Five Rounds Of News 03.28.08
Posted by Randy Harrison on 03.28.2008
Lots of fights to review and preview as WEC, Strikeforce and the UFC all get a look this week. The Ultimate Fighter is set to return and should Anderson Silva even consider boxing Roy Jones Jr.? Five Rounds returns with all of that plus fight videos to get you ready for Saturday night in San Jose!!
Introduction
It's that time again everyone, so welcome in again to the news report that ends your week off right, Five Rounds Of News. I'm Randy Harrison, the host with the most, and after last week's column having more international flavor than the Around The World in 80 Plates buffet at the MGM Grand, things are decidedly more centered on this continent this week as we breakdown the WEC show from Wednesday night, look ahead to both the Strikeforce show this weekend and the UFC Fight Night show next week, give a bit of a preview to the new season of the Ultimate Fighter, and also break down just what would happen if Anderson Silva were ever to get into a boxing ring with Roy Jones Jr. for a one-on-one bout. Random Strikes returns with all the rest of the happenings in the big, old, crazy world of MMA, and there's new features and old favorites everywhere you look, so let's get right to the newsy bits and get this edition of the Five Rounds underway...right NOW!!
Round One
WEC 33 Breakdown
The WEC returned for another card this week, and it ended up flying so far under my radar that I ended up completely forgetting to run a preview in last week's news column. I'm still not entirely sure how it slipped my mind that much, but I'm thinking that perhaps it was my general dislike of Doug Marshall that led me to subliminally block my thoughts on the show. It did go down however, and Marshall was in the main event, defending his WEC Light Heavyweight Championship against Brian Stann, and there were four other big fights on the night, as well as a huge announcement from the WEC, so let's get right into the meat of things.
Before we get to the fights, the WEC officially announced the Featherweight Championship fight between champ Urijah Faber and the new number-one contender, Jens Pulver. Pulver made a triumphant debut in the WEC with a quick submission bitchslap of Cub Swanson and Faber is riding the hot streak of all hot streaks in MMA, seeming to do no wrong while racking up win after win. This is a HUGE fight for the WEC and they've got the date set for June 1, in Faber's hometown of Sacramento. They've moved it to a Sunday night and look like they're going to put all of their promotional clout behind this fight, with good reason. This is the first big-money fight in the WEC since Zuffa took over the company and with how well the UFC can promote their cards, I'd expect this one to get a ton of exposure. I've said it last year, and I'll say it now, that there's no way they'd be able to put this on PPV for a full UFC price and get away with it, but if they put it on with five or six fights for twenty bucks, I bet this could be a real cash-cow for Zuffa. It doesn't seem to cost anywhere near as much for them to put on a WEC show as it does for a UFC show, and lots of fans want to see this fight. I'm excited and can't wait for June and hope that WEC puts up a good undercard with this fight. Now on to the action from WEC 33!!
Steve Cantwell def. Tim McKenzie
Cantwell looked good in dropping McKenzie and then taking the back to choke him out, and there's not really a lot that needs to be said about it. Cantwell is going to have to bide his time a little lower in the division since he's already been handled rather easily by the new champion, so he's going to have to season himself and work on his skills and try to get better in the meantime. McKenzie looked a little overwhelmed by the situation quite frankly, and that's something that seemed to come up for the entire night.
Marcus Hicks def. Ed Ratcliff
Marcus Hicks doesn't look like he's a joke at all when it comes to the lightweight division, and I might go so far as to say that he might be next in line for a title shot because he looked dominant in this fight. He really seemed to want to show off his submission game, going for guillotine after guillotine, He didn't completely deny the fans the chance to see him work his hands though as he caught Ratcliff with a STIFF uppercut and some other good shots between all the choke attempts. Again Ratcliff looked overwhelmed, not so much by the situation this time, just by Hicks and his constant pressure. Maybe it's time to call it a Hick-o-tine after this fight?
