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.
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.
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.
We saw a mixed bag during the UFC today. While the main event ended unsatisfactorily (although no one is to blame as it was a freak accident), four of the other five fights we saw today were either great battles or had great finishes. The other fight was a good tactical fight but one that left the Illinois crowd and the referee who repeatedly asked both fighters to work. I won’t write the Illinois crowd off as idiots yet because it seems to happen the first time a big MMA show hits a new US state, they’re so pumped up that they boo everything that isn’t Griffin-Bonnar like. One thing that does piss me off though is idiot referees who don’t let the fighters fight. I’m not sure why stand-ups are even in the UFC anymore. They originally came in for two reasons. First reason was Dan Severn who is the Godfather of Lay and Pray, and the second reason is because back in the day when fighters were one dimensional, probably 80% of fighters couldn’t get back to their feet when they got taken down. Then add to that the fact that probably 70% of fighters couldn’t do much on top unless they were fighting a BJJ newbie, it led to some really boring fights. In this day and age, if you’re in the UFC and you can’t get back to your feet you don’t belong there. I still think stand-ups should happen in smaller shows because at lower level MMA you get the same situation that used to happen in the UFC, but in the big show with the best fighters in the World let the fighters fight!
Anderson Silva TKO (injury) 3rd round Patrick Cote Strange fight. I’m not trying to take anything away from Cote here, but I really think Silva wanted some cage time. If he threw more then 30 strikes a round I’d be surprised. He looked nothing like he did when he took Rich Franklin apart in those two fights and Franklin is a much better fighter then Cote. To Cote’s credit, when Silva did land he took it well. He took a few head kicks and knees that would have floored lesser men. The ending was a little disappointing as Cote blew his knee out in the 3rd round and couldn’t continue. Full credit to him for repeatedly trying to get to his feet and continue, and Anderson Silva is a very classy guy for not jumping on him when he injured himself. The only fight for Silva at 185lbs is Yushin Okami. Okami is clearly the number one contender with wins over Jason McDonald and Evan Tanner as well as the close loss to Rich Franklin. Throw in the fact that Okami is the last man to defeat Silva (even if it was by disqualification in a fight that Silva should have won; I don’t care what the rules say, if you can knock someone out while on your back you deserve the win) and this is a fight that can be marketed. What I’d really like to see happen is for Silva to go up to 205lbs and rule there. Does anyone really think Rashad Evans or Forrest Griffin could hang with The Spider?
Thiago Alves UD Josh Koscheck
Great fight. Alves beat Koscheck up in the first and third rounds but Koscheck made a fight of it. Koscheck is a tough son of a bitch and even though I don’t like him, he deserves props for having a sturdy chin and heart to match it. Alves went to work with his leg kicks and high kicks and stuffed every one of Koschecks takedown attempts. He dropped Koscheck in the first round and had him in a lot of trouble in the third as well. Alves is the logical choice for the next shot at the Welterweight title whether that be against BJ Penn or Georges St Pierre. Whowver wins that super fight on Super Bowl weekend has their hands full with the Pitbull.
Gray Maynard UD3 Rich Clementi Maynard outwrestled him, it was that simple. Maynard is one of the top lightweights in the UFC and while I think he’ll struggle against some of the better fighters, I think he matches up very evenly with the others based entirely on his wrestling ability. I’d like to see Maynard take on Emerson again if he doesn’t land a big fight, but with BJ Penn possibly staying at 170lbs, a four man tournament over two events would be an exciting way to sort out who the new champion is and I think with his last two wins (over Clementi and Frankie Edgar) he deserves a spot among those four. Throw in Sherk, Nate Diaz and the Florian-Stevenson winner and thats a good four fighters to have compete for the crown if Penn stays at 170lbs.
