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By Anthony De Franco  March 12, 2010, at 4:04 pm  It was Late July last year when Josh Barnett single-handedly sunk the Affliction promotion by peeing in a cup. When he tested positive for a third time, he ruined a potential bout with the world’s best heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko and forced the card to be canceled and the the promotion to be shut down. Since then, Barnett has not sniffed a fight.
As usual, here come the Japanese to welcome another substance abuser into the fold. At a DREAM press conference, the Japanese promotion announced that Barnett would be on their 13th card.
He doesn’t have an opponent yet, but SI’s Josh Gross reported a possible matchup with “Mighty Mo” Siliga.
The question is, how relevant is Barnett at this point? Does America really care about Josh Barnett at this point? Is anyone going to rush to the TV to watch Barnett fight? The answer to that question is likely no. However, Barnett may have his own version of a saving grace. Fedor’s management has decreed that they would like to fight him at some point, and it isn’t impossible to think that Strikeforce would allow Fedor to fight in DREAM so that Barnett wouldn’t have to pass a steroid test. Remember, DREAM and Strikeforce have a co-promotional deal where they share fighters. That’s how we ended up with Nick Diaz pummeling Marius Zaromskis.
You’ll have to excuse me if I remain somewhat apathetic to Barnett until he fights in the states, or fights Fedor.
By Jason Comack January 21, 2010, at 3:55 pm When the UFC signs an international star I get giddy.
Whenever the UFC signs an international star my friends that are casual MMA fans ask “who is this guy and why should I care?” Usually if you give me 15 minutes acces to Daily Motion and Youtube I can make a pretty convincing case for just about anyone.
Ramapage Jackson? Show the Arona slam. The dominant performance over Liddell (in Pride.) And just about any interview he’s ever done. Like the one where he talks about what he’s going to do when he wins the Pride belt. “When I shit I’m gonna shit with the Pride belt.” Or what about when he said to El Guapo that his strategy was to “whoop that ass.”.
Vitor Belfort? The Phenom. The 8 second KO over Wanderlei. The unfortunate kidnapping of his sister. The highlight reel of KO’s. Easy. Anderson Silva? The entrance to the ring as Michael Jackson. Any of his highlight reel KO’s.
Gomi? Thinking…still thinking. I can’t think of one single achievement in Gomis career that really stands out. He had an epic winning streak but fought his fare share of cans along the way. Does he really have any singular stand out moments?
This was made obvious when they showed Gomi at UFC 108 and the crowd reacted with indifference. Who’s this guy? Oh he’s an old pride lightweight champ. Is he any good? Yea, but he might be past his prime, he’s lost 2 of his last 4 fights. Does he have a shot of beating Penn? No, actually they already fought once and Penn beat him convincingly.
To me this is why the Gomi signing makes no sense. Because the above conversation is the way any MMA fan would describe Gomi to someone who didn’t know who he was.
Why Gomi, why now? Did Dana White get his Japanese lightweights confused? Did he mean to sign Shinya Aoki?
The loigcal answer is simply Gomi is the one that got away. When the UFC and Pride merged Fedor and Gomi were the two fighters that Dana White coveted that he couldn’t get. Now he has a chance to get Gomi and he got him.
The more abstract answer is that the UFC is planning on holding a card in Japan soon. I’m not claiming I have any inside info, I’m just connecting the dots.
Between the Pride stars of old, Machida, Gomi and Sexy-ama the UFC has more then enough talent to appease the Japanese crowd.
Think the Japanese crowd wouldn’t eat up Lesnar vs. ‘Nog? What about Akiyama vs. Anderson or Wanderlei Silva? Machida vs. Jackson? Gomi vs. anyone really? Hell, you can even dig up Mirko Cro-Cops corpse and hope he head kicks someone.
The UFC is dead set on perusing the international market. That much is obvious. First Abu-Dhabi then the world. It only seems logical the UFC would put a card in Japan.
By Anthony De Franco January 3, 2010, at 4:20 pm I’ve been really critical of Rashad Evans. I think that he is remarkably talented, but has never really put his game together. At times, he’s shown the dominant wrestling that made him a star at Michigan State. At times, he’s shown the kind of striking that knocked Chuck Liddell into the fourth dimension. However, when were we going to see a complete Rashad Evans?
The answer: 01/02/10.
What we saw last night was the classic Greg Jackson gameplan. Strike to set up the takedown, and control the fight. Throughout the first two rounds, Evans dominated Thiago Silva by using crisp combination and following them up with strong takedowns. This gameplan reminded me of another Greg Jackson disciple, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. He just didn’t execute that plan nearly as well.
