The Tuesday Leg Lock Report 04.22.08

Posted by Justin Thomas on 04.22.2008

The Tuesday Leg Lock comes back with a UFC 83 review and a breakdown of DREAM 2! Who will win the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix? Plus, I contemplate about possible TUF 8 coaches. Is Frank Mir worth being the #1 contender? Would Nogueira be a good coach? Will GSP vs. Anderson Silva ever happen? Find out more about these topics inside.

Welcome to another edition of The Tuesday Leg Lock Report! Today we review UFC 83. Did the hype deliver? And finally most of the participants for DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix have been announced! I'll preview DREAM 2 and give my early prediction on who's going to win the tournament. The preview is not very big, not all fights are known and I'm not that excited about Middleweight Grand Prix. Hopefully, next time I'll give bigger DREAM previews. Plus, I'll give my thoughts about possible TUF8 coaches. Yes, Frank Mir is certainly a candidate, but what other fighters could become the #1 contender? Without further ado, let's start this week's Tuesday Leg Lock Report!




UFC 83 REVIEW



UFC 83 is finally here and the hype was amazing. Last week I said that I'm not too excited about this event, well, after I had watched countdown to UFC 83, weigh-ins etc. I was really looking forward to it. Lutter vs. Franklin suddenly became interesting too. Now let's see if the fights will deliver. The atmosphere should be amazing.

Bocek vs. Danzig. Bocek actually looked good in the first round. He tried a takedown and eventually got it. Danzig was never really in trouble, but he didn't score many points in that round, just in the last seconds when he took down Bocek. 10-9 Mark. The second round was all Danzig as he used his striking to knock down Bocek and then stayed on top of him for most of the round, easily winning this one. Mark, as Goldberg said, was in survival mode. 10-9 Danzig. The third round started like the first one with Bocek getting the takedown, despite a good takedown defense by Danzig. However, Mac was active from the guard and eventually stood up where he used his knee to open a nasty cut on Mark and then he finished Mark with RNC. But Bocek was a warrior, he continued the fight and his cardio was awesome, no surprise, as he's training in Team Quest. Very good fight, never boring and impressive performance by both guys.

Bisping vs. McCarthy. Wow, Bisping totally dominated the entire fight. His striking combinations were as good as ever and he escaped a submission attempt. However, McCarthy is still no elite middleweight and he took down Bisping with ease. Bisping's knees didn't seem to inflict much damage, but in the end, The Count still got the victory. I don't know why Charles tried the takedown only once. I'm still not sold on Bisping's ability, but well, he did his job and with some work on takedown defense, he might be a big player in the Middleweight division.

Quarry vs. Starnes. The first round was all Nate, as Kalib was just running from Quarry. The round was boring, not a lot of action, but that's because Starnes didn't want to fight. Weird strategy. 10-9 Quarry. The second round is more of the same, which is a shame. Kalib connected with the one leg kick he has thrown, but nothing more. Nate was quite active, he threw alot of leg kicks and was scoring points really well. Not much effort to finish the fight, but why should he take risks, if he's winning the fight this way. 10-9 Quarry. And Starnes is even more passive in the third, this is starting to get funny. Nate tried his best, but Kalib kept running, so Quarry just continued doing what he did in the first and second rounds. 10-8 Quarry. One judge scores the fight 30-24. Funny~! Kalib got totally owned.

Franklin vs. Lutter. Slow, but interesting first round. We haven't seen much striking as Travis immediately shoots for a takedown. It took him about 4 minutes to take Franklin down, go to half-guard, then to side mount, mount and lock in an armbar. But, surprisingly, it wasn't over as Rich spun out of it. Franklin was playing Lutter's game and all he did, was defend. 10-9 Travis. And in the second round, Travis played Franklin's game. All it took Rich was one knee and a head kick to basically win the fight, as after those, Lutter looked very tired and was just desperately shooting for a takedown. Franklin wasn't too aggressive, he just used the jab to pretty much destroy Lutter. Good fight, overall. We saw some BJJ, we saw some striking and too bad Lutter's cardio was so terrible, that after 1 round, he was done. Good win for Franklin, I guess Nate Marquardt, Henderson or Bisping could be his future opponents.

