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By Jason Comack  February 21, 2010, at 7:31 pm  After each major Mixed Martial Arts event, our very own matchmaker, Jason Comack, does his best Joe Silva and breaks down all the possibilities for the fighters who waged war last night in a little feature we like to call: What’s Next?
Mirko Cro-Cop and Wanderlei Silva are easy to pick opponents for. Dana White suggested at the post fight presser that Mirko would fight Ben Rothwell who he was originally intended to face. Considering Mirko took minimal damage and Rothwell just had a stomach bug that fight could happen soon. Keeping Mirko active can’t be a bad thing, especially if he’s training as hard as he claims he is. One fight to also keep an eye on is Mirko/’Nog which will always be a draw overseas even though it doesn’t have the title implications it use to.
At the presser White mentioned the long rumored fight of Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Wanderlei Silva is something they would consider. When Silva learned that Akiyama was campaigning to fight him he perked up and said that he wanted to fight Akiyama. That fight would be a big draw overseas particularly in Japan. I’ve long believed that the UFC was keeping Akiyama as it’s ace in the hole for a Japan card. The UFC brand will never take over in Japan but MMA is gigantic there. Putting Silva/Akiyama on a card might be the only way to get Japanese fight fans interested in a card.
Speaking of Cro-Cop his opponent Anthony Perosh endured himself some UFC goodwill by taking the fight on such short notice. Perosh was well over matched against Mirko but will likely get another shot in the UFC. If and when he does get another fight it will come in the light heavyweight division.
Perosh will likely be used as a “can” to get a fighter that desperately needs a win, a win. Off the bat two names come to mind: Stephan Bonnar and Keith Jardine.
Jardine is on a three fight losing streak, normally the UFC axe would be close to chopping Jardine but I believe he’s firmly safe on the UFC’s roster. Jardine has fought too many top guys and has wins over too many top guys (Griffin and Liddell) to allow him to go to another organization, cough Strikeforce cough. Jardine is the exact kind of gatekeeper that Strikeforce lacks. But in order to keep Jardine’s credibility he needs to face some sub-par competition.
Other then the aforementioned Perosh here’s some light-heavyweights that would make sense for Jardine to fight:
- Brian Stann last fought at UFC 109, so the timing works, where he got dominated by Phil Davis.
- Kyle Kingsbury beat Razak Al-Hassan at UFC 104.
If Jardine can’t beat any of those guys then he doesn’t deserve to be in the UFC.
By Anthony De Franco November 6, 2009, at 1:30 pm Ok, What?
From Rotoworld:
Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that the Brewers have traded J.J. Hardy to the Twins for Carlos Gomez.
Hardy was a goner with the Brewers committing to Alcides Escobar at shortstop and the Twins have long been a rumored destination for him, so this deal makes sense. Gomez fell out of favor in Minnesota after arriving in the Johan Santana trade, but the speedy center fielder will be given a clear path to everyday playing time in Milwaukee as the replacement for free agent Mike Cameron. Nov. 6 – 11:57 am et
Okay, I get that J.J. Hardy was a goner. I get that they think that Alcides Escobar is the next big thing, but coouldn’t they do better than Carlos Gomez? Gomez has sick range in centerfield, but his bat really leaves something to be desired. How do you expect to run out a centerfielder who hits .246/.292/.346 and expect to make the Playoffs?
This just goes back to certain teams obsession with speed and defense. While Gomez is a great defender, does that lineup have enough pop in it with Ryan J. Braun and Prince Fielder to just give up an out in the lineup?
As for Hardy, he was a +5 win player in his heyday. The Twins want him to just get back to about half that. His .229/.350/.357 was accompanied by a 45 pont drop in his BABIP. There’s reason to beleive that he will improve, and regain some semblance of his previous form.
In short, the Twins got better, and the Brewers fans are likely to be really pissed by May.
By Jason Comack September 24, 2009, at 2:08 am Tell me if you you’ve seen this one before…
Episode 2 of the Ultimate Fighter was standard fare. Rampage and Rashard argued, Roy Nelson continues to be fat, we learned that Kimbo got shot and we got another crappy fight. At what point does this become formulaic and boring? I understand what the Dana White and co. were going for this season. Four former NFL players, Kimbo Slice, and a former IFL champion…the promo makes itself. But, two episodes in you can’t help but think they sacrificed fighter quality for name value.
James McSweeney is a solid kick-boxer but he has very little on the ground. Wes Shivers is a big dude with no MMA experience, who has heavy hands but very little else.
It was absolutely painful to watch these guys fight.
In round 1 Shivers came out looking to throw bombs, while McSweeney wanted to circle, keep distance and chip away at Shivers with leg kicks. Right off the bat Shivers rocked McSweeney and took him to the ground. Shivers with his size and strength should have had a huge advantage. Except for one big problem…he had no clue what he was doing. He tried to isolate an arm for what looked like an attempt at an Americana, which was a solid plan but his execution was awful. Meanwhile the whole time he was attempting the submission McSweeneys guard was wide open and he could have passed into mount. Eventually McSweeeney would reverse the position and pick apart Shivers with strikes for the rest of the round. Round 2 was similar to round 1. McSweeney was more aggressive and landed harder shots including some brutal leg kicks. Shivers did manage to take McSweeney’s back at one point but couldn’t finish him.