Rich Crunkilton def. Sergio Gomez
Fight of the Night in my eyes, right here, even though it was still fairly one-sided. Crunkilton caught Gomez early on with an elbow to the back of the head and opened an absolute faucet on Gomez's scalp. This just proves that it's not the size of the cut but where it is, because much like Edwin Dewees before him, the cut wasn't deep, it just bled and bled and bled. Gomez did well to get out of the submission attempts of Crunkilton, but he could never seem to get his offense going, outside of some striking in the first round and the punches that he would continually land when Crunkilton shot for takedowns. Crunkilton dominated with submission attempts aplenty, tons of takedowns and some solid control while in top position. I think that a fight between Hicks and Crunkilton would be a lot of fun and if they ever decide that they want to do a lightweight eliminator fight, those would be my two guys to pick.
Chael Sonnen def. Bryan Baker
Tough luck for Sonnen as he had to miss out on his opportunity at the WEC Middleweight title when Paulo Filho pulled out, stepped back in, then pulled out of the fight again. He took out this lack of a title shot on Baker in a fight that Todd Adams made to seem like the winner would be the one that would receive the shot. I'm sure that Baker wishes that they would have just held off and let Sonnen fight for the title at the next WEC show, because he took possibly the most one-sided beating I've seen on a live MMA show in my life. Sonnen put on an absolute clinic and the only complaint against him is that he couldn't finish the fight off. Sonnen took him down at will, crushed him with elbows and showed that Baker has a lot of work to do if he wants to be in the upper echelon of middleweight contenders. This was the closest I think I've seen MMA ever come to legalized assault and the judges' scorecards showed it, with two judges scoring two of the three rounds as 10-8 for Sonnen. If he fights the way he fought in this fight and in the first nine minutes of his first fight with Filho, I don't see any way that Sonnen isn't the WEC Middleweight Champion before the end of the year. This fight was domination, in a definition worthy of Webster's.
WEC Lightweight Championship Brian Stann def Doug Marshall
And this was our main event folks, and it didn't exactly last long. This was almost a throwback to the old days of MMA, with two guys just standing there and trading bombs until someone caught one on the chin. Stann dedicated the fight to the Marines as usual, and Marshall showed up tatted to the tits, as usual. The bell rang and after about three seconds of feeling each other out they started in with a striking fireworks display that wouldn't have been out of place amongst the ammunition on a Fourth of July holiday or at some sort of Marine training facility. These two THREW HANDS and Stann was the one that connected on the button. He was either shocked that he had dropped Marshall or shocked that Herb Dean let the fight continue because he sort of stopped to celebrate, then realized the fight was still on and dropped a big elbow to put an exclamation point on his new championship belt. He's undefeated and has a ton of potential, but I can possibly see him being taken by someone who has a bit more of a wrestling and submission background. So far I've seen him outstrike strikers with the best of them, but until he can be tested on the mat and come out on top, I'm not completely sold on him yet, WEC Champion or not.
All that being said, it was another entertaining night of fights on the Versus channel, and the WEC is really starting to come into its own as a fine little promotion that is slowly building a new crop of stars. Here's hoping that the UFC can keep their hands off of most of them and not just continually pillage the WEC of their stars when they feel like they need to. They've resisted the urge so far, which is a good sign, but I'd love to see the WEC get the chance to continue growing and succeeding on their own, as independent from the UFC as possible. Thumbs up on the night of fights from the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas and I can't wait to see the WEC again, as they always bring quality.
Random Strikes
The following is a sampling of some of the stories that made waves in the past seven days of MMA news. My thoughts follow in bold at the tail end.
§ Thomas Denny defeated Malaipet by first round DQ in the main event of the ShoXC Elite Challenger Series event in Santa Ynez, California. Malaipet was disqualified late in the first round for landing multiple downward elbow strikes with the point of his elbow to the back of Denny's neck, rendering him unable to continue.
