Punch Drunk Hangover 12.15.08: A Grand Finale!
Posted by Bren Oliver on 12.15.2008
Read ahead for Bren Oliver's thoughts on Roger Huerta re-signing with the UFC, Sokoudjou vs. Babalu, Bobby Lashley's successful MMA debut, a digital Royce Gracie, Frank Mir waxing poetic on Brock Lesnar, and last week's UFC events. Those things and more, plus this week's "Monday Morning Moment of Zen" featuring a referee earning his stripes, are all just a click away!
Good morning, afternoon, evening, or whatever in-between time your eyes have found their way to the Punch Drunk Hangover! As is the case most Mondays, I'm here with another one-stop shop for catching up on Mixed Martial Arts news, hoping as always to help you escape from the doldroms of an average Monday like a good grab to the nether regions, waking you up and making your day that much more exciting! Have no fear...the technique is Bas Rutten approved!!!
Greetings to all my curled-up, shivering PDH junkies who are showing the effects of withdrawl after an additional week's layoff between the only best Monday MMA news report on 411Mania! My apologies, but don't fret - you aren't the only ones who furrowed their brows at last week's unexpected absence. That being said, don't be grossly surprised when a new writer tries to slip into my Size 11 Adidas next week as a means to avoid future relapses. If that comes to fruition, know that it has been an honor and pleasure to bring you all the sticky-sweet goods every week and I appreciate the forum you've all given me to express my opinions on MMA and life in general whether they were as spot-on as a Mirko Filipovic headkick in PRIDE or just plain "Bobby Fabulous" bad.
Moving on, the UFC put on two entertaining shows last week that were not groundbreaking so much as femur-breaking, but remained memorable events with outcomes worth paying attention to. The Adrenaline promotion also put on a good card that saw Pat Miletich getting back to his Croational, Sensational ways...
However, I'd rather focus on the UFC's offerings than Chris Guillen stinking up the cage against Ben Rothwell. Dana White's 800-pound pet gorilla, which incidentally was attended by his 280-pound pet gorilla that's also UFC Heavyweight Champion, started its notable December march towards 2009 with a bang that was louder than Joe Rogan's pleas for the fight to stop when Corey Hill's leg had gone Gumby. Jim Miller continues to live up to the praise I, and so many others, have heaped upon him since his days in New Jersey's "Ring of Combat" promotion. His lone career loss is to Frank Edgar and is a rematch the UFC absolutely needs to put together in the near future. He looked good against Wiman, especially after taking the fight on short notice. Perhaps the motivation of paying for his recent wedding was enough motivation in itself for Miller to will himself to victory? Ben Saunders display of Muay Thai was extremely impressive, though I think it was in large part successful due to his height and strength advantage. I'm not sure he'll have the same fortune if he tries it against a more comparable opponent. Tim Credeur looked good against an overmatched Nate Loughran and his performance was a great boost for his fellow soldiers in attendance. I didn't find Steve Cantwell's enjoyment of Al-Hassan's injury to be tasteless or barbaric. It was honest emotion, though was clearly not the most politically correct way he could have addressed the results of his submission hold. I was impressed by what the WEC Light Heavyweight Champion brought in the Octagon and I'll be interested to see how he fares against some of the deep division's better fighters.
Mike Swick seems to have hit his stride at Welterweight and is ready to take a step up in competition. Unfortunately, two of his teammates (Fitch/Koscheck) are among the 170-pound contenders in his way to the top and Diego Sanchez just dropped to Lightweight, so Swick's options are fairly limited when it comes to future opponents. Furthermore, Matt Hughes and Matt Serra are tied up with each other and Yoshiyuki Yoshida got launced into yesteryear by Josh Koscheck. For those reasons I see Swick taking on someone with less name value like Ryo Chonan or Anthony Johnson before getting a guy like Karo Parisyan or Thiago Alves. Speaking of Welterweights, Josh Koscheck is quickly erasing fans' memories of his childish behavior on the original season of the Ultimate Fighter. He stepped up to the plate against Yoshida and, using his constantly improving stand-up, he literally hit one out of the park. The knockout he delivered was among the most memorable of 2008 and will be a highlight we'll see for years to come. He's in a tough position being that he lost to Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves, and he won't fight certain people due to their association with American Kickboxing Academy, so he runs into the same brick-wall options-wise as Mike Swick. The conundrum has me saying one thing. Jake Shields, Jake Shields...where fore art thou?
