411 MMA Fact or Fiction 06.15.07: UFC 72

Posted by Michael Huckaby on 06.15.2007

Will this be the last overseas show on American PPV, with a loss should Forrest Griffin go elsewhere, and would Yushin Okami get the next MW title shot with a win?

Welcome back for this special Fact or Fiction based solely around the matchups and athletes on the UFC 72 card. Joining me this week are Intelligently Defending's Ken Kobel and Planet Tapout's Lotfi Sariahmed. Let's get to it:

1. If Yushin Okami defeats Rich Franklin he'll not only deserve the next middleweight title shot, but he'll get it.

Kobel: FACT. When Martin Kampmann went down to an injury and Yushin Okami stepped in to take his place, this main event turned into a bonafide number 1 contender's bout. If Okami defeats Franklin he will go to 5-0 in the UFC with his last two victories coming over fighters who are considered legitimate contenders – Swick and Franklin. Add this to the fact that the middleweight division does not have any clear cut fighters in line for a title shot and Okami will certainly get the next crack at the gold. Plus, Yushin is the last person to defeat Anderson Silva – albeit by DQ -- so if Anderson Silva gets by Nathan Marquardt it will set-up a moneymaking bout in Silva/Okami 2.

Sariahmed: FACT. If for no other reason than who else is there? Are you going to give a title shot to Jason MacDonald? Terry Martin isn't ready for a shot yet either, at least not until he goes through a longer bout. Evan Tanner is obviously not ready yet. So Okami would definitely be next in line. But it's not as if Okami wouldn't deserve a shot either. He beat up Swick and essentially sent him down to welterweight. If he beats Rich Franklin Saturday he'll knock off the UFC's middleweight golden boy. It would be almost TOO easy for the UFC to promote a fight between Silva/Marquardt and Okami. Now I have questions about a Silva v. Okami fight but that's not the question. So fact, if Okami beats the former champ, he'll be next in line for a shot at the belt.

Score: 1 for 1. And be sure to catch live UFC 72 coverage here on 411mania on Saturday afternoon from Ireland. /shill

2. The UFC regrets giving a second contract to Ed Herman at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale.

Kobel: FACT. If given the chance again, the UFC would probably have offered Ed Herman the typical TUF alum contract instead of the 6 figure deal. However, I doubt they are losing much sleep over it considering the money they are raking in these days. Win or lose this Saturday, I expect Herman's contract will be renegotiated to a lesser amount seeing as how it will be the last of his original 3 fight deal. I still think Herman could be a somewhat decent fighter in the UFC. He is a solid wrestler and after losing to Jason MacDonald he came back strongly against Chris Price. How he performs against Scott Smith on Saturday will say a lot in terms of what direction his career is heading in.

Sariahmed: FICTION. Would the UFC have signed Herman to the 6-figure deal knowing what it knows now? Probably not. Do they regret giving him the deal? I think regret might be too strong of a word. It was unfortunate. This isn't nearly as bad as the UFC giving Pedro Rizzo that huge deal pre-The Ultimate Fighter and all he ended up doing was losing. Besides, now the UFC is earning absurd amounts of money so the Herman deal is more of a mishap than anything else. The book hasn't necessarily been written on Herman either. He lost a tough bout to Kendall Grove in the finale of season three, then lost to Jason MacDonald. It's that loss to Jason MacDonald that's drawn the ire of so many fans. Like Kobel said, the UFC will resign him on the cheap and he might come back and win three straight fights. Who knows? So the UFC doesn't regret giving Herman that deal, not yet at least.

Score: 1 for 2.

3. UFC 72 will get such poor US revenue that it will be the last European show held on US PPV.

Kobel: FICTION. UFC 72 is going to probably generate poor US revenue because it is a weak card, not because it is being held in Europe. I believe the UFC will realize this and give a different overseas event another shot on US PPV before resorting back to showing the cards for free. UFC 75, which will be held in England, looks like it could be an excellent card headlined by Rampage vs. Henderson. If the UFC were to offer this event on US PPV I am sure they would be happy with the revenue. Plus, I could not imagine them giving a show headlined by Rampage/Henderson away on free TV.

Sariahmed: FICTION. For as BAD as UFC 72 is, it would have to be ATROCIOUS for the UFC to never have another European card on US PPV. We're talking about historic proportions here folks. Like I discussed in the latest edition of Planet Tapout the UFC is trying to see what it can get away with by putting together this card. If the numbers are bad, well then you won't see another lackluster card like this one again. But for the UFC to stop putting European shows on US PPV this card would have to be worse than the K-1 Dynamite show and I don't think that's physically possible.

Score: 2 for 3, and it could be worse than K1 Dynamite!! if two fighters don't have their mouthpieces taken out and maybe they bring out Joe Millionaire instead of Dennis Rodman.

