Eight Sides of Steel 03.30.08
Posted by Wendell Mitchell on 03.30.2008
Who knew women could be so brutal? I mean besides when they step on your heart and crush your dreams. Me, bitter? Hell no. Join me in the debut edition of Eight Sides of Steel as a I discuss the women of Fatal Femme Fighting Championship and what's going on in the rest of the exciting world of MMA.
How's it going? I'm Wendell Mitchell and I'm your newest and not at all mediocre MMA zone columnist. Disclaimer: Me getting this job has nothing to do with incriminating pictures of the boss man.
The goal of Eight Sides of Steel will be to go beyond the four-sided structure that Mick Foley was hurled from; beyond the hexagonal enclosure that Elix Skipper performed one of the most amazing high-risk moves of all time. If those names don't mean anything to you then you're probably not a fan of wrestling and thus kick puppies and sell secrets to Al Quaeda.
Conceptually, I'm going to break the column up into eight parts, discussing what's transpiring throughout the world of Mixed Martial Arts. I'll cover a past event or two, an upcoming show, throw in a fighter's profile, perform a champion's roll call, and end things with a some sweet, sweet Rampage goodness.
Now join me, and men called the Ice Man, Captain America, Shogun, and yes, Rampage as we step inside the Eight Sides of Steel.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS, WAIT, A KNOCK OUT?
Another live WEC event is in the record books and we have a brand spanking new Light Heavyweight Champ.
In only his sixth professional fight, The "All American" Brian Stann victimized Doug Marshall to maintain a perfect MMA record and more importantly gain the WEC Light Heavyweight Championship.
The Silver Star Marine has finished all of his fights with striking, thus perpetuating the stereotype, that yes, Marines will kick your ass. Ain't that right HBK? How many was it again? 12?
In a tear soaked celebration, Stan dedicated the victory to his fallen comrades and those who are still fighting the war.
One of the six people to fall before Stann, Steve Cantwell, improved to 5-1 after making Tim McKenzie tap to a rear naked choke in the first round. Cantwell is determined to avenge his only loss and taking the title in the process.
In another featured bout, top contender to the WEC Middleweight Champion Paul Filho, Chael Sonnen defeated previously undefeated talent Bryan Baker by unanimous decision.
After the fight, Sonnen said he would fight "any man God ever created". Sonnen vs. Moses: Book it!
Former Golden Gloves Boxing Champ Marcus Hicks improved upon his perfect record by defeated Ed Ratcliff. Thanks for proving me wrong guys. Elsewhere I predicted that this would be a boring decision because neither man would risk their undefeated streaks, but Hicks obviously wasn't having any of that.
After a stunning uppercut, Hicks pinned Ratcliff against the cage and locked in a guillotine choke to secure a victory only 1:42 into the match. Hicks has the lightweight champ Jamie Varner in his sights and after such an impressive, dominating showing, we could be seeing this showdown sooner rather than later. Now watch he get schooled by former contender Rich Crunkilton.
Speaking of which, Crunkilton won a decision over Sergio Gomez, who has yet to win a fight in WEC.
WHERE'D YOU SAY THE CHAMP WAS? OH HERE!
Each week, I'll do a quick run down of a promotion's champions. This week, we discuss the men holding gold in the biggest game out there.
Heavyweight: Randy Couture (d. Tim Sylvia on March 3, 2007 - UFC 68: Uprising)
You can call him the Natural, Captain America, or a fact-misrepresenting son of a bitch. Just don't call him "former champ" yet. Regardless of what went down, I still want to see him fight Fedor. While I won't pull a Dana and say Fedor's not a top 5 fighter, I do believe Randy can take him and finally Randy will take his place as undisputed number one Heavyweight on the planet and not just in my heart.
Interim HW: Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (d. Tim Sylvia on February 2, 2008 – UFC 81: Breaking Point)
Timmy Sylvia should be thankful this guy made him tap to a guilotine choke since my morbid sense of humor demanded he get his arm broke again since the event was called Breaking Point. I know, I know, bad bloodlust. Very bad. Something about Sylvia makes you not like him. He'd make a great wrestling heel.
I would not mind seeing Minotauro hook up with Randy and doing the whole "One great company, one great champion" unification. Granted I want him to lose so we get Randy/Fedor, but at least he'd be losing to the champ.
Light Heavyweight:Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (d. Chuck Liddell on May 27, 2007 – UFC 71: Liddell vs Jackson)
Not only is he the first man to knock out the "Ice Man" Chuck Liddell, he's also my favorite fighter and my pick to win the upcoming bout against Forrest Griffin. I like Forrest, but I really want to see him get power bombed. Sorry bout your damn luck.
Middleweight: Anderson "Spider" Silva (d. Rich Franklin on October 14, 2006 – UFC 64:Unstoppable)
Is it not poetic that the reign of arguably the pound for pound best fighter in the world (sorry "Money" Mayweather, Silva would kill you) started his reign at an event called Unstoppable? After doing what even my hero could not do by actually finishing Dan Henderson, who is going to stop this guy?
Welterweight: Matt Serra (d. Georges St. Pierre on April 7, 2007 – UFC 69: Shootout)
Something about the guy is just fun to watch. Whether in the octagon or during his stint on Ultimate Fighter, he commands your attention. His back looks to be healed and in a few short weeks he has his hands full with this man:
Interim: Georges "Rush" St. Pierre (d. Matt Hughes on December 29, 2007 – UFC 79: Nemesis)
After forcing Hughes to tap out just seconds away from the bell, GSP looks to avenge his loss against Serra and become the undisputed Welterweight Champ
LightweightB.J. "Baby Jay" Penn (d. Joe Stevenson on January 19, 2008 - UFC 80: Rapid Fire)
Cop punching, jiu jistsu prodigy Penn is scheduled to defend his title against Sean "I swear to God I never took steroids" Sherk on May 24th of this year. After Penn wins (and who amongst us doubts that decision) he plans to move up to Welterweight again and challenge the man that owns the man that beat Penn last time he fought at Welterweight. I'm not liking Penn's odds in that fight.
