UFC 89: Bisping vs Leben Preview

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The Fight Critic
on October 17, 2008
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ufc-89-poster.jpg

The UFC is returning to England once again and that means we get a solid fight card for free on Spike. Don’t forget to record it and start watching an hour late so you can skip past the ridiculous number of annoying commercials.

Anyway, I just thought I’d throw up my quick predictions for the event before the weekend…

Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben
Bisping has been on a bit of a tear since moving down to Middleweight. He’s looked a lot sharper and I think he has a lot of potential in this division. On the other hand, Leben has been rolling around in the second tier of this division for longer than he probably would like. He’s moved out to Hawaii now and is supposedly taking training and fighting a lot more seriously. If the pictures of his ripped new physique are any indication of his new work ethic, Bisping may be in for a tougher fight than most would expect.

Although Leben has knockout power in his hands, I haven’t yet seen the results of his new training and I have not been impressed by his gameplan and fight strategy in the past. Bisping on the other hand plays his fights pretty smart and I am going to go with a win for Bisping by decision.

Keith Jardine vs Brandon Vera
Both of these guys are some of the most talented in their division, trying to rebound from uneven performance in their recent fights. Jardine has been on an impressive win, brutal loss roller coaster. Vera on the other hand was slow and lacked the exciting, aggressive fighting style in his first fight at Light Heavyweight with Reese Andy.

This one is pretty tough to call. Both guys have a pretty good striking game, although Jardine’s strikes are a bit more unorthodox. However for me, the difference in calling the fight is Jardine’s chin is suspect. We have not seen Vera knocked out like Jardine has been a few times. Therefore, I will go with Brandon Vera to win this one.

Rameau Sokoudjou vs Luis Cane
Admittedly I haven’t seen much of Luis Cane but the hype on this guy is pretty high right now. Sokoudjou seemed to signal tremendous potential following his quick knockout wins over Ricardo Arona and Antonio Nogueira but he hasn’t had great showings since then. I’d like to see him get back on track in this fight with a win but I’m not sure if he has the discipline to do it. Winner: Luis Cane

Paul Taylor vs Chris Lytle
Lytle is a solid gatekeeper in the Welterweight division. He’s never been able to beat the absolute cream of the crop at 170 but he typically does quite well against anyone else. I expect to see more of the same here, although it should be an exciting fight. Winner: Chris Lytle

There are a bunch more fights on the card and hopefully they will be exciting and quick, so we get a chance to see a number of the undercard fights as well. I’d like to see Akihiro Gono do well; I want more Japanese fighters to succeed in the UFC and hopefully build a bridge to a UFC show in Japan one day (pipe dream, I know).

Enjoy the free show on Spike TV in the US and I’ll see you after the fights.

UFC 84 Predictions

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The Fight Critic
on May 24, 2008
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I’ve got family in town this week so it’s been impossible to get up a full preview post but tonight’s card looks like a pretty good one on paper so I thought I would at least throw up some quick predictions before the event. If you want a full-blooded preview of the card, check out BloodyElbow’s UFC 84 Staff Predictions.

BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk (Lightweight Championship Match)
I have been waiting for someone to come along and smash Sean Serk for a long time and I cannot think of a better equipped fighter to do that than BJ Penn, “The Prodigy”. I’ll just admit right now I don’t like Sherk’s style of lay-and-pray fighting that he pulled against Florian and especially Franca. I do love BJ’s fighting style where he is constantly looking to finish the fight from every position; whether he is standing, in the midst of being taken down, on his back (for the split-second that he might stay there), on top, or has your back. BJ looks more motivated and in-shape than ever lately and I just don’t see how a guy who took Llyoto Machida to a tight decision or draw could lose to Sherk! Winner: BJ Penn

Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine
I love Wanderlei and miss the days of PRIDE where he couldn’t lose. After taking Lidell to a decision last year, once again he is facing a powerful striker with a longer reach than him. Jardine is no push-over and a very tough guy. At the same time, he has been knocked out before so if Wanderlei lands, we know it’s possible. That said, and as much as I would love for Wandy to win this one, I think the odds are that Jardine takes it. Winner: Keith Jardine

