Cardio Freak MMA News Report 07.03.08: UFC 86 Preview

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 07.03.2008

Cardio Freak is back with a preview of UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin. Can Forrest Griffin make it two upsets in a row? Will Quinton Jackson continue his Light Heavyweight dominance? Plus a look back at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson, the latest addition to UFC 88, and EXC's Heavyweight Title Fight. All that and the latest news in the MMA world. It's goofier than Forrest Griffin, it's Cardio Freak on 411!



Welcome back to Cardio Freak everyone. I am your trainer Jeremy ‘PUNK WINS~!' Lambert.

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UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin Preview

Light Heavyweight Title: Quinton Jackson © vs. Forrest Griffin

Quinton ‘Rampage' Jackson and Forrest Griffin finally trade blows this Saturday after weeks of build (or lack thereof) on The Ultimate Fighter 7. Neither man has fought since September of 07 when Quinton Jackson unified the UFC and PRIDE Light Heavyweight titles (in a deal UFC completely botched) with his unanimous decision win over Dan Henderson while Forrest Griffin upset #1 Light Heavyweight in the world at the time, Mauricio Rua.

The plan was for Rua, the last man to beat Jackson, to come in and fight Jackson for the title. Of course they just couldn't give a title shot so they decided to tout him as the #1 Light Heavyweight and have him face someone with name value and skills so it wouldn't look like they were throwing him a bone and they could legitimately give him a shot at Jackson. Everyone knew that if Rua won, he would face Jackson but the thought of Griffin winning and getting a title shot wasn't really brought up. I've stated this in the past and continue to share the feeling that UFC needs to move away from "showcase" fights before a title shot and instead match-up the top two contenders. Jon Fitch beat Chris Wilson to earn a title shot and we all know that had Wilson won that fight, there's no way he was getting a shot at St. Pierre. At any rate, Griffin earned a title shot and once the two were announce as the coaches for Season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter and that they would fight after the show finished airing, it was a move that was questioned by many UFC fans.

But really, what was UFC to do? Rua had just lost, Chuck Liddell just lost to Jackson and ended up losing later that night to Jardine, Wanderlei Silva wasn't going to come in and get an immediate title shot (plus UFC wanted him to fight Liddell), Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz just went to a draw and a rematch seemed very likely, Lyoto Machida's biggest UFC win to date was against Kazuhiro Nakamura, Keith Jardine beat Liddell and Forrest Griffin but the brutal beatdown by Houston Alexander was still fresh in fans minds, and who else was left? UFC could have waited it out, maybe done a Jardine vs. Griffin rematch in December of 07 with the winner getting a title shot sometime in 2008 but UFC wanted to get Quinton Jackson as a coach for Ultimate Fighter with the thinking that it would put him over as a big star. Forrest Griffin just seemed like the perfect opposite. Griffin is only 3-2 in his last five fights but the win over Rua was enough to have him leap over the rest of the division and gain the shot at Jackson.

Griffin is the underdog in this fight and based on almost everything I've read and listened to heading into this fight, Griffin is going to get killed. Style wise this isn't a good fight for Griffin. Jackson is a powerful striker and although Griffin has a good chin, it's been cracked. Plus Jackson has cracked the best of chins when he knocked out Chuck Liddell and knocked down Dan Henderson. Griffin's striking has come a long way since winning the Ultimate Fighter 1 where he and Stephan Bonnar basically hit each other until the fight ended. His striking looked a lot better against Tito Ortiz and his second fight with Bonnar. His striking was very crisp against Hector Ramirez although he certainly seemed afraid to get hit (this was his first fight after the Jardine loss) considering he was running after every combination he threw. In the Shogun fight, Griffin threw a lot of leg kicks with the lead leg and always seemed to follow them up with a jab. Also, every time he threw a jab he would duck under and follow with another jab or a hook. If Rampage can sneak in an uppercut while Griffin ducks under, it's going to hurt.

Jackson's striking isn't as technical as Griffin's but when Jackson swings; he's looking to knock you out. Jackson throws a good lead jab but in the Henderson fight he didn't throw it all that much. It seemed to me in the Henderson fight that Jackson was more content on baiting Henderson into a wild exchange, trusting his chin and power, and hoping to catch Henderson. If he can bait Griffin into that same type of exchange, it's going to be a bad night for Griffin. It was easy to bait Henderson into something like that though because Henderson has good power in his hands and his chin is just as strong as Jackson's. Griffin has shown in the past that he can be baited into a wild slugfest though. Jackson has more power in his punches than Griffin and although Jackson has been knocked out before, it's not like he was knocked out with one big punch, he was knocked out after about 20 unprotected knees, kicks, and punches.

