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By Anthony De Franco  June 29, 2009, at 8:00 pm  From MMAweekly.com:
A welterweight contest between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann is likely for UFC 103, MMAWeekly.com has learned from sources close to the fight.
While bout agreements have not been signed, both parties have agreed to the match-up.
UFC 103 is expected to take place on Sept. 19 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, the promotion’s second trip to the Lone Star State. The event has yet to be announced by the UFC.
A while ago, we quoted a rumor that stated that Swick would likely fight Matt Hughes in his next bout. Apparently, that was pretty close to the truth, but it just didn’t work out.
“I want the Hughes fight, and we’re trying to work it out, but it doesn’t seem like it’s happening, so it might be Kampmann,” said Swick.
Hughes is in the process of working out a brand new deal, so there likely is some hardball being played on the part of Dana White and the UFC. Swick is 9-1 in the UFC and likely will get a title shot or at the very least a #1 contenders match if he wins.
Kampmann is 6-1 in the UFC and coming off a controversial split decision win over the last WEC welterweight champion, Carlos Condit. He also turned down a chance to fight against T.J. Grant at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale.
Add this to a card that will already feature Josh Koscheck v. Frank Trigg, Tyson Griffin v. Hermes Franca, and TUF 8 Winner Efrain Escudero v. Cole Miller.
By Anthony De Franco June 29, 2009, at 3:37 pm Did you ever watch an athlete, no matter what the sport, and find yourself saying “My god, If he ever puts it all together, He could be one of the greatest of all time.” Well, in my short foray into Mixed Martial Arts so far, I’ve only said that once. It wasn’t about guys like Georges St. Piere, or B.J. Penn. Those guys are established and it’s no fun trying to tell everyone that an established guy is going to be great. He’s already great. It wasn’t about a guy who was on The Ultimate Fighter. Everyone has already seen those guys. It was about a guy who’s brother plays defensive tackle for Syracuse, who was a junior college wrestler and has not even come close to rounding out his game yet.
Jon “Bones” Jones.
Here’s the thing about MMA. While the best in this sport are remarkable skilled, it is just now growing to the point where it is attracting elite level athletes. Think about how many guys in the UFC there are that you think could be successful in other sports. I can only think of one, and GSP is the best fighter in the world for just that reason. His sick athleticism makes him more dangerous than just about anyone. Well, Jon Jones is that guy. He is GSP when it comes to being a natural athlete. His brother, Arthur Jones, is an All-American defensive tackle for the Syracuse Orange, so you know that the bloodlines are good. He is 6′4 and weighs in at 205 pounds. That long frame presents problems for a lot of fighters due to his incredible reach. Not to mention that fact that once he starts learning jiu-jitsu, those limbs can present submission opportunities that shorter men would not have.
As I said, Jones is far from a finished product. While his wrestling is decent, it certainly isn’t top level. He has some Muay Thai, but it’s raw. He has virtually zero jiu-jitsu training. While most people would say that he is a flawed fighter because of all these things, I would point them to two numbers: 8 and 21. Jones has only had eight professional fights, (two in the UFC) and is only 21 years old. That is a world of time to make all of those changes, and since he is in the Light Heavyweight division, one of the UFC’s deepest, he shouldn’t get pushed along too quickly. He’ll fight middling and low-level guys while he gets his game together.
For his next fight at UFC 100 against Jake O’Brien, the game plan is simple. Stuff O’Brien’s shots, and make him pay with punches and knees. The fight won’t take long. However, the real challenge for Jones is going to be down the road. In two years, when we see Jones against guys like Forrest Griffin and Shogun Rua, don’t be shocked. I told you that it would happen.
So to answer my own question: That ceiling is high. Cathedral high.
By Jason Comack June 29, 2009, at 1:45 pm The other day I wrote about teams that should or shouldn’t try to take the proverbial leap. The Giants are one of the few teams I believe that are just pieces away from being a world series contender. Their pitching is simply that good. In a playoff series any team is going to have trouble matching up with a Lincecum/Cain one-two punch. Of course what the Giants lack is hitting. In fact their offense is comically bad, they rank second to last in the MLB in OPS (.693) It’s clear that for the Giants to take the leap they need to trade for a bat.
