The Fightin’ Stance News 10.17.08: Say It Ain’t So, Spider

Posted by  on 10.17.2008

This week we’ve got the latest on Anderson Silva’s retirement, the big changes up and down the card for UFC 90, Fedor’s future in reality television, and your full preview of UFC 89! All this plus the latest fight announcements and the updated MMA Calendar in this week’s Fightin’ Stance News!



The week is nearly at an end so it must time for me to get you caught up on the wide world of mixed-martial arts. I'm Adam Tool and this is The Fightin' Stance News. We've got a great big UFC show to preview later in this report, but not too much later as there's very little other news to talk about. Still, this is a news report so…



Do We Really Have To Talk About This?



Anderson Silva still wants to retire.

The UFC middleweight champion gave a video interview with Sherdog earlier this week and he reinstated his intentions to fight out the remaining six fights on his UFC contract and retire sometime in 2009. Silva even said, "I believe my time is already over."

His manager, Ed Soares, explained things a little better during a media conference call yesterday.

"He's talking about, but I don't think he's very perceptive on how it's coming across to the media. Even before Anderson came into the UFC, his goal has always been to retire at the age of 35. He's actually talking about it much sooner than all of us would have liked him to, but the reality of it is that his goal is to retire at 35. He has eighteen months before he turns 35."

Six fights in eighteen months? No reason to think that an injury-free Anderson could easily do that. However Soares isn't so sure that Silva will stick to that plan:

"What I believe is going to happen is that when he gets to 35, he's gonna see how he feels at that point in time and I told him, ‘Let's achieve your goal of getting to 35 and being in a position where you could retire, and at that point in time, you make your choices and if you feel like you have some more fights in you, let's go for some more fights.'"

So let's say that Silva does follow through on his promise. What is there left for him to do? He's cleaned out the middleweight ranks in the UFC, and I'm not so sure if there's a fighter in the world at 185 that can compete with him. Earlier this year Silva dipped his toe into the very thick light heavyweight waters, so don't be surprised if he spends more time there in the future. Soares talked about this possibility:

"What Anderson wants to do is be involved in the biggest fights. For him, he wants to fight the best in the world and he wants to put on the fights that the world wants to see."

So what happens now? Silva has his title defense against Patrick Cote next week. After that who knows? There's still Yushin Okami waiting in the wings, and I'm sure some part of Silva would love to avenge that loss. The winner of tomorrow night's main event could have a date with "The Spider." However if this retirement talk does become more increased, I would hope that Dana White and Joe Silva put Anderson in there with some of the biggest names at 205. He's said he has no intentions of going after the light heavyweight belt (which he feels belongs to Lyoto Machida) but there's still plenty of great fights that could be made without the title involved.

Rest assured that we'll have more on this story as it develops, right here at your home for Anderson Silva man-love: The Fightin' Stance News!

All Of This Has Happened Before, And All Of It Will Happen Again



It's feeling like UFC 85 all over again, as a number of injuries have forced last minute changes to the card at next weekend's UFC 90. Let's quickly go over the changes that have been made in the last week.

Diego Sanchez was scheduled to face rising contender Thiago Alves, in one of the most anticipated fights on the card. Now with Diego having to pull out because of torn rib cartilage, his former "Ultimate Fighter" teammate Josh Koscheck has stepped up to face Alves. Koscheck comes into this fight having won his last two, while Alves has not been beaten in over two years.

One of the biggest losers in this whole mess is Yoshiyuki Yoshida. After his bout with Karo Parisyan was scrapped the day before UFC 88, Yoshida had been scheduled for a main event showdown with Koscheck at December's "Fight for the Troops" (a.k.a. Fight Night 16). Koscheck has stepped up to fight next weekend, so where does that leave Yoshida?

According to statements made by Yoshida's manager, Shu Hirata, "Zenko" could still face Koscheck in December depending on his condition following the fight with Alves. Hirata also says that if he heals up quick enough, Sanchez may be slid in as Yoshida's new opponent for the main event at "Fight for the Troops." We should know more following next week's event.

