Cardio Freak MMA News Report 4.10.08: Finishing Fights

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 04.10.2008

Cardio Freak returns with a look back at Ultimate Fight Night 13 and a look ahead to the future of key guys who participated at the event! Plus, the latest news on Fedor vs. Sylvia, Thiago Alves and his title shot, and Frank Trigg! Also, a lot of love for Kenny Florian and Dana White returns! All of that and so much more inside the latest edition of the Cardio Freak MMA News Report!



Welcome back to Cardio Freak everyone. I am your host Jeremy ‘Foppa' Lambert. Another busy week for myself (got to love college) but I'm once again keeping the streak alive and pumping out another article. YEAH~!

Top Story of The Week

A Night of Fights 13

Ultimate Fight Night 13 came and went last Wednesday and if we learned anything from it, it was that….KENNY FLORIAN FINISHES FIGHTS~!

Kenny Florian doesn't get a lot of love around the MMA community, likely because he's a skinny goofy looking white kid, but there's no denying that this man FINISHES FIGHTS~! and is really good. Florian is a well-rounded fighter and more importantly is a student of the game and gameplans better than anyone not named Randy Couture. If you ever listened to a Kenny Florian interview outside the octagon, you have to appreciate his insight and knowledge of the sport. He looks like the random geek on the streets that gets picked on daily but if you try and fuck with him, KENNY FLORIAN WILL FINISH YOU~!

Joe Lauzon is a good fighter but I still don't think he should have been in that fight. Did he have a chance to beat Kenny Florian? Of course. It still bugged me that the guy who didn't even make it to the finals of the show got the main event fight instead of the guy who won the show.

The fight itself was excellent. A display of many aspects of the game and in the end, Florian just over-whelmed Lauzon. I thought it should have been stopped much earlier than it was considering Lauzon was just covering up and not making much of an effort to get out but I guess because he wasn't taking much damage, the ref let it go on a bit more.

Kenny Florian has already come out and stated that instead of a title shot, he would like to face Roger Huerta, a fight that was scheduled to happen after Huerta defeated Clay Guida last December but never came to fruition due to Huerta wanting and needing time off.

The rest of the night was packed with good action and some controversy.

Karo Parisyan returned to the octagon and officially climbed to Tim Sylvia and Sean Sherk status on my fighter list. He bored me in the first round and after getting knocked out in the second, he decided to complain to the ref. I thought he was clearly out from the knee, especially during the live broadcast, the only thing the ref can go off of. On replay, it looked like he was about to protect himself but at the same time he was probably going to eat some more punches and may have gone out. In my mind, the stoppage wasn't early, Karo was out, and now we'll get more interviews where he continues to complain about never getting his title shot, losing to a rising contender, and having to fight his way back up.

Big props to Thiago Alves who had to come into the fight with a chip on his shoulder, knowing that Karo thought he was pretty much a showcase fight before Karo's title fight. He didn't look good until the end of the first and when the second started, he turned up the heat (pun intended) on Karo. He caught him with a clean knee, knocked him out, and propelled himself into the top 10 Welterweights. I know it's probably a step down in competition after defeating Karo Parisyan but I would love to see Alves rematch Chris Lytle in the near future.

Another contender whose title hopes took a hit with a loss to an up and comer was Frank Edgar. Outside of Roger Huerta, Frank Edgar probably had the most impressive 2007 for a UFC Lightweight and big things were expected from him in 2008. Well, big things are still expected but we shouldn't expect a title shot after his fight with Gray Maynard. Both guys used their wrestling ability to control the other but the bigger Maynard was able to bully (pun once again intended) Edgar and control him for a longer period of time. It wasn't the most exciting fight of the night but it was a huge win for Maynard and it just goes to show that the TUF5 produced a nice crop of Lightweights for the immediate future. Plus Randy Couture was on screen for all of 1 second, which ruled.

Speaking of TUF5 Lightweights, the winner of the season was on display last Wednesday as well. As most of you may know, I'm a fan of Nate Diaz not only for his goofy charisma but also because I feel he's a well rounded fighter who likes to put on a show but knows how to win (unlike his brother). Nate once again came through against a very tough Kurt Pellegrino. In the first round, I thought it was awfully close to being stopped when Nate took a bunch of unanswered elbows from side control. In fact, if the ref had the view that we at home had, it may have been stopped. Luckily for Nate, he got over the slow start and looked a lot better in the second round. He finished the night off with an awesome transition into a triangle choke followed by an even better pre-end celebration, a sequence The Undertaker is sure to use at Wrestlemania 25. A good showing by both men but Diaz once again proved that he should get a step up in competition.

In a Light Heavyweight fight of the night, the altitude proved to be too much for Tim Boetsch. The first round was pretty even with neither man really establishing anything but as the round ended, Boetsch was out of gas and Hamill pounced. It looked to me like Hamill has regressed since his fight with Michael Bisping but it's not look he looked horrible and he is coming back from a tough injury so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The night opened up with "the fastest knockout in UFC history" when James Irvin scored an 8 second victory over Houston Alexander. Man, just when I was getting on the Houston Alexander train, he lets me down. He's a guy who hits hard and wants to stand and bang but has a weak chin so what can you do? James Irvin didn't really prove much because I don't know how much you can prove knocking out a less than average fighter with a weak chin in 8 seconds.

