The Fightin' Stance News 10.31.08: Things Will Never Be The Same Again

Posted by Adam Tool on 10.31.2008

Candy? Costumes? Look somewhere else because we've got fights to talk about! Read on for all the fallout from UFC 90, the official lineup for the biggest show of the year, details about K-1 & DREAM's year-end show and I'll try to sort out the winner of the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship in this week's Fightin' Stance News!



Welcome back to The Fightin' Stance News. My name is Adam Tool and I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween. I'd also like to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to my son Charlie, who has hopefully been born by the time you read this sentence. I don‘t know when you‘re reading, but I'm writing this report on Thursday and my girlfriend is being induced into labor tomorrow morning. So I may or may not be a father by the time this passes your eyes.

The reason I'm telling you all of this is so that you'll excuse me if this column is bit rushed. Now that that's out of the way…



Fallout: It's Not Just A Hot New Game



Here we are, almost a week removed from UFC 90 and it's still a hot topic of conversation (as opposed to the mostly forgettable UFC 89). I've got my own thoughts to share on the show but first I wanted to go over some of the news bites that have come out since that bizarre main-event. You know, the one that saw Patrick Cote go to a third round against Anderson Silva, only to blow out his knee and cause the fight to be stopped.

One thing that I've been seeing a lot in the last week is people questioning Silva's performance. He's been accused of showboating by some, along with others that believe Silva was over-confident and bored with the bout. This goes against our traditional view of the UFC middleweight champion. Silva has always come off as extremely respectful towards his opponents, and from what I can tell he seems like one of the nicest guys in MMA. So why was he dancing, and at one point jogging, instead of attacking his opponent? According to "The Spider," it was all part of the plan. Here's what he had to say earlier in the week:

"There are many people saying I was disrespecting Cote, but this is absolutely not true. My game plan since the beginning was fight five rounds, inducing him to commit mistakes and capitalize on that during the first three rounds and look for the knockout during the fourth and fifth rounds. It was working, and the biggest proof of that is that I almost didn't waste any blows. I connected with a couple of good punches and knees, but unfortunately he got hurt and the fight was over. This is not my fault."

In the interview Silva was also asked about the possibility of a rematch with Cote, but he deferred to the UFC's judgment on that situation. He also said that he had not been approached at all yet about a possible jump back to light heavyweight and a fight with Chuck Liddell.

Silva has talked to UFC President Dana White, and now there is the chance we could see him in action sooner than later. Apparently Silva is taking all of the criticism very seriously, and he's so upset that he wants to be back in the octagon as soon as humanly possible. White made the following comment on Wednesday:

"He's flipping out. He wants to fight again, like, on Nov. 15th. He's (upset) about his performance and he wants to fight again immediately."

Fine by me. I don't think he'll get added to UFC 91 though. That show is being sold on it's main event and with only two weeks out that isn't much time to promote Silva's next fight. There's also the question of who he would possibly fight against? Would he make another defense of the middleweight belt or get another "showcase" fight much like the one with James Irvin at Fight Night 14?

There's also no reason whatsoever to add "The Spider" to UFC 92. That card already has two title fights and Rampage vs. Wanderlei, and they don't need Anderson Silva there just to open the show. The two shows in January have their main events set, but UFC 93 could use a little more star-power (particularly if they really are planning to air it on PPV). It is very likely though that Silva will have to wait until UFC 95 in February.

There is one other option though to get him fighting before then, but it's going to involve somebody getting hurt. Specifically, I'm talking about an injury to one of the participants in any of the marquee light heavyweight bouts coming up. Should Rampage or Wanderlei have to pull out at the last minute, Joe Silva should make Anderson the first call on his list. Same goes for Forrest and Rashad, although since it's a title fight it would likely just be postponed. There's also a chance that either Mauricio "Shogun" Rua or Mark Coleman could get injured (AGAIN) and here as well Anderson would be a terrific replacement for UFC 93. The only situation where he wouldn't fit would be the Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson bout, since Silva's already beaten both guys (and Franklin certainly doesn't need a third reconstructive face surgery).

