The MMA 5 & 1 12.07.11: The 'Techno Viking Rises' Edition
Posted by Stewart Lange on 12.07.2011
Arianny Celeste is your "& 1" Model of the Week and Rampage Jackson takes on Bas Rutten in Vs, plus news and thoughts on the results of The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale, Chael Sonnen taking on Mark Munoz at UFC on FOX 2 and more!
Well, December is here and the MMA calendar is winding up for the end of the year! Wait, what's that? There are still 3 major shows before the end of the year, including fighters such as Jon Jones, the Nog's, Gilbert Melendez AND Brock Lesnar? Phew. Nothing quite like a bit of MMA to get you through a cold winter night is there. I'm going to get cracking right in as by the time you read this I'll be on holiday for a few days and still need to get my stuff together. Let's get it on!
It's the totally irrelevant Evan Rachel Wood mailbag!!!!
Not much to reply to from last week, so remember and leave a comment at the end of the column.
Thought leben looked a bit under trained in his last fight anyone know what the banned substance was.
Posted By: swiftlefthook (Guest) on November 30, 2011 at 03:44 PM
Two of them actually, Oxycodone and Oxymorphone. Kinda dumb on his part too, as I believe they both flush out of your system pretty fast, maybe a week or so. So unless he was taking them in bunches recently or was doped up for the fight, I think they wouldn't show.
Posted By: JK (Guest) on November 30, 2011 at 05:57 PM
Thanks for answering the question JK. Leben looked like crap in his last fight but under-training for a guy as strong as Munoz with such a good wrestling base would be even stupider than being caught with drugs. Leben's camps game plan was seemingly to knock him out in 25 seconds or bust, because that is precisely what happened.
Chandella is amazing. Love her.
Posted By: Jeffrey (Registered) on November 30, 2011 at 03:19 AM
I did vote for Chandella for the MMA year awards as soon as BJ posted it on his news site. Not sure if that makes me a Chael sympathizer, but I like her much better than Arianny.
Posted By: JK (Guest) on November 30, 2011 at 12:41 PM
Glad to hear it isn't just me. We continue our tour of Octagon girls below.
This week:
Chuck Liddell upset the odds and moves onto the finale of the current Superfight Grand Prix! But who will he face? Will he get a chance for vengeance against Rampage Jackson? Or will we see a true Superfight with him taking on "El Guapo", Bas Rutten? You decide by clicking below!
Hope you're ready for the finale next week! Very exciting indeed!
Liddell advances
Crackhead looking for a dollar
What have you done with the real "Mayhem"?
When America's favorite Brit Michael Bisping said last week that he would leave Jason Miller looking like a "crackhead begging for a dollar", few people believed he would do so in such an impressive manner. The man from Manchester stayed calm under pressure in round one, to take the fight to Miller in the second before finally finishing in the third. While many of us had picked Bisping to win this match up by these means, nobody expected "Mayhem" to have so many problems with his cardio, or to struggle to outwork Bisping on the ground. After all, Jason has gone five rounds twice in his career, so he should have been able to handle the pace, right?
Wrong. Now, I've taken some flack in the past from you guys for having a "UK-bias" towards fighters, which, by the way, I don't; but I actually don't have a problem with Michael Bisping and hoped he would win this fight in a good showing here, because you're only as good as your last fight and the Rivera controversy will surely be one "The Count" would be happy to forget. Now, he can build on this win and become Anderson Silva's next punchbag become a contender at 185lbs.
With that said, his post fight interview seemed to suggest even HE has no interest in a Silva Vs Bisping match up. Who can blame him.
Video Break!
The UFC wins another "awesome promo" award for this 140 hype video. It's a truly exciting match up between Jones and Machida, plus the undercard is full of treats for long-time fans. Can't wait!
The Chael Sonnen corner
Hope you didn't get too close, fellas!
5 & 1 stalwart Chael Sonnen has been signed to fight Mark Munoz at UFC on Fox 2, despite denying the fight was going to take place. The thing about Sonnen seems to be that while we all know he's generally leading us a merry dance, he quite enjoys doing so and would probably claim the sky was falling if it meant he'd get a few more buys for his next fight. Now, onto this fight- I actually like Sonnen in this fight, purely because I expected Brian Stann to give him more problems that I'd imagine Munoz to. Sure, Mark hits hard, but so does Stann and Chael had no problem getting close and getting him down. Now, once the fight hits the ground, the "Filipino Wrecking Machine" should hold his own, but honestly I think it would take a charging rhino to stop Chael getting his rematch against Silva. He's just having to earn it the hard way.
