The MMA News Report 4.11.07
Posted by Morgan Marx on 04.11.2007
Which popular fighter faces suspension over drugs? What upcoming fights does the UFC have planned for you? And what did I think about this weekend’s action? Answers to these questions and more…inside!
INTRODUCTION
We're only into the second week of April, and it's already been a huge month for MMA news. Shocking upsets, huge financial deals, and roster transactions have shaken up the UFC, Pride, and other MMA entities. I hope you all enjoyed the weekend, whether you were watching Fight Night Live on Spike, UFC 69 on PPV, or the live US debut of Pride. Remember, if you're not able to view an MMA event, check in here at 411 for live coverage of all the major shows. Let's see what we have in store for the third edition of the MMA News Report (do I need a more original title? Can we come to a consensus on this?).
MAILBAG
Reader Tri Sundermeier (awesome name by the way) checked in with this question:
"I personally really like Tim Sylvia and wonder why so many people seem to hate him. I absolutely know I'm in the minority here....just wondering if you could fill me in. Thanks"
Tim Sylvia went through a transition that affects many pro athletes/teams. A fighter is always more popular on the road to the title than as the champion. When Tim Sylvia was an upcoming talent with a troubled background and a vicious stand up game he had many fans. Once he captured the heavyweight title and changed to a more conservative style, those former fans became bitter message board posters.
The change occurred following Sylvia-Arlovski II. Sylvia has had three fights since then: a boring decision victory over Arlovski in their second rematch, a boring decision victory over Jeff Monson, and a decision loss to UFC legend Randy Couture. Even the Couture fight was fairly boring, once you got past the ramifications of a 40-year-old dominating a much younger and larger opponent. Is Tim Sylvia to blame in each of these cases? Partly. However, an alleged injury altered the Arlovski fight, Monson was a bad style match-up who knew the game was lost early in the fight, and Couture had a perfect game plan. We saw what a perfect game plan can do to a hyped fight this weekend (more on that later).
I think, given time, Sylvia will be back among the elite heavyweights in the world. With better match-ups as a result of the Pride merger, Sylvia will have more opportunities to sprawl and brawl. Whether it's Sylvia-Cro Cop, Sylvia-Herring, or even Sylvia-Emelianenko (Aleksander, hopefully, someday) Sylvia will get his chances to knock some out. Sylvia wants another crack at Frank Mir. That has 1st round KO written all over it.
As always, send any questions, comments, complaints my way, and you might find yourself leading off the column. Thanks for the email Tri, keep reading.
NEWS
We're going to go light on the news today, with most of this week's column being devoted to the commentary below.
NSAC Suspends Diaz, Gomi Fight Ruled No Contest
The Nevada State Athletic Commission handed out fines and suspensions following post-fight positive drug tests for several fighters this week. Though none of the fighters are currently on the UFC roster, the rulings could have ramifications for some UFC stars. MMA Weekly has reported the results of the findings, which stem from fights this past January and February.
The biggest announcement was in regards to former UFC competitor Nick Diaz. Diaz, who scored a somewhat surprising upset of Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi, tested positive for the active ingredient of marijuana post fight. In an interesting ruling, the NSAC ruled that the level Diaz tested for was high enough to influence the fight. Though marijuana is not thought to be a performance enhancing drug, MMA Weekly cited Tony Alamo, NSAC chair, as reporting "I was there at this fight and believe that you (Diaz) were intoxicated and... that it made you numb to the pain. Did it help you win? I think it did." Diaz was fined 20% of his purse ($3000), suspended for 6 months, and the result of the fight was changed to no contest. Since Diaz was already serving a 6-month suspension for the injuries he received during the fight, the no contest ruling has to be the biggest punishment.
It will be interesting to see what sort of impact this has on the case of Diego Sanchez, who also tested positive for marijuana. Both Diaz and Sanchez claimed that the positive test was a result of a one-time thing. I doubt Sanchez tested at the same level as Diaz, so we shouldn't expect a similar punishment for Diego. Either way, this should serve as a wake up call to fighters who use recreational drugs.
Kit Cope and Joe Pearson also received suspensions following positive drug tests.
