Passing the Guard 08.30.08: Chicken...Chicken and Rice

Posted by Stephen DeAugustino on 08.30.2008

After a brief hiatus, Passing the Guard is back and is loaded with more MMA news that ever before! Find out more about KJ Noon's battle with EliteXC, Randy Couture's new game plan, Matt Hughes knee injury, and Fedor's next possible fight in the land of the rising sun. All that and much, much, more on this edition of Passing the Guard!

Good morning/afternoon/evening/twilight-dawn, MMA readers! After a combination of technical problems and moving kept Passing the Guard down for the past two weeks, we are finally back and ready to provide you with some of the best MMA news from around the world. After an amazing summer of events, the fight scene has seemed to enter a lull of sorts, which means we will only be focusing on news this week. With that said, let's get to it.



News


Imanari rebounds from featherweight loss, becomes bantamweight champ

With arguably the best arsenal of leg locks in all of MMA, the Ashikan Judan Masakazu Imanari took the DEEP bantamweight title last week at DEEP 37. Imanari defeated Hiroshi Umemura, a seasoned ju-jitsu black belt, by way of ankle lock at a mere 29 seconds into the first round. "Somehow I won today, but before long, I think I'll want to fight in a place one step up from here" Imanari told the crowd after claiming the belt.

This would be Imanari's first win since his May 19th loss to Dokonjonosuke Mishima, in which he lost his featherweight DEEP title. However, after listening to his post-fight declaration of taking a "step up", it seems a rematch with Mishima is imminent. Imanari is also the Cage Rage featherweight champion.




Florian hinting at cheating in regards to Huerta fight

It was no surprise when Florian's hand was raised on that Saturday night; anyone watching the 15-minute bout would tell you that Florian out pointed Huerta on several levels during the fight. However an interesting new take on the fight has recently arisen as Florian, in a recent interview with the Boston Herald, implied that Huerta felt a little bit slick in their last outing.

"When I had him down on the ground I thought I was going to put him away but he was pretty slippery," Florian said. "To me, he felt suspiciously slippery. I know the difference between sweat and other things. I didn't see him do anything (illegal), but I thought it was a little weird for me to be sliding off his back like that."

Whether Huerta did in fact any kind of lubricant is still undetermined, however the thought of a fighter being able to slip by the pre-fight body check is suspect. Chances are Roger was a bit sweaty, as the fight didn't hit the ground until the later part of the fight. As of now, Huerta has not commented on the situation.


with lightweight title on hold, Florian takes another fight

Speaking of "KenFlo", Florian seems a bit on the impatient side after hearing that his shot at the lightweight title will be placed on hold for the time being; current champion BJ Penn has opted to take on former nemesis and current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre for UFC's Super bowl show in January. Two days after defeating Roger Huerta, the able Florian began training for his next opponent, Joe Stevenson.

"I'm a fighter, and I want to stay busy; I want to fight all the best people," Florian said. "There are a lot of people who think Joe Stevenson is still a top 10 fighter and I'm not. I still have a lot to prove out there. For me, I just want to fight the toughest guys. The title's great. Of course I'd be thrilled having a world title belt or whatever, but for me, it's about becoming a better fighter at the end of the day."

Like Florian, Stevenson is also a product of the Ultimate Fighter franchise. Stevenson was the season 2 welterweight champion, but after having a lukewarm reception to the division, decided to make his move to lightweight. At 155, Stevenson has been at the top of the division, but has recently lost a hard fought but decisive loss against Penn.

"Joe Stevenson is a tough fighter," Florian said. "He's got a lot of experience. He presents a lot of problems. He's a short, stocky wrestler who's also great on the ground and has a solid boxing background. He's similar to Sean Sherk with actually probably better submissions. Maybe he's not as good with the takedowns, but he has great jiu-jitsu, great submissions. He's catching a lot of people left and right."


Florian vs. Stevenson will take place at UFC 91 on November 15th in Portland Oregon



Slice set to face Shamrock in October

EliteXC cash cow and marketing magnet Kimbo Slice's will be fighting again very soon, as his future opponent Ken Shamrock was announced as such this past week. Shamrock and Slice will be butting heads for the third installment of "Saturday Night Fights", which will take place live on CBS. Slated for October 4th at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, the fight comes as a bit of a surprise; amid rumors of Brett Rogers and Sean Gannon, Shamrock was never mentioned.

