The Throwdown 11.25.06: Giving Thanks

Posted by Jon Hartley on 11.25.2006

Now that we've all devoured (most) of our turkey, it's time to reflect on what we're thankful for in the MMA world. 411's Jon Hartley is thankful for Wanderlei Silva. And Georges St. Pierre. And...well, the list goes on. Find out what else is on the list, and check out the newest installment of The Throwdown MMA Top Ten! You know you want to.

The first of many thanks goes to all of you joining me for another edition of The Throwdown here at 411mania.com. Hopefully you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving dinners and stayed far, far away from the holiday shopping madness that is "Black Friday". Regardless, I think MMA fans have a lot to be appreciative about, and what better time to voice my own thanks? After all, you can find cynicism and negativity in any MMA column (including this one, usually) or forum on the internet (Sherdog, anyone?), so why not change it up?

I'm thankful for--

--Wanderlei Silva. There are others that fit the Wanderlei prototype: tough, intimidating, willing to face anyone in any weight class, full of aggression...but Wanderlei will always be the original to me. The aptly-nicknamed "Axe Murderer" has faced a few losses in recent times, but they have either been by decision or due to a decision of his own to continue fighting top ten heavyweight opponents. Silva is a joy to watch because he seems to view fights as fights, not just an athletic competition. He consistently brings a level of aggression that is more associated with a street fight than an MMA bout, and his ferocity is almost unmatched. It's hard to think of a fighter who is more savage or ferocious than Wanderlei, and that's why his fights are always so exciting.

--Georges St. Pierre. And Dana White is thankful for him, too. With Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz in their thirties, the UFC will be in short supply of poster boys and main event draws in the not-so-distant future. Enter St. Pierre, who is likeable, exciting and talented enough to carry the welterweight division on his shoulders for years to come. Not to mention, if GSP is able to help expand the sport's (already decent) appeal up north in his native Canada, he will prove to be an even more valuable welterweight champion than he already is. Even the staunchest of UFC haters can't deny the greatness of the stateside promotion's welterweight division, and GSP is a huge reason why.

--"Big" John McCarthy. That's right, a referee. Why? Because with all the quick stoppages, standups, and ridiculous "yellow cards" (don't get me started) in the sport, it's always important to remember MMA's most consistent referee.

--Spike TV. Fans of the sport seem to forget that before the saturation of The Ultimate Figther, the geeky "TUF noob" vs. "elitist Pride fan" forum wars and the debut of Pride in the states, Spike TV was one of the only television channels willing to give MMA a shot. Because of Spike's support, fighters now make more than ever, the sport has grown ten-fold in the U.S., and you can now make yourselves feel better by belittling new fans! Woooooo!!! So next time you're about to log on and blast the latest episode of TUF or the latest edition of UFC Fight Night, please remember that there was a time very recently when the thought of having free MMA fights on cable television was a dream come true.

--Fedor Emelianenko, Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Takanori Gomi. For allowing us to witness first-hand what "greatness" really is.

--Fighters under 170 pounds. For putting up with crappy paydays, being relegated to preliminary bouts and having no place to fight (before UFC brought back its LW division and Pride began Bushido) in order to finally show the world that the "little guys" usually put on the best fights.

--The IFL, Icon Sport, KOTC, WEC, Strikeforce, and all the other "smaller shows". For giving fighters a place to earn a paycheck and giving fans a chance to see quality fights live without going to Las Vegas/Japan and spending hundreds of dollars per ticket.

--Shooto. For pioneering the sport long before it debuted as the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

--SEG. Bad publicity or not, they founded the UFC and later, got the sport moving towards legitimacy with rule changes and regulations.

--Zuffa (and yes, Dana White). For taking the time and having the patience to continue the UFC's long trek to mainstream acceptance, and for helping to bring the sport to U.S. fans.

--Royce Gracie. For stepping to the plate to test himself against the new generation's best...something Rickson never dared to do.

--The MMA Media. For being the only outlet fans had to rely on for information for many years, and for still being the best source for info-hungry MMA enthusiasts. Mainstream media may catch on to the sport, but they'll never cover it as well or with as much expertise.

