Cardio Freak MMA News Report 4.03.08: Wrestling For Fighting

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 04.03.2008

Cardio Freak is back with a full recap of Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Cung Le. Just how awesome was the fight and what is next for both men? Plus the latest on UFC 85, Frank Mir's next fight, and Kimbo Slice finally gets an opponent. All that and so much more is just one click away.



Welcome back to Cardio Freak everyone. As usual I am your host ‘THAT SUBMISSION MOVE~!' Jeremy Lambert. Shorter than usual column this week because I've just been busy with no sign of things slowing down until Summer.

First off, I had an AWESOME weekend. Kayla, Melinda, Jennifer; love you guys. As you can tell I am not dead but I did FAIL numerous times on the skateboard ramp and came away with plenty of battle scars. I also played Wii for the first time ever and boy was that an adventure. We had a hell of a time with Wii Boxing although I was disappointed that my Chuck Liddell over-head right didn't really work in the game. I also wanted to use the leg kicks but there's no remote attached to the leg/ankle/foot. Great weekend of fun and although it got me behind on pretty much all my tasks (watching WEC, Strikeforce, and Mania), I wouldn't have changed it for anything.

I did watch parts of Wrestlemania but as time has gone on, I've lost my interest in wrestling and now that I don't get every PPV like I used to, WM just isn't a huge deal to me anymore. Still, it's Wrestlemania and it's where marks and smarks become fans again. The only match I watched in its entirety was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair and I would rate it around 6 stars. Wasn't a perfect wrestling match but it told the perfect story and was a great moment. Honestly, it was a lot like a MMA fight (as was a lot of Mania). WWE sold the moment and the story more than the match and that's what people bought. From the parts I watched, I enjoyed the rest of the show. Floyd Mayweather did a lot more than I ever expected him to do and my hats off to him. Now maybe he'll try some MMA. I also loved Undertaker closing the biggest show of the year with THAT SUBMISSION MOVE~! (better known as the gogoplata). If that's not a sign that MMA has influenced the hell out of wrestling over the past year or so, I don't know what is.

All that out of the way, lets talk fighting.

Top Story of The Week

Ego Trippin'

Snoop Dogg might want to write a personal letter sometime in the near future thanking Frank Shamrock for subconsciously promoting his new CD. Frank Shamrock's stand up was obviously much improved in his fight against Phil Baroni but that doesn't mean it was good enough to stand and trade with a world-class kick boxer.

What a lot of people like about Frank Shamrock is what got him in trouble in this fight. Frank would rather put on a show and hope to win instead of playing to his strength and try to win. Frank Shamrock had a huge advantage on the ground but instead stood with Cung Le, showboated, ate kicks and punches, and eventually threw in the towel. The only time Shamrock went to the ground is when Cung put him there with a sweep kick. Let me not take anything away from Cung Le who did exactly what he needed to do in this fight. If your opponent is going to be dumb enough to play to your strength, you have to take advantage on that. Cung Le is no joke as a fight. He's proven himself against some good competition and this win could turn him into a star. But if Frank Shamrock went into that fight with the game plan of winning, I think the result would have been different.

The fight itself was great though. Shamrock's antics played a large part in the crowd getting into it and Cung Le answering motions with actions made the crowd even more excited. As is the case with a lot of big fights, the crowd really punched this up to another level. Without the crowd, it was an entertaining fight. With the crowd, it could receive some fight of the year praise (I'm not going that far but others have and will).

With the loss, I think this makes Shamrock vs. Shamrock inevitable. I said after Ken Shamrock lost to Buzz Berry that the Frank vs. Ken fight shouldn't be in trouble because it's a blood brother feud and not a fight where one guy needs to make his name or anything like that. I think the chances of this fight happening greatly increased after Frank ousted Ken as a steroid user.

The bigger question is probably, what's next for Cung Le? I think this guy can be a draw for Strikeforce because he finishes fights and he's exciting. Now that he's champion though, you can't really protect him like he's a Houston Alexander or Kimbo Slice. Newly acquired Kazuo Misaki seems to be the consensus next opponent but he's basically unknown to American fans and it may be smarter to give him a showcase fight before a title fight. After that there are options but it's also about match ups, especially if Strikeforce wants to make the most out of Cung. Robbie Lawler is a known guy who likes to stand and who I thin Cung can defeat, Matt Lindland is a known guy who will likely takedown Cung and either pound him out or ride out a decision, and a rematch with Frank Shamrock is very possible. Of those options, I think Robbie Lawler (or Scott Smith if he wins their fight) would be the best option. Either way you're going to get a stand up battle and they could unify the Strikeforce and EliteXC Middleweight titles because God knows there's no need for both of them.