This was BAD. When I saw this, I was seriously worried for Denny's health, since those blows landed dangerously close to his brain stem. Malaipet claimed ignorance afterwards, but I can't think of a SINGLE combat sport that allows those kinds of dangerous strikes. I hope to see a rematch at some point because Denny was schooling him through the first round and it would be fun to see that again to finally kill the Malaipet hype. I honestly wouldn't blame Denny though if he didn't want to get back in the cage with him after what happened this time. I wouldn't trust that little shit any further than I could throw him after he'd tried to elbow my brain out of my head through my nose.
§ Starting on April 19th, Fox Sports Net will be airing the IFL every Saturday night at midnight. There will also be encore showing through out the week.
This is great for the IFL, as one of the main problems that I have had with them was that they were on at random times all throughout the week and all over the place with their repeats, so it made it hard to know when it was going to be on and when they were going to be new episodes. Having one specific time for new episodes will make it easier to be able to figure out when to check it out which will be helpful for me, as well as helpful for the IFL to continue to gain new viewers.
§ During a recent interview with Fightticker.com, Mark Cuban confirmed that HDNet will air the Randy Couture/Kurt Angle submission match when and if it happens. Angle stated during an interview last week that he would be facing Couture in a submission match, which is like MMA just without the striking.
Lord, the two guys that can't seem to keep their names out of the headlines in the MMA zone, squaring off in a grappling match. I have to admit that I'd be interested to see it, but I can't say that it would mean a whole lot of anything in terms of the grand scheme of MMA. I was barely able to sit through the Xtreme Couture smoker with Kim Couture's fight, so I don't think I'd be able to sit through Couture and Angle giving each other the wrestler reach-around and would probably just DVR it and skip to the fight.
§ Josh Koscheck has re-signed with the UFC. Koscheck, who is currently 8-2 in the UFC, is rumored to be fighting Chris Lytle at UFC 86 on July 5. Koscheck last fought at UFC 82 and scored a victory over Dustin Hazelett.
Koscheck might be boring as all hell, but he's still successful and the UFC rewards success with contracts. Plus he's the guy that most people love to hate, so that always helps too when it comes to people wanting to pay to see him get beaten up. He's got all the mannerisms of a classic wrestling heel and I know that I watch every card he's on hoping to see him get hammered, so I think this was a smart move from the UFC and from Koscheck. Where else was he going to go really? To be a big fish in a small pond in Elite XC and get schooled by Jake Shields? Exactly.
§ ProElite Inc (parent company of EliteXC) has confirmed that they have offered Fedor Emelianenko a four-fight contract worth up to seven figures. If Emelianenko signs the contract, EliteXC will feature Fedor on the first two EliteXC CBS specials.
Another interesting part of the deal is that Aleksander Emelianenko will be included in the deal and would fight on the same fight cards as Fedor.
This is interesting for a couple of different reasons, because firstly, Elite XC has shown no problems in allowing their contracted fighters to head over to Japan to fight and are usually more willing to work with fighters, which would probably allow Fedor to pursue his rematch with CroCop AND his sambo in Russia, while still fighting on a large stage in the United States. Secondly, they're willing to give Aleksander a contract, which is always a good thing for Fedor because he's been looking to take care of his brother for a long time and this would be the way to do it. The UFC was reluctant to give Aleksander a contract because of his rather dubious past, but Elite XC is looking like they'll do whatever it takes to get Fedor under a contract. Fedor/Kimbo anyone? How many people's heads would explode if Fedor got knocked out by Kimbo in an Elite XC cage. I'm not saying it would happen, but just the thought is mind-blowing.