UPDATE: During a conference call on Friday Koscheck stated that he intends to keep his fight with Yoshida in December. He'll need to make it past Alves relatively unscathed if he hopes to fight twice in 60 days.

There are more changes to next week's show as well. Goran Reljic had been set to make his middleweight debut in a bout against Thales Leites, but now he has had to withdraw due to a lower back injury. As a result, Drew McFedries will now step in to fight Leites. The fight has also been moved down to the undercard, and the lightweight bout between Rich Clementi and Gray Maynard will now have a spot on the televised portion of the show.

Finally, an undercard middleweight match-up between Ricardo Almeida and Matt Horwich has been changed following an "undisclosed injury" suffered by Almeida. He will be replaced by Dan Miller, who holds a place in MMA history as the last IFL middleweight champion. Interestingly enough, Horwich also held the IFL middleweight belt at one point so this fight will be two former champions facing off.

I have mixed emotions about these changes. I was really looking forward to Sanchez/Alves, especially since the fight had the potential to really straighten out a few things in the crowded welterweight division. With a fight against the unofficial #1 contender, Koscheck now has a chance to jump right back into title contention. Alves has had mixed success against wrestlers in the past so I have to wonder how well he'll do against Koscheck, especially with such little time to prepare.

Reljic made quite an impression in his octagon debut at UFC 84, and I was interested to see how well he might do once dropping down to middleweight. Leites isn't exactly a top-tier middleweight but he's getting there, and this fight almost certainly would've set one of them down the path for a possible title shot. Now we have McFedries who will need a win here to keep his UFC record above the .500 mark.

Almeida looked less than stellar in his bout with Patrick Cote at UFC 86, and now with his withdrawal here I have to wonder if there isn't something seriously wrong with him. Is it a mental thing? Some nagging injuries that have caught up? We don't really know but for now Miller vs. Horwich is a solid addition to the undercard. Miller is a pretty nice replacement for Almeida since they're both BJJ wizards, but Horwich has racked up quite a few tap-outs in his career as well.

Obviously I'll have more to say about this show next week. I will give you one prediction now though: Cote won't make it out of the first round.

You Can't Fight Fedor Until He Finishes His Delicious Ice Cream



This week M-1 Global and Affliction announced a new partnership. The two organizations have been working together since the first Affliction show, but now their association is in a much more official sense. The companies announced their partnership yesterday in a press conference at Trump Towers. Not much was made public in terms of Affliction's future plans, but there was something to talk about.

Fedor Emelianenko: Reality TV Star.

Apparently M-1 is shopping around a new show called "Fighting Fedor." It's similar to "The Ultimate Fighter," with a couple of differences. The show will feature fighters from all over the world training in St. Petersburg, Russia and while this show is a competition between 16 MMA fighters, the winner is not going to get a contract in the UFC. Instead, the winner of this show will get to fight Fedor.

Yep. That's it.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio said that they expect Fedor to continue competing in the meantime, and he is still slated to be a part of Affliction's next show in the "first quarter of 2009."

Donald Trump, who is somehow associated with Affliction and who is no stranger to reality TV himself, had this to say about Fedor's show,

"I really believe, in its own way, this will be a great success. I don't know who these folks are that are trying to qualify to get a fight with Fedor, I wouldn't particularly like to do that. I can think of a lot of other things I'd rather be doing."

You need an example of how slow the news is this week? Go back and read that story again. Does this idea sound good to anybody? I mean, are fighters really going to be that into a competition where the only prize at the end is a chance to be murdered by the best heavyweight in the world?

Let's move on shall we?

UFC 89: BISPING VS. LEBEN PREVIEWICATION

As Dana White is fond of saying, it's a great time to be a fight fan. Even if you don't go for any MMA outside of the Zuffa Empire, there's still plenty of great cards left and right. Particularly in the next eight days. Next week we've got Silva vs. Cote and the rest of UFC 90, but tomorrow night you can tune into Spike for a free show featuring plenty of excellent fights. Even though the card lacks a big-time main event, we've got a wide assortment of bouts to showcase the guys that stand to make a big impact on the sport.