Shamrock is one of the largest names in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, appearing in UFC 1 where he met rival UFC legend Royce Gracie. While Shamrock helped build the foundation for the sport early in his career, Shamrock has bee performing well under par, losing his every one of his past five fights, including a KO loss to Robert Berry at Cage Rage 25. Essentially, Shamrock is a big name that draws a big casual crowd, but has no gas left in his tank to be a real threat to any fighter, which makes him a prime opponent for Kimbo Slice. Just like Tank Abbot before him, Shamrock will provide enough of draw to fill the living room couch, but is not a real threat to Slice, especially since, Shamrock is significantly lighter than Slice. Fans of Brett Rogers (or dissidents of Slice) are not too happy right now.



Kongo willing to bang with Lesnar

on paper, Brock Lesnar is a stylistic nightmare for French striker and UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo, but don't tell him that. In a recent interview with MMARated, Kongo talked about the heavyweight title picture, which of course included the divisions newest addition, Brock Lesnar.

"I won't tell you what would be my strategy! Why would I tell you that? My next opponent would know what to look out for! You know, I try to never underestimate any of my opponents but there's really nothing that worries me too much with Brock Lesnar. I know it could be a tough fight, but, you know, I train hard and I will be ready for this one too. I am hungry."

With a growing but still weak ground game, Kongo would really have his hands full with the larger wrestler that is Lesnar. However, you can never can't a striker his caliber out; Kongo has some of the slickest stand up the division has ever seen. It would be an interesting fight, to say the least.

While Kongo has declined to announce whether or not the fight is actually materializing, rumors have been circulating that Kongo has been offered the fight as a November headline bout.



pro wrestling legend Bret Hart talks about MMA

As the sport of mixed martial arts continues to grow by leaps and bounds, it is beginning to catch the competitive interest of other sports, including professional wrestling. Long time pro wrestler and WWE star Bret Hart recently threw in his two cents on the matter, as more and more people are considering the competition between the two for the same target audience. Here is what he had to say:

"I'd never do UFC. I wasn't good enough and I was smarter than that. I have a lot of respect for UFC guys, but I still think they're not getting the money they deserve, especially when I see them taking all those head shots. You can see the brain cells just vanishing when they get hit five, six times. It's the kind of brain damage you carry around forever. You can't put a price tag on your brain and I know that better than anyone else [since a concussion ended his career]. I have a lot of respect for it, but it's not something I would have done, since I put too much value on my brain cells. I don't mind pretending to bash somebody's brain cells out."

In reality, MMA is probably a much safer outlet for anyone than pro wrestling. There have been dozens of more deaths and career ending accidents in pro wrestling than in mixed martial arts.




Olympic gold medallist challenges Fedor

Winning an Olympic Gold medal is easily one of the greatest things a person can do in their lifetime, but even that has its limits. Someone should really tell that to Beijing Gold medallist Satoshi Ishii, who recently issued a challenge to "Emelianenko Fedor," in a recent interview.

Ishii is the winner of the super heavyweight division in judo, which of course is the largest division accessible in the Olympics for the sport. This would make Ishii the correct size for a heavyweight match-up with Emelianenko in the future, clearly the judo champ lacks any experience to pose any threat to Emelianenko; simply put, Ishii has never fought once, and a fight with Fedor really isn't exactly a good way to open your MMA career.

However, the fight still makes sense when you take into account that it is happening on Japanese soil. It is well known that the Japanese love their fair share of freak show fights, (Royce vs. Akebono, anyone?) and a bout between these two would surely fall into that category. Also, since his success in Beijing, Ishii is has reached national icon status in Japan. The Japanese are proud of their reign as judo champions, and as Ishii put himself during the Olympics "I see these matches as a fight to the death. Now I can return to Japan alive."

Rumors have been circulating that Fedor would be facing a "judo legend or a sumo wrestler" sometime during New Years Eve. If this holds true, we may very well be looking at that match up for December 31st.