Serra vs. Pierre. Nice first round, controlled by GSP. Georges did a takedown and didn't do much damage in Serra's half guard, but when he was able to secure side mount, there GSP did some damage. Serra wasn't active, just defending and trying to get guard. 10-9 GSP. Second round was similar, GSP got the takedown, side mount and continued to punish Serra there. Matt looked tired, his left hand was down on the feet and he was just trying to get guard, not too successfully. GSP rained knees to the body and that's how he won. Good performance by Georges, but hey, now the question is... what will his mental condition be next time? Will he take Jon Fitch seriously? They're both classy in their post-fight interviews and, well, at least Montreal showed some love to Matt!

Overall thoughts. This was a really good event. Starnes vs. Quarry was the only boring fight, but at least Kalib, who didn't know what he was doing in the octagon, got owned. The other fights delivered. Franklin vs. Lutter and Danzig vs. Bocek both were really exciting. Bisping destroyed McCarthy, GSP destroyed Serra. So we have 3 exciting fights (if you count Hironaka vs. Goulet), 2 destructions and 1 boring fight. Plus, add the amazing Canadian fans. Pretty good, if you ask me. I'd give UFC 83 an 8.5 out of 10.

THE BIG NEWS

TUF8 COACHES STILL UNKNOWN



But don't worry, there are rumors! The Ultimate Fighter 8 is set to feature heavyweights, so the coaches should be heavyweights or at least light heavyweights. The rumored coaches are the UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1 MMA) and "The guy who defeated Brock Lesnar" Frank Mir (11-3 MMA). But, you know, I'm sure that not even UFC knows who the coaches will be. I mean, what if Mir loses to McCully (8-3-2 MMA)? And that is a possibility. Say whatever excuses you want, but Frank was destroyed by both Cruz and Vera. Now then, is Frank Mir worth being the #1 contender? No, but he defeated Brock Lesnar (1-1 MMA) and to casual fans, that was big. Plus, there aren't many contenders in the heavyweight division.

However, the other possible choice could be… Brandon Vera (8-1 MMA). But that's only if he beats Fabricio Werdum (10-3-1 MMA). Werdum is definitely a Top 10 fighter and Vera will likely be just another step for him to get a title shot. Once again, IF Brandon Vera beats Werdum, then that's gonna be huge. Vera is charismatic, popular with the fans and will have a big victory in his MMA record. He has all the tools to be a coach. It's a shame that Fabricio doesn't speak English or he could be a credible #1 contender, if he beats Vera.

Yet another possibility is none other than… THE ICEMAN Chuck Liddell (21-5 MMA). Yes yes, remember the rumors about Liddell moving to Heavyweight division? This would be the perfect opportunity, especially if he beats Rashad Evans (11-0-1 MMA). Chuck might want to fight Rampage again, but if Dana will ask Chuck to be the coach and the #1 contender in the heavyweight division, then I'm sure Liddell will agree.

We talked about the possible #1 contenders, but what about the champion? You see, he's a Brazilian. He speaks English, but not fluently. And at his age, I doubt he'll improve his English skills and I doubt he cares too much about it. What Nogueira should do is bring that bald translator guy, who translates Silva's and Machida's interviews and some English speaking assistant coaches. This way, he can give interviews through his translator or at least advise with him. The assistant coaches could work with the fighters, communicate with them. Antonio's presence, I believe, will be enough to encourage his pupils. His English skills aren't good enough to chat with them about life or tell jokes, like Quinton does, but he'll still be able to interact and help. So having Nogueira be a coach would be good, I doubt UFC or Antonio himself will have any problems with that.

DREAM 2 PREVIEW



I'm not sure if it's the full card or there will be other fights, but you can check the announced fights here. Trigg denied his involvement in the event, but the match is still listed on DREAM's official website (dreamofficial.com). Unfortunately, there is some bad news. First one is that Akiyama (10-1 MMA) won't be competing in it because of a nasal fracture. This is not good, but there will still be some other great fighters in the tournament. Second piece of news – DREAM was pulled off from prime time TV in Japan and will be shown 4 days after the live event. It will be available on PPV in Japan though. I don't know why it was pulled off just after one show. Were the ratings so bad? Who knows. The Japanese people still love MMA and if DREAM 2 and DREAM 3 will be good, then I'm sure they'll get a better TV slot. Still nothing is known about broadcasting the event in USA. We can only hope that a deal between HDNet and DREAM will be made…

