2008 Angry Fight Fan MMA Awards

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.

Evan Tanner (1971-2008)

K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final Preview: The Finalists

 

Next weekendwe have one of the bigger weekends for fight fans. With the De la Hoya vs Pacquiaofight that everyone (bar me) is really looking forward to taking place on the Sunday, the real focus of the weekendshould be on the night before when the K-1 crowns it’s annual Grand Prix champion. So instead of doing what everyone else is andfocusing on what is apparently the best boxing match of the year, I’m going to focus on the K-1 World Grand Prix (which will now be abbreviated to K-1 WGP). I won’t completely ignore the De la Hoya-Pacquiao fight, I’ll definately put my predictions for the fight up the day before it takes place anddo a re-cap the day after, but as far as I’m concerned the biggest event of the weekend takes place the day before anddeserves the credit. This will be the first of three preview articles on the K-1 World Grand Prix Final.

For those of you who don’t know how K-1 works, here’s it in a nutshell. K-1 holds four Qualifying events throughout the year where eight fighters compete in a one night tournament. The four winners of these tournaments join the eight men who made the Quarter Finals the year before in the Final 16. The final four spots are decided by the fans witha vote on the K-1 website. After the Final 16 is announced, they are paired up to fight on the same night withthe eight winners advancing to the Final Event. The eight fighters then each put their names up onto an empty slot in the bracket to decide the make-up of the Final Event (there are eight slots, with fighter 1 fighting fighter 2, fighter 3 fighting fighter 4, 5 v 6 and7 v 8 withthe winners of 1 v 2 to face 3 v 4 in the semis etc), with the easiest winners (ie the ones who won by the quickest knockout) getting to go first down to the guy who just squeaked by in his fight.

After the Final 16 Event in September, we were left with the following eight fighters:

Ruslan Karaev
K-1 Record:11-6-0 (6 KOs)
K-1 History:2006 K-1 WGP Quarter Finalist
2008 K-1 Taipei GP Champion, 2005 K-1 Las Vegas Champion
Record against other Finalists:Badr Hari (1-1)
Final 16 Result: KO2 vs Chalid Die Faust
The first of the four Qualifiers who won his way into the Final event this year, Karaev looks to make his 2nd appearance in the final event a better one then his last effort. After knocking out Badr Hari in the 2006 Qualifying event in under a minute, Karaev lasted only 71 seconds against Glaube Feitosa; being caught by his famous ‘Brazilian Kick.’ Karaev then dropped a rematch via 2nd round KO to Badr Hari in March of last year before being destroyed in 31 seconds by Melvin Manhoef later in the year.
However, Karaevbounced back with a win early this year before knocking out three opponents in one night to take win the Taipei Qualifying event and earn his spot in the Final 16. Facing dangerous puncher Chalid Die Faust, Karaev was caught early and dropped, but bounced back to floor the German three times in the 2nd round and book a place in the Final event. Because he scored the only knockout of the night, Karaev got to be the first man to put his name on the bracket and he chose the 6th fighter slot, or to be in the third fight of the night.

