Five Rounds Of News 04.11.08

Posted by Randy Harrison on 04.11.2008

Five Rounds ends the work week with a ton of content. So much content that I needed an EXTRA ROUND TO RANT! The IFL show gets broken down, as does the ShoXC card and the disaster that will be YAMMA!! Fedor Emelianenko is set to fight Tim Sylvia and gets featured in a ton of videos....it's all inside and just a click away for your enjoyment!!

Introduction

If it's Friday, it's time for the main event, championship fight of MMA news, Five Rounds Of News. There's been a ton of MMA news happening all over the globe this month and it doesn't look to be slowing anytime soon. A few weeks ago and a few weeks from now the attention will be focused internationally and mainly in Japan, but this week it's an all North American edition as the new season of the Ultimate Fighter has finally reached the house, ShoXC put on another great, albeit quick card, and the IFL had their most exciting show to date. There's lots happening in Random Strikes and there's also a look at the monstrosity that will be YAMMA Pit Fighting~!! There's also going to be an extra section focused on how refereeing has fallen in MMA and what can be done to fix it. All of this and there will still be some fight video goodness as well, so we've got a full plate in front of us.

As well as the absolute abundance of MMA that has been gracing the airwaves recently, it's also come time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most exciting and passionate two-month tournament in all of sports. Nothing can match them for raw emotion, intensity, physical sacrifice and dedication, and it all began last night on four fronts. My primary focus this year, as every year is on the Detroit Red Wings, my favorite team from about the age of ten. This year they've drawn the Nashville Predators as their first round opponent, after a successful season of over 50 wins and another President's Trophy, marking them as the best team in the NHL through the regular season. Will it carry over to playoff success? I can only hope, though things seem to bode well at least for the first round because the Wings have Nashville outclassed on almost every level. Barring some epic letdown they should sail on through to round two, but rest assured I will be watching and keeping you all abreast of the developments.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get to what we came here for, the loads and loads of MMA news laying in front of us. Time to check your cups and get your gloves taped because the Five Rounds starts right now!!

Round One

Fedor vs. Sylvia Seemingly Official

Various sources have reported this past week that a fight between former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion, Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia, is imminent and a date has been tentatively set for July 19th. This is huge news of course because it gives Tim Sylvia the fight that he has been asking about for quite some time, it gives Fedor a fight against a legitimate, top-ten heavyweight, and it gives us a chance to see a "unification" fight, that will actually feature two men not fighting for the UFC. The fight is expected to be held under the banner of the new Affliction/Golden Boy promotion, with Oscar De La Hoya at the helm. There are pro's and con's to everything in the world, so I thought it'd be good to take a look at some of them in this situation.

Of course, the biggest pro is that we get to see a great heavyweight fight. Granted it's not THE heavyweight fight that everyone has wanted to see, but it's still a pretty damn good one. If Sylvia shows up as the ass-kicking machine from before his first reign as UFC Champion, then this has the makings of an amazing fight. If he shows up fighting like he has against Jeff Monson and Brandon Vera, expect Fedor to make short work of him. Fedor is Fedor and we can expect the same fight from him that we always get, with vicious ground and pound and a wealth of submissions, both of which could mean big trouble for Sylvia since he doesn't work well from his back and as Nogueira showed, he's succeptible to the flash submission.

Another pro that this fight has going for it is the fact that Oscar De La Hoya is apparently going to be a very big part of the production and more than likely help the show to get a prime slot on PPV, just from his name being attached to it. There are not many people who know how to promote a PPV, or who know how to make a big-money fight even bigger than Oscar and having him on board is going to be a huge boost to this fight because there's going to have to be a hook to draw in the casual MMA fan that is usually conditoned to think that the only big fights are the UFC's fights. This is going to be key for the new promotion and gives them instant credibility in the eyes of broadcasters and fans of combat sports.