Continuing on the excitement delivered by "Fight for the Troops", the Ultimate Fighter Season 8 Finale was full of action though heavy on one-sided match-ups. Junie Browning delivered on his pre-fight promises of being an improved competitor. His striking was crisp, which he set-up well with his head movement and footwork, and picked apart Kaplan from start to finish. It will be interesting to see where Browning goes if he continues to soak up information while training with Xtreme Couture and takes the sport seriously. It's too soon for me to give him the benefit of the doubt where maturity is concerned but it's definitely possible he's grown up some since taping ended. It's hard to say how much Wilson Gouveia's weight advantage had on his showing against Jason MacDonald. MacDonald is a very slick fighter with above-average stand-up skills and an arsenal of weapons when things hit the mat. Gouveia crushed him like he was walking in fresh snow on the streets of Edmonton. Anthony Johnson was equally sharp, and dominant, against Kevin Burns even if it took him a bit longer to deliver the finish. Johnson will be a force to reckon with as he continues to grow as a fighter and polish his skills in the gym. He's able to defend takedowns and control opponents due to his background as an award-winning wrestler, is quick, is athletic, and appears to be extremely gifted on his feet. That's a good combination for success in MMA. Now here's a good combination for unconsciousness...
The two Ultimate Fighter Finals were a little surprising if only because I expected Vinny Magalhaes to be a bit more durable and I was shocked by how superior Efrain's wrestling was in comparison to Phillipe's defense. Regarding the Light Heavyweights, I'm not sure Bader would beat Magalhaes more than five times if they fought ten, but his power is clearly capable of knocking people out and his wrestling is good enough to control most opponents he'll face. All I ask is that he changes his entrance music from the craptacular techo version of "The Imperial March" (from Star Wars) to the original symphonic version. The Lightweight final was a win-win for the UFC. Phillipe Nover and Efrain Escudero both have very bright futures in the Octagon. Two markets the folks at Zuffa are desperate to get into are Mexico and the Philippines. And, as chance would have it, Nover is Filipino and Escudero is Mexican, meaning each already has a built-in fanbase no matter what happened on Saturday night. Pending their future outcomes in the eight-sided cage, look for Nover and Escudero to get the "Michael Bisping" treatment in terms of being promoted as a cultural posterboy.
There's my three cents on "Fight for the Troops" and the Ultimate Fighter Season 8 Finale - now time to give my spin on a handful of other subjects gracing the headlines this past week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on things, so feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
The following medley of items were reported between December 8th, 2008 and December 14th, 2008:
UFC Lightweight Roger Huerta signed a new five-fight contract with the UFC on Monday. It had been rumored for a few months now that Huerta was considering leaving the company due to a salary dispute. He now has a new deal and is looking to fight again in March of 2009.
I wouldn't be surprised if Huerta's decision to re-sign with the UFC was influenced by his loss to Ken Florian coupled with the probable instability of electing to go elsewhere and compete. Florian controlled the young Hispanic fighter for the duration of their bout this past August en route to a unanimous decision. The loss exposed Huerta's tendency to favor recklessness over a strategic approach and put some perspective on his standing when it comes to discussing top ranked Lightweights. Simply put, it hurt his reputation and smudged his otherwise pristine marketability. After that performance at UFC 87, Huerta could no longer argue that he deserved a six-figure salary because he lost - that any attempts to do so afterwards would essentially be viewed as "El Matador" slinging bull. Also, as mentioned earlier, Affliction and EliteXC looked like legitimate options four months ago when Huerta voiced his discontent with what the UFC was paying him. EliteXC is now in a state of cardiac arrest, if not full-on rigor mortis, and Affliction needs to turn a profit over their next two shows to avoid going under. I don't think Japan was ever a real option for Huerta. He is very close with his family in Texas, so I don't see him having any interest in travelling overseas to make a living unless it's every once in a blue moon (such as in the UFC's case), plus the potential for stardom is far greater here in the United States - in Mexico - than it would be in the Far East.
