rounds to take Warren out if he really wanted to beat him -- he had three rounds to dominate Warren, as well as Warren had three rounds to dominate him. It's up to the fighter. ... Don't leave it in the hands of the judges, especially when it's a close fight.
Beyond insane.
- With the recent U.S. government seizure of several popular online poker web-sites, the UFC has lost out on a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker (one of the affected sites), in addition to the number of fighters who have been sponsored by the company as well.
- Alan Belcher is aiming to return to the UFC in September following surgeries to repair a detached retina last year.
- Japanese heavyweight MMA fighter Satoshi Ishii has reportedly decided to end his professional career. He intends to receive his American citizenship and work towards earning a spot on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Judo team for the Brazil games. Ishii burst onto the international scene in 2008 when he won a gold medal at the summer Olympics in Japan in 2008. It appears the lack of options in Japanese MMA led him to this decision.
- Jon Fitch told MMAJunkie.com he will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum and a tear in one of his rotator cuff muscles. He expects to be out of action for up to six months.
- DREAM has announced their next event will be DREAM 17 on May 29th in Saitama, Japan and will feature the first and second rounds of the bantamweight grand prix. The four match-ups include: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro; Atsushi Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama; Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka; and Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Masakazu Imanari.
JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK
From Urijah Faber and his people, they just love getting under (or trying to, at least) the skin of bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. They fight on July 2.
Funny how you didnt mention Tito Ortiz when mentioning big names Couture has beat... but did include Horn & Randleman
Posted By: kid (Guest) on April 20, 2011 at 11:31 PM
Almost as funny as the Cruz vid. I mean, I get it ... but still. Anyway, Ortiz's latest actions over the past few years have pretty much tarnished his "legacy," which was pretty thin to begin with. He fought during the lean years of the UFC, where the competition just wasn't as tough as it is now. As such, today's fans mostly associate him with pulling out of fights, making excuses for losses, and general jackassery.
Posted By: The Stuntkok (Guest) on April 21, 2011 at 01:45 AM
machida lacks the finishing instinct when he goes offensive hes great but hes to comfortable seriously if he doesnt ko a 50 year old man i am severely dissapointed and he needs to be out of title contenshion
Posted By: Guest#4078 (Guest) on April 21, 2011 at 01:52 PM
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