Remy Bonjasky
K-1 Record:33-8 (15 KOs)
K-1 History:2003, 2004 K-1 WGP Champion
2005, 2006, 2007 K-1 WGP Semi Finalist
Record against other Finalists: Badr Hari (1-0), Peter Aerts (0-1), Jerome Le Banner (0-1)
Final 16 Result:MD3 vs Paul Slowinski
The ‘Flying Gentleman’ appears in his sixth consecutive K-1 WGP Final Event, after winning his first two and making the semi finals of the last three. Bonjasky was one of four newcomers to qualify for the 2003 Final 16 event and once there he made it to the Final 8 after his opponent Bob Sapp was disqualified for hitting him while he was down. Bonjaskythen knocked out both Peter Graham and Cyril Abidiin the first round before winning a unanimous decision over Musashi to win his first crown. Bonkasky continued his winning ways in K-1 the following year defeating four time champion Ernesto Hoostafter one extra round in the Quatrter Finals, former World Heavyweight Boxing champion Francois Botha by unanimous decision in the semi finals and then again defeating Musashi in the final, this time by decision after two extra rounds making Bonjasky the only man to go 12 rounds in one night to win a K-1 WGP event.
In 2005 Bonjasky looked to become the first fighter to win three K-1 WGP’s in a row, but after defeating Hong Man Choi in the Quarter Finals he was knocked out by eventual winner Semmy Schilt in the first round of their semi final meeting. After some poor form early in 2006, Bonjasky defeated Mighty Mo and Gary Goodridgeto qualify for the Final 8 again. In his quarter final match with Stefan Leko, Bonjasky was twice kicked in the groin and was unable to continue. However, K-1 officials postponed the match until later in the evening to allow Bonjasky to recover. Bonjasky defeated Leko by unanimous decision but was unable to continue in the tournament. Bonkasky and Leko again met in 2007, this time in the Final 16 andafter a wild first round, Bonjasky knocked Lekoout with a flying knee with 10 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Up and comer Badr Hari was his quarter finals opponent andafter a three round war with both guys delivering punishment to each others legs, Bonjasky took a close decision. The fight with Hari took a lot out of Bonjasky, and despite going the distance with Peter Aerts in the semi final, he didn’t have much to offer the three time former champion, losing a unanimous decision.
With his spot in the Final 16 already secure after a rule change allowed last years Final 8 a guaranteed spot in the Final 16, Bonjasky needed not defeat anyone to qualify this year. Still, Bonjaskystayed busy competing in super fights with Melvin Manhoef and Volk Atajev at the Amsterdam andTaipei Qualifying events, winning both fights by 3rd round knockout. In the Final 16, Bonjasky faced Paul Slowinski anddespite looking a little sluggish, he won the fight with a majority decision after three rounds. Bonjasky was the second fighter to put his name on the board and chose the 7th fighter slot meaning he would compete in the fourth fight against an opponent to be named.

Errol Zimmerman
K-1 Record: 5-0 (3 KOs)
K-1 History: 2008 K-1 Amsterdam GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: None
Final 16 Result: UD3 vs Glaube Feitosa
One of three fighters who have just emerged on the K-1 scene this year in the Final 8, should the 22 year old Zimmerman win he’ll break Peter Aerts’ record and become the youngest man to win the K-1 WGP. ‘The Bonecrusher’ was an underdog going into the Amsterdam qualifying event this year, but scored stoppage wins over Attila Karacs and 6’7 Swiss monster Bjorn Bregy before scoring a close majority decision over Zambit Samedov to earn his spot in the Final 16. Facing feared Brazilian Glaube Feitosa, a man who had come second in the 2005 K-1 WGP, Zimmerman came out firing, dropping Feitosa in both the first and second rounds andearning a wide unanimous decision. With the options of facing either Bonjasky or Karaev or taking his chances with one of the other fighters, Zimmerman chose to fill in fighter slot 3 and wait for an opponent.

Gokhan Saki
K-1 Record:7-1 (4 KOs)
K-1 History: 2008 K-1 Hawaii GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: Badr Hari (0-1)
Final 16 Result: UD4 vs Ray Sefo
Another youngster in the K-1 WGP Final this year, Gokhan Saki went to the Hawaii Qualifying event as an alternate. However the day before the event, Saki was promoted to the main card when Chalid Die Faust couldn’t get a Visa. With other well known fighters like Mighty Mo Salinga and sideshows like the fight between Butterbean and former UFC fighter Cabbage Correira in the event, Saki was very low profile going into the event. Three fights and under 10 minutes later Saki was one of the dark horses in the K-1 WGP Final 16. After destroying his first opponent with brutal leg kicks in the first fight of the night, Saki knocked out Rich Cheek and Randy Kim to earn his spot in the Final 16. There, Saki faced veteran fan favourite Ray Sefo andafter a close three rounds the fight was declared a draw. In the extra round Saki proved the fresher fighter andoutworked his opponent to take the judges decision. With fourth choice in the Final 8 fight selections, Saki with the choice of one of three opponents or the option of letting one of the other four choose him, he chose to face Ruslan Karaev in the Quarter Finals.

