A wins a win

The main event at UFC 123 featured a fight between two of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

Both men are former UFC Light Heavyweight champions and a win would vault one of these fighters right back into the title picture.

The fight was an extremely close one.  Machida is one of the hardest fighters to hit cleanly in MMA.  He leaps into range, fires a combination, and backs out of danger before his opponent has a chance to counterattack.  In the first round, Rampage was using good movement to keep Machida in front of him but had trouble landing any power shot.  The first round could be awarded to either fighter.  Machida landed a handful of hard leg kicks and avoided much of Jackson's punches but Rampage was constantly pressuring "The Dragon" and landed several strong uppercuts. 

The second round was definitely in Rampage's favor.  He did a better job at cutting the cage off, landed more strikes, and he scored a takedown.

The third round, however, was all Machida.  He stunned Rampage with a flurry of punches to force him back against the fence then scored a trip takedown.  From there he worked from half guard and was able to pass to mount.  With about a minute and a half remaining Machida spins for an armbar.  Rampage is able to get to his feet but "The Dragon" is still latched onto his arm.  Jackson then picks Machida up off the ground and tosses him away from him.  Machida is able to land on his feet and tries to score a clinch takedown against the fence as the fight ends.

An extremely close fight comes down to the scorecards.  Two judges see it for Jackson, 29-28, and one sees it for Machida, 29-28.  Rampage picks up the Split Decision.  Rampage admitted to Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview in the Octagon that he thought Machida had won the fight and offered to take an immediate rematch with "The Dragon."


Rampage was visually shocked to hear he had picked up the decision victory.

 I personally had Machida winning the fight, but I am a huge Rampage fan and I was glad to see him take the decision.  Machida's style of constantly backing away from any danger was his downfall in this fight.  If he would have been more aggressive, I'm positive the fight would have gone his way. 

A fight with Machida isn't a great way to showcase Rampage's skills, even though he showed a much better ability to cut the cage off then I'm used to seeing from him.  To show why I am such a huge Rampage fan I collected a few short highlight clips of him for you to enjoy.  Along with the nickname "Rampage,"  Quinton is also known as "Slampage" and you will soon see why.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbEU6X0OXkI

Pride Never Die!

My last post about Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic got me thinking about how much I loved the Pride Fighting Championship.  I then decided that it would be really good to show my love in a blog post about its history and great moments in the organization.

Pride Fighting Championship, also known as Pride FC or simply Pride, was a Mixed Martial Arts promotion based out of Japan.  It was started in 1997 as a one time event to pit popular Japanese pro-wrestler, Nobuhiko Takada, against Rickson Gracie.  The immense success of the event, which drew 47,000 to the Tokyo Dome, allowed the company to hold regular MMA events.  Pride wasn't broadcast anywhere in the United States until the Final Round of the 2000 Grand Prix.

The 2000 Grand Prix was an open-weight tournament to be held over the course of two nights.  The Opening Round was held in January of 2000 with a field of 16 fighters.  The Final Round was held in May of 2000.  The final 8 fighters would have to win 3 fights in one night to win the tournament.  Mark Coleman would go on to win the tournament by beating Igor Vovchanchyn in the final bout.  Coleman, a two time UFC tournament champion and the first ever UFC Heavyweight champion, was so overcome with joy after the win that he attempted to jump over the Pride ring ropes and hilariously bounced off them back into the ring.



After this night, Pride became a huge hit not only in Japan but in the United States.  American fans had to learn a new set of rules from the Unified Rules that were now in place in the states.  In Pride the first round lasted 10 minutes while the final two rounds were 5 minutes long.  The 10 minute first round was to give ground fighters the time necessary to work for a submission.  The fight wasn't judged round by round but as a fight entirely.  Pride fights were staged in a 5 rope square boxing style ring.  Pride did not allow elbow strikes to a grounded opponent but they did allow knees and soccer kicks to a grounded opponent.  Stomps to the head were also a staple of a Pride fight, usually by Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua.

Pride was known for their elaborate event openings and the famous "fighter parade."  The Pride event openings were filled with the sounds of a full orchestra, pyrotechnics and the ravings of Lenne Hardt, also known as the "Crazy Pride Lady."  These elaborate introductions were in stark contrast to the basic openings of events such as the UFC who had begun to discontinue fighter introductions and pyrotechnics during their shows.  When a Pride event was starting the excitement was palpable.