§ It has been announced that Gina Carano will be facing off with Kaitlin Young when EliteXC debuts on CBS. The May 31st card will also have the following fights:
Sticking with Elite XC news, they've added the face of women's MMA to their huge debut card on CBS. It looks like they're really trying to stack the deck and put on the best card that they can in terms of giving something for everyone. They've got Carano to draw in the ladies, Kimbo to draw in everyone else, and the other three fights look to be action all the way. I'm really looking forward to the Elite XC show and it's going to be interesting to see what else they could possibly add to this show to make it any better, barring Fedor.
§ NBC has officially announced that they will be airing a weekly Strikeforce show called "Strikeforce on NBC". The show will air late-night's after "Poker After Dark" and will feature weekly matches from previous Strikeforce events as well as other highlights.
The show is set to debut on April 12 with an episode featuring Cung Le vs. Brian Warren, and Duane Ludwig vs. Tony Fryklund. This will mark the first time a major television network has featured a weekly MMA series.
I wondered last week how Strikeforce would be able to stretch out their fight library over X number of hour-long episodes and it turns out that they've answered my question by making it only a half-hour show. Saturday nights could be the death slot for them, especially that late, but MMA fans are well-known for their ability to stay up at all hours of the night to support their sport. Just look at how many people watched Fedor fight on New Year's Eve in the early hours of the biggest party day of the year, and how many are up to watch DREAM or WVR or K-1 Hero's shows. I hope that people make the effort to find this show and check it out, if only because they could parlay this half-hour show into their own live specials like their partner Elite XC.
§ Tim Sylvia has posted a blog on his website stating that he will be making a "huge announcement" on Friday. The following is the blog that was posted by Sylvia:
On Friday, around 12:00, I've got a couple of big announcements to make about my career. So all of my loyal fans will want to stay tuned to my website because this is huge. -Tim
He then made the following post:
I'm sorry to disappoint everybody but some of the big news is going on this weekend. I'm going hunting with Gary LaVox from Rascal Flats. Driving down to Tennessee tomorrow to start turkey hunting. My hunting DVD comes out in four weeks, but this will be on next year's hunting DVD. Now if you guys were expecting anything else, then you might want to watch HD Net Friday night, Inside MMA. Stay tuned for more. -Tim
Well, that was certainly a cock-tease now wasn't it? I'm guessing that if he has an announcement to make, that it will probably involve his fight career and possibly his leaving the UFC to fight in another company. I'm not sure which other companies, outside of Elite XC would want him, but if he can find somewhere to ply his trade, more power to him. I think that Elite XC has to be careful and not just snap up everyone that the UFC discards or they could run the risk of looking the way that TNA does in wrestling, which is desperate for a shred of credibility.
Round Two
Shamrock vs. Le Preview
This Saturday night, the Shark Tank will be rocking in San Jose as two hometown heroes will face off for middleweight supremacy inside the cage. Frank Shamrock is going to step in against undefeated phenom Cung Le and it's going to be beamed all around the world, live on Showtime. This fight is intriguing for a few reasons and I am very much looking forward to seeing it. The undercard has taken hit after hit in the past week, which we'll get to in a moment, but right now let's break down the main event tussle and figure out just who is going to come out on top this weekend.
Cung Le has exploded onto the MMA scene in the past year, taking Strikeforce by storm with his almost movie-like style of striking which he has seamlessly adapted to MMA so far. He's dynamic and explosive and throws strikes from almost any angle, which will be difficult for Shamrock to defend. The problems for Le come with the fact that most pundits describe him as being a bit one-dimensional and that if Shamrock can get this fight to the ground Le will be in a world of trouble. Another thing that Le has that goes against him is the fact that he's facing a HUGE experience disadvantage in this fight. Even with the long layoff that Shamrock took before his comeback, he's got nearly eight times as many fights as Le. Look for that experience to come into play before everything is said and done with this fight.
