Archive for November, 2007

Is Fedor Truly Facing The Best?

Published by C Mac on November 27, 2007 in Fight Previews, Fighters and M1. 9 Comments

With Fedor set to fight K-1 Champ Hong Man Choi on New Years Eve, many are complaining about the talent level the world’s #1 ranked fighter will be facing, now that he has elected not to sign with the UFC. Before jumping to any conclusions, let’s ask ourselves one question:

Would he really be facing the best if he did sign with Dana and the boys?

I think not. Let’s look to history for proof:

The UFC signs Cro Cop. Recognized as # 2 heavyweight in the world at the time. So who do they pit the world’s deadliest striker against? Tim Sylvia? Andrei Arlovski? No. Eddie Sanchez, Gabe Gonzaga and Cheik Kongo.

Geez. Thanks Joe Silva. They were some really great fantasy match ups you treated us to!

Then……..

The UFC signs Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira . Once again, widely recognized as #2 heavyweight. Who does he get? Randy? How about Brandon Vera? That would be interesting…….

How about Heath Herring for a third time?

How about no? I guess you could call it the rubber match…… that is if Herring had managed to win one of the two previous fights. Completely unnecessary. Although he wins a decision, Minotauro gets dropped and nearly finished in the first round, somewhat tarnishing his debut.

And finally…….

The UFC signs Shogun. #1 ranked light heavyweight in the world. Surely they will get this one right. Throw him Chuck, or even Tito for God’s sake! This guy absolutely demolished the current champ Rampage. So who does he get?

A guy who just lost to Jardine and squeaked  out a decision over Hector Ramirez.

Ummmmmm, yeah. That’s what we were all waiting for.

Now, I’m not bashing the aforementioned opposition. In fact, all but Sanchez and Herring managed to pull off upset victories. I’m merely pointing out that the UFC’s matchmaking for these elite fighters has been anything but a fantasy league. Who do you think they would have been matching Fedor up against had they signed him? Given the recent track record, I somehow doubt it would be a dream match.

I don’t know about you, but Fedor vs Choi is more appealing to me than Fedor vs Dan Christison……

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Serra Out, GSP In

Published by C Mac on November 25, 2007 in Fight Cards, Fight News, Fight Previews and Fighters. 94 Comments

Georges St. Pierre will get another chance to kick Matt Hughes in the balls on December 29th when he steps in for Welterweight Champion Matt Serra in the main event of UFC 79: Nemesis.

Serra herniated a disc in his back during training last week and was forced to withdraw from the fight. Kudos to the UFC for putting in a viable contender in his place.

This fight will be for the Interim Welterweight Championship. One can only assume that Serra will fight the winner to unify the titles once he has recovered from his injury.

Hughes and GSP have fought twice before, each owning one victory.

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Evans Trumps Bisping in PPV Snoozer

Published by C Mac on November 18, 2007 in Fight Cards, Fight News and Fight Results. 13 Comments

Last night TUF 2 Champ Rashad Evans defeated TUF 3 Champ Michael Bisping in the headlining bout of what was a predictably average event.

Rashad dominated the opening round, but looked very tired through the final 10 minutes and relied on his wrestling to squeak out a split decision victory over his season 3 counterpart.

Thiago Silva exposed Houston Alexander’s lack of a ground game with a TKO stoppage over the rising star. In what was likely the evening’s biggest upset, The Chute Box Academy fighter was able to control Alexander on the ground with ease and land heavy shots from the mount to force the referee to intervene at 3:25 of the opening round.

The hotly anticipated debut of former Pride star Ryo Chonan turned out to be a complete snoozefest as he and Karo Parisyan negated each other’s offense through 3 rounds. Although Karo was able to control “The Piranha” and take him down at will, the Armenian Judoka was unable to cause any real damage and struggled to maintain dominant position. The bout ended in a unanimous decision in favor of Parisyan, all but ending my hopes of seeing Chonan rematch Anderson Silva anytime soon.

In a middleweight rematch, Ed Herman was able to score the first knockout of his career over Canadian journeyman Joe “El-Dirte” Doerksen. Doerksen, who was a late replacement for the injured Dave Terrell almost replicated his earlier victory over Herman with a very tight triangle choke/armbar at the end of the 2nd round. But it was not to be as the round ended, likely saving Herman. If anything, this fight highlighted Herman’s weak submission defense, something the Washington native will have to work on should he want to move up the middleweight ladder.

Frankie Edgar took home what looked to be an easy victory over Spencer Fisher in the opening bout. “The Answer” bullied Fisher around The Octagon for the full 15 minutes to earn the unanimous decision. Though Edgar shows excellent promise, he shares the fault of many ex wrestlers in that he has trouble putting away opponents. Edgar would likely benefit from spending some time with American Top Team or Greg Jackson.