It was intelligent of both the UFC and Roger Huerta to work things out and keep the former Sports Illustrated coverboy fighting inside the same Octagon that accompanied him on the magazine's front page. The decision keeps Huerta in the place where he has the most potential for long-term financial success; where he can possibly make himself a brand if he continues to improve and rallies off another impressive win streak. The UFC will not flicker out overnight like so many other MMA promotions do. Dana White and the Fertittas are clearly in the game for the long haul. And, while their stability should give Huerta a roof over his head for at least five more fights, he also gives them an exciting Mixed Martial Artist in his mid-twenties who could realistically turn into his sport's version of Oscar DelaHoya where the Hispanic market is concerned. The partnership between the UFC and Roger Huerta is one of a win-win nature. I'm glad Huerta was willing to concede his damaged pride and the premier name in MMA was able to offer him something suitable to his talents.
Earlier today during a public Q&A session at the Sports USA Bar located on the Fort Bragg military base, UFC President Dana White revealed that Thales Leites (14-1) is currently under strong consideration to fight Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Title in February. Leites has won five straight in the UFC and hasn't lost since his UFC debut back in November of 2006.
This is no knock on Leites, but it seems to me the UFC is overly interested in keeping Anderson Silva as Middleweight Champion and allowing him an opportunity to break Royce Gracie's streak for consecutive wins inside the Octagon. That isn't to say Leites lacks skills or is a cakewalk by any means. His combination of wrestling and jiujitsu is excellent and has helped him procure nine submission wins in fifteen professional bouts. However, his striking is mediocre at best and he's never actually knocked an opponent out. The most significant victory on the Brazilian's resume is a split decision he earned over Nate Marquardt at UFC 85, but the win was more a result of point deductions on Marquardt's part than a superior performance by Leites. He's never conclusively beaten an opponent meriting general consideration as "Top 10", even "Top 15", material. Like Patrick Cote before him, Leites hasn't done anything to prove he deserves an opportunity to win the UFC's Middleweight Championship other than string together a series of victories over mid-grade competition. He presents no real threat to current 185-pound champ Anderson Silva, but the streak he's on is something the Zuffa machine can spin into the appearance of a legitimate contender. And, to tell the truth, I'm pretty sure those very traits are the reason Dana White is putting Leites' name out there as likely being next in line to face Silva.
Now that I've placed my cone-shaped foil cap firmly atop my noggin in preparation for talking a little "conspiracy theory", let me explain why I think the UFC is feeding Anderson Silva another inferior opponent under the guise he's unquestionably earned his spot at the front of the line. Dana White has been very vocal about the UFC Middleweight Champion's status as the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. With another "W" at 185-pounds, "The Spider" will not only break Royce Gracie's record eight-bout win streak in the Octagon, but I believe he will also tie Matt Hughes' mark for successful title defenses. That would not only add weight to White's argument about Silva's place at the pinnacle of the sport's P4P rankings but also give the UFC President a "Zuffa Era" fighter he can start marketing as the best Mixed Martial Artist of all-time. If the means in which the UFC is determining the next Middleweight contender is truly on the straight and narrow, then Anderson Silva would be fighting again as a Light Heavyweight while the Zuffa brass sorted out the division by putting together match-ups featuring the logjam of 185-pound possibilities like Leites, Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping, Demian Maia, and Yushin Okami.
UFC President Dana White confirmed that the winner of the upcoming Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin fight at UFC 93 in January will be named as head coach for the upcoming ninth season of "The Ultimate Fighter". The UFC has already announced that Michael Bisping will coach one of the teams and rumors have ran rampant about who the UFC would choose to coach the team opposite Bisping's. The show is expected to start airing in April of 2009.
