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By Anthony De Franco  July 12, 2009, at 11:14 pm  There is no question in anyone’s mind that a fight between the world’s number one and two (or two and three depending upon you who talk to) ranked fighters sounds like a great idea. Well, that is exactly what you would have when you think about the possibility of a Georges St. Pierre v. Anderson Silva match for the Middleweight Title. However, I’m becoming increasingly weary of the idea of fighters going up and down in weight.
Here’s the first reason why: When is the next time that Anderson Silva plans on fighting an actual middleweight? He is going to take on Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in a light heavyweight fight, and the idea is to “entertain” Silva. After all, his last two middleweight title defenses against Patrick Cote and Thales Leites were two of the worst main events in the history of the UFC. However, are we really going to accept the fact that Silva is bored as an excuse for his less than stellar performances?
Sure, he is better than anyone in the 185 pound class right now. Sure, he is head and shoulders better than anyone not named Dan Henderson right now. However, the fact is simple: He has been so unimpressive over the last few fights that there is a question about whether or not he even wants to fight anymore. Well, let’s throw middleweights against him until somebody takes advantage of him doing all the goofy stuff that he has been doing over the last couple of matches. Hell, let’s throw Dan Henderson in there against him next. Henderson is nothing if not tough as nails, and he’ll make sure that he is on his toes. At least, that big right hand will keep him awake, or put him to sleep. Whichever comes first.
Next, we need to start talking about GSP’s legacy. He keeps saying it himself: He doesn’t fight for the belt anymore. He has the belt. Now, he’s fighting for a legacy. He’s fighting to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the history of MMA. That’s great. That’s what we want him to do. However, is fighting Anderson Silva at this point going to prove anything? Unless Silva comes out and houses Griffin, people aren’t going to think that GSP beat the brazillian at this peak. They are going to say: “Man, if only Silva’s head was right. He could have crushed GSP.” Is that really the best thing for St. Pierre?
Instead, I would love to see him continue dominating 170. I want to see him beat the winner of Swick vs. Kampmann. I want to see him get another fight against an improved Jon Fitch. I’d love to see the evolution of Thiago Alves. He’s only 25! That’s how old St. Pierre was when he lost to Matt Hughes. The Welterweight division isn’t bare yet. Here’s another thought: Carlos Condit is really good. He’ll climb up into the top five at some point in 2009-10, and he’ll be a new challenger for the sport’s pound-for-pound king.
Finally, isn’t this one of the main problems that we all had with boxing? It became less about the title and more about the pound for pound quality guys fighting one another for a percentage of the pay-per-view buys. Since the UFC has tried to correct all the mistakes that boxing has made of the last decade, why would this powerful organization start doing exactly what a dying sport does?
More than anything, I just get nervous that guys who are young now are going to become Matt Lindland. Lindland is a guy who was never given his proper chance at the title. The reasons will change, but the result will be the same. We’ll have superfights all the time, and the up-and-comers will never have a chance to dethrone the champs.
By Jason Comack July 12, 2009, at 9:59 pm Sergio Mitre started today for Scranton Wilkes-Barre and was impressive. Mitre didn’t give up a run and scattered six hits over 8 innings. Mitre struck out five and walked none.
Overall Mitre, now 28, has been impressive in his quest to return to the majors. After a decent 2007 campaign it all seemed to downhill for Mitre. He missed all of 2008 after undergoing Tommy John Surgery and was subsequtently released by the Marlins. Mitre was singed by the Yankees and assigned to their minor leauge team however while he was recoring frm Tommy John surgery MLB handed down a fifty game suspension for the use of a banned substance (androstenedione.) Since returning from injury and suspension Mitre has had 9 starts in the minors (2 at Single A, 7 at AAA) Mitre has gone 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA. He’s walked only seven batters and struck out 43 (in 54 innings.)
After the All-Star break expect Mitre to join the Yankees rotation and fill in until Wang is able to return from injury.
By Anthony De Franco July 12, 2009, at 11:00 am If you watched UFC 100, you likely saw Brock Lesnar absolutely lose his mind at the end of his fight. He went up to a barely conscious Frank Mir to talk more trash after winning the fight, he gave the entire Vegas and Pay Per View audiences the one finger salute, and he verbally berated the UFC’s biggest sponsor of the night, Bud Light, because they wouldn’t pay him. SI.com transcribed the whole thing to make my life a little bit easier.
“I’m going to go home tonight and drink a Coors Light because Bud Light won’t pay me,” said Lesnar, pointing at the logo of the presenting sponsor of the event. “I’m going to sit down with my friends and family and hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight.”
