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By Anthony De Franco  March 2, 2010, at 12:23 pm  Welcome to Strikeforce news day. We already touched on Fedor, so let’s move onto the guy who actually holds the belt that Fedor doesn’t seem to care too much about.
Alistiar Overeem hasn’t fought in America in since 2007. People have been calling for his head for a number of reasons, including steroid accusations. Now, he will finally make his return to Strikeforce against Brett Rogers.
In a non-title fight. Here’s the news from MMA Junkie:
“The Strikeforce heavyweight champion said he is likely to meet Brett Rogers (10-1 MMA, 2-1 SF) in a non-title fight on an as-yet-unannounced card set for May 15 in St. Louis, Mo.”
Rumored card so far:
- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio Silva
Now, after all the time we’ve spent criticizing Overeem, he is finally coming back. However, how much longer is this guy going to hold this belt and not have to defend it? It’s becoming a joke at this point.
Overeem is an excellent kickboxer, and thanks to the Mark McGuire workout plan, he’s added a ton of weight in the last few years. However, Rogers is a natural 265 and holds a ton of power in his hands. In the fight against Fedor, Rogers showed more than anyone thought he had on the ground and he showed he understood position and used it effectively.
Neither of these guys want to be on the floor, so we’ll see some fireworks. Don’t be shocked if Rogers upsets the Dutchman.
By Jason Comack February 21, 2010, at 11:44 am I’ve seen a lot of MMA World Rankings lately and I haven’t found one I 100% agree with. Therefore I’m launching the first ever 3rd String Safety Official MMA World Rankings. Please, hold your applause. These rankings will be fluid and updated after every major MMA card.
Updated 2/21/10
Heavyweight
1. Fedor Emelianeko (31-1 [1 NC])
He’s nicknamed “The Last Emperor” for a reason. Fedor has been dominant his entire career. He holds two wins over ‘Nog and a win over Cro-Cop when he was in his prime. Fedor came to America and unlike many other foreign fighters he dominated. He KO’d former UFC Champion Andrei Arlovski and choked out Tim Sylvia, in under four minutes…combined.
Fedor made short work of Brett Rogers in a dominant performance on network television. However as the MMA heavyweight evolves into a 300 pound monster it remains to be seen if the smaller Emelianeko can continue his dominant run.
Next up: Fabricio Werdum, Strikeforce April on CBS
2. Brock Lesnar (4-1)
Lesnars game is raw and evolving but unfortunately for everyone else in the Heavyweight division he basically fights in his own weight class. Lesnar walks around at roughly 300 pounds and often cuts on fight day from 285. It just simply isn’t fair, the mans a freak of nature.
It will be interesting to see how Lesnar recovers from his bout with diverticulitis and deals with such ring rust early in his MMA career.
Next up: Shane Carwin/Frank Mir Winner (TBA)
3. Frank Mir (13-4)
The rebirth of Frank Mir is complete. It was only three years ago that Mir destroyed his knee in a terrible motorcycle accident and many thought he would never fight again. Mir has looked better every fight and against Kongo the transformation was complete. Mir was huge, 265, and had put on a ton of muscle. His strikes were sharp and his ju-jitsu was top notch. Mir said his goal is to ultimately weight about 280 and cut to 265. If he can get that big and retain his speed and cardio he’ll be a very dangerous fighter, and a serious challenger to Lesnar.
Next up: Shane Carwin, UFC 111
4. Cain Velasquez (7-0)
An impressive fighter and a decorated NCAA Division I wrestler Velasquez has exploded onto the MMA scene. Velasquez looked amazing against both Ben Rothwell and ‘Nog. His cardio is off the charts and the way he pushes the pace is unprecedented as a heavyweight. In the ‘Nog fight he finally showed he can knock people out on the feet and out boxed ‘Nog. Between his boxing, wrestling, and ground and pound Velasquez has all the tools to be a champion.
Next fight: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, UFC 110
5. Shane Carwin (11-0)
This is probably higher than you’ll see Carwin ranked most places but here’s the logic. 1) He’s a huge heavyweight and possibly the biggest fighter in the division not named Brock Lesnar. 2) Carwin is a decorated NCAA wrestler. 3) The man has bricks for hands and quick KO victories in his first 3 UFC fights prove it. Watching his fights again I was pleasantly surprised with his stand up technique. His striking is incredibly crisp.
Next up: Frank Mir, UFC 111
6. Junior Dos Santos (9-1)
Very few 25 year olds have the type of credentials that Dos Santos does. With a record of 9-1 Dos Santos holds wins over two of the sports elite fighters in Mirko Cro Cop and Fabricio Werdum. Dos Santos has electric striking, great athleticism and holds a purple belt in BJJ under Big ‘Nog. Santos is a quick riser up the heavyweight ranks, in order to evaluate him further I’d like to see what happens when Santos has to fight on the ground. He’s yet to be tested against a great wrestler.
