My Take On 02.08.09: Quick Hits Edition – Jones, Rumble, Strikeforce/EliteXC, More

Posted by Larry Csonka on 02.08.2009

My Take On returns to discuss EliteXC’s resurrection, a certain young man rumbling along, the coming out party of Jon Jones and more!



WELCOME~!:
I got the itch to write something, so I decided to go back to a format I used back in the day, the quick hits discussion format. Short topical discussion, more blog style than regular column based. So with that abbreviated introduction out of the way, here are four topics I want to touch on today.

Is Cain Able?: It seems as if everyone is on the jock of Cain Velasquez these days. Don't get me wrong; he does deserve hype, and I do think he is a good fighter. He is 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the UFC. He has finished all of his fights via TKO (punches) and only one fight went to the 2nd round. Everyone at his gym thinks he is the shit, and that if and or when Brock Lesnar defeats Frank Mir, that Velasquez will take out Brock. Some are even playing the experience card, saying that Velasquez can dominate Brock due to experience. Well let us look at Velasquez's opponents:

- Jesse Fujarczyk: 3-2
- Jeremiah Constant: 8-6
- Brad Morris: 9-4
- Jake O'Brien: 11-2
- Denis Stojnic: 5-2

They are a combined 36-16, and his only real competition thus far (as a far as a guy with a name that has faced real competition in Herring and Arlovski) has been Jake O'Brien. Let's look at Lesnar:

- Cream of Min Soo Kim: 3-6
- Frank Mir: 12-3
- Heath Herring: 28-14
- Randy Couture: 16-9

Lesnar's opponents are a combined 59-32, and outside of the tomato can from the first show, he has faced stars, name guys, and while he did get caught against Mir, he beat Herring and humbled him, he Donkey Kong'd Couture and will now get his rematch with Mir. Now I am no trying to get into an "MMATH" discussion, because that all ends up to be bullshit. What I am saying is this: Velasquez is a beast, and he may very well be awesome in the gym, but before they start talking title shot and domination for him, he needs to get in there with a Heath Herring or a Cheick Kongo and win before he is anointed a savior. And since people will ask, hell yes I want to see Velasquez vs. Lesnar down the line, those too big bastards will throw down.

The Jon Jones Factor: As I discussed in MMA Fact or Fiction, when UFC 94 was all said and done, one of the top thoughts I had was this, I was impressed as hell with Jon Jones. While I think he needs a LOT of work on his cardio, because the man was dead tired, but he looked awesome against Bonnar. There are only two reasons he didn't finish off Bonnar, he was gassed, and Bonnar is a MAN'S MAN with one HELL of a chin. Bonnar took some damn hard shots and weathered the storm, and he should be commended for that. And that is the reason he will keep a job with the UFC. Sure he is 5-4 under the UFC banner, but he takes punishment and has exciting fights. But Jones was VERY impressive, and as a PROSPECT, he has so much potential. But I do have to say, I am not sure if he will hang at Light Heavyweight. That's a stacked division and I don't know if he can really keep the size needed and get the cardio where it needs to be. Of course if he drops down to Anderson Silva class, well, you get my point. I was asked if I felt that he was the best prospect under 25 in the UFC and at the time I said fact, but I forgot about one man…

Rumble Young Man Rumble: Anthony Rumble Johnson. Back in July Johnson was robbed as Kevin Burns poked him in the eye. Shady officiating in my opinion prevailed and instead of a no contest, Burns walked away with a victory. Between July 19th and December 13th Johnson got together to train with Cung Le and Josh Thompson, and it was that training that took him from an excellent wrestler with decent stand up to an extremely well rounded fighter. He got revenge on Burns with a highlight reel KO, and then two months later he returned at Fight night 17 with a DOMINATING performance over Luigi Fioravanti, who went into the fight at 14-4, and is not a joke. Now I am not going to anoint Johnson the man to defeat GSP, but with every performance he is developing into a more complete fighter, which makes him a dangerous man. If this continues, he could give GSP, or who ever is the champion more competition than he has had in some time.

With the Help of Strikeforce, Elite XC Rides Again: When I had the chance to post the press release that stated the fact that Strikeforce had acquired the main assets of Pro Elite, I will admit, I was a VERY HAPPY MMA FAN! Why? Because I LOVED EliteXC. Let me clarify that. I loved a lot of the fighters in EliteXC, I loved that EliteXC got on CBS, and I loved shit tons of free MMA on my TV. What I hated was the fact that they had NO CLUE how to run a profitable company. They pissed money away. Strikeforce was the EXACT OPPOSITE of EliteXC. Strikeforce ran a limited amount of shows, they never blew their load financially, they actually made smart moves and they made money and drew legit big time crowds. Now, the leadership of Strikeforce will take what they have talent wise, here are some examples:

- Frank Shamrock
- Josh Thomson
- Gilbert Melendez
- Joe Riggs
- Bobby Southworth

Plus you have to add into the fact that while not under contract, Renato "Babalu" Sobral is recognized as the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and Alistair Overeem is recognized as the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, and they had a good base of regulars to work with. But then you add in the contracts that they took in the acquisition of Elite:

EliteXC contracts added:

- Nick Diaz
- Eddie Alvarez
- Kimbo Slice
- Gina Carano
- Robbie Lawler
- Jake Shields

Now you aren't working with a skeleton crew as far as contracts go. You are adding people that have had national TV exposure through CBS to your roster. Speaking of CBS, the deal is back with this for four shows a year. They will reportedly do 12-Showtime events, 6-regular shows, and 6-ShowXC style events. Strikeforce is taking the good parts of EliteXC, the good fighters, the fighters that made money and newly negotiated TV contracts and will add it to their philosophy of how to run an MMA organization, and that makes me happy. Why? Because if Scott Coker and Strikeforce can do business as they have been, smartly, we are now looking at a legit #2 MMA company in the US. Competition is good, and what is even better is the fact that, at least until now, Dana White has always been complimentary of Scott Coker and the way he has run Strikeforce. Hopefully we have more of a friendly rivalry that sees both companies grow, because in the end, we win, and come on, we all like being winners.

I can't wait until April 11th hits…

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