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida
Tito is a good fighter still but he seems to have given up a lot of his explosiveness to health problems. Machida is a tricky guy to fight as we’ve all seen, with his ability to evade then attack. I wish Tito luck in whatever organization he fights for next. And I think it is a huge mistake by the UFC to let one of the guys who is most associated with their brand walk away and give someone like EliteXC a boost. Nevertheless… Winner: Llyoto Machida

Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Sokoudjou needs to deliver a crazy knockout in this fight and get over with the UFC fans, just like he did with the PRIDE ones. He’s not slaying a top-five giant in this fight like those others but nevertheless, UFC fans love the brutal knockout and will reward him for it. Nakamura is the perpetual guy that’s pretty good at a lot of things but never great at one thing, except maybe taking damage and staying conscious. Winner: Rameau Sokoudjou

And a couple more for fun:

Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes - Winner: Thiago Silva
Rich Clementi vs. Terry Etim - Winner: Rich Clementi
Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic - Winner: Wilson Gouveia

I am pretty pumped about the headlining fights for this event. I think they will be pretty exciting to watch. See you guys after the show!

UFC 83 Pre-Fight Thoughts

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on April 19, 2008
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ufc83.jpg

I’m on a trip so I won’t be able to catch UFC 83 live tonight. That said, I wanted to put down my thoughts on the event before it happens. This isn’t a full blown preview or prediction. If you want one of those check out BloodyElbow’s UFC 83 Staff Predictions or see what Dr. J has cooked up with his UFC 83 Preview.

First off, I think its great that the UFC is finally doing shows in Canada. I think that the expansion into Canada will be much easier than the expansion into the UK. It’s clear that the Canadians are big fans of not only their Canadian fighters but of the sport in general. Now, on to the fights.

Matt Serra Vs. Georges St. Pierre
I’m looking forward to seeing this match because well, in all honesty the last one got cut short by the heavy hands of Mr. Matt Serra. Serra is a tough guy and very hard to put away but, if anyone could do it it would be GSP. Although I wouldn’t be as shocked as the first time around to see Serra win this match, I think it would be difficult for anyone to predict that GSP will lose this fight. That said, if Serra does somehow win this fight, I don’t want to hear any more bullshit about him not being the real champ. Beating GSP twice is no joke and no mistake either.

Rich Franklin Vs Travis Lutter
This should be a good fight between two good fighters. Franklin hasn’t seemed the same after being humbled by Spider Silva but he’s still one of the most dangerous guys around at 185. Lutter is no joke but the only threat he presents to Franklin are on the ground. Could Franklin mess up on the ground and fall into a submission by Lutter? Definitely. Is it likely to happen? I don’t think so. I think Franklin wins this matchup. Note to Joe Silva: We have no interest in a Franklin vs Silva 3 card for at least another two years.

The rest of the card is nothing to get super-excited about, although it is a solid one. I think Starnes is under-rated because of his seemingly soft attitude on TUF. He has been pretty sharp in the last couple fights we’ve seen him in and he has a good chance of beating up perennial UFC favorite Nate ‘The Rock’ Quarry. By the way, when Dana White was asked who has the worst nickname on TSN’s Off The Record, he should have mentioned Nate. A rock quarry? Really?

I’m interested to see how Bisping performs after cutting to 185. If the cut doesn’t affect him I expect he’ll beat self-proclaimed BJJ grandmaster Charles McCarthy. I didn’t like Danzig’s attitude on TUF but he’s a good fighter and I enjoy watching him pick his opponents apart methodically. I’m not that crazy about the rest of the fights on paper but it’s definitely possible a couple good ones could come out of the bunch. I guess we’ll all have to watch to find out if that’s the case or not.

Iain Liddle and Total MMA Lose Their Credibility

Published
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The Fight Critic
on April 18, 2008
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I don’t know Iain and I haven’t visited his site before this last week so there’s nothing personal here. Zach over at FightOpinion chose to cross-post one of his articles discussing the recent termination of Jack O’brien’s UFC contract and its implications on the UFC in general.

