411MMA Fact or Fiction 05.07.08: Florian/Huerta as #1 Contender, A Third Fight Between Aoki and Calvancante, Chuck Liddell to Never Reclaim the LHW Championship, More

Posted by Bren Oliver on 05.07.2008

Is Denis Kang on a slide he can't overcome? Will HDNet's broadcast of the DREAM events make so much as a ripple in the American market? Do Ken Florian or Roger Huerta deserve to compete for UFC gold? Will Chuck Liddell ever don the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship again? Read ahead as 411's Lotfi Sariahmed and John Curry mix it up FoF-style in this week's DREAM-y edition!

Greetings to all! Whether this is your first or fifteenth time perusing over a "Fact or Fiction", thank you for taking a little time out of your week to plop down in front of a computer screen and give it a read. May seems to be a month dominated by Lightweights courtesy of UFC 84's headlining bout between UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn and Sean Sherk, not to mention this weekend's upcoming semi-final round of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix. And, as the weightclass has shown in the past, the "little" guys often come up "big" as far as providing fans with entertaining, competitive, technically-sound competition.

Before diving headfirst into this week's savory six subjects, let me first shift gears towards individuals of larger stature by introducing our guest panelists - a few "Heavyweights"when it comes to the ol' 411Mania MMA Zone. First up is "FoF" veteran Lotfi Sariahmed whose "Planet Tapout" can be found here every Wednesday. Yes, folks...Lotfi is such a humble guy he's willing to share the daily headlines with another column. That, or he's an egomaniac who wants to serve up a double-dose of his name. Your call. And, stepping into "MMA Fact or Fiction" Stadium for the first time is a newcomer who has absolutely added some spice to our Zone with his interviews, the most recent of which was with the UFC's Drew McFedries. He also manages to pump out Fridays' recently ESPN-linked "Ground and Pound". Now that we're done licking the proverbial candy shell of today's "Fact or Fiction", let's crunch into the chocolately Tootsie Roll center...

Fellow 411Mania columnists...are you ready? Then, America, with an enlarged heart and an empty skull, I say unto you the words of my Uncle...


ALLEZ FACT OR FICTION!!!!!!!


1. If Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian step into the cage against each other, as is rumored for UFC 87, the winner of the bout should be considered next in line for a shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship.


Lotfi Sariahmed: FACT. Sure that leaves Tyson Griffin out of the loop. But he could fight Nate Diaz or someone else in the meantime. It would be hard to come up with someone better for that spot instead of the Florian/Huerta winner. Griffin still needs a big fight and until he gets another one it will be hard to put him in there. Outside of those three guys, there's no one in the division really worthy to be in the conversation. With all that said, I'm still praying things break the right way so we don't see a Sherk v. Florian rematch. Heck, I don't know if I want to see Penn v. Florian. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.


John Curry: FACT. If the fight does happen, barring injuries or withdrawals, the winner of this fight should be next in line at a shot the UFC Lightweight title. Kenny Florian has lost only once since his loss to Diego Sanchez on the Ultimate Fighter Finale back in 2005. Even his loss to Sherk can be argued for or against him. The one thing about Florian that I love, and the UFC brass loves, is that he finishes his fights. Huerta is 20-1-1. He is an exciting fighter and his fight against Guida was probably one of the most exciting fights this year. Either way both have earned a shot at the title, but I see the winner of this fight getting the title shot with the loser being pushed 2 or 3 fights away from the title. The only other person I can see being folded in to this mix is Tyson Griffin. One of these three guys will be fighting the winner of Penn-Sherk.


SCORE: 1 for 1. I don't disagree with either of you, and I actually feel Huerta makes for a more legitimate contender than Florian based purely on marketability, but it's an interesting comment on the UFC when neither of the two men fighting for the contender's slot have a win over a consensus "Top 10" 155-pound fighter.


2. After losing three of his last four fights, Denis Kang has proven to be an overrated Middleweight whose best days are likely behind him.


