Eight Sides of Steel 04.06.08
Posted by Wendell Mitchell on 04.06.2008
Your number three source for all that's happening in women's mma returns with another column chock full of videos, thoughts on recent fight cards, and yes, a picture of Gina Carano. Yeah, that got your attention. Join me again within the confines of the Eight Sides of Steel.
Welcome back to the column that is sweeping the nation the way No More Kings is sweeping the leg.
What do you mean this is old news? It's new to me damn it! On with the show.
DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS? SOMEONE HAD TO LOSE.
Click here or even here for the results of last night's SHOWXC event.
Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship presented Call of the Wild this past
Thursday. In the main event, Roxanne Modafferi successfully defended her World
Lightweight Title against Vanessa Porto.
Ever since I learned about this organization several weeks back, I'm been enamored with Ms. Modafferi. Not the way I love Rampage, but pretty close. Fifty-three seconds into the third round, Herb Dean stepped in to break things up just after Porto's face made acquaintances with Modafferi's knees. Click here for the card's full results.
Due to the disappointing ending to the anticipated bout between Gesias "JZ"
Calvancante and Shinya Aoki, they will have a re-match at DREAM 2
on April 29.
Sounds like a plan to me. I'm a fan of "there must be a winner" though, technically, if the No Contest was caused by illegal elbows, personally, I say you DQ JZ, let him stew in his anger and have a rematch later with Aoki. Nobody likes a DQ, but to me it sounds better than an outright, nobody won situation such as this.
This will be the only lightweight match as the event was scheduled as the Middleweight eliminator, featuring the Gracie-Hunter himself Kazushi Sakuraba. Dream 2: Dream A Little Harder (not the actual subtitle, but it sounds good, doesn't it) will take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Roy Jones Jr. is currently headed out of the country until next week, but his management stated that he
was "flattered and excited" by Silva's interest in a boxing match with him. The parties are expected to
talk again once Jones returns.
Well, Dana's already shot this idea down, and I can't blame him. Silva is the absolute best at 185 and arguably the best period right now. But, there is a reason Roy Jones was among the most recognizable boxers on the planet. I mean, who could forget this?
Jones has everything to gain and nothing to lose here. If he beats Silva in a straight up boxing match, despite the fact that Silva is not a boxer, in the eyes of the mainstream, non-hardcore fans, Silva looks weak. If Jones loses, he lost to a younger guy that is considered the best fighter out there right now. Silva's only 1-1 in boxing competition and I doubt either opponent had the pedigree of Jones. It's easy to call a guy old and broken down from the couch, but a not quite forty year old pro boxer can, and will knock out an opponent in the right setting. I'd personally love to see the fight, but I could see why Dana would put the kibosh on any proposed fight while Silva carries the Middleweight Championship.
On April 11, new MMA group YAMMA Pit Fighting (http://yammapitfighting.com/) presents their first
PPV event from the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ. Fighters scheduled to appear include former
UFC World Champion Rico Rodriguez as well as Eric "Butterbean" Esch and the "Russian Bear" Oleg
Taktarov
One positive aspect of this: another choice for fight fans. 411's own Sergio G. Hernandez provide his opinion on the negative aspects.
Consider me curious as to how fights will be contested inside their pit. I also like how they brought back the tournament format and made the first round match ups only 1 five minute round.
But, I find it contradictory to call yourself "the evolution of MMA" when you're going back to tournaments, promoting yourselves as a blood sport, and oh yeah, having freakin' Butterbean as a main attraction in the year 2008.
Also not helping matters is that a week before the show, the main event has changed at least four times. You'd think with Don Frye pulling out, Maurice Smith getting sick, Gary Goodridge and Mark Kerr being denied by the NJ Athletics Commission because of a recent knock out loss and a suspension respectively, an owner might start to rethink putting on the show in six days.
But it gets better. Pat Smith was scheduled to take Frye's place, but got arrested. Maurice Smith and Mark Kerr were tapped to replace Smith, but you read what happened to them. Not to worry though, because Smith gets out and is put back in the fight, only somehow he also gets booked to fight Butterbean. Sounds like some crazy 90s WCW booking, doesn't it? Then, I as typing this up, I discovered that Kerr has been placed back into the fight with Taktarov and Smith will indeed go one on one with the buttery one.
I won't go so far as my colleague and implore you not to spend your money, but I can't recommend this to you at normal PPV prices. I mean King of the Cage is credible and they don't charge 40 bucks.
YOU WANT A KO? HOLLA ATCHA BOY KEN FLO.
Kenny Florian dominated Joe Lauzon in the main event of what is being called the greatest UFC Fight Night ever.
Lauzon defended himself well from his back, but a persistent Florian hammer fisted his way through that defense and caused the stoppage.