As for Silva's last opponent, Mr. Patrick Cote, he's obviously not going to be fighting anytime soon. Cote will have surgery next week to repair his torn meniscus, and then he'll be out of action for 6-8 months. Cote's manager, Stephane Patry, said that Cote initially suffered the injury while training to fight Drew McFedries this past January. It turns out that he aggravated the injury while training for the fight with Silva, and was told a few weeks before UFC 90 that he should pull out of the fight and have surgery. Cote refused, and we all saw the result this past Saturday.

This might surprise you, but Cote also believes that he deserves a rematch. During an interview on Monday Cote said,

"I think I proved to everyone that this guy (Silva) is not unbeatable. I think I fucked him up really bad. I think I did a good job. I fucked up my knee in the middle of the second round. In the middle of the second round I (was fighting) on one leg. I received all of his best punches and all of his best knees and I was still there… In the first two rounds I was there and I think I gave him a lot of trouble. He was fucked. He didn't know how to go inside and to beat me… I was very comfortable on my feet and I think he was running all the time and he was scared of my punch."

All this trash-talking from Cote is just him trying desperately to get a rematch. He wants Silva to respond to his comments and draw the champion into asking for the second fight as well. He never fucked up Silva. Had he done so we all would have seen it, since there wasn't much else going on. In any case we won't be seeing the guy for half a year so who knows what will be going on by then?

Personally, I find all this bad-mouthing and ill-will towards Silva to be baffling. Did he not win the first two rounds (one judge had round one for Cote but all three had round two for Silva)? Didn't he win the fight by TKO and retain his middleweight championship? Obviously nobody (besides Cote) could have seen the fight ending the way it did, but these things happen. So why is everyone so ticked off?

I know why, and it's simple. In the words of Hans Moleman, "We came for blood!"



When I went to my friend's house and we ordered UFC 90, we were doing so on the unspoken promise that Anderson Silva would destroy Patrick Cote as violently as possible. Nobody was giving Cote a chance, and we all wanted to see the next brutal knockout before it showed up on the highlight reel. We didn't get it. Silva landed some good shots (especially that nasty knee in the second) but Cote recovered quickly and the assault from "The Spider" never really happened. We know now that it was part of Anderson's gameplan (if you believe him) but the injury meant that the fight ended with whimper instead of a bang. There is a simple phrase that applies here:

Shit happens.



Moving on, there was little to get upset about on the other fights shown. Thiago Alves now has people believing that he can beat Georges St. Pierre (these same people would be wise not to overlook BJ Penn in January). I'm not sure about that but I'd love to see him try.



Here‘s something to ponder. In terms of fighters that haven't won championships, has anybody had a better year than Alves? He's racked up three big wins over Karo, Hughes, and now Koscheck and now there's no question that this man is the next #1 contender at welterweight.



Gray Maynard may not always be the most exciting fighter, but I think the boredom coming from his last bought can also be blamed partially on Rich Clementi. After all, if Clementi wasn't such a threat on the feet and the ground, wouldn't Gray have been able to do more against him? "No Love" got a few good shots in early and was doing his best to stay busy on the bottom, working for submissions and trying to reverse his position. He also controlled Gray's posture very well to prevent any real big ground and pound.



Junior Dos Santos had one of those great out-of-nowhere wins that aren't all that common these days. It also happened to be one of the best knockouts we've seen in the UFC all year. I really enjoyed the fact that during the second replay I pointed out Werdum's ear wiggle to my friends, only to have Joe Rogan point it out a few seconds later.



Despite any bad feelings you may have had at the end of the show, I think we all had a huge smile on our face during the Sean Sherk/Tyson Griffin bout that opened the show. It was a great way to start the night and an easy candidate for Fight Of The Year. Had it not been for the takedowns I think Griffin might've pulled out the win, but that's just the way the game is played sometimes.



I have to wonder where each man goes after this fight. After the fight I heard Sherk tell Griffin, "You'll be a champion someday." I'm inclined to agree although this loss does put Griffin back a bit. He's still got plenty of interesting fights at 155, and I wouldn't mind seeing him mix it up with Sherk again sometime. As for Sherk I'd have to believe that he is just one win away from another title shot, and don't be surprised if the winner of next month's Florian/Stevenson bout is matched up with "The Muscle Shark" in early 2009.



