The MMA News Report 6.13.07
Posted by Morgan Marx on 06.13.2007
Did Pride fix fights? Will Jake O’Brien ever fight again? And will I do better than .500 on my picks for UFC 72. All this and more inside.
INTRODUCTION
We've got fights to preview, a bombshell from Quinton Jackson to discuss, and news one of the few fantasy fights I'd like to see. While I'll be watching tonight's Fight Night Live, I won't really be discussing it. However, I hope you guys tuned in, and I hope the fights exceeded expectations. I don't think we've quite reached the point where we should be taking free MMA action for granted.
MAILBAG
We're skipping the mailbag this week. I want to put an end to the discussion about Liddell/Jackson 3. However, I would direct you to the 411Mania forums and a thread about the subject if you'd like to weigh in with your thoughts. Next week, the mailbag will return with thoughts from Fight Night Live and UFC 72, assuming you guys have any thoughts.
NEWS
Rampage Alleges Pride Fixed Fights
While speaking with MMAToday.com prior to his light heavyweight battle with Chuck Liddell, newly crowned UFC champ Quinton Jackson made a shocking allegation, even by his own lofty standards. Jackson, while discussing his Pride debut against MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba, claimed he was offered money to lose. Says Jackson:
I'm never the type of fighter that would lose for money. I don't do that. But they told me, 'If you win this fight, you get $10,000.' But they told me -- these are like the two people from PRIDE who got fired recently, I don't know if the president of PRIDE knew about it -- but they told me themselves: 'If you lose by knockout or submission and you don't tap, you get $12,000.'
I said, 'But what if I knock him out?' and they said 'You get $10,000.' Then I understood what was going on. This was my first time fighting in the big show in Japan and I learned sometimes they wanted the other guy to win.
Jackson would go on to lose the fight by rear naked choke, although not as a result of a dive. At least, I assume so.
If Jackson's claim is true, this would cast a serious shadow over Pride during its DSE era. While there have always been questions about the quality of fights the organization booked and favoritism among certain fighters, this is the biggest allegation of out and out cheating.
While corruption certainly exists in America as well (check out the recent Tommy Morrison disaster), no such claims have been made about the UFC. Sure, Dana White will strong-arm you out of the organization, but he won't ask you to take a dive. At least, I assume so.
Update: Sam Caplan of CBS Sportsline passed along a report on today's edition of Fight Network Radio. Host and former Pride announcer Mauro Ranallo had Terry Trebilcock as a guest and asked about the Quinton Jackson claims. Trebilcock, the owner of the King of the Cage promotion, originally set up Jackson with Pride.
Ranallo claimed that Jackson merely misunderstood a bonus clause Pride used to help make fights more exciting by encouraging losses by submission or KO (as opposed to tap out). Trebilcock stood behind Rampage's claim, stating that his fighter did not misunderstand, and that a similar offer was not made to other fighters Trebilcock managed at the same time (such as Charles Bennet). All in all, Trebilcock reinforced Jackson's allegations. This could be just the beginning of this story.
Tom Murphy Off UFC 72, Jake O'Brien's Career in Jeopardy
Having failed to find a suitable replacement for the injured Jake O'Brien, Tom Murphy's fight at UFC 72 has been removed from the card. Murphy, a veteran of The Ultimate Fighter 2, was set to make his first UFC appearance since a victory in March of 2006.
While Murphy is surely disappointed with the lost opportunity, the situation is even more serious for O'Brien. Having spoken with O'Brien's agent, UFCJunkie is reporting that the injury keeping O'Brien off the card may be career threatening. O'Brien is suffering from stingers, a common injury among high impact athletes such as football players. Says agent Ken Pavia:
He started getting stingers in college, and they became a lot more frequent during preparation (for UFC 72). [They're] causing numbness and temporary paralysis in his arms. It's a pretty serious injury, and he's getting treatment for it. I guess there's always the possibility it's career ending, but we're not sure. He's getting intensive treatment five days a week.