In other Fight Night action, Thiago Alves destroyed Karo Parisyan with a knee to the face, just seconds into the second round of their fight.
The most impressive showing in my eyes was Anthony Johnson absolutely smothering Tommy Speer with strikes before ending the fight with brutal straight right that any boxer would be proud to call his own. The enduring image of this fight is a defeated Speer slumped against the cage unable to move. That, my friends, is an ending.
I still can't tell you what happened in the James Irvin/Houston Alexander fighter. I mean, did he slip? Because regardless of how much of a dick he sounded like when he said his kids hit harder than that, Alexander should not have been dropped by the first punch. Though, the ref's stoppage did seem right with me. I mean, he wasn't moving after those two follow up punches. What can you do? I sort of wish this were like professional wrestling so that we could have had a camera follow them to the back and start some shit.
AND YOU THOUGHT DIAMONDS WERE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND
These ladies prefer gold. Ladies and gentlemen, your champions.
Flyweight Champ Lisa Ward and Lightweight Champ Roxanne Modafferi.
Heavyweight"Lethal" Lana Stefanac (d. Teyvia Reid on April 3, 2008 – FFFC 4: Call of the Wild)
She is the 2006 Pan-American Brazilian Jiu Jistsu Gold Medal and currently FFFC's Heavyweight champion. In her previous bout with Reid in 2006, Reid felt the ref stopped the fight too early when Stefanac sunk in an arm bar. Now 6-0, Stefanac seemed as if she were out to prove the decision was the correct one as we fast forward to this year and she made Reid tap out to, what else? An arm bar. It's hard to say what's next for the champ as most of the better and well known fighters are in the lower weight divisions, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for her. Oddly enough, I cannot find any information for her on the FFFC website. Not even so much a mention of her being the champ.
LightweightRoxanne Modafferi (d. Cassandra Rivers-Blasso on Febrary 27, 2007 FFFC1: Fatal Femmes Fighting)
Fresh off headlining the recent FFFC card, she improves to 12 wins and adds a TKO to her record. What more can I say about her that I didn't mention http://www.411mania.com/MMA/columns/72023/Eight-Sides-of-Steel-03.30.08.htm last week? Prior to her loss to Modafferi, Porto ran her mouth about Gina Carano, and it makes me want o see Carano fight Modafferi.
Flyweight Lisa Ward (d. Masako Yoshida on February 27, 2007 – FFFC 1: Fatal Femmes Fighting)
Sporting an 11-3-0 record, the reigning lightweight champion has one successful defense under her belt. She is very dangerous on the ground, as all seven of her non-decision victories are by submission. There are plenty of 125 fighters out there, so we will be hearing about her next fight soon.
And there we have it. Next week, we'll look at the IFL Champions.
JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A POSTER GIRL, DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE NOT A FIGHTER
As promised…
Kick Boxer - Lisa King
AND IN THIS CORNER…
Ben Rothwell
Adrenaline MMA's recent acquisition and member of the IFL's Quad City Silverbacks, the 6'5 265 pound Kenosha, WI native currently sports an impressive 29 victories with only five defeats. 17 of his wins have come by KO.
A Militech fighter, he burst into the fight game with a 17 second KO victory over Mike Hall back in May of 2000. He would breeze through another five wins, 4 of which by KO until he came face to face with fellow Adrenaline MMA talent Tim Sylvia. He would lose decision.
Rothwell would destroy his next seven opponents, only one of whom would see the second round, before losing in yet another decision, this time against Mike Whitehead.
He would suffer only three more defeats. Ibragim Magomedov (2002) and Carlos Barreto(2003) would both knock him out. TUF season two contestant and IFL San Jose Razorclaws fighter Dan Christison (2005) would submit him with a Kimura. It should be noted that this fight was not in the IFL and that Rothwell has yet to lose an IFL bout.
Since the lost to Christison, he has been on a 13 fight win-streak, which attracted the attention of Adrenaline MMA. 11 of these fights ended in either KO or submission.
He may make his debut with Adrenaline MMA as soon as June 14.
Random Musing and Bruising
It's no secret that I'm a fan of professional wrestling, so it's always a visual treat when I see something like this in MMA:
Call me a pussy if you must, but Ric Flair retiring this past week was emotional to me. I didn't cry, but I wouldn't feel an ounce of shame if I had. Good luck with the rest of your life Mr. Flair. I'll miss you cutting those classic promos and all the passion you have for the sport. Thank you.
Last week, I spoke briefly about Roxanne Modafferi. Here she is in action.
BROTHERS DON'T SHAKE. BROTHERS HUG
Check out these fine articles from the 411 MMA family
That's it for this week. Stay tune next week for more news, videos, and whatever else I can think of. Make sure you check back with 411 for all your MMA news.
