The Ultimate Writer 11.09.08: Round 6 - Urijah Faber Loses, Top 10 Middleweights, And Lots More
Posted by Dustin James on 11.09.2008
In the latest edition of The Ultimate Writer I discuss one of the most shocking MMA events of the year. I also rank the top 10 middleweights in MMA! Where does Paulo Filho land after his loss to Chael Sonnen? Is he still top 5? Is he even top 10 anymore??? Find out inside!
Welcome back to the latest edition of "The Ultimate Writer". As always I will be your guide for this trip. It has been an interesting week indeed. The country may be on it's way to improving once Obama hits office (and no, I'm not a Democrat), plus there are rumors of a second stimulus check coming our way before Christmas. Wouldn't that just kick ass? If that happens my lady friend could buy me something nice....like a trip to LAS VEGAS! I love me some Vegas. I had better move on before I start to get Vegas withdraws and just book a flight for next weekend to see UFC 91. My friend has an extra ticket and offered it to me, however I had to decline due to the fact that I'm broke thanks to Fallout 3, Rock Band 2, Saints Row 2, NBA Live 2009, plus a plethora of other video games that are coming out soon. Oh well, at least I have something to do for awhile.....
Biggest News Item Of The Week:
This feature is self-explanatory. The biggest news item of the week goes here, duh!
WEC 36: Underdogs dominate!
No other story was as big as WEC 36 this week. WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho (who was widely regarded as the #2 middleweight in the world) lost to Chael Sonnen in a fight that made Filho look like the #86 middleweight in the world. I have heard people say that Filho just didn't care about the fight hinting at the fact that he was 7 pounds overweight at the weigh-ins. I honestly don't know what he was thinking, but I do know that the dude will be taking a plunge in the rankings for sure. He might have even ruined his oppourtnity to join the UFC. I had heard a rumor that the Sonnen/Filho fight was considered a "loser leaves Zuffa" fight, and if those rumors are true....we may see Sonnen in the UFC and Filho fighting elsewhere.
But that wasn't the biggest shocker. WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber dropped his title to Mike Brown. The win was made even bigger due to the fact that Urijah Faber was regarded as a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. Brown was able to capitalize after Faber threw a wicked elbow, and Brown countered with a devastating hit that sent Faber straight to the ground. I'm going to blame Faber's loss on the fact that the guy wasn't wearing his dreads. I was so disappointed by Faber's loss that I went into a two-hour depression that only went away after I saw this.......
Lil Mac vs. Tetris
The big question is, what's next for Faber? One would think that he will get a rematch against Brown sometime down the road, but will the WEC make Faber earn it first? There is still a ton of potential "super fights" for Faber which aren't hurt at all by this loss. I'd personally love to see Faber vs. Miguel Torres and Faber vs. Kid Yamamoto. The Faber/Torres fight may happen sometime next year, but the Faber/Yamamoto fight is the one that needs to happen. Those two facing off would be a fight of epic proportions.
Now overall, WEC 36 was a solid show. It was little out of the norm to see all these underdogs winning against ranked guys (Leonard Garcia also defeated heavily favored Jens Pulver), but it was exciting and gives us something to talk about. Plus it makes the rankings scene very interesting and face it....you love rankings.
It's all in a name!
In this section I'm going to discuss fighter's with crazy names in MMA. You know you guys have searched Sherdog.com's "Fight Finder" and seen some wacky name that has just jumped off the page at you. Well, in this little section I'm going to grab a name each week and take an in-depth look at that fighter! Trust me, it will be fun.......
This week we will be looking at:
Unknown Fighter
Ohhhh....cue the scary music, it's the Unknown Fighter! Seriously, when this guy applies to fight does he put down "Unknown Fighter" from "Parts Unknown"? I think somebody has been watching a little too much pro wrestling. The Unknown Fighter is 0-2 in MMA and hasn't fought since 2004. I honestly don't think the Unknown Fighter has any intentions of fight again, however I promise to get an interview with him sometime in the near future.
You can check out the Unknown Fighter's Sherdog profile here.
Where are they now?
This feature looks at fighters who have been inactive for some time. Where exactly have they gone? I don't know and I'm reaching out to you guys to help us find these missing MMA stars......
MISSING
Jason Thacker
C'mon, you know who this guy is! He's the dude from the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" who had his bed pissed on by that steroid abusing Chris Leben! The poor guy is 0-1 with his only loss coming to....yep, Chris Leben. I'm betting Thacker went home after his loss to Leben and asked himself "Do I REALLY want to be in a business where my bed gets pissed on and then the guy who peed on it kicks my ass?" If you happen to work at White Castle and Jason is at the company picnic, give me a holler.
If you know the whereabouts of Jason Thacker, please contact Dustin James at sickboyv1@aol.com, or go to his myspace located here.
Random Top 10 List Time!
Here you will see a random top 10 list put together by yours truly. It may be Top 10 submission fighters, Top 10 stand-up fighters, or hell, even Top 10 ways that Anderson Silva could kill you. Seriously, don't mess with that man. He's dangerous.
Top 10 middleweight fighters (let's see how far Filho drops in my mind, oh and Rich Franklin is not listed since he is basically a light heavyweight now)
ARE YOU READY?
1. Anderson Silva - Duh?!
2. Dan Henderson - Still a fantastic middleweight fighter and proved it with his win over Rousimar Palhares.
3. Yushin Okami - Is on a 2-fight win streak and is the last man to defeat Silva.
4. Gegard Mousasi - First DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix winner.
5. Robbie Lawler - The former EliteXC Middleweight Champion is probably headed back to the UFC due to the fact that he's looked great the past few years.
