The Ultimate Writer 02.02.09: My Thoughts On UFC 94

Posted by Dustin James on 02.02.2009

UFC 94 has come and gone, so where do we stand now? In the latest edition of "The Ultimate Writer", 411's Dustin James discusses the UFC 94 card, the top 10 pound for pound fighters in MMA, the week in news, and much more........

Welcome to the latest edition of "The Ultimate Writer" and man, what a weekend we just had! Not only did we have the awesome sauce that was known as the "Super Bowl", but we also had one of the "BIGGEST FIGHTS IN MMA HISTORY" as well! Did you survive the weekend? I barely did....and you may be able to tell in this week's column. It's hard to try and sit down and write this sucker out on Super Bowl weekend, but I'm going to give it a try, and if you don't like it.....oh well!

LET'S GET IT ON!!!!!

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UFC 94 "St. Pierre vs. Penn II" Thoughts:



Yes, it's finally the end of January and that means that we have seen UFC 93, Affliction "Day Of Reckoning", and UFC 94 all pass us by with mixed results. February is not exactly the "hottest month ever" in MMA. Besides UFC 95 (with a lackluster main event of Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson) which will be on Spike TV anyway, there isn't much to get excited for as an MMA fan. Anyhow, let's take a look back at UFC 94 "St. Pierre vs. Penn II"........

Clay Guida def. Nate Diaz via split-decision - This began our evening of extremely close fights. While I wasn't so good on picking the actual winners of the fights tonight, I did a pretty damn good job saying that almost every fight would go to a decision. Guida and Diaz kicked the night off with an exciting fight. Diaz had Guida's number in the stand-up game thanks to his significant reach advantage, but Diaz couldn't handle Guida's take downs and ground control. Guida knew what he needed to do to win this fight, and the guy did it. He's on a roll right now in the UFC, but I believe he has ran out of "TUF" winners to beat up on now. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

Karo Parisyan def. Dong Hyun Kim via split-decision - Talk about another close fight. It was your typical Karo Parisyan decision fight. If you happened to skip this fight, oh well. You didn't miss much.

Jon Jones def. Stephan Bonnar via unanimous-decision - Where the hell did Jon Jones come from anyway? He came into the UFC with an upset win over Andre Gusmao a few months back, and now he comes out of nowhere and man handles Stephan Bonnar for a victory. Perhaps it was the long layoff Bonnar had, or perhaps it was the fact that Bonnar's dirty boxing just wasn't working tonight. Either way, Jones is on a roll right now in the UFC and he could make a name for himself in the light heavyweight division this year.

Lyoto Machida def. Thiago Silva via TKO in Round 1 - I was the #1 guy on the "Give Quinton Jackson a title shot" bandwagon. But after tonight? I may have jumped off that bandwagon and jumped onto Machida's. Say what you want about Machida's "elusive style", but the man brought it tonight. He knocked out Silva with just one second left in the round. It was easily the most exciting part of the night. I was looking forward to a three round affair, but Machida had other plans. I honestly think that even if "Rampage" does defeat Jardine in March, Machida should be the #1 contender. He's undefeated and has defeated top competition in his MMA career (Tito Ortiz, BJ Penn, Rich Franklin, etc). Give the man what he deserves Dana!

Georges St. Pierre def. BJ Penn via TKO in Round 4 - What can be said about this fight that hasn't been said already? GSP looked scary good here and proved why he is one of the top dogs in MMA. Something tells me that the UFC is going to blow it's load on a possible Anderson Silva/GSP fight before 2009 ends......I'm just saying.......

But, then again. You know what they say.......



Overall, UFC 94 was not that good of a card. It was a decision-filled extravaganza that was borderline boring. Of course, I should have known this seeing as I picked about 7 of the fights to go to a decision anyway. There were some highlights such as Penn/St. Pierre, Lyoto Machida, and even Diaz/Guida wasn't too bad. However, in the end it was great to finally see Penn/St. Pierre fight because the hype was killing me. Now that it's over, we can all sit back, relax and watch these two dominate their weight divisions for years to come. I never would have thought that out of UFC 94, UFC 93, and Affliction "Day Of Reckoning"....I would end up enjoying Affliction's card the most. It's shocking, I tell ya!

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The Week That Was:

This feature is self-explanatory. The biggest news items of the week go here, duh!

Monday:

As always, Monday started off slow. Seriously though, what's with Monday? It's almost always boring in the world of MMA news. Oh, well I guess we got a little bit of news. It seems that the Xtreme Fighting Championships has signed a television deal with HDnet and the network will start airing XFC fights soon. This is a good move by XFC. We all know you need television to survive in this day and age. Plus, any kind of free MMA on my TV is always a major plus.