Talking about the upcoming tournament fights, some interesting ones have been made. MINOWAMAN (39-27-8 MMA) and Dong-sik Yoon (3-4 MMA) have been added to the tournament. MINOWAMAN is known for his craziness in the ring, doing dropkicks and other pro-wrestling moves. His opponent will be Taiei Kin (2-2 MMA). PRIDE & K-1 veteran Yoon has lost his first four fights to very tough competition, but now he's on a 3 fight winning streak, won all of them via armbar (or DONGBAR~!) His opponent is Shungo Oyama (7-10 MMA). So no impressive MMA records in these fights. I predict victories by both Yoon & Minowaman. Croatian Zelg Galesic (7-3 MMA) will take on Russian Sultanakhmedov (4-1 MMA). Tough one to call, but I want Galesic to win.

The winner of Denis Kang (29-9-1)-Gegard Mousasi (20-2-1) has all the chances to win the whole tournament. There are still two unknown fights in the tournament, but, hey, I really don't believe that a Japanese/Korean fighter could win this. It's unlikely that Trigg or Misaki will be a part of this Grand Prix and that leaves me no choice, but to announce the winner – Denis Kang! We'll see if I'm right… I hope I am!

Ah yes, we also get the long awaited superfight! Shinya Aoki (14-2 MMA) is once again taking on Gesias Calvancante (14-1-1). If you ask me, I think Gesias will take this fight easily. He was dominating in their first meeting, Aoki could do nothing on the feet and he couldn't get a takedown. The elbows looked legal too. If Aoki takes this fight to the ground, he'll definitely have an advantage, but, in my opinion, JZ's takedown defense will be too good for Shinya. Gesias will use his striking skills to knock out Aoki and advance in the lightweight tournament.

OTHER NEWS

Murilo Rua – out! Villasenor – in! Unfortunately, Rua (15-8-1 MMA) was pulled out of CBS "Saturday Night Fights" card. The reasons are unknown. Joey Villasenor (25-6 MMA) replaced Murilo and now he'll fight Baroni (10-9 MMA). This is strange. Murilo, especially in his PRIDE days, had a lot of decisions and wasn't really the most exciting fighter. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Joey is not as technical and putting him and Baroni in the same ring should be fireworks. And that's what EliteXC wants on their first CBS card. Let's just hope we'll see Murilo in action soon and that he didn't suffer a serious injury.

GSP could move to middleweight. Georges St. Pierre (16-2 MMA), who recently destroyed Matt Serra (9-5 MMA), might move to middleweight division to challenge Anderson Silva (21-4 MMA). This would certainly be a superfight, but there are some problems. Middleweight division lacks contenders, but welterweight division doesn't. What about Jon Fitch (17-2 MMA)? Or Thiago Alves (14-3 MMA)? If GSP moves to middleweight, then he should vacate the title and permanently leave the welterweight division. OR fight in both divisions every two months. It's ok if Dan Henderson won two titles in two different weight categories, but in PRIDE it was usual for a fighter to fight every two months and the champions rarely defended their titles there. If Georges wins the middleweight title, then both divisions will be inactive. Imagine if we would have only one middleweight title match and one welterweight title match in a year. Not a very good idea. Besides, we still don't know what Anderson's status is with the UFC. Will he ever fight in the octagon again or is he going for a boxing match with Jones? If everything works out, I'd like GSP defend the title against Fitch and then fight Anderson in a non-title catchweight bout. This way we wouldn't need to worry about one man holding two titles.

Josh Barnett announced for WVR Sengoku II. Great news. Barnett (21-5 MMA) is coming off a victory over Hidehiko Yoshida (7-6-1 MMA). Josh is a top contender in the heavyweight division and he MUST fight a tough opponent, but the problem is - WVR doesn't have any other tough heavyweights. Randleman (16-12 MMA) and Monson (24-7 MMA) are supposed to fight at the event too and their opponents are still unknown. I'd absolutely love to see Barnett fight Sylvia (24-4 MMA), Fedor (27-1 MMA) or Arlovski (12-5 MMA), but I guess it won't happen in the near future…


BYE BYE!

And that wraps up the second edition of The Tuesday Leg Lock report. Thank you for reading and please leave some comments. I'll be back this week in Fact or Fiction, so don't miss it! Sayonara!