Regardless of who wins at UFC 93, Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson are both great candidates for the American squad given TUF 9's "UK vs. USA" format. My only reservation about the matter is the possibility of Franklin being placed in a bout against Michael Bisping at some point after the show (which has been standard procedure when it comes to the last few seasons' coaches). If "Ace" is able to defeat Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping he will have essentially taken out two of the Middleweight division's top contenders without actually being in the running for a championship-fight himself. While most competitors would have absolutely earned the privilege after beating two individuals with their credentials, the cringe-inducing manner in which Franklin was dismantled twice by current title-holder Anderson Silva prevent Rich from receiving genuine consideration for a third encounter with "The Spider". The best outcome of UFC 93, at least from a divisional perspective, is for Dan Henderson to beat Franklin and eventually fight Bisping after the Ultimate Fighter Season 9 with a shot at Silva's gold on the line.
During a recent press conference, UFC President Dana White revealed that UFC Hall-of-Famer Royce Gracie will appear in the upcoming UFC video game "UFC Undisputed 2009" which will be released next Spring.
It truly is the season of miracles! The news that MMA legend Royce Gracie - at least a digitally rendered version of him - will soon have opponents tapping out, and players tapping buttons, is enough to have me smiling like I've downed five glasses of spiked Egg Nog! Gracie is unquestionably one of Mixed Martial Arts' icons and a huge influence on the modern crop of athletes competing in the sport. This news also gives me hope that perhaps other UFC legends will be included in the game, such as Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, and Keith Hackney. What...you don't think Hackney deserves consideration? I present the following clip as evidence to the contrary...
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou is in talks to face Renato "Babalu" Sobral at Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24th in Anaheim, CA. The fight is already being listed on Affliction's website even though it has not been finalized yet.
One MMA company's loss is another's gain. While I feel the UFC's release of Sokoudjou was more financially motivated than performance based, as he was getting paid as the 23-year old phenom who knocked out Ricardo Arona and Rogerio Nogueira in record time and hadn't lived up to the expectations he created with those performances, I think the Team Quest judoka still has an incredible amount of potential and remains a marketable commodity. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the UFC had attempted to re-sign him at a lower rate and "Soko" refused the offer.
I'm not sure he could have found a better immediate landing spot than across the ring from "Babalu" at "Affliction: Day of Reckoning" other than perhaps on a Scrabble board. The bout will give him an opportunity to fight a well-known opponent at a much-anticipated event. It will give him the kind of exposure, and competition at Light Heavyweight, he wouldn't have found in Japan or any other American MMA organizations. While Sobral may be Strikeforce's LHW Champion, he's also the San Jose promotion's only credible 205-pound fighter. Affliction, on the other hand, still has the ability to put Sokoudjou up against Sobral while also building towards a future bout against former IFL Light Heavyweight Champion Vlad Matyushenko, a rematch against "Little Nog", or even a fight against Tito Ortiz if Tom Atencio's group decides to kowtow to his demands. Similar to an earlier PDH item featuring Roger Huerta inking a new deal with the UFC, the signing of Sokoudjou by Affliction was a "win" for both involved parties. The move makes sense for the fighter, the promoter, and even the fans. It's virtually immune from criticism.
It only took 41 seconds for Bobby Lashley to win his MMA debut fight against Joshua Franklin last night at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Lashley scored a takedown and then opened up the forehead of Franklin with punches, which caused the fight to be stopped. Franklin was also making his MMA debut in this fight.
Sorry to pour scalding hot water on the erections of all you fans of professional wrestling, but Bobby Lashley's win over Franklin was less impressive than anything Kimbo Slice ever did inside a cage and I'll tell you why. Slice's resume is one a fighter generally wants to avoid being compared to, let alone exceeded by, but at least every bout he took in EliteXC was at least against an opponent with some sort of professional record. Beyond that, while the accolades he earned as an amateur wrestler may not be as prestigious as some of his peers, Bobby Lashley did achieve a tremendous amount of success on the mat in NAIA competition. That experience alone is more applicable to MMA than anything Slice learned on the street on his way to "YouTube" fame.
All that being said, I'm still marginally impressed by Lashley's performance in the sense he was able to emerge the winner instead of go the route of Johnnie Morton. He looked fairly quick on his feet given his size, showed a desire to control the pace of the fight via his aggression, had a decent stance, got a takedown, and even landed some elbows/punches from the guard. You can check out the actual fight by going here. It's unfortunate the bout resulted in a cut-based stoppage, as I would have liked to see Lashley's conditioning and ability to finish opponents. Hopefully his next fight will be against stronger competition, though I would fully understand if he chooses to build up his experience before testing deep waters. Not everyone can be Brock Lesnar.
