The MMA Juggernaut 11.12.08: Devil's Advocate 91 Preview and Worst MMA Fights

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 11.12.2008

The Juggernaut examines why Randy Couture will defeat Brock Lesnar and Joe Stevenson will upset Kenny Florian. Plus, the worst fights in recent MMA history in the wake of Paulo Filho.

Welcome back to The Juggernaut for another week of MMA walking and talking. Before we get to the Devil's Advocate Preview for UFC 91, we must check out the poor side of MMA.

WEC 36 has come and gone with some awesome knockouts, one fight of the year candidate and one of the worst fights you will ever see. In wake of the horrific performance from WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho, let's take a walk down memory lane and find those fights you have tried to forget about. This is a list made up of recent fights (so no early UFC or PRIDE) that have been televised. What makes a bad MMA fight you ask? Of course the eye of the beholder will determine the success of a fight to entertain and not bore the hell out of you. As we all know, a wrestling oriented fight may be boring to some, but an exciting display of ground technique to others. So without further ado, here come the clowns.


THE WORST

UFC 61 - UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski - This fight was on one of the most successful PPVs, business wise, of the beginning of the UFC boom back in 2006. The only bad thing about that was all of the people who ordered the show saw a terrible night of fights. This was the main event and a highly anticipated rematch, the third fight in their series. Going into this fight, each man had won a fight with Sylvia knocking out Arlovski three months earlier. Naturally, everyone expected a pretty interesting fight with Arlovski looking for redemption and to retrieve the championship belt. The only issue was Arlovski appeared to be gun shy and lost some of his aggressive style due to the knockout in their previous fight. What ensued was five rounds of something that resembled an amateur showing, certainly not a battle among the best heavyweights in the sport. The majority of the fight saw Sylvia and Arlovski circle the cage and look for their spots, that never came. The funny (or perhaps sad) thing about this show was two other fights on the card may be considered the worst of the night. Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock fought for about a minute before it was stopped (leading to the famous SpikeTV rematch) and Frank Mir returned to the UFC and looked out of shape in a lethargic victory.

UFC 69 - Diego Sanchez vs. Josh Koscheck - The two TUF1 alumnus' had quite the feud heading into this fight. The war of words was great for hyping the fight but all of that added little to the fight itself. Both men, known for their wrestling ability decided to stand and trade strikes. For three rounds, both tried to land a shot here and there and what resulted was a pretty boring fight. Koscheck won the decision simply because he landed a few more strikes even though he barely landed double-digit punches or other strikes. It seemed like the war of words was for publicity's sake (SHOCKER!!!) as both returned to being friendly with one another afterwards.




UFC 83 - Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry - It has only been seven months since this atrocious performance by Kalib Starnes. This fight was on the card that featured GSPs revenge against then-UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra in Canada. You know it must take a really piss poor performance to be boo'd by your own countrymen, as Starnes was here. In the three round fight, Starnes spent about 12-14 minutes avoiding any contact with Quarry, at some points literally running away from any conflict. In the hoopla after the fight, Starnes said he injured his foot while also complaining about his contract status with the UFC. Following such a performance, the UFC cut Starnes and it is pretty safe to say you will never see him inside the octagon. Quarry became a cult favorite for using the 'Running Man' during the fight in an attempt to taunt Starnes to fight him. Sadly, it didn't work.

K-1/EXC Dynamite! - Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba - I know this may be a bit sacrelige, but this fight was just boring once you got past the fact two legends were fighting. This epic rematch took place in 2006 at the failed L.A. Coliseum joint show between K-1 and Elite-XC. Sakuraba appeared to have been injured (no surprise) because he barely did anything for part of the fight. Having Royce limited to three, five minute rounds did appear to be a poor decision but that is the rule in the United States. Obviously, this was a fun fight to see take place but there was not much sizzle to go with the steak. Not to mention, news after the fight was Royce Gracie failed a drug test.