What Griffin needs to do is stay on the outside and use his reach when the fight is on the feet. If Jackson gets inside, Griffin needs to try and clinch right away. He can't allow Jackson to get inside and throw with power. Griffin has to fight a smart fight because Jackson has shown in the past that one mistake and he'll turn your lights out.

I think many portions of this fight will take place in the clinch and that's really a toss up position. Jackson hasn't had success in the past when he's in the plum clinch but Griffin has never really shown a strong plum clinch. Griffin has been training with Wanderlei Silva, the man who has destroyed Jackson twice in the plum clinch, but that was many years ago and Griffin doesn't exactly mimic Silva as far as aggressiveness. Griffin's camp believes that the clinch will be a weakness for Jackson but I don't think they should bank on that. Jackson did a very good job in the over-under clinch against Dan Henderson and considering Griffin trains with Randy Couture, you know he's strong in that position. The thing Dan Henderson had a lot of success with is getting the clinch and then using the trip takedown to end up on top. Randy Couture had a lot of success in his career with that same takedown and Forrest Griffin had a lot of success with that takedown against Rua. If Jackson wants to keep the fight on the feet (and my guess is that he does) then he has to avoid the trip takedown from Griffin. On the flip side, Griffin doesn't have great takedown defense. It got better as the fight went along against Tito Ortiz but it wasn't very good against Rua, who has never been known as a great wrestler. Jackson is a very powerful wrestler who could probably take down Griffin at will as long as he doesn't start to telegraph his shots.

On the ground you have to give the advantage to Griffin as far as submissions. Most of Griffin's victories have come by way of submission and of course he finished Rua with a rear naked choke. Jackson has only been finished by submission once though and that was against Kazushi Sakuraba but that's when Sakuraba was younger and Jackson was in his first PRIDE fight and still very green and raw in MMA. Griffin is a big and tall Light Heavyweight and has the lank to catch Jackson but Jackson is a very strong and explosive fighter. We've seen it before and if Griffin goes for a triangle or armbar, we could very easily see Jackson pick up and slam Griffin. Griffin's ground control really improved in his fight against Rua. He did a good job taking minimal damage while on the bottom and he also did a good job pushing Rua away and getting to his feet. He's going to need to do the same things against Jackson, who will no doubt be a lot stronger than Rua if he's on the top. What Griffin really needs to worry about is body shots from the bottom. Jackson loves to throw punches and elbows to the body and he throws them as a finishing strike instead of a set up strike. A lot of fighters throw the "body head" combination from the top but Jackson constantly throws to the body with a lot of power. On the bottom, Jackson isn't likely to catch Griffin in a submission but with his power, he could easily push Griffin away and get to his feet or reverse the position. Griffin doesn't have good ground and pound (in fact it's pretty sloppy) but he does a good job at passing into better positions and working for control. He's going to need to control Jackson on the bottom as well who uses his power to escape to his feet.

In the cardio department, I think Griffin holds a slight edge. Jackson has always complained about training but in the Henderson fight, he went 25 minutes and looked to be the fresher fighter as the fight ended. Granted he nearly collapsed into his trainers arms after the fight but he looked fresher than Henderson in the later rounds. Griffin was pretty gassed in the Rua fight but those two pushed a good pace for Light Heavyweights. I think both guys are going to come into this fight in great shape but if it gets to a fifth round, Griffin will be the fresher of the two.

I'm not under the impression that Forrest Griffin will be killed in this fight. Before their falling out, UFC would list "Trains with Randy Couture" under a fighters strength and that's something that shouldn't be lost on people. I expect Griffin to come into this fight well-trained and with a good gameplan. If Griffin is going to win this fight, I think it's going to be by decision. He doesn't have the power to knockout Jackson and while he has the skills to submit him, I don't see Jackson getting caught. Jackson has more of a chance to finish this fight but the loss to Jardine has made Griffin a better and smatter fighter. I think this is going to be the best and most even title fight of the year. I think we're in for five rounds of one guy who loves to whoop ass and another guy who fights because he sucks at everything else but both guys want to be champion. At the end of the fight, Quinton Jackson will have his hand raised in victory after a hard fought decision. They're not the prettiest fighters according to Griffin or the best smelling according to Jackson but damned if they won't make it exciting.

Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida

In the co-main event of the evening, Patrick Cote and Ricardo Almeida battle it out with the winner possibly earning a shot at Anderson Silva and the Middleweight title. Cote is coming off four straight wins with three coming inside the Octagon. After a 0-4 start in the UFC (he was undefeated outside the company) Cote has really turned things around. Almeida is coming off a submission victory over Rob Yundt but prior to that he had taken four years off from the sport. I don't think we're going to see any surprises in this fight. Cote wants to stand and trade because he's a striker with knockout power and Almeida wants to take the fight to the ground because he's a jiu-jitsu wizard.

On the feet, Cote has knockout power and a good chin. Drew McFedries hit Cote with some good shots but Cote was able to take them. Almeida has to watch out for the right hand of Cote as that's what he normally puts people to sleep with. He caught McFedries with a right uppercut, followed with a left hook, and then finished him with a flurry of right hands. The right hand is also what knocked down Kendall Grove and Tito Ortiz. Once he knocked down Grove and mounted him, he threw nothing but right hands from the mount. Almeida's striking is mainly used to set up his takedowns. In his fight with Rob Yundt, Almeida threw an overhand right and it was to do nothing more than throw Yundt off balance so he could score with the takedown.

Although it's obvious it must be stated: Cote has to avoid the takedown. Alemida has decent takedowns and Cote has decent takedown defense. Cote was quickly taken down and submitted in his fight against Travis Lutter but he did a good job staying on his feet against Grove and looked good in the clinch. If Almeida is able to takedown Cote, I think it's going to be over quick. Of his four losses, two of those have come by submission. Cote needs to worry about more than just the takedown though. If Cote and Almeida end up in the clinch, Cote has to avoid Almeida pulling guard. Almeida is going to take this fight to the ground by any means necessary and if he does, it's going to be a short fight.

I like Almeida in this one. In a grappler vs. striker battle I think the grappler is the better pick unless the striker has a good sprawl. Cote has never shown a good sprawl and hasn't shown great submission defense either. I think Almeida will take him down quickly and submit him even quicker.

Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle

Koscheck and Lytle return to the Octagon with both men coming off impressive knockout victories. Chris Lytle has a new outlook on fighting and that's to go balls to the wall and leave it all in the Octagon when he fights. Josh Koscheck seemed to have that same outlook in his last fight against Dustin Hazelett. Lytle, upset that Matt Hughes held him down for three rounds and the fact that his nickname is ‘Lights Out' despite only having 3 TKO victories, decided to improve his stand up and then bang it out in his fights. He lost a tough battle against Thiago Alves in a fight that was questionably stopped due to a cut and then he knocked out Kyle Bradley in 33 seconds in his most recent fight. Koscheck just decided to show that he's more than a lay and pray fighter when he stood and traded with Hazelett before knocking him out in the second round.

Lytle is a well-rounded fighter so while he wants to stand and bang, he'll be comfortable if it goes to the ground. Problem is, if it goes to the ground, Lytle is going to be on his back and I don't think he can catch Koscheck with something off his back. Lytle would actually be best suited to put Koscheck on his back because Lytle has a strong submission game from the top and Koscheck doesn't really have much in ways of submissions off his back. If the fight stays on the feet, both guys will be looking to throw the right hand. Lytle has a lot of power in his right hook so he'll be looking to catch Koscheck with it. If Koscheck took anything away from Season 1 of the Ultimate Fighter it was how to throw the overhead right like his trainer Chuck Liddell.

I think we're going to see a fun stand up battle for a while and then it's a toss up. Whoever is getting the worst of the exchanges will likely take the fight to the ground, especially if it's Koscheck. I'll take Koscheck by decision.

Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau

Joe Stevenson returns to competition after a heart breaking loss to BJ Penn at UFC 80. Tibau is back looking to rebound from a loss to Tyson Griffin at UFC 81.

I think the most interesting thing coming into this fight will be the mindset of Joe Stevenson. In a recent interview he stated that he'll be fighting for the title again but it's easier to say than do. Tibau is going to be a tough opponent for Stevenson but I think if ‘Daddy' has the mindset then he should walk away with the victory. Neither guy has too much as far as stand up but Stevenson does have a strong right hand. Both guys are very good on the ground so I expect this one to hit the mat early. Tibau is best on the ground when he's on top so I think he'll look to takedown Stevenson and put him on his back. Stevenson is good off his back though and showed really good control on the ground against Penn, until the elbow threw off his entire game. One thing we know about Stevenson is that he'll always be looking for the guillotine choke.

