A lot happened during my recent absence and I can’t be fucked writing seperate articles for everything so here it is in brief format:
Hopoate outpointed Mirovic at Super Boxer last Thursday. This was by far the worst card so far with the main event somehow managing to eclipse the first fight in terms of being boring as all fuck. Mirovic did alright early but once Hopoate started landing he went into his shell and resorted to holding. He lost a point in the 9th round for repeated holding (a call I can’t dispute because I actually fell asleep in the 8th). The undercard was pretty ordinary with a bullshit stoppage for Ben Edwards (the guy maybe deserved an eight count and he was outclassed, but you’ve got to let him fight I mean it’s professional boxing, I’ve seen amateurs more outclassed then that and allowed to continue), a decent fight between Erin McGowan and Angie Parr in which McGowan won on points and a mismatch n the first fight that went the distance.
Fox Sports however gave me some more fuel for the fire I’ve lit in terms of referees sucking in this country. The Rob Medley fight was a disgrace by the referee. He took a point off for holding when the guy was punching back and doing alright even though he was losing. He repeatedly warned the import for nothing and even when Medley fouled he warned the import for doing nothing. The stoppage and the footwear was bizzare, but the other guy quit because the referee was that bad. Something seriously has to be done about refereeing in this country because we’re starting to get the reputation that Germany had a few years ago in terms of bad places to come and fight the home town fighter. If I was an overseas fighter I wouldn’t come to Australia to fight based off the recent performances. Australian officiating is that far behind the rest of the boxing world that it’s become serious.
Now for the big MMA news, Affliction: Trilogy is off and Affliction is dead as a fight promoter. They were gonna merge with Strikeforce, but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is on holidays and they couldn’t make the deal. So now Affliction has been bought out by the UFC with from what I understand the UFC getting the fight library, some of the contracts and first crack at signing the rest of the fighters under contract. The big possibility here is that Fedor is signed and the fight with Lesnar made, but I’m skeptical. Fedor and his management won’t have changed their tune and will want a co-promotion with M-1 Global for the fight to be made and still probably want an open contract. Vitor Belfort is likely to be signed and will be a nice addition to the middleweight picture. Affliction will now act as a major sponsor for the UFC and fighters will be allowed to wear Affliction T-shirts in the Octagon again (not when they fight of course).
Also news is that Tito Ortiz could be returning to the UFC and could be facing Rich Franklin instead of the Franklin-Henderson rematch at the main event of UFC 103. A press release has been scheduled for Saturday for some ‘big announcements.’
The WAMMA Heavyweight title fight between Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko is off due to Barnett testing positive for steroids which has stopped him getting a licence for the fight. It’s the 2nd time that Barnett has tested positive, the other time coming after he defeated Randy Couture at UFC 37 for the UFC Heavyweight title. I’m quite disgusted by the whole thing to be honest. It took me a while to warm to Barnett because of the Couture fight and the fact that he has always denied it but over the last 12 months I’ve grown to like him. This changes everything. This is not baseball or soccer or athletics where if you cheat in this way you rob another competitor of their place. This is a combat sport and cheating by making yourself better with illegal substances has the potential to seriously injure or kill another fighter. If Barnett’s appeal fails, I’m quite happy to never see him fight again to be perfectly honest.
As for the Affliction card, so far Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers and Tito Ortiz have all ruled themselves out of the running. It’s looking like it’ll be Jeff Monson, who’s been doing alright against certain opponents of late. He scored a submission win over Sergey Kharitonov in DREAM this year and scored a controversial decision over Roy Nelson. He’s riding a seven fight win streak since losing to Barnett, with other wins over Mark Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez. Monson’s submission skills make him a dangerous fight for anyone, but I doubt he’ll get Fedor down and he’s likely to get knocked out in the opening two rounds.
Affliction’s third event will take place August 1st and the main event will again feature the biggest non-UFC MMA star in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor will again take on another top heavyweight challenger as he meets former UFC Heavyweight champion and PRIDE 2006 openweight Grand Prix Runner-up Josh Barnett. This should further silence critics of Emelianenko as it is the third top contender Fedor will have faced in just over a 12 month period after the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion destroyed Tim Sylvia last July and then scored a dramatic 1st round knockout over Andrei Arlovski in January. Barnett is riding a four fight winning streak since PRIDE where he went 5-4 with all four losses coming against either Mirko Cro Cop or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Barnett’s last outing in January saw him score a third round stoppage over MMA bad boy Gilbert Yvel.
The undercard has yet to be announced, although a few rumours have been floating around. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has been rumoured to meet Paul Buentello who is 2-0 under the Affliction banner. Vitor Belfort and Gegard Mousasi could meet in what would be an excellent matchup with the only obstacle being the weight. Belfort wants 185lbs, Mousasi wants a catchweight as he can’t make Middleweight anymore. Mousasi’s request seems more reasonable as Vitor has campaigned as a 205lber for much of his career. There’s bound to be a few developments over the coming weeks.
Nick Diaz stopped Frank Shamrock in the 2nd round after dropping him with a body shot and finishing him on the ground. Shamrock’s game was just too dated for a well rounded modern fighter like Diaz, although his effort was respectable as he had some good escapes and did alright standing up in the first round. Diaz seems to be getting better and better and while I’d like to see him fight Jake Shields, they won’t because they train together. The welterweight division is weak outside of the UFC, maybe Jay Hieron would make for a good match with Diaz seeing how Affliction and Strikeforce seem to be friendly with one another. Shamrock’s at the end of the road and for Strikeforce’s long term plan it’s probably for the best. With some of the fighters they have under contract, having Shamrock in the main event is a bit like when the UFC was using Ken at UFC 48. Sure he’ll sell, but there’s other guys who should be getting marketed for the future.
Fight of the Night had to go to Scott Smiths 3rd round KO over Benji Radach after he took an absolute beating that included multiple knockdowns only to put Radach to sleep with a right hand of his own. Smith basically repeated the performance he had against Pete Sell at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale by scoring a totally unexpected knockout after looking to be a few shots away from being out himself. Smith is no worldwide contender or anything, but the guy always comes to fight and you’ve got to respect that.