Ewerton Teixera
K-1 Record: 5-0 (2 KOs)
K-1 History: 2008 K-1 Japan GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: None
Final 16 Result: UD3 vs Musashi
The third of the young guns making their first appearance in the Final event this year. Little was known of the Brazilian karateka before this year and still not much is known of him now. The Fukuoka qualifying event was basically set up for Musashito earn his spot into the Final 16 but with the focus on the Schilt-Le Banner and Hari-Feitosa fights no one really cared. However, Musashi was defeated by 22 year old novice Keijiro Maeda in the quarter finals. Teixera in the other bracket won his first two fights with ease and then also defeated Maeda comfortably to qualify for the Final 16. In the Final 16, Teixera faced Musashi who had been voted into the Final 16 by the fans. In what was an extremely lacklustre affair, Musashi didn’t appear willing to fight and was uneventfully outpointed by the young Brazilian. Teixera had the next choice on the Finals board, and with the options of Bonjasky, Zimmerman or one of Le Banner, Aerts or Hari, he chose Zimmerman, effectively leaving the four big names in the tournament to battle each other for a semi finals spot.

Peter Aerts
K-1 Record: 62-21 (28 KOs)
K-1 History: 1994, 1995, 1998 K-1 WGP Champion
2006, 2007 K-1 WGP Runner-up
1997, 2000, 2003, 2005 Semi Finalist
1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004 Quarter Finalist
Record against other Finalists:Remy Bonjasky (1-0), Jerome Le Banner (3-1)
Final 16 Result:MD3 vs Semmy Schilt
If I was to go through the former three time champions past history in K-1 this article would double in size. Aerts has been there from the beginning and won titles in 1994, 1995 and 1998. In 2006 he took Remy Bonjasky’s spot in the semi finals after competing as an alternate and stopped Glaube Feitosa in the 2nd round to earn a spot in the final with reigning champion Semmy Schilt. Aerts had defeated Schilt earlier in the year by majority decision in a superfight at an Auckland qualifying event. In what was a classic battle, a 2nd round knockdown against Aerts was the difference in a hard fought fight and Schilt won his 2nd consecutive K-1 WGP.
After destroying Bob Sapp and Nicholas Pettas in super fights early in 2007, Aerts chopped down Ray Sefoin the Final 16 with vicious leg kicks, stopping him when Sefo’s corner threw in the towel between the first and second rounds. Aerts then destroyed Japanese up and comer Junichi Sawayashiki at 1:29 of the first round in the quarter finals and outworked a battle-worn Remy Bonjasky in the semi finals to set up a second consecutive final with Semmy Schilt. History was to be made whoever the winner would be with Aerts looking to tie Ernesto Hoost’s record of four K-1 WGP titles and Schilt looking to become the first man to win three K-1 WGP’s in a row. In a disappointing final, halfway through the first round Aerts was caught by a jab from Schilt while in an awkward position injuring his knee and leaving him unable to beat the count. This made Schilt the first man to win three K-1 WGP Finals in a row.
At the Amsterdam qualifying event this year, Aerts called out Semmy Schilt to a fight in the Final 16 qualifying event. Aerts was willing to put his record of appearing in every K-1 WGP Finals event on the line in order to eliminate Schilt from winning four consecutive titles. Aerts claimed that Schilt was bad for the sport because he lacked personality and won due to his size (roughly 7’0, 300lbs) rather then his skills. Schilt accepted and the last two year’s finalists were to fight for a spot in the Final 8. Aerts bulled Schilt around the ring, landing numerous right hands and constantly keeping Schilt on the backpedal, earning him a three round majority decision and eliminating the three time defending champion Schiltfrom the Final. With the option of facing Remy Bonjasky or competing in the first fight of the night against either Jerome Le Banner or Badr Hari, Aerts decided to choose to fight first to allow himself as much recovery time as possible should he win.

