Locked in the Guillotine MMA News 12.23.11: The Pre-Christmas Edition

Posted by Robert Winfree on 12.23.2011

From a new intestinal track for Brock Lesnar and another win over Chael Sonnen for Anderson Silva to cardio training for Jason Miller and more, 411's Robert Winfree lists his gift wishlist for MMA! Plus news on Fedor fighting for DREAM and more!

Welcome loyal readers. Christmas is just around the corner, UFC 141 is next week, and I'm sure everyone is much more interested in what's going to be under the tree than what's in my column. Never the less, here it is and here you are. Since you've probably still got shopping to do we'll get right into it. I've got your neck again, so until you reach the end of the column you're Locked in the Guillotine again.

Feedback

A fair amount of feedback last week, which is always welcome. It gives me free space filler, and provides interesting conversation. Mostly space filler. Let's get to it.

bleh was up first, and questioned a comment I made about MMA being bigger than the NHL. With respect to the United States you can break it down by geography. I'm fairly sure the same is true of the world.
TimE expressed his admiration for Jon Jones and his performance. It was definitely memorable, and Jones might be my favorite fighter right now. The guys is just that good.
Deano showed up to again point out that American's tend to be somewhat isolationist. World wide I would assume that MMA and Hockey are neck and neck at the very least.
Guest#9827 asked if we'd heard of real hockey. I'm unsure what he means, as I've only heard of ice hockey and field hockey, and we were pretty clearly discussing ice hockey. Perhaps some illumination if you're back this week 9827?
The Truth closed up the comments by pointing out that to hockey fans nothing is bigger than hockey except maybe football. I'm not sure about Bruins fans being in denial, but I'm willing to take that one on your word.



Well there was a Strikeforce card on Saturday, let's get into what went down and how things are looking now.

KJ Noons wins: I said in my breakdown both here and for the roundtable that KJ was the safe pick, and with pretty good reason. Neither of these guys are top fifteen in their division, but they had a fun little fight here. These are they types of fighters who should be grateful that the UFC didn't absorb Strikeforce because they'd be working for other promotions very quickly.

Gegard is back on track: I said when breaking down this fight that I couldn't pick Gegard here because of his lack of wrestling defense. He showed vast improvements in that area, but basically OSP looked unrefined instead of Mousasi looking really good. Much improved wrestling from Mousasi though, which is good and should help him get back into title contention.

Who's next?: That was the question posed by Strikeforce commentators, and I use that term loosely, following Cristiane Cyborg's 16 second demolition of Hiroko Yamanaka. That is the most relevant question right now, as the 145lbs womens division is thin. I mean the champion sat out for fifteen months and still ran right over the competitor brought in for her. Female mma just isn't popular enough or deep enough to keep top level fighters busy. We're in wait and see mode as far as what's next for Cyborg.

Melendez remains the champ: Gilbert Melendez defeated Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision in the main event of the night. Melendez showed solid stand up skills here, and his success there seemed to remove the thought of a takedown from his mind. Had Melendez been able to secure takedowns he might have been able to stop the fight on the ground. As it was, a good performance from Melendez, though I'm wondering just how successful he'd be in the UFC with performances like that.

The announce team: Boy, these guys were a mess. Miletich was constantly sniping at everyone. Frank Shamrock was himself, which is pretty bad. Ranallo was himself, which isn't really a good thing. These three just didn't mesh at all for the night, it was almost hilariously bad. Thankfully we were spared from the cure for insomnia that is Gus Johnson.

News

Fedor to face Ishii for DREAM: Fedor Emelianenko is set to have one more fight this year against Japanese fighter Satoshi Ishii. Ishii is a gold medalist at the Olympics in Judo, but his MMA transition hasn't been smooth. Fedor is a pretty accomplished Judo fighter as well, and while not on the level of Ishii he should be able to hold his own in the clinch if necessary. In his last fight Fedor showed much more discipline in his striking and in his gameplan. At this point in his career Fedor is winding down, so showcase fights like this are going to be the norm until he retires in a year or two. It's hard to really get excited about this fight, but that's true of most heavyweight fights.