Noons's fight with Elite XC, not Diaz

As many of you know, KJ Noons and Nick Diaz have had an "interesting" rivalry to say the least. Their much anticipated rematch was suppose to go down on October 4th of this year, but due to complications not exactly known until recently, the fight was called off. At first, EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw tried to play the angle that it was in fact Noon's fault that the fight was placed on hold. Here is what Shaw had to initially say on the matter:

"KJ Noons versus Nick Diaz is definitely not happening on Oct. 4″

"I still believe KJ Noons is a man of honor. He comes from a great family, a fighting family. He's a great kid. He's a great athlete. I think he's just being mismanaged right now."

"We have already sent a letter. It doesn't extend for fights. It just extends for time. With that and time off for injury following the first Nick Diaz fight, pull up that chair if you're not willing to fight."

"KJ Noons, please wake up and smell that beautiful Hawaiian coffee. We want you to fight. We believe in you. Believe in yourself, and defend this belt."


For a few days following the release of this statement, fans were jumping to the conclusion that Noons was in fact dodging Diaz, a theory that had been circulating for sometime even prior to the Shaw statement. However it didn't take too long for the defending champion to release a letter of his own, and boy did he. By way of MMA Weekly, here is KJ Noon's side of the story.

"It is not about being scared to fight Diaz, who I previously defeated, it is about the fight I am currently in with Elite XC regarding my career.

I would first like to address all the false allegations and insults from Jared Shaw, aka $kala, VP of Elite XC. You will see why I am so disgusted of how Elite XC treated me and how it applies to this proposed fight and my career.
$kala says:

Honor my contract. Elite XC wants to talk about honoring the contract. How about when Elite XC honored the contract and my pay to fight Edson Berto went down after I lost my first fight. That was not part of my contract. Or how about the contract Gary Shaw breached by not promoting my boxing career? Gary Shaw only gave me one out of four of the agreed upon fights. I have not boxed for over a year. When I signed with Elite XC, I was promised they would promote both my boxing and MMA careers. I could have signed with another MMA only company, but I wanted to box too.

Elite XC does me a favor after I lose, by putting me on the first ShoXC against Edson Berto? Berto's father is good friends with Jared's father, Gary Shaw who wants Berto's brother on a boxing contract. Berto was the next guy Elite XC wanted to build. But I win that fight and now I am 1-1. Elite XC gives me an opportunity to fight Diaz. Elite XC puts me against Diaz because Elite XC's roster was so light and there was nobody else to fight him.

Elite XC creates a new weight class for Diaz because he beat Gomi. Giving Diaz a belt and creating a weight division (160) he can make, will make your belt legit. Sorry to ruin Elite XC's plans and beat him.

Elite XC never promoted or took care of me as their champion.

Examples:

In the Elite XC's DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC's promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn't I flown in for the signing?

Elite XC has never promoted me on either of their websites, EliteXC or Pro-Elite.

Elite XC offered me a fight on the first CBS show, but only if I signed a new long-term contract. Instead of promoting their best fighters on CBS, you have to be on a long-term contract for them to promote you. That was not our deal.

Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their CBS show in Stockton.

Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!

Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.

Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my manager with lawsuits and how he's going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I'm glad $kala disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made approximately $83,000?

After paying my trainers and managers fee, I have $50,000 thousand. After taxes, probably 30 grand. Divide that by two years for $15,000 thousand a year. Divide by 52 weeks that amounts to approximately $300 a week. I do not know anybody that can survive on that amount of money. My buddies make more money than that in a couple days being a bus boy or bar back. And yes you can argue I should fight more. Elite XC doesn't give me fights or promote me, they ice me. Gary Shaw Productions only gave me one of the agreed upon four fights per the boxing contract.

And I do not want to ramble on about all the little small stuff that I can keep going on about. But the straw that broke the camel's back is they want me to fight Diaz for the second time. Diaz is not the number one contender and they are paying Diaz three times more money than me. Diaz complained after the Stockton fight, he was not paid enough. How do you think that made me feel? Yes you can argue that Diaz gets more for the draw, therefore I do not deserve as much compensation. If that is the case, it is a result of Elite XC terrible job promoting me. Instead of promoting me as their champ and upcoming athlete, Elite XC has resented me for ruining their plans to make Diaz their champ. That is just total disrespect. So it comes down to money and what is fair. I am tired of being bent over by Elite XC with no Vaseline.