Our lone preliminary fight shown on the broadcast was also the only fight on the undercard to finish before the third round. I had said in the staff roundtable that if Leites survived the early assault by McFedries then he should be able to lock in a submission for the quick win, and that's exactly what happened. Leites could be a middleweight contender in 2009, but he‘ll need a high-profile win to get there first.

Jimmie "JJ" Walker's Favorite Card EVER



News from Japan as details are starting to emerge about K-1 Dynamite!! That would be the big year-end show being co-promoted by K-1 and DREAM. The event will feature five kick-boxing bouts and five MMA fights. I have no idea why there are two exclamation points in the title.

We have an idea as to who will be fighting at the event. Mirko Cro Cop confirmed that he would be facing Alistair Overeem in a rematch from DREAM 6. The two heavyweights collided in a bout that saw Cro Cop take several nasty shots to the little Mirko's, with the result being that his right testicle was knocked into his body. As if he didn't have enough to deal with, Mirko is also planning to fight on New Year's Eve with a bad knee. He said that he's still fighting regardless of the injury:

"I've had several operations this year, and I'll have to undergo another one straight after the NYE event. It's frustrating to have to undergo all these operations but that's the sportsman's life. Many others have had it worse then me."

The event will also feature a fight between DREAM lightweight champion Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen and top-ranked lightweight Gesias Calvancante. This will be JZ's first bout since undergoing surgery following his second fight against Shinya Aoki back at DREAM 2.

One more fighter that may be on the show is none other than Nick Diaz. While Nick has now lost his job as a result of EliteXC shutting down, he's almost a free agent. I say almost because apparently there's some hold-up with the ProElite contracts, which state that if EliteXC is unable to fulfill their payment obligations then a fighter can seek to terminate their contract. EliteXC still has 30 days to respond though, but with operations shut down there's really nobody left in the company to respond. Fighters still have to wait out the 30 days before they're free agents, but the ruling doesn't apply in Japan.

Cesar Gracie recently stated that Diaz will appear either at the Dynamite!! event or at World Victory Road's next Sengoku event on January 4th. Obviously there is no opponent in place but it's Japan so we don't expect cards to be announced more than a few weeks in advance.



One final interesting note on the K-1/DREAM show is the MMA debut of Satoshi Ishii. He would be the Japanese Olympic gold metalist in Judo that called out Fedor. In addition to his Olympic medal Ishii has won the All-Japan Judo Championships in 2006 and 2008, and will make his mixed-martial arts debut just twelve days after his 22nd birthday. Keep an eye out for this one, because he could be something special.

Or he could be a total bust. Find out on New Year's Eve!

Great Card…But Can We Talk About That Name?



Yesterday the UFC officially announced the lineup for their gigantic year end show, UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008. It takes place December 27th from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will air (obviously) on PPV. Here's the main card:

UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira © vs. Frank Mir
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Forrest Griffin © vs. Rashad Evans
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva
Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al-Turk
CB Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio

As has been said before, any one of the three fights on top could headline a show on their own. I'm a little surprised that the heavyweight bout is going to get top billing (even though the light heavyweight fight is on top in the poster), but I can understand since the UFC will have been pimping that fight for several months by the time the show rolls around. Rampage vs. Wandi could decide the next light heavyweight contender, and it should be a great end to their trilogy. Cheick Kongo gets to welcome Al-Turk while last season's "TUF" runner-up CB Dollaway makes his PPV debut. Also fighting on the undercard are Yushin Okami, Matt Hamill, Antoni Hardonk, and Ryo Chonan.


The Next Undisputed Champion Is…



Now I'd like to take a little time to look ahead to the next three big fights in the long-dormant heavyweight division. I'm referring to the UFC's mini-tournament to finally get this heavyweight title situation straightened out. The first of these bouts will be in two weeks, with the second to follow in December and the third sometime in early 2009. Ready?

Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar

We'll start with the centerpiece of UFC 91. After a long fourteen months we can finally welcome Randy Couture back to the UFC. The Hall of Famer who was never stripped of the belt that he tried to give up. The only five time UFC champion in history and the first man to win belts in two of the UFC's weight classes. He's a true sports icon and I for one am glad to see him still in the spotlight after so many years.