Overeem passes: This turned out to be much ado about nothing. There was confusion and whatnot, but Alistair has passed his drug test and will be fighting Brock Lesnar at the final UFC PPV of the year. Yeah, it's been a slow news week.

Efrain returns: The return of the first TUF winner to be cut by the UFC, and no I don't really count Travis Lutter, was announced. Once again, really slow week for news. I wasn't too impressed with Efrain in any of his fights, and in his last fight with the UFC he not only missed weight, but was comprehensively out performed by Charles Oliveria. Hopefully he doesn't blow his second chance.

Strikeforce drops heavyweights: It was announced that Strikeforce wouldn't have a heavyweight division following the completion of the Grand Prix. This makes sense, the heavyweight division is shallow and combining the fighters from the two organizations makes sense. This will hopefully add some depth to the division in the UFC. Let's face it, beyond the top five or so heavyweights they're all pretty much equal.



Well Christmas is just a few days away, which is always a good thing. Everyone has been doing some kind of Christmas themed bit, so I figured why mess with a good thing. Here's what I'd get for fighters, and some of my fellow writers here at 411mania.

Brock Lesnar should get a new intestinal track so he doesn't need to worry about diverticulitis anymore.

Anderson Silva gets a definitive win over Chael Sonnen. Again.



Gilbert Melendez really needs some better competition, whether he moves to the UFC or some higher level fighters from there go to Strikeforce. Seriously, the guy needs to fight other legitimate top five lightweights.

Jason Miller should get some cardio training. That and a really good standup coach.

Wyatt Beougher clearly needs a fathead of Chael Sonnen to plaster on his wall. Probably more than one now that I think about it.

Jeffrey Harris an underground tape of a "hardcore fight" between Dan Henderson and Joe Warren.

Stewart Lange Scottish independence! Barring that, a UFC card in the UK that actually matters, for all the fans over there.

Alex Watt more people here in the states who can understand his pain about football. The real version, not the American one. And of course something good to happen to the French.

Jon Butterfield needs to get a profile on a fighter who most likely wont lose after it's put on the website. Or to do profiles on fighters we all want to lose, whichever I can get to easiest this close to Christmas.

Dan Plunkett gets more appreciation for the amount of numbers he crunches on a regular basis. Also a gift card of some sort.

Dustin James A win streak for Ed Herman.

Todd Bergman A collectable of the one person he's trying to emulate the most.



Mark Radulich a few back to back compelling heavyweight fights so he can tell everyone else to stick it.

Scott Kuczowski cage side seats for every UFC event he can attend.

Jon Solomon the second award trophy for him to carry around. He got the Owen Hart award from Stewart Lange, but he needs the second one to complete the image.

Larry Csonka a better crew to oversee than this bunch of jokers.

Fedor Emelianenko a decent win streak to retire on. Plus the recognition he deserves as the greatest heavyweight of all time, so far at least. I was going to give him his sweater back, but he found it so I had to come up with something else. Oh, and of course some ice cream.



Frankie Edgar could really use a PPV buyrate of more than 400,000. For as hard as the guy fights he doesn't seem to inspire people to spend their money.

Jose Aldo a spectacular knockout to remind everyone that he is that damn dangerous.

Martin Kampmann some judges who know how to actually score fights.

Dan Henderson really doesn't need anything, but since he wants to get destroyed by Jon Jones he can have a fight with him.

Tito Ortiz gets to finish his trilogy with Forest Griffin before he retires.

Big Nog a quick recovery from his injury and hopefully a couple more fights before he hangs it up.

Georges St. Pierre a finish in 2012 to once and for all shut up some of his critics.

Jon Jones needs a little more love from the fan base. I don't understand the dislike for him, but I also don't really understand why people like Chael Sonnen, so I'm hardly the best judge here.

Michael Bisping a healthy does of STFU



That takes care of the Christmas gifts, next week I'm taking a really in depth look at the Lesnar vs. Overeem fight, as well as a breakdown of the card in general. Until next week you've all escaped the Guillotine. I hope your holidays are enjoyable and you're all safe during them. I'll see you all next week, until then remember to keep your head up when shooting in.