Five Quick Rounds 01.25.12: UFC Debuts on FX, ProElite Holds a Third Show, King Mo Has a No-No, and More!
Posted by Wyatt Beougher on 01.25.2012
Thoughts on Phil Davis and Rashad Evans continuing their trash talk on the road to UFC on FOX 2, King Mo's drug test failure, Jorge River's career-closing win at UFC on F/X 1, the latest card from Pro Elite and more!
Welcome to the latest edition of Five Quick Rounds, 411's fastest-finishing weekly opinion column. As always, I'm your host, Wyatt Beougher, and I'm back in Vegas for at least a few more days and recovering from a pretty minor flu that nonetheless kept me from enjoying Vegas fully. I did manage to see Underworld: Awakening in Imax 3D (the theater is in the lobby of my hotel/casino), and it was a good, mindless, action flick. Unfortunately, this weekend also marked the passing of legendary football coach Joe Paterno, and no matter how you feel about the lapse of judgment that cost him his job (and likely his legacy), he was a one-of-a-kind coach and an even more amazing man, and it was my privilege to meet him on multiple occasions while working as a student police officer working game day security during my college days at Penn State. In my opinion, all of the lives that he positively molded, and all of the good that he did for the University, his players, and the central Pennsylvania region far outweighs a single instance where he initially did what he thought was right, but turned out to be not enough in the end. At any rate, you're not here for football news or movie reviews, so let's get the mixed martial arts, shall we?
Round 1: UFC Debuts on FX; Lots of Exciting Fights Happen
**TOUCH OF THE GLOVES**
So the UFC made their debut on FX, and they picked up where their UFC on Versus (and WEC) cards left off – not extremely stacked in terms of star power, but it certainly delivered in terms of action. I've said it before, but I only cover the main card in these results breakdowns, unless something noteworthy happens in the prelims. In this instance, it wasn't so much what happened in the final preliminary fight, with Jorge Rivera stopping Eric Schafer with strikes early in the second round, but at weigh-ins on Thursday, Rivera told Dana White that this would be his last fight, and like Chris Lytle's retirement last year, the UFC has lost a good hand in Rivera. While he was likely never going to be a championship contender, Rivera consistently put on exciting fights and he was a generally likable guy. Best wishes to him in his future as a father and trainer/owner of his own gyms. In the first fight on FX, Pat Barry not only knocked out Christian Morecraft in spectacular fashion, he also planked (lame) and made a great joke about how people thought James Toney was his BJJ coach. (He also followed it up with a joke at the post-event press conference about how he was going to look like Clay Guida because he wasn't cutting his hair until he submits someone, so while he might not always win, at least he's consistently funny – see above video.)
In the next bout, Mike Easton picked up the win over Jared Papazian via majority decision in what was an exciting fight that could've gone either way. Josh Neer continued his winning ways in his return to the UFC, needing just over three minutes to choke Duane Ludwig unconscious. And, in the main event, Melvin Guillard flaked out once again, going to the well about seven too many times with flying knees, and it cost him, as Jim Miller returning to the winning side of things, taking Guillard down, taking his back, and sinking in a rear naked choke for the win (and SOTN bonus). Overall, nice debut for the UFC on FX, with better production than I expected, and while Jon Anik did have his "bang my head against a wall" moments, he and Kenny Florian were certainly a welcome change from Goldberg and Rogan.
**HORN SOUNDS**
Round 2: ProElite Has Their Third Show
***TOUCH OF THE GLOVES***
So, a few months back, I said that I was glad to see ProElite return to promoting events, because it gave more fighters a chance to earn a living here stateside. Since that time, they've had a bunch of borderline awful heavyweight fights, BJ Penn's baby brother has gone 1-1, and they had a third show Saturday night. In a show with far less star power than the UFC's FX debut the night before, ProElite took over Honolulu, and they determined who the finalists would be in their heavyweight grand prix (and for those complaining about Strikeforce's GP, try this one on for size). Brent Schermerhorn knocked Kaleo Gambill out in only 45 seconds. Patrick Cummins submitted Tasi Edwards with an arm triangle choke with just under a minute left in the round.
Ryan Martinez advanced to the heavyweight grand prix final with a unanimous decision victory over Cody Griffin, and he'll be facing Richard Odoms, who submitted Jake Heun via rear naked choke in round two. Hmmm…Martinez versus Odoms or Cormier versus Barnett…decisions, decisions. In the co-main event, Sara McMann picked up the unanimous decision victory over Hitomi Akano, most notable in the US for losses to SheBorg and Miesha Tate. And, in the main event, former TUF winner and UFC competitor Kendall Grove (he of the stupid nickname) unanimous decisioned Ikuhisa Minowa, who was making his US debut. Yes, Kendall Grove did main event a show in 2012, which makes me wonder how much longer ProElite realistically has left. Their next event will likely feature Arlovski versus Sylvia IV, which could very well be the final nail in ProElite's coffin, but we'll have to see what happens.