If the Giants wanted to make a blockbuster trade they certainly have the resources. They have a very solid farm system loaded with, not surprising, high upside power arms. Top prospects Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey are likely untouchable in any trade. Bumgarner is an ace in the making and has dominated the minors at every level. A three headed monster of Lincecum, Cain, and Bumgarner is downright scary. Posey on other hand is an offensive catcher who is likely on the fast track and optimistically being penciled into a starting job next season. After those two the Giants have plenty of other resources. Angel Villonova is a five star prospect with a world of potential, the 19 year old projects as a big time slugging first basemen. Tim Alderson might not be the caliber of prospect as Bumgarner but he’s had similar success in the minors. He’s a legit front of the rotation starter.
So what kind of bat should the Giants be shopping for? The Giants should not be looking for a “rental.” Players like Aubrey Huff, Nick Johnson, Matt Holliday fit the Giants needs short term but not long term (all have one year remaining on their contracts.) Is it really worth it to part with Alderson for a couple months of Aubrey Huff? There isn’t an MLB ready bat in there farm system and the only sound offensive players on the current club are Aaron Rowand and Pablo Sandoval. The Giants need a bat that they can control for the future.
Option A: Victor Martinez
Martinez can catch and play first, that versatility would ease the burden off Posey next season. He’s hitting a robust .321/.400/.534 on the season. He’s under control for two years, $5.7 million this season and $7 million next. The Indians are in sell mode but the cost to acquire Martinez would be very high. Would Alderson and Villonva (and other assorted less valuable prospects) be enough to get it done?
Option B: Adam Dunn
You know what you are getting with Dunn. A lot of walks, strikeouts, home runs and terrible defense. He’s hitting .257/.396/.518 on the season. He’s making a reasonable $8 million this season and $12 million next. Everyone had a shot to sign this guy and everyone passed, it was a tremendous mistake at the time and in hindsight it looks even worse. Keeping Dunn serves no purpose for the Nationals and if they can get Alderson for him they should take it.
Option C: Adrian Gonzalez
This option makes the most sense…but it will never happen because the Padres share a division with the Giants. Gonzalez is under contract cheaply for three more seasons and Bumgarner in a pitchers park would make him a Cy-Young candidate in the future. But again, it will never happen so why waste our time.
I don’t get why Brian Sabean won’t make a move. The team is locked into a rotation of Lincecum, Cain and Zito. While in an ideal world you could trot out Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain, Alderson, Zito it’d be overkill. Alderson and others are best served to this tream as a trading chips.
By Zach Schiff June 29, 2009, at 12:30 pm 
This is what I expect to happen on July 1 at noon, the start of free agency…
- TSN/Versus to have awkward coverage from noon until 2:00, when the signings start to happen. People like Ed Olczyk and Pierre McGuire (whose real name, by the way, no joke, is Regis) will sit talking about what might happen and periodically write text messages to other people, fishing for a story, while on the air.
- Colton Orr will not be offered a contract with the Rangers. On a related note, expect a lot more mangames missed in 2009-10 to injury without an enforcer in the lineup (remember the awful decision to sit him in Game 6 and what Donald Brashear did to Blair Betts?).
- The Islanders will sign an enforcer to protect John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey, much like the Capitals did when they signed Brashear to protect Alex Ovechkin. By the way, Orr and Brashear are both unrestricted free agents.
- Marian Hossa will sign on in Pittsburgh, citing “I think the Penguins give me the best chance to win a Cup, and I’m just happy to be here… again.”
- The Rangers will not make a big splash in the free agent pool for once, mostly because they’ll have no Cap-space due to 4 big splashes in the past 2 Julys.
- Noticing that they only have Aaron Voros, Mark Bell, and Brian Boyle under contract, the Rangers will go and sign another “gritty” 3rd/4th line winger who can’t fight and won’t score. Oh, what? Ryan Hollweg is a free agent? Quick, give him a million dollars!
- Glen Sather will once again laugh at Nik Antropov wanting $5M for his 59 points last year, while basking in the fact that he gave Chris Drury over $7M for comparable numbers.