Lotfi Sariahmed: FICTION. Could we stop all this talk please? I hate how a fighter loses a couple of fights and it's turned into something more than it is. Kang's best days are behind him? Absolutely not. Has he been as sharp as we've seen him? No but I'm not about to say he's Ivan Salaverry either. Kang's still a very talented middleweight and just lost to three top 10 middleweights in Mousasi, Misaki, and Akiyama. And don't forget that he was injured in that fight with Misaki as part of that middleweight tournament. He's a win from being right back in the Top 10.


John Curry: FICTION. I am a little torn over this one. Losing fights is never good for making yourself seem still viable. Kang has been in this sport for well over ten years and has a record of 29-10-1 with 2 NC. Hell before his recent struggle with losing 3 out of 4 fights, Kang went 23 fights with 21 wins a NC and a draw. That's a hell of a run. With that being said, Kang fights more that most UFC fighters will ever fight. Somewhere something is bothering him in his head that is affecting his game. I will leave this as a Fiction for now but if he loses his next fight I will have to change my answer to fact.


SCORE: 2 for 2.


3. HDNet's agreement to broadcast all DREAM events will have a significant impact on both the network's viewership and the Japanese promotion's popularity amongst American MMA fans.


Lotfi Sariahmed: FICTION. Don't get me wrong, I think the deal is good news and certainly helps. But the HDNet deal does nothing if DREAM puts together garbage cards. Their middleweight tournament already leaves something to be desired. It's hard to argue with the lightweight tourney but what else does it have? If Dream goes the way of tournament after tournament in each weight class I have a couple of questions. What talent is it going to bring in that isn't already signed and are they going to have other fights? Again, the lightweight tourney is great but I just think every other tournament they're going to put together will lack really big star power. So HDNet deal or no HDNet deal, it's all on Dream.


John Curry: FICTION. I am going to go with "fiction" here because I believe right now unless you are bringing some big name fighters who have a decent fan base you are really going to have a difficult time trying to establish the promotion's credit here in America. EliteXC has the deal on CBS and Kimbo Slice to market and draw in viewers and they will not pull the same ratings that the UFC does. Adrenaline has Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell with the rumors of Randy Couture's involvement and the possibility of Fedor fighting and they will not pull in UFC numbers. Numbers equal the amount of viewers which equals the potential of fans. If you can't pull in the numbers you won't create the fans.


SCORE: 3 for 3. I was surprised neither of you mentioned the HD requirement involved and the expense behind purchasing a television, plus the extended cable, to watch DREAM on HDNet. I wish Mark Cuban's business associates would work out a deal with a standard definition network, like FoxSports, and deliver DREAM to the masses. Speaking of which, for those of you without HDNet or the inclination to scour the internet for a live feed, Randy Harrison will be providing live play-by-play here on 411Mania starting in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Uh oh, are we on our way to another love-fest like last week's six-for-six outing between Randy Harrison and Larry Csonka?!?


---SWITCH!!!---


4. After their hotly contested bout at DREAM 2, a rematch between Shinya Aoki and "JZ" Calvancante should be booked for later this year since both fighters are no longer in the Lightweight Grand Prix.


John Curry: FACT. 100% Fact. This is the fight that I will pay to see a DREAM event. Their first fight was amazing and due to loss and injury neither of them moved on in the Grand Prix. However, both of these guys are headliners who are amongst the top Lightweights in the world. If anything this fight should have its own pay-per-view. If JZ wins then another rubber match to prove who is one of the best Lightweight fighters in the world.


Lotfi Sariahmed: FICTION. Absolutely not. They finally got this fight done and I'm done with it. It was nice don't get me wrong. But nothing in that fight screamed rematch to me. Do it later on but I'm in no hurry for it. For me it was because so much of the hype behind it really died down when they needed all those do-overs. If it happens later on down the road fine. But I'm in no rush to see it again. They danced around doing it the first time too long for me.