The biggest con for this fight is somewhat two-pronged. Like I mentioned before is that neither man is known as a hot ticket in the PPV market here in the United States, so it's going to be an uphill battle for this show to get off the ground and draw in a huge number of buys like I'm sure De La Hoya and Affliction are hoping for. Fedor has shown in the past that he has problems drawing in pay-per-viewers here in the United States, and Tim Sylvia, despite being a known commodity has the Scarlet Letter of being a boring fighter. If you look at his record, the last fight of his that sold on its own as a main event was his fight with Randy Couture, and I don't think people were paying to see Sylvia. De La Hoya has his work cut out for him to make this fight attractive enough for people to plunk money down on, but if anyone can do it, he can.

The other prong is that this fight isn't the Fedor/Couture fight, and as such could be viewed as a bit of a disappointment by most MMA fans. Sure it's a big fight, but there is bound to be an inevitable backlash as the great white whale of MMA continues to elude fans worldwide. Whether fans choose to express that backlash by not checking out this fight remains to be seen, but it has to be a concern to the promoters. That's not even getting into the problems that could be caused if Sylvia manages to catch Fedor with a punch and put him down, or God forbid, out. If Fedor loses and the card hasn't drawn in a considerable PPV audience, it will have been all for naught and will also have permanently put on ice the Fedor/Couture fight. If people wouldn't be willing to Fedor lose to the guy that Randy handled with ease, why would they want to see him fight Randy after that loss.

This looks like it's going to be a very interesting fight, but also one that's fraught with peril for all sides. If the PPV flops, Affliction could be starting their promotion behind the eight ball, and that could lead to problems for them down the road in terms of even staying in business. For Fedor, he risks his status as the best heavyweight fighter in the world against a legitimate threat for the first time in years and that has to be a sobering prospect for the big Russian. As for Sylvia, after all of his shit-talking about Fedor, he finally gets his chance, and it could end up being a life-threatening situation for him because as much as Fedor will be motivated for the fight on his own, Sylvia's words may just end up being fuel on the fire. So to summarize, Fedor and Affliction have a lot riding on this monetarily while Sylvia has his health riding on the fight.

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Random Strikes

Lots of ground to cover this week, with a ton of news coming out of the UFC and the state of Nevada, so let's get right to it. You all know the drill by now.


§ During an interview with TAGG Radio, Thiago Alves announced that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva told Alves that he is directly behind Jon Fitch for a shot at the UFC Welterweight title. Alves mentioned that he has the possibility of sitting out and waiting for a title shot, but he has said he wants to remain active and possibly fight in June or July.

I guess since Parisyan was next in line after Fitch, it makes sense for Alves to take that spot after beating Karo. Alves is really well-rounded and has shown that he can finish a fight on the floor or standing. I still don't necessarily agree with the stoppage in the Parisyan fight, but Alves looked like the better man that night and it merely could have been a matter of when the fight went his way, not if, so I have no problems with him jumping over Karo to get a shot at the title. Alves had better hope that Serra finds a way to keep the belt though, because I really can't see him beating either Fitch or GSP.


§ Bob Sapp has signed a deal with Michael Yudin, who is the head of MY Entertainment Co. for a possibly reality show, featuring Sapp. Sapp originally had a deal with SPIKE TV for a similar show, but it recently fell through.

This could either be really good, or HIDEOUSLY bad, and there's really no middle ground. Now if you take this idea for a reality show, marry it with Kurt Angle's idea for a reality show and then have the two of them be like a Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker, Rush Hour, buddy comedy kind of deal, I'd be all over it. Crazy Kurt and Bob Sapp would be the unintentional comedy event of the millennium and would have my undivided attention every single week.


§ The plans for the new Nevada State "training camp" steroid testing program should be finalized for the April meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. This is part of an effort for more aggressive steroid testing in the state.

This sounds like the beginning of a program to allow the NSAC to test athletes "out of season" meaning that they wouldn't only be subject to tests after they've fought, but perhaps before they've fought and while they are in training as well. I would love to see every sport and every athletic commission and sanctioning body get tough on steroids and HGH testing because honestly these drugs have no place in any sport whatsoever. Here's hoping that the NSAC gets a successful program in place and can begin to get other states to adopt the idea as well. STEROIDS, BE GONE!!