In addition to the Liddell v. Jackson and Silva v. Marquardt fights that the UFC has lined up, a couple other main events have been elevated to "quite possible" rumor status. In his post event press conference, Dana White mentioned that Matt Serra would make his first title defense against Matt Hughes. On Hughes' personal blog (and am I the only one somewhat surprised that Matt Hughes has a blog?), the former welterweight champion had some things to say about Georges St-Pierre's loss. "Georges looked a little smaller than usual and he didn't look sharp when he was out there. So, I don't know if pressure had something to do with it or what, but he just didn't look like himself out there and Matt was able to land that big punch. So, hopefully I will be facing Matt in the future."
It looks like Hughes will get his wish. Now, I have no right to take shots at Matt Serra, as I am one of the many forced to eat humble pie after his upset win. But I can't imagine Serra being any less of an underdog in a fight versus Hughes.
In other fight news, according to MMA Weekly, Rich Franklin will appear on the UFC 72 card against the hard-hitting Martin Kampmann. UFC 72 is scheduled to take place in Ireland, of all places. While Franklin is a big name, that doesn't appear to be a main event caliber fight, so I wouldn't be surprised if another bout is added to the line-up.
Finally, UFC Junkie reported that upcoming combatants Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans got into a scuffle in the stands on Saturday. The altercation was caught on tape, but comes across as comical more than threatening. The two will go at it for real at UFC 73 (which was 72 before the announcement of the Ireland event), a night headlined by Anderson Silva.
With everything that happened over the weekend, I'm just going to comment on a few of the things that caught my eye, bulletin style. If you're looking for a full wrap up of the events, check in with some of the other coverage we have here at 411.
UFC Fight Night Live
-- Is there a more inefficient submission than the leg lock? It always looks cool, and it can lead to very dramatic moments, but look at the number of tight leg locks that fail to finish fights. Off the top of my head we've seen Stevenson v. Neer, Griffin v. Edgar, and now Mishima v. Florian. Florian showed tremendous fortitude to not only survive the submission, but to bounce back from a lapse in concentration to finish the fight. Mishima should be commended for giving it his all in the 3rd round, but he was outclassed.
-- I thought the commentary was very interesting in the Hardonk v. McCully fight. It always fascinates me when a fight goes the opposite way it was "supposed to." There's that steady shift from Rogan and Goldberg where they stop praising one fighter exclusively and shift to actually calling the fight. A lot of people have issues with Rogan, but I'm a fan. I thought he called the fight well. I loved how incredulous he sounded at Hardonk's inability to grab an arm and finish the fight. It's a shame Frank Mir pulled out of the fight. He might have been able to finish Hardonk on the ground. I shudder to think what Jake O'Brien would do to a guy like Hardonk.
-- I really think that once Tito Ortiz is finished with the fight game, he will make an excellent coach. Team Punishment is already one of the better camps around. Ortiz's work as a corner man is always insightful and inspiring. Assuming he outgrows the antics that accompany him as a fighter, he could be the next Pat Miletich.
-- I thought Melvin Guillard's show of emotion after his flash loss was pretty touching. In a sport built on bravado, it's interesting to see such a show of public disappointment. I thought he was going to cry in the ring. Guillard will bounce back. I think Stevenson would have won the fight no matter how long it lasted, but the 20-second decision didn't let Guillard show off any of the skills that brought him to that point.
UFC 69: Shootout
-- I'm a big Kendall Grove fan. Can we officially say he has arrived? A lot of the TUF guys take flak, but Grove completely dominated Alan Belcher before applying a beautiful D'Arcy choke that we don't see too often. Grove has the talent and height to cause a lot of men problems at 185. I wouldn't mind seeing a Grove v. Mike Swick match-up.
-- Speaking of Swick, I wasn't surprised that he was outmuscled by Yushin Okami. Okami is a fighter whose style would cause anyone problems. He's a big, strong 185 with a meticulous game plan. Swick's free-swinging style is exciting, but has too many holes. He's not ready for a Franklin or Anderson. There's talk of Swick moving down to 170, but I'm not sure he would match-up well against the dominant wrestlers in that division (Hughes, Koscheck) either.
-- If you haven't purchased a UFC PPV in HD yet, you're missing out. The fights look absolutely amazing. Can't recommend it enough.
