The Tuesday Leg Lock Report 04.29.08

Posted by Justin Thomas on 04.29.2008

The Tuesday Leg Lock comes back with tons of news! An early breakdown of the new and improved UFC 85 card, thoughts about Cro Cop's next opponent, DREAM's TV contracts, WVR: Sengoku II, Travis Lutter's future and more inside!

Welcome to another edition of The Tuesday Leg Lock Report! Today I won't review or preview any events as nothing major happened this past week, but there are still tons of news from both Japan and the UFC. The readers thoughts are coming back this week too. So get ready for the Tuesday Leg Lock!




THE BIG NEWS

DREAM NEWS



DREAM was NOT pulled from primetime! Apparently, DREAM 2 and DREAM 3 were never supposed to air on primetime on TBS. So this is good news, because the TV contract was signed before the formation of DREAM by FEG for their Hero's broadcast. After the TV deal is over, they might sign a better one with all the events airing on primetime. Good to know that everything is going well with DREAM.

Cro Cop vs. LeBanner set for DREAM 4! This is good and bad at the same time. I'm a fan of Mirko (23-6-2 MMA) and I like to see him fight again. But on the other hand, Jerome LeBanner (3-1-1 MMA; 73-14 kickboxing) is a very dangerous opponent. Mirko has stated before that he has never worked on takedowns and is not planning to take down anyone. Well that is quite stupid when you're facing JLB. The French fighter is a world class kickboxer and it's very tough to tell if Mirko could outstrike him. Filipovic lost to another world class kickboxer Hunt in an MMA match before and recently lost to a not so impressive Kongo. One could say that JLB is already past his prime, but he's still actively competing in kickboxing and his last fight was against Semmy Schilt in K-1 Grand Prix 2007. Cro Cop holds a victory over Jerome in a kickboxing match, which happened 12 years ago and that basically means nothing now. If Mirko wins this one, then he could prove that his striking skills are still top level and that he's ready to face Fedor again or return to the UFC. However, if Filipovic loses here, which is likely, then he'll probably be out of the Top 10 lists for good.

HDNet will air future DREAM events. This is simply awesome. DREAM 1 and DREAM 2 will be showed on delay, but, hopefully, 3-6 will be live. The negotiations were quite long and I expected that a deal won't be reached, but now that it was, I couldn't be happier. Frank Trigg will probably be commentating these events, which is not too good, but still better than listening to the Japanese announcers. Let's hope that DREAM will survive, grow and get a better TV deal in Japan too.

Ian Murphy (0-0 MMA) replaced Frank Trigg in DREAM's Middleweight Grand Prix. He'll face Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (7-1 MMA). Well Souza should get past Murphy easily. It's a little sad that there are two fighters with 0-0 record in the tournament. Certainly not even close to the best middleweights in the world and the only notable fighter is Denis Kang. I hope he wins against Mousasi tonight!


UFC 85 CHANGES



Last week it was announced that Chuck Liddell (21-5 MMA) had to pull out of UFC 85 due to a torn hamstring. Since then, various rumors have spread about possible fights. Now, it looks like UFC 85 card is finalized. First, a replacement for Chuck was announced and it's James Irvin (14-4 MMA). He'll be Rashad Evans' (11-0-1 MMA) opponent. Well, certainly, not an earth-shattering match. Evans is undefeated, but has yet to defeat a top level talent in the UFC. Irvin is far from top level but he's won 3 out of his last 4 fights and recently knocked out Houston Alexander in just 8 seconds. However, in my opinion, James is being fed to Evans here. I really doubt that Irvin can be something more in the UFC than a gatekeeper and UFC hopes that Rashad will pass the test and continue his undefeated streak. There are some rumors about Chuck vs. Rua in September and I'm not sure where that would leave Evans. He won't get a rematch with Tito and he likely won't fight Liddell. Maybe a bout against Thiago Silva would be interesting for the undisputed #3 contender? Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Evans won't gain much by winning this fight and if he loses, then he'll be out of UFC title picture for a long time.

Another interesting addition will be England's own Michael Bisping (15-1 MMA), who'll will be facing Chris Leben (18-4 MMA). The Count is looking to establish himself in the middleweight division with another victory and Leben still wants to become the #1 contender. Chris has some nice victories which keep him signed to a UFC contract, but he loses the most important fights. Both guys are popular and this should be an exciting fight.

The main event of the evening was the biggest surprise to me. Matt Hughes (43-6 MMA) will be returning to the octagon to face a rising contender Thiago Alves (18-4 MMA). With this win Hughes, after suffering two devastating losses to GSP, could prove that he's still one of the best in the world. Matt himself stated that despite the result of this fight, he'll face Serra next. But even if he wins both fights, he won't get another shot at UFC Welterweight Championship, unless the champion won't be GSP. For Alves this is very important. If he loses this one, he'll be out of the welterweight contender list, but if he wins, he should get a title shot right after Jon Fitch. Very interesting old-school vs. new-school match.

You know, after so many changes to the card, this could be even more exciting than the first version. Sure we lost Liddell and I don't give a shit about Evans vs. Irvin, but we have Bisping vs. Leben and Hughes vs. Alves, plus don't forget about Werdum vs. Vera and Swick vs. Davis. No title fight and not a very strong main event, but the entire card is full of top contenders and exciting fighters. Very good job by Joe Silva here.