§ The March 21st SHOWXC event scored a 0.66 cable rating, which is the best rating the show has ever done. SHOWXC features fighters trying to make their way to the main EliteXC shows; fighters that are not considered "stars" yet. The SHOWXC shows air at 11pm or after on Showtime.

MMA continues to grow and grow, as evidenced by the Strikeforce NBC show set to debut this weekend, as well as the EliteXC/CBS partnership. This is good news for ShoXC and for Showtime because it shows that people are actually making an effort to see these shows. As far as I've been told Showtime is third when it comes to premium networks behind HBO and Cinemax, so they probably have less of a market to draw from. A 0.66 cable rating for 120 million homes on basic cable is nothing to write home about, but take that same number rating and cut the number of homes by about 80 percent and you've got a success. With somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 million homes with Showtime, they have to be happy with the ratings that EliteXC and ShoXC have been bringing, and if it can show up as a trend to where MMA has gained them new subscribers, I'd expect to see HBO following suit before long.


§ Last week's Fight Night XIII show, which was live from the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado did a sell out crowd of 7,000 fans paid for a total gate of $650,000.

And the license to print money continues for the UFC. This is going to be a huge month for them with the best fight night card ever drawing a sell-out and UFC 83 coming up with the huge Welterweight Championship unification fight with another sell-out crowd (the fastest sell-out in UFC history). Rumors of the UFC's financial demise that I have seen on the boards around the interwebs have been greatly exaggerated and the company still looks to be making money hand over fist from live events, PPV revenues, merchandise sales, DVD sales, etc. etc.


§ The official website of Ultimate Fighter season 3 winner Kendall Grove has confirmed that "Da Spyder" will face Evan Tanner at the season finale for the Ultimate Fighter season 7. After winning three straight in the UFC, Grove has dropped his last two both via KO.

While I can see how Grove's camp would think that this is a good fight, based on what Yushin Okami did to Tanner in his comeback fight, I can't help but think that perhaps they're making a BIG mistake. Grove has lost two in a row and is dangerously close to becoming undercard fodder until his contract is up. Tanner is stronger than the wiry Grove, built a little stouter and has well-rounded skills and knockout power. Unless Grove gets a few knees up the middle and works in the Thai Clinch exclusively, this fight might not work out so well for him. Tanner works well inside with the clinch and could easily control the fight against the fence. Trap fight for Grove because if he loses he's fucked, and if he wins he's just beaten a washed-up fighter. Bad, bad move.


§ MMA Weekly is reporting that Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio will happen at UFC 86 on July 5th. The fight has yet to be announced by the UFC. Griffin last fought at UFC 81 where he earned a decision victory over Gleison Tibau. Aurelio just fought at UFC Fight Night 13 where he quickly submitted Ryan Roberts with an armbar.

This should be a really good fight and it will be interesting to see where it takes place because Griffin, the wrestler, will probably be looking to get the fight down to the mat, but in doing so he may end up playing right into Aurelio's hands. From his fights with Frank Edgar and Clay Guida we know that Griffin has hands, so he may adapt his strategy and try to keep the fight on its feet against the slick jiu-jitsu wizard Aurelio. Where this will leave either man in the VERY crowded Lightweight division is anyone's best guess, but this will be an entertaining fight nonetheless.

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Round Two

ShoXC Results and Thoughts

ShoXC put on their second card in less than a month and this one was just as exciting as the first and just as controversial. Like the first card, things would sail along smoothly until the main event and the night would end in controversy. There's no disputing that ShoXC has the right recipe for quality shows by featuring the hungriest young fighters in the sport but they're going to have to try to stay away from controversy for at least the next couple of shows, lest they be thought of as an MMA sideshow.


