The Juggernaut MMA News Report 02.02.12: UFC 143 Preview
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 02.02.2012
Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit prepare to throw bombs! Fabricio Werdum and Roy Nelson battle for heavyweight supremacy and more! 411's Jonathan Solomon previews this weekend's UFC 143! Plus, check out the latest news including Alistair Overeem's legal trouble, Mayweather vs. UFC and more!
UFC 143: DIAZ vs. CONDIT PREVIEW
Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit
Ironically, it's Groundhog's Day and the Georges St. Pierre/Nick Diaz/Carlos Condit saga continues this week. The latter two welterweights were scheduled at various points to challenge for GSP's championship in October at UFC 137 before a torn ACL ruined such plans. Instead, Condit was forced from the show while Diaz handily defeated B.J. Penn in a three-round decision. Just over three months later and here we are, Diaz and Condit are preparing to square off with the winner being named the interim champion before an expected unification bout with GSP at the end of the year.
Carlos Condit is 12-1 in his last 13 fights since the summer of 2006. Over the same period, Nick Diaz is 14-1 with one no contest (the Gomi fight) in 16 contests. Both men are extremely comparable from the amount of professional experience (each have fought over 30 times) to their reach (76 inches each) and their affinity for participating in fan friendly fights. With that last point, you won't see Diaz or Condit laying and praying like some have criticized other top welterweights over the years which means you should not blink when the cage door closes.
Condit has been on a hell of a roll since his UFC debut ended with a split decision loss to Martin Kampmann. After beating Jake Ellenberger, he reeled off three consecutive knockouts over Rory MacDonald, Dan Hardy and Stun Gun Kim.
Meanwhile, Diaz has finished 9 of his last 11 opponents and while he was unable to stop Penn, he beat him so bad the Hawaiian retired on the spot.
The Natural Born Killer and Stockton, California's most famous resident are fighters who walk forward and look to hurt their opponent. You will not see either man being too hesitant in the middle of this one and to make matters even more intriguing, they are more than comfortable working on the ground. Nick Diaz throws as many punches as any other fighter in MMA and Condit may have the edge in one-punch power. With this fight scheduled for five rounds, that means there will be an enormous amount of opportunities for someone to get rocked and/or knocked out.
Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum
Big Country Nelson and Fabricio Werdum are back for their first fights of the year and this win will be massive whomever can achieve it. Nelson is 1-2 in his last three fights but it's worth mentioning his slimmer style when he last fought in October, knocking out Mirko Cro Cop. He still has his trademark gut but he is noticeably in better shape which improves his speed and can only be good for cardio purposes.
Nelson lost a decision to Junior dos Santos in 2010, one with which JDS was unable to run right through the big man. There's no moral victories in MMA but that fact should be noted. When he fought Frank Mir last year, he was doing so with an illness that impacted his wind. Frank Mir beat him up en route to a three-round unanimous decision. It was after that fight that Nelson made the concerted effort to improve his health.
For Fabricio Werdum, this is his return to the octagon for the first time in over three years since he was knocked out by Junior dos Santos (in HIS UFC debut) at UFC 90 in 2008. He jumped to Strikeforce where he choked out Mike Kyle and Fedor Emelianenko along with beating Big Foot Silva by decision. Against Fedor, he handed the best heavyweight of all-time his first legitimate loss after over a decade of competition. After Werdum dropped to the ground, Fedor was too aggressive and followed him which resulted in him being caught. Werdum slapped on a triangle choke and the Russian could do nothing but tap out. It was a lesson Alistair Overeem realized real quick.
Werdum and Overeem fought last summer in the worst fight of the year because of Overeem's unwillingness to engage Werdum on the ground. Plus, the Brazilian spent a good chunk of time dropping to his butt and scooting around the cage. Uncharacteristically, late in the fight, it was Werdum who was landing effective combinations before the end of the fight. Overeem took the decision and Werdum has emerged back in the UFC division.
Because Werdum and Nelson are both dangerous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, logic says this will turn into a kickboxing match. Werdum's striking may be a bit underrated but Nelson should have the power advantage. If anyone is getting knocked out in this fight, I would place my pennies on Fabricio Werdum. What I cannot get a feel on, however, is if this fight goes the distance. Grappling is nothing but a coin flip in my mind so striking wise, I could see Werdum maintaining his movement at a good clip so that Nelson does not have a stationery target to throw at.
It may not be the most popular thing to say, but I will hope to see Werdum and Nelson get into a BJJ battle. Whether Nelson can hang with a man who's recognized by most as one of the top 2 or 3 submission fighters in the division holds my interest. I hope you feel the same way, especially since the main event is almost guaranteed to be a classic slugfest.
Renan Barao vs. Scott Jorgensen
The biggest non-title bantamweight fight in the UFC this year may be this match-up right here. (27-1) Renan Barao will take on (13-4) Scott Jorgensen with the likelihood the winner will earn a championship fight against either Dominick Cruz or Urijah Faber pending the outcome of their title fight in the spring. Jorgensen may actually have to dispose of Barao in extremely impressive fashion because he lost a decision to Cruz on the final WEC show in 2010.