Next week: We take a look at the champs of the world's leader in women's mixed martial arts, Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship.
THESE AREN'T THE LADIES TO MESS WITH
For the first time in HISTORY, 16 women will compete on the same card.
Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship presents "Call of the Wild" live April 3rd from the Shrine Expo Arena in L.A.
Two titles are on the line inside the rounded cage.
Headlining the card will be Roxanne Modafferi as she defends her title against the outspoken Vanessa Porto.
The champ is known for going the distance, but one of her losses did come by submission. In addition to not thinking very highly of MMA darling Gina Carano, Porto is a submission machine, gaining five of her seven wins via tap out, so the champ could be in trouble here.
Someone's waist will provide a home for the vacant Heavyweight title as Teyvia Reid hopes to avenge her only loss when she takes on Lethal Lana Stefanac.
Both ladies are finishers, yet Reid has tapped out to Stefanac before. Can Reid avoid falling history repeating itself?
The other featured bout pits reigning Smackgirl Middleweight Champion Takayo Hashi vs. Amanda Buckner in a first round match up in the The BestGuard.com Masters Cup Championship.
There are 12 submission victories between these ladies. Unfortunately for Ms. Hashi, only 3 belong to her. Buckner appears to be more of a banger because in addition to a TKO victory, one of her nine submission victories was due to striking. Both women have lost by submission in the past, Buckner more so than Hashi, so I'm thinking Buckner's going to stick with the stand up game to avoid getting caught.
Here's the rest of the card:
Nicdali Calanoc vs. Jessica Aguilar
Liz Carriero vs. Alexis Davis
Ashley "Loca" Sanchez vs. Sarah Schneider
Sara Oriza vs. Emily Thompson
Jill Slatten vs. Miesha Tate
AND IN THIS CORNER
This week, we're going to spotlight Fatal Femme Fighting's Lightweight Champion Roxanne Modafferi, who as I just mentioned, will be putting her title on the line in just a few days.
Currently sporting a respectable 11-4-1 record, Roxanne V. Modafferi began training in Tae Kwan Do in her teens. From there she experimented with Judo and earned a brown belt after three years.
Three months prior to entering the University of Massachusetts, a friend convinced her to train in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Once she began school, she started training in Muy Thai to improve her stand up game.
During her junior year, the Japanese Language and Culture major moved to Tokyo and began training at the Cross Point Club, which focused on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muy Thai.
Modafferi's career began with the Smackgirl promotion. She would amass a 3-0 record before achieving a huge win over American Jennifer Howe. Howe at the time was on a six -year winning streak, partially attributed to the fact that people were scared to fight her.
Modafferi would suffer her first loss against Megumi Yabushita at a Smackgirl event, but would later avenge that defeat at a Shooto event.
Her only non-decision loss came at the hands of Shayna Baszler, who made Modaferri tap to a chicken wing at BoDog Fight.
Since that loss, Modaferri has been on a four- win streak, and in the process captured Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship's Light heavyweight crown in a split decision from Cassandra Blaso. She looks to extend that streak this Thursday against Vanessa Porto.
As of this writing, she is the current FFFC Light Heavyweight champ; former International Fighting Championship Women's Middleweight Champ; and 2007 K-Grace Women's Open Weight Tournament Champion.
YOUR NEWS, MY…PERSPECTIVE?
- Adrenaline MMA (which sounds like another in a long line of not very tasty energy drinks) announced that in addition to sign Tim Sylvia (he's a hoss) they signed Ben Rothwell, who is currently on a thirteen-win streak.
- I don't know about you, but Tim Sylvia's not exactly doing it for me. I rather watch broken down Ken Shamrock than Sylvia. But I like spectacular knockouts, which seem to be Ken's specialty these days. Yeah, I know he's been on the receiving end lately, but it doesn't diminish the destructivity of them.
- As far Ben Rothwell, I hate to swing from UFC's nut sack like Tarzan, but until you fight there, I can't put much stock in his win streak. Not to belittle IFL, but damn, look at what happened to Cro Cop and Hendo when they stepped into the Octagon. I wish the guy all the best and I'll dig around for some footage of the guy to make a more informed judgment.
- FI mentioned earlier that I'm not a huge fan of Fedor, but I think he will easily beat Tim Sylvia, who days after signing with Adrenaline said he would like to fight Pride's last Heavyweight Champ.
- Cung Le beat Frank Shamrock at the Strikeforce show last night! Get all the results with 411's full report!
RANDOM MUSINGS OR BEATINGS
No musings this week, just beatings. Enjoy
Don't mind the song...
LINKS
I'm more of a wrestling fan, because I love this country damn it, but when I do venture out of my comfort zone I read
Matt McEwan's History of UFC – You can't know where you're going without knowing where you been. Besides, it takes me back to a time where Ken Shamrock, who's even a blind man could see has never ever taken steroids ever, was a legitimate bad ass and not the closet thing UFC has to a Ric Flair.
OUT OF THE CAGE AND OFF THE CHAIN
Well, that about does it this week. Tune in next week for a review of FFFC's Call of the Wild, pictures of the ladies of FFFC and Gina Carano, and good times, great memories. Thanks for reading. Here's your reward