Bao Quach def. Doug Evans

The first bout of the evening saw Bao Quach come in on short notice and completely decimate former UFC fighter Doug Evans. Quach looked great and is one of the rising starts in the Pro Elite fold. Unlike Malaipet, who was a product of hype, Quach is the real deal and is riding high on one of the hottest streaks of his career. His record might not show it but Quach has the potential to be one of the best fighters in his featherweight divison and it looks like he's finally going to be realizing some of that potential. Great win for Bao, and just as crushing a defeat for Evans, who looks like he should be heading back to Alaska to fight sometime soon after being completely handled in the UFC and then demolished by Quach here. Maybe with more seasoning Evans could come back to the big time, but he just hasn't looked ready in any of his fights that I've seen.


Giva Santana def. Matt Lucas

ARM COLLECTOR!!! I have never heard an MMA nickname be cooler, or fit someone as perfectly as this nickname fits Giva Santana. He seems to be of the mold of an Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira-type fighter as he took a real beating in the first part of the opening round, including getting dropped by a big left hand from Lucas. Things didn't look good for the Brazilian armbar specialist, but lickety-split he twists off the fence, uses his guard and locks in an armbar to steal the fight with ten seconds left in the round. ARM COLLECTOR!!! He looked pretty good outside of the beating he took and he showed that he has a granite chin along with the capacity to strike like lightning with his submissions. Santana could be someone to keep an eye on when they're looking for Middleweight Championship challengers in EliteXC because there's not a real depth in the division and Santana is undefeated and impressively undefeated, so look for him to make the jump up to the big show, maybe against a guy like Noke and if he wins there, he'll be in for a title shot by the end of the year.


Shayna Baszler def. Keiko Tama

Tama seemed like a real entertainer, but she didn't get much of a chance to be entertaining once the bell rang. Baszler is an absolute BEAST and she took this fight over very quickly. Baszler has good stand-up and has a TON of skills on the mat and she showed it all here when she took Tama's back and pounded on her before SLAMMING her and eventually giving her a good, old fashioned neck crank to draw the tapout. Baszler is honestly the toughest fighter in the women's division and I would love to see a fight between her and Gina Carano, despite the fact that that will probably never happen in a million years. If Carano could make the weight in the first place, she'd be in trouble against someone with the skill set that Baszler has. She could take Carano down and make her life miserable on the mat, or she could stand and trade with her and take all that Gina had to dish out. I really don't think that EliteXC would risk their meal ticket in the women's division though, so it's a real shame that despite being the best fighter, Baszler may end up being a victim of a glass ceiling.


Fabricio Camoes def. Joe Camacho

I didn't care a whole hell of a lot for this fight because Camacho's nickname was something ridiculous like "JC Gotz DA SKILLZ" and it just distracted me from the entire fight. Despite the record, Camacho had a distinct scent of Eau de Can, and it was proven when Camoes took him down, avoided some nearly illegal elbows and then schooled Camacho on the mat until he was able to ground and pound his way to a victory. Camoes showed a ton of potential, but he looks like he could use at least one more fight in the Challenger Series before he gets bumped up to the main show. Not that his skills aren't ready, but just that for whatever reason he looked like he might end up being completely intimidated and overwhelmed by the larger crowd that an EliteXC show would bring. Look for Camoes to be on the next ShoXC card or the one after that and if he wins there, he could be up on the main show in the undercard before the end of 2008.


Po'ai Suganuma def. Jarred Hamman

Now we come to the main event, and the problems that arose from it. Suganuma had only one loss to his credit while Hamman was bringing an undefeated record in after a great back and forth fight that he won despite getting into some trouble in his last ShoXC appearance. The fight began and Hamman got CRACKED with a big right hand that stunned him in a moment that looked like a carbon copy of his last fight. Then came a WILD FLYING KNEE from Suganuma and all hell broke loose. Hamman went down and looked to be out for a moment, but was ready to defend himself when Suganuma pounced on him. There was no need though because referee John Schorle had already stopped the fight. Repeated replays showed that Hamman got caught with the knee but it looked a lot more like he had been knocked off balance by the blow rather than knocked out, a fact that was born out when he was up and on his feet and looking completely clear-headed less than ten seconds after the stoppage. This wasn't one of those situations where a guy is out and he tries to pretend he wasn't (Houston Alexander, I'm looking in your direction), this was a situation where a guy got screwed and given a loss he might not have suffered had the fight continued. It's a shame that the fight had to end that way and that Hamman had to lose his perfect record in such a controversial fashion, but it does leave the possibility open for a rematch, so I guess it's not all bad.