Tuesday:

Things started picking up on Tuesday....as usual. We learned that Hermes Franca had to pull out of his scheduled main event fight with Joe Lauzon at UFC Fight Night 17 due to a torn ACL. Bad luck for Franca, as I was actually looking forward to seeing this fight. A torn ACL will keep him out of the Octagon for awhile and we may not see him back until the end of the year now.

We also learned that the UFC was going to BRANCH out with a set of UFC-themed gyms spread out across the world. This is a cool idea and may inspire some of the lazier MMA fans (ADAM TOOL) to get off their asses and get a workout in. I really hope that the UFC can somehow clone Houston Alexander so the guy can coach MMA classes at each gym. Hell, we all need to know how not to fight......right?

In some surprising news on Tuesday (at least it was for Brock Larson), Zuffa announced that they were going to axe the WEC's welterweight division and move the current WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit and #1 contender Brock Larson to the UFC. This is a good move by Zuffa and one that I said the company should have done MONTHS ago. Many MMA experts consider Condit to be one of the toughest welterweight fighters in the world, but the major knock on him was the he was fighting in the WEC. Well, not any more. Condit is expected to face Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC Fight Night 18. If Condit can somehow manage 2-3 wins inside the UFC, he will be facing GSP in no time at all. Things have just got interesting once again in the welterweight division.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday we learned that Jeremy Stephens would be replacing Hermes Franca on the UFC Fight Night 17 card. This is actually a good move by Stephens. Why? Because the man was training with Franca to help him prepare for this fight, so it's not like he hasn't been training or anything. The big question could be, will Stephens dye his hair pink or neon green for the fight? That's the only way he can truly replace Franca in my eyes.

Also on Wednesday, the UFC CONFIRMED that it would be Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir II at UFC 98 in May for the UFC Heavyweight Title. Not only that, but Dana White predicted that the show would set the new UFC PPV buyrate record. In other news, I predict that Dana White has been huffing too many magic markers. This show should do extremely good in the buyrate market, but set a new record??? REALLY???? If Lesnar vs. Couture wasn't able to set the record, do you honestly think Mir vs. Lesnar II will? C'mon.....now let's be realistic here.

And last but not least.......we learned that Houston Alexander was going to lose to Andre Gusmao at UFC 98. Alexander will then get released by the company, where he will then go certifiably "nuts" and drive a school bus into a church. Don't get mad at me.....I didn't make Houston do it.

Thursday:

On Thursday we received some sad news in the MMA department. Grandmaster Helio Gracie passed away at the young age of 95. Words can't express how much Helio Gracie has meant to the MMA world. If it wasn't for Helio...none of us would be here talking about this wonderful sport we call mixed-martial-arts. You will surely be missed Helio.....

And in much "happier" news, we learned that the UFC was not going to pull a bonehead move and have UFC 100 on the fourth of July. Nope, they actually decided to hold what could be the promotion's "biggest card ever" on a night that people would actually be home! GASP! What a brilliant move! The card will actually be held on July 11 and will feature some extra "razzle dazzle" as promised by Dana White. Am I the only one who hopes that this extra "razzle dazzle" is actually Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva playing with sparklers and those black snake thingies? I would pay to see that......

Friday:

On Friday we had the weigh-ins for UFC 94....and nothing exciting went down. I was hoping for a Karo Parisyan panic attack or something at least. But nope! Damn the UFC for being professional and all.

We also learned that Denis Kang would be facing Xavier Foupa-Pokam at UFC 97 in April. Wow, what a name that is. Kang really needs an impressive win here over "Professor X" in order to still be considered a top middleweight in the UFC. It would be a shame to see Kang's UFC run be over in the blink of an eye.

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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

Rulon Gardner

OK, raise your hand if you remember Rulon Gardner. OK, hands down. Now, raise your hands if you know what the hell Gardner is doing with his life right now. OK, you can put your hands down now Mr. and Mrs. Gardner. After winning an Olympic Gold Medal in wrestling, Gardner became a huge attraction in the United States. The WWE was offering Gardner some massive bucks, but the big country boy turned down a career with the WWE in favor of a professional MMA career. How did Gardner fare as an MMA fighter? He is 1-0 with his only win coming against Hidehiko Yoshida at PRIDE "Shockwave 2004". Since then, we haven't seen anything from Gardner. Why? Did I miss something here and the guy is now a kindergarten teacher in Omaha, Nebraska or something? What the hell is he doing now????? Fill me in!

If you know the whereabouts of Rulon Gardner, please contact Dustin James at [e-mail], or go to his myspace located here.

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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.

My Top 10 Pound 4 Pound Fighters In MMA: (Not that we have seen Fedor and GSP compete this month, it's time for me to reveal my PERSONAL list of the top 10 pound 4 pound fighters in MMA. If you don't like this list, who cares....it's mine and not yours anyway!)

ARE YOU READY?