Junior dos Santos KO 1st round Fabricio Werdum Wow! Santos shocked the hell out of everyone with that win. Props to anyone who called that and I know there were a few of them but I really didn’t think that Werdum would have much trouble in that fight. Santos is right in the mix now with that victory as Werdum was definately a top contender with his recent form. There’s plenty of good fights for Santos with the likes of Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, Heath Herring or Cheick Kongo all matching up well with Santos.
Sean Sherk UD3 Tyson Griffin
I never thought I’d say this about a Sean Sherk fight, but that was fight of the night out of the ones I’ve seen. Sherk took Griffin down a lot easier then I thought he would early on and even took his back twice (although as always, Griffin escaped in the most exciting way possible). In the second and third rounds as I predicted both guys duked it out with Griffin dominating the first part of the round and Sherk outworking him in the last 2-3 minutes and probably pinching the fight there. Griffin’s cardio is good, but Sherk’s is on a whole other level and that was the difference in this fight. Sherk needs to remember that he’s a wrestler more and go for more takedowns because if Griffins cardio was better today he could have been in trouble standing with him when he was taking him down as easily as he was early in the fight.
Thales Leites Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 1st round Drew McFedries Leites likely earns another submission of the night award with this performance. He used his right leg like a third arm once he took McFedries back (after he passed his guard like he was a white belt) and left McFedries defending with one arm. Then after sliding his free arm under McFedries’ throat, he quickly locked it up and forced the tap. Good to see Leites get his TV spot at the end of the show as well after his original opponent Goran Reljic was injured forcing him off the main card.
Other Results Pete Sell UD3 Josh Burkman
Hermes Franca UD3 Marcus Aurelio
Spencer Fisher Submission (Triangle Choke) 3rd Round Shannon Gugerty
Dan Miller UD3 Matt Horwich
Two UFC events in two weeks, its hard not to like that. The good thing about this weekend is that there’s no big boxing matches to tear my loyalty between the two. The choice has been made for me and even though I have to pay for it, most UFC’s are worth the money. In the main event Anderson Silva takes on Patrick Cote for the UFC Middleweight World Championship. Also on the card are two very important fights which will establish the next contenders Welterweight and Lightweight divisions. Thiago Alves takes on Josh Koscheck in the co main event for the first shot at the BJ Penn-Georges St Pierre winner and former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk makes his comeback against always exciting Tyson Griffin.
Main Card
Patrick Cote vs Anderson Silva (UFC Middleweight World Championship)
Prediction- Silva by 2nd round submission This fight could very well end in the first minute with Silva taking Cote out with a huge barrage of punches, but something Cote said makes me think different. Cote basically put the challenge out there when he said that Ricardo Almeida has a better ground game then Silva. Silva is as cocky as they come and may want to make Cote eat his words by submitting him. Either way, I’ll be surprised if this fight goes half the scheduled distance because Silva is that good and Cote isn’t my first choice for a title shot. I am fully aware that it was meant to be Yushin Okami but he broke his hand and couldn’t be ready, but Cote just flat out isn’t ready for this fight. This could get very ugly.
Thiago Alves vs Josh Koscheck Prediction- Alves by 2nd round knockout Koscheck steps in for injured Diego Sanchez who was originally meant to fight Alves and therefore makes this a better fight. Koscheck in my opinion should have got this fight ahead of Sanchez because he beat Sanchez last year and has beaten two good fighters since while Sanchez has been given guys that will make him look good. Koscheck should provide a better test then Hughes did for Alves based on a couple of things. First of all, Alves made weight for this fight and won’t have that size advantage that he did last time. Second, Koscheck is a better wrestler then Hughes (although he isn’t as dangerous on top because he hasn’t learnt how to do anything with it yet) and he has better stand-up. Still, I think Alves will be harder to take down then Koscheck is used to, then throw in the fact that Koscheck thinks he can strike and Alves can strike and I can see Alves punishing Koscheck with leg kicks and then knocking him out when he lacks the ability to move out of harms way.