A really sour taste to end the night on and that's twice in a row for ShoXC, and they really need to reverse that trend with their next show. I do know that something needs to be done about the current state of refereeing in MMA and that's going to be the subject of a special little something directly below.

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Bonus Rant Time!!

The Problem with MMA Referees

I've removed one of the between round features to include this because it's been something that I have been stewing on for quite some time. Late last year there were plenty of questionable decisions made by the judges at various MMA events that caused MMA pundits to question whether it was time for a change to be made in terms of the way fights were judged or even who did the judging on them. Debates were held back and forth on various message boards and in all the various circles of MMA, and despite some rocky moments, things settled and have returned to the status quo, with people not feeling that sense of dread every time a fight goes the duration.

We've come to another fork in the road for mixed martial arts though, as in the past few months there has been a plethora of questionable decisions made by the referees when it comes to early stoppages in fights that have called into question the current standard of officiating. John McCarthy, generally regarded as the best referee in mixed martial arts retired last year and since then it seems as if things have ran on a rapid downhill decline. This past week saw two fights in two different organizations that were stopped a lot earlier than they should have when Thiago Alves stopped Karo Parisyan and the Suganuma/Hamman fight I just spoke of. Alves dropped Parisyan with a hard knee and followed up with a couple of shots, but it looked like Parisyan was going to be able to weather the storm. The fight was stopped and Parisyan was immediately up and protesting the decision. Hamman caught a flying knee after taking a hard right hand and looked stunned to be sure, but he was nowhere near being out when John Schorle stopped the fight.

I'm not saying that either man would have won their particular fight, but they should have been given the chance to, instead of having it removed by a shoddy refereeing job. I'm not for guys eating twenty unanswered shots in the head, and I'm not of the mind that someone has to be unconscious before a fight is stopped, but there's a fine line between fighter saftey and actively affecting the outcome of a fight that is still in the balance, and lately the referees of MMA have been stomping all over that line. The main problem seems to be that because of the broad scope of MMA, and perhaps the worry of everyone involved to keep an accident from occuring in the cage that could damage the sport, referees seem to be overly sensitive when it comes to someone being knocked out. I realize that no one can be a doctor and know definitively when someone is knocked out or not, but there really needs to be a bit more of a universal standard that all referees can follow.

Boxing has the standing-eight count and the three-knockdown rule, and I'm not advocating using either of those for MMA, mainly because the only other thing that was lifted directly from boxing was the 10 point must judging system and we covered how well that's been working before. What I'm suggesting is for there to perhaps be rules put in place that serve a similar purpose, but are adapted to MMA. How many unanswered shots are too many before a fight should be stopped? What if those punches are landing on the defending fighter's forearms rather than his head? Questions like these plague nearly every referee's stoppage that doesn't come from a submission tapout, and those questions need to be answered and changes need to be made before people begin to question the legitimacy of mixed martial arts as a competition.

Before his retirement, McCarthy was quoted as saying that he thought that perhaps a commission of officials should be formed, where all MMA officials would be given a specific set of rules and guidelines to follow that could be used in every fight to allow for there to be some uniformity in officiating. There are rules in place now, but there is still too much grey area from official to official for there to be any sort of integrated system in place for all officials to follow. I think that a great idea would be for McCarthy to perhaps be the head of such a commission and for him to work with the various state Athletic Commissions to come up with these guidelines so that there won't be that same feeling of dread every time a fighter gets knocked down that there was months before whenever the fight went to the scorecards.