The article’s not short so I’m going to summarize his points here before I tell you why I think they’re totally wrong…

  • Jake O’Brien was widely considered a top heavyweight prospect in MMA and has all the potential you can ask for in a fighter.
  • The aim of a sport is to determine who has the most legitimate claim of being the best in the world in their specific field / division.
  • The UFC isn’t a sporting league or a sport in general.

His points are way off-base. First off, O’Brien is not one of the top heavyweights in the world. As a reference, I point you to last month’s Heavyweight Meta-Rankings over at Bloody Elbow. Jake’s a nice guy and a good fighter but he’s not on that list yet and for good reason.

The third point above follows from the premise in the second bullet: that the aim of a sport is to determine the best in something. While this is mostly true, the means to that end vary and like everything else in this world sports are a business. Specifically, sports are just another form of entertainment for everyone except those who are competing.

How is the UFC any different from the “sport” of boxing or, even better, college football? College football is one of the biggest “sports” in the U.S. but many people would argue that at the end of the bowl season, we don’t have a clear understanding of which was the best team in the country.

The bottom line is that the UFC is a business like any sports league and its goal is to be profitable. In the past when games have gotten boring or ratings have significantly dropped in other major sports, those same sports leagues have taken counter-measures, going as far as changing the rules of the game itself. Clearly those rule changes might favor some athletes more than others so, do we disqualify these leagues from the category of “sports” as well?

Of course not. And fighters like Jake O’Brien, or even Randy Couture for that matter, getting fired doesn’t disqualify the UFC or MMA as a sport, even though we may disagree with the decisions taken from time to time.

You Can Call Me Matt Serra

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The Fight Critic
on April 15, 2008
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So I know it’s been a whole three days since I last posted but… wait, what? Not exactly you say? Oh, it’s been one year and three days. Right… well… I am a good bullshitter but I have no excuse for that one!

Just think of this like you do about Matt Serra: I came out of nowhere to take the top MMA blog championship belt, then spent the next year M.I.A. and claiming injury.

Okay my cheek hurts from keeping my tongue in it so long. Suffice to say I have some renewed interest in writing about MMA, and this is the place it will happen. Must be something about April…

Nick Diaz Suspended After Testing Positive for Marijuana

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The Fight Critic
on April 12, 2007
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Nick Diaz Suspended by NSAC

Former UFC and current PRIDE fighter Nick Diaz tested positive for marijuana after his fight with Takanori Gomi in Las Vegas at the PRIDE 33 event. The Nevada State Athletic Commission handed down a six-month suspension to Diaz, fined him $3000, and changed the result of his fight with Gomi from a victory to ‘no contest’. What isn’t immediately clear is whether the suspension will be served concurrently or sequentially; Diaz was already serving a six-month medical suspension after suffering a broken orbital bone in the Gomi fight.

FightOpinion has some links to even more coverage on the topic.

Although it may be ridiculous to suggest that marijuana can enhance a fighter’s performance, the fact is that under current NSAC rules, the drug testing MMA fighters undergo includes a test for marijuana. It is crystal clear to fighters and their trainers what the rules are. Nick Diaz chose to defy the rules set forth by the same body that sanctions what he does for a living. If you don’t like the NSAC testing fighters for marijuana, you had better lobby them about it in the appropriate forum. Bitching about Diaz’s suspension after he broke the rules gets you nowhere.

Putting aside the question of whether marijuana can have a “positive impact” on a fighter’s performance, I don’t see any reason why marijuana testing should be removed from the drug tests. As long as marijuana is not the only illegal narcotic the NSAC tests for, and I don’t know if it is, then I am okay with the testing.

For me the question is this simple:

  1. Is marijuana an illegal substance?
  2. Is there a chance that consuming marijuana had any positive impact on Nick Diaz during his fight with Gomi?

The answer to both of those questions is, unequivocally, yes. Given that, how can you argue with the NSAC’s ruling in this case?

