Posts from — October 2009

With the heavyweight title fight being pulled from UFC 106 due to Brock Lesnar’s illness, the November 21 card was looking a little shaky. Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin is a decent headliner but doesn’t scream “can’t miss.” Obviously, the UFC recognized the Lesnar-sized hole in the lineup that even Ortiz’s ego couldn’t fill as Josh Koscheck has posted on Twitter that he’s been added to the card and Sherdog is reporting that his opponent will be Anthony Johnson.

Like them or not, you have to give the two welterweights respect for taking such a big fight on such short notice. Koscheck is coming off a TKO of Frank Trigg at UFC 103 and had been scheduled to face Mike Pierce at UFC Fight Night 20 on January 11.

Johnson, meanwhile, is on a three-fight winning streak that includes a 41-second KO of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at last Saturday’s UFC 104. Hopefully, Johnson hasn’t packed on too much weight in the four days since the fight – he failed to make weight by a whopping six pounds after cutting down from 220 and it cost him the Knockout of the Night bonus. He also should have been further penalized for his in-cage celebration: he behaved as though he’d just knocked out Georges St. Pierre and not a middling competitor half his size.

As for what this match-up means for the welterweight division, a win by either fighter moves them closer to title contention, although I’m not convinced either would deserve a shot at GSP right away. A better scenario would be to have the winner face the winner of UFC 105’s Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy to determine the top contender.

Tracked down a video of DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis‘ first-round head kick KO of Ho Bae Myeon at DREAM 12 on Sunday. Impressive stuff. Oh, and if you’re wide-eyed about the backflip guard pass Zaromskis attempts during the pre-fight highlight reel, it was against Seichi Ikemoto at DREAM 8 and I’ve included it below, as well. Who has the presence of mind – or lack of presence of mind considering that move is insane – to try something so risky?

And also from DREAM 12, here’s Bellator FC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez against DEEP lightweight champ Katsunori Kikuno, whose upright/arms-out Frankenstein stance can give fighters problems.

Ariel Helwani over at Fanhouse caught up with Vitor Belfort to discuss his possible middleweight title bout with champ Anderson Silva at UFC 108 on January 2. That fight has yet to be locked down and has been cast into further doubt by heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar withdrawing from his UFC 106 title bout with Shane Carwin due to illness and its likely rescheduling for UFC 108.

Belfort’s dynamic and explosive fighting style is so at odds with his polite, laid back manner in this interview. I really respect him for saying that Nate Marquardt has a legitimate claim to the next title shot with Silva given that Belfort has had one fight since returning to the UFC and it was at a 195-pound catchweight. As he says, he’s just a UFC employee and he’ll fight who they put in front of him.

Ah sweet irony. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson says he doesn’t quit, that his fighters quit but he never quits. I’m not sure the fighters on his TUF team would agree, although I’m pretty sure they’d agree when he says he’s not a coach.

The Lyoto Machida-Mauricio “Shogun” Rua controversy won’t go away and it shouldn’t. The UFC light heavyweight champ’s unanimous-decision win is an embarrassment to the UFC and to the sport of mixed martial arts, a black eye that neither can sorely afford.

Now, one of the three judges who scored the UFC 104 title bout is explaining how he saw the fight. Judges Cecil Peoples and Marcos Rosales both awarded Machida the first three rounds and gave Rua the final two; judge Nelson “Doc” Hamilton scored rounds one and five for Rua, but gave Machida the middle rounds; scores were united at 48-47 in Machida’s favour. Here’s what Peoples told Five Ounces of Pain (via CageReport.com):

“First of all what you need to understand is that from where the judges are sitting, we get to see things that the fans at home may miss. Mauricio Rua was being aggressive but it wasn’t effective aggressiveness, which is what we as the judges look for when scoring a fight. The way I saw it, Lyoto was landing the more cleaner (sic) and damaging strikes throughout the fight – if you take a look at the judging criteria clean strikes are valued more so than the quantity of strikes landed. Although Rua threw a lot of low kicks they were not as damaging as Lyoto’s diverse attack in the earlier rounds, which is why I scored the first three rounds for Machida. You have to keep in mind we always favor the fighter who is trying to finish the fight, and leg kicks certainly don’t do that.