Unfortunately for "The Natural" while he was sitting out his contract the UFC snagged "The Next Big Thing." Brock is just a big damn animal. He looked good for all but five seconds of his bout with Mir, and he gave Heath Herring a nasty beat down for fifteen minutes. Also, that punch he caught Herring with at the start of the fight will haunt Heath until the day that he dies.

The differences between these two warriors are big, with experience being the widest margin of the pack. Randy's got that in spades and so who knows what his gameplan will be going into it. Brock has not had a single problem taking anyone down so far, but he hasn't faced another world-class wrestler either. Still, the strength advantage swings heavily in Brock's favor and he'll also be the quicker fighter in the cage. Brock is really starting to hit his stride, while Randy has been out of the game for over a year. I think Lesnar will have the necessary skills to defeat Couture, and win his first UFC championship less than twelve months after his debut.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir

The current coaches of "The Ultimate Fighter" are just one part of a ridiculously stacked card on December 27th. UFC 92 is a great looking card despite the fact that it has one of the dumbest sub-titles of all time. "The Ultimate 2008"? Why not just call it "Fighting Event With Fights"?

In any case, Nogueira finally defends the belt that he won from Tim Sylvia way back in February. It's a shame that Couture's departure forced the creation of the interim title, and I believe that Nogueira is the most determined of all the competitors to come out of this thing as the winner. He hasn't fought Couture (and he may not) so people still don't think of him as the champ. "Minotauro" is still in need of some respect from the UFC fans, and he'll get it soon enough.

Their season of "TUF" may not be winning any new fans over (or keeping other fans around) but they've got a big-time fight on a big-time card. Frank Mir is well-known enough after his win over Lesnar earlier this year, and he's still got that "former champion" thing going for him. It's hard to deny though that he isn't the odd man out in this little group. He'll be game once the fight starts but I believe Nogueira is just better with submissions, and he'll negate any BJJ skills that Mir brings into the fight. Frank might try to keep things standing but he'll just tire himself out if he tries to stand and bang with Big Nog. The champ has the necessary cardio and toughness to push this thing as long as he needs to, while Mir hasn't been past

Brock Lesnar vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Finally we come to what I think will be the bout that determines the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. Should this be the fight that ends this tournament here's how I think it might go down.

Nogueira will probably take some nasty shots from Brock early on. Lesnar will also likely control where the fight takes place for the first round. He's got no neck, and his arms are pretty much solid pieces of muscle, so I don't think Nogueira will have much luck attempting armbars, chokes, or shoulder locks. He could slap a triangle on out of nowhere, but he'd have to pop it off very quickly to counter Lesnar's explosiveness.

If Lesnar continues to work diligently on his submission defense, he could drag this fight into the championship rounds. However I believe that he'll leave an opening at some point, and Nogueira will capitalize on it. The inexperience of Brock Lesnar rears it's ugly head again, but he'll get his shot at a championship again someday.

Go Nog Go!



-I hope you've been enjoying the free WEC shows on Versus, because the company is going to start showing events on PPV next year. WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber revealed the company's plans during a conference call on Wednesday, one week before his next title defense against Mike Brown. Faber also said that he's not ruling out the possibility of moving up to 155 or down to 135 if it means putting on a blockbuster fight.

-The IFL is finally done, after the deal was approved yesterday for HDNet to acquire the remaining assets for $650,000. For that sum the network acquires a substantial tape library from the IFL's brief existence, as well as other unnamed intellectual properties.

-Speaking of big deals involving lots of money, the UFC has reached an agreement with Verizon to form a new on demand service. This service will be distributed through Verizon's FiOS TV, which is currently offered in 14 states to 8.2 million subscribers. With UFC On Demand, viewers can view some content for free, pay $3 to watch a fight instantly, or $5 to order full events.

-Now that he's out a job Murilo "Ninja" Rua is looking to return to Japan and fight for one of the promotions there. Along with his brother Mauricio, Murilo was a fixture in PRIDE for many years.



11/5 - WEC: Faber vs. Brown
Live on Versus 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: Torres vs. Tapia
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: Ultimate 2008
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

That's all I've got for you this week. Enjoy your weekend while I'm slowly coming to terms with fatherhood. I should be back here next week and until then…


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