On the undercard, we had some more good fights that everyone should go out of their way to check out.

As shown on the live broadcast, Anthony Johnson destroyed Tommy Speer. I don't know if Tommy Speer got smaller or if Anthony Johnson is just a HUGE 170 but the usually bigger and stronger Speer looked like a Lightweight out there. Johnson has some serious power and Speer can certainly take a punch.

Din Thomas and Josh Neer returned to the octagon and had a good battle, especially on the feet. You could almost call it even on the feet until Neer started throwing leg kicks. It was a different story on the ground though as Neer battered Thomas with elbows and punches en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Manny Gamburyan had better luck than his cousin Karo Parisyan as he quickly dispatched Jeff Cox with a guillotine choke. After the fight, Manny once again called out Nate Diaz. While I would like to see the rematch, I think it would be a step down for Nate Diaz, who seems ready to crack the UFC top 10. Manny is scoring some impressive victories but he hasn't faced top guys like Diaz.

George Sotiropoulos continued to impress with some excellent BJJ as he defeated Roman Mitichyan. As much as people want to get behind Roman following TUF6, I think George proved that he just doesn't belong. Roman showed he wanted to be a fighter when he wanted to fight through a broken arm and everyone thought he had skill when he beat Dorian Price but he was facing Dorian Price. George showed in this fight that he might be the best Welterweight to come out of Season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter now that Danzig is a Lightweight.

Ryan Roberts made his octagon debut and looked terrified against Marcus Aurelio. Aurelio scored with a good right hand and then locked in a beautiful armbar. On replay, I honestly thought Roberts was tapping out when Aurelio pounced on him after the right hand.

And finally, THE CARDIO FREAK~! Clay Guida returned and wasn't exactly Clay Guida at first. He took his time to feel out Sammy Schiavo and ate a couple of shots before finally getting the takedown and pounding him out. Hopefully Guida returns to TV and off these dark fights.

Overall, a very good free event in lead up to UFC 83. Kenny Florian showed that he's a top 5 UFC Lightweight, Karo Parisyan got knocked back down the ladder, and Nate Diaz showed he deserves some more competition were just a few highlights of the show. If you haven't seen it, shame on you.

UFC Event News & Notes

Various sources reported that Kendall Grove will take on Evan Tanner at the Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale

This is a crossroads fight for both men. Grove was pegged as the future of the division after his performances on The Ultimate Fighter 3 but it's now been proven that he has a weak chin. Tanner's comeback story didn't have the greatest start with a loss to Yushin Okami but Grove is a beatable opponent for him and could boost his confidence enough to get him back to championship form.

MMAmadness is reporting that Roger Huerta will return in August at UFC 87 in Minnesota. No opponent has been named

Any fight fan has to be excited for the return of Roger Huerta. He always gives 110% and always seems to be in the fight of the night. Rumors are running that Kenny Florian will be his opponent and considering there's 4 months between his recent fight with Lauzon and then, Florian is not out of the question. If this fight does indeed happen, I think it's safe to say that the winner will be the first person in line to face the winner of Sean Sherk vs. BJ Penn.

Due to a prior commitment, Joe Rogan will miss UFC 83. Kenny Florian will take his place in the booth alongside Mike Goldberg

I like this move. I'm a fan of Joe Rogan but if he has to miss the show, someone has to replace him. With Randy Couture no longer with the company, Kenny Florian is a very logical choice to replace Couture as the fighter analyst. As I mentioned above, Florian is probably one of the smartest fighters when it comes to all aspects of MMA and has great insight to things. He looks like a geek but luckily we don't have to stare at him while he's announcing.

On a related note, I wonder if Matt Hughes will join the booth for the St. Pierre vs. Serra fight. After the Couture mess, I thought it would have been very smart of UFC to rotate in fighters for main events to replace Couture. They seemed to be starting this trend at The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale when Florian joined the booth for Huerta vs. Guida and Sean Sherk joined the booth at UFC 80 for Penn vs. Stevenson. Hopefully they try this as it would be pretty easy to find a guy who has some type of connection to the main event of upcoming bouts.

Dana White On…

Tim Sylvia vs. Fedor Emelianenko

I have to laugh at this fucking fight. Tim Sylvia is a shell of his former self and Fedor still sucks. When was the last time Tim Sylvia finished someone? He's lost two of his last three fights and he only beat Brandon Vera because he dry humped him for 15 minutes and Vera broke his hand. And don't get me started on fucking Fedor. He's not the #1 fighter in the world, he's not even in the top 10. If he beats Tim Sylvia, big fucking deal. Randy Couture dominated Tim Sylvia for 5 rounds and Antonio Nogueira finished him in 3. Best of luck to these men and I hope the internet has a field day with it because no casual fan gives a fuck about this fight

UFC Fighter News & Notes

Nate Diaz once again called out Tyson Griffin

Have I mentioned lately how awesome Nate Diaz is? For those that don't know the story, Tyson Griffin used to train with Nate, Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, and Jake Shields at the Ceasar Gracie camp but Griffin went "Hollywood" when he decided to train at Xtreme Couture. Because of this, Nate Diaz has been wanting to fight Tyson Griffin ever since he won TUF5.