Jerome Le Banner
K-1 Record: 43-16-2 (28 KOs)
K-1 History: 1995, 2002 K-1 WGP Runner-up
1999, 2007 K-1 WGP Semi Finalist
1997, 2005, 2006 K-1 WGP Quarter Finalist
2000 K-1 Nagoya GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: Peter Aerts (1-3), Remy Bonjasky (1-0)
Final 16 Result: UD3 vs Junichi Sawayashiki
Considered the greatest K-1 fighter to never win the WGP, Le Banner is one of the most inconsistent professional fighters around. Despite winning only five of his last 10 fights in K-1, Le Banner is still considered one of the most dangerous fighters on the circuit. After losing in two consecutive quarter finals at the K-1 WGP Finals in 2005 and 2006 to Aerts and Schilt respectively, Le Banner retired from tournament fighting. He then lost in a major upset to unheralded Junichi Sawayashiki early in 2007 in a fight where he badly injured his knee. Despite retiring from tournaments, Le Banner recovered in time for the 2007 Final 16 event and won his way into the Final event with a 54 second knockout over Yoon Soo Park. Le Banner was forced to face the World’s largest professional fighter in Hong Man Choi in the quarter finals andwon a unanimous decision. In the semi’s after Le Banner had a solid first round against reigning two time champion Semmy Schilt, Schilt injured Le Banners bad right knee with a low kick which forced his corner to stop the fight.
Le Banner and Schilt squared off again early in 2008 for the K-1 Super Heavyweight title at the Fukuoka qualifying event. Despite giving Schilt one of his toughest fights in years, Le Banner fell short on the judges cards anddropped a unanimous decision. With an offer to fight Tim Sylvia in MMA, Le Banner turned down the fight and elected to fight in this years Grand Prix. His Final 16 opponent was Junichi Sawayashiki, the man who had defeated him 18 months prior. Le Banner bulled the young Japanese fighter around the ring for the full three rounds, never allowing him in the fight and scoring a wide unanimous decision. With the choice of Aerts or Bonjasky in the quarter finals, Le Banner chose Bonjasky, a man he had defeated in a controversial 2006 fight over his long time nemesis Aerts who he was 1-3 against over a period of 12 years.

Badr Hari
K-1 Record:11-3 (10 KOs)
K-1 History: 2007, 2008 K-1 Heavyweight Champion
2007 K-1 WGP Quarter Finalist
Record against other Finalists: Remy Bonjasky (0-1), Gokhan Saki (1-0), Ruslan Karaev (1-1)
Final 16 Result: TKO4 vs Hong Man Choi
The reigning K-1 100kg champion this year makes his 2nd run for a K-1 WGP title. After losing two of his first three appearances in K-1 to Peter Graham and Ruslan Karaev, Hari fought as an alternate in the 2006 K-1 WGP, defeating Paul Slowinski. He avenged the loss to Karaev in 2007 via knockout before later that year he became the first fighter to win the newly created K-1 100kg title by knocking out Yusuke Fujimoto in less then a minute. Hari then avenged his loss to Peter Graham by unanimous decision before knocking out another Australian Doug Viney to qualify for the K-1 WGP 2007 Final. His opponent in the quarter finals was former two time champion Remy Bonjasky. Both men exchanged vicious low kicks throughout their fight and the fight was very close going to the scorecards. One judge scored the bout a draw and the other two scored it for Bonjasky and Hari was eliminated.
Hari made short work of Ray Sefo in his first appearance this year and then defended his 100kg title against Glaube Feitosa at Fukuoka. Hari battered Feitosa, knocking him out at 2:26 of the first round to retain his title and establish himself as one of the favourites for the 2008 K-1 WGP. ‘The Golden Boy’ was matched with man mountain Hong Man Choi in the Final 16, giving away over 100lbs in weight to the Korean. Hari was in complete control of the fight apart from a dubious knockdown in the 2nd round against him which cost him the decision victory with the judges scoring the bout a draw. However, due to the punishment Hong Man had taken throughout the fight, he couldn’t continue in the fight and Hari earned a TKO victory and a spot in the Final 8. With the other three matchups already decided, Hari will face former three time champion Peter Aerts in the first quarter final.

This leaves the Final 8 Bracket looking like this:

Predictions and other stuff to come later in the week.

Post UFC 88 Thoughts

Rashad Evans KO2 Chuck Liddell
What else can be said other then HOLY SHIT!!!!! I’m still in shock over that result. That was like when Gonzaga Cro Cop’d Cro Cop because Rashad Liddell’d Liddell. Evans fought an extremely smart gameplan and frustrated the hell out of Liddell and made him open up and then showed surprising punching power and scored maybe the best one punch knockout I’ve seen in MMA. Dana White has apparently said that Evans will get the first shot at new champion Forrest Griffin. I really never thought we’d see the day when these two are the top two light heavyweights in the World. To be honest, as big as this win is, I’d be more interested in seeing Wanderlei Silva get the first shot at Forrest but with that impressive win it’s hard to argue with Evans getting his shot.
That very well could be the last we see of Chuck Liddell. I’d like to see him comeback and I think he might just so he doesn’t go out on that note. I think a rematch with Keith Jardine would be a good fight for him because if he can’t beat Jardine he won’t be getting anywhere in the future in this division. Liddell, like Matt Hughes, seems to have a target on his back and all these guys really analyse what is needed to beat him and they execute it. I’m still in shock over the fact that Rashad Evans could knock out Liddell yet Wanderlei Silva couldn’t. Despite this loss, in my opinion it doesn’t take away from the fact that Liddell is probably the greatest 205lber of all-time.

