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By Anthony De Franco  July 13, 2009, at 4:23 pm  Jason posted this on our twitter about an hour after the conclusion of UFC 100 on Saturday:
#SaveUsFedor
Well. That certainly is blunt. Make no mistake. Brock Lesnar would not defeat MMA’s heavyweight king, Fedor Emelianenko. He’s too good. This is a guy who has never lifted a weight, let alone been in shape and has dispatched some of the best in the game. There is no doubt that he would defeat Brock.
However, Fedor signing with the UFC isn’t going to happen tomorrow (he said with hopes that the reverse jinx works and Fedor signs.) So, we have to find other hope, and I think that there is one currently in the UFC. When Shane Carwin faces Cain Velasquez at UFC 104, it will be basically be for the right to face Brock next. If you are an MMA fan, and hate Brock Lesnar, you need to put your feelings for Cain Velasquez aside and pray that Carwin casts him aside.
For those who are uninitiated, Carwin is 11-0, and 3-0 in the UFC with wins over Christian Wellisch and Gabriel Gonzaga. He’s a former college wrestler, who was a former national champion. He also packs a powerhouse punch that was measured by a sport science company as stronger than Brock Lesnar. It also doesn’t hurt that Carwin is absolutely huge. He walks around at 262 lbs, and assuming he doesn’t cut, he would be the biggest opponent that Lesnar has ever faced.
So, imagine this gameplan for a second. What if Carwin studied a bunch of Chuck Liddell tapes and learned to “reverse wrestle?” Lesnar has won every single fight by taking his opponent down. If Carwin can stand and strike with Lesnar, I have faith that his powerful right hand and more technically sound stand-up game would be too much for Lesnar to handle.
Not to mention that Carwin isn’t Lesnar’s biggest fan. Check out what Maggie Hendricks from Cagewriter (who is awesome and gets way too much crap from her readership) posted. It’s a quote straight from Carwin about Lesnar’s Rant:
The fans are why we do this, Brock, this sport is not about fat paychecks and drama. It is about hard work and sacrifice for a shot to do what you did last night. It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you can’t earn your peers’ respect and the respect and love of the greatest sporting fans in the world. Every autograph I give, every hand I shake I am thankful that you give me the opportunity to be a part of your world. This is the greatest sport int he world and most of the athletes in it deserve the love and respect they get and some just dont get it. From leaving the venue all the way to the Airport I have had fans of the sport ask me to take out Brock Lesnar for them.
It’s not a lock. However, it’s better than watching the significantly lighter Cain Velasquez getting taken down and pounded while Lesnar starts cursing and yelling in the post-fight interview.
#SaveUsCarwin.
By Anthony De Franco July 13, 2009, at 2:26 pm I love looking at these lists. A lot of the time they make no freaking sense, and UFC 100 is no exception.
The headlining fighters each made 400,000, which is good scratch. However, they came across it a little differently. Brock Lesnar gets paid in a flat fee. Meaning if he wins or loses, the dude is going back to his unabomber shack in the woods with 400 grand. However, most other fighters, including Georges St. Pierre, get a win bonus. For example, GSP gets 200,000 to fight, and since he won, he picks up another 200 grand.
The award for most overpaid goes to Mark Coleman. The undercard winner over Stephan Bonnar made a cool 100,000 to not even be on TV. Not mad at the guy for getting paid, but you can’t tell me that Dana White doesn’t hate signing that check.
The award for most underpaid goes to Paulo Thiago who lost to Jon Fitch in the swing fight after the main event. Fitch made a cool 90 grand for the win, and Thiago made just 9,000 to fight. That’s not a good. A close runner up goes to Jon Jones who made only 18,000 for his win on the undercard. However, Jones is still on his “rookie” UFC contract. He’ll get paid the next time around.