Oh, and for you sickos who want to see why Lashley's fight against Josh Franklin was stopped...
The following soundbyte was delivered over the past week...
Frank Mir speaks to AOL about a potential rematch against Brock Lesnar...
"Brock Lesnar will never be able to beat me because he has no submission skills. What's he going to do, knock me out? No one has ever knocked me out cold. What's he going to do, armbar me? No way. He is powerful. He is big. But martial arts isn't filled with guys from the NFL. Lesnar had to grab the cage not to get taken down by Randy Couture, who's 220 pounds. Lesnar isn't the phenom everyone makes him out to be. He started at 30. Have you ever seen a boxer start at 30 and become a world champion?
He was completely kicking my ass [in the first fight]. He was beating the sh*t out of me. But I'm saying I'm going to figure out a way to win. Lesnar hit me so hard I was seeing flashes of light every time they landed. But at no point did quitting ever cross my mind. The next time we fight, it's a five-round fight. Even if he beats the sh*t out of me for the first two rounds, he won't last. He's so big, and the bigger you are, the harder it is on your heart.
Brock can take me down. He's bigger, stronger and wrestled for 20 years. When he's fresh, if he wants to put me on my back, he'll put me on my back. But until then, I'll be putting my shin upside his head. And when he does put me on my back, what's he going to do?"
I liked this past season of the Ultimate Fighter. However, no individual should have been a bigger fan of TUF 8 than Ken Shamrock, as Frank Mir gave "The World's Most Delusional Dangerous Man" a run for his money when it comes to a coach's behavior on the show leaving a very bitter taste in viewers' mouths. Statements like the one made to AOL are symptomatic of a much larger problem that was evident as Season 8 unfolded - Frank Mir is apparently a complete douchebag.
All the hours Mir spent with Season 8 cast-member Dave Kaplan must have rubbed off on him, as the former UFC Heavyweight Champion has apparently acquired "Diamond" Dave's misguided approach to being KO'd. While Mir hasn't ever been rendered an unconscious heap, that variety of knockout is fairly rare and in reality he's only been part of fourteen professional fights. Beyond that, two of his last five appearances in the Octagon have resulted in Frank turtling up on the mat, bloodied, while his opponent reigned down strikes en route to winning a TKO ruling from the referee. Mir talks about Lesnar's striking as though the current UFC Heavyweight Champion will be lucky to catch him on the chin and leave him a flailing mess.
Moving on from the knockout-factor, Mir further cements his status as a tool by questioning the age at which Lesnar started training for Mixed Martial Arts. Let's ignore for a second that Brock spent five years of his life as a highly successful amateur wrestler and has found unprecedented success in MMA for someone with only four professional fights. Mir asks, "Have you ever seen a boxer start at 30 and become a world champion?" I don't follow boxing closely enough to answer that question. However, there's a certain multi-time UFC Champion, Hall of Famer, and industry icon Mir might have heard of who started fighting late in his career (at age 34 no less) and went on to do okay in the sport - Randy Couture. To discredit Lesnar's potential or overall ability based purely on the date he first strapped on five-ounce gloves is ignorant, especially in light of Brock's performances against Heath Herring and the aforementioned Couture. You would think a guy like Mir, who openly admits to having the "sh*t" beat out of him in Lesnar's second professional fight, wouldn't have a problem giving the hulking Minnesotan credit where skill is concerned. Then again, I'm referring to Frank Mir who labeled himself on TUF 8 as "200X" the athlete "Minotauro" Nogueira is, so maybe it shouldn't be that surprising after all.
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That's about all she wrote for this week's Hangover. Till next time Punch Drunk buckaroos, here's your "Monday Morning Moment of Zen" - a MMA referee showing the men in the gloves aren't the only ones who know how to throw a punch!
King Kong, Mazagatti, Dean, Lavigne, Yamasaki, and Rosenthal ain't got sh*t on ME!!!