If and when these two fight, I would pick Tyson Griffin. As much as I like Nate Diaz, he showed that he can be taken down without much fight in his recent bout with Kurt Pellegrino. Diaz has a good guard but I think Griffin has good enough submission defense to avoid anything Nate throws at him. On the feet, I'd give the advantage to Griffin. Hopefully this fight happens in the near future but I think Nate is going to have to win at least one more fight over a top opponent and Griffin will either have to lose or be in a stagnant position where he's not fighting for a title shot because other guys are ahead of him.

On TAGG Radio, Thiago Alves stated that he is in line for a Welterweight Title Shot after Jon Fitch

I don't like this move. No knock on Thiago Alves who is coming off of an impressive victory over Karo and has a nice winning streak going but he just now moved into the top 10 with his win over Karo. To me, Josh Koscheck and Diego Sanchez deserve the title shot before Thiago Alves and really, neither of those men are all that deserving without collecting another impressive victory. I would match up Koscheck vs. Alves with the winner facing the winner of Fitch vs. Serre/GSP. That way there's no long lay off for Alves (who probably won't get his title shot until December at the earliest) and there's an actual #1 contender fight to build. UFC just continues to baffle me at how the hand out title shots without matching up top guys.
Other MMA News & Notes

Sherdog.com was the first to report that Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia will take place on July 19th. HDNet is expected to carry the event

FEDOR GETS A TOP TEN FIGHTER~! I expect the internet to explode if Tim Sylvia should defeat Fedor. I don't think it will happen but this is fighting and anything can happen in any fight. This is almost a dream fight for most since Sylvia was talking a lot of shit about Fedor when Big Tim ruled the UFC Heavyweight division. Everyone always wanted to see Sylvia vs. Fedor mainly because everyone hated Tim and the fact that he bored the hell out of the crowd during his Heavyweight reign and they wanted to see Fedor, the unbeatable cyborg, eat him alive.

There's a lot on the line in this fight as well. Aside from Fedor's #1 Heavyweight ranking, this fight puts the Fedor vs. Couture fight on ice should Fedor lose. I mean, why would Randy or fans want to see Couture vs. Fedor when Fedor just lost to a guy that Randy spanked in 5 straight rounds?

The other thing on the line is a lot of money. I don't know if Fedor knows this, but Tim Sylvia is not a draw. He may have been in a draw in UFC but people bought those shows because they either wanted to see a guy they knew beat Sylvia, they were interested in other fights, or they just bought it because it was UFC. I don't know how many people are going to want to see this event when it matches up a guy no one gives a fuck about against a guy no one really knows. The biggest problem of all is that this fight isn't on PPV, so they won't gross a PPV figure. That wouldn't be so bad for a show like HDNet Fights 2 featuring guys like Jason Miller and Frank Trigg but since this show features Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia there's going to be a problem. It's rumored that Fedor has been asking for a cool 2 million dollars and that Sylvia left UFC because he wanted more money, rumored to be around 1 million dollars. That's 3 million dollars tied up in two fighters with no PPV revenue. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how fucked the promoter is.

According to TNA Mobile, TNA is interested in bringing in Frank Trigg

Trigg made a guest appearance on THE BIGGEST IMPACT IN HISTORY~! A Impact I did not watch because I believe College Basketball was on. I heard good reviews about his cameo though and as I stated a few weeks ago, I like the Angle vs. Joe MMA build. Is Trigg going to be a full time wrestler? Of course not. Could he be useful in commentating the Angle vs. Joe match this Sunday at Lockdown (yes, TNA has a PPV this Sunday)? Sure. They could also do an angle between Trigg and Kurt leading up to some other PPV. Outside of that, I don't know what he's good for.

Here's my problem with TNA going after these "celebrities" in order to pop a rating or buyrate (something that always fails). See, while WWE gets Floyd Mayweather, a proven draw to many sports and casual fans and considered by many to be the best boxer in the world. TNA gets Frank Trigg, a guy who, if known at all, is best known by casuals as the guy who lost to Matt Hughes. While WWE gets Donald Trump and Kevin Federline (when he was relevant) to participate in major storylines with guys like Vince McMahon and John Cena. TNA gets Pacman Jones and AJ Pierzynski to participate in meaningless storylines with Ron Killings and Sonjay Dutt.

All that said, this is an easy over-pay check for Frank Trigg so if he does indeed sign a deal with TNA, I won't hold it against him.

AND IT'S ALL OVER~!

That wraps it up for this week folks. Come back next week for a breakdown of Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Peirre and the rest of the UFC 83 card. Take care.