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Round Three

The IFL's Most Exciting Card To Date

The IFL returned to HDNet for their second fight card in as many months and this one was MUCH more exciting and a lot more entertaining than their first effort. As much as the first card was dotted with plodding decisions and one-sided fights. This card was top to bottom one of their strongest in terms of quality match-ups and it ended up being a great card that had no real slow spots, despite there being fights that went to decisions. Out of the ten fight card, these five seem like they will have the most impact on the IFL going forward.


Chris Horodecki def. Nate Lamotte

While Horodecki has to be happy about getting a win in his first fight back after suffering his first loss in devastating fashion, it wasn't a very pretty win and it still leaves lots of questions unanswered. It was obvious that Horodecki had worked on his ground game in the wake of his loss, but he still looked VERY uncomfortable and unsure of what to do while he was on his back and he took a few really hard shots from Lamotte as a result. He is continuing to improve, but he's also continuing to show people that he has holes in his ground game that can be exploited. Horodecki could fall victim to fighters with lesser talent, simply because they've gameplanned to his glaring weakness. As for Lamotte, he did a great job in a fight against a top-level lightweight fighter and he deserves to get another shot with the IFL in the near future. A really entertaining fight, but also one that left a lot of questions moving forward.


Jim Miller def. Bart Palaszewski

The "upset" of the night and I only use the word upset because not many people knew of Jim Miller before this fight. Palaszewski REALLY needed the win here but for whatever reason he came out flatter than a pancake. Miller controlled the fight from beginning to end and came very close to submitting Palaszewski on more than one occasion. I'm not sure what has happened to Bartimus in the past six months, but he's gone from blazing prospect to falling off of the map in the lightweight division. He looked listless and uncomfortable for almost the entire fight, and while I give a lot of credit to Miller for that, there was still something off about Palaszewski for the whole fight. I don't know what he can do to get the wheels back on the cart, but if he's not careful he may be on the outside looking in the next time the IFL looks to put together a card. Kudos to Miller on that SWANK-ASS anaconda choke takedown into the mount though, that was one of the sweetest grappling moves I've seen in a long, long time.


Vladimir Matyushenko def. Jamal Patterson

Matyushenko showed true toughness and grit by surviving a hellstorm from the hometown boy Patterson in the first round. Unfortunately for Patterson, he may have spent his entire tank in the first round because once "The Janitor" came out for the second round, it seemed like a completely different fight. Matyushenko proved his heart yet again, and defended his title while possibly securing himself a place in the Top 10 of the light heavyweight division. I had considered Matyushenko to be washed up before his stint in the IFL began, but after seeing his three-round pummeling of Alex Schoenauer and his beating of Jamal Patterson after facing a ton of adversity, he's on top of his game and deserves to be in the discussion of the top fighters at 205 pounds. I'm not saying that he could beat a guy like Machida or Rampage, but he could definitely hold his own against almost anyone in the division and make it an entertaining fight. Vladdy proved me wrong and continues to prove me wrong with his performances in the IFL ring.


Wagnney Fabiano def. Shad Lierley

Holy shit. That's about all I could say when I saw this fight. Fabiano is an absolute animal on the mat and has submissions like no one's business. Now he's gone and added KNOCKOUT POWER in his little hands, and he could be one of the most unstoppable fighters in the IFL for a long time to come. This was a devastating knockout and one that will undoubtedly make the IFL's highlight reels forever. Fabiano has all the tools to be the best in the world at 145 pounds and I'm sure that as much as the world is salivating over the prospect of a Urijah Faber/Kid Yamamoto fight, one between Faber and Fabiano would draw just as much interest. I know I'd love to see Fabiano test himself outside of the IFL and maybe make a jump to the WEC or head over to Japan to prove just how good he really is. For now though, he's realizing his potential and is clearly the best featherweight fighter in the International Fight League. I pity the next man that tries to step in and stop him.