First, a friendly reminder. The show is being broadcast on tape delay, which means that results will start floating around the internet sometime in the late afternoon tomorrow. If you wish to remain spoiler free, you should probably stay away from MMA sites that could have the results right on their front page. Or you can just come back and read this column again, as I promise not to ruin anything for you. The show starts at 9 pm ET, and here's what you can expect to see.

Main Event
Michael "The Count" Bisping vs. Chris "The Crippler" Leben

The Facts:
-This is Bisping's third fight this year, as well as his third fight at middleweight.
-This will be Leben's first time in the main event.
-These two have a combined 21 wins by (T)KO.
-Both fighters are on a two fight win streak.
-This bout was originally scheduled for UFC 85, but Leben's legal issues forced a postponement.

The Pick: Here's a question that has already come up (and will likely come up more following this fight), where exactly does either one of these guys stand in terms of title contention after this fight? Most likely either man could be within a win or two of stepping up to big plate. After all, if Cote can get a title shot then why not either or these guys? Bisping was pretty damn good as a light heavyweight, but he's really starting to come into his own at this lower weight class. He's only lost to one man (Rashad Evans), but he hasn't exactly had a lot of great competition either. On the other side of the cage is Chris Leben who has been labeled as nothing more than a "gatekeeper" in his weight class. I'm sure Leben doesn't feel that way and so he'll have a lot to prove in his first main event showing. These are two fighters that like to hit people, really hard. They've both put plenty of guys on queer street and each has displayed a chin of steel on several occasions. When you have striker vs. striker pretty much anything can happen, but I see this one going to "The Count." Bisping has been waiting for an opportunity to prove himself and you have to believe that he's going to want to do just that in front of his fellow countrymen. I expect a war of the most epic proportions, and I think the man still standing will be Bisping by TKO in round 3.

Keith "The Dean Of Mean" Jardine vs. Brandon "The Truth" Vera

The Facts:
-Jardine is coming off a 36 second loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84.
-Vera made his light heavyweight debut with a decision win over Reese Andy at UFN 14.
-Jardine has high profile wins over Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell, while Vera has beaten Frank Mir and Assuerio Silva.

The Pick: Speaking of guys that need to prove themselves, let's talk about the two men battling it out in our sub-main event. Keith Jardine has been on a very real rollercoaster ride since joining the UFC. He wins when he's not supposed to and loses when he should have won (sup Houston). Brandon Vera was on the fast track to a heavyweight title shot before his manager had him sitting out nearly a year to negotiate a new contract. Yes, Vera now gets a much fatter check. But how much of his momentum has he lost? Since returning to the UFC he dropped a lame decision to Tim Sylvia before getting finished (in controversial fashion) by Fabricio Werdum. He dropped to light heavyweight and had a real snoozer of a win against Reese Andy, but that's an opponent he should've put away. The cut should work better for Vera, but how's he going to do against an opponent that can push the pace the way Jardine can? The word I'm thinking is poorly, so I'm taking Jardine by TKO in round 1.

Rameau "The African Assassin" Sokoudjou vs. Luis "Banha" Cane

The Facts:
-Both fighters lost in their UFC debuts.
-Sokoudjou is coming off a TKO win over Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 84.
-Cane is coming off his TKO win over Jeremy Lambert at UFC 85.
-Both men have been fighting professionally for less than three years.

The Pick: How can you not love Sokoudjou? He's a very charismatic guy with some very real talent. He's also still quite new to the sport, and he could be in a lot of trouble against Luis Cane. Were it not for his DQ loss to James Irvin, Cane would still be perfect in his MMA career. He demolished Jason Lambert earlier this year, sending the powerful Lambert down to middleweight. If they stay standing it could go either way, but once it goes to the ground (as it likely will) then it's Cane's world. Sokoudjou had no answer for the takedowns and ground control of Lyoto Machida, and that spells trouble since he'll be in there with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard. I see Cane taking the fight to the ground and working for submissions, before finishing "The African Assassin" with some ground and pound in the second. Like so many fights on this card it could go either way, but I'm picking Cane by TKO in round 2.

Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis vs. Paul "Tellys" Kelly

The Facts:
-Kelly is undefeated in seven pro fights. His last bout was a decision win over Paul Taylor at UFC 80.
-Davis had an eleven fight win streak snapped by Mike Swick at UFC 85.
-Kelly trains at Wolfslair with Michael Bisping, Rampage Jackson, and Cheick Kongo.
-Despite the fact that he is known as a striker, Davis has a majority of his wins via submission.

The Pick: I really don't know what happened. Marcus Davis looked like the next big thing at 170 pounds, before Mike Swick imposed his will all over the place at UFC 85. Now Davis has had his amazing win streak snapped and he'll be looking for some redemption against England's own Paul Kelly (the other British Paul is coming up shortly). Kelly's undefeated record doesn't have a lot of impressive names on it, but he certainly looked good in a hard fought decision win over Paul Taylor (told you) at UFC 80. Davis has some of the heaviest hands in the welterweight division, but there are questions about his cardio and I think Kelly will look to answer them. This wasn't an easy decision but I'm going with Kelly by submission in round 2.

Chris "Lights Out" Lytle vs. "Relentless" Paul Taylor

The Facts:
-Taylor is coming off a decision win over Jess Liaudin at UFC 85.
-Lytle most recently lost by decision to Josh Koscheck at UFC 86.
-Taylor has yet to fight on a UFC card outside of Europe.
-Lytle has 16 losses, but 14 of those were by decision.

The Pick: If luck is on his side, Chris Lytle will walk out of the arena tomorrow with roughly the same amount of bodily fluids that he had when he showed up. At UFC 86 he covered himself, Josh Koscheck, most of the mat, and several audience members in the front rows with his own blood. He never gave up though and I think at this point in his career few will doubt Lytle's toughness. Paul Taylor‘s been in plenty of hard fought battles since joining the UFC but this could be his breakthrough performance. If Taylor is able to take it to Lytle for fifteen minutes he‘ll undoubtedly earn a step up in competition (like the other British Paul) and a spot on the card every time the UFC heads overseas. Who knows? Maybe he'll even get to fight in the United States one of these days. I have a feeling this one will end with the judges, and I'm going with Taylor by decision.

The Pick:.

The Undercard:
Akihiro "The Japanese Sensation" Gono vs. Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy
Shane Carwin vs. Neil "Old Skool" Wain
Jess "The Joker" Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
David Baron vs. Jim Miller
Per Eklund vs. Samy "The Dog" Schiavo

The Facts:
-Hardy is on a three fight win streak.
-Gono's previous fight was at UFC 78 last November, where he scored a submission win over Tamdan McCrory.
-Carwin is undefeated in nine pro fights. His opponent, Wain, is also undefeated in his four fights.
-Neither Carwin nor Wain has ever gone past the first round.
-Liaudin is on a two fight losing streak.
-Bielkheden was unsuccessful in his UFC debut earlier this year, when he lost to Diego Sanchez at UFC 82.
-Both Stout and Etim are coming off of losses to Rich Clementi (Stout at UFC 83 and Etim at UFC 84).
-Stout has a majority of his wins by TKO while Etim has gotten most of his wins by submission.
-Baron is on a five fight win streak. His last loss was against Takanori Gomi at PRIDE: Bushido 12.
-Miller is on a six fight win streak. His only defeat was at the hands of Frank Edgar.
-Both Eklund and Schiavo lost in their UFC debuts (Eklund to Sam Stout at UFC 80 and Schiavo to Clay Guida at UFN 13).
-Hardy, Wain, Baron, and Miller will all be making their UFC debuts.