Next fight: Gabriel Gonzaga, UFC On Versus
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1)
Oh how the mighty have fallen. PRIDE fighters tend to age in dog years and the former champion hasn’t aged well. At 33 and a veteran nearly 40 fights ‘Nog seems to have finally slowed down. But even with all that being said I still have ‘Nog ranked as the 7th best heavyweight.
Maybe ‘Nog falls into the Couture realm where he just takes interesting fights that could still co-headline a PPV. His days as a title contender certainly seem to be over
Next up: Nothing Scheduled.
8. Fabricio Werdum (12-4-1)
There’s a lot of guys that could fit the profile of the 8th, 9th and 10th guy on this list and to be fair I’m not sure much separates them. Werdum a Pride veteran holds wins over Gonzaga, Brandon Vera, Overeem and Alexander Emilenakeo among others. His boxing looked crisp and vastly improved in his last fight against Mike Pyle and his performance against the much bigger Antonio Silva was very impressive.
Next up: Fedor Emilenakeo, Strikefroce April on CBS
9. Brett Rogers (10-1)
Rogers put his name on the map with a 22 second win over Arlovski. Rogers have the size and the striking ability to be a top heavyweight. For someone so raw I was incredibly impressed with Rogers performance against Fedor. He was able to scramble and had Fedor in trouble before he was swept by an Arm-Bar. Even in defeat Rogers proved he deserves to be in the Top 10.
Next up: Nothing scheduled. Strikeforce has a very thin heavyweight division. A match-up against Mike Pyle or Antonio Silva is likely.
10. Andrei Arlovski (15-7)
Now 15-7 it’s easy to forget that the man with the glass jaw was once number two on this list. Yes, he’s been KO’d in his last two fights but again he’s big, has lighting quick hands and a strong sambo background. He has a weakness but he’s still has more pure talent than a lot of fighters on this list. Now training with Greg Jackson he can definitely turn his career around.
Next fight: Nothing scheduled. I think it’s time Strikeforce feeds AA a can to get his career back on track.
Honorable Mention: Gabriel Gonzaga, Roy Nelson, Alister Overeem
Prospect Watch: Todd Duffee, Stefan Struve
Not Ranked: Randy Couture; His days at heavyweight seem to be numbered. Josh Barnett; Until he fights a legit opponent he is off the rankings. He seems doomed to wander Japan fighting cans for the rest of his life. Mirko Cro-Cop; Beat Anthony Perosh but what does that really even prove? Up next seems to be Ben Rothwell who he was originally suppose to fight at 111.
By Jason Comack November 11, 2009, at 1:58 pm There’s a new type of heavyweight in MMA. This heavyweight doesn’t see a 265 pound weight limit as a rule, he sees it as a guideline. This type of heavyweight will come to be the gold standard in MMA and guys like Fedor Emelianeko will begin to look like relics.
Weight cutting is common place in MMA. Maybe the casual observer doesn’t realize that the welterweight limit is “170 pounds” but, the guys standing in the ring on the day of the fight are often upwards of 185 plus pounds. Take rising star Anthony “Rumble” Johnson who has admitted that he’ll start his training camp (about six weeks before the fight) at 220 pounds. That’s 50 pounds over the weight limit! He probably gets down to about 200 pounds and then cuts water weight the rest of the way. If you weighed him on fight day it wouldn’t shock me if the scale tipped at about 195 pounds. That my friends is insane. In the ring he’s bigger then the allotted limit for Middleweights (185) and damn close to the limit for Light Heavyweight.
 The problem doesn’t begin or end with Anthony Johnson. Every fighter cuts weight, you have to in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Weight cutting, however, never had really found it’s way to the heavyweight division. While Lightweights, welterweights, middleweights and light heavyweights always provide drama on weigh in day we never saw it with the heavyweights. Smaller weight classes get on the scales in the nude to shed that final pound, the big boys weigh in with jeans and sunglasses on.
Think of the elite heavyweights of the past few years; Randy Couture (220 pounds) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (230) Mirko Cro-Cop (230) Fedor Emilianeko (230) Andrei Arlovski (235)
Now look at the weight of the modern day heavyweight; Brock Lesnar (265) Brett Rogers (265) Shane Carwin (265) Antonio Silva (265) Ben Rothwell (265) Gabriel Gonzaga (260) Todd Duffee (250) Frank Mir (245) Stevan Struve (245) Cain Velasquez (240) Junior Dos Santos (240) Frabicio Werdum (240)
It’s not a coincidence that the first five guys on this list hit 265 on the nose. Call it the Brock Effect. Lesnar’s move to MMA brought weight cutting into vogue for heavyweights. Let’s look at Lesnars weight log (This info comes from Lesnar himself.)