While Lesnar may have looked like an uncontrollable loose cannon after the fight, he was a changed man when he walked into the press room soon after. Wearing a wide smile and holding a Bud Light, he took a big swig as he looked at White and said, “I love Bud Light! I must have caught a hard knee to the head.”
Sure, the apology is nice, but I just ain’t gonna buy it. Lesnar’s act after the fight hasn’t been the only thing about him that has bothered the hell of me this week. I hated the scene of him flipping out during the video of him losing to Mir to first time around. I hated seeing Dana White have to tell Lesnar to stay put a couple of different times during the pre-fight press conferences. I hate the fact that the face of the heavyweight division is a guy that Cagewriter’s Maggie Hendricks said has been “grumpy” since his amateur wrestling days.
You see, Brock hasn’t been around all that long. He doesn’t understand the fight that we’ve all gone through for the last few years. We, as MMA fans, fight for legitimacy every day. If you read us here, you’ve seen the struggle for a long time. However, when the main event star of the UFC and reigning king of the heavyweight division is cursing out sponsors and talking about screwing his 42 year old wife, MMA looks more and more like the WWE. That’s not good.
There’s something else that Brock doesn’t likely know about. The rage of the man that signs his checks. You see, Dana White is not a patient guy. He’s dealt with quite a few men in day that he deemed “un-controllable.” There was this guy named Tito Ortiz. He was a huge star. He made the UFC tons of money, then he made some decisions that Dana didn’t like. Soon, he found himself losing quite a few fights. He found himself booked in fights that were designed to put over his opponents. He fought up and coming stars like Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. After his contract was up, he was told to go elsewhere. Most recently, he was completed banned from the UFC 100 Fan Expo.
Brock, don’t end up like Tito. Don’t wind up in the nether regions of the MMA world because you wouldn’t fall in line. Instead of giving the hardcore fans that hate you the finger, just ignore us. After all, if you keep winning, we’ll all have to deal with you being around. If you don’t, Dana White and his band of merry men will find ways to destroy you.
By Anthony De Franco July 12, 2009, at 4:07 am Yoshihiro Akiyami d. Alan Belcher via unanimous decision
- I know that everyone in the world has been killing this decision, so I won’t pile on. Even though I would absolutely love to. I want to say this: Who in god’s name scored it 30-27? There is no way that Akiyama won all three rounds.
- Speaking of the Japanese import, He was less than impressive in his debut. He was suprisingly quick on his feet in the first round, but gassed quickly. He didn’t check any leg kicks throughout the fight, instead trying to catch all of the low kicks. The only problem is that he failed miserably and was limping by the end of the fight.
- As for Belcher, he looked solid. Outside of the highlight reel-off the cage-superman punch, he showed strong striking. On the ground, I thought that his thick legs would work against him, but he was suprisingly flexible. I see some potential left in Belcher.
Dan Henderson d. Michael Bisping via Knockout
- Bisping had never fought anyone that was anywhere close to the level of Henderson and it certainly showed. I thought that the brit would have the kickboxing advantage, but he seem hesistant throughout the whole fight. Perhaps it was that he was scared of being taken down, but he was a step slow on his feet the entire night.
- Henderson has such huge power in his right hand, it would be crazy to circle to the right against him. However, that is exactly what Bisping did throughout the entire fight. It was a matter of time until he got caught.
- What does this tell us about both fighters? Well, Bisping needs to go back to the drawing board. I don’t think that this fight was about skills as much as it was about nerves. He didn’t execute his gameplan at all. As for Henderson, I think that he is the next logical contender for Silva. Hell, at least he pushed The Spider to the second round last time.
Jon Fitch d. Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision
- Jon Fitch is awesome. While he’s not quite a gatekeeper, it’s a shame that he is going to be stuck behind GSP for awhile. He showed his outstanding wrestling and great all around game, but I’m still a little concerned about his ability to finish.
Georges St. Pierre d. Thiago Alves via unanimous decision
- This went down almost exactly as I thought I would. St. Pierre attempted 12 takedowns and hit 10 of them. He kept grinding on Alves until the final bell rang, and even Alves knew he was outclassed. GSP also did a great job avoiding Alves strikes and keeping the standup game relatively even.
- As for Alves, he impressed me in the loss. While Fitch probably put up a better fight, Alves showed a remarkable ability to get back to his feet after being taken to the ground. Getting up from under the best fighter in the world is not an easy task. He never got to work much on his feet, and if he wants to be a champ, he needs to become more well rounded.
- There’s been a ton of talk about St. Pierre v. Anderson Silva, but I think that it is very important for the UFC to keep the number of weight changing superfights to a minimum. There’s a full article coming for this.