Junior dos Santos vs Fabricio Werdum Prediction- Werdum by 1st round submission Like me you’re probably wondering who Santos is. I don’t know a thing about him other then he probably is no match for Werdum and he’ll probably get submitted quickly. With some of the other fights on this card, I won’t bother wasting any time on this one. Hopefully it ends quickly and we get to see one of the better preliminaries.
Tyson Griffin vs Sean Sherk
Prediction- Sherk on Points
This is a very interesting fight. Both guys are wrestlers who have excellent takedowns but both guys also like to throw their punches. This fight will probably turn into an ugly boxing match as their wrestling will cancel each other out. If one of the guys is to get the takedown on the other, I expect it to come from Sherk who I feel has the better wrestling. Sherk has excellent guard passes and could very well win this fight by submission if he gets Griffin on his back long enough. I also give Sherk the edge in the stand-up although it’s close. Griffin has a good variety of punches and this could prove a difference if they do indeed duke it out, but Sherk has good defence standing up and his straighter punches should give him an edge. I think Sherk will win with a combination of takedowns and crisper boxing and probably win rounds two and three easily after a close first round.
Rich Clementi vs Gray Maynard Prediction- Maynard on points
I’m psyched that this fight is on the main card. The winner of this fight probably moves into the top five Lightweights in the UFC. I give the edge in striking in this fight to Clementi but Maynard’s wrestling should cancel that out. On the ground, I doubt Clementi can really get himself in a position to be able to submit Maynard, and may end up spending the whole fifteen minutes trying to maintain guard while Maynard drops hammerfists and elbows on his head. I doubt Maynard will finish Clementi, but he should overwhelm him on the ground.
Preliminary Card
Thales Leites vs Drew McFedries
Prediction- Leites by 1st round submission Another late replacement on this card, McFedries replaces Goran Reljic who was meant to fight Leites on the main card. McFedries has a punchers chance and always does because he has enormous power, but his lack of ground game should give Leites an easy submission win and submission of the night if Silva decides to knock Cote out instead of submitting him.
Spencer Fisher vs Shannon Gugerty
Prediction- Fisher by 2nd round knockout Another replacement here as Gugerty replaced Melvin Guillard and ruined what should have been a good fight as any fight where Guillard loses is always a good fight. Fisher should have too much for Gugerty in all aspects of the game and I don’t expect this fight to go the distance.
Matt Horwich vs Dan Miller Prediction- Miller by 1st round submission Miller steps in to replace Ricardo Almeida who was forced off the card with an injury. This is a battle between two IFL veterans, with Miller having competed in the IFL a few times and Horwich having fought most of his career there. I think Miller will make it 2/2 in the UFC after his rear naked choke win over Rob Kimmons at Fight Night: Diaz vs Neer. I don’t think Horwich can avoid the takedown or live with Miller on the ground. Miller by rear naked choke in the first round.
Marcus Aurelio vs Hermes Franca
Prediction- Franca on points This is a fight I wanted to see! Franca is a BJJ black belt under Aurelio and both of these guys now hate each other. It’s student vs former teacher and the sort of storyline you’d see in a bad martial arts movie but it’s for real. If this fight hits the ground it should be a BJJ war as both guys have excellent guards and like going for submissions and both guys are very good on top as well. I think Franca has the better stand-up of the two and that’s why I’m picking him but it’ll be first to make a mistake who loses on the ground. If either guy locks in a submission, don’t expect the other to tap. This could be a really ugly ending similar to Ryan Gracie on Shungo Oyama (or Mir on Sylvia for all you UFC newbies who haven’t experienced the magic of PRIDE yet).
Josh Burkman vs Pete Sell
Prediction- Burkman on points
Sell has better stand-up and better jiu jitsu but Burkman should nullify that with his excellent wrestling ability. The other big factor in this fight is that Sell always finds a way to lose. He nearly beat Scott Smith and he lost, he nearly beat Nate Quarry in the rematch and he lost. I’d like to see Sell win, but I don’t think he will.