Previous Weight Logs:
August 8 ‘08: 265lbs (Weigh In)
August 9 ‘08: 289lbs (Fight)
November 14 ‘08: 265lbs (Weigh In)
November 15 ‘08: 276lbs (Fight)
Recent Weight Logs:
July 10: 265lbs (Weigh In)
July 11: 287lbs (Fight)
August 18: 304lbs (Pre-Training Camp) (After Workout)
August 24: 298lbs (Pre-Training Camp) (After Workout)
September 1: 306lbs (Pre-Training Camp) (After Workout)
Much like Anthony Johnson, Lesnar is a gigantic heavyweight and it’s a big advantage. He walks around at 300 pounds, cuts to about 285 and then sheds the last 20 pounds in water weight. The result? A hulking 290 pound monster in the ring on fight day.
At UFC 91 Lesnar fought Randy Couture. Couture weighed 220, Lesnar weighed 276, that’s a 56 pound advantage. At UFC 100 Lesnar fought Frank Mir. Lesnar weighed 287 pounds, Mir weighed 245, that’s a 42 pound advantage.
The scary thing is not only is Lesnar improving in terms of skill but also in terms of figuring out how to cut weight. He jumped from 276 to 287 pounds between his fourth and fifth fight, is it out of the realm of possibility for him to be 295+ pounds in the ring during his next fight?
And so we have the “Brock Effect” it’s keeping up with the Joneses, bigger is better and if your not as big as Lesnar you don’t have a shot. If Lesnar fought ‘Nog or Fedor he would outweigh them by 60 pounds. Stop and think about that for a second. 60 pounds encompasses every weight division in the UFC. Would you honestly expect B.J Penn to have a chance against Lyoto Machida? Actually that happened and Penn got his head stepped on (and Machida only outweighed Penn by 50 pounds.)
Is Brock as skilled as Fedor or ‘Nog? Hell no. The problem is that Lesnar resides in his own weight class.
It makes no sense that weight classes go up by 15 pound increments yet heavyweight is left with a 60 pound range (and that doesn’t take weight cutting into consideration.) What if MMA moved the light heavyweight limit down 5 pounds to 200 (which would make sense considering it’s the only weight class that doesn’t go up the standard 15 pound increment) and added a cruiser weight division that caps at 225. Fighters like ‘Nog, Fedor, AA, Cro-Cop, Couture would have a home fighting against people their own size. While the monster heavyweights (Lesnar, Carwin, Rogers) would be fighting other 250+ monsters.
Who loses with this move? The fan would get more balanced fights, fighters who never had to cut weight would be inspired to get into better shape to meet the new weight limit and the UFC would have a shinny new title belt to headline cards.
Are we really ready to let weight determine fights instead of skill? If MMA continues on the path it’s on that will end up happening.
By Anthony De Franco November 6, 2009, at 3:41 pm Fabricio Werdum v. Antonio Silva
How often do you see a fight between two heavyweights that are basically BJJ specialists? The heavyweight division has been filled with big wrestlers and strikers for so long now that besides Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, most of these guys don’t know how to spell kimura.
Werdum is coming off a victory over Mike Kyle at Strikeforce’s last big card. He’s not much of a striker, but his BJJ is top level. If nothing else, just look at some of the names that he’s fought over the last few years: Alstair Overeem, Junior Dos Santos, Brandon Vera, Gabriel Gonzaga, Andrei Arlovski and Aleksander Emelianenko just to name a few. Suddenly, his 17-4-1 record looks really good, huh?
Silva’s most intriguing attribute is that he actually suffers from Giantism. Yup, that’s right, the dude is actually a giant. Silva doesn’t have the same number of impressive fights on his record. His standup is mediocre, and his BJJ is great.
It’s like these guys are looking in the mirror. It’s basically a toss up. It’s possible the BJJ cancels out, but I still think someone is going to tap.
Prediction: Werdum via submission
Gegard Mousasi v. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Mousasi is one of the sports biggest rising stars. He trains with Fedor, which is always a good thing, and was really put on the American map by defeating Babalu Sobral in impressive fashion earlier in the year. He has a judo background, but what was really impressive was his standup. He put Babalu on his back and pounded him out quick. This may be a guy we are talking about as a top light heavyweight for a long time to come.
Sokoudjou came over from PRIDE with great fanfare and fought this guy named Lyoto Machida. He was arm triangled and lost, then beat Kazuhiro Nakamura, then lost to Luis Cane and was cut from the UFC. Since then, he’s gotten a couple of wins over heavyweights in DREAM’s Super Hulk tournament and lost to Babalu.
