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By Jason Comack  February 12, 2010, at 3:48 pm  Mike Chiapetta reported last night that Anderson Silva will still fight at UFC 112. And he will be fighting as a middleweight.
White gave no indication as to who Silva might face, but said the fight will be in the middleweight division, indicating that “the Spider” will indeed defend his belt. At last Saturday’s UFC 109, Chael Sonnen soundly defeated Nate Marquardt and was promised a title shot after Belfort and Silva squared off. Now, with Belfort out, Sonnen seems the most likely possibility, but no sure thing.
Now the question Zuffa is asking themselves is who.
Chael Sonnen: Already was the number one contender but he can’t spar until March 9th. Considering how bad his cut was it seems unlikely that he would rush back to training.
Damian Maia: Logical choice but his eyelid is cut badly. He’s been medically suspended till August.
Yoshiro Akiyama: Sexy-Yama has been out of action for a while and is available. He’s a force of personality in Japan, not America. His record, 13-1, is worthy of Silva and he’s ranked in or around the top 10 by most MMA sites. The question is will American fans buy it? Will Ed Soraes approve?
Yushin Okami and Alan Belcher: Both are in the same boat. Middleweights in the top 10-15 range, that are coming off a loss. Okami got whooped by Sonnen while Belcher lost a close fight to Akiyama. Not sure the UFC or Ed Soraes are eager to see either of these guys in a title fight.
If Anderson is fighting at Middleweight Akiyama seems to be the only fight that makes sense.
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 Jason Comack December 18, 2009, at 3:02 pm The Irish Hand Granade has inked a new UFC deal; Per MMAWeekly.
Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis has signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC, according to a source in his camp.
Davis, 36, made his UFC debut on the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in August 2005 and has made 12 Octagon appearances since emerging from the reality show, earning an 8-4 record.
The source said Davis was targeting a spring return to action, though he has not been approached with a specific opponent or date.
Davis, an alumni of season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter, had amassed a record of 8-4 in the Octagon. He is coming off back to back losses, a controversial split decision to Dan Hardy and a vicious KO and that hands of Ben Saunders.
Davis has become very popular overseas and he’s one of the UFC’s “go to” fighters for cards in Europe. The former pro-boxer has a very well rounded game. In a lot of ways he’s similar to Chris Lytle. The loss to Hardy de-railed his title aspirations and Davis will now likely fall into a gatekeeper type roll.
By Jason Comack December 3, 2009, at 5:59 pm A veteran of almost 50 fights, Gilbert Yvel is set to make his UFC debut against Junior Dos Santos at UFC 108.
Yvel, 33, was thought to be Octagon bound after Affliction Entertainment closed its doors in August, but sat in limbo until the Nevada State Athletic Commission issued him a provisional one-fight license in October.
Yvel’s controversial past has weighed on his current career. The Dutch striker turned MMA fighter drew outrage for several well-publicized incidents of misconduct including striking a referee and intentionally fouling his opponent.
The incidents prompted the Nevada State Athletic Commission to deny him a fight license in February 2007, nixing a fight with Sergei Kharitonov in Las Vegas at Pride 33.
After almost 50 overseas fights, Yvel made his U.S. debut in January after a special meeting with the California State Athletic Commission, where he assured regulators that his misdeeds would not be repeated.
Yvel is what he is. A incredibly talented striker who can be neutralized by any half decent wrestler. He’s lost to; Henderson, Horn, Frye, Fujuita and Josh Barnett and many lesser opponents.
As a big PRIDE fan you’d expect me to be the first in line to defend Yvel but the truth is I can’t. Time and time again we’ve seen guys come over from Japan who built up their record fighting cans get destroyed in the UFC. I was shocked that the public reaction was mainly pro-Yvel.
Has Gilbert ever beat anyone of note…besides that poor referee?
Prediction: Dos Santos tries to stand with him for a round before taking him down and submitting him with ease in Round 2.
By Anthony De Franco November 25, 2009, at 6:00 pm My god. This was ridiculous months ago. Now it’s just getting to the point where I don’t know if there is a healthy heavyweight left on the roster. From Cagewriter:
The hits keep coming for the UFC, Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva. The fellas have to scrounge up a quality heavyweight to fight Junior Dos Santos Jan. 2 in Las Vegas at UFC 108. Sources with the UFC confirmed that Gabriel Gonzaga is off the card because of staph infection.
Gonzaga (15-4, 7-3 UFC) last fought Chris Tuchsherer at UFC 102 in August. He’s won 3-of-4 fights. Dos Santos, 25, is unbeaten in the UFC. The promotion will wait until after Thanksgiving to come up with a list of candidates to replace Gonzaga. It’s slim pickings at the top of the UFC heavyweight food chain right now. The most logical choice would be Cain Velasquez, who just lost his opportunity to fight on the card against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Big Nog is also out with staph.
The reason why this really sucks for the UFC is what Steve mentioned in the last paragraph. The thing that makes the most sense is to have Dos Santos fight Cain Velasquez. However, think about exactly what that means: One of your two best heavyweight prospects is going to lose that fight and be forced to build himself back up before he gets anywhere near the winner of Lesnar-Carwin.
If this keeps up, the UFC is going to start being in serious danger of having plenty of cards in the new year without championship fights on them. Hell, they might not even be able to have any kind of name fight on them.
How far away are we from Kampmann-Condit II headlining a pay-per-view?
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