Here’s the full list, courtesy of MMAweekly:
MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS
-Brock Lesnar $400,000 (no win bonus) def. Frank Mir $45,000 (win bonus would have been $45,000)
-Georges St. Pierre $400,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus) def. Thiago Alves $60,000 (win bonus would have been $60,000)
MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
-Dan Henderson $250,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus) def. Michael Bisping $150,000 (win bonus would have been $100,000)
*Henderson also received a $100,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night
-Jon Fitch $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus) def. Paulo Thiago $8,000 (win bonus would have been $8,000)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama $60,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus) def. Alan Belcher $19,000 (win bonus would have been $19,000)
*Both fighters also received a $100,000 bonus for Fight of the Night
PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
-Mark Coleman $100,000 ($50,000 win bonus) def. Stephan Bonnar $25,000 (win bonus would have been $25,000)
-Jim Miller $22,000 (includes $11,000 win bonus) def. Mac Danzig $20,000 (win bonus would have been $20,000)
-Jon Jones $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus) def. Jake O’Brien $13,000 (win bonus would have been $13,000)
-Dong Hyun Kim $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus) def. T.J. Grant $5,000 (win bonus would have been $5,000)
-Tom Lawlor $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. C.B. Dollaway $14,000 (win bonus would have been $14,000)
*Lawlor also received a $100,000 bonus for Submission of the Night
-Shannon Gugerty $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Matt Grice $7,000 (win bonus would have been $7,000)
UFC 100 DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $1,790,000
By Jason Comack July 13, 2009, at 12:38 pm Sean Gallagher is the “player to be named later” in the Scott Hairston deal.
While Gallagher isn’t the most exciting name in the world, I think that the Padres may have smartened up to a huge advantage that they have. The Padres are now taking on other peoples MLB average level pitchers because they know that their home park will make them look much better than they actually are. It’s brilliant.
By Anthony De Franco July 13, 2009, at 12:00 pm Jon Jones d. Jake O’Brien via submission
- Did anyone hear the pop that Jon Jones got? They must be reading this site!
- When most people watch this fight, they are going to look at the wacky stuff that Jon Jones does. The Spinning back elbows and lightning fast high kicks. However, look at the improved fundamentals of Jones as well. For one, look at all of the leg kicks he throws during the first round. They are sharp, quick, and clearly slowed down O’Brien by the end of the first round.
- The standing guillotine that ended the fight is a great example of what Jones needs to do to reach the next level. He needs to become a lot more efficient. His should maintain the massive number of different strikes, but learn to throw them with greater accuracy. He also needs to learn better technique. Joe Rogan called it a “no arm dars choke.” I call it sloppy.
Tom Lawlor defeats C.B. Dollaway via submission
- This makes MMA great, but also really frustrating at the same time. Dollaway would still win this fight 99 times out of 100. However, Lawlor lucked into a guillotine and finished it. Much love to him for doing the job, but Dollaway is still a much better prospect.
Shannon Gugerty d. Matt Grice via submission
- Impressive patience in executing the arm-in guillotine by Gugerty. He simply waited for quite a while and kept the move in place before sinking it in. The match wasn’t long enough to really evaluate either fighter.
Mark Coleman d. Stephan Bonnar via unanimous decision
- Wow. How much does it suck to be Stephan Bonnar right now? After losing to an up and comer in Jon Jones, he now loses to a guy who is barely still alive. Figuratively speaking of course.
- This went down about how you thought it would if I told you that Coleman won. Despite a changed stance from Bonnar (he came out in a Lyoto Machida-type wide stance), Coleman took him down and tried to ground and pound him. Bonnar did a nice job threatening from the bottom, and was able to grab round one. Then, Coleman spent the next two rounds on top of Bonnar, ground and pounding him.
- I think that this has got to be it for Bonnar. I have no goodwill left for his fight with Griffin, and the steroids thing really ruined any chance he had any prospect. He’s now 5-5 in the UFC and is on his last legs in the UFC.
Dong Hyun Kim d. TJ Grant via unanimous decision
- This was probably one of the more boring fights of the night. Grant scored the first takedown and then spent the rest of the night on his back. Grant was just too powerful for Grant, who was an injury replacement. Kim showed great elbows and control, but couldn’t finish the fight.