UFC 79 - Eddie Sanchez vs. Soa Palelei - A show that featured Wanderlei Silva fighting Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes versus Georges St. Pierre, this heavyweight fight had to stink things up. I'm sure we could put most Eddie Sanchez fights on here but this was the most recent one. Soa Palelei was just a dude who happened to find himself inside a cage on that December night in 2007. Sanchez did a good job of opening up some cuts on Palelei's face but it's pretty easy to do when the guy doesn't defend or try to fight back. For whatever reason, Palelei chose not to put his hands up half the time. To conclude a terrible fight, Sanchez decided to voice his displeasure with nothing specific by screaming to nobody in particular. I guess fans have to see a poor fight before they can see utter greatness as they did here.

WEC 36 - Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen - Where can I start? Filho comes in over five pounds overweight and cannot make weight. It was not a case where a guy/gal comes in with a couple of pounds to shed, Filho had nearly ten extra pounds on his body. The only thing you can say is he was not prepared. When you are a professional fighter, and a champion to boot, how in the world can you not be prepared? Then, with the fight changed to a non-title contest (Filho also forefitted some purse money to Sonnen), Filho goes out and has one of the worst performances in recent memory. When Sonnen looked to fight, Filho fell to the ground and laid on his back, reminiscent of the infamous "fight" between Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali in the 1970s. In the second and third rounds, Sonnen was too fearful of being caught in a submission and took safe shots at Filho. His jabs looked eerily similar to Nick Diaz's striking game. Filho's performance led to an hilarious moment on commentary when Frank Mir wanted to know who the hell he was looking at. Sonnen thought he may have had an eyesight problem, but he didn't. Who knows what caused Filho to have such a terrible fight. Perhaps something is in the water between the poor performances of Anderson Silva and Filho this month. Unbelievable.



DEVIL'S ADVOCATE UFC 91 PREVIEW

Time sure has flown by since the major main event was first announced. Now we are only a few days away from the biggest fight in the sport of the year. Our record in picking these fights is 1-3 (2 No Contests) and hopefully we can improve to the five-hundred mark. I will cover the top two fights on the card and tell you why the underdog will be victorious on Saturday evening.

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson

First up is the big lightweight fight among top contenders in Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson. The funny thing is, if B.J. Penn was not about to have an ultimate fight with Georges St. Pierre, Florian would likely be fighting Penn for the 155-pound championship around this time of year. However, that is not the case and Florian gets to fight a fellow Ultimate Fighter alum in "Daddy" Stevenson.

There is simply no argument that can be made besides to say Florian is one of the top fighters in the division. He has been one of the most stable and consistent fighters over the past couple of years. However, there comes a time when the bubble bursts and for Ken-Flo, that time is now. Joe Stevenson will defeat Florian to join Sean Sherk as contenders to the championship.

When you look at each fighter, the first thing you can say off the bat is Florian should have the advantage in the striking game. His vicious elbows are legendary and he stood for the majority of fifteen minutes with Roger Huerta in route to a unanimous decision victory. Look deeper and you realize that most of his wins in the UFC have come by submission. There is no doubt that Florian is a strong all-round fighter.

Joe Stevenson's weakness may be his striking game when compared to his peers. When fighting champion Penn earlier in the year, Stevenson was knocked for a loop early on. Stevenson can stand and swing but that may not be his best opportunity to defeat Florian.

Looking at Florian's most recent losses (Sean Sherk and Diego Sanchez), you realize that he has been beaten by wrestlers in the past. Granted, he defeated Huerta but wrestlers seem to stand the best chance at beating him. Stevenson should be as strong as fighters like Sherk and Sanchez when it comes to having the ability to take down someone at will. The question then becomes, once on the ground, who has the advantage? This is where I am sort of stuck. Florian and Stevenson both have a tremendous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu arsenal and the ability to end the fight at any time with a wicked submission hold.

Unlike with Penn (Penn lost due to submission in the third round), Stevenson should not be rattled (just my assumption) by fighting a legend, in the main event, for a championship belt. Plus, you cannot underestimate the fact this fight is only set for three rounds. That isn't to say that either man will be out of shape, but when you are only training for a maximum of fifteen minutes, it definitely plays a role. That begs another question, should the fight go into the second and/or third rounds, will either man have enough gas to pull off a submission win? If the fight turns into a stand-up battle with each man swinging for the fences, that may not benefit Stevenson.

Stevenson's best bet may be to power Florian to the ground and enforce his will with the ground and pound, leading to a submission hold. Florian has never been submitted, but there is a first time for everything.


UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar



As far as the main event goes, this is where it's at. My official pick will be in the Roundtable Preview and it may differ from this preview. Remember, this is to say why the underdog will win. Believe it or not, Randy "The Natural" Couture is the underdog based on the betting lines. Say what you want but Brock Lesnar has those Vegas people looking at him as the literal next big thing in the sport. This may be the most intriguing heavyweight championship fight in quite some time for the UFC. That's not to mention the massive advertising campaign the UFC will put out this week to get the word out to the casual fanbase. This is big.

Speaking of big, Brock Lesnar will likely walk into the cage on Saturday night at about 280 pounds. Randy Couture might be as big as 230 pounds, more likely under however. As we have seen in the past, such a size differential is no big thing for the Hall of Famer. Randy has fought Gabriel Gonzaga (around 245), Tim Sylvia (around 260), Ricco Rodriguez (around 250) and Pedro Rizzo (around 240) over the years. In recent times, he defeated Gonzaga and Sylvia. In fact, he dominated Gonzaga with his dirty boxing and went twenty-five minutes with Sylvia, spending some of that time with the giant on top of him. Couture has been training with guys who resemble Lesnar's body size to prepare including Shane Carwin (who has bigger hands than Lesnar). As you may expect, Couture will not enter the cage unprepared against the phenom of Lesnar.

The biggest part of Lesnar's game may be his awesome ability to take opponents down in a fierce way. Frank Mir and Heath Herring both experienced such a thing; Mir was able to sink in a submission hold while Herring was simply beaten by power. Randy Couture is the first decorated wrestler Brock will have faced in a legitimate fight since his high school days (regardless of any legitimate exhibitions with Kurt Angle during their professional wrestling days together). Couture, a former United States Olympic alternate and MMA veteran will never be shocked or unnerved during a fight. You cannot say the same about Brock Lesnar.


Randy Couture will not suffer the same fate as Heath Herring. OUCH that must have hurt.

Brock has shown the propensity to come out like a bull once the bell sounds. Randy has said he must withstand that initial flurry of power punches mixed with a takedown attempt and then the fight is his to lose. I don't know about you, but if I saw a world class veteran talking about exposing a newcomers weaknesses, I would tend to believe the wily 'ol vet.

Brock is still a question mark and unproven in several areas. How will he react if someone can stand and trade shots? Although he lost by a large margin, Herring nearly landed a massive uppercut late in their fight. Randy Couture was able to move around and land shots almost at will against Tim Sylvia through five rounds. Perhaps the biggest question of Lesnar's skill is how he will react if he is ever taken down and placed on his back. It would take a mighty strong fighter to be able to take down Lesnar, or perhaps someone with great technique who can use leverage and the cage to his advantage. Not even discussed yet is the fact that Lesnar has yet to finish a fight inside the UFC. With the Herring fight, it can be argued that he was playing it conservative in regards to not wanting to lose, even if it meant fighting a boring style. However, not once did it appear Lesnar attempted a submission hold against Herring. His attempts to end the fight with ground and pound failed and who can ever forget Frank Mir surviving the many blows to the head.

Randy Couture has finished fights with Gonzaga, Chuck Liddell, Vitor Belfort, Rizzo, Kevin Randleman and others. Brock's chin is untested and if Couture can land the right shot, who can predict whether Brock will drop or shake it off and continue the fight.

Unless Brock employs a brand new strategy, everyone knows his game in the initial stages of the fight. He comes out, perhaps throws a few punches, then shoots for the take down. Couture must avoid the shots as well as defend against the take down. Easier said than done, but Couture has had months to practice that just defense.

Besides all that, how about a Tale of the Tape for the main event wives.


Kim "Sugar Free" Couture
0-1 Career MMA Record
Training Partner with Gina Carano



Rena "Sable" Lesnar
WWE Women's Champion
Playboy Cover Girl


Next week, we will check out the historic UFC 91 event and see whether our Devil Advocate picks came to fruition plus more. With less than two months left in the year, there are still a ton of great fights on the horizon. It' like Election Day all over again, except without the voting (unless you count text votes)...it's time...it's time...it's RANDY vs. BROCK.