***HORN SOUNDS***
Round 3: UFC 145 Card Announced; Apathy Follows
**TOUCH OF THE GLOVES**
With the injury to GSP, the UFC has decided to postpone its next trip to Canada, so many of the fights that were initially slated for the Montreal card have been moved to UFC 145, which will take place April 21st in Atlanta, Georgia, and two new fights have been announced, to boot. The seven fights that were originally scheduled for the Montreal show are as follows: Chris Clements will be squaring off with Keith Wisniewski, Mac Danzig will fight Efrain Escudero, John Makdessi and Anthony Njokuani will face off, Travis Browne will fight Strikeforce import Chad Griggs, and Mark Bocek will take on Matt Wiman. Also on tap are Ben Rothwell facing off against Brendan Schaub, Rory MacDonald looking to extend his win streak against Che Mills.
Originally announced for the show is a tilt between Mark Hominick and Eddie Yagin, and the two newly announced fights feature Maximo Blanco taking on Marcus Brimage and the newly rehired Miguel Torres taking on the undefeated-in-Zuffa Michael McDonald. If that card seems underwhelming for a numbered UFC show in 2012, take solace in the fact that the main event is rumored to be Jon "Bones" Jones next light heavyweight title defense, which will be against Rashad Evans if he beats Phil Davis this Saturday and is healthy enough to fight again in April, or Dan Henderson if Davis wins and/or Evans injures himself again. It's a personal policy of mine to buy all of Bones' fights, so there's a chance I'll be covering this show, but either way, that potential main event adds a lot of much-needed spice to what looks to be an underwhelming show (on paper, at least).
***HORN SOUNDS***
Round 4: UFC on FOX 2 Trash Talk Continues
***TOUCH OF THE GLOVES***
Last week, the UFC had a media call for UFC on FOX 2, and Phil Davis and Rashad Evans picked up their trash talking where they left off at the press conference, when Rashad famously referenced the Jerry Sandusky abuse case from Davis' alma mater. This time, Evans was questioning Davis' motivations for fighting and condescendingly calling him a "boy", all while saying Davis wasn't ready for the bright lights of a UFC main event. Davis, for his part, fired back admirably, saying he'd wait for Hendo to fight Bones for the title before taking his title shot, saying that it'd be a while before Evans had to worry about a title shot, and that he would remind Evans with every punch of his comments about Davis not being a fighter if he wasn't getting paid to do it. When this show was originally announced, and I thought Chael Sonnen was going to be in the main event, I thought it was awesome. Then they announced Evans versus Davis was going to be the main event, and I was disappointed, but these two have really stepped up their game in terms of promoting the fight, and now I'm actually excited for the fight.
Sonnen, meanwhile, hasn't been his usual sound-byte-generating self, whether he was discussing his recently-injured initial opponent, Mark Munoz, or his new opponent, Michael Bisping. And while Bisping would seem to be an easy and fitting target for Sonnen's verbal assault, the potential number one contender was content to save the best of his verbal jabs for the champion, claiming Silva would never fight him, that Silva had ducked him on four prior occasions since their first fight, and that he expected the champion to retire rather than fight him again. He also finally made derogatory remarks about Munoz, questioning how Munoz withdrew from the fight with an injury, but was then seen sparring with Wanderlei Silva. As usual, Sonnen stole the show, often talking over people and making his usual outlandish claims. Love him or hate him (and if you've read this column, you know where I fall in that particular dichotomy), Sonnen knows how to sell a fight, and if he wins against Bisping (and I have no reason to believe he won't), MMA fans around the world will be whipped into a lather by the time his rematch with Silva rolls around. Between Silva fans wanting the champion to shut him up and Sonnen fans hoping for the upset, a Sonnen/Silva fight will be one of the UFC's most talked-about and most desired fights in 2012.
***HORN SOUNDS***
Round 5: Another Week, Another Strikeforce Fighter Popped for PEDs
***TOUCH OF THE GLOVES***
So the biggest news of the week was easily Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal testing positive for the steroid drostanalone in the wake of his victory over Lorenz Larkin a few weeks back. This likely puts a huge dent in Strikeforce's plans for 2012, as it was widely expected that Mo would be one of the fighters tabbed to fight for the vacant Strikeforce light heavyweight title later this year. The other two options at this point are Gegard Mousasi, who Mo won the title from, and Rafael Cavalcante, who won the title from Mo before losing it to Dan Henderson, who vacated the title when he returned to the UFC last year. Unfortunately for Strikeforce, neither Mousasi nor Cavalcante is anywhere near the draw Mo is (and based on attendance for Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine, Mo himself isn't much of a draw).
Regardless, as expected Lawal came out late last week and maintained his innocence; however, he also said that he failed to disclose that several medications that he took prior to the fight to treat a knee injury sustained in training. Lawal took an anti-inflammatory steroid prior to the fight; however, that is different from an anabolic steroid and wouldn't trigger the positive result that he got. In his defense, Lawal submitted a list of supplements, medications, and over-the-counter remedies that he took prior to the fight to the NSAC in hopes of determining what caused the positive test. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, and if one of the supplements Lawal was taking actually contained a banned substance. If not, Mo is going to lose a lot of face.
***HORN SOUNDS***
And that's it for another week! Let me know what you thought about this column in the comments or on Twitter: @webeougher. Have a great week, and remember 411Mania for all your MMA needs!