Shamrock for his part, will be looking to get this fight down to the mat and work submissions, while defeating an opponent who many thing is Shamrock's most dangerous since his return to MMA. He's going to be well-trained and ready to go a full fight, whether it be fifteen or twenty-five minutes, and I think he's going to drag Le into the deep water and see how well he can strike after a couple rounds of Shamrock's pressure from the top. I think that the other thing that's going to play well for Shamrock is not only his experience, but his experience in big fights. He's fought for titles, fought in the UFC and had a ton of huge bouts in Pancrase, so he's going to know exactly what to expect when that cage door closes. Although Le has tons of combat sports experience, he's a bit of a newcomer to MMA and he might not be ready for the pressure of a fight of this magnitude. I think that Shamrock is going to be able to do enough to avoid Le's striking and probably eke out a decision, or find a submission in the later rounds after tiring Le out early on.
As for the rest of the card, it's gone from looking stellar when this fight was first announced, to being somewhat of a disappointment. First we lost the proposed fight between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson, which looked to be a great fight. Then we found out earlier in the week that Jake Shields was forced to pull out of his fight, which was scheduled to be for the EXC Welterweight title against Drew Fickett, due to a back injury. This one is a real shame because Shields is the most talented MMA fighter not in the UFC and it's always a treat to see him fight. As late as last night there was still no replacement named for Fickett to fight, but that all changed with the next big announcement that put this card on its ear.
Nick Diaz, who was scheduled to face Spirit MC star Jae Suk Lim, has been pulled from the card by the California State Athletic Commission, who claimed that Diaz didn't meet the timeline for turning his medical information in to the Commission before the fight. Gary Shaw and Diaz' representatives are both claiming that there is a potential bias against Diaz because he disclosed on his medical paperwork that he is a user of medicinal marijuana, which is legal in the state of California. The Commission stated that any type of new medicine requires the commission to have time to research the fighter's ailment and ensure that there is sufficient reason for them to be on the medication. There apparently wasn't enough time for that investigation to be fully completed and as such Diaz has been told he won't be fighting.
This leaves another huge gap in the card, though it did finally give Fickett an opponent as he and Lim will now meet in a bout that will determine who faces Jake Shields for the Elite XC Welterweight Championship in a fight down the road once Shields is 100%. It's a shame that this card has taken so many big hits as of late, because it started out looking like a show that really could have done big things for Strikeforce and put them on the map as a major player in MMA. The show will still draw huge and the event will sell a ton of tickets, based on the Shamrock/Le main event, but the rest of the card has ended up as a shell of its former self, leaving us all to wonder just what could have been if all had gone according to plan.
Bringing The Funnies
In my continuing efforts to expose everything that is awesome to my loyal readers, as well as using the platform that I have with this column to have a little fun, it's time to debut another new feature that, while not MMA-related, will serve as a very nice palate cleanser between all of the news. Bringing The Funnies is going to look at some of the funniest stand-ups and performance artists out there and some of their finest moments. This week it's Stephen Lynch, a musical stand-up comedian who is well known on the morning radio and college campus circuits for his off-beat brand of songwriting, which blends with his excellent skills as a musician. I'm sure you'll see more of Stephen as the column continues, but for now here's a couple of his funniest bits for you all to enjoy.
Stephen Lynch – Special Olympics
Stephen Lynch – Talk To Me
Stephen Lynch – Craig
Round Three
Ultimate Fight Night Preview
The two cards that were mentioned previously aren't the only big things that will be coming down the pike in the next seven days, as the UFC will weigh in with their biggest Fight Night card to date. The show is stacked with twelve good to great fights and I'm sure that a card of this nature will only increase the howls of MMA fans everywhere to have Zuffa reconsider their apparent stance on never releasing the Ultimate Fight Night cards. The main event pits Kenny Florian against up-and-comer Joe Lauzon and there are a ton of names on the televised portion of the card as well as on the undercard. Here's a quick peek at all of the main card action, as well as my picks for the undercard fights.
Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin
Fireworks beyond belief since both these guys LOVE to throw hands. It's going to be interesting to see if Irvin will try to gameplan to get this fight on the ground since Alexander has been somewhat exposed in his lack of mat skills. On the flip side, has Alexander had enough time to close up some holes in his game to where he might even try to surprise Irvin and get the fight to the ground so that he can ground and pound from the top position. I still think that despite his hit-or-miss UFC tenure that Irvin could be a serviceable gatekeeper for the division, while Alexander's bubble has seemingly burst with his one loss to Thiago Silva. I think that Irvin is going to get the win and that you'd better not get up to get a drink when this one is on or you might miss the entire damn fight.
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
Maynard and Edgar both have a ton of wrestling in their backgrounds, but I don't think that Maynard has enough experience in MMA yet to take someone with the well-rounded skills of Edgar. This is technically a match-up of two undefeated fighters (Maynard has the one no-contest in the bout with Rob Emerson), but in actuality it's a fight where one guy is undefeated because he hasn't faced a tough test yet, while the other is undefeated because he's got a real shot at gaining a title shot by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Edgar knows how to avoid the takedown and turn things around to his advantage, as he showed against Tyson Griffin, and Maynard is no Tyson Griffin, so I fully expect Edgar to come away with the win in this one.
Kurt Pellegrino vs. Nate Diaz
At least we get to see one of the Diaz brothers in a fight they were scheduled for, and I'm kind of glad that it's Nate because this fight is going to be a real test of his current skillset in the UFC and whether it's going to be enough to get him to the top. Pellegrino is double-tough and has a ton of experience, great wrestling and will be a real challenge for Diaz to submit if this fight goes down to the ground. If it stays standing Pellegrino has a great chin and can throw punches with a lot of force behind them. As much as I'm sure the UFC would love to see Diaz pick up the biggest win of his career up to this point, I think that Pellegrino is just too smart to get caught in a submission, and just too much better at the other aspects of the fight, allowing him to pick up the win and send the younger Diaz back to the drawing board.
Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch
Two big strong wrestlers will hit the cage when Hamill and Boetsch tangle next Wednesday. Boetsch however has shown the ability to take people down with his striking and not just his wrestling. Just ask poor David Heat, who I'm sure is still having trouble remembering where he is after Boetsch re-arranged his brain cells with some powerful fists. Hamill is going to look to bounce back from his disappointing loss at UFC 75 to Michael Bisping and unfortunately for him, I don't think he's going to be able to do it in this fight. He did well against Bisping because he was able to exploit his size advantage, but against Boetsch he may even come in as the smaller fighter. He's not going to be able to bully Boetsch around or take him down at will, and I just don't think he has the hands to match Boetsch when the fight is standing. Tim Boetsch puts down Matt Hamill and wins in a mild upset.
Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves
Parisyan is going to look to make an impression after a somewhat lackluster performance against Ryo Chonan at UFC 78 and he's going to try to make people remember why he was thought to be next in line for a UFC Welterweight Championship shot before the Jon Fitch freight train came rolling through. This fight is a tough one though, because while Parisyan needs a finish to make a big impact, he's not going to be able to get it against the tough Brazilian. Parisyan is slick enough to avoid the submissions from the American Top Team-trained Alves, but he's also probably not going to be able to gain the submission himself. Look for more of Karo's patented throws, a little bit of exchanging on the feet, and a LOT of grappling on the mat. Karo Parisyan's decision chain rolls on in a fight that has the potential to be really entertaining or a total snoozefest. Guess which one I'm hoping for. I'll wait.
Joe Lauzon vs. Kenny Florian
The main event is stacking up to be a great fight, and could go a long way towards deciding who's going to be next in line to face BJ Penn or Sean Sherk for the UFC Lightweight Championship down the road. Florian has a ton of experience in the UFC and if he wins this fight, he should definitely be the number-one contender for the belt. Lauzon is coming into probably the biggest fight of his career, including his win over Jens Pulver, but I don't think there's any way that he can win this as Florian is a quicker, crisper striker and a much more accomplished grappler and submission fighter. Florian feels like he deserves to be in the main event to fight for the Lightweight Title and this fight is going to only further cement that feeling in his own mind, while perhaps affirming it in the minds of the rest of the MMA community. Florian wins with a submission after catching Joe on the mat and moves on to his second try at the Lightweight strap.