As mixed martial arts continues to grow and become one of the biggest sports in the country, why wouldn’t we want to ensure that our athletes are not breaking the law regularly? The fighters are the face of the sport everywhere they go. The problems that MMA has with how mainstream America perceives the sport are well documented. Lobbying to allow MMA fighters to fight while high on marijuana is the last thing we need to be doing.

Serra Upsets St. Pierre at UFC 69 for Welterweight Championship

Published
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The Fight Critic
on April 8, 2007
. 2 Comments

Matt Serra - UFC Welterweight ChampionMatt Serra knocks out Georges St. Pierre in the first round to win the UFC Welterweight title, and the fight never even goes to the ground? Are you kidding? Who would have predicted such a thing??? This fight was short but was absolutely electrifying to watch.

The fight went the complete opposite of the way pretty much everybody, with the possible exception of Matt Serra’s camp, expected it would go. Let’s look at what happened:

  • St. Pierre was not aggressive. He is usually pretty aggressive with his striking. Look at how he dismantled Matt Hughes in their last fight; that did not happen because St. Pierre was standing back and just throwing his leg out. Georges looked stiff and never let himself go; he just was not mentally ready to defend a title he had been hunting for such a long time.
  • Serra did not hesitate to engage St. Pierre on his feet. Most people expected that Serra would make every effort to take this fight to the ground as soon as possible because that was where his advantage was.
  • Serra was effective striking against St. Pierre, a much larger opponent. This fight was eerily similar to the Randy Couture vs Tim Sylvia Heavyweight title fight at UFC 68 in that, a smaller fighter known more for things other than striking, was able to out-strike his taller, rangier striker opponent. But even Serra, respectable fighter as he is, would agree that he is not (yet) a Hall of Fame caliber fighter like Randy. So as few people that thought Couture could beat Sylvia, even fewer expected Serra to win here.

I doubt that Serra and his camp expected St. Pierre to be so passive. But Serra adjusted perfectly to it, and took the fight to St. Pierre who again, similar to Sylvia, was trying to not lose his title rather than trying to win the fight. After Serra rocked St. Pierre with the initial right-left combination, I was impressed with his patience and smart pursuit strategy. He did not run after St. Pierre with reckless abandon but instead took his time, waited for a dazed St. Pierre to leave himself open, and rocked him with two more solid rights to the head. St. Pierre went down, Serra mounted him, and pounded it out until Big John stopped the fight.

Serra’s win, along with the other welterweight fights last night, raises all kinds of questions about the state of the welterweight division in the UFC. The UFC is in danger of playing a game of hot potato with the Welterweight title. St. Pierre definitively beat Hughes, Serra amazing as it seems definitively beat St. Pierre. After the fight Hughes could be seen laughing. That’s code for him licking his chops in anticipation of, what I am sure he feels is, an easy route back to the championship through Matt Serra. What we, and UFC management, don’t want to see is the title rotating between two or three guys constantly. Champions who defend the title multiple times are great for business; see Matt Hughes a year ago or Chuck Lidell today.

Who should get the next title shot at Serra? The UFC welterweight fighters are all very closely stacked near the top of the division. Here is how I think the fighters rank:

UFC Welterweight Division - Fighter Rankings

  1. Matt Serra
  2. Georges St. Pierre
  3. BJ Penn
  4. Matt Hughes
  5. Josh Koschek
  6. Karo Parisyan
  7. Jon Fitch
  8. Diego Sanchez

Serra/Penn, Serra/Parisyan, and Hughes/Penn would be exciting rematches. Every one of these fighters usually puts on an excellent show, with the notable exception of the overhyped Sanchez/Koschek fight at UFC 69. Here’s to an exciting year of fights in the UFC’s welterweight division, and our new champion, Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra.

UFC Fight Night 9 Afterthoughts

Published
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The Fight Critic
on April 7, 2007
. 1 Comment

UFC Fight Night - Melvin Guillard Joe Stevenson

Quick recap of the results from the UFC Fight Night, then some thoughts.