Rich Franklin KO3 Matt Hammill
Franklin is just in a totally different league. Hammill is a wrestler with very limited stand-up and against someone as well rounded as Franklin you’re going to pay the price. I’ve said it before (not on here though) that Hammill is ridiculously open for a body kick the way he holds his hands up. Honestly, the guy needs to learn some proper stand-up if he’s going to get anywhere because that stupid hands covering you’re head crap doesn’t cut it in a world class fight. I think Franklin could do alright at this weight, and I’d like to see him rematch Lyoto Machida who for anyone who doesn’t know is the other guy apart from Anderson Silva to beat Franklin.

Dan Henderson decision Rousimar Palhares, Nate Marquadt KO1 Martin Kampmann
Henderson can be very hot and cold and it shows how great he is when he can fight as far from his best as he was today and still win a wide unanimous decision. Palhares definately has a future in the UFC and I’d love to see him take on Demian Maia. There aren’t too many guys in the UFC who I think could avoid his ground game. His transitions are amazing and people who can’t appreciate that sort of ground fighting need to go and follow another sport because that was top notch BJJ.
A good fight that could be made now would be Henderson vs Marquadt. Even though Marquadt lost to Leites in his last fight, this fight would determine a highly rated contender in the middleweight division. I really didn’t rate Marquadt’s stand-up that highly before this fight but he showed great versatility in his strikes and good finishing instincts against an apparently top level kickboxer. It’s great to see MMA fighters punching to the body and it was the body punch that really finished off anything Kampmann had left. Marquadt-Henderson would be a great fight and while I wouldn’t like to see Marquadt-Silva II, I’d definately be interested in a Silva-Henderson rematch. Henderson is a legend of the sport and if he can beat someone like Marquadt in his next fight then I think he deserves another crack at Silva.

Dong Hyun Kim split decision Matt Brown
Strange fight. I scored it for Kim yet Brown seemed to be the one who did better. Its a good example of why the 10 point must system doesn’t really work over short fights and one of the reasons why I prefer the idea of PRIDE’s scoring system over the 10 point must system. Both fighters looked good and I’d like to see a rematch. I’m a big Matt Brown fan, mainly because he knocked out Jeremy ‘Douche Bag’ May but also because he’s a proper fighter who just likes to fight.

Preliminary Fights
I’ve only seen two of these so far, I’ll probably edit this post when I see Pellegrino-Tavares which is on UFC.com apparently.
Lambert doesn’t belong in the UFC as far as I’m concerned. Really, what does this guy do well? He’s lost three in a row now so its time for him to take his man tits and go fight on a lesser show. That guys body type just disgusts me, he looks like he came off the Biggest Loser.
Boetsch looks like he could be a handful in a few fights, but I doubt he’s going to get too high up. He’s strong and he hits hard, but against guys he can’t ragdoll or bully he’s going to fall short like he did with Matt Hammill.

Overall I got 5/9 fights right on this card. Round that down to 5/8 because NO ONE picked Rashad Evans and then add the razor thin decision with the Matt Brown-Dong Hyun Kim fight and I did ok. Anyone who got 7/9 today did very very well because there were some upsets and some close fights.

UFC 88 Predictions

The UFC is back this weekend with what looks to be another entertaining card headlined by former Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell. Liddell takes on TUF 2 Heavyweight winner Rashad Evans in the main event with Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson fighting (not each other) on the undercard.

Note- Karo Parisyan has pulled out of his fight with Yoshiyuki Yoshida with an apparent back injury. The Matt Brown-Dong Hyun Kim fight has been moved up from the preliminariy card to fill up the main card.

