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By Anthony De Franco  December 30, 2009, at 3:04 pm  Rafello Oliveira v. John Gunderson
Hey, look! A fight which had to be changed due to injury! Let’s keep count. Here’s one.
Oliveira was supposed to take on Sean Sherk, but when Tyson Griffin was injured, Sherk moved up to the main card to take on Dan Miller. Then, Sherk got hurt anyway, so it never really matter. The Brazilian is 9-2 in his MMA career, and 0-1 in the UFC. He loss to Nik Lentz at UFC 103 in a unanimous decision. He’s a BJJ guy, but does have three knockout wins to his record.
Gunderson is making his UFC debut, but is an IFL veteran. He’s trained Ken Shamrock’s camp, the Lion’s Den, which is interesting because we’ve all seen how terrible Shamrock is as a coach from season three of The Ultimate Fighter. Now, he works with Xtreme Couture, which is a huge upgrade. He’s got 11 submission wins to his record, and a total record of 25-7.
UFC debut and a late replacement? I’ll take the other guy.
Prediction: Oilveira via submission
Mike Pyle v. Jake Ellenberger
Pyle is 1-1 in the UFC. He lost to Brock Larsen at UFC 98, in a fight that had me anointing Larsen as an underrated fighter. He then beat Chris Wilson via guillotine choke at Fight Night 19. An Xtreme Couture product, He’s a Muay Thai and BJJ fighter who needs another win to cement himself in the welterweight division.
Ellenberger was brought in as a late replacement to fight Carlos Condit at Fight Night 19. He took Condit, who is one of my favorites, to a decision, and there are those that suggested that he might have even won the fight. He was certainly more impressive than I thought he would be. He’s also an IFL veteran, and has 25 MMA wins to his credit. He’s primarily a wrestler out of team quest, but showed good power in rocking Condit early.
Prediction: Ellenberger via Unanimous Decision
Ryan Jensen v. Mark Munoz
Jensen is 1-3 in his UFC career, losing to Wilson Geouveia at UFC Fight Night 18, and defeating Steve Steinbess at Fight Night 19. Before that, he lost to both Thales Leites and Demian Maia in a previous UFC stint. He’s got nine submission victories to his credit, but none of them really stick out. He does have is big fight experience, fighting in both the UFC and Strikeforce.
Munoz was one of the prized holdovers from the pre-Zuffa WEC, but hasn’t really proven much since coming over. He lost to Matt Hamill in highlight fashion when the deaf wrestler threw a sloppy head kick that tagged Munoz. He then won a split decision over website favorite Nick Catone at UFC 102 that led to Catone being cut. Primarily a wrestler, Munoz does have excellent power that has led to three of his six wins coming by knockout.
Prediction: Munoz via unanimous decision
Cole Miller v. Dan Lauzon
Miller is a long, lanky BJJ ace out of American Top Team. Since appearing on season five of The Ultimate Fighter, he’s 4-2 in the UFC. His wins are all over guys no longer with the company, and his losses are to Jeremy Stephens and TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero. He’s 19-4 overall, and ten of his wins are by submission.
Dan Lauzon is the first of the two fighting Lauzon brothers going on this card. His brother Joe is taking on Sam Stout on the main card. Dan is making his UFC Re-entry, as his only fight on the big stage was a loss against Spencer Fisher at UFC 64. After losing to Deividas Taurosevicus in his next fight, he’s won eight in a row and earned a chance at the big boys once again. He’s 12-2 total, with half of his wins coming by knockout, and the other half coming by submission.
Prediction: Lauzon via TKO
Martin Kampmann v. Jacob Volkmann
Another injury replacement. That’s two.
Kampmann has really fallen off, huh? At UFC 103, he was supposed to take on Mike Swick for a title shot. Swick got hurt, Paul Daley stepped in and “Semtex” exploded all over Kampmann, TKOing him in round one. Now, he’s been sent to the undercard. If you look at his last two fights, you can make the case that he lost to Carlos Condit, a fight he won by split decision, as well. I’m of the school of thought that he is a little overrated, despite being 7-2 in the UFC.
As for Volkmann, he is an intriguing prospect out of Minnesota Martial Arts. He’s 0-1 in the UFC, losing to Paulo Thiago at UFC 106. The wrestler was undefeated previously, including a win over Kevin Knabijan at Bellator 7. Plus, his nickname is Christmas.