6. Matt Lindland - Besides some old bat defeating him in his Oregon Political Race, the dude still rocks the house.
7. Paulo Filho - OK, so I could only drop Filho down to #7. The guy is 16-1 for crying out loud!
8. Nate Marquardt - Looked scary against Martin Kampmann
9. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza - Still amongst one of my favorite MMA fighters. He just couldn't get by Gegard Mousasi in the DREAM Middleweight Tourney.
10. Yoshihiro Akiyama - That huge win against Denis Kang has been followed up by victories over Masanori Tonooka and Katsuyori Shibata.
Current Champions:
This feature is pretty self explanatory. I list the current champions in each relevant promotion, and you guys sit and read. Easy enough for ya?
Randy Couture - UFC Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Tim Sylvia back on March 3, 2007 at UFC 68.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria - Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship
Won the title from Tim Sylvia back on February 2, 2008 at UFC 81
Forrest Griffin - UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Quinton "Rampage" Jackson back on July 5, 2008 at UFC 86
Anderson Silva - UFC Middleweight Champion
Won the title from Rich Franklin back on October 14, 2006 at UFC 64
Georges St. Pierre - UFC Welterweight Champion
Won the title from Matt Serra back on April 14, 2008 at UFC 83
BJ Penn - UFC Lightweight Champion
Won the title from Sean Sherk back on May 24, 2008 at UFC 84
Won the title from Paul Buentello back on November 16, 2007 at Strikeforce: Four Men Enter, One Man Survives
Bobby Southworth - Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion
Won the title from Vernon White back on December 8, 2006 at Strikeforce: Triple Threat
Cung Le - Strikeforce Middleweight World Champion
Won the title from Frank Shamrock back on March 29, 2008 at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le
Josh Thomson - Strikeforce Lightweight Champion
Won the title from Gilbert Melendez back on June 27, 2008 at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson
Gegard Mousasi - DREAM Middleweight Champion
Won the title from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza back on September 23, 2008 at DREAM 6
Joachim Hansen - DREAM Lightweight Champion
Won the title from Shinya Aoki back on July 21, 2008 at DREAM 5
Carlos Condit - WEC Welterweight Champion
Won the title from Mike Pyle back on March 24, 2007 at WEC 26
Jamie Varner - WEC Lightweight Champion
Won the title from Rob McCullough back on February 13, 2008 at WEC 32
Mike Brown - WEC Featherweight Champion *NEW*
Won the title from Urijah Faber back on November 5, 2008 at WEC 36
Miguel Torres - WEC Bantamweight Champion
Won the title from Chase Beebe back on February 13, 2008 at WEC 32
Watch Out For This Guy:
In this feature I will showcase a fighter who I believe is on his way up in the MMA world......
Donald Cerrone
You are looking at a guy who is widely considered the #1 contender to Jamie Varner's WEC Lightweight Title. With his win over "Razor" Rob McCullough at WEC 36 last Wednesday, Cerrone has found himself on top of WEC's lightweight division. The guy is currently 9-0 as a pro, 3-0 in the WEC and has 8 wins due to submission. That's right, 8 submission wins in 9 fights. The dude also has a very dangerous triangle choke. He has finished 5 of his opponents with triangles and 3 of them with an armbar. The next time you see Cerrone he will probably be fighting Varner at WEC 38 in January. Who knows, you may just be looking at the next WEC Lightweight Champion.
Upcoming Events:
Here are a few of the upcoming events in the wonderful world of MMA:
UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar - November 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
-Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
-Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson
-Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
-Demian Maia vs. Nate Quarry
-Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone
-Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory
-Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley
-Matthew Riddle vs. Ryan Thomas
-Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos
-Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek
Strikeforce: Destruction - November 21 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California
-Josh Thomson vs. Yves Edwards
-Bobby Southworth vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral
-Joe Riggs vs. Luke Stewart
-Kim Couture vs. Lina Kvokov
-Lemont Davis vs. Brian Schwartz
-Darren Uyenoyama vs. Brad Royster
-Cyrillo Padilha vs. Bobby Stack
-Eric Lawson vs. Tony Johnson
-Jose Palacios vs. Alvin Cacdac
-Nik Theotikos vs. Luke Rockhold
-Jaime Rodriguez vs. Zakary Bucia
-Kurt Osiander vs. Raul Castillo
WEC 37 - December 3 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada
-Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia
-Cub Swanson vs. Hirouki Takaya
-Will Ribeiro vs. Brian Bowles
-Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura
-Diego Nunes vs. Josh Grispi
UFC Fight Night 16: UFC Fights For The Troops - December 10 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina
-Josh Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
-Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet
-Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Wiman
-Luigi Fioravanti vs. Brodie Farber
-Corey Hill vs. Dale Hartt
-Tim Credeur vs. Nate Loughran
-Justin McCully vs. Eddie Sanchez
-Ben Saunders vs. Brandon Wolff
-Steve Bruno vs. Johnny Rees
MMA Motivational Poster Of The Week:
OK, so this one has nothing to do with MMA.....but I find it to be pretty truthful:
Video Of The Week:
In case you missed it.........Y-U-C-K~!!!
Thank you for joining me again for this wonderful column. I hope you continue to read every week and don't forget to check out the other wonderful columns here on 411mania.com, which is updated daily because unlike Paulo Filho....we always bring it!