Since making his UFC debut, Young Guns Jorgensen is 2-0, including his jaw smashing knockout of Ken Stone in June. In a knockout you don't normally see, Stone was knocked out despite defending from a closed guard position. In October, Jeff Curran went up against the former top contender and lost a decision in which he was unable to mount much offense.
Barao is perhaps more famous for being a training partner of featherweight champion Jose Aldo as part of the Nova Uniao team in Brazil. There's always the stat that after losing his professional debut by split decision in 2005, Barao is undefeated in 28 fights. Speaking of impressive wins, look no further than his most recent fight in November against Brad Pickett. Heading into the match-up, it was figured it would be a hard fought, close fight going deep into the 15-minute time limit. Not so. Barao rocked Pickett in the first round, jumped on him and chocked him out via rear naked choke to knock some life into the rest of the bantamweight division.
Jorgensen's prime asset is his wrestling and mixed with his strength, usually gives fits to his opponents. In recent memory, the only man who was able to render that wrestling ineffective was Dominick Cruz (himself being an effective striker and wrestler). On the feet, Young Gun's striking is not built on speed (I wouldn't necessarily describe it as plodding, either) but he has major power that can change the game. However, because Barao is the more complete striker, do not be surprised to see the wrestler shoot in rather early. If he sticks to striking, I would imagine his intentions could be to keep the distance close and use his strength in the clinch to slow down and hurt Barao.
What Renan Barao brings to the table is that dangerous striking, whether you're talking speed, technique or the ability to rock an opponent. However, he is perhaps more dangerous on the ground where he has 13 career wins by submission. Jorgensen has only been submitted once in his career, his third professional fight in 2006 by armbar. Unless he can hurt Barao standing and branch his wrestling off that to control the rest of the fight, the Brazilian is the more complete fighter. Normally, I don't like counting against the wrestler but I am expecting Renan to be able to stay active no matter where the fight goes and give Jorgensen fits.
JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS
- Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight Miguel Cotto for the latter's 154-pound championship on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This means the UFC on Fox 3 show will air earlier that night leading into the Mayweather fight. Arguably the best boxer in the world, Mayweather announced the fight while adding that Manny Pacquaio is ducking him.
- Confirmed for April 21 in Bellator will be a non-title lightweight fight between Dream champion Shinya Aoki and Eddie Alvarez. The long awaited fight will be a rematch of their 2008 fight in Japan where Aoki submitted Alvarez.
- UFC lightweight prospect and TUF 13 champion Tony Ferguson returns to the octagon in May for the UFC on Fox 3 card where he will fight former welterweight Dennis Hallman.
- UFC heavyweight top contender Alistair Overeem has been charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an altercation in Las Vegas on New Year's weekend. He is alleged to have shoved a woman in the face. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Overeem received a citation and was not arrested. He must appear in court on February 21 where he could receive a maximum punishment of six months in a detention center and a $1,000 fine if convicted. Overeem's attorney David Chesnoff maintains there are two sides to the story and his client is innocent.
- Via Bloodyelbow.com, the Brazilian news outlet Esporte reports there may be issues preventing the UFC from running a stadium show in Sao Paulo, Brazil in June. Although they want to feature a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen in the soccer stadium in town, a noise prevention law is on the books. The law states there is to be no significant noise from 10 PM to 8 AM while the UFC show would take place during that time frame. If the UFC and town officials cannot work to solve the issue, the promotion may be forced to seek a new city and venue in Brazil.
- Legend FC announced this week an exclusive distribution and syndication deal with ESPN International. ESPN now has broadcast rights for the MMA promotion in Asia, India, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
- Meanwhile, ONE FC also announced this week a 10-year agreement with ESPN Star Sports for broadcast rights throughout Asia. "ESS" is described as the biggest sports content provider on the continent.
- ONE FC's next show will be held on March 31 in Singapore and two fights confirmed this week include Babalu Sobral vs. Melvin Manhoef and DEEP bantamweight champion Masakazu Imanari vs. top prospect Kevin Belingon.
- UFC on FOX 2 averaged 4.7 million viewers with a 2.6 rating, good for a second-place tie among all UFC TV events with UFC 75 (Rampage vs. Henderson) which aired on Spike in 2007. The November UFC on Fox show averaged 5.7 million viewers when heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez lost to Junior dos Santos.
- Maximum Fighting Championship released its top two lightweights this week after the MFC 32 headliners failed to make weight for what was suppose to be a championship fight over the weekend. Champion Antonio McKee was overweight by 7 pounds while challenger Brian Cobb was off by a half-pound. In their non-title fight, McKee won by decision. It sounds like McKee will return to welterweight in the future.
- My, how the "mighty" have fallen. Former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers has signed to fight Jeff Kugel, best known as a former security guard on the show "Hardcore Pawn" on TruTV. It will be the main event of a card at the Palace in Auburn Hills in Michigan on February 18. Kugel is also a former hockey player who has a win over Butterbean in an MMA fight.
JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Courtesy of HDNet's Inside MMA, Mike Tyson discusses the sport, his favorite fighter to watch and more!
