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By Anthony De Franco  February 10, 2010, at 4:50 pm  It’s always kinda sad when we have to write about cuts following losses at UFC events. However, at least one of these was completely justified. From Watch Kalib Run:
According to Heavy.com Phillipe Nover has been cut from the UFC.
Nover recently lost to Rob Emerson at UFC 109 and is now 0-3 in the UFC.
Phillipe was the runner-up on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter. During that season, Dana White hyped Nover as the “next Anderson Silva.” Sadly, that fighter, let alone a decent lightweight competitor, never materialized.
It’s sad to see Nover go. I wanted him to succeed very badly because he’s from New York, and being as our state is stupid and hasn’t legalized MMA here, there aren’t very many fighters to root for right now. Nover was compared to GSP and Anderson Silva on The Ultimate Fighter by Dana White, and never quite lived up to the hype. Expect him on a Ring of Combat show soon.
As for Hague, he announced it himself through his Facebook.
Tim “The Thrashing Machine” Hague was released from the UFC… Time to train harder, beat up some more people and work back to the big show!
Well, you have to respect the positive attitude. Hague will forever be remembered for falling victim to the Todd Duffee powerjab shortly into their fight. I’m not so sure I see a light at the end of the tunnel for him, though. He lost a close decision to Christian Tuscherer, but was cut regardless.
Best of luck, guys.
By Anthony De Franco February 8, 2010, at 8:27 pm I am still amazed by how many people think that strategy is a big part of mixed martial arts. How much money does Greg Jackson have to make before people realize that having a good corner is just important as being well prepared for your fight.
Just ask Mark Coleman. Coleman brought former Randy Couture confidant Shawn Tompkins to the cage with him, and Tompkins gave him some TERRRIBLE advice. Here’s what Josh Gross of SI.com had to say about it:
“Coleman made Couture’s night easy when, at the advice of his trainer Shawn Tompkins and the despite the fact it has never been his path to victory, he chose to stand and trade.”
“…Shortly into the bout, Coleman carried the attitude of a confused athlete, one who was thinking instead of fighting.”
“Between the first and second round, Coleman looked up at Tompkins as the Canadian offered instructions on how to keep distance and how to fire off combination. I’m fairly certain he would have loved if Tompkins told him to run out there and take a shot on a double-leg. If you’re going to go out, go out at what you do best.”
Who besides Tompkins could possibly believe that Coleman had any chance standing and trading with Couture? Over the last few years, Couture has drilled his boxing to the point where it is on par with his wrestling. He has some of the best head movement in the game. As supposed to Coleman, who had no head movement.
What a joke.
By Anthony De Franco January 22, 2010, at 10:22 pm There’s been a lot written about Nick Diaz over the last few months. Unfortunately, not a lot of it has been very good.
Since August, when Diaz pulled out of a fight due to refusing to take a drug test he knew he would fail, he’s become kind of a joke in the MMA world. People have focused mainly on him as a marijuana user rather than a elite level mixed martial artist.
Diaz has an opportunity to make everyone forget that on January 30th when he takes on Marius Zaromskis for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title. He has a chance to remind everyone that he is one of the best fighters in the world at 170, or he could simply be known as the guy who has to fight in Florida, because they don’t care that he smokes pot.
Crossroads: Thy name is Diaz.
Let’s look at the positives. Diaz is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Cesar Gracie. I don’t care who you are or what’ve you done, if you have a black belt from anyone named Gracie, you are kind of a big deal. However, we all know that every fight starts standing and Demian Maia can tell you what happens if you can’t achieve a takedown quickly as a BJJ specialist.
What makes Diaz special is his ability to box. Well, it’s not that he is the most technical boxer in the world, it’s that he has naturally heavy hands. While the equation for power in MMA is not exactly science, Diaz natural talent seems to make up for the fact that he is a bit sloppy on the feet. Add that to a long reach that allows him to keep opponents at bay with a jab and his standup game is more than just good enough to get him to the ground, it’s good enough for 11 T/KO victories.
The problem with Diaz has never been his skill level or his physical traits. The problem is in his head. The problem is that he has long had this attitude where he beleives that it’s him (and in some cases his brother) against the world. It’s been his tendency to fail drug tests. It been things like fighting Joe Riggs in the hospital after his fight. It’s making anti-UFC and getting himself unceremoniously banned from the biggest, richest MMA company in the world.
If Diaz could only get out of his own way, he could be great. On January 30th, he’ll face “The Whitemare”, but he’ll also be facing himself. If he shows up in shape, and at the top of his game, we could see Nick Diaz as the first dominant Strikeforce champ.
If he doesn’t, then we could be seeing the beginning of the end of his relevancy.
By Anthony De Franco December 21, 2009, at 6:50 pm I’m sold. When I saw this on the top of Rotoworld.com, I was shocked. In a season where the Giants are an underwhelming 7-6, aren’t the Eli haters supposed to be coming out of the woodwork? The contract is too big. He’ll never be Peyton. Damn that “Aw shucks” attitude.