10. "Kid" Yamamoto - I'm THIS close to dropping Yamamoto completely off this list. The fact that the guy is always injured and never competes should be a crime.

9. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson - Of course he's making my top 10.......

8. Urijah Faber - Faber got back on the winning side of things by knocking Jens Pulver a step closer to retirement. Faber is still a dangerous dude and will be the WEC Featherweight Champion again by year's end.

7. Rashad Evans - So, what's next for Evans? I say give him Machida in another "battle of the undefeateds". You know you wanna see it too.....

6. BJ Penn - He drops a little due to his loss to GSP. But I still would favor Penn over the majority of MMA fighters in a straight-up fight.

5. Lyoto Machida - Undefeated....check. Faces tough opponents...check. Finishes opponents....check. Wouldn't wish him upon my worst nightmare.....check.

4. Miguel Torres - The kid is 35-1 and is on like a 1,000,384 fight win streak. Stop him.....I dare ya.

3. Georges St. Pierre - GSP looked excellent against Penn at UFC 94 and had it not been for that upset loss to Matt Serra a few years back, GSP might be on the top of this list. However, that loss still goes over like a fart in church and does impact his ranking here seeing as the competition in the "pound 4 pound" group is extremely stacked.

2. Anderson Silva - Silva is so dominate in his weight class that the man has been forced to switch weight divisions in order to step up his level of competition. Not only that, but skills wise.....Silva is almost perfect.

1. Fedor Emelianenko - I have to give the nod to Fedor here. Much like Silva, he has dominated anyone put in front of him and he shouldn't be punished for not being a member of the UFC's roster. Hands down I would not pick anyone to defeat Fedor right now.....in any weight class.

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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?



Brock Lesnar - UFC Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Randy Couture back on November 15, 2008 at UFC 91.

Frank Mir - Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship

Won the title from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira back on December 27, 2008 at UFC 92

Rashad Evans - UFC Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Forrest Griffin back on December 27, 2008 at UFC 92

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 Joe Stevenson back on January 19, 2008 at UFC 80



Alistair Overeem - Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Paul Buentello back on November 16, 2007 at Strikeforce: Four Men Enter, One Man Survives

Renato "Babalu" Sobral - Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Bobby Southworth back on November 21, 2008 at Strikeforce: Destruction

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



Jamie Varner - WEC Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Rob McCullough back on February 13, 2008 at WEC 32

Mike Brown - WEC Featherweight Champion

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



Fedor Emelianenko - WAMMA Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Tim Sylvia back on July 19, 2008 at Affliction "Banned"

Shinya Aoki - WAMMA Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Eddie Alvarez back on December 31, 2008 at FEG FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008



Satoru Kitaoka - Sengoku Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Takanori Gomi back on January 4, 2009 at Sengoku 7

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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......


Ryan Madigan

The undefeated Ryan Madigan was signed by the UFC earlier this week and was thrown right into the fire. Madigan will now face "Ultimate Fighter" veteran Ben Saunders on the UFC 96 card in March in place of the injured Dustin Hazelett. Madigan will have his hands full with Saunders, but he shouldn't worry too much. Since becoming a professional fighter in 2006, Madigan has finished every opponent he has faced and has never seen a third round. Something tells me this Saunders/Madigan fight is going to be a brawl. Welcome to the UFC Ryan Madigan.

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Upcoming Events:

Here are a few of the upcoming events in the wonderful world of MMA:




UFC Fight Night 17: Lauzon vs. Stephens - February 7 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida

-Joe Lauzon vs. Jeremy Stephens
-Josh Neer vs. Mac Danzig
-Cain Velasquez vs. Denis Stojnic
-Matthew Riddle vs. Steve Bruno
-Derek Downey vs. Nick Catone
-Rich Clementi vs. Gleison Tibau
-Anthony Johnson vs. Luigi Fioravanti
-Kurt Pellegrino vs. Rob Emerson
-Matt Veach vs. Matt Grice
-Dan Miller vs. Jake Rosholt

UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson - February 21 at The O2 Arena in London, England

-Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson
-Nate Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia
-Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham
-Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen
-Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago
-Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve
-Troy Mandaloniz vs. Paul Kelly
-Shannon Gugerty vs. Tom Lawson
-Terry Etim vs. Justin Buchholz
-Justin McCully vs. Neil Grove

WEC 39: Brown vs. Garcia - March 1 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas

-Mike Brown vs. Leonard Garcia (WEC featherweight title)
-Carlos Condit vs. Brock Larson (WEC welterweight title)
-Rob McCullough vs. Marcus Hicks
-Bart Palaszewski vs. Richard Crunkilton
-Mike Budnik vs. John Franchi
-Johny Hendricks vs. Alex Serdyukov
-Douglas Lima vs. Justin Haskins
-Damacio Page vs. Marcos Galvao
-Danny Castillo vs. Phil Cardella
-Alex Karalexis vs. Greg McIntyre
-Rafael Rebello vs. Kenji Osawa

UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine - March 7 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Keith Jardine
-Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin
-Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
-Brandon Vera vs. Mike Patt
-Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller
-Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day
-Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz
-Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown
-Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley
-Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Madigan

World Victory Road's Sengoku 7 - March 20 at the National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan

-Muhammed Lawal vs. Ryo Kawamura
-Featherweight Grand Prix (Chris Manuel, Hatsu Hioki, Marlon Sandro, Ronnie Ushiwaka, and Nick Denis)

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UFC Undisputed 2009 Update:



It's no secret that I'm a huge UFC and video game fan. I currently own an Xbox360 and a Wii, and will gladly take a PS3 if it's offered to me. With that out of the way, I can't WAIT for the upcoming UFC Undisputed 2009 video game. Therefore, "The Ultimate Writer" will be your headquarters for all the updates and news on the upcoming video game!

Will Be Released: Spring of 2009

Platform: Xbox360, PS3

Current Updates: The UFC FINALLY revealed the official website for UFC Undisputed 2009! Check it out at UFCUndisputed.com. WARNING! Just browsing the website will make you want to play the game BAD........

Current roster for UFC Undisputed 2009: (These are the confirmed fighters in the game thus far. The game is rumored to feature over 80 fighters.)

Heavyweight:
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Brock Lesnar
Randy Couture
Frank Mir

Light Heavyweight:
Forrest Griffin
Wanderlei Silva
Quinton Jackson
Chuck Liddell
Rashad Evans
Rich Franklin

Middleweight:
Anderson Silva
Amir Sadollah
Michael Bisping
Dan Henderson

Welterweight:
Georges St. Pierre
Jon Fitch
Matt Hughes

Lightweight:
BJ Penn
Roger Huerta
Kenny Florian
Joe Stevenson

UFC Legends:
Royce Gracie

Non-playable Characters:
Mike Goldberg
Joe Rogan
Bruce Buffer
Mario Yamasaki
"Stitch" Duran
Arianny Celeste
Juanito Ibarra

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Current 411mania.com MMA Rankings:

These are the current MMA rankings as voted on by the staff of 411mania.com. You can catch the updated version every Thursday on 411mania.com!

Heavyweight: (last voted on January 6, 2009)

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Andrei Arlovski
3. Josh Barnett
4. Frank Mir
5. Brock Lesnar
6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7. Randy Couture
8. Gabriel Gonzaga
9. Alistair Overeem
10. Cheick Kongo
11. Cain Velasquez
12. Fabricio Werdum
13. Tim Sylvia
14. Aleksander Emelianenko
15. Ben Rothwell

Light Heavyweight: (last voted on January 20, 2009)

1. Rashad Evans
2. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Forrest Griffin
5. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
6. Thiago Silva
7. Keith Jardine
8. Chuck Liddell
9. Wanderlei Silva
10. Luis Cane
11. Rich Franklin
12. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
13. Vladimir Matyushenko
14. Tito Ortiz
15. Renato "Babalu" Sobral

Middleweight: (last voted on January 27, 2009)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Yushin Okami
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Gegard Mousasi
6. Nathan Marquardt
7. Yoshihiro Akiyama
8. Thales Leites
9. Jorge Santiago
10. Kazuo Misaki
11. Vitor Belfort
12. Michael Bisping
13. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
14. Frank Trigg
15. Demian Maia

Welterweight: (last voted on December 26, 2008)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Jake Shields
5. Josh Koscheck
6. Carlos Condit
7. Matt Hughes
8. Mike Swick
9. Diego Sanchez
10. Marcus Davis
11. Dustin Hazelett
12. Matt Serra
13. Karo Parisyan
14. Brock Larson
15. Nick Diaz

Lightweight: (last voted on January 13, 2009)

1. BJ Penn
2. Shinya Aoki
3. Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante
4. Kenny Florian
5. Sean Sherk
6. Eddie Alvarez
7. Josh Thomson
8. Gilbert Melendez
9. Joachim Hansen
10. Tatsuya Kawajiri
11. Mitsuhiro Ishida
12. Nate Diaz
13. Takanori Gomi
14. Gray Maynard
15. Tyson Griffin

Pound For Pound: (last voted on December 30, 2008)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Georges St. Pierre
4. BJ Penn
5. Miguel Torres
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Urijah Faber
8. Rashad Evans
9. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto
10. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
11. Eddie Alvarez
12. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
13. Kenny Florian
14. Forrest Griffin
15. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

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Before we go, I highly recommend you check out the promo video for the upcoming Antwain Britt vs. Jamal Patterson fight at UWC's "Man O War" card coming up in February:



Thanks to UWC's Nate Wilcox for sending that along.....

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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 that's how we roll.