Jim Miller d. Mac Danzig via unanimous decision
- Danzig got opened up early and bled literally anywhere. He never really got his feet back under him. The cut was on his forehead, but the blood rolled into Danzig’s eyes, and I was shocked that the referee didn’t stop it earlier.
- Despite the cut, Danzig mounted some threats from the bottom. However, he just never had a chance with the all that blood in his eyes.
- Danzig is in danger of being the first winner of The Ultimate Fighter to be cut from the UFC as he has now lost three straight.
By Anthony De Franco July 13, 2009, at 10:00 am I don’t. However, I’ll let you guys decide whether or not you do. Here’s the video of the post-fight press conference:
Let me know if you believe it in the comments.
By Jordan Lauterbach July 13, 2009, at 2:53 am Winning a golf tournament is hard. Whether it be a major, a lesser event, or a extremely week field tourney like the John Deere Classic, putting together four solid rounds is quite a task.
This is why players like Darron Stiles seldom come out on top at weeks end. Players who have not experienced a great degree of weekend success are at an extreme disadvantage. Weekend golf is just different. The mood is different. The crowd enthusiasm is different. The pressure is incomparable.
And that’s just on Saturday.
For this reason, I am not tremendously surprised that Stiles fell back to the middle of the pack in the final two rounds of the John Deere Classic yesterday in Silvis, Illinois. I thought that Stiles would be put at an advantage by the amount of holes played yesterday because of the Friday rain out. And I’m not sure I was wrong. Stiles is just not at a point where he can put together four rounds that are needed to win on the PGA tour. All players can put together two solid ones and find themselves in the lead on Friday afternoon. If they couldn’t, they would have fallen out at Q-school a long time ago.
Stiles shot a -1, 70 in the third round and an even par 71 in the fourth on Sunday. These aren’t terrible rounds by any stretch. We’re not talking about a +3 or +4 choke. We’re talking about an average round. Average rounds don’t win these type of tournaments. Perhaps fatigue set in for Stiles yesterday. If you look at his score card, its hard not to pick out a round four double bogey on 15 and a bogey on 18 and wonder if the burden of loosing a big lead plus the burden of 36 holes had anything to do with it. I would gather that it would.
How else could you explain extreme oddities in his score sheet on Sunday. Take 15 for example, this is a hole that Stiles birdied in the first two rounds.
Or how about this-
In the first two rounds, Stiles birdied holes 5-7. In the last two rounds, he made one bird in six tries. To me, that signals a concentration lapse…… And I don’t blame Stiles either. After making only one cut prior to this weekend, its tough to ask him to put together four great rounds. Especially when Steve Stricker is playing as well as he has in weeks.
I’m not defending Stiles either. I mean, tieing for ninth after leading after two rounds is not something players brag about. But the reality is, it could have been a lot worse for a player of his caliber. And hey, a top ten finish is a top ten finish. It may not set in today for Stiles, but I’m sure he’d take another one next week at the U.S Bank Championship (The tourney for those not playing in the British Open…or as I dubbed it- The Tournament of the Mediocre)
As much as I like to concentrate on the whole leaderboard, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I did not mention the great week Steve Stricker had. At -20, Stricker becomes a winner for the second time on tour this year (the first came in the Crowne Plaza). It should also be noted that it was Stricker’s fifth top five finish and fourth top three finish. A few more good weeks and he might be an outside contender for Player of The Year honors.
What was most impressive about Stricker’s John Deere victory was the fact that he was one of the few players to post a better score in his second round of the day. Stricker shot 68 in the third round and 64 in the fourth. This coming a day after a course record 61 in the second round.
Zach Johnson, Brett Quigley, and Brendt Snedeker all finished tied for second at -17.
Next up- The British Open- Major #3. Enough said.
I’ll have a full preview column up on Wednesday morning and plenty of nuggets along the way next week.
Start adjusting your sleep schedule. Round one starts at 6:30 am on Thursday on TNT…
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