This card took a bit of a hit just days away from going live when Jake Shields and Nick Diaz withdrew from their fights. To compensate, Strikeforce matched up Drew Fickett (Shields opponent) against Jae Suk Lim (Diaz' opponent) and hoped for the best. I don't think they can complain too much about the final result. Fickett avoided the strikes, impressively rolled over Lim, and choked him out. With the win, Fickett looks like an even stronger contender to face Jake Shields for the EXC Weltwerweight title.

The one remaining Gracie Jiu-Jitsu fighter on the card didn't disappoint. After losing at Yarennoka, Gilbert Melendez rebounded with a strong performance against an over-matched Gabe Lemley. Melendez showed good striking, a strong takedown, and relentless strikes on the ground. Now that he's got his first loss out of the way, Melendez could become even scarier.

This was a good showing from Strikeforce with a main event that delivered. It was an even better lead in to EXC on CBS, the next ProElite event. Hopefully that one delivers as well.

UFC Event News & Notes

According to Dave Meltzer, UFC 85: Liddell vs. Evans will air on PPV and not on SpikeTV as stated by Rashad Evans

As I said last week, I think the better move would have been to put it on SpikeTV (aren't we due for a free PPV soon?) but I don't think this event is going to do as bad as the other oversea events. Pending my work schedule, I'll likely order the Live showing at 3 PM (I did that for UFC 72, why the hell wouldn't I do it for 85?) just because I hate avoiding spoilers.

MMAWeekly reported that Frank Mir vs. Justin McCully is scheduled for UFC 86

Color me disappointed. I really thought UFC was going to capitalize on Mir's win over Lesnar and give him the title shot. Instead, it looks like Nog will be on the shelf resting for awhile and waiting to see if Werdum can defeat Vera. If Werdum loses and Mir wins, you've got to think Mir will get the title shot. As for the fight, I don't have much interest in it. I like Mir but McCully is so much suck that Mir can't save it.

UFC Fighter News & Notes

Quinton Jackson has taken a lot of heat lately for comments made about Wanderlei Silva and Forrest Griffin

For those that didn't hear, Jackson basically said that the refs in PRIDE were crooked and the company gave Wanderlei Silva some easier opponents. On Forrest Griffin, he stated that Forrest had a glass jaw and punches like a crack head.

I don't see the big deal about this. To me, it's just Rampage being Rampage. He's hyping his upcoming fight with Forrest and he may still be bitter about his two losses to Silva. I'm not going to speculate on the PRIDE refs being paid off or whatever but this isn't the first time it's been brought up. Match making is always questionable but there's no denying that Silva fought some tough guys and always seemed to beat them.

I found the Forrest Griffin comments to be funny, particularly because before the fight with Keith Jardine, Forrest's style was to basically punch like a crack head and trust his chin. That fight changed a lot of things because as we've seen in his last two fights, he's more technical with his striking and really showed no desire to get hit, especially in the fight against Hector Ramirez.

If Rampage wants to talk, let him. He's just got to back it up once again in the Octagon.

Dana White nixed the idea of Anderson Silva boxing Roy Jones Jr.

This was a pretty obvious conclusion just knowing Dana White and his thinking. He wasn't going to risk his top fighter to a mythical MMA vs. Boxing fight where his guy was at a disadvantage.

Other MMA News & Notes

Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson has been booked for the Main Event for EXC on CBS

Kimbo + Beating Up Geeks = Ratings. James Thompson and his glass jaw are no threat to Kimbo. Thompson is going to stand and trade with him and he's going to get knocked out because Kimbo has an iron chin to go along with his fists.

Based on the current card, it seems to me that EXC is catering to the new fans that want to see nothing more than people getting knocked out. This strategy could work or it could completely backfire when these new fans expect knockouts and get groundwork in future shows.

UFC has released Tim Sylvia allowing him and Ben Rothwell to sign with Adrenaline MMA, formally known as M1 Global

Bad move by the UFC. Not to release Sylvia but to not sign Rothwell. Now they've essentially lost out on two Heavyweights and the division gets weaker. I'm not a fan of Sylvia and I'm actually happy he's gone. Now I don't have to see him dry hump another human for 15 or 25 minutes.

I predicted in a past column that UFC would eventually sign Ben Rothwell (and that could still happen) but the chances obviously just decreased. I thought Rothwell would be a great signing by UFC and add some much needed depth to their depleting Heavyweight roster. He's young but experienced and well rounded. This is a miss opportunity by UFC.

I don't know how far Adrenaline MMA is going to go considering they're going with the same approach of allowing fighters to fight for different companies. My expectations are low so it should be easy to surpass them.

AND IT'S ALL OVER~!

Sorry about the lack of content this week. I know I missed some things like the WEC event (which I truthfully haven't even watched except for Stann vs. Marhsall) and other news. Hopefully things will slow down next week but I make no promises. At any rate, there are plenty of other great columns in the MMA zone so make sure to check those out. Take care everyone.