In other action, Brett Rogers improved his undefeated record to 10-0 with a 2nd round KO over Ron Humphrey. Rogers was the first fighter I’ve seen to be docked a point for hair pulling in an MMA fighter (although he’s definately not the first to pull someones hair in a cage) but scored the KO in the 2nd round to move closer to a shot at Alistair Overeem’s Strikeforce Heavyweight belt. Gilbert Melendez won the Interim Lightweight title with a 2nd round TKO over Rodrigo Damm to set up a rematch with Josh Thomson. Cyborg Santos won with ease as she normally does. and will likely meet Gina Carano in womens MMA’s first super fight.
Alistair Overeem announced he’ll defend his Strikeforce Heavyweight title in June, probably against Fabrico Werdum should he sign with Strikeforce. Werdum submitted Overeem with a kimura from guard at the PRIDE Absolute Grand Prix of 2006 and will look to return from his shock loss to Junior dos Santos and exit from the UFC. Tito Ortiz also looks set to sign with the organisation, although his dream match of getting revenge on Frank Shamrock (thats right, Tito wants to fight someone smaller then him who has saw dust in his knee joints because he can’t beat anyone good) seems stupid now that Frank lost to a welterweight. There was a crowd in excess of 15,000 for this event which is definately good news for Strikeforce and it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here.
Fedor Emelianenko KO1 (punch) Andre Arlovski
Fedor Emelianenko won again over another top ranked opponent, knocking Andrei Arlovski out in the first round of their fight for Fedor’s WAMMA Heavyweight title. Arlovski was getting the better of the fight, using a solid one-two combination as well as hard leg kicks and front kicks which kept the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion off balance throughout the contest. Fedor looked to be strung on a couple of occasions by Arlovski’s power but recovered quickly and fought back. Arlovski was also showing good takedown defence, avoiding going to the mat when the Sambo expert got a hold of him.
However as many other fighters have found, Fedor’s well rounded skills and patience proved Arlovski’s undoing and the one time Arlovski made a mistake Fedor ended the fight suddenly. Arlovski backed Fedor into a corner with a front kick and a right hand and then jumped in with a flying knee only to be caught in mid-air by a short overhand right and knocked unconscious. In a fight that lasted 3 minutes 14 seconds, Arlovski controlled probably 3:10 of that time and yet those few seconds is all that Fedor needed to end matters.
While Fedor did look human in this fight, Arlovski is one of the top fighters in the World and would likely destroy every Heavyweight in the UFC. The way to beating Fedor seems to be standing up but the thing is, no one has the sharp skills Arlovski has on his feet plus the wrestling skills and ground skills to keep Fedor from taking him down. It’s pick your poison with Fedor as he has more then enough stand-up skills to hang with 99% of the World’s Heavyweights and the ground skills to handle probably any of them, plus the takedowns and takedown defence to control where the fight goes. Lesnar is way too green and makes too many mistakes that a true Heavyweight with Fedor’s skills will capitilise on. Mir could catch Fedor on the ground but would likely be knocked out before he got the fight there. Fedor’s next opponent looks to be Josh Barnett and I don’t give Barnett much of a chance at all. His ground game is good, but it’s not at the level where he can catch someone like Fedor. Anyone not giving this guy his props right now is a fucking moron!
Josh Barnett Sub3 (strikes) Gilbert Yvel Sure he got the job done, but this was a seriously bad performance from Barnett. His ground game just looked sloppy, period. His punches didn’t look to be as devastating as some of the other fighters we see who get to the same positions and his submissions were slow enough for ever Gilbert Yvel to get out of. Barnett has to get back on form or improve if that’s all he’s capable of if he’s going to be fighting Fedor next.
Vitor Belfort KO1 (punches) Matt Lindland Wow! Vitor of old comes back (for now anyway). He blitzed Lindland in the same fashion he blitzed Wanderlei Silva and Martin Eastman and Tank Abbott and the likes those years ago. Lindland was out for a while and it was good to see him leave on his feet under his own control. A knockout like that is a potential career ender especially for a fighter in his late 30’s like Lindland. Vitor though, what a way to crack into the Middleweight elite. Lindland had a lot of hype at Middleweight as one of the top dogs even though he’s been relatively inactive so this is a huge win for Vitor. Rumour has it his Affliction contract has expired and the UFC is in need of top Middleweights. I’d definately be hyped for Belfort-Anderson Silva. Vitor’s never been knocked out before, so it’ll be interesting to see how that fight would go. Unlike Patrick Cote’ who just had a punchers chance, Vitor has that plus a BJJ black belt. Even though his heart can be questioned at times, Vitor’s as dangerous a challenger as anyone out there for Anderson Silva at 185lbs.
Renato Babalu Sub2 (Anaconda Choke) Sokoudjou Sokoudjou looked good early, but gassed out bad and Babalu is not someone you want on top of you know matter who you are. I would really like to see Babalu vs Little Nogueira now as they seem to be the top two 205lbers outside of the UFC. Babalu took some good shots but didn’t get discouraged and finished the fight with a slick choke as we’ve seen him do before. It was also good to see him let the choke go after Sokoudjou tapped.
Antonio Rogerio ‘Little’ Nogueira KO2 (knee) Vladimir Matyushenko Matyushenko surprised everyone including Nogueira by trying to box and he didn’t look too bad. Nogueira seemed tentative when it came to answering back thinking Matyushenko was just trying to get him to open up so he could take him down. The worst thing Matyushenko did was hurt and cut Nogueira because once he did that, Nogueira opened up and things got bad for Matyushenko. He got hurt with a solid knee to the midsection and then one to the head finished him off. The fight was strange as it was a mixture of really bad and really good.
Other Results Dan Lauzon Sub1 (Rear Naked Choke) Bobby Green
Jay Hieron TKO1 (strikes) Jason High
Paul Buentello TKO3 Kirill Sidelnikov
LC Davis UD3 Bao Quach
Alberto Rios UD3 Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper KO2 (punch) Patrick Speight
Thoughts I’d love for Affliction to be able to stay around because, even though its not the UFC, it’s good to get something different with quality fights on it from time to time. Even if they just put a show on 2-3 times a year when Fedor fights I don’t care. Affliction is about the only way we’ll see Fedor in legitimate fights and they’ve delivered Sylvia and Arlovski, the two best UFC Heavyweights for a period of time already. Those two fights are among the biggest Heavyweight fights in MMA history. I hope there’s a third show, but if they do close down I hope Fedor and the UFC can come to terms so he can prove to everyone (well not everyone because there’s some morons out there) that he is the best MMA Heavyweight of all-time.