Also announced for the Fox 2 card is the long-awaited Rashad Evans Vs Phil Davis match up. Now, it isn't as long awaited as Jon Jones/Rashad, but I feel like we've been waiting on this fight announcement for months. It's another good match up and a very hard one to pick, but I think the improvements we have seen from Evans will be advantageous in this bout and he'll pick up the win.
Evans/Jones and Sonnen/Silva look like matches we are destined to get in 2012, but can the contenders get past these opponents first? They'd better not be looking past them....
As you'll know, season 14 of the Ultimate Fighter drew to a close this past week, which is a shame because this is the first season I've really enjoyed since the Heavyweights. The finale didn't disappoint either, as we had a great night of fights including two potential Fight of The Night contenders and two TUF champions crowned.
First off, we had John Dodson defeat heavily touted TJ Dillashaw in the first round with a massive knockout. The live crowd was booing the stoppage but really, TJ was knocked into next week and the referee has to assure the well being of the fighters in the cage. If he hadn't pulled Dodson off, Dillashaw stood to take a lot of damage so it was the right call. While I picked Dodson to win, I do find him pretty irritating. His laughing and dance around the cage was actually quite embarrassing to watch and you could see by the look in Arianny and Chandella's eyes they felt the same way.
Ironically though, it was due to a referee allowing a fight to continue after a knockdown that gave us the dramatic end to the featherweight contest, as a rocked Diego Brandao was able to sink an AWESOME armbar on Dennis Bermudez in the dying moments of round one. Brandao is an absolute animal in there and should have no problem in getting a few Octagon wins, but Bermudez done himself proud as well and we'll no doubt see him again.
While that match took the Fight of The Night honors, my personal favorite was Tony Ferguson against Yves Edwards as those guys had a three round war that Ferguson took in the eyes of the judges. As I said in my roundtable picks, I'm really growing to Ferguson and want to see him fight a bit smarter in his next fight. He looks like a big Lightweight and if he wasn't so happy to eat shots could end up being a presence at 155.
Finish Of The Week
Here is Saturdays Submission of the Night. Hopefully it stays online long enough for you to watch!
MMA on MTV
She's nothing to do with this other than she's an MTV presenter over here
Last week, MTV announced a new TV show called "Caged". While details are fairly scarce at the moment, the show will be a documentary format following a bunch of Louisiana fighters leaving high school. While this is not a follow on to the Fightville series that we saw recently, it will no doubt bare similarities, with both of them taking place in Louisiana.
If MTV push this show hard enough, it could provide some much-needed exposure for the sport and hopefully get some new fans watching, especially with the UFC now no longer exclusively on pay-per-view or those "hard to reach" channels.
The downside will be if it's shown as a freakshow and makes the fighters look like brainless dropouts and do for fighting what "16 and Pregnant" did for Teenage pregnancy. Not that I've ever watched it, honestly.
Got a twitter? Click the above links for up to date news from across the 411 spectrum!
The Number One Contender is.....
Wait, is that the picture I wanted?
So, in one of the most bizarre booking decisions of the year in my opinion, we will soon see "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine fight for the Strikeforce Middleweight title. Yes, the same Keith Jardine that was cut unceremoniously from the UFC. The same Keith Jardine that fought to a (lucky) draw against Gerard Mousasi. He has done nothing of note in Strikeforce yet they book him as their new Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.
Let me get this straight, I like Luke Rockhold and was very impressed at the way he fought the title from Ronaldo Souza, but I can't be alone in thinking this is actually a fairly winnable match-up for Jardine? If he gets taken down then he'll be tapped, no doubt in my mind, but all he needed to land against Forrest Griffin was one massive punch. Jardine may be 4-7 since then and only won one of those fights by knockout, but the fact remains he will have a punchers chance.
I think Strikeforce would have been better served by holding off a little when Tim Kennedy pulled out of the fight against Rockhold as it seems a little "name-out-of-hat" for my liking. Hell, I'm sure a rematch against "Jacare" would have done solid numbers for them but if the worst happens, then Strikeforce are going to have to book Keith Jardine in a title defense. In 2012, that just doesn't sit right to me.
We finish the current Octagon girls today with Arianny Celeste. Enjoy!
The Post-Fight Press Conference
That's pretty much it for another week everyone, hope you enjoyed the column and as always, be sure to leave your thoughts below!
Also, check out the most recent articles from the rest of the MMA crew:
Sorry it's been a little rushed, but I'd better leave my house while there still isn't any snow on the roads for this holiday! Enjoy your week and I'll see you back here for another MMA 5 & 1!!!