All in all, it should be a great night of fights in the UFC's return to Colorado for the first time in over a decade. This is a special three-hour event on Spike TV and will be immediately followed by the debut episode of the new season of the Ultimate Fighter show, making it a four-hour binge on MMA, which I will gladly get my fill of.
Links In The Cage
Content galore from the MMA zone, and here's your first class ticket to check it all out!!
Apparently it sounds like the rumored boxing match between UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, and former boxing superstar, Roy Jones Jr., could be coming closer to a reality. The rumblings began just after Silva dispatched Dan Henderson and became without question the best middleweight fighter in the world. They grew a little larger after the internet got ahold of the rumor and began to play the "what if?" game, and now with talks allegedly taking place between both sides, this thing has legs and looks like it may actually happen sometime in the future. The question of whether it should happen is an entirely other matter.
There's no question that Anderson Silva is the best pure striker that MMA has to offer, and has quickness to spare when it comes to his hands. But that's against MMA fighters who train boxing along with their other skills, not someone who has been boxing for pretty much their entire life. The difference between someone who golfs three or four times a month and someone who golfs every day of their lives and does so as a career is a vast gap, and the gap between a boxer and an MMA fighter who has some boxing skills is just as vast. Sure Silva has had a couple of pro boxing fights, but that's nowhere near the experience that Jones has, and that would immediately put Silva at a disadvantage.
The other thing that works against Silva in this scenario is that his MMA striking is so deadly because of his Muay Thai background, which allows for elbow and knee strikes, which would be illegal in any potential boxing match with Jones. I still think that Franklin would have been able to win the fights that he has against guys like Rich Franklin, Travis Lutter, and the aforementioned Henderson, but I don't think they would have been anywhere near as impressive, or anywhere near as devastating as they were with Anderson's knees and elbows flying. Taking away four of Silva's six biggest weapons would seriously cripple any chance that Silva had to come away with a win.
I think that this is mainly a case of Anderson feeling like he can take on the world and wanting to challenge himself in another venue. I respect the fact that he's not willing to just sit on his accomplishments and rest on his laurels, but there is a time where you have to realize that despite feeling invincible, you are in fact human. I'd rather that Silva figure this out on his own rather than have Roy Jones help him figure it out by driving a handful of fists into his face and doing some carving on his face. Not to mention that I'm sure that if someone is going to conquer the mountain that is Anderson Silva that Dana White would prefer it to be someone that he can market on the next UFC card, not someone who is a boxer and has no real stake in MMA.
That's not even getting into the liability issues involved if Silva were to end up hurt in the boxing match and had to forfeit his title. Or the amount of time that Silva would have to dedicate to training for any encounter with Jones, which would lead to a lull in activity around the UFC Middleweight Championship, which is something that no one wants to have happen, especially after the last year which saw the Lightweight, Welterweight and Heavyweight Titles go dormant for periods, and this year where the Light Heavyweight Title ends up getting the same treatment. This whole boxing thing is a bad idea all the way around and I really hope that Silva reconsiders it and just continues focusing all of his training efforts towards MMA. I respect Anderson and his dreams, but sometimes dreams have to stay in our heads and not be acted on, especially wild ones like this.
Random Strikes Part Deux
Strikeforce Preview time and here are a couple of fights from the main event participants to get the appetite whetted for Saturday night in San Jose. First up it's Frank Shamrock's comeback fight at WEC 6 against Bryan Pardoe. That's followed by a Cung Le highlight package, featuring him in MMA action, since all the fights that I could find of his were from his kickboxing or Muay Thai careers.