I think we're in for a good ground battle here and I'll go with Stevenson by decision.

Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio

Griffin and Aurelio return to the cage with both guys coming off of wins. Griffin defeated Tibau by decision at UFC 81 while Aurelio made quick work of Ryan Roberts at Fight Night 13 earlier this year.

Tyson Griffin wants the knockout. He's known for being in the fight of the night where we see top-level grappling but he wants the knockout. In wanting the knockout against Tibau, his overall performance seemed to suffer. Griffin has really powerful strikes, mainly kicks, while Aurelio throws a good jab that has power but he mainly uses the jab to set up the takedown. I think while Griffin wants the knockout, he'd be better off to take this fight to the ground. Clay Guida had a lot of success against Aurelio by taking him down and holding him there. Aurelio has a strong jiu-jitsu game but he could do nothing off his back against Guida. I think Griffin could have the same type of success if he implements the same gameplan. Aurelio's best chance is to put Griffin on his back but Aurelio doesn't have a strong wrestling game while Griffin has a good sprawl. If Griffin uses his strength and wrestling, he should walk away with a win.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully

Gonzaga finds himself in a dark fight after a main event loss to Randy Couture and a co-main event loss to Fabricio Werdum. Sucks to be him. Justin McCully is back after his fight against Brock Lesnar. Wait, he fought Frank Mir. That's right, he was rumored to fight those two but in fact his last fight was against Antoni Hardonk over a year ago. I don't remember it either.

Gonzaga is a very well rounded Heavyweight but he seems to lack heart. Couture broke his will when he broke his nose and Werdum broke his will when he dropped him. Gonzaga is good when he's dominating but the moment he's in trouble, he just seems to give up. McCully is a good wrestler with decent submission skills. He comes from Team Punishment, which means he likes to take guys down and pound them out on the ground. It seems like a good fight for McCully because one would think that the moment he takes down Gonzaga and hits him with a few good shots, Gonzaga may end up just wanting out. I think outside of wrestling Gonzaga is a better fighter than McCully. His strikes are strong and he has a great ground game. If he can avoid the takedown, he should win this fight. I think this is the fight where Gonzaga turns things around. He's not going to wilt under the pressure, he's going to survive any pressure McCully puts on him, and he's going to submit him.

Jorge Gurgel vs. Cole Miller

‘Decision' Jorge Gurgel takes on another Ultimate Fighter alum in Cole Miller. Gurgel is coming off a win over John Halverson while Miller lost to Jeremy Stephens by TKO his last time in the cage.

You know what you're going to get when Gurgel fights. A guy who scraps and can take an ass kicking. Cole Miller is a well rounded fighter but doesn't really stick out in one area. He has a good reach and that should help his already definitive striking advantage. Miller's long limbs could allow him to catch Gurgel in a submission but Gurgel is a black belt in jiu-jitsu so it's going to be tough. Gurgel has stated for the first time in his career that he has a gameplan and that he'll follow it in this fight. My guess is that his gameplan would be to takedown Miller and work a submission from the top. On the feet, I think Miller will be able to use his reach advantage and keep Gurgel at bay. I'll take Gurgel to pick up his first finishing victory in the UFC and go with an armbar sometime in the second round.

Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver

Guillard returns to the UFC after a one-fight break that saw him defeat Eric Regan by decision. Siver dropped a decision to Gray Maynard in his last fight and it likely on his way out of the UFC with a loss.

Guillard has to keep this fight on his feet. His ground game is almost non-existent as proven by Rich Clementi but he has scary power when standing. Problem is, Siver has good takedowns and submissions. Siver has also never been knocked out before so Guillard will have to do something that hasn't happened in 16 pro fights for Siver. Guillard is a guy that looks like a fighter, acts like a fighter, but wants to be a star more than a fighter. If he could ever get his head on straight then he could be a threat at 155 but with his current attitude and with a lot of good fighters above him, it's very unlikely he'll reach the top. Siver isn't getting near the top any time soon either but I think this is a good match up for him. I think he'll be able to submit Guillard sometime in the second.