I am right when I say Diaz is not the number one contender. Elite XC is trying to force this fight for their ratings. Eddie Alaverez is the number one contender and anybody with half a brain knows that a fight with Eddie is a way harder fight for me than Diaz. I will fight Diaz, but Elite has to be fair. I'm not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I be scared of someone I already beat.

With that being said, I am going to focus on my boxing career. I can make more money doing 6 and 8 rounders every other month and make more than I did being the Elite XC defending world champ. At least I will be able to sleep at night and be able to look myself in the mirror everyday. That right there is worth more than $300 bucks a week or fighting a guy I cannot stand for less money than him the second time around.

Will the Diaz fight happen? Yes. Will the fight happen on Elite XC on October 4, 2008, probably not. The way things are being run by Chuck Champion, a guy whose history is newspapers, not fighting, and $kala, someone who talks a lot of game, but has never put on a pair of gloves, never stepped in a ring or cage. $kala has had everything handed to him with a silver spoon from daddy. Does anyone else but me think $kala just wants to be famous and stir up all this dirty laundry? I guess any publicity is good publicity. When I think about it, it has been good promotion for their October card since nobody is talking about it until you bring up the Noons vs. Diaz match up.

Before I end, I would like to thank my team, my trainers and workout partners for helping me prepare for my fights hours every day. I would like to also thank my manager Mark Dion for standing behind my decision making. I want to be a fighter who is not doing whatever I am being told like some kind of mindless puppet.

Thanks for hearing my side."


Along with the rest of EliteXC's blunders, this really can't be good for the promotions image. If things continue, one must begin to wonder just how long the ProElite franchise will last. One must also if it was necessary for Noons to really bringing the anal sex analogy into this….I think we would have gotten the point without it, KJ.



Karo Parisyan reveals panic problem

When you are standing in front not only thousands upon thousands of spectators in a large arena, but also in front of the entire nation, panic is an expected occurrence. Now throw in the fact that there is a dude on the other end of the ring that wants to hurt you as much as possible in the next 15 minutes, and you just may die of a heart attack. Some fighters handle the pressure well, while some find that it is more of a challenge than perhaps the actual fight. UFC veteran and judo master Karo Parisyan has recently voiced his problems with Panic Attacks, and how they have negatively affected his recent fighting career.

"Basically, eight months ago, I was diagnosed with panic attacks. It's something I have been trying to deal with. I am trying to keep my head clear…. When I first got there (to Colorado), I couldn't eat or sleep. I just didn't want to be there. I struggled during camp (with panic attacks) and my conditioning wasn't there. That Karo that used to come out tenacious was not there…. I am not going to stress myself out. This fight [at UFC 88] is very, very important in so many aspects and in so many ways…. It's very simple. If I beat three bums, I get nowhere. If I beat Yoshida, I'm back in title contention. I've always said that if I come in shape, I can be the best at 170. Hopefully, if I can annihilate Yoshida, I can avenge some of my old losses to Thiago (Alves) and Diego Sanchez. Then I can annihilate those guys. I'm ready to show that I'm the best."




Hughes has promising news about knee injury

Matt Hughes has recently given an update on the status of his knee this past week via his online blog, and things are looking up for the former UFC champion. Hughes sustained the injury, which was said to be a partially torn ACL ligament.

"Last Wednesday, I went in for my second MRI and also a stress x-ray. It all came back very positive and looks as though I will not need surgery," wrote Hughes.

"I still have to go back for my three-month check-up to find out more; but as of right now I can do more and start exercising a little bit."

While the injury will still prevent Hughes from possibly continuing his career for much longer, it is definitely better than surgery, which would have more than likely ended any dreams of further fighting for Matt. Hope is building that Hughes will be healthy enough to fight current enemy and also former champ Matt Serra sometime in 2009, possibly as soon as January.



