The Sunday Sprawl 9.14.08: Volume 15 - The Couture-Lesnar-Nogueira-Mir Situation

Posted by Alex Mattis on 09.14.2008

This week a look at why I find the Couture-Lesnar fight unfair to the Nog-Mir New Year's Eve showdown, as well as a final look at Evan Tanner.

Hello all and welcome back. Ever since I started this column it has been constant event coverage, I haven't really had a chance to inject my opinions into the fray. But now with a little space in between the upcoming events it's time for an opinion piece! With this recent turn of events with Randy Couture re-joining the UFC and now this little heavyweight tournament developing I have a bit to say on the matter. Do I want to see a Randy-Brock? Absolutely. Is it fair? No. Is it smart in terms of making money? Very. Well enough of me answering my own questions, let's get down to it!

God bless Randy Couture. God bless him for all he has done for the sport, for defying father time, for giving us so many memorable moments, for being Randy Couture. He has been one of the most important figures in the history of mixed martial arts. Now, that being said let's look to present day and his stand as the UFC heavyweight champion. In my opinion, when Randy had his problems and walked out on the company he walked out on his title. If that wasn't enough, he hasn't defended his title in a year. Isn't that grounds for a stripping? It was in Frank Mir's case. I understand that "to be the man, you have to beat the man" but Randy gave up his status as the man when he took his fights out of the cage and into the court. Of course I still live by the opinion that no one ever beat Josh Barnett for the strap... so yeah. I'm very psyched to see "The Natural" back where he belongs, but if the true, undisputed status of the heavyweight title was to be determined should he have waited out and fought the winner of Nog-Mir? Yes, but then Dana couldn't have made a fuck-ton of money.

Being two fights in to the UFC with one being a win and the other being a loss, how could Dana & Co. justify giving Brock Lesnar a crack at the UFC title? But in this case we have to remember that Couture got his shot at the heavyweight title coming off of a loss-win-loss streak at light heavy weight, both losses by KO. Lesnar has had three fights in his career. He beat a can, loss to a former world champion, and a decision win over an incredibly tough gatekeeper. In reality, this puts Lesnar no where near the top ten or title contention. But apparently the UFC has a different view on thing. Lesnar did look very impressive in his victory over Heath Herring however, he looked like a beast plain and simple. He looked someone who could tear through and potentially make it to the top. But throwing him into this mix of the heavyweight title and into a fight with Randy Couture is very premature and is only being done for $$$. If Lesnar were to put away his previously rumored opponent of Cheick Kongo I think that would have put him a bit closer to where he is now. Of course Brock could go on to beat Randy and prove that he belongs in the elite. But from where I'm looking, he hasn't earned his spot.

Now am I saying that Nog is the undisputed champion and Frank Mir is hands down the #1 contender? No, not at all. But this is the title fight that UFC set up and now they're taking much of the wind out of this New Years Eve (interim) title fight. Nog stepped up, when Randy walked out, and submitted the former champion and won the interim title. Mir had two back-to-back 1st round submission wins over Antoni Hardonk and the fore mentioned Lesnar, now that doesn't really put him into title contention but it puts him closer to the top ten of the world and with the heavyweight division having the least depth of any of the UFC's divisions it seemed to work out alright. Mir and Nog were picked as the coaches for the next season of the Ultimate Fighter, set to headline one of the most important cards of the year, and now... well the focus has been taken off of them. I'm still looking forward to this season of TUF and can't wait for their fight, but if I was either of them I would feel a little jipt. I still think this is going to boil down to what it should have been in the beginning, Couture Vs. Nogueira, but it's just going to take a bit longer to get there.

"Werdum gets the next title shot"... what?

Of course if Dana & Co. are serious about bringing in Fedor and having him fight their heavyweight champion then all of this would be irrelevant.

Remembering Evan Tanner

The MMA community suffered a great loss this past week with the passing of Evan Tanner. When I was first getting into the sport, it was around UFC 48-49-50. I was very unfamiliar with any fighter that wasn't Chuck, Tito, or Randy Couture. But I always loved to see impressive performances on the undercard; it helped me gain more knowledge of the sport and helped me see what being "well rounded" meant. I watched Evan Tanner subdue the dangerous strikers Phil Baroni and Robbie Lawler with his superior talent and knowledge of the game. Then I saw him show great heart in his stoppage of Dave Terrell to win the UFC middleweight title. I couldn't believe his toughness and skill, he would become one of my favorite fighters and someone who truly showed me what it meant to be a true, well-rounded MMA fighter. This guy was a gamer through and through, a self taught warrior who fought up and down the world from promotion to promotion, weight class to weight class. I'm not too sure of any other fighters that have fought Heath Herring, Ikuhisa Minowa, Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin, and Paul Buentello. He was a true warrior, a real pioneer of the sport and it's a shame that he is no gone.

Rest In Peace, Evan.


Now to wrap things up, here is....

My Picks for UFN on 9/17:
Nate Diaz Vs. Josh Neer
Clay Guida Vs. Mac Danzig
Ed Herman Vs. Alan Belcher
Houston Alexander Vs. Eric Schafer
Alessio Sakara Vs. Joe Vedepo
Wilson Gouveia Vs. Ryan Jensen
Joe Lauzon Vs. Kyle Bradley
Jason Brilz Vs. Brad Morris
Drew McFedries Vs. Mike Massenzio
Dan Miller Vs. Rob Kimmons

Should be a hell of a show.

Well, that's all for me this week.

Remember feedback, as always, is welcome at [e-mail] or directly below.

Take care and I'll see you next week,
-Alex