- Bill Guerin will stay in the Atlantic division, either re-signing in Pittsburgh, or heading to Philadelphia or back to New Jersey.
- No free agents will want to play on Long Island again, regardless of who they drafted 1st overall.
- Both the Islanders and Rangers will want Mike Cammallari and his 40-goal season, but won’t be able to sign him. The Rangers won’t because they have no money, and the Islanders won’t because, well, see above.
- The Sedin twins will not get their 12-year contracts because no GM in their right mind would give away two contracts to people who will be 40 when they expire. And no GM would be willing to pay $6M against the Cap to two different players when they are 37, 38, 39, or 40. Except, of course, Glen Sather, but luckily, the Rangers have no Cap room.
- Blair Betts and Freddy Sjostrom will not re-sign in New York. On a related note, the #1 PK will fall to around #15 or so, and Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Michal Rozsival, etc., will be too tired to do anything on offense from playing so much PK-time.
- Journeyman Mike Sillinger will retire.
- Sather will forfeit 4 1st round draft picks by sending a $6.5M offer sheet to Vancouver for horrendously out-of-shape Kyle Wellwood.
- Instead of big, mean, passionate Antropov, Sather will opt for gutless, fancy, non-scoring Nik Zherdev.
- Instead of going for a good defenseman like Rob Scuderi, Mike Komisarek, Mattias Ohlund, or Francois Beauchemin, they’ll probably take a salary-eater like Hal Gill or Marc-Andre Bergeron.
- Scuderi… Islander? He’s in line a for big raise and they have the Cap-space, and he’s from Syosset.
By Jason Comack June 29, 2009, at 10:00 am Why is it a lock that LeBron is either going to be a Cav or Knick come 2010. I brought this up tonight and got laughed at by my friends. Isn’t it a real concern that the Knicks won’t be able to field a team with enough talent to lure LeBron to N.Y? I get it, there’s an allure that comes with playing in New York. Winning in New York isn’t like winning anywhere else, it’s the media capital of the world and the best place for LeBron to play if he wants to become a “global icon.” I’m also aware that the 7 seconds or less offense is perfect for LeBron and that it would artificially inflate his stats to no end. If he comes to NY he will average 30 10 and 10, it’s a lock.
But New York isn’t the only big city with major cap space…
In 2010 the Bulls will have roughly $41 million committed to their cap. Since the salary cap is going backwards they may or may not have enough room to get under enough to add a max contract. However, they are likely to move Kirk Hinrich ($9 million in 2010) before the start of the season. In Chicago LeBron could play alongside, Derrick Rose (who better to pass to LBJ) Loul Deng, Tryus Thomas, Joakim Noah and John Salmons. That’s way more than the Knicks will have to offer.
In 2010 the Heat have literally no guaranteed contracts on their roster. If they wanted to they could have the entire salary cap to play with. However, assuming Dewayne Wade opts out of his contract, his new max deal would account for roughly 18 million or so in cap space. Assuming the Heat pick up Mario Chalmers option ($847K) and Michael Bealeys option ($6 million) they will roughly have $25 million in salary on the books. Meaning they have $30 million to play with (assuming the cap is around $55 million, a low estimate.) That means they could add LeBron and another big gun. Way more than the Knicks have to offer.
Last but not least, what about the Clippers? Sure it’s Kobe’s town but the Lakers fans are a bandwagon bunch. Don’t act like they wouldn’t put down the purple and gold for a shinny LeBron 23 Clipper jersey. In 2010 the Clippers have roughly 52 million committed in salary. However, if they can move Chris Kaman for an expiring contract (as it has been rumored) they would be at $40 million which could make them a player in free agency. Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Al Thorton, Blake Griffin and Zach Randolph…isn’t that a much more appealing group (sans Randolph) than the Knicks could offer?
The “Donnie Walsh shed salary for 2010″ plan seemed good at the time but at least this Knick fan is getting nervous. If, and that’s still a big if, LBJ leaves Cleavland why is he going to come to NY? Is playing with Danillo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Jordan Hill, Toney Douglas, Jared Jefferies and Eddy Curry that appealing?
Obviously a lot can happen between now and next off-season but it’s way too early to be ordering your James 23 jerseys.
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