Justin Buchholz vs. Corey Hill

On the heels of a lot of hype, Hill defeated Joe Veres in just 37 seconds in his UFC debut. Buchholz has a lot of success outside the UFC but he lost his UFC debut to Matt Wiman by submission.

Corey Hill still has a lot to prove. He was highly hyped on The Ultimate Fighter 5 because of his raw look and he did well for himself until he lost to a much more experienced Nate Diaz. Buchholz is a good fighter but he's a guy that Hill should beat if he truly is ‘The Real Deal'. I'm not completely sold on Corey Hill but I do think that he's good enough to beat Buchholz. I expect Hill to use his reach advantage, keep the fight on the feet, and score with a TKO sometime late in the first

Final Comments

The hype for this event hasn't been as big as one would have expected but I'm certainly ready for Saturday night. Top to bottom this card features a lot of skilled guys who are well known. Cote vs. Almeida doesn't feel like a co-main event but fights 3-5 make up for that. I know I picked a lot of decisions but if they are decisions, I think they'll still be exciting with the possible exception of Koscheck vs. Lytle. Tyson Griffin is rarely in a boring fight, Joe Stevenson always has good fights, Koscheck vs. Lytle could turn out to be a fun stand up battle, Almeida vs. Cote is a good style fights, and I'm already touting Griffin vs. Jackson as the best title fight of the year. I'm looking forward to Saturday and I expect UFC 86 to keep up the streak of successful UFC PPVs in 2008.

Playing to Your Strengths

Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill is rumored to be taking place at UFC 88. The fight will take place in the Light Heavyweight division

Huh? This idea is so far out of right field that Manny Ramirez in the Green Monster can't find it. I understand that Franklin is pretty much going to beat everyone in the Middleweight division outside of Anderson Silva and possibly Dan Henderson and they don't want him to hold other guys down from a title shot but I still don't get it. For one thing, Anderson Silva is now at 205 as well so he's not getting anywhere near the Light Heavyweight either. There are more high profile fights for him at 205 so I guess that's a positive. I think the Matt Hamill fight is what throws me off the most. I know that normally when guys change weights they're given kind of a warm up fight to see how it works out but Franklin has been at 205 before. Also, I don't see this as a permanent move for Franklin so you would think that they'd try and cash in big early just in case he loses. That's why I don't understand the Silva move either. I think he would have been better off Lyoto Machida or Wanderlei Silva. Machida makes the makes sense considering that it would give Franklin a chance to avenge a loss and it would be very telling as to where UFC and Machida are if Machida won. They could either spin it that, "he beat a former Middleweight champion after beating a former Light Heavyweight champion so he's obviously ready for a title shot" or they could go the route of, "he beat a guy past his prime who doesn't want to be a fighter and then he beat a guy moving up in weight. Big deal." The Wanderlei Silva fight is a big risk bigger reward situation. Obviously UFC would want Silva to win and if he does, they could easily give Silva a shot at the Light Heavyweight title or, if Silva feels really strong against a natural Middleweight, the Middleweight title. If Franklin wins then it obviously knocks Silva off track but it adds another name and even more depth to the division. Plus I think it creates a nice longer term chase for the title because if Franklin wins, they could do Franklin vs. Machida (Liddell would get the title shot with a win over Evans), and the winner of that fight would get the next title shot. The winner of Franklin vs. Hamill just puts them in the middle of the longest food chain in the company.

On top of that, why not just do Henderson vs. Franklin? Both of them are now on the UFC 88 card and there were talks of the fight happening at UFC 85 when they had no main event so why not just do it now? Maybe that's just me wanting to see Henderson vs. Franklin live instead of them in separate fights but I can't be the only one.

UFC announced that UFC 89 will take place Birmingham, England on October 18th. The card will be headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben and will be on SpikeTV

I was ready to bury a PPV headline by Michael Bisping and Chris Leben but now that we know the event will be on SpikeTV it's tough to get upset. Bisping vs. Leben on top obviously isn't worth 50 dollars and I'm glad to see UFC realize this. Plus we're long overdue for a PPV on Spike. I think Bisping vs. Leben will be a very fun fight and considering how huge Bisping is in England, the crowd reaction should be amazing as he headlines for the first time in his home country.

There are rumors that Anderson Silva and/or Wanderlei Silva will be on the October show but the plan right now is for UFC to run a PPV on October 25th so if they're going to fight in October, it will likely be on that card.

Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez will likely be the co-main event for UFC 89

I would say the winner gets a title shot but I don't think Sanchez will get the shot, especially if Koscheck wins on Saturday. I figure if Alves wins this fight, he's getting a title shot no matter who wins on Saturday or at UFC 87, as long as he makes weight. If Sanchez and Koscheck both win, I think we'll see another fight between those two with the winner earning a title shot. This is a very interesting fight but a fight that I really don't like for Sanchez. Everyone knows that Sanchez could easily make 155 while Alves probably could have made 205 when he fought Matt Hughes. Sanchez had trouble taking down a bigger Luigi Fioravanti so I suspect that he'll have some of those same troubles against Alves. Sanchez' striking was very good in his last fight but outside of arguably Georges St. Pierre, Alves has the best striking in the division. It's going to be a good fight with title implications and considering it will be free, I can't complain.

Jesse Taylor and CB Dollaway will fight each other at Ultimate Fight Night 14 on July 19th

Welcome back Jesse Taylor. I'm glad Jesse's punishment consisted of not fighting in the finals and getting to fight the loser of the finals when you just know that if he wins, he's going to fight Amir and UFC is going to build it the same way they built Bisping vs. Hamill. This fight comes down to who can score the takedown first. Neither guy showed impressive stand up or submissions on the show but Jesse had good takedowns and CB is a very good wrestler. I think we're in for a pretty boring fight on July 19th, especially if Jesse is the one on top.
Studying Tape



QUINTON JACKSON VS. RANDY COUTURE~!





WANDERLEI SILVA VS. RICH FRANKLIN~!

Sparring Session

In a recent interview, Forrest Griffin said that he, "wanted no part" of Lyoto Machida

According to Dave Melzter, Griffin is a guy who will say anything in an interview just to see if you're gullible enough to believe it. Obviously if Griffin wins the belt at UFC 86 then it's very likely he'll face Machida down the road. I think if offered the fight tomorrow and given time to prepare, Griffin would take the fight because I don't take him for a guy who would back down against anyone. There were reports that Griffin wanted to fight ‘Shogun' instead of Machida at UFC 76 and even if those were true, that doesn't scream "he's ducking Machida" to me. That just says he wanted to fight the top Light Heavyweight in the world at that time and wanting to fight the best shouldn't be looked at as a negative.

For the second week in a row we have a guy reportedly ducking Machida. At this point, I'm afraid to type anything negative about the guy.

Underwater Ice Bath

Antonio Silva will take on Justin Eilers for the vacant EliteXC Heavyweight Title on July 26th. The fight will not be shown on CBS but instead will be part of the one hour Showtime special before EXC on CBS

A pretty underwhelming opponent for Silva. Eilers isn't exactly a well known fighter to the masses and he's never faired well against top competition. He's won 10 of his last 11 but most of those wins came against guys with either minimal experience or losing records. I would think that this would be a pretty easy night for Silva if he is well prepared and focused.

I have to wonder why this fight is on Showtime though. Silva seems like the type of guy that EXC would want to market given his look and talent. I know with three title fights that the show has the potential to run very long and CBS wants to avoid that but if that's the case, EXC shouldn't do this fight in July. Title fights should be important and how important is a fight on Showtime one hour before the big show? Honestly, it's a dumb move by all parties. Having the Showtime event an hour before the CBS show is only going to draw the hardcore fans and EXC already has them locked up. The smart thing would be to either hold off the Heavyweight title fight so they have more time to promote it and put it on a card that people will actually watch with a better main event (Eilers vs. Silva is no viewers) or run the Showtime card after the CBS card so you can use CBS to promote the Showtime event. Hopefully Showtime will show a replay of the event after the CBS card and hopefully EXC will promote it.

Results from Strikefroce: Thomson vs. Melendez:

*Alexandre Trivino beat Eric Jacob via armbar submission in round 1.
*Jorge Interiano beat Travis Johnson via TKO as the doctor stopped it in the 2nd round.
*Cyrillo Padhillo won a unanimous decision over Jesse Jones after 3 rounds.
*Bobby Stack decisioned Jose Palacios over 3 rounds.
*Chris Cariaso won via rear-naked choke submission over Anthony Figueroa.
*Jeremiah Metcalf made Raymond Daniels submit with a rear-naked choke in round 2.
*Miesha Tate won via 3-round unanimous decision over Elaina Maxwell.
*Bobby Southworth won a unanimous decision over Anthony Ruiz in 5 rounds.
*Billy Evangelista won a unanimous decision over Nam Phan in 3 rounds.
*Josh Thomson won a 5-round unanimous decision over Gilbert Melendez.