OTHER NEWS

Kimbo Slice vs. Chuck Liddell. It's a verbal fight! I won't recap who said what, but basically Chuck doesn't like how Kimbo (2-0 MMA) got popular and Kimbo is OFFENDED about that. You know, I don't like the way Paris Hilton became popular. Liddell should worry about his injury and upcoming fights more than about Kimbo. Of course Ferguson hasn't accomplished much in the world of MMA yet, but there's nothing wrong with him being popular and headlining events. Slice invited to Chuck to just come and fight him which is rather ridiculous and childish. I kind of lost respect for both of these fighters, especially for Kimbo. I thought he was smarter than that…

WVR Sengoku II: more fights announced. The event takes place May 18th. Josh Barnett (21-5 MMA) is set to face Jeff Monson (24-7 MMA). Monson is a former UFC Heavyweight contender. They are both good on the ground, but Barnett's submission wrestling skills are outstanding and he even owns a victory over Nogueira. I see this one ending by submission or decision, winner– Josh Barnett. Kevin Randleman (16-12 MMA) will face Ryo Kawamura (8-2-2 MMA). As I said before, Kevin is way past his prime and he'll probably get owned by the younger Kawamura.

Lister vs. Horn at TUF7 Finale. Dean Lister (10-5 MMA) is 3-1 I the UFC, but he has yet to make an impression. Talking about Jeremy Horn (79-17-5 MMA), the guy just can't live without fighting and he should be glad that UFC is still interested in him. He was still a threat to be reckoned with until he faced Jorge Santiago. That loss put Horn out of the dangerous fighters list. After that loss, he got subbed by Marquardt and is probably past his prime as a fighter. Lister is a BJJ expert and he lost to Horn once already. I predict that Dean will win this one, but I don't think that this bout will matter in the long run.

Travis Lutter out of the UFC. Well, you know, last week on Fact or Fiction I said that the UFC should give Travis (9-5 MMA) another shot. But they didn't and I really can't blame them. Lutter lost two fights in a row and in both of those he screwed up. He didn't make weight for Silva fight and he got completely gassed in the fight against Franklin. So after getting rid of Starnes, McCarthy and Lutter, UFC should start looking for new talent!

READER THOUGHTS

This section is back! Here's what romano had to say about Frank Mir:

a motorcycle accident isn't an excuse...it's a reason! Mir was an exciting fighter and current heavyweight champ when he got into his accident, and perhaps he came back too early...but another win or two in a row and yes, the former heavyweight champ would definitely deserve a shot at the belt that he never lost. Chuck Liddel got beat up twice in a row and then a win against
another two time in a row loser who's getting old makes him a better contender? how? you just want your favorite fighter, well this isn't pro wrestling and the guy with the mohawk shouldn't just get a push cause he's a fan favorite...you lost all credibility when you said that the guy that lost two of four was a worse candidate than the guy who lost two of three...sorry....and who gives a flying fuck about a reality show? why is said reality show determining number one contenders? where's the legitimacy?

You completely misunderstood my point. Last week I was looking for a fighter who could be both a #1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title AND a TUF 8 coach. You said this: but another win or two in a row and yes, the former heavyweight champ would definitely deserve a shot at the belt that he never lost.. And I completely agree with you. But you see a win over Justin McCully would mean nothing and there's still a big question if Frank could actually win. If he'd win two more, even if against no name opponents, then, yeah, he'd deserve another shot at the heavyweight belt. But there is simply not enough time for two more fights for Mir, because TUF8 will be filmed in summer or early autumn. My point is, even after a win against McCully, Frank would not really deserve a title shot, as in his entire career, he's got only won notable victory against Sylvia and he always has a questionable cardio. But the question is, would he deserve it more than any other heavyweight on the roster? That remains to be seen. Also, another weird thing, the Mir vs. McCully fight was pulled off from UFC.com.

Talking about Chuck Liddell, you're right, this isn't pro-wrestling and Chuck isn't popular for nothing. It's because he defeated a list of very dangerous opponents and was one of the most dominant champions in UFC history. Basically, he made himself popular. And where exactly did I say that Chuck would be a better candidate than Mir? Huh? You're making things up and accusing me of something I never said. I agree that Liddell hasn't really been on a winning streak, but moving to a different division is kind of a new beginning. Plus, add the fact that Liddell is the most popular UFC fighter ever and that means ratings.

Who gives a fuck about reality show? Well, you see, the reality show in on free TV and it's seen by more than a million viewers. "why is said reality show determining number one contenders?" The UFC wants their titles to mean something. And championship bouts should be the most hyped fights. So why give away a three month hype, watched by a lot of viewers, for an unimportant bout? There's no sense. There might be exceptions, but making a champion and the #1 contender coaches of The Ultimate Fighter is always the best decision.

Guest#9852 corrects me…

"Fabricio doesn't speak English or he could be a credible #1 contender" i think you mean he could be a marketable fighter. being a credible fighter is based on skills on language fluency.

Yeah, what I wanted to say was if he could speak English, he could be a credible #1 contender and a TUF8 coach. Now that he doesn't speak the language, he can't be a coach and the #1 contender at the same time. Of course, I could see Werdum challenging Nogueira in the future, maybe next year.

Danny is defending Frank Mir too…

I find it absolutely unbelievable that some people don't think Frank Mir deserves a title shot, when he was the champ before, and never lost the belt! Yes he had some bad comeback fights, but it's impressive that he even came back from the motorcycle accident at all.

He never lost the belt, but if he had still been the champion by the time he came back, he would've lost it to Cruz or Vera. After the comeback, Mir was a fight or two away from a title shot, but he failed and the "he never lost the belt" argument doesn't work anymore. It's impressive that he came back from the motorcycle accident, I agree. But that doesn't make you a credible #1 contender.


BYE BYE!

And that wraps up the second edition of The Tuesday Leg Lock report. Thank you for reading and please leave some comments. Check out my Mirko Cro Cop Fighter Profile tomorrow. See ya!