Pride wasn't just all flash and no substance.  They put on some of the most entertaining and technically superb fights of all-time.  Many of the magical moments Pride gave the MMA world were a direct cause of their Grand Prix tournaments.  The Mark Coleman celebration and Kazushi Sakuraba's epic 90 minute fight with Royce Gracie at the 2000 Grand Prix, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's destruction of the competition at the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, and Wanderlei Silva's war with Quinton Jackson at the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix are all moments that will live forever thanks to the Pride tournaments.

For years, Pride enjoyed success that rivaled the UFC in America.  Around the 10th Anniversary of Pride the organization would be dealt a serious blow.  The organization was dogged for years concerning allegations that they had ties to the Yakuza or Japanese mob.  The Japanese tabloid, Shukan Gendai, published that Pride was a Yakuza front.  With these allegations running wild, Fuji Network terminated their television deal with Pride.  The Fuji television deal was extremely lucrative for Pride and they were left with just the pay-per-view carrier, SKY PerfecTV, as their lone outlet to Japanese television.  10 months later, Pride was sold to Lorenzo Fertitta and the UFC.

The Fertittas and Dana White promised they would keep the Pride name going and hold events in Japan at the press conference to announce the purchase of Pride but it never panned out.  The UFC could never find a way to work in Japan.  Even when they loaned Chuck Liddell to Pride to enter the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix they could never get Pride to send one of their fighters over to the UFC to fight.  The Japanese are a very nationalistic people and the thought of an American company running the Pride organization was almost sacrilegious to them.  The Pride Worldwide offices closed October 4, 2007.

There will never be another Pride Fighting Championship.  The UFC may put on fights that are just as good and sometimes better than past Pride fights, but they will never have the same feel and atmosphere that accompanied Pride.  There was nothing like the deathly silence of 50,000 Japanese fans the moment before they erupted in cheering when their fighter won.

This video says all that needs to be said about Pride that I couldn't capture in my writing.

MMA Legends: Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

It is a pretty slow news day in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  Everyone is just gearing up for the furious pace of events scheduled for the last half of November/first half of December.  From November 11 to December 16 there will be a total of 8 major events.  WEC 52, UFC 122, Strikeforce Challengers 12, UFC 123, The Ultimate Fighter Finale, Strikeforce:  Babalu vs Henderson, UFC 124, and the last WEC event ever.

With the brief lull in events, I decided this would be a perfect time to post a little history lesson on a fighter.  I struggled with who I should pick and decided to watch some highlight videos on youtube.  After watching the one below I knew I had to write about one of my favorite Heavyweights of all-time, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.







Mirko, born September 10, 1974, started his fighting career in a K-1 ring.  K-1 is a kickboxing promotion.  It is basically Mixed Martial Arts without takedowns and ground fighting.  Fighters can kick, knee and punch and they wear larger, boxing style gloves.  During this time Mirko was a commando in the Croatian anti-terrorist unit Alpha where he picked up the nickname "Cro Cop" which is short for Croatian Cop.  Mirko would amass a record of 12-7 in K-1 with notable wins against Jerome Le Banner, Mike Bernardo, Musashi, Sam Greco, and Peter Aerts.  3 of his losses would be at the hands of legendary kickboxer, Ernesto Hoost.  After losing to Michael McDonald, Filipovic started his transition to MMA.

Mirko would have immediate success in MMA.  His K-1 level striking, most notably his laser-like accuracy with his hands and his devastating kicks, translated very well to the new sport.  He also developed one of the best sprawls and takedown defenses in the world, keeping the fight just where he wanted it.  Cro Cop would go on to have an amazing run in the Pride Fighting organization.  Wins over Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring, Igor Vovchanchyn, Josh Barnett, Aleks Emelianenko, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman would propel him into a Heavyweight title fight with Fedor Emelianenko.  The fight was almost exactly a year to the day since Cro Cop knocked out Fedor's little brother, Aleksander.  Mirko would lose the epic Heavyweight fight by Unanimous Decision.

This was another huge letdown for the Croatian.  In 2003, he was dominating Big Nog in their Interim Heavyweight title fight until Nogueira pulled out a miracle armbar win.  In 2004, he would be eliminated from the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament when Kevin Randleman pulled off the KO upset.  With the loss to Fedor it seemed that Mirko would be the greatest fighter never to win a major title.