Frank Shamrock vs. Bryan Pardoe WEC 6
Cung Le's MMA Highlights
Round Five
TUF Returns
Another season of the Ultimate Fighter show is set to get underway directly after the UFC Fight Night card on Wednesday night, and this year's "groundbreaking" twist is apparently a win and you're in format, where there will be 32 fighters brought into the Vegas training facility with only 16 making the final cut to make the show. Now either we're getting lots of fights right away, or this season is going to be about nine months long, so I'm guess it means that we're going to get a lot of action right from the outset, which is never a bad thing.
The list of fighters that I've seen is basically a bigger "who's that" than last season's list, just without the benefit of a Mac Danzig-like star that you can pick as an early favorite. This season like last, seems more based on the conflict between the coaches rather than any of the fighters, though there's bound to be a few good ones in the batch. It looks like this season will be primarily about the coaches, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Forrest Griffin, and setting up their fight at season's end, while praying that there are no Serra-esque injuries to derail the plans this time.
While the past few seasons with coaches like Shamrock/Oritz, Penn/Pulver and Hughes/Serra were primarily based on the hatred between the two coaches, this verison of TUF looks like it's going to be focused on how entertaining and competitive both Rampage and Griffin can be. Neither seem to be capable of the bitterness that filled last season's every move, or the outright rudeness that seemed to be in every episode of the Pulver/Penn season, so I would expect this to be a bit more entertaining in the sense of it being fun and funny, rather than a trainwreck of violence and poor sportsmanship. I'm not even going to bring up the Ortiz/Shamrock season because I'm sure you all remember that disaster vividly.
Again, I don't know a lot about the fighters, so I will probably be weighing in on them a little more next week after I get a bit of a feel for the guys and who's going to be fighting who. I do know that both Rampage and Griffin have never met a camera that they didn't like and that they'll both be at their charming, entertaining bests when the season begins. I have to admit that I'm a sucker for the first season and miss the challenges that they used to have to do to determine who would be choosing the fighters in the episode-ending bout. If they're worried about the challenges and people getting hurt, they should try to run challenges more like Survivor where it's team against team in a race-type setting, rather than any hands-on physicality.
I say this about the challenges because every year now it seems like these guys get into the house and just have too much time on their hands and end up trashing a perfectly good house for no real reason. Why not put all that energy towards something a bit more constructive like challenges? It made for better TV than just watching guys lay around and talk shit about each other or fling foosball tables into pools, and there would still be plenty of time to see them train and do all of those things too. Plus with Griffin and Jackson screaming and coaching their teams during challenges, that would definitely add to the entertainment level of the show and help eliminate some of the staleness that has begun to bleed into the format of the show the past few years. I'll still watch because it's MMA and it's on TV, but if they really want to stem the ratings hemorrhage from the past few years, they need a more drastic overhaul than having to win to get on the show.
Post Fight Wrap-Up
That does it for me this week folks, and it's been a pleasure as always. Enjoy the fights this weekend and be sure to check out the Fight Night and TUF next week, then come back here next Friday to find out my thoughts on all of those fights, plus an IFL preview for their big show next weekend in New Jersey, as well as the next installment of ShoXC, which is set for April 5th. Be sure to check in next week for another main event, championship fight of MMA news, Five Rounds Of News! Goodnight Springton, there will be no encores.
Be sure to check out my fellow Canuck, Joe Ferraro and his "Showdown" radio show, every Thursday at 10 PM EST, on FAN 590 or the archives of the show at Showdown Entertainment.
I don't get the Cung Le highlight package - it seemed more like Sammy Morgan striking recklessly and then gassing and folding up like a tent. Does that make Le any more dangerous than Luke Cuomo? Is there a better Le fight I should try to find to get an idea of what he is like. Does he have nay chance of avoiding Shamrock's take downs?
Posted By: MJH (Guest) on March 28, 2008 at 11:24 AM