SCORE: 3 for 4. I'm with Curry on this one. Whether it was the 20,000+ onlookers, the talent inherent in each fighter, or the rainbow-colored tights, the combined 15-20 minutes of both bouts were as good as I've seen in awhile. Granted, a lot of the battle between the two was of a technical nature, but when you have Aoki a blink away from complete unconsciousness and "JZ" twisted up like a pretzel on more than one occasion, I don't see why you wouldn't want to see them lock up again. It's unfortunate Aoki is unable to compete at DREAM 3 but hard to fault him considering his injury and expectation to fight three times in the span of a month. I'm sure he'll be back and ready to put on his gloves again come DREAM 4. Shinya is definitely a survivor...a BAKA SURVIVOR!!!


5. Though we're only three episodes into the season, it's not too early to say Forrest Griffin is a better coach than "Rampage" Jackson based on his team's 3-0 record and the research done on Team Rampage members.


John Curry: FICTION. As a teacher I realize that only so much of my student's success comes from me and most of it comes from the student themselves. I have talked to someone who is on Forrest's team and he told me that both Forrest and Rampage are great coaches. However, the record does seem to indicate that Forrest's "Juice is worth the squeeze" style of coaching is paying off. But let's look at the three fights that Rampage's team has lost. You had all three guys who did not listen to their coach and as a result of this lost their fights. Is this Rampage's fault? No. Once they step in that cage it is all on the fighter, not the coaches. Both of these coaches are trying legitimately to help their team become better fighters. This is not a situation like Ken Shamrock where he ignored most of his team to place an emphasis on his own personal feud with Tito. In the end it is less about the coaches and more about what the fighters remember in the cage that will dictate who is the better coach.


Lotfi Sariahmed: FICTION. I'll keep this one simple. Matt Serra was killing Matt Hughes during last season's Ultimate Fighter. But it was Matt Hughes who ended up with two of his guys in the Final in Tom Speer and Mac Danzig. I rest my case.


SCORE: 4 for 5.


6. At 38 years of age, and currently recovering from an injury as serious as a torn hamstring, it's unlikely Chuck Liddell will ever again wear UFC Championship gold.


John Curry: FACT. This is a painful realization for me but it is the truth. The hamstring injury that the Iceman suffered will never heal to be what it was before. While I realize that the power in Liddell is in his hands and not so much in his legs, this injury will take a step off of his sprawl, his defense, and off of his push off for punches. The sport has become too advanced now for Liddell to expect to change his game this late in his career. There are too many Rampage's coming up who will exploit this loss of a step in his game. As a result, I hate to say, Liddell will never again hold the UFC Light Heavyweight Gold. If he moves up to Heavyweight he might have the possibility of holding the title again, albeit a small possibility, as the fighters in that division will move at the same speed he will. Again it is a sad day in our world of MMA to see the end of the Iceman's era come prematurely but the truth is that this is a FACT.


Lotfi Sariahmed: FICTION. At 44 years of age, Randy Couture came out of retirement to beat Tim Sylvia. This light heavyweight division has too much going on to say Liddell will never wear the gold again. If Rampage somehow loses the belt, you wouldn't give Liddell a shot to beat anyone else in that division. Heck, even if we did get a third bout between Rampage and Liddell why count out Liddell? He made a mistake going to the body in that last bout and paid for it. He knows that and anyone who watched the fight knows that. So here's what would happen in the third bout...he wouldn't go to the body. He normally doesn't go to the body like he did in that last bout with Rampage. As long as Liddell still has that power in his fists he can keep up with the best in the division.


SCORE: 4 for 6. I believe Chuck Liddell could beat any 205-pound fighter out there but could and would are very different things. We all know anything is possible in MMA, and "The Iceman" has certainly proven his skills inside the cage, but I'm not willing to say I would favor Liddell against Jackson anymore than I would take Tito Ortiz over Chuck were they to fight a third time. It's also important to remember Liddell lost soundly to Keith Jardine and won't have knocked out anyone in around two years by the time he fights again. I think the UFC's Light Heavyweight division is deep enough to where Liddell is going to have to put together at least two more wins against top competition before getting a title shot and I'm not sure how realistic that possibility actually is.


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Join us next week when two more participants discuss a few Affliction-related matters, the UFC's recent distribution of pink slips, Kimbo Slice's image in relation to race, and other lingering issues in the Mixed Martial Arts world...