-- The Leonard Garcia v. Roger Huerta war is a must see. Both guys showed tremendous heart. The lightweights have already given us a couple Fight of the Year caliber matches (Griffin v. Edgar being the other) so I think it's safe to say the division will stick around a while.
-- You've probably heard a ton of complaints about the much-hyped Josh Koscheck v. Diego Sanchez fight by now. I didn't mind it as much as some critics. I thought it was a fascinating fight from a psychological standpoint. In hindsight, it's now readily apparent that Sanchez psyched himself out prior to the fight. For all the Myspace comments, threats, and weigh-in shoves, Sanchez was scared of Koscheck. We all know that Sanchez thrived due to the ridiculous (borderline delusional) confidence he has in himself. Now we know what it looks like when that confidence is shaken. Will he be able to come back after this loss? Or will he go the route of David Loiseau? Rogan did an excellent job pointing out the Alessio fight as the game plan to beat Sanchez. Now everyone knows how effective that can be. I can't believe Diego didn't at least try to win it in the 3rd round. For a fighter with so much pride, how humbled must he feel. I also think there will be an incredible backlash against Sanchez if he tries to brush this loss off, or if he implies Koscheck didn't come to fight.
-- Georges St-Pierre is in a similar situation to Diego. He's now lost two high profile fights. Will he be able to mount another challenge? I don't want to make excuses for St-Pierre, but having seen the comments from Matt Hughes (above) I think there had to be something wrong with Georges. I know he said he was perfectly fine in his classy post-fight interview, but that wasn't the same St-Pierre who dominated Hughes. I also thought that there was a slip, after the first punch caught St-Pierre in the back of the head, which affected the out come of the fight. But oh well. Kudos to Matt Serra. He deserves all the respect in the world for proving everyone wrong.
-- As a St-Pierre fan, I would have liked to see him beat Serra. However, this does open the division up for some interesting match-ups. Serra will get Hughes next. Karo Parisyan is set to face Josh Burkman. Maybe St-Pierre gets Josh Koscheck in a contender elimination fight, while Burkman and Diego meet down the road? After that we could see Hughes v. St-Pierre 3, Hughes v. Koscheck (which I would love to see, talk about wrestling), St-Pierre v. Sanchez, Sanchez v. Burkamn or who knows. Any way it shakes out, it will be exciting.
-- One last thing: is Nate Quarry the worst corner man ever? What was up with the expletive laced advice he delivered to poor Josh Haynes? I mean, how could that possible have helped Haynes?
Pride 34
-- Not too much to say about a lackluster Pride card. I am somewhat baffled by the hype that has greeted Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. So the guy gets two flash knockouts in less that one round of fighting, and now he's the 5th ranked light heavyweight in the world according to MMA Weekly? While his last two victories have come over excellent opponents, and the uppercut that KO'd Ricardo Arona was beautiful, isn't it a little early to rank him higher than Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz? Or is that how weak the division has become?
-- Let me agree with the complaints about the Don Frye fight. The fact that the fight was allowed to go on so long, when it was obvious Frye was out on his feet, was abominable. It's never fun to see a fighter take shot after unanswered shot. Since MMA has come so far since the dark days, it's disappointing to see bad judgement from both the ref and Frye's corner mar an event. At UFC 69, we saw two fights go slightly longer than they could have. I couldn't believe that the Okami v. Swick fight wasn't stopped. Even though the blows Okami was landing from the mount weren't as damaging as the shots Frye was taking, he still got in 25-35 strikes. That's way too many. The commentators pointed out that Swick proved the fight shouldn't have been stopped by reversing Okami, but I disagree. Any time a fighter is being beaten like that, it's in the best interest of both the fighter and the sport to stop things. John McCarthy looked to have let the main event go on a little long, if for no other reason than to avoid any controversy. I understand the UFC want to avoid quick stoppages (such as Ortiz v. Franklin) but letting things go on too long is just as bad.
CONCLUSION
Well, I'm spent for this week. We didn't get to cover the Fedor v. Lindland fight, but I think "Fedor wins big" says it all. Next week I'll do a run down of UFC 70 for you, as well as the usual news recap. Hopefully you're having a great week, and hopefully you'll be back in seven days to check in with me again. And don't forget to send emails!