For the second time in what will be a little over a week, MMA fans are treated to a matchup that was talked about for years. After the UFC put on the fight between their former Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin and PRIDES former Champion at the same weight limit Dan Henderson at their event on the weekend, Affliction returns with their long awaited ‘Day of Reckoning’ show and pits the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion against a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko will put his title on the line against Andre ‘The Pitbull’ Arlovski in yet another quality main event from Affliction. The undercard also stacks up nicely with Josh Barnett taking on MMA’s bad boy Gilbert Yvel, a very interesting middleweight fight between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort as well as a battle between former UFC Light Heavyweight title challenger Renato Babalu and Sokoudjou in a fight that’s sure to produce fireworks.
Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski
The Arlovski-Fedor fight is definately one to look out for. Back in 2005 Arlovski was the UFC’s top Heavyweight having knocked down and then submitted Tim Sylvia in under a minute (much the same way Fedor did last year) with an ankle lock at UFC 51. Fedor as well was coming off arguably the biggest win over his career, a hard fought unanimous decision win over Mirko Cro Cop back when Cro Cop was the dangerous mother fucker that he used to be. It was only natural that talk about which organisations Heavyweight champion was truly the best and even though Arlovski since suffered back-to-back losses against Sylvia at UFC 59 and 61, he’s coming into this fight with five victories over quality opposition. A decision win over Fabricio Werdum as well as knockout wins over Ben Rothwell, Jake O’Brien and Roy Nelson have Arlovski right back up the top of the Heavyweight rankings.
I really think that out of anyone, Arlovski has the best chance at beating Fedor. I personally think Arlovski would crush both Lesnar and Mir and that with his skill set he poses the biggest threat to Emelianenko. With his crisp combination punching and brutal leg kicks as well as dangerous knees from the clinch, the thing that makes me think Arlovski could hang with Fedor is the fact that he himself was a World Champion in Sambo. Now this is MMA and not Sambo, but hear me out. Fedor catches a lot of guys with submissions they haven’t seen before because where someone like Demian Maia is a world class BJJ guy which is something that just about every MMA fighter knows, Fedor’s entire ground game is based off his Sambo and his set-ups are all different. With Arlovski’s background in Sambo he might have a better chance then most at surviving on the ground as he will have seen some of these moves before.
That being said, I really think Fedor will win this fight and win it inside two rounds. Arlovski’s ground game is suspect and it showed in his recent fights with Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson. Add to the fact that Fedor’s ground and pound is on a completely different level then anyone in MMA and I think any advantage Arlovski would have that other opponents don’t have will be taken away by the fact that his ground defence is very poor and as soon as Fedor opens his guard he’s going to punch Arlovski’s head through the mat. Arlovki’s boxing could very well pose Fedor some problems, but he’ll have to capitilise early while he is fresh and be careful because Fedor has more then enough power to drop him. I think Arlovski will do well standing up early in the fight but will get hurt at some stage and end up on his back. From there Fedor will soften him up with not very soft punches and end the fight with a kimura from side mount. Arlovski definately has a chance in this fight but I feel the longer the fight goes the better Fedor’s chances get as Arlovski has always had suspect durability. Fedor on the other hand is always in great physical condition despite him ‘looking like your Uncle on the way to the beach’- Frank Trigg.Fedor Emelianenko by 2nd round submission (kimura).
Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel Prediction- Barnett by 1st round submission Basically Yvel has zero takedown defence and Barnett’s top game is brilliant. Yvel won’t land his knockout strike and will be on his back quickly and finished off not long after that. I don’t expect this fight to go past the two minute mark.
Renato Babalu vs Sokoudjou Prediction- Sokoudjou by 1st round knockout Sokoudjou has made a career out of knocking out Jiu Jitsu guys. He has seriously heavy hands and lets them go with bad intentions when his opponent has limited stand-up himself. This is another fight that I think will be over quickly. I think Sokoudjou will explode and land some big right hands early and finish Babalu off.
Vitor Belfort vs Matt Lindland Prediction- Lindland on points I can’t pick Belfort against anyone with any sort of determination. Vitor could explode and catch ‘The Law’ early in vintage Vitor form, but I think he’ll get taken down and roughed up a bit and resort to playing guard and holding on and riding out the decision win. Lindland’s wrestling will be too big of a factor in the same way that previous Team Quest fighters Randy Couture and Dan Henderson were able to defeat Vitor. Even with Couture in his corner I don’t think he’ll have improved his mental game to the point where he won’t resort back to his survival tactics when he can’t bully his opponent the way Vitor likes to.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Prediction- Nogueira on points Matyushenko will have some success with takedowns but I think Little Nog will control the stand-up and keep Matyushenko busy with his dangerous guard. The stand-up will be the key and while he doesn’t have a great deal of power, Little Nog has excellent technique and will pick Matyushenko apart and do enough damage to take a close but unanimous decision.
Chris Horodecki vs Dan Lauzon Prediction- Lauzon by 2nd round knockout
Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov Prediction- Sidelnikov by 2nd round knockout
Jay Hieron vs Jason High Prediction- Hieron by 1st round submission
LC Davis vs Bao Quach Prediction- Davis by 2nd round submission
These are also late, but even more then boxing these had to be left until the new year so all the events could be done and everything taken into consideration. As it turns out, a few of the last few events of the year won some awards.