A year after the Fedor loss, Mirko would be entered into the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix.  The Open-Weight Grand Prix was a tournament with no weight limits.  A Heavyweight could be matched up with a Middleweight for example.  Filipovic won his first fight in May against Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO and followed that up in September by brutalizing Hidehiko Yoshida by leg kicks.  With the win, Mirko was headed to the semifinals at Pride Final Conflict Absolute.  He would have to win two fights in one night to win the tournament.  The other semifinalists were Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  Cro Cop was matched up with Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva in his first fight.  The two had fought before to a controversial draw years before.  This time there was no controversy as Cro Cop scored another highlight reel head kick KO victory.  Josh Barnett won his matchup with Nogueira in a grueling split decision.  In the finals, Cro Cop would finally win the big one by submitting Barnett with strikes.

Cro Cop finally struck gold in the Open-Weight Grand Prix.

That would be Mirko's last fight in the Pride organization.  The stars were aligned that night for Cro Cop.  He moved on to the UFC and for a short time Dream after his time in Pride.  He is currently 6-4-1 since winning the Grand Prix.  Age and injuries have really taken a toll on Cro Cop the past few years. 

I will always remember him for his devastating kicks, he once famously referred to them as, "Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery" and his amazing Pride fights.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Brock Lesnar is a giant of a man.  Lets just get that piece of information out of the way right off the bat.  The guy stands 6'3'' and he has to cut weight just to make the 265 lb. weight limit for the Heavyweight division.  Brock is a four-time All-American, a two-time Big Ten champion, and he won the 2000 Heavyweight NCAA Division 1 National Championship in wrestling.  If you were to meet a person in a dark alley, Lesnar would probably be in your top 5 of people you would not want to see.  Even with all that;  his size, athleticism, and strength, he could not stop Cain Velasquez from taking his UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 121.

Lesnar tried to bull rush across the ring at the very start of the fight to catch Cain off guard but Velasquez used his superior footwork to stay out of danger.  Brock then shot in for a takedown and briefly had it until Cain worked back to his feet.  Lesnar tried again to take Velasquez to the mat but Cain was ready and used his Arizona State University honed wrestling to stifle the behemoth champion.  Once Brock couldn't take Cain down the fight was basically over.  Cain landed a few strikes that had Lesnar spinning and ducking out of harms way but Velasquez was relentless.  Brock was dropped but managed to get back up after absorbing some ground and pound.  His legs were still shaky when Cain dropped him again and pounded him out.  The referee was forced to step in and save Lesnar from a further beating.  Velasquez dominates Lesnar to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion by first round TKO.  With the win, Cain becomes the first Mexican Heavyweight champion in combat history.  That includes both MMA and boxing.

To further illustrate the epic destruction of Brock Lesnar, here are the numbers from FightMetric.com.

Cain Velasquez versus Brock Lesnar by the numbers

Cain outstruck Brock 48 to 11.  31 of the strikes were power or significant punches.  That is one of the purest beatdowns you will see in the UFC.

Up next for the new champion will be a title fight against Junior Dos Santos.  Dos Santos is a Brazilian striker who trains with the Nogueira brothers out of Team Black House.

I should of asked for a new car or something...

I was all set to write Part 2 of my blog detailing why the UFC should merge with their smaller WEC promotion and then Dana White announces that the UFC would absorb the WEC's roster of fighters.  Way to steal my thunder.

The WEC will finish the final two events they had scheduled in 2010 and come January of 2011 the WEC will be no more.  This sets up a few interesting situations that will be hashed out in the coming months.

The winner of the December 16th WEC Lightweight title fight between champion, Ben Henderson, and Anthony Pettis will get to fight the winner of Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard for the UFC Lightweight title.  Also, Jose Aldo will be defending his UFC Featherweight title at UFC 125.  Just saying Jose Aldo and UFC title in the same sentence makes me smile.  The guy is a star and will finally get the attention from casual fans he deserves.  All the WEC employees will be brought over to the UFC, even down to the ring card girl, Brittany Palmer.

I'm off to search for more pictures of Brittany Palmer.  Umm.  For research.  Yes, blog research.

Why a UFC/WEC merger should happen - Part 1

I briefly touched on the subject of the UFC absorbing the WEC in my last post.  Countless MMA journalists have called for the WEC and its lighter roster of fighters to be brought over to the UFC and I see no reason why the move would not be a rousing success for both the fighters and the UFC.  Before I get into how the merger would help the fighters, here is a list of events by year the UFC has put on since 2000.