----SWITCH IT UP----

4. With a loss to Hector Ramirez, the UFC should send Forrest Griffin to the WEC for name value.

Sariahmed: FICTION. Lets relax here folks. Two losses does not a career make. While a loss to Ramirez would obviously hurt him, it wouldn't kill him. Sure, it would be nice to see him fight the WEC's light heavyweight champ Doug Marshall but lets hold off on that bout. There are other bouts to be made with Forrest Griffin. How about the second bout with Tito Ortiz? Their first fight was a barnburner and the second bout should be just as exciting. What about a fight with "Babalu"? There's an interesting bout between two fighters. The UFC's light heavyweight division suffered from a real lack of depth before the PRIDE sale "officially" went through. Now the division is just getting stronger with Rampage and Henderson and Shogun and possibly even Wanderlei Silva coming in. Why do you want to take some of that new found depth away and send Griffin to the WEC? The WEC will do well with or without Griffin.

Kobel: FICTION. A loss to Hector Ramirez is going to be devastating to Forrest Griffin's career. It would be his third loss in his last four fights, and pretty much any Griffin fan still holding out hope that Forrest will one day be champion will be forced to come to grips with reality. Still, I don't think the WEC is the place for him. Griffin is an entertaining fighter and a solid one to have in the middle of a line-up. Griffin's name is also synonymous with the UFC and with a few wins to build his confidence back up there is still money to be made with Forrest. On top of this, I think the WEC will be better served if they create their own stars. By bringing in fighters who couldn't cut it in the UFC you create a product that comes off as a minor league.

Score: 3 for 4. HEY, Joe Riggs said he went there voluntarily!

5. Marcus Davis, ala Jon Fitch, could soon be the next forgotten man in the UFC welterweight division.

Sariahmed: FICTION. I'm sorry but this is borderline asinine. We're equating Marcus Davis to Jon Fitch? Marcus Davis won't be the "forgotten man" if he beats Jason Tan at UFC 72. He'll be a man who has a nice win streak (9 fights if he beats Tan) but all the wins would be against mediocre talent. Davis is 3-1 in the UFC with wins over Forrest Petz, Shonie Carter and Pete Spratt. Everyone knows about Spratt and Carter but they're far from solid competition. In his two fights against big competition he lost to both Melvin Guillard and Thiago Alves. Where's his impressive win? Jason Tan's not going to do it. Jon Fitch has won his last 12 fights. It also includes wins against Thiago Alves, Josh Burkman, Brock Larson, Jeff Joslin and Alex Serdyukov. Fitch is the "forgotten man" because he has these wins to his credit and hasn't gotten his big test. Everyone at the American Kickboxing Academy raves about him but no one's gotten a chance to see him on the big stage. That's why Jon Fitch is the forgotten man. Marcus Davis hasn't done anything too noteworthy in the UFC of yet and he was on The Ultimate Fighter season 2. Is there an Uber-Fiction option here?

Kobel: FICTION. I am a Marcus Davis fan. He has heavy hands, good submissions, and seems like a generally cool guy. With that said, he has a long way to go before being considered a ‘forgotten man.' He is currently on a roll with 8 straight wins however; you have to take his competition into consideration. For example, his victory over Jason Hathaway -- MMA record 2-11-1 -- at ‘Wild Bill's – Fight Night 3' doesn't exactly propel Davis into contender status in the most stacked division in the UFC. At age 33, Davis is no spring chicken -- but if he keeps on winning the UFC will keep bringing him back and stepping up the competition. We will not be able to consider Davis as a legitimate threat until we see him defeat someone of quality -- something he has not done yet in his career. A win over Jason Tan will likely see Davis get a big step up in competition – but is he a ‘forgotten man' at this point? No way.

Score: 4 for 5, COULD soon be. Projection people.

6. Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida will be the fight of the night.

Sariahmed: FICTION. I wanted to end on a positive note but I was pulled the other way. Griffin v. Guida will be an awesome fight and it has a 50/50 shot to be Fight of the Night with Franklin v. Okami being the other bout with a chance. I don't think Rich Franklin has been in a boring fight in the UFC. I might be wrong because I don't clearly remember his bout with Jorge Rivera but even that ended by submission. He'll be in a great back and forth battle with Okami which should provide some big fireworks. Griffin and Guida are certainly very capable of putting on an amazing fight too. But this fight also has the potential to be a one-sided ground war. Guida is an animal in the cage and he'll do everything he can to prevent this fight from going to the ground but Griffin might be too much for him. It'll be a great fight but that potential for it to be a one-sided affair makes me lean toward fiction.

Kobel: FACT. I am very excited for this fight. Even though he suffered his first career defeat in his last fight, Tyson Griffin stole the show with Frank Edgar at UFC 67. Huerta/Garcia gets more praise but make no mistake about it -- Griffin/Edgar is THE fight of the year in the UFC 155-pound division. Now Griffin will do battle with Clay Guida, who was last seen losing a unanimous decision to Din Thomas. Both fighters are going to come into this hungry and I expect to see a ground war. Griffin/Ramirez should be a slugfest but will likely be ugly as hell, and I have a feeling that Franklin will handle Okami rather easily. So I fully expect these lightweights to deliver fight of the night.

Score: 4 for 6.

Join us live on Saturday afternoon for UFC 72 PPV play-by-play. Next week MMA Fact or Fiction will look at the upcoming Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale show as well as Strikeforce/EXC's Shamrock vs Baroni card.