Fight of the Year- Eddie Alvarez TKO 1 (7:35) Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM.5)
This fight took place in the semi finals of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix and a cut suffered by Alvarez in winning this fight left him unable to continue in the tournament marking the way for alternate Joachim Hansen, the man Alvarez beat in the Quarter Finals, to fight in and win the Final against Shinya Aoki. Both fighters traded heavy shots on their feet throughout the fight and both fighters were knocked down. Alvarez dropped Kawajiri with a left hook-right cross about three minutes in but he used good survival skills to get himself out of trouble. After the doctors ruled Alvarez’s cut was okay to continue, Kawajiri dropped him heavily with a right hand and then passed his guard and mounted him. Alvarez escaped the mount and got back to his feet where both guys traded heavy shots and hurt each other more then once. Alvarez then pinned Kawajiri against the ropes and dropped him again, took his back and finished him with heavy strikes to the head. I picked this fight over some of the other ones on the list because it was fast paced for the full distance of the fight unlike some of the other candidates this year and because the whole way through the fight you had no idea who was going to win. If you haven’t seen the fight, here it is:
Honourable Mentions- Miguel Torres TKO3 Yoshiro Maeda (WEC 34), Forrest Griffin UD5 Rampage Jackson (UFC 86), Eddie Alvarez UD (15 mins) Joachim Hansen (DREAM.3).
Fighter of the Year- Gegard Mousasi This might come as a strange pick to some people, but the big factor in this pick was that he went 6-0 this year (plus his victory under K-1 rules against MUSASHI) and four of those wins were against decent opposition in winning the DREAM Middleweight Tournament. After winning two fights early in the year (one over PRIDE veteran Evangelista Cyborg), Mousasi entered the Grand Prix as one of the dark horses. Matched up against PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Runner-up Denis Kang in the first round of the tournament, Mousasi’s triangle choke victory came as a big upset to most people. A workman-like decision win over Dong Sik Yoon in the Quarter Finals earned him his spot in the Final Event where he had to face Melvin Manhoef in the Semi Finals, and then fight again on the same night to win the title. Most were expecting a Manhoef-Ronaldo Jacare final, but Mousasi had other ideas, scoring a victory again via triangle choke in 88 seconds over the feared striker. Facing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert Jacare in the Final, Mousasi ended up on his back early, but at the 2:15 mark of the first round a dramatic upkick followed up by punches with Jacare in his guard left his Brazilian opponent unconscious and made Gegard Mousasi the new DREAM Middleweight Champion. Some of the other fighters (particularily in the UFC) scored bigger wins this year, but all of them fought only twice this year and you can question the level of some of their wins. While some of Mousasi’s opponents certainly wouldn’t make it in the UFC, going 6-0 against that sort of competition is very impressive stuff. I definately don’t think he’d beat Anderson Silva or anything like that so save your time from writing some idiotic comment saying Silva would crush him or whatever because that’s not what this is about. It’s about which fighter accomplished the most in the calendar year and it was in my opinion Gegard Mousasi. Honourable Mentions- Frank Mir, Rashad Evans, Georges St Pierre.
Knockout of the Year- Rampage Jackson KO1 (left hook) Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92) This knockout just edged out Rashad Evans knocking out Chuck Liddell. I almost made it a tie, but then I measured my closet and realised I wasn’t big enough to fit into it so I could come out of it after making it a tie and acted like a man and made the pick. I think the deciding factor was the importance of the knockout for Rampage in this fight after avenging two brutal KO losses to Silva from their PRIDE days with an equally if not more devastating KO win himself. I would put a clip of the KO up, but ZUFFA are pricks about this sort of thing and don’t allow any of their fights to be on youtube so I’ll have to describe it. Wanderlei attacked Rampage while he was near the fence and threw a left hook-right hook combo. Rampage countered the left hook with a tighter one of his own and caught Wanderlei square on the jaw with his own hook putting him out cold right away while he was in the middle of throwing his own shot. Rampage then followed it up with two or three shots while Wanderlei was out. Both Rampage and Rashad will likely fight for the belt later this year and hopefully we’ll see another KO of the year candidate (and hopefully it’s Rashad who is on the receiving end). Honourable Mentions- Rashad Evans KO2 (overhand right) Chuck Liddell (UFC 88), Wanderlei Silva KO1 (rape choke + right hands from mount) Keith Jardine (UFC 84), Anthony Johnson KO3 (left high kick) Kevin Burns (TUF8 Finale).
Submission of the Year- Shinya Aoki Sub1 (5:12)(Aokiplata/Gogoplata from mount) Katsuhiko Nagata (DREAM.4) I watched this about 50 times in a row after I saw it. It was so cool it has to be given it’s own name and I will from now on refer to this as the Aokiplata no matter how much my friend who has done Jiu Jitsu longer then me tells me that the gogoplata was originally done from the mount before the guard and that the one he did on Hansen should therefore be the Aokiplata because I think he’s wrong. Anyway, unlike KO of the year, I have a clip, so I’ll shut up and you can enjoy:
Honourable Mentions- Dustin Hazelett Sub2 (Flying Armbar from Whizzer) Josh Burkman (TUF7 Finale), Dustin Hazelett Sub1 (Cutting Armbar against his own leg) Tamdan McCrory, Demian Maia Sub2 (Triangle Choke from Mount + Punches) Ed Herman (UFC 83).
Event of the Year- UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 (December 27th)
The UFC stacked their last show and it proved to be the best event of the year. On the card we had two title fights between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir for the UFC interim Heavyweight title and Rashad Evans challenging Forrest Griffin for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in the main event. Also on the card was a fight featuring one of the best grudges in MMA between Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva; one that has been around for more then five years since before their first bout at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003. Thw two other fights that filled up the main card saw an excellent knockout by Cheick Kongo over Mustafa Al Turk as well as a great Middleweight battle between CB Dollaway and Mike Massenzio. The UFC put six of it’s top starts against each other in fights that had plenty of impact on their respective divisions as well as plenty of impact in future fights that can be made. This card had great matchups that turned into great fights, upsets plus some great finishes and you really can’t ask for anything more (other then the odd submission). Honourable Mentions- Affliction: Banned, UFC 81: Breaking Point, UFC 84: Ill Will.