--MMA fans. For supporting the sport through thick and thin.

Quick Thoughts

--It's become painfully clear just how important it is for today's fighters to have a good gameplan going into a fight. From Rich Franklin's poor strategy vs. Anderson Silva to the recent loss by Matt Hughes (who confessed after the fight that he never plans a strategy beforehand, and was obviously confounded by Georges St. Pierre)...fighters now have become so talented that you simply must have a good strategy going into the fight to win. Or at least, you must not have a terrible strategy. Need further proof? What about Renato Sobral's questionable decision to rush at Chuck Liddell, throwing wild punches before getting knocked out by a suprised (but ready) Liddell? How about the recent struggles of Dan Henderson and Jens Pulver, two strong wrestlers who have all but abandoned the ground game in favor of throwing punches and entertaining the crowd? In contrast, Tim Sylvia has had great gameplans in his most recent fights, despite what the fans may have thought...and what do you know? He's still the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

--Speaking of Sylvia, it's almost funny how much fans continue to despise him. And hey, I understand completely. After all, he does is work his butt off in training, he comes into fights in great shape and ready to go five rounds, and takes pride in being a champion. Not to mention the fact that he continually proves doubters wrong by beating fighters who are supposed to be too fast, too strong, too good on the ground...come to think of it, what is everyone's problem with Tim? Come on, Vitor Belfort and Ricardo Arona have been in their share of "boring" fights, and they don't have legions of anti-fans waiting for their latest loss with great anticipation. I mean, I wish he would have pushed the pace more towards the end of his fight, too. But the fact is that he was way ahead on the scorecards by the fifth round, and everyone knew it. It was Jeff Monson's job to try to win that fight and Sylvia knew all he had to do to keep his belt was fight smart. You can't fault him that much for doing so.

And why is everyone ignoring the fact that Sylvia more than proved his grappling ability by not only neutralizing Monson on the ground, but holding his own and even attempting a submission or two? It's very convenient that Sylvia detractors ignore that their own predictions ("if this fight goes to the ground, it's over") were waaaaaay off in favor of raking Sylvia over the coals some more over his lack of late-round aggression. Of course, it's also funny and a bit ironic that the same "hardcore" fans who hate pro wrestling engage in a ridiculous amount of bashing and near-hatred of a man who they have never met because they don't like how he fights...or how he looks, or that he wears the belt to a bar, or whatever the reason is this week. Yes, I was disappointed that Tim didn't look to finish the fight more in the fourth and fifth rounds. But more than that, I was impressed with his takedown defense and ground game. Maybe the Sylvia haters are mad because he looks more and more like a legitimately talented fighter with every bout?

--Contrast that fight to the Brandon Vera-Frank Mir fight. On paper, this is a great matchup...a fighter who could be a future heavyweight champion against a former heavyweight champion. In reality, it was just another disappointment for Mir in a career that is increasingly filled with them. Due to the way he lost (without even attempting to take the fight to the mat), it's hard to say where Mir was with his cardio or how his ground game is these days. In fact, in this fight, we didn't really learn anything we didn't know about either fighter. We already knew Vera was quick and had good stand-up, and we knew Mir's stand-up is not so good and he has had trouble bouncing back from his long layoff. The fight itself changed none of this. In many ways, I prefer a fight like Sylvia-Monson. Say what you want about it being boring, blah blah blah, but in that fight we saw what Monson can do and what he can't, and we learned some more about the heavyweight champion. Remember, fights are supposed to be entertaining, but they're also supposed to show us something. It's a sport, after all. Vera-Mir, although another impressive showing for Vera, showed me nothing.

Reader E-Mail

A regular in this space has joined us again, as Craig has this to say:

Just a heads up - the WFA PPV has been postponed to early next year (if it even happens at all). Good news however is that if Matt Lindland doesn't fight before February for them (as in his contract) his contract will be void and he can go fight most likely in the UFC since Dana White wants someone to beat Anderson Silva and he's probably the best shot.