However, here is a mainstream columnist for NBC Sports telling us that Eli is underrated and doing it so beautifully. He touches on most of the points that I have been making for a while, but here’s my favorite paragraph in the whole column.
He’ll never be viewed as being as good as Peyton. But there shouldn’t be any more shame to that than there is to being judged not quite as good an artist as Michelangelo or not as incisive a thinker as Stephen Hawking.
It’s so true. I have never understood that argument whatsoever. You aren’t as good as the best quarterback ever to play the game! Damn You!
Anyway, it’s worth a read because it raises some good points about how stupid the remaining Eli-hatred is out there. He’s having his best year and doing it without the receiver that he supposedly relied on too much.
And if the Giants make the playoffs, I think I’m ready to anoint Eli the best quarterback in Giants history in year number five.
By Anthony De Franco September 19, 2009, at 2:34 pm Let’s understand something about tonight. The Floyd Mayweather/Juan Marquel Marquez is boxing’s last stand. They need this card to at least perform adequately against UFC 103 or we could really see the end of boxing as a major pay-per-view player.
A lot of Boxing’s problem is image as people see the sport as corrupt and incapable of policing itself. The fighters are seen as bigger than the sport and arrogant playboys. Mayweather did nothing to appease that thought last night when he missed weight.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. made the contracted weight of 147 pounds for his HBO Pay-Per-View fight on Saturday with Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
But when Mayweather weighed 146 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in, he was forced to pay a six-figure penalty to Marquez for coming in at more than 144 pounds, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said.
Schaefer said the contract the fighters signed in May was for the bout to be at a limit of 147 pounds. But in that contract, each man agreed to a substantial penalty clause for every pound, or fraction thereof, more than 144.
So, here is what your telling me: Mayweather is so rich that he doesn’t care about having to pay a huge penalty so he didn’t have to cut weight like every other fighter? Do you know what Dana White would do to someone who had that attitude? He would have him deported. He might even have him killed. I’m still waiting to see what happens to Efrain Escudero who missed weight despite the fact that Spike TV is showing his prelim fight as the centerpiece of a special broadcast.
The truth is that Dana White is what boxing needs. They need promoters that are willing to go after the fighters despite the fact that they are huge stars. Tonight, we will likely see the end of boxing as we know it, and the continued rise of the UFC will lead to even more boxing fans coming over to our side of the fence.
By Jason Comack August 6, 2009, at 5:48 pm Elijah Dukes might be crazy. He’s been arrested at least three times for battery and once for assault, he’s fathered five children with four different women, he allegedly threatened to kill his wife and a 17 year old girl says he impregnated her. When Dukes was traded to the Nationals the team also hired an ex-police officer in the role of “Special Assistant: Player Concerns”. This person accompanies Dukes everywhere to ensure that he keeps himself free of trouble. So why on earth does Dukes keep getting second chances? The answer is simple, Dukes is a damn talented baseball player.
Dukes came up with the Rays and as a 22 year old he hit .293/.401/.488 with 9 steals and 10 home runs in 80 games. He made his MLB debut in 2007 and despite struggling to hit for average, .190, he still manged to have a .318 on base percentage and a .390 slugging percentage. When you factor in that he had a .192 BABIP and .201 ISOP (isolated power) you can see why he would make scouts drool. However, to no ones surprise, Dukes attitude lead to Tampa deciding to cut the cord with him despite his immense potential. Dukes was traded to Washington at the outset of the 2008 season.
In 2008 Dukes again proved that he is worth the trouble. Though limited to 81 games due to various injuries Dukes posted an impressive .264/.386./.478 line while stealing 13 bases and hitting 13 home runs. Many thought that 2009 was going to be Dukes breakout campaign. Baseball Prospectus’s usually deadly accurate PECOTA projection projected Dukes to hit .278/.385/.485 with 19 home runs and 17 steals. It seemed a 20/20 season in 2009 was in reach.
Until today 2009 was a lost year for Dukes.
In the off-season the Nationals had signed Adam Dunn to play left field, creating a giant logjam with Dunn, Lastings Millidge and Josh Willingham all vying for playing time with Dukes. Dukes role was never set, he bounced around between right and center field and after struggling early on he was sent to AAA. At AAA Dukes found his stroke and raked. He hit .279/.388/.529. That’s a .214 ISOP for those of you scoring at home and by the way he also had a low .286 BABIP.
At the trade deadline the Nationals finally cleared up their outfield logjam. Nick Johnson was traded to Florida and Lastings Millidge to Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan. This allowed Dunn to shift to first base, Willingham to left, Morgan to center and Dukes was called up to reclaim his spot in right.
Today Dukes went 3-4 with a home run and 4 RBI’s. Just when you thought you were out, he sucks you back in.
The Nationals seem intent on giving him the rest of ‘09 to prove his worth. With all of Duke’s struggles both on, and off, the field it’s easy to forget that he is still only 25 years old. Maybe Dukes will realize his talent maybe he won’t. But talented athletes like Dukes always get second chances.
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