With a little review of the FightMetric stats, Evans was 8-for-16 on takedown attempts. That’s not exactly a St. Pierre-like number. Further review shows how dominant he was in round one. He was 4-for-4 on his takedown attempts. In round two, he was 3-for-7, and in the final frame, he was just 1-for-5, but he was scrambling for a takedown after being tagged by Silva. What does this all mean? It could mean that he gassed, but that doesn’t really sound like Rashad. More than anything, I think he got less aggressive as the fight went on and that wound up hurting his overall performance.
The other thing that Evans still needs to improve is his ability to keep his opponent neutralized once they are down. Many of Evans attempts at passing guard were neutralized by Silva’s black belt level BJJ. One could make an argument that what makes St. Pierre so good is not just the dominant takedowns, but his remarkable ability to keep his opponent from sweeping him. Let’s just put it this way: St. Pierre hasn’t had his guard passed since fighting Jason “Mayhem” Miller in 2005. Being on top more means more opportunity for offense.
If you look at the striking data on the report, it would suggest that Silva won the stand-up game with some authority, which I think he did. However, there was one area where you can definitely say that Evans won the battle, and that was in the clinch. Once Rashad was able to close the distance, he hit a very high number of his strikes, and those strikes set up the take downs.
Don’t get me wrong, Evans didn’t fight the perfect fight. However, he finally was able to execute a gameplan that display both his phenomenal wrestling as well as decent power striking. While he attempts to find the perfect balance, it’s good to see that we aren’t going to see the Machida game plan where he looks like a training dummy. This gameplan is the best bet for Evans to become a dominant champ, which I think he can.
Just like his buddy GSP.
By Anthony De Franco December 22, 2009, at 2:54 pm 2009 has been the best of times, and the worst of times for Clay Guida. He had the opportunity to cement himself as a top flight contender in the division by defeating either Kenny Florian or Diego Sanchez. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do either. His career now rests at a crossroads. I smell a column coming…
For now, since it’s Christmas, let’s count Clay’s blessing. He’s an incredibly exciting fighter. He’s got great wrestling and a motor that never stops. His chin is so strong that he cannot be killed by conventional weapons. Last but not least, he’s got awesome hair.
I’m a huge Clay Guida fan, and you should be too. Here’s a way to get started, buy his awesome UFC 107 walkout shirt.
Now, I know what you are saying: “Is that Clay Guida as a zombie holding hammers?” Your Answer: Fuckin’ A it is. Guida’s heavy metal persona is glorified on this 3/4 tee. Side note: Did you know that he’s nicknamed the carpenter because he was a carpenter? Jason thought it was because he looked like Jesus. Which is also true.
MMA Warehouse has it for 45.99.
If your a polar bear and just want the T-shirt, that will run you 39.99 at MMA Warehouse.
For more UFC 107 gear, check out The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco December 7, 2009, at 2:58 pm If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that this was a WEC.
The only people on this card that got paid anything were the established stars. All of the TUF guys received the same 8+8 deal, except for Kimbo slice, who we already knew was getting a bigger deal than anyone else. He received 25,000 flat for his victory over Houston Alexander.
The days top earner is Frankie “The Answer” Edgar, who made 46,000, and then made an additional 25,000 grand for fight of the night, adding up a grand total of 71,000.
Here is the full list, courtesy of MMA Weekly:
MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS
-Roy Nelson: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Brendan Schaub: $8,000
-Matt Hamill: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus) def. Jon Jones: $20,000
MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
-Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson: $25,000 (no win bonus) def. Houston Alexander: $13,000
-Frankie Edgar: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus) def. Matt Veach: $5,000
-Matt Mitrione: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Marcus Jones: $8,000
PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
-James McSweeney: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Darrill Schoonover: $8,000
-Jonathan Madsen: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Justin Wren: $8,000
-Brian Stann: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Rodney Wallace: $6,000
-John Howard: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Dennis Hallman: $15,000
-Mark Bocek: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Joe Brammer: $5,000
ULTIMATE FIGHTER 10 FINALE DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $351,000
ULTIMATE FIGHTER 10 AWARDS & BONUSES
(Each fighter was awarded $25,000 per award, which is in addition to his disclosed salary.)
Fight of the Night:
-Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Veach
Knockout of the Night:
-Roy Nelson
Submission of the Night:
-Mark Bocek
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