I’m not sure I really get the matchmaking here. Why must Jacob Volkmann die? We couldn’t find another replacement for Kampmann? Don’t get me wrong, I think Volkmann can win, but I wouldn’t taken the chance If I was the UFC.
Prediction: Volkmann via unanimous decision
By Anthony De Franco December 30, 2009, at 5:47 am The internet has been abuzz the last few days with the news that Josh Koscheck has pulled out of UFC 109 with an injury and his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Mike Swick will be taking his place fighting Paulo Thiago. I figure I’d chime in.
American Kickboxing Academy is quickly making Paulo Thiago the Sisyphus of mixed martial arts. Instead of pushing a boulder uphill, he’s tasked with running through the San Jose, Calif. team’s roster of welterweights.
Even after Josh Koscheck on Monday pulled out of their scheduled rematch at UFC 109, Thiago will still face an AKA fighter on Super Bowl weekend. Within hours of Koscheck’s withdrawal, MMAFighting.com reported and MMAWeekly.com independently confirmed, teammate Mike Swick would step in to face the Brazilian.
This fight was supposed to be the follow up to the biggest upset of 2008, as Thiago knocked out the heavily favored Koscheck at UFC 95. It’s actually a little bit ironic that Josh has to pull out of this fight, as he has been the guy that the UFC has been going to when someone gets hurt. He has fought seven times in the last two years, including jumping into the UFC 106 despite fighting at UFC 103 just about 60 days earlier.
I have a quirky theory about the UFC’s plan for Koscheck. He is the most likely to receive a rematch against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. While Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves are coming off relatively recent losses, Koscheck has had two years to recover from his loss. In that time, he has gone 5-2, which is not spectacular. His losses have come to Thiago Alves, who was smashed by GSP, and Paulo Thiago, who he was slated for a shot at revenge against. Let’s assume for a second that Kos would have defeated Thiago, probably in violent fashion. The UFC could have set up some form of a number one contender fight for Josh and if he won, threw him into a late in the the year rematch with the Canadian wonder.
Instead, we get Swick against Thiago. Swick is coming off a loss in a number one contender fight against Dan Hardy. Hardy tagged Swick early and never seemed to get on track, eventually losing a decision. There are those who suggest that this is a terrible fight for him, because if he looses to another guy that most pundits don’t believe is a top-ten level guy, he could be in danger of fighting on undercards.
First of all, I don’t see Swick on undercards anytime soon. He’s too good and too big a name for that. Second, I think that Swick is looking at this one as a chance to get the taste of Dan Hardy out of his mouth quickly. Third, if Thiago beats Swick, is he a top-ten welterweight? Obviously. So, Swick is fighting a guy just out of the top 10.
The problem with that top ten is that it includes Swick, Koscheck, and fellow AKA’er Jon Fitch. With three of those guys in the top-10, it would only be logical that they would fight at some point. Well, they won’t fight one another. Since they train in the same gym, it would be tough for them to prepare. Would one have to leave the gym? Would they have to split the gym with a white line like that episode of the Brady Bunch?
Notice I didn’t even mention the “Who would want to fight their friend?” idea? That’s because I don’t think that these guys think like that. Are they friends? Absolutely. However, they know that it’s just business. The problems are more logistical than anything else.
It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. The only problem for these three guys is that there is a cost for not fighting one another. They are forced to take on guys like Thiago and Hardy who aren’t names. What happens to you when you lose to guys who aren’t names? You wind up falling very far, sometimes even off the rankings.
How will these whole thing go down? Swick should beat Thiago, and Kos should comeback and get his win. He’ll probably have to fight Thiago again. When he beats him, we’ll start hearing calls for Koscheck-GSP II.
But if none of that happens, we could be looking at the end of the AKA welterweight dynasty.
By Bryan Berg December 30, 2009, at 12:16 am The 2008 NHL Winter Classic was one of those events we’ll always remember. The novelty of an outdoor game, the snow falling, the almost-too-perfect ending with Sidney Crosby scoring in the shootout. The 2009 NHL Winter Classic was no less entertaining, with a resurgent Blackhawks team and the defending champion Red Wings taking over Wrigley Field. The 2009 game showed that the Winter Classic was a sustainable commodity, something that could get the casual sports fan to take an interest in the NHL. Most true hockey fans, though, had the same thought – as great as the Winter Classic is now, if there’s a way for the NHL to screw it up, they will certainly do so.