Performance of the Year- Fedor Emelianenko Sub1 (36 seconds) Tim Sylvia (Affliction: Banned) There was a lot of hype around Fedor’s return to US soil and him fighting his (apparent) first ‘real’ opponent in former Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. Plenty of people thought that Fedor was all hype and no skill and the new promotion he represented, Affliction, depended on him to prove them wrong in order to succeed. That he did. After a brief feeling out process off about 10 seconds, Fedor dropped Sylvia with a series of big punches, battered him on the ground with even heavier punches, took his back and made him tap with a rear naked choke. It was easily the most you could dominate someone in just 36 seconds. Anyone who wasn’t impressed by Fedor in this fight is an idiot and I really don’t care what anyone has to say about it. Fact of the matter is he’s the best Heavyweight in the World until someone beats him. Guess what, I found a clip of it as well:
Honourable Mentions- Anderson Silva Sub2 Dan Henderson (UFC 81), Frank Mir TKO2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92), Georges St Pierre TKO2 Matt Serra (UFC 83).
Upset of the Year- Mike Brown TKO1 Urijah Faber (WEC 36) Faber was easily the top Featherweight in the World and was considered miles ahead of anyone else. He was a top pound for pound fighter as well and no one expected him to lose anytime soon. Mike Brown was a former UFC competitor (he had one fight and got tapped out by Genki Sudo) who had only lost to top fighters and usually fought at Lightweight. While a respectable fighter no one really thought he standed much of a chance with Faber. Two minutes 23 seconds later he had caught Faber with a big right hand as Faber attempted a spinning elbow and rained down punches until the referee pulled him off. I didn’t even bother watching this fight until I saw the result (plus I would have had a hard time finding it online because they broadcast fuckall down under in terms of MMA) because I thought this would be business as usual for Faber. None of the other upsets this year come close to that one.
Honourable Mentions- Junior dos Santos KO1 Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90), Rashad Evans KO2 (UFC 88), Frank Mir TKO2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92).
Before I get onto some of the lesser more comical awards, I’m going to explain my lack of a round of the year award. I prefer the Japanese 1 10 min/1-2 5 min rounds because I think MMA is a sport that doesn’t need rounds. It’s a proper fight and while I don’t care about having rounds as much as I care about say stand-ups and while I understand that they allow more fights to get sanctioned and make some fights more exciting, I still prefer the fighters to go for as long as they can for a round or two then a couple of shorter rounds at the end so I will not include a round of the year. If I did have one I’d give it to Alvarez-Kawajiri because it ended in the first round even though that round was 10 minutes long.
Now, seeing how MMA isn’t as old as boxing, these are all going to be completely new and made up awards named after whoever wins them as I go remembering some of the funnier moments of the year.
Shonie Carter Award for Best Referee Stoppage/- Shonie Carter (Tyler Bryan vs Shaun Parker)
Bryan/Parker Award for Double KO of the Year- Tyler Bryan vs Shaun Parker And here it is:
Just a prior warning, the next few awards go to EliteXC for their ‘Heat’ show, so make sure you have a bucket handy.
Shamrock/Kimbo Award for Most Entertaining Weigh-in of the Year- EliteXC: Heat This weigh-in had two big feuds that almost flared up as well as some nudity from someone not quite as ugly as Kimbo Slice. Undercard attraction and probably the most well known female MMA fighter Gina Carano failed to make weight for like the 4th time in her MMA career but instead of letting it go like what has happened in the past, EliteXC officials made her strip all the way to see if the limited clothing she was wearing accounted for extra weight that she was over. Somehow it did. About four towels covered Carano (and from what I read on a few message boards the wet dreams of many fight fans) that were being held up by her handlers and a very embarrassed Carano made the contracted weight for her fight with Kelly Kobald. After the Arlovski-Nelson weigh in went off without any problems, EliteEX Welterweight Championship competitors Paul Daley and Jake Shields had to be seperated after Shields blew Daley a kiss during the staredown. The main event for this fight was between UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock and Youtube star Kimbo Slice (well at that stage it was) and going with his usual style, Shamrock decided to start some shit before the fight. While posing for the media in attention, Shamrock for absolutely no logical reason (Shamrock thinking he’s been disrespected isn’t a logical reason) pushed Slice in the back and caused the second near brawl of the weigh-in. This one took a lot longer to calm down though as both fighters had bigger entourages then Daley and Shields. Unfortunately, the actual card was no where near as entertaining as the weigh-in.
Jared Shaw Award for Worst Matchmaking of the Year- Kimbo Slice vs Seth Petruzelli (EliteXC: Heat)
Kimbo Slice Award for Most Pathetic Knockout of the Year- Seth Petruzelli KO1 (14 seconds) Kimbo Slice (EliteXC: Heat) Ken Shamrock somehow got himself cut warming-up for the fight and EliteXC needed someone to step in and fight Kimbo Slice in their main event. After an offer from commentator Frank Shamrock was turned down because Shamrock, despite being 50lbs lighter then Kimbo, has some serious skills and would likely have beaten Kimbo anywhere the fight went and EliteXC couldn’t risk their main drawcard getting beaten by a Middleweight. Instead Jared Shaw came up with former TUF2 competitor Seth Petruzelli who was fighting in a Light Heavyweight bout on the preliminary card. Petruzelli was an unorthodox but fairly handy striker who also had some wrestling ability and Shaw tried to make sure it was his striking skills that he would be using against their apparent ‘top 10 Heavyweight boxer in the World’ by asking that Petruzelli stand with Kimbo. What Shaw didn’t know is that there is a difference in levels of striking between your good street fighters and your trained fighters. It took only 14 seconds for him to be wishing that he picked Frank Shamrock. Kimbo rushed across the cage in his usual fashion and backed Petruzelli against the fence. Petruzelli flicked out a jab while off balance and to his and everyone else’s surprised it dropped Kimbo onto all fours. Petruzelli pounced and landed several shots while on Kimbos back, then rolled him over and landed a barrage from, side control that forced the referee to stop the fight at just 0:14 of the first round.
Bob Sapp Award for Biggest Mismatch of the Year- Jan Nortje vs Bob Sapp (Strikeforce: At the Dome) Some people might be surprised that I picked this fight over the Kinniku Mantaro fight against Sapp at the end of the year. Well the answer is obvious, that fight was competitive, this fight wasn’t. Jan Nortje was receiving a lot of hype for his 1-5 record that earned him a spot in the Strikeforce main event. They brought in monster of a man Bob Sapp to fight him because that wanted to see what happens when Nortje picks on someone his own size. The fight ended quickly after Nortje landed several hard blows that forced Sapp to run away, then chased him down and finished the job 55 seconds into the first round. It truly was a mismatch and the matchmakers at Strikeforce deserve an enquiry much more then EliteXC officials for bringing in someone as poor as Bob Sapp to fight a stud like Jan Nortje.