What a night of fights. I watched this event last Friday because I figured there was no way in hell Thomson vs. Melendez would be a bad fight. I was right. Unfortunately I had to sit through (almost sleep through at one point) some pretty boring fights. Lets get that out of the way first.

For those that don't know who Bobby Southworth is, consider yourself lucky. Know this: When Bobby Southworth is your Light Heavyweight Champion, your Light Heavyweight division sucks. Big time. Bobby Southworth is the guy from Ultimate Fighter 1 who was hated MORE than Josh Koscheck. He lost to Anthony Ruiz a few months but that was a non-title fight because Ruiz was taking the fight on short notice. Someone please explain that bullshit to me. Anyway, Southworth pretty much decided to lay and pray on Ruiz the entire fight and I about fell asleep. Kenny Rice, Bas Rutten, and Cung Le tried to defend the fight and strategy but when your opponents guard is wide open, Bas Rutten is singing about how wide open your opponent's guard is, and you're not passing the guard, something is wrong. Southworth won, the crowd booed, I'd be happy if I never had to see him fight again.

The rest of the undercard wasn't that bad but sitting through that fight pretty much killed my love for the Evangelista vs. Phan fight and considering the show went four hours, I just wanted to see Thomson vs. Melendez so I could go to bed. Raymond Daniels made his MMA debut and lost by submission. Daniels biggest claim to fame is that he is undefeated in Chuck Norris' World Combat League. It baffles me how Strikeforce is pretty much under the same banner as EliteXC and EXC is smart enough to protect Kimbo Slice by putting him in there with horrible wrestlers with no ground skills while Strikeforce pretty much fed Daniels to Metcalf, who is no slouch on the ground. My guess is that if Daniels continues with MMA, he'll likely fight another striker and he'll get a chance to show off the skills that Strikeforce has been touting him for. Miesha Tate, who gives Gina Carano a run for her money in the looks department, defeated Elaina Maxwell and almost finished her in the first round. Tate showed some good ground skills and it wouldn't shock me if she were an opponent for Carano down the line as I hear her chin isn't very good.

Finally, the fight I stayed up until 2 in the morning for, THOMSON VS. MELENDEZ~! The announcers said that Thomson was a 3-to-1 underdog in this fight, which confused me to no end because I thought this was pick em fight if I've ever seen one. I know I picked Melendez (thanks to my coin) to win this fight but if I were a high rolling betting man, I certainly would have laid down some cash on Thomson. Thomson was able to make Melendez look like, "just another fighter" and not a guy who is considered a top 5 Lightweight in the world. Thomson threw a lot of leg kicks with his lead leg, body kicks with the lead leg, and straight kicks in order to keep Melendez at a distance and do some damage. Any time Melendez went for the takedown, Thomson defended it and always seemed to land a knee either to the face or the body as they clinched or broke away from the clinch. Thomson never let Melendez get off his strikes and he was constantly beating him to the punch. Thomson had a very smart strategy where at the end of every round he would takedown Melendez in order to solidify the round in his favor.

Josh Thomson arguably moves into the top 10 as far as Lightweights but where does he go from here? Strikeforce is very thin on Lightweights at the moment so outside of a signing, I'm not sure who he faces next. I think the best available option is for EliteXC to loan Yves Edwards to Strikeforce so they can do a Thomson vs. Edwards rematch. I don't know where he goes after that though. I'm calling it right now that Josh Thomson will end up back in the UFC by this time next year. He has a wacky charisma about himself with his colored spot hair and smiling and on top of that, he's just a good fighter. The UFC Lightweight division is probably the deepest division as far as talent but you know they wouldn't mind adding more talent, especially guys who are an easy sell to the public.

As for Gilbert Melendez, I think he continues fighting under the ProElite banner but I think we'll se a lot more of him in Japan with DREAM. They offer some of the best Lightweights in the world and outside of the Ishida fight, Melendez' biggest success has come in Japan.