Fast forward to this year. The debate over who would play in the 2010 Winter Classic was red-hot, which is usually a great sign. Hockey fans had high expectations for the third installment of this event, and with good reason. So when the NHL announced that the Boston Bruins would be playing the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park, many were a bit underwhelmed. Sure, Fenway Park is an iconic venue, but Bruins vs. Flyers?
Many have pointed to the Flyers’ sorry start to this season – 38 points in 38 games, 13th in the East – as proof that the NHL screwed this one up. My thought is that the NHL didn’t screw anything up. Instead, NBC stepped in and got who they wanted – as in, who they thought would pop the best rating. The far more appealing Bruins-Canadiens matchup was shelved, and instead we get Bruins-Flyers, a matchup of two teams who have no rivalry whatsoever and combined to win exactly one playoff series last year.
A Bruins-Canadiens Winter Classic would have done so much to promote the event as a true hockey event. The Montreal Canadiens have one of the richest traditions in all of sports, maybe even more rich than that of the almighty Yankees. Casual fans might not be able to name one player on the Canadiens roster, but they know the team and understand something about the their history. They could come to understand the Canadiens-Bruins rivalry (assuming the NHL and NBC promoted it) and get into this matchup, giving the Canadiens the same respect they’d give to any well-known NHL team. Lastly, and most importantly, including the Canadiens in the Winter Classic would have been a huge bone thrown in the direction of the Canadian teams, who got the ball rolling when it comes to outdoor games and deserves to be part of this event going forward.
Of course, that’s when NBC stepped in. I can picture the conversation…
GARY BETTMAN: For the 2010 Winter Classic, I’d like to have the Bruins host the Montreal Canadiens at Fenway Park.
NBC EXECUTIVE: The who?
GARY BETTMAN: The Montreal Canadiens.
NBC EXECUTIVE: What are they, an expansion team?
GARY BETTMAN: No, sir. They’ve been around for a hundred years. They’ve won 24 Stanley Cups. They may well be the most famous…
NBC EXECUTIVE: Hold it right there. I don’t know what you’re talking about with all this Montreal nonsense, but I’m not interested. This is NBC, damn it. We only show games that include the Penguins, Capitals, Rangers, Bruins and Flyers. Hey, Bruins and Flyers, that’d be a great matchup, no?
GARY BETTMAN: Not really.
NBC EXECUTIVE: Well, that’s how it’s going to be. If you think about it, it doesn’t really matter who the Bruins play. ESPN will see that a Boston team is involved and promote the hell out of it, so neither of us will have to do anything.
GARY BETTMAN: Good point. Besides, we don’t really care about our Canadian audience anyway.
NBC EXECUTIVE: Then it’s settled. It’ll be Bruins-Flyers at Fenway, and I’ll tell you what. We’ll put you in our NFL studio show for Wild Card weekend. We already have 30 analysts on that show, what’s one more?
(Both Bettman and the executive laugh uproariously, then roll around in a pile of money.)
OK, so maybe it didn’t go exactly like that. But it may as well have. In the mean time, the NHL is already doing everything it can to weaken its “flagship event”. (Editor’s note: Anytime your “flagship event” isn’t your championship game/series, you’re in trouble.) Bettman has talked about creating an outdoor game solely for Canada, largely because he knows there’s no way in hell NBC is letting a Canadian team anywhere near the Winter Classic. With more than one outdoor game in any given year, the NHL seriously risks ruining the uniqueness of the Winter Classic. It might be running against crappy college football games, but the viewing audience still needs something new and fresh to watch.
Sadly, NBC doesn’t do “new and fresh”. NBC does “whatever will get us the highest TV ratings possible”. So, while the 2010 Winter Classic might be about the Bruins and Flyers on paper, it’s a bit different to diehard hockey fans. Years from now, we may look back at the 2010 Winter Classic as the year the Winter Classic changed from a hockey event to a TV event – the year the NHL gave its huge showcase event to NBC in the name of ratings and advertising dollars. You know what the worst part is? The only thing that’s surprising is that it took this long.
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