  • Joe Stevenson def. Melvin Guillard by Guillotine Choke at 0:27, Round 1
  • Justin McCully def. Antoni Hardonk by Unanimous Decision
  • Kenny Florian def. Dokonjonosuke Mishima by Rear Naked Choke at 3:57, Round 3
  • Wilson Gouveia def. Seth Petruzelli by Guillotine Choke at 0:39, Round 2
  • Drew Fickett def. Keita Nakamura by Unanimous Decision
  • Kurt Pellegrino def. Nate Mohr by Ankle Lock at 2:58, Round 1
  • Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Forrest Petz by Unanimous Decision
  • Roan Carneiro def. Rich Clementi by Unanimous Decision
  • Thiago Tavares def. Naoyuki Kotani by Unanimous Decision

The “main event” was anything but; Guillard came out careless and walked right into a guillotine choke. Maybe all those comparisons of Guillard to Kevin Randleman were more appropriate than we thought. This fight was eerily reminiscent of a couple of Kevin’s fights; the most recent when he stormed up to Shogun at PRIDE 32 and got caught in a leg lock a minute into the fight. Stevenson on the other hand has set himself up as one of the top contenders in the lightweight division. There are lots of great fights to be had for him, including Tyson Griffin and the loser of the Sherk/Franca title fight coming up soon.

Ken-Flo, as he’s so affectionately been dubbed, started off the night by showing us that his loss to Sean Sherk has only reinvigorated his training and will to fight. He pretty much dominated Mishima for all three rounds, up to his choke-out-by-way-of-pounding. I think he showed some improved striking skills and that will serve him well in the stacked 155 lbs. division. That was a sick knee-bar Mishima had Florian in though; he came very close to tapping. I think Florian might be limping a bit for the next couple of days.

In his post-fight interview, Ken-Flo decided he’d show us his improved acting chops. He raised a sealed-shut can of Xyience energy drink to his mouth many times while talking to Joe Rogan. I don’t know why he would do something like that; how stupid does he think the people watching are? And how nasty is that Xyience drink that he needs to pretend to drink it rather than just sucking it down for a minute, if that’s what he’s being paid to do. I guess there is no stopping the rampant commercialization of our quickly-growing sport.

On another note, I am getting pretty tired of the ridiculous exaggeration that comes out of the mouths of the UFC’s announcing duo of Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg at every UFC event.

“Hardonk… you wanna talk about, like, strikes. This guy’s got some of the best leg kicks in all of MMA.” — Joe Rogan

Really Joe? Antoni Hardonk, who has no wins over anybody significant in his weight division in six years of professional fighting, is a man with some of the best leg kicks in MMA? He’s in the same category as, say, a Cro-Cop? Sensationalizing every man who steps in the octagon as the greatest thing since sliced bread only serves to cheapen the UFC and their presentation of the sport. This is just more of the same from these guys after Goldberg called Travis Lutter “the Michael Jordan of Jiu-Jitsu” at UFC 67. I hope these guys will start reeling in the hyperbole sometime soon; pushing interest in a fight and gross misrepresentation of fighter skill are very different things.

TUF 5: Episode 1 Thoughts

Published
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The Fight Critic
on April 6, 2007
. 1 Comment

So we finally got to see the first episode of the fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter TV show last night; claimed over and over to be the best season yet. Is it really? I think it is too soon to make that call.

I’m not a huge fan of reality television. Mostly because viewers are not usually seeing reality when they watch the shows. We are seeing things as the producers of the show would like us to see them, courtesy of a lot of film and some very crafty editing. That said, a couple of interesting things did happen.

When the time came for the coaches to pick fighters, BJ busts out with a line that was so appropriately cocky for BJ Penn that I couldn’t help but laugh. BJ said, “If any of you here know for a complete fact that you want to be on my team, and you don’t want nothing to do with Jens Pulver’s team, raise your hand.” Of course, 10 of the 16 fighters raised their hands and left Jens feeling a little lame. I think BJ and Jens dragged out the aftermath of that comment way too long, but that was a genius line from BJ to psych out Jens and his team. The only other interesting development was that Gabe Ruediger was 22+ pounds overweight and gaining.