Jay Hieron def. Mark Miller

Main event slot for this fight, and Hieron looked ready and hungry to prove that his title win was no fluke. Sure it was a stoppage against Delson Heleno, but it was an injury stoppage after a first round that was fairly even, so there couldn't have been much satisfaction in the title win for Hieron. This fight however, had to be EXTREMELY satisfying for the Xtreme Couture welterweight star. He got the takedown and pounded away at Miller, who had no defense for the onslaught. Hieron looked great in this fight and you could really see the influence of Randy Couture in Hieron's style in this fight as well as the determination he showed to finish the fight once he had the advantage. Hieron proved himself to be the better fighter and has validated his claim to the IFL Welterweight Title in my eyes. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here though as there doesn't seem to be a ton of opponents at the top of the division that could be worthy of a shot. Brad Blackburn seemed to think he was next in line, which could set up an entertaining rematch, but after that the pickings look rather slim.

All in all, the most entertained that I have been with an IFL show since the promotion began, and I'm interested to see how they capitalize on this momentum and carry it into their next show. It also looks like the camp vs. camp deal has served to revitalize the company, if only because it eliminated the somewhat sterile team vs. team format that filled every single card leaving room for only one or two bigger "superfights" on each card. Now with three title fights on virtually every card and tons of fresh matchups being made available in camp vs. camp, things are starting to look a whole lot brighter for the IFL, and that's a very good thing.

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Links In The Cage

Tons of reads that I enjoyed this week on the 411mania.com MMA zone, and here's a small sampling. Click, read, love. It's just that simple!


MMA Analytics!!

411's Exclusive Interview with Ed Herman!!

411's Fighter Profile featuring Anderson Silva!!

Planet Tapout!!

MMA Fact or Fiction!!

MMA's Full 38"!!

411's Light Heavyweight Rankings!!

MMA Spotlight!!

Ultimate Fighter Episode Recap!!

UFC Wired Report!!

UFC Unleashed Report!!

Sprawl and Brawl!!

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Round Four

YAMMA's The First Sign Of The Apocalypse

This Friday, the FUTURE of MMA will be foretold and the YAMMA will change the way we all watch MMA FOREVER!!! Ok, now that that line of garbage is out of the way, let's get to the real meat of things. This YAMMA Pit Fighting card has reeked of gimmick from the word go, and the closer it gets to the card, the more that it looks like it's going to be a ton of sizzle and no steak. The card is middling at best, to terrible at worst, and the fighting surface is "new" but that doesn't necessarily mean good. As far as the marketing of the event, it seems like their goal is to set the cause of MMA back at least a decade with their nonsense of "On the streets it's against the law, in the PIT it IS the law". That kind of shit could have flown back in the early days of the UFC, but now it just seems ridiculous.

The main reason this seems so much like the early days of the UFC is more than likely because the founder of the UFC, Bob Myerowitz, is the man who is heading up the YAMMA show. He seems to have been living under a rock since selling off his portion of the UFC because he's apparently missed the entire evolution of the sport of mixed martial arts. He's still trying to sell this show like it's Bloodsport, and he's relying on the "Masters" division of fighters that have all passed their prime and were in their primes when Myerowitz was still in charge. The only fighter that is of any worth in the current MMA landscape is Ricco Rodriguez, and he was a late addition to the eight-man tournament after a fighter had to pull out.

Speaking of pull-outs, this card has been full of them, especially in the "Masters" division. I'm not going to go through the laundry list of them all again because frankly there may be another change to the card before I'm finished with this column and I'd hate to short-change the fighter that is added at 8:30 and then off the card by 9. However, this many changes to a card speak poorly to the credibility of an organization, even one as laughable as YAMMA, and it does nothing but rip off the people who have paid their money for a ticket to see a certain fighter who has been removed from the card for one reason or another. If that was the least of YAMMA's problems they might stand a chance, but there is still a lot of issues that aren't touched on yet.