Overall the Strikeforce event was good for the most part but far too long. The show was only scheduled for three hours so when it went four that showed that there was some downtime and a long fight (which would have been fine if that fight was exciting but it wasn't). The crowd wasn't very good either as they seemed dead for the most part except when they were booing, which is never a good thing. Strikeforce does a lot of the little things that I hate (cheap and pointless pyro, fire shooting up like at a concert, music between rounds and after fights, music before the actual walk-in music, two introductions, ect…) so that annoyed me. Melendez vs. Thomson was a very good fight but it wasn't the fight of the year or anything. Everything else on the card was just there and it's stuff no one will remember a month from now. It was good for your MMA Weekend fix but with a new MMA show every weekend, Strikeforce has got to deliver better stuff.

Taking Time Off

September 6th seems like its just days away even though its still months. In preparation for the event (and my vacation next week), I ordered a new shirt and hat. I ended up getting the Chuck Liddell Cage Fighter T-Shirt, the same designed shirt that he wore at UFC 79 before his fight with Wanderlei Silva. In my continued markdom, I ordered the tan Cage Fighter hat, the same style hat that Forrest Griffin wore at UFC 76 before he defeated Shogun. If you can't tell, I'm hyped.

And now, as promised last week, EXTRAS~!

UFC 82 Extras Review

Herring talks about the support he gets from the troops, Kongo talks about the support he gets from his mom. Silva enjoys the fans, Henderson enjoys the troops. I have a feeling that I'm in for some long extras because there is just no charisma coming from these guys outside of a dabble from Silva, but he doesn't speak English.

Kongo does a photoshoot and says that Herring thinks he's a gay pretty boy. Heath is one to talk. Herring says it's just mind games. After the loss to Big Nog, Herring fired all his coaches who told him not to finish Nog when he knocked him down and got some new ones. Herring doesn't like that he can't use knees on the ground. DREAM needs Heavyweights. Silva says he watches film on his opponents but it's not like it matters because he's gonna do what he does. Henderson says he watches film because that's what smart fighters do. Henderson talks about taking the fight with Silva and how training at Team Quest goes. He brought in THE SNAKE~! to help him train. Training with a snake, fighting a spider. More Silva training and I'd be ashamed of myself if I didn't mention that Silva trains in a body suit capped off with some amazing white socks. Only Anderson Silva could make white socks amazing.

Kongo checks his weight before the official weigh in and then acts like he's going to hit the camera with a tube. Silva checks his weight and then stabs him trainer with the tube, complete with a Bruce Lee yell. SILVA BREAKS OUT THE CRAB DANCE~! As Henderson is cutting weight, Rich Franklin wishes him good luck. That was weird and I'm not sure why.

Herring is finally excited to fight and it's the first time he's felt excited in three or four years. Joe Rogan says that Dan Henderson is the perfect fighter to face Silva. Everyone makes weight as this took place before missing weight was the cool thing to do.

Henderson relaxes before the fight. Silva does the same. Silva makes the weirdest noises at some random times. Just thought I would point that out. Both guys want to prove that they're the best at 185. Kongo proves that Herring might be correct when he says, "I like to get my coach close to me. He gives me good things." I bet. Herring says that he wants to stand with Kongo. Kongo throws the most robotic strikes in practice. Henderson talks about being in the clinch with Silva. Silva says he just looks for mistakes.

Herring talks about how winning is most important in the US and he has to get in that mentality. Basically he's saying winning matters most in the US while a good show matters most in Japan. I wish he would just go back to Japan already. Kongo just talks about the moment. We get highlights of the fight. Herring won by split decision. Herring thanks the fans. Kongo says the judging sucked and that he hurt his knee and that's why he sucked in the third round. You lost, deal with it.

Henderson says he stays focused during the walk in. Silva also talks about being focused. We get highlights of the fight. Silva rocked Henderson and then finished him with a choke in the second. Henderson is pissed he lost and says he relaxed on the ground. Silva says that he loves America. Some guy from the OSAC says he wants to make Silva an Ohio resident so Silva ends with saying, "I love Ohio."

Overall these extras weren't the best. Herring seemed like he wanted to be in Japan, Kongo couldn't really put a sentence together, Henderson lacks charisma, and Silva doesn't speak English. Silva carried the extras overall with a couple of gems but this is pretty forgettable stuff.

AND IT'S ALL OVER~!

That does it for me everyone. Even though I'm on vacation next week, I'll still be back to recap UFC 86. Happy Fourth of July and take care everyone.

Cardio Freak Sources: Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer, Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly, MMAWeekly, and MMAMania