Yeah, I heard about that after I wrote the last column. Not good news for the WFA, but Craig's right...could be good news for the UFC. I don't know that Dana is hell-bent on having someone beat Anderson Silva; whether the guy is American or not, American fans love strikers. However, Matt Lindland no longer deserves the "boring fighter" label he has been unfairly presented with, and his recent fights have shown an impressive skill set and improved aggression on his part. I don't see how he can be called boring when by my count, at least two of his fights (the second Baroni brawl and this year's fight with Rampage) were among the best of their respective years. Hopefully you're right and White and Co. will want to have the world's best middleweight in the UFC again. Also, if the WFA does end up folding, it would be nice to see the UFC make a serious run at Quinton Jackson so we can see Liddell-Rampage 2.

The Throwdown MMA Top Ten--November 2006

Much has changed since the last edition of The Throwdown's Top Ten rankings two months ago, but you know what they say...the more things change, the more they stay the same. Actually, that makes no sense at all. Let's just get to the rankings so you can begin flaming me. Since it's been awhile, you'll find the fighter's position in the last installment in parentheses. An (NR) means the fighter was not ranked previously.

Heavyweight
1. Fedor Emelianenko (1)
2. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (3)
3. Josh Barnett (5)
4. Tim Sylvia (4)
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (2)
6. Mark Hunt (6)
7. Brandon Vera (8)
8. Fabricio Werdum (7)
9. Andrei Arlovski (10)
10. Aleksander Emelianenko (9)
Notes--The first one is a no-brainer and has been for quite some time now. #'s 2-5, however, are a different story. I felt obligated to put Cro Cop above Barnett because he has beaten Barnett three times now, however fluky the first one was, and however irrelevant the third one was due to it being the second fight for both in the same night. Meanwhile, it hurts me to put Nogueira so low, really, it does. However, I simply can't drop Sylvia a spot when he answered the two biggest questions detractors had: is his ground game any good, and does he really have good takedown defense? So Nog takes Barnett's old spot for now. I flip-flopped Vera and Werdum since August's Top 10's; they both won since but Vera is the better all-around fighter. Meanwhile, no one seemed to want to step in and take the tenth spot, with Monson performing badly (even on the mat) against Sylvia and others (Kharitonov, for instance) losing in the last two months. So alas, Aleks stays in the hunt even with a recent loss to Werdum.

Light Heavyweight
1. Wanderlei Silva (1)
2. Chuck Liddell (2)
3. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (3)
4. Ricardo Arona (4)
5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (5)
6. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (6)
7. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (7)
8. Tito Ortiz (8)
9. Rashad Evans (NR)
10. Forrest Griffin (10)
Dropped out: Jason Lambert (9)
Notes: The money division of MMA has been lackluster lately due to inactivity running rampant (can inactivity "run rampant"??) throughout the Top 10. In October, only Shogun was active (with a predictable victory over Kevin Randleman) and November has seen no action among the elite 205 pounders. Hell, Liddell, Babalu and Griffin haven't fought since August, Rampage and Lil' Nog haven't fought since July, and Tito hasn't had a real fight since April! So, what you see here remains very similar to the last one, with the exception of Rashad Evans taking Jason Lambert's spot by way of force. I know, it's Rashad Evans, but he has a lot of raw talent and is a tough fight for most of the guys listed above. I still have Wanderlei at #1 because hey, when was the last time he fought a light heavyweight??? I certainly can't drop him for getting his head kicked off by Cro Cop. I haven't given Liddell the #1 spot because he hasn't been truly tested in awhile now. Babalu would have been a good fight for him, if Babalu would have had more patience. I wonder if Liddell will eventually have a letdown fight, after dominating his division for some time now.