Jon Koppenhaver officially changes name to "War Machine"

For all of you myspace junkies out there, you probably are fairly familiar with Jon Koppenhaver's social networking endeavors. For those of you that don't, Koppenhaver is notorious for his ridiculous and random myspace posts that he often releases as bulletins. However, this past week he may have topped everyone one he has ever made put together; this past week, Jon Koppenhaver became War Machine.

After going out and legally changing his name to his former nickname, Koppenhaver went online and let it be known that he had done the unthinkable once again. Here is the actual bulletin post.

"Subject: Funny ass shit!

SO in case you didn't notice in my last fight the UFC did NOT use my nickname when I fought. Turns out some gay ass wrestling federation threatened to sue them because they recently named one of their wrestlers The War Machine Rhino and trademarked the name.

Too fuckin' bad that I have been using this name for 6 years, have it tatted on my body and it is what my fans yell out when I'm fighting.

If you know my personality then you know damn well I am not gonna let some faggot ass, FAKE wrestler steal MY name..
SO 6 weeks ago I filed a change of name request and today I had court to make my name officially WAR MACHINE.

lol
Fuckin' funny right? Didn't really wanna have to do it but I am sure as hell not lose MY nickname.

Time for a nap.

WM"




Anderson Silva's management hints at Filho fight

Yes, Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world today, and yes, the man has virtually cleared out every person in the middleweight division. However, that is not to say that there are still some challenges that fans would like to see presented to the "Spider", and one of them comes in the form of Silva's close friends and training partner, Paulo Filho. For the past year, the Silva –Filho fight was looked at as the biggest fight to take place in the middleweight division in years, but was ultimately ruled out time and time again by both fighters, who stated that they had no intention of butting heads in the future.

However, the times may be a changing, as Ed Soares, the manager of both Silva and Filho, recently hinted that the bout my take place in the near future.

"If that's the fight that the world wants to see, then I guess we're going to have to sit back and talk about it," Soares said. "I think that's going to be a hard one to get across to both sides. They're friends, they've been together. But at the end of the day, it's a business, and sometimes you've gotta go in there, and you shake hands. They've been on each other for free in training. I can just tell you that it would really have to be something that makes sense for both guys."

Both fighters are looking to defend their titles this year; Silva will be facing Patrick Cote on October 25th, while Filho is on to compete in a rematch with Chael Sonnen at WEC 63. While Silva is undoubtedly the heavy favorite in his fight, Filho may have some trouble with Sonnen, as their last fight was a back and forth match that ended up coming to a controversial close. If Filho can clinch the victory here, the Silva fight may come that much closer into materialization. Fingers crossed.



Couture possibly looking at one more fight with UFC

Someone can write a book on the legal conflict going on between UFC legend Randy Couture and Zuffa, a battle that has been going on for the past several months. A new, optimistic chapter seems to be in the works though, as rumors are circulating that the aged Couture is willing to fight one more time in the Octagon to help speed along the contract negotiations.

"Multiple sources close to the fighter, speaking exclusively to MMAjunkie.com, today said that Couture is willing to fight once more for the UFC, possibly before the end of the year, as a potential resolution to his ongoing legal battles with the fight promotion."

This is good for Couture on two levels. One, he will be able to fight one more time before he fights Fedor, possibly sometime next year. The extra fight will keep Randy in shape and competitive, and will continue to build hype for the Fedor-Couture bout provided Randy wins. Secondly, the fight may speed up the contact battle just a little bit, but that is still up for debate, Zuffa is probably looking to keep this things going as long as possible so Randy ends up retiring rather than fight Fedor. Party poopers.


Random Pass
If you have listened to Wanderlei Silva speak and have not giggled, there is something clinically ill with you. Is it mean to poke fun at the guy's poor accent? Duh, but how can you not laugh when the guy says things like "I want to f**k chuck" accidentally. It's funny, admit it. I mean, at least we're not like these guys, who take advantage of the poor guy's voice and use it for tasteless, mean enjoyment. Shame shame, you all, shame shame.





Well that about does it for this week. Thanks for reading and excusing the long break between columns; I know how sad you all must have been not having your weekly dose of MMA enlightenment (cue roll-eyes). We hope to see you again next week! Until then, you've just Passed the Guard!