6 events in 2000
5 events in 2001
7 events in 2002
5 events in 2003
5  events in 2004
10 events in 2005 (coincides with the popularity of the Ultimate Fighter reality show)
18 events in 2006
19 events in 2007
20 events in 2008
20 events in 2009
24 events scheduled for 2010

By the time the UFC rolls into Montreal in December to finish their year, they will have already smashed their previous record of 20 events in a calendar year by 4.  A company who once was content with scheduling an event once every two months, now schedules two events every month. 

With the increase in events held every year the UFC has became the undisputed king of pay-per-view, taking the crown from professional wrestling.  With this increase in events, the UFC might be falling into the same oversaturation trap that has taken a chunk out of professional wrestling's numbers.  For example, the WWE has several shows every week on top of their monthly pay-per-view schedule.  The UFC also airs a weekly show, The Ultimate Fighter, alongside their SpikeTV Fight Night events, Ultimate Fighter Finale shows and pay-per-views.  The WWE and UFC also have to compete with upstart promotions, TNA and Strikeforce, who are looking to siphon off even more business.

The problem with the UFC isn't that it has to many events, the problem is that they don't have enough quality fighters to fill the additional slots at the events.  That problem would immediately be relieved by the infusion of the WEC's roster of lighter fighters to the UFC's talent pool.  The great thing about the merger is that both promotions are run by the parent company, Zuffa, so there would be no convoluted contract manuevering like there was when the UFC purchased Pride Fighting Championship. 

UFC 119 and WEC 51 were held a mere 5 days apart from one another.  How amazing would UFC 119 have been if the card looked like this.

Jose Aldo vs Manny Gamburyan for the Featherweight title
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs Frank Mir
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Ryan Bader
Sean Sherk vs Evan Dunham
Matt Serra vs Chris Lytle

Jamie Varner vs Donald Cerrone
Melvin Guillard vs Jeremy Stephens
C.B. Dollaway vs Joe Doerksen
Miguel Torres vs Charlie Valencia
Chan Sung Jung vs George Roop
Mike Brown vs Cole Province

I think UFC 119's pay-per-view buyrate, which was around 275,000, would of at least jumped into the 400,000 - 500,000 range with the quality of the card.  If a handful of WEC fighters added to one subpar UFC event could improve their numbers that much, you would have to imagine the UFC would jump at the idea of merging.

In Part 2, I will discuss how the UFC and WEC fighters would benefit from a roster merger.

Baddest man on the planet?

Historically, the heavier weight class fighters have been considered to be the best fighters in the world.  I agree with that sentiment for the most part but I believe that there is a smaller fighter that has just as much claim to the top fighter spot as Brock Lesnar or Fedor Emelianenko has.  That man is WEC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo.

Aldo is primarily a stand-up fighter.  He uses his aggressive Muay Thai striking, especially flying knees and leg kicks, to overwhelm his opponents.  Aldo has pinpoint accuracy and lightning speed with all his strikes, earning him the nickname the "Brazilian Cobra."  His wrestling is also extremely underrated.  If his opponent is lucky enough to get him down to the canvas he still has to contend with Aldo's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, which he received from the Nogueira brothers.

Aldo has used these skills to tear through the WEC's 145lb. competition since his debut in 2008.  At the age of 24, Jose already has several career defining fights to his name.  It only took him 8 seconds, and a double flying knee, to dispatch of Cub Swanson.

Another highlight fight for Aldo was his destruction of former champion, Urijah Faber.  The California Kid was battered by kicks to his leg for 5 excruciating rounds and could barely walk out of the cage.  Aldo was able to keep the fight standing and brutalized Faber in his hometown.



Urijah's leg the morning after the fight.



Urijah's leg several days after the fight.



Last Thursday Jose defended his title against Manny Gamburyan with a fantastic display of striking.  After feeling Manny out in the first round, Aldo unleashed a furious ground assault that knocked Gamburyan out cold.  There are not many more threats left for Jose at Featherweight, besides Josh Grispi, and there are talks of him jumping up a weight class to take on the UFC's Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar.  I would love to see that fight but I would much rather see the WEC folded into the UFC so Jose Aldo and the WEC's army of lighter fighters get the exposure they deserve.