“When both fighters are engaged in a striking match what I always look for is the fighter who is being judicious, picking his spots, being accurate and landing the cleaner strikes which ultimately is what Lyoto did more effectively than Rua. Lyoto made Shogun come after him, he determined where the fight took place, which in my opinion constitutes as effective Octagon control. I recognize the fact that Rua did have a few takedown attempts during the course of the fight however Lyoto defended them all successfully which counts as effective grappling in his favor, where as unsuccessful takedown attempts are not scored at all. Therefore going by that criteria, I believe Lyoto won the fight clearly. I’m just glad the other judges on the panel saw it the same way and I’m sure the fans who understand the technicalities of the sport agree with the decision too.”

Suddenly, I understand why Rua lost the fight. Because there are idiots like Peoples judging UFC fights. Peoples was also one of the two judges who scored a split decision in favour of Michael Bisping over Mat Hamill at UFC 75, which was the worst judging decision in the UFC until last weekend.

I’ve now watched the Machida-Shogun bout a few times – obviously seeing it more than once and with slow-motion replays makes judging the outcome easier than sitting cageside but it’s the judges’ job to make the right call the first time – and my opinion has not changed. Shogun Rua won the fight. It was close, razor-thin close, but Rua clearly won.

Peoples says Rua didn’t demonstrate “effective aggressiveness,” even though he kept pressing the attack and forced Machida’s back against the cage throughout four of the five rounds. It’s hard to understand how forcing your opponent to always back away is not “effective aggressiveness.” Even when Machida did attack, Rua weathered the flurry and immediately fired back and rarely retreated.

Now, Peoples would say that all the backpedaling and covering up was really Machida making Shogun chase him and that he wanted the fight to take place along the cage, which Peoples says “constitutes as effective Octagon control.” Yes, Machida did slip away along the cage – he is the most-elusive fighter in MMA, after all – but he certainly wasn’t in control of anything and he wasn’t luring Rua into any kind of trap. Although I suppose because it’s Machida – the most-elusive fighter in MMA, in case you’ve forgotten – he’s given the benefit of the doubt that there obviously must be some grand master plan behind all his retreating.

Regardless, it was Rua in the centre of the Octagon, controlling the space, determining when to attack and when to remain patient. It was Rua who was the hunter, Machida the prey. It was like watching an Animal Planet documentary on the cobra and the mongoose.

Finally, Peoples says that Machida landed the cleaner strikes that did more damage – absolutely untrue, as the replays show that many of Machida’s so-called clean, damaging strikes were deflected or glanced off arms or were easily absorbed or just plain missed (by the narrowest margin, perhaps, but they still missed). And then Peoples says something that is one of the dumbest things any judge has ever said: leg kicks don’t finish fights.

Brandon Vera finished Mike Pratt with leg kicks at UFC 96. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic finished Yoshida Hidehiko and Hong Man Choi with leg kicks. Forrest Griffin won the light heavyweight belt in large part because of the damaging leg kicks he landed on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson that left Rampage hobbling around the cage, and Keith Jardine utilized devastating leg kicks to upset Chuck Liddell. I’d even argue that leg kicks are what beat Matt Hughes the second time he faced Georges St. Pierre (if you recall, GSP, who was landing leg kicks effectively, faked a low kick that Hughes leaned down to catch and GSP hit him with a head kick that led directly to the TKO).

Sure, a TKO from leg kicks is rare, a KO unimaginable. But their primary purpose isn’t to end fights but to soften up an opponent, limit their mobility, their ability to strike with power, leaving them open to attack. Rua’s bombardment of leg strikes was tactical brilliance. Machida wasn’t able to get off and by the second round he was switching his stance, presumably to limit the damage taken by his lead leg, which opened him to body and head strikes and the clinch.