YAMMA Award for Worst MMA Show of the Year (maybe ever)- YAMMA Pit Fighting Seriously this was just horrendous. The creators of the UFC tried to bring back eight man-one night tournaments and make MMA ‘more exciting.’ The tournaments were impossible to do like they used to be done, so they had to compromise. Because fighters could only fight five rounds a night, the first and second rounds of the tournament would be one round of fighting each with the Final fight being three rounds. YAMMA also had a ‘revolutionary’ new fighting surface in which the area of the mat around the edge of the fence would go up on an angle so that the wrestlers couldn’t just pin you up against the cage and drop elbows on your head. Basically YAMMA wanted their organisation to be striker friendly. Instead, the wrestlers backed their opponents onto the ‘ramp’ then took them down with ease because they were off balance and because the fights were only one five minute round, the fight was over right there and then. The tournament consisted of every match being won by lay and prey (including the three round final). The only slightly entertaining part of this event was the super fights between Butterbean and Patrick Smith (mainly because Butterbean got royally fucked up) and Oleg Taktarov vs the man who ate Mark Kerr (Taktarov won by kneebar about one minute in). The event was bad from the fights to the Ring Announcer, who was so bad I’ve named an Award after him.
Scott Ferrall Award for Worst Ring Announcer of the Year- Scott Ferrall (YAMMA Pit Fighting) Scott Ferrall was funny but I wasn’t laughing with him. The guy was way too weird to be allowed to have his thoughts expressed on a microphone. He first announced referee Dan Miragliotta as “Big Dan Miragliotta STOMP YOU OUT!” and then “Big Dan the Man, How can I be the man if you’re the man, Dan Miragliotta (to which Dan shook his head in disgust). Pulled off a terribly lame call in “Travis ‘The Diesel’ Gimme a room with a Wiuff.” One fighter he said “hadn’t eaten in a week because he’s going to the electric chair.” Referred to the YAMMA Championship belt as ‘the strap-on’ and probably the weirdest call he made was “Kevin Mulhall will be the referee for this beautiful matchup of warriors and freaks ready to pound and dance…”
Gone but not Forgotten It’s sad that I have to do one of these for MMA. Boxing has been around for over 100 years and past champions are going to pass away each year and I feel it’s important to remember them. MMA on the other hand has been around for just 15 years and this year my favourite fighter, Evan Tanner, passed away way earlier then he should have.
Evan Tanner- Former UFC Middleweight Champion. Challenged Tito Ortiz for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 30 but lost. Defeated Dave Terrell for the UFC Middleweight title at UFC 51 and won with strikes in the first round. Lost the title to Rich Franklin on a doctors stoppage in his first defence at UFC 53. None of this was why I liked Evan Tanner. He kept a blog on his website which I read for over a year about everything that went on in his life, including all his adventures and even his battle with alcohol which he beat in order to return to the UFC this year. I admired not so much the way the man led his life but the way he was completely honest with himself about who he was and who he wasn’t. He died in September of this year from heat exposure after his motorbike broke down in the desert and he ran out of water. He was 37.
Another good non-UFC MMA card takes place this weekend with EliteXC: Heat on CBS for all those American fans. In the main event UFC Hall of Famer and the one time so called World’s Most Dangerous Man Ken Shamrock faces so called Undisputed Youtube Bareknuckle Heavyweight Champion Kimbo Slice. Shamrock has lost 8 f his last 9 fights and Slice is relatively untested, however I think this fight will be interesting (more on that later). The rest of the card features EliteXC Welterweight Champion (and about the only non-UFC Welterweight who I think could give the UFC Welterweight division some trouble) Jake Shields defending his title against Paul Daley. Also in a co-promoted fight with Affliction, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski returns to face recently bankrupted IFL’s reigning Heavyweight champion Roy Nelson. Gina Carano is also on the card against Kelly Kobald and even though I’m usually not that comfortable watching women fight (that isn’t intended to be sexist, I just don’t usually like it), I do like watching Carano because her fights are usually entertaining.
Ken Shamrock vs Kimbo Slice Prediction- Shamrock by 1st round leglock submission I’ve mentioned this in another post, I think Slice will be put on his back and exposed. Shamrock might suck these days but he has the wrestling ability to put Kimbo with his non existant takedown defence on his back, open his legs and submit him with a heel hook. Shamrock’s submissions are old school, Kimbo’s grappling is probably mostly new school so I think he’ll be surprised by some of the ways Shamrock will attack him. If Slice has improved his takedown defence I think he’ll batter Shamrock and knock him out quickly. Either way this fight won’t go past a few minutes.
Paul Daley vs Jake Shields
(EliteXC Welterweight title)
Prediction- Shields by 2nd round submission
As I said, Shields is the best non-UFC Welterweight out there. Daley is a good fighter but I think he’s outclassed here. Shields is coming off three first round wins over three quality opponents and I think that his experience against good fighters will play a big factor in this fight. Daley probably has the better stand-up but I think Shields will be able to get the fight where he wants it and finish him, I’m going to say with a rear naked choke after busting him up with some punches in the first round.
Andrei Arlovski vs Roy Nelson
Prediction- Arlovski by 1st round knockout Nelson is a big guy, but Arlovski’s speed should prove too much for him in this fight. Arlovski will break him down with leg kicks and right hands until he can’t take anymore. There will be a big advantage to the Pitbull in terms of reach and he has by far the better stand-up. Also I’m not sure what Nelson has been up to lately while Arlovski has been training for a fight with Josh Barnett that was meant to happen in a few weeks. Nelson has heavy hands so I’ll be nervous watching this fight.
Other Fights I can’t see Carano losing just yet, it’d be bad for business for them to match her with someone who will beat her. Kobald is meant to be good but I think Carano will win inside the distance.
Murilo Ninja fights Benji Radach (I’d be more then happy to watch him pound two shades of shit out of the World’s Biggest Douchebag Tony Bonello again but thats probably just me and everyone who’s heard him open his mouth before) as well and should win that fight, probably by strikes sometime in the first two rounds. The rest I don’t care that much about to be perfectly honest. It should be an entertaining(although pointless in terms of watching the best fight the best) card anyway.