The fighting surface that they are claiming will revolutionize MMA is a hybrid between the fence and circular shape of cage fighting organizations like the UFC and EliteXC, and the ramped amateur wrestling circle used by Chuck Norris' World Combat League kickboxing organization. The thinking behind this new fighting surface is that the clinch game against the fence will be negated and that there will be no slow points and all action, but I fail to see how this could end up serving that purpose. In the rush to be different, they've essentially taken away tools that certain fighters have used effectively in the past and have made it so that the entire fight will take place in the center of the cage, out in the open with both fighters feeling each other out and keeping their distance. The whole thing is a silly idea and you can tell that this is Myerowitz's only attempt to try to move the product forward.

I could spend another hour going on with everything that is wrong about the YAMMA show as a whole, but in the end, it's all going to be pointless because I don't see YAMMA lasting too much longer past this inaugural show anyhow. The sooner this jackass festival is out of business and legitimate MMA can move back to the center stage the better.

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Random Strikes Part Deux

In honor of Fedor Emelianenko apparently being ready to face a top-ten opponent for the first time in forever, it's time to take a look at some of the fights from the best heavyweight in the world today.


Fedor Emelianenko vs. Chris Haseman – February 15, 2002 RINGS World Title Series Grand Final



Fedor Emelianenko vs. Yuji Nagata – December 31, 2003 Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye Festival



Fedor Emelianenko vs. Kerry Schall – April 20, 2001 RINGS World Title Series 1



Fedor Carrying The Olympic Torch Through St. Petersburg, Russia

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Round Five

The Weekly TUF Stuff

The second week of elimination fights took place on The Ultimate Fighter this past week and there were some rather interesting fights. It looked like there were a lot more mismatches this week as a lot of the fights seemed to be over before they started. This leads me to believe that the UFC had a solid sixteen fighters in mind and wanted to throw a bit of a scare into them before they let them into the house. I can't say that any of the fights that took place were particularly close or fights where one or the other man could have won. I'm not sure if that's owed to the matchmaking that took place before the show began or just that the difference in talent between the top 16 and bottom 16 was so great.

Again, it was hard to get a feel for how any of these fighters will react once they get split into teams and once they get into the Ultimate Fighter house, so I will refrain from making any picks on who I think has the goods to go all the way, but I will say that this season has the potential to be the most entertaining season in a long time just based on the three main characters in place with Rampage, Forrest and Dana White. Those three all have their own ways of being entertaining during the show, but they never really encroach into each other's territory. They all have their own roles to play and do so well, especially Rampage, who could be even further along his way to becoming a breakout star in MMA from his stint on this show.

As for the fight that were shown on the last episode, all of the guys that won looked impressive, with Matt Brown and Luke Zackrich showing a lot of potential in their fights. The biggest splash of the show was made by Matthew Riddle, who followed up a well-fought first round that he won by completely decimating poor Dan Simmler with a right hand to begin the second round. Decimated is putting it nicely because Riddle destroyed the poor kid's jaw, and knocked him out so badly that he didn't even realize where he was, what he was doing, or why he had been in a fight. That is seriously FUCKED UP, and Riddle has just shown that he has a ton of power and is someone that everyone in the house has to keep their eye on.

Next week it's teams and the first of the regular elimination fights and it will be interesting to see how Rampage and Forrest have evaluated the talent based on the sixteen "win to get in" fights, and how each man will begin to shape their teams as the show moves forwards. This is shaping up to be a great season of the show, and again I would like to reiterate my hope that there won't be the usual display of assholery that comes with all of these guys being in the house and that there will be a house left standing by the time it's all said and done, but judging from the clips that I've seen from the previews of the season, that's a futile hope.

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Post Fight Wrap-Up

That does it for another edition of the Five Rounds folks, and I thank you for taking the time to stop in and check it out. Sorry for the extra rant on the officials, but it was something that I needed to get out. Look for the fun-filled between round segments to return and for a HUGE UFC 83 preview in next week's column. Until then, I'll be cursing at YAMMA and cheering on my beloved Red Wings for seven more days. Take care of yourselves until we meet back here again and try your best to enjoy the YAMMA show if you check it out tonight. My suggestion, LOTS of booze. Good night 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.