The Picks:
Gono, Submission, Round 2
Carwin, TKO, Round 1
Bielkheden, TKO, Round 1
Stout, Decision
Baron, Submission, Round 3
Eklund, Submission, Round 1



-UFC 94 will be headlined by the second meeting of Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn, and we now know that Stephan Bonnar will be on the card against Jon Jones. Bonnar has not fought since UFC 77 last October, while Jones accepted a fight with Andre Gusmao on short notice at UFC 87. Jones got the win to bring his record to 6-0, and he's only been competing in MMA for a year.

-Another light heavyweight bout has been added to UFC 93 (which already features Franklin vs. Henderson and Shogun vs. Coleman), as agreements have been made for Antonio Mendes to face Andre Gusmao. Both fighters came up short in their octagon debuts, as Gusmao lost to Jon Jones while Mendes was defeated by Thiago Silva at UFC 84.

-EliteXC's November 8th show will be headlined by two title fights, and now the undercard is starting to fill out as well. Look for hard-hitting heavyweights Paul Buentello and Brett "Grim" Rogers to square off in the cage when the event airs live on Showtime.

-With his original opponent Brian Stann out with an injury, Steve Cantwell is now slated to face the 5-0 Razak Al-Hussan. Both fighters will be making their UFC debuts.

-UFC 92 got a few new fights this week as well. In the middleweight division we'll have "Ultimate Fighter" 7 runner-up CB Dollaway taking on Mike Massenzio. Both fighters wrestled at the collegiate level and actually faced each other on the Junior College level, where Dollaway was the winner. They'll be doing a lot more than wrestling this time around though.

-Also in the works for UFC 92 is a heavyweight clash between UFC journeyman Antonio Hardonk, and octagon newcomer Mark Burch. Burch's highest profile came in the bodogFIGHT promotion and the less said about them, the better.

I Keep My Pimp Hand Strong

Sure I'm great, but why not check out some of our other fine writers?

The Richard Pryor to my Chris Rock, Jeremy Lambert has your Cardio Freak News. Of course we can't forget that Jeremy also recapped the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter.
Jonathan Solomon looks ahead to November and ponders the awesomeness of Anderson Silva in this week's MMA Juggernaut.
Dustin James brings the 411 Fighter Rankings for the Lightweights.
Two men enter, one man leaves. You know the law. It's 411 Fact Or Fiction.
BOSS Csonka recaps the latest episode of EliteXC Champions Of The Cage.
Hopefully you're checking out our reviews of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1, as written by some handsome young go-getter.

Finally I've got a couple of pimps for the newest guys to join the staff here at 411. First up is Todd Bergman, who will be giving us all the insight he can muster in his new column Tapping Out With Tberg. Also new to the site is John Wilson who will be reviewing PRIDE shows, starting with the first one right here.



10/18 - UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben
On Spike at 9 pm ET

10/25 - UFC 90: Silva vs. Cote
Live on PPV at 10 pm ET

11/5 - WEC: Faber vs. Brown
Live on Versus at 11 pm ET

11/8 - EliteXC: Lawler vs. Villasenor II
Live on Showtime at 11 pm ET

11/15 - UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar
Live on PPV at 10 pm ET

11/21 - Strikeforce: Destruction
Live on HDNet (time TBA)

12/3 - WEC: Faber vs. Brown
Live on Versus at 11 pm ET

12/10 - UFC Fights For The Troops
On Spike (time TBA)

12/13 - The Ultimate Fighter Finale
Live on Spike (time TBA)

12/27 - UFC 92: Griffin vs. Evans
Live on PPV at 10 pm ET

1/17/09 – UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson
Live on PPV (time TBA)

1/31/09 – UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II
Live on PPV at 10 pm ET




Here's the cheerleader, trying to save the world

A very weird video for a very good song
The Aliens – "Magic Man"



With that I must depart once again. Enjoy your weekend, especially the excellent fights in store tomorrow night. No rest for the weary though, as we've got another big UFC card to preview next week. Until then…


Sources: MMAJunkie.com, Sherdog.com, Fiveouncesofpain.com, MMAWeekly.com