I’m rarely entertained by the guys when they’re at the house and acting like fools, barking at each other. The fight we got seemed to be quite a mismatch. Cole Miller put Alan Berube in a triangle in the first few minutes of the fight.

A couple of guys that will be interesting to watch this season are Nate Diaz, younger brother of Nick Diaz, and Manny Gambaryan who I think I have seen in Karo Parisyan’s corner over the years.

Here’s hoping we get some good fights alongside the “reality” this season.

UFC Fight Night 9 Preview

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The Fight Critic
on April 4, 2007
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Wow, so much has been going on in the world of MMA this week and last that my head is still spinning. It is a good thing that we have so much to talk about and so many fights to watch.

UFC Fight Night 9 is airing this Thursday the 5th of April at 8PM on Spike TV and it’s one of the numerous MMA events happening this week. The free UFC fight cards are always a mixed bag. Let’s see what we got this time…

UFC Fight Night 9 - Fight Card and Thoughts:

Main Event, Lightweight: Joe Stevenson (26-7) vs. Melvin Guillard (20-5-2)
On paper the main event has all the ingredients to be an interesting and exciting fight. Melvin Guillard is very explosive in the cage and has knockout power in his hands; many people think of him as a smaller Kevin Randleman. Joe Stevenson has proven himself to be a skilled fighter who has plenty of fights under his belt and wins over a couple of solid guys at 155 lbs.

Guillard will most likely have the edge while they are standing; on the ground it is the other way around. Like any fight, the outcome of this one will come down to which fighter can impose their will and game plan on the other. This is a tough fight to call because we haven’t seen enough of Guillard’s quickly expanding game to know if his takedown defense and standup ability are up to the task against Joe Daddy. If they are, Guillard has the definite edge and this fight should end in a nice ratings-boosting knockout.

The winner of this fight is poised to move into the short list of title fight contenders in the lightweight division. They would probably have one more fight after this before they got a title shot. With those 2+ wins in a row, they would be favored to get a shot at the winner of the Sean Sherk / Hermes Franca match.

I’d love to see Guillard score a brutal knockout and go on to participate in the PRIDE Lightweight GP this year. Pipe dream, I know (probably).

To be broadcast:
Heavyweight: Antoni Hardonk (5-2) vs. Justin McCully (7-3-2)
Unfortunately Frank Mir dropped out of this match due to injury. This fight might help us figure out if Antoni’s last win in the UFC was beginner’s luck or if we may just possibly have another decent addition to the short list of UFC heavyweights.

Lightweight: Kenny Florian (4-3) vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (17-5-2)
This is Kenny’s first fight back after being manhandled for five rounds by Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk. It will be interesting to see how he does in his comeback against a solid opponent in Mishima. This fight in conjunction with the main event should shine some light on where the fighters near the upper echelons of the UFC Lightweight division stand relative to one another.

May not be broadcast:
Welterweight: Drew Fickett (27-5) vs. Keita Nakamura (13-1-2)
Welterweight: Kuniyoshi Hironaka (10-3) vs. Forrest Petz (12-3)
Lightweight: Kurt Pellegrino (9-2) vs. Nathan Moore (1-1)
Lightweight: Naoyuki Kotani (16-5-5) vs. Thiago Tavares (10-0)
Light Heavyweight: Wilson Gouveia (7-4) vs. Seth Petruzelli (6-3)
Middleweight: Roan Carneiro (10-5) vs. Rich Clementi (24-11-1)

There are a lot of new and relatively unknown fighters on this card. Many folks will look at this as a negative, but not me. MMA, and the UFC specifically, can always use a deeper roster of talented fighters. I am hoping some of these fighters will make this event their coming out party.

Don’t forget that this event is just the lead-in to the season opener of what we’re constantly being told is the most exciting season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show yet. Of course, they would tell us that wouldn’t they? Guess the only way to know for sure is to tune in on Thursday night as BJ Penn, Jens Pulver, and Dana White go at each other with 16 lightweight fighters as their playing chips.