Middleweight
1. Matt Lindland (2)
2. Anderson Silva (7)
3. Rich Franklin (1)
4. Paulo Filho (3)
5. Denis Kang (4)
6. Dan Henderson (5)
7. Jeremy Horn (6)
8. Kazuo Misaki (NR)
9. Nathan Marquardt (8)
10. Mike Swick (NR)
Dropped out: Ivan Salaverry (9), David Loiseau (10)
Notes: I know what you're thinking..."The UFC champ is #2 and the Pride champ is #6?!?!" Well, that's what happens when some promoters drop top fighters for no reason and others expose their champions with non-title tournaments. It will all sort itself out eventually. For now, Matt Lindland deserves the spot more than anyone. Silva was very impressive in dominating Rich Franklin. However, I'm not dropping Franklin very far because I feel it was more a case of a bad strategy than a lack of ability. Filho drops down to accomodate Silva's entrance in the top three because he's not very multidimensional. Everyone else slides down a spot and Misaki enters at #8 thanks to his tainted Grand Prix win. Hey, the guy did beat Denis Kang (albeit an exhausted one) and Dan Henderson. Meanwhile, Swick joins the fun after his win over Loiseau, and Salaverry exits. I like Salaverry and he's very talented, but he just hasn't done as much in the last several months as Swick has.

Welterweight
1. Georges St. Pierre (2)
2. Matt Hughes (1)
3. BJ Penn (4)
4. Diego Sanchez (3)
5. Karo Parisyan (5)
6. Jon Fitch (7)
7. Jake Shields (6)
8. Josh Burkman (8)
9. Josh Koscheck (10)
10. Nick Diaz (NR)
Dropped out: Drew Fickett.
Notes: GSP is a no-brainer after his dominance of Matt Hughes, one of the sport's true legends. Penn beat Hughes quickly but that was arrogance on Hughes part (as well as Penn's sick ground game). I've never seen someone utterly confound Hughes the way GSP did. Having said that, anyone who thinks Hughes is done for is out of their mind. I flip-flopped Penn and Sanchez due to Penn's impressive performance against Hughes before his injury. Everything else is pretty much the same; I did move some folks around but that was just a re-evaluation on my part. Nick Diaz joins the crew at #10. I toyed with the idea of keeping Fickett in or adding Matt Serra, but I think Diaz has earned it. He's lost some razor-thin decisions to good competition and has a more well-rounded game than most welterweights. Also, only one man has finished Diaz, and that was in 2002. He's beaten Lytle, Lawler, Fickett and Neer and took Sherk, Sanchez and Parisyan to decisions of varying closeness. That's good enough for me.

Lightweight
1. Takanori Gomi (1)
2. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro (3)
3. Tatsuya Kawajiri (4)
4. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (2)
5. Sean Sherk (NR)
6. Marcus Aurelio (9)
7. Genki Sudo (7)
8. Hermes Franca (8)
9. Joe Stevenson (NR)
10. Spencer Fisher (10)
Dropped out: Urijah Faber, Jens Pulver
Notes: First of all, Faber's out because I'm not going to include 145 pounders anymore. I simply can't include Faber without including the other top fighters at the weight, and how do I compare them to true lightweights fairly? Also, many of the major organizations don't really showcase the weight class, so I'm not able to actually see a lot of the fights in it. So for now, 155 is as low as The Throwdown goes. Pulver also drops out, not because he doesn't have what it takes (he certainly does), but because in such a deep weight class, I can't in good conscience keep him in after a loss to a relative no-name. He'll be back. #'s 1-4 are very common in MMA top tens and can be ordered just about however you please. I never took Gomi off the top spot and now he appears to be back on track. I put Sakurai at fourth because I don't think he's been as impressive lately as Shaolin and Kawajiri, who both have wins in the last couple of months. Again, you could put those three in just about any order. After some deliberation, I put Sherk at #5 not because beating Kenny Florian makes you a top 5 lightweight, but because he has proven that he can cut to 155 and maintain his strength and cardio. I think in time, he will prove he deserves a high ranking. Aurelio moves up despite losing to Gomi because hey...it's Takanori Gomi. A split decision loss is nothing to hold against him. Joe Stevenson joins the crew and hops past Spencer Fisher. I'm a big fan of Fisher, but Stevenson has beaten better competition lately.

Random MMA YouTube Moment
Since we're in a thankful mood this weekend, why not have a highlight with some badass MMA moments? So here's a pretty well put-together one with somewhat lame music (although you can turn your speakers down, y'know). Enjoy.