Main Card
Rashad Evans vs Chuck Liddell
Prediction- Liddell by 1st round knockout
I really don’t see how Evans can win this fight. This isn’t what I’d call a mismatch because both fighters are contenders and are around the same level, however Evans is tailor-made for Liddell. Liddell excels at fighting wrestlers with limited stand-up who have to get the fight to the ground in order to win the fight. Liddell is what Mark Coleman is to Ground and Pound or what Royce Gracie is to BJJ in MMA for Sprawl and Brawl fighters. He keeps these wrestlers standing up with him and uses his unorthodox but extremely effective style to knock these guys out. I think Evans could last to the 2nd or 3rd round, but he’s going to get knocked out at some stage. Liddells faced far better fighters who fight like Evans in the past and handled them with ease, you couldn’t have picked a better fighter for Liddell to fight right now.

Rich Franklin vs Matt Hammill
Prediction- Franklin by 2nd round knockout
It has to be said about this UFC, the worst two matchups on the card are the two main events. The same with Evans vs Liddell, I’m not sure what Hammill can do to Franklin that he hasn’t seen before. Hammill is improving with every fight, but even with his natural size advantage he won’t be able to handle Franklin. Franklin will pick him apart on their feet until he knocks him out. Hammill might get a takedown or two but he won’t do much damage while he’s there and Franklin may even submit him from his back. Hammill has a long way to go before I see him as anything but just a wrestler. Franklin by knockout.

Dan Henderson vs Rousimar Palhares
Prediction- Henderson by 2nd round knockout
I’m a little nervous about this fight. I’m a big Henderson fan and Palhares is a dangerous guy who might just match-up badly for Dan. Palhares has top notch submission wrestling skills but thats really where it ends for him. Henderson is a two-time Olympic wrestler with heavy hands and good submission defence. However, Henderson has this annoying habbit of giving his opponent the takedown instead of keeping it standing and utilising his boxing. It’s got him in trouble in the past and it could get him in trouble this weekend. I think he’ll be too smart and too strong in this fight and he’ll catch Palhares with a big right hand at some stage and put him to sleep. I won’t be in the least bit surprised if Palhares wins by submission though. If you were going to bet on an upset this weekend, this would be the fight to put your money on. I’m playing it safe and picking Henderson.

Martin Kampmann vs Nate Marquadt
Prediction- Kampmann on points
This is a good match-up. I really can’t think of better opponents for either of these guys right now. Kampmann needs a win over a big name middleweight and Marquadt needs a good win to bounce back from his disappointing loss to Thales Leites. I think both of these guys will cancel each other out on the ground, but I give the edge to Marquadt because he has better wrestling. I give Kampmann a big edge if the fights stays standing up and I think he’ll pick Nate apart to take the decision should be be able to avoid the takedown. I’ll be very susprised if this fight ends before the final bell.

Matt Brown vs Dong Hyun Kim
Prediction- Brown by 2nd round knockout
Matt Brown and Dong Hyun Kim get their chance to shine on the main card thanks to Karo Parisyan pulling out of his fight with Yoshida. I like Brown to win this fight, he’s a little pitbull in there and I think he’ll overwhelm Kim in this fight and knock him out. Its a tough one to call though because both guys are untested at this level and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kim submits him. I think this will be fight of the night.

Preliminary Card
Kurt Pellegrino vs Thiago Tavares
Prediction- Pellegrino on points
Pellegrino’s wrestling advantage will be the deciding factor in this fight. Both guys are well schooled enough to be able to avoid being submitted and both guys are fairly useless standing up. Pellegrino will control the top position and grind out a unanimous decision.

Jason Lambert vs Jason MacDonald
Prediction- MacDonald on points
Lambert makes his middleweight debut against Jasom MacDonald (who fought and lost on the last UFC card). I think Lambert will struggle in this fight because of all the weight he’ll have had to cut, not to mention he’s been knocked out in his last two fights. MacDonald will outwork a fatugued Lambert in the second half of the fight to take a close points win.

Tim Boetsch vs Mike Patt
Prediction- Boetsch by 1st round knockout
I don’t know a whole lot about Patt so I’m predicting out of my arse a little here.

Roan Carneiro vs Ryo Chonan
Prediction- Carneiro on points
After blue belt Kevin Burns tapped him out, I think Carneiro will be in tremendous shape for this fight with the intentions of putting that performance behind him. Chonan will make a fight of it as usual, but Carneiro will be too skilled and win a fight that will take place mostly on the ground by a wide decision.