Fedor Emelianenko submits Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds And what a 36 seconds it was. Fedor is the baddest man on the planet. I thought maybe he’d slipped a bit with the years of fighting relative no ones (to be fair he fought Mark Hunt at Shockwave 2006 and Hunt’s no mug) but he looked as good as ever against Sylvia. The punches that put Tim down were murderous, his ground and pound when Sylvia was hurt is just typical Fedor, and the fact that he could get that rear naked choke when Sylvia has defended well against that submission in the past in the time he got it in shows how good this guy is at grappling.
Fedor and Couture have to fight each other next. I don’t care where they fight or what it’s for but these guys have to fight. All this talk for years of who would win when the UFC and PRIDE Heavyweight champions fight each other, it just has to happen now. Randy is the UFC champion, and as far as I’m concerned he’ll stay that way until someone beats him. If I was Dane White, I’d swallow my pride, offer Fedor a $5 million one fight contract and have him fight Randy in the UFC. He’s better off to risk Fedor leaving the UFC after winning the title and having the biggest fight of all-time happen on his show (theres still a chance that Randy beats Fedor especially in the cage) then he is letting another organisation take all the glory.
Andrei Arlovski KO3 Ben Rothwell This fight reminded me of Arlovski vs Cabbage except that Rothwell punched back a bit more then Cabbage did. Excellent fight, probably the best of the weekend. Arlovski looked the best he’s looked since he lost his title back at UFC 59. Rothwell was a lot better then I thought he was, but he was just too slow to handle Arlovski. The leg kicks in the first round really slowed Rothwell down as I expected them to but he still fought on. That guy takes an incredible amount of punishment. In my opinion, Arlovski stands the best chance at beating Fedor out of anyone. He can match Fedor’s speed (well sort of) and because he is a former Sambo world champion, he’ll be a bit more prepared for Fedor’s ground game. In saying that, I’d still pick Fedor to beat Arlovski.
Josh Barnett KO2 Pedro Rizzo
I have to say, I’m a much bigger Barnett fan today then I was yesterday. I’ve always had it in for this guy, probably because I’m a huge Couture fan and Barnett has run his mouth in the past about their fight. He impressed the hell out of me yesterday. His stand-up was very good and he kept Rizzo off balance throughout the fight and the finish was top notch. I’d like to see Barnett in against either Sylvia or Arlovski next.
Vitor Belfort KO2 Terry Martin
Belfort looked pretty good. He was moving well and boxing well. He never allowed Martin to get in the fight. I don’t know how people thought Martin won the first round, he was getting jabbed and turned around repeatedly and only landed that one shot on Belfort’s shoulder while he was off balance. I’d like to see Belfort fight Matt Lindland, that would be an excellent fight. As for Lindland, he looked good considering he’d been out for a while. He needs to fight again soon though so he can keep himself in good fighting shape.
Other Comments The main thing that dissappointed me about this card was the quick stand-ups by the referee. For fuck sake, let these guys fight. Fighting on the ground is still fighting. These guys are the top of the food chain, they don’t need to be stood up. Stand-ups should only be used in lesser promotions to keep the fights interesting, when the guys are world class it should be entertaining enough that you’ve got two world class fighters fighting each other without the referee using his stupid arse opinion that stand-up fighting is more exciting then ground fighting. You just have to watch Wladimir Klitschko’s last two fights to know that isn’t always the case!
I like the ring in general (not as much as the cage though), but the Affliction ring definately needs some work. The ropes were way too slack, the table on the outside was dangerous and the referee’s don’t know what they’re doing with it. Why didn’t the referee’s restart them in the middle instead of turning them into the centre? Have these guys ever watched PRIDE before? If someone like me knows that the PRIDE officials used to turn them to the centre before they realised it was retarded and re-started them in the middle instead, then surely these guys in positions of power should know this as well right? As comical as the Japanese MMA is at times, they know how to work the ring. You need the officials on the outside supporting the ropes so the fighters don’t keep going through them, you need tight ropes and you need a referee who knows what the fuck is going on!
Overall, I enjoyed Affliction a lot. It beat the hell out of the UFC card (well on paper it should have). I’ve read people making fun of the back production but this is their second show. Go watch UFC 2 and see how bad that is. Megadeath worked better then I thought, I especially liked the intro with the fighters on the ramp. As you may have guessed I like my Japansese MMA, and this was similar to the PRIDE intros without the crazy Jap dude playing his drums and screaming. The production is only going to get better.
UFC: Silva vs Irvin Results
Anderson Silva KO1 James irvin When I said that Fedor is the baddest man on the planet before, thats only because he’s bigger then Silva. Pound for Pound, I think Silva is number one (although its very close) mainly because of the manner he’s destroyed the number 2 and 3 guys. Fedor is yet to beat Randy Couture who in my opinion is the number two guy in the World. If he goes through him like Silva went through Franklin and Henderson then I think he’ll take Silvas pound for pound title away. Oh yeah, Silva destroyed Irvin with the first heavy shot he landed, did anyone think he’d do differently?
Other Fights Vera looked sluggish, but that should be expected the first time he cut weight. Not to mention he was coming off back to back losses. He’ll be stronger next time he fights at 205lbs. Edgar fought a great fight, but I think he should go down to featherweight. Guys like Sean Sherk and Gray Maynard (who already beat him) are just going to outmuscle this kid if he stays at this weight. Jake O’Brien got bashed and I couldn’t be more happy. This guy doesn’t belong in the UFC, so they should get rid of him. He’s not a fighter, he’s a sexual deviant who likes to molest people. CB Dollaways submission was top notch and Burns should have been disqualified. Overall, it was a decent fight night, but not close to what Affliction was.
One last thing for those UFC nuthuggers who aren’t real MMA fans, Fedor beat Sylvia a lot better then Mir did and he beat a better version of Sylvia. He dropped him and made Sylvia tap out, he didn’t get taken down and have the ref stop it from an armbar (I very much believe that you have to tap for the fight to be stopped, if you’re crazy enough to fight with a broken arm then thats up to you). Not to mention Sylvia wasn’t straight off the roids yesterday like he was when he fought Mir. If you want to compare Fedor’s performance to anyone’s over Sylvia, then Arlovski is your man. But then again, Arlovski isn’t in the UFC anymore so that means he’s shit. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of competition, infact it will only make the sport better. Build a bridge and get over it!