Brock Lesnar d. Frank Mir via TKO
- I remain shocked about this fight. I can’t beleive that Lesnar was so easily able to handle Mir. He took him down, trapped his arm, and just pounded on him for most of the fight. However, there was some questionable officiating going on in this fight. Lesnar was holding Mir by the neck, he didn’t advance his position and wasn’t forced to standup. He was hitting Mir in the back of the head…again.
- There’s going to a lot made of Lesnar’s rant after the fight. It was terrible. It was idiotic, and it was terrible for the sport. He later apologized on MMA Live, but I don’t buy it. There’s another full article coming here.
All together this was a great night of fights. I went 2-3 with my picks on the main card, and all together, I went 4-7. Not my best night, but UFC 101 isn’t too far away.
By Jordan Lauterbach July 12, 2009, at 12:11 am There was no column yesterday because there was no golf. After a rain soaked day in Silvis, Illinois on Friday, the powers to be called off any potential for golf. This set up an interesting, but not uncommon weekend scenario (Bethpage anyone?). The second round was completed on Saturday with the third and fourth expected to come on Sunday. While I expect it to be tight tomorrow, we’re at a good point in the summer to play two rounds of golf in a day.
What hurt the U.S Open was that the rain came on day one. This pushed two pre-cut rounds back. This weekend, the tour only had to play one round before the trunks were slammed. It’s simple mathematics. Less golfers= quicker golf.
The question now becomes how this effects the players still around, specifically those players looking to make a charge. Lets use blog favorite Kenny Perry as an example: Perry shot two consecutive 3-under, 68’s and is seven shots behind the leader with thirty six holes to play. Normally this would be a difficult, but not impossible hill to climb. But I question whether the forty nine year old Perry has the endurance to make this charge in one day. Sure, he will have a bit of a break between rounds, but it still won’t compare to having an entire night between rounds. I would bet that Perry would begin to feel the strain of an unorthodox day of golf a little before the final round turn. Even if he’s two or three strokes back at this point, would he be able to put enough together to erase those final few strokes? I’m not sure.
On that same token, I expect the double shot of golf to help this week’s leader, Darron Stiles. Stiles sits three strokes up on Steve Stricker at 13 under par. Stiles is not used to being on top. In fact, he’s not used to playing past Friday. Prior to the John Deere, Stiles had made only one cut this season. That cut came in in the Zurich Classic. He finished tied for thirty fourth in that tournament. I’m always worried about guys who arn’t used to meaningful Sunday golf. Even in a tournament sponsored by a tractor company, the Sunday atmosphere is different. Especially at the top. The fact that Stiles has two rounds to play with, instead of the normal one and done fare, could calm the usual Sunday storm a bit. As long as Stiles doesn’t blow up on the front nine of his first round tomorrow, look for him to be ok…Also, with a three shot lead does give him a bit of a cushion.
What doesn’t help the leader is that the player in hot pursuit of his lead is Steve Stricker. Already a winner this season (The Crowne Plaza), Stricker shot a course record 61 on Saturday to climb to second place. Stricker’s record setting round included nine birdies, an eagle, and only one bogey. He eagled the par five 17th and birdied three of the last five holes. That means he came off the course hot. This may not necessarily translate into a good round tomorrow, but I wouldn’t bet on him not being in contention for the duration of this marathon day. Record setting rounds usually lead to a good rest of the tournament. You don’t play better than anyone in the history of the course because your off your game that week.
I expect Stricker and Stiles to be the only two real factors come the back nine of round four.
-Trunk Slammers: David Duval- Well, this was a disappointment. In his first start after his U.S Open “resurrection”, Duval shot a second round sixty six. But it wasn’t enough to erase his round one 75. So much for all the David Duval coming back from the dead talk. I have a theory though. Maybe David would have been wiser to make a start a little sooner after the Open. Almost everyone else has. Heck, champion Lucas Glover hasn’t takes a week off.
Speaking of Glover, he came a shade above the cut. The cut was three under. A round two 70 pushed Glover to…three under.
- In other golf news, it was announced on Friday that Phil Mickleson will miss the British Open to care for him cancer-stricken wife. This is not big surprise. In fact, I’m a little surprised that the story was as big as it was. It lead golf story rundowns on Friday. Am I mistaken or didn’t Phil not say that he would almost certainly skip the British at his U.S Open press conference? Did he leave the possibility ajar? Yes. But it was generally understood that the possibility of him playing was minuscule. I don’t think we’ll see Phil for the rest of the year. Nor should we. He’s got bigger things to deal with right now…
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