But that doesn’t matter to Peoples. None of Rua’s 49 leg kicks (to Machida’s four) were worth throwing and I’m sure Machida didn’t spend all day Sunday with his legs encased in ice. And his ribs and face, too, for that matter.

A day late and a dollar short but for what it’s worth, here’s the results from yesterday’s 2009 K-1 MAX tournament final from Yokohama, Japan.

Tourney favourite Giorgio Petrosyan lived up to the hype with a decision win over two-time K-1 MAX champion Andy Souwer to win the title. He will next face Masato at the Dynamite! New Year’s Eve card. Petrosyan made quick work of Yuya Yamamoto in the first semi-final with a decisive second-round KO. In the second semi-final bout, two-time K-1 MAX champions Souwer and Buakaw Por Pramuk battled to a three-round draw, with Souwer squeaking out a split decision in the extra rounds.

The tournament reserve bout pitted the 2006 and 2007 K-1 MAX Japan champion, Yoshihiro Sato, against the 2008 champion, Yasuhiro Kido, with Sato walking away with the KO win in the second round.

Here’s tape from the UFC 104 post-fight press conference. I think UFC president Dana White is being a little harsh on referee Steve Mazzagatti. Saying he shouldn’t be allowed to even watch MMA, never mind referee it? That’s rough.

Sure, Ben Rothwell probably could’ve withstood a few more punches from Cain Velasquez as he was being pummeled against the cage, but he wasn’t intelligently defending himself. The ref has to take into consideration fighter safety and just because Rothwell is too stupid to go down doesn’t mean you should keep hitting him. The ref also takes into consideration the accumulation of punishment. I’m surprised Mazz didn’t step in to end it in round one. Besides, Mazzagatti shaved his mustache and I’m sure that must’ve thrown off his judgment a bit.

As for the rest of the video, I’m getting tired of light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida responding to questions of whether he thought he won the fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by saying that’s how the judges saw it. Come on, that’s a cop out. Either stand up and say you feel you won or that you feel you didn’t deserve to win. Be honourable about it, Mr. Samurai Fighter. Quit hiding behind scorecards that were obviously wrong.

Brock Lesnar has withdrawn from November 21’s UFC 106 due to illness. The news is all over the internet – I heard it from “Showdown” Joe Ferraro – and Sherdog has confirmed it. Seems the UFC heavyweight champ has been very sick and can’t shake whatever he has. Must have been someone he ate. (Make whatever jokes you want about what he has; I’ve already heard “swine flu” seven times so be creative.)

As for his opponent, Shane Carwin, there’s no upside to him accepting a replacement opponent for a non-title fight and he’s posted on Twitter that he’d like the fight moved to UFC 108 on January 2. That would make for an exceptional year-ending/beginning card. The headliner for that event is currently a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort, but with Anderson coming off elbow surgery and seemingly reluctant to fight anybody, I could see the UFC replacing that fight with Lesnar-Carwin.

Now, what do they do with UFC 106? I’m sorry, but Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin is not a headliner, even with the UFC debut of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (against Luis Cane) also on tap. Suddenly, UFC 105 isn’t looking so bad.

So this is how they’re selling UFC 105’s Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera fight? Couture “doesn’t need to win a belt, he doesn’t need to be champion, he doesn’t need to fight, he just wants to.” That’s the worst promo tagline I’ve ever heard. And since when is Denis Kang a PRIDE “superstar”? I like Kang but 6-1 in PRIDE with the biggest wins coming against Akihiro Gono and Maurilo “Ninja” Rua don’t qualify for superstar status. That said, I was surprised to see how many fights he’s had – 32-11-1(2). Good thing this event is a freebie.

The cast of the A-Team movie in all their photoshopped glory looks like a bunch of guys dressing as the A-Team for Hallowe’en: Bradley Cooper as Templeton “Faceman” Peck, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as BA Barracus, Sharlto Copley as “Howling Mad” Murdock and Liam Neeson as John “Hannibal” Smith.