I’m really looking forward to this event! This has to easily be the single greatest event (on paper) that isn’t either a PRIDE or UFC event. Fedor vs Sylvia puts two of the top five heavyweight fighters in the world against each other, plus the undercard has a number of top fighters on it. Arlovski vs Rothwell is a great fight, as is the Barnett vs Rizzo rematch. Big props to Main Event for showing this fight to Australian fans, and I don’t even care that this is Pay Per View because the main event alone is worth the price! Anyway, onto the fights.
Main Card
Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia
(WAMMA Heavyweight Title)
Prediction- Emelianenko by 2nd round submission
A lot of people (especially American fans who have only seen American promotions) are yet to see the phenom that is Fedor Emelianenko. I’ve seen all but 2 or 3 of his fights, this guy is for real! His stand-up is explosive (although sometimes not overly technical), his takedowns are up there with the very best in MMA, he has the best top game out of any fighter I’ve ever seen, and he has nasty submissions and in my opinion the best sweeps from his back out of anyone in MMA.
However, I give a slight edge to Sylvia in the stand-up because of his reach. Fedor is yet to fight someone this tall with the takedown defence Sylvia has. In saying that though, Fedor will only need one takedown to win this fight. He’ll either pound Sylvia unconscious or pass his non-existant guard and end the fight with an arm lock. I’m not convinced Sylvia can keep the fight standing for 25 minutes when lesser wrestlers have gotten him down easier. If Fedor gets on top once in this fight and has a minute to work with he’ll end the fight. In saying that, I’m not 100% confident that Fedor wins this fight. His lack of quality opposition in recent years as well as Sylvia’s awkward style gives Big Tim a chance in this one, but I’m convinced Fedor will be at his best and he’ll announce his presence in the USA with a dominating display. I’ll be interested to hear Dana White’s comments on Fedor after he destroys Sylvia.
Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell Prediction- Arlovski by 1st round knockout
Arlovski hasn’t looked himself in his last few fights, but I think that has more to do with his opponents then his skills. In his last three fights he’s fought two pure BJJ fighters who had an inability to get the fight to the ground which made Arlovski look bad, and a wrestler who does nothing but lie on people until the final bell rings. Rothwell will stand-up and fight with Arlovski and it should be an entertaining fight. Rothwell has dangerous stand-up, but I think he’ll have a lot of trouble with Arlovski’s speed. I don’t think this fight will go a round whichever way it goes, but I think Arlovski will use speed and angles and punch holes in Rothwell, knocking him out in the first.
Josh Barnett vs Pedro Rizzo Prediction- Barnett on points
This fight is a rematch of a UFC 30 fight that was a war. In that fight both fighters exchanged heavy punches until Rizzo knocked Barnett out with a pair of right hands in the 2nd round. Since that fight both guys have gone in different directions. Rizzo suffered two losses to Randy Couture for the UFC title and has been inconsistent since, while Barnett beat Couture (he later tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the title) and then went on to have a successful PRIDE career. Barnett should win this fight, he’s the more consistent fighter and has improved a lot since their 2001 fight. I think Barnett will give as good as he gets in the stand-up and control the ground fighting, winning a clear unanimous decision.
Matt Lindland vs Fabio Negao
Prediction- Lindland on points I’m not sure why this fight made the main card, there’s three better fights on the preliminaries involving bigger names in the sport. Matt Lindland is boring and I’m not sure he has any friends either. I hope Negao beats him but I doubt it, Lindland to win with lay and prey.
Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral vs Mike Whitehead
Prediction- Sobral on points
This should be a good fight, and will really test where Mike Whitehead is as a fighter. I was a big Babalu fan but his antics at UFC 74 turned me off him a bit. Babalu has a big edge in submissions and striking, but Whitehead is the better wrestler of the two and thats where I think he could give Babalu trouble. However, Babalu is also a good wrestler and should be able to control where the fight goes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a finish in this fight, but I think it will probably go the distance with Babalu winning clearly.
Preliminary Fights
Paul Buentello vs Aleksander Emelianenko Prediction- Emelianenko by 1st round knockout
Aleksander should take him apart. Once he finds his range in this one Buentello will be reduced to a punching bag. Buentello has a strong punchers chance in this fight, but Aleksanders game is on a different level. Aleksander to kick Buentellos legs out from under him and end the fight towards the end of the first round with some strong punches.
Edwin Dewees vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Prediction- Nogueira by 1st round submission
I would have preferred to see Vernon White in this fight because he at least has the size to compete with Little Nog. Dewees has been submitted by smaller guys in the past, and those guys aren’t anywhere near as technical as Nogueira is. This fight will be like the Dan Henderson-Big Nogueira rematch without the submission defence.
Vitor Belfort vs Terry Martin Prediction- Belfort by 1st round knockout
Both fighters have had some real highlight reel knockouts in the past. Belfort has spectacularily knocked out Tank Abbott, Tra Telligman, Wanderlei Silva and Marvin Eastman just to name a few. The trouble that Terry Martin has is that he’s always the one getting knocked out in the highlight reel. I expect this to be no different. Belfort to come out with hands blazing and catch Martin inside the first few minutes. However, if Martin can impose his wrestling on Belfort we could see sad Vitor come out and do all he can to survive a storm of nothing.
Mark Hominick vs Savant Young
Prediction- Hominick by 1st round knockout I’ll admit, I don’t know anything about Young. My rule with predicting unknown fighters though is never expect too much out of them. Hominick to go through Young pretty quickly.
JJ Ambrose vs Mike Pyle
Prediction- Pyle by 2nd round submission I always like a battle of submission guys (as long as it doesn’t end up being decided on the feet). Pyle should be too experienced, and I think he will catch Ambrose with a rear naked choke in the second round.
Justin Levens vs Ray Lizama
Prediction- Levens on points Two guys on losing streaks. Levens has been in with the much better opposition despite a five fight losing streak, so I’m picking him based on that.