He’s a bit of a maddening case in the MMA world. He has all the physical skills in the world. He just never developed any kind of mental game. He just fights dumb at times, and it always ends up costing him. It will again tomorrow night.
Prediction: Mousasi via TKO
Jake Shields v. Jason “Mayhem” Miller
No welterweight not named GSP has the kind of momentum that Jake Shields has right now. The Ceasr Gracie jiu-jitsu specialist has won 10 straight fights including big name wins like Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley and Nick Thompson in the last three fights.
The only problem is that this fight is being held at middleweight. Will Shields be be strong enough to win at 185?
As for Miller, everyone knows his silly side from the MTV show, Bully Beatdown. However, people don’t realize how good of a fighter he is. His last fight was a no contest when he inadvertantly kicked Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is the head with an illegal upkick, which caused a cut that stopped the fight. He’s got wins in the past of Tim Kennedy, and Robbie Lawler. He’s game is solid all around and, he has a chance to win because of the difference in strength between him and Shields.
This could be the best fight of the night.
Prediction: Shields via submission
Fedor Emelianenko v. Brett Rogers
Ahhh…Fedor. Finally on United States soil with a legit organization that will get him some decent fights. Here’s the long and short of Fedor. He’s awesome. He is 30-1 in a sport where upsets are commonplace. He has great power, fast hands, and a ground game that puts most BJJ practitioners to shame. It’s remarkable how good he is. He’s got wins over Big Nog, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Mirko Cro Cop, and Andrei Arlovski just to name a few.
As for Brett Rogers, he’s more of a one trick pony. He has sick devastating knockout power in his hands and tighter boxing then Fedor does. However, tighter doesn’t mean more effective. He is going to have to keep this fight on the feet. Despite his recent destruction of Glass Joe Andrei Arlovski, he still has a way to go.
While Strikeforce has done a great job of making Rogers seem like a threat, he really isn’t all that much of one.
Prediction: Fedor via submission
By Anthony De Franco June 27, 2009, at 2:23 pm Yes! Bringing back the old titles in new and exciting ways. Let’s see if anyone from Sherdog or somewhere calls me an idiot for using it.
Anyway, Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt just wrote an interesting mailbag piece about the effect that Gina Carano is going to have on the sport of MMA in the next few months. It’s a good piece where Hunt takes a very traditional, reporter-esque point of view. She basically says she’s here, and there ain’t nothing we can do about it.
I find myself in a great deal of confusion about how this is going to end. At my heart, I’m someone who always believes in equality and that women should be able to do the exact same things as men and not be given any grief for doing so. However, part of me wonders about the “new breed” of fan that she is going to bring.
Let me tell you a story about a guy I used to work with. I saw him searching Gina Carano’s name on google one day, and I got excited because I that I had a co-worker who was into MMA. Turns out, he was, and it was because of Gina. That’s totally cool. In fact, if thats what it takes to get people to see the light, then great. More power to her. However, if you are one of these people and it takes a hot woman to bring you to this side of the fence, then maybe time to start looking at yourself in the mirror. What? Do you make all your decisions by looking around for hot chicks?
Anyway, for the first few days, I started out slow when it came to talking about fights with him. However, I had a strange feeling that for the most part he had no idea what in god’s name I was talking about. So, I asked him the most basic question I could think of asking any MMA fan at that time: “Hey, you watching St.Pierre v. Penn this weekend?” He looked at me like I had just shot his cat. Like he had never heard of the two best fighters in the world (arguably.) I was appalled.
It got worse when I got a text message from him later saying: “Forget that fight, Fedor v. Andrei Arlovski is the one you should be watching.” Wow. This man is hopeless. Don’t get me a wrong, that’s not a terrible fight, but we all knew what was going to happen. Fedor was going to wipe the floor with Captain Glass-Jaw. There was no doubt about it whatsoever. Meanwhile, GSP v. Penn was being billed as a fight that no one will ever forget. Hell, B.J. Penn won’t. He’s still woozy. (Subtle dig at Jason’s BJ Fandom.)
Anyway, the point is this guy had no idea what he was talking about. When I thought about why, I looked back at the way that both he and I got into the sport. After watching Hughes v. Gracie, Jason nutured me by explaining the natural order of the MMA world and I did my own research on sites like Sherdog and MMAweekly. This guy just saw a hot chick and wanted to stare at her.
I can’t blame Gina Carano for people like that, but I can certainly think that guys like this one might become more commonplace as she becomes popular. She’s a great fighter, but I think that her beauty is a terrible reason for people to start watching a sport.
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