That’s a wrap on what I would call a pretty dull card. Thank God for UFC 79!

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Bisping vs Evans Preview

Published by C Mac on November 16, 2007 in Fight Cards, Fight Predictions and Fight Previews. 12 Comments

Given the relative weakness of UFC 78: Validation, we are breaking from tradition and only previewing the main event. While the Chonan/Parisyan bout certainly looks interesting, the Bisping/Evans encounter is the only match on the card that has any title ramifications.

You can bet that if either Rashad or “The Count” take the win in convincing fashion, they will be thrust right into the mix in the Light Heavyweight Title hunt. So who’s gonna win?

Looking at the pair’s past few fights, Rashad is coming off a draw with Tito, but previous to that had 2 very impressive stoppage victories over Sean Salmon and Jason Lambert.

While Bisping is coming off a win, it was a very questionable split decision over arch-rival Matt Hamill.

Evans has unquestionably faced the stiffer competition in the UFC, but struggled to finish fights until his bout with Lambert. Bisping’s most impressive win was last December against Eric Shafer, where The Count was able to defend Shafer’s relentless take down attempts and eventually finish him.

Rashad’s Pros & Cons: Evans does not have quite the wrestling pedigree of Matt Hamill, however Rashad is no slouch. He is incredibly explosive with his takedowns and was at times able to manhandle Ortiz in their bout, which is no easy task. Both Schafer, and especially Hamill proved that while Bisping’s takedown defense is solid, it is anything but impenetrable so expect to see the fight go to the ground should Rashad decide to take it there.

Rashad also has very good boxing. He is confident in his hands and will likely keep it standing until he gets caught. His confidence may be a little unwarranted as he has mainly fought other wrestlers to this point with Stephan Bonnar being the best striker he has faced to date. Bonnar gave Rashad all sorts of trouble standing up forcing Rashad to resort to a “Lay and Pray” strategy.

Bisping’s Pros & Cons: While Bonnar may have an edge on The Count in strictly boxing, I have no doubt that Bisping has the better kickboxing game and based on the way Bonnar troubled Evans in the stand up department, this could prove to be Rashad’s downfall. Bisping has surely been training for Rashad’s takedowns and may serve up a knee to Mr. Evans’ grill should Rashad telegraph a shot.

If Evans get Bisping to the mat, it’s questionable what The Count will be able to do from his back. Bisping was unable to finish the less experienced Hamill from his gaurd while spending the majority of their tilt in that position.

Verdict: I would have to agree with Vegas here and give Rashad (-300) the advantage. I simply don’t see The Count (+220) being able to avoid Rashad’s takedowns for 15 straight minutes. Rashad is a smart fighter and will not keep it standing if he’s taking abuse. Unless he eats a knee on the way in for a double leg and goes directly to sleep, look for the TUF 2 winner to have his hand raised in a unanimous decision victory.

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Elite XC Roundup

Published by C Mac on November 11, 2007 in Fight Cards, Fight News, Fight Results and Non UFC. 6 Comments


Here’s a brief overview of last night’s Elite XC card from Texas:

In the opening contest, Antonio Silva hammer fisted the hell outta Johnathan Wiezorek before finishing the fight with a rear naked choke.

Aussie standout fighter Kyle Noke looked to have some slick Jiu-Jitsu in his victory over Seth “The Doctor” Kleinbeck. It was a real doctor however, who called a stop to the fight when Noke opened up a vagina sized gash over Kleinbeck’s left eye.

Up and coming welterweight Jake Shields looked sloppy in the opening minutes of his contest with Mike Pyle but managed to catch Pyle with a rear naked choke to end the fight.

Street fighting and Youtube legend Kevin Ferguson AKA. Kimbo Slice made short work of Bo Cantrell in his MMA debut. In what initially appeared to be a possible work, Slice threw only 1 body shot and a glancing elbow to elicit a tap out from Cantrell at the 0:19 second mark. Once Cantrell got to his feet however, it was clear he was caught by something the camera apparently missed as his entire face was swelling up in the shape of one of Kimbo’s giant ham hocks.

In the main event of the evening, Karl James Noons dominated Nick Diaz with beautiful hand combinations to capture the vacant 160 pound championship. KJ caught Diaz with a hard body shot early in the first which seemed to suck the life out of the Ralph Macchio look a like. The fight was another doctor stoppage after the first round as Diaz’s left eye had completely swollen shut. Diaz vehemently protested the stoppage but as Noons said in his post fight interview “How many times did I knock him down? I would have finished him soon if the doctor didn’t stop it.”

That’s a wrap!

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