McSweeney won a decision, in a terrible terrible fight.
Neither fighter kept his hands up, Shivers at one point doubled over in exhaustion and should have been easily KO’d. It really looked like he wanted out, you just can’t do that in MMA and expect to win. The fact that McSweeney couldn’t finish him speaks volumes to what a terrible fight this was.
Here’s the thing; there are so many good MMA fighters in the world who can’t catch a break. In Atlantic City there’s a pretty dominate heavyweight, his name is Ricardo Romero. He fights for Ring Of Combat and I’ve seen him fight many times. Go ahead look him up on Sherdog.com…I’ll wait.
What’s that? He beat James McSweeney? Choked him out in just over two minutes? You don’t say…
So McSweeney gets on the show (and will eventually get at least one UFC fight) because he’s Evans boy yet the guy who destroyed him is fighting in front of small crowds in Atlantic City….
Through two fights I remain totally unimpressed with the cast. Am I suppose to believe that any of these guys could even beat low level UFC competition, let alone small time promotional fighters?
Which brings us to the close of the show with the announcement that Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson will be fighting Roy “Big Country” Nelson. Don’t get confused by Nelsons appearance, he’s the most legit fighter on the show. Nelson is a former IFL Champion and on paper the perfect match-up for someone like Slice. Nelson is a well decorated ju-jitsu fighter and should easily be able to sub Slice. But, of course in order to sub Slice he has to get him down first and despite his obvious weaknesses Kimbo does have solid stand-up skills and the ability to knock him out.
So far 4 of the 16 fighters haven’t impressed me at all…hopefully that changes next week.
By Anthony De Franco August 23, 2009, at 4:17 am Wow. How the mighty have fallen. Jason Giambi is close to putting together a deal with the Colorado Rockies that will land him in Triple-A Colorado Springs for the forseeable future. From Rotoworld:
According to Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies, free agent Jason Giambi is nearing a minor league pact with Colorado.
Giambi will receive regular playing time at Triple-A Colorado Springs until rosters expand to 40 players on September 1. He’ll serve mainly as a late-innings pinch-hitter once in the bigs, and might draw random starts at first base on days when veteran Todd Helton is in need of rest.
I love this move for the Rockies, because it’s an all reward, little risk move that will add them an extra bat. While Giambi isn’t what he once was, he is good enough to spell Helton on days that he needs a rest. If nothing else having a guy like that hitting off the bench is something most NL teams don’t have.
By Jason Comack August 8, 2009, at 12:21 pm 
Say what you will about A-Rod but when he got caught using steroids no one protected him. Why Big Pa-PED (kudos to Bald Vinny) gets a talking head from the MLB Players association and A-Rod doesn’t is beyond me. Why no one on ESPN has yet to question the legitimacy of Ortiz’s statement is beyond me. Why is everyone going to bat for a guy that is clearly lying about his use of steroids? I guess it’s just some fluke that he hit 20 homers in 2002 and 56 in 2006, my B.
Going to the stadium for Yankees/Red Sox today. The Yanks are 4.5 games up now and a win today might bury the Sox for the season. Sabathia against Bucholz! I am pumped to chant steroids at Ortiz every single time he’s at bat.
By Anthony De Franco July 31, 2009, at 4:39 pm Victor Martinez was one of the few premium bats available in this trade crop and he is now going to be the everyday first basemen for the Boston Red Sox.
Martinez adds a ton of pop to a lineup that doesn’t have a lot of it right now. Jason Bay has slowed down after a crazy first half, David Ortiz is a shell of his former self and Dustin Pedroia is not the player that he was last season. The Sox needed another bat, and they got it with Martinez who is currently raking to the tune of .284/.368/.464.
In exchange the Red Sox send P Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Brian Price. All three of these guys are middle of the rotation types. Fangraphs suggests that Masterson has upside like Gil Meche. That maybe a little overly ambitious. Hagadone is a big lefty who has the most upside in this deal, but also has the lowest floor.
Nevertheless, I think that the value in this trade is about even. The three pitchers that Cleveland got back are all nice pieces, and they shed some salary and piece that is not in their future plans. For the Sox, They get a nice bat without giving up top prospects like Clay Bucholz.
With the gap at first base filled, the Sox then sent recently acquired lefty Adam LaRoche back to his original team, Atlanta Braves. The Braves gave back their current first basemen Casey Kotchman.
Kotchman was one of the prized pieces of the Angels’ crazy good farm system from a few years ago, and has been solid with a line that looks .272/.340/.412. He plays average defense which is saying a lot considering that LaRoche is an absolute butcher at the easiest position in the game.
Atlanta wanted the extra power in the lineup with LaRoche, but are losing a good player in the process. Ultimately, Fangraphs says that they are similar players and the swap doesn’t help either team. I think Kotchman will be a nice piece for the Red Sox stretch run.
Check out our complete MLB trade deadline recap.
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