O'Brien, a decorated collegiate wrestler at Purdue University, is coming off his biggest UFC victory to date, a surprisingly dominant upset of Heath Herring. Here's hoping the undefeated O'Brien will overcome this setback and return to the octagon again soon.
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture sat down with CBS Sportsline and offered up thoughts on his upcoming bout with Gabriel Gonzaga, Chuck Liddell's upset and training partner Karo Parisyan. Yet his most interesting comments may have been about a fighter not currently employed by the UFC. When asked about the prospect of a fight with #1 ranked heavyweight Emelianenko Fedor, Couture responded:
I certainly hope so. He's the top fighter in the world right now and certainly with good reason. He's amazing to watch. I love to watch him fight. He's exciting. He's very stoic when he steps into the ring. He's got a great demeanor. He's technically a very, very good fighter. Those are the kind of guys I want to fight.
While Couture declined to theorize how a fight between the two would play out, his comments give hope to the notion that Fedor will be a UFC fighter before long. Dana White has recently commented that the UFC is doing everything in its power to resolve Fedor's contract situation. With the influx of talent following the purchase of Pride, the UFC's heavyweight division is perhaps stronger now than ever before. The inclusion of Fedor would certainly make it so.
What to preview, what to preview. With multiple UFC events this week, what's an Internet columnist to do? I'm largely skipping the UFC Fight Night Live schedule for this evening (err, last night) due to the schedule of my column. While the event is not the most star studded ever booked, I'm sure it will be an entertaining several hours. Here's hoping that Jon Fitch doesn't come up short on a televised card.
Instead, we'll look at another criticized UFC card. UFC 72, airing this Saturday sometime between 12pm and 3pm depending where you're watching from, doesn't have the marketability of the events both preceding and following it. Without a marquee headlining fight like Jackson v. Liddell, or multiple championship battles like UFC 73, the UFC's first foray into Northern Ireland comes up a little short. Heck, you could argue that this season's finale of The Ultimate Fighter will be a much better card. Still, the fights might be good, and it boasts one bona fide star in Rich "Ace" Franklin.
Update: I ended up catching the show with enough time to edit my column. So ignore all the mentions of not discussing the events. Fight Night Live Notes
I hope you did tune into the event, even without the great buildup. Fight Night Live ended up being one of the best free nights of MMA I've seen on TV. The card had everything from explosive Kos to back and forth grappling to an out and out war of a main event. Here's some notes on the fights.
* McFedries v. Radev I take back what I said about Drew McFedries fading. He has now handled both a true boxer and a pure wrestler in the cage. Apparently, he is not lying about his hands. I can't imagine anyone at 185 wanting to stand and trade with McFedries. While he still has to prove he can survive on the ground with a submission artist (martin Kampmann, while talented, is not a Nogueira brother), he has a future in the UFC. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a McFedries v. Terry Martin, or maybe a fight versus Nate Quarry.
* Anthony Johnson v. Chad Reiner We always assume that someone taking a fight on short notice is at a disadvantage. Might it work the other way? What made Reiner think rushing a talented Muay Thai fighter was a good idea? Not knowing anything about Johnson, I began to worry for Reiner right about the time I saw the height and reach advantage Johnson held. It was an explosive finish. With his size and striking power, Johnson might prove a dangerous addition to an already stacked fight.
* Fitch v. Carneiro I was a little worried about Jon Fitch's fight. We heard the phrase "the best kept secret at welterweight" about 357 times over the coarse of the night. Fitch is dangerous close to being overrated what with all the talk about him being underrated. And for the first 5 minutes of the fight, it looked like all the hype was going to be washed away. But great fighters persevere in the face of adversity, and like fellow welterweight Matt Hughes, Fitch overcame a dangerous submission attempt to win decisively. Fitch is an intelligent fighter, and hearing him mention the adjustments he made to deal with Carneiro's strength and reach was enlightening. The fact that his changes worked so well just reiterated the importance of adapting your game plan in the midst of a fight. Now, we can commence with all the talk about Fitch's next fight (Karo perhaps?) and an eventual title shot.
* Black v. Tavares The UFC does a great job profiling fighters before events, and I was taken by Black's story. His work ethic and dedication to the sport made Black someone to cheer for. But watching Tavares put on a clinic of jiu jitsu, transitioning, and control was eye opening. Black deserves credit for surviving so many dangerous positions and so much punishment; a lesser fighter surely would have been subbed during the first round. And for one brief moment it looked like Black might pull out the fairy tale victory. But Tavares calmly and efficiently ended things with a gorgeous triangle. Tavares could be the most dangerous up and coming fighter at 155, even more so than the likes of Edgar, Griffin and Stevenson.
* Stout v. Fisher Without a doubt, one of the three best fights to air for free on Spike. Stout v. Fisher 2 was right up there with Griffin v. Bonnar and Parisyan v. Sanchez in the echelon of 15 minute wars. N fact, the fight played out like a quicker, more technical Griffin v. Bonnar, except neither fighter gassed horrible by the 3rd round. Fisher is obviously the star, displaying pin point accuracy with his strikes. After losing a title shot to Hermes Franca, Fisher could have slid back down the ranks. With this victory, he still has to be considered in the top 5 or 7 lightweights. However, the big surprise was ho9w Stout was still standing at the conclusion of the fight. He didn't even drop to a knee until the 3rd round. Stout took shot after shot that should have put him on his back. At 23, and with Randy Couture's training, Stout still has a bright future ahead of him. Just a truly thrilling fight that deserves repeated viewing.
UFC 72 Main Card Rich Franklin v. Yushin Okami: This match-up seems to be the rare case where a late change actually improves the quality of a fight. Yushin Okami should pose a greater threat to Franklin's road to redemption than Danish striker Martin Kampmann. We still have a lot of questions about Franklin, and I'm not sure we're going to get many answers here. Since Okami is such a drastically different fighter than champion Anderson Silva, what will we learn about Franklin's chances at a return victory? Okami is the kind of fighter who doesn't earn many points in a pre-fight breakdown, yet ends up completely dominating the fight itself. Still, Franklin is a large middleweight so Okami's strength advantage should be somewhat negated. Similarly, Franklin has tremendous cardio, so Okami can't count on grinding out a decision by excelling in the 3rd round. Franklin should escape unscathed, putting the pressure on Silva to survive his next title fight, setting up the rematch we'd all like to see. Prediction: Franklin by TKO.
Hector Ramirez v. Forrest Griffin: After a very close loss to Tito Ortiz, Forrest Griffin's star couldn't be higher. But after a stunning KO loss to Keith Jardine, people began jumping off the Griffin bandwagon like rats from a sinking ship. I'm not quite as down on the TUF star as others. Am I a little worried about the state of both Griffin's chin and mental outlook? Sure. But Griffin is an interesting character, a fighter who is always honest and outspoken, even about his fears and shortcomings. I think Forrest is still the fighter who stood toe to toe with Ortiz and took shot after shot from Stephan Bonnar. While Hector Ramirez is talented (and holds a KO over Kendall Grove), it's Griffin's fight to lose. Assuming he's healthy and mentally right, he should pull off the victory. Prediction: Griffin by KO.
Rory Singer v. Jason MacDonald: While each fighter had trouble taking a step up in competition (Singer losing to Okami, MacDonald to Franklin), this match-up clearly favors MacDonald. "The Athlete" should fit comfortably in the echelon right below the title contenders, a group that Singer is not a part of. Prediction: MacDonald by Submission.
Clay Guida v. Tyson Griffin: The UFC is not making things easy for Tyson Griffin. Following his first professional loss, Griffin will be stepping into the cage with a young, hungry, energetic fighter as opposed to some can. Clay Guida is the typical effort based athlete, who succeeds due to heart, endurance, and training. But Griffin is extremely motivated and has been training with Randy Couture. Karo Parisyan just demonstrated how than can aid a fighter, even one faced with challenging opposition. Prediction: Griffin by TKO.
CONCLUSION
Enjoy the fights, I'll be back next week with news and comments following both events.
