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By Anthony De Franco  March 5, 2010, at 3:27 pm  Speaking of things that don’t make sense, It appears that a battle between Matt Serra and Mike Swick is being lined up according to Figure Four Online:
Dana White confirmed today that UFC is running a show on April 17th, head-to-head with the announced Strikeforce show on CBS. The event would air most likely on Spike TV. The Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama match is not the main event. The only thing confirmed is they are trying to finalize a Matt Serra vs. Mike Swick [co-main] semifinal fight today.
There had been talk of a possibility that if UFC scheduled a show on that date, CBS may move the Strikeforce show to April 24th, which would go head-to-head with the WEC PPV in Sacramento.
Even though the April 17th show was not announced yesterday, the issue of the Observer that came out yesterday has a lead story analyzing the whys of this head-to-head battle.
Let’s look at the tactics being used here by the UFC. They are counter-programming a Strikeforce card that is on national television, which they could not do when Fedor stepped into the cage on American soil for the first time. That was the height of the injury-plague that the UFC suffered in late 2009.
As for this fight, I don’t particularly get it. Swick is coming off two consecutive losses and needs a win badly. Serra is coming off a quick knockout of Frank Trigg, but is late in his career and not really in much of a position to fight for titles. Why do they need to fight?
The crazy thing is this simply isn’t an easy win for Swick. While Swick’s striking is crisper and faster, it doesn’t have the same kind of knockout power that Serra posseses. On the ground, Serra should have a leg-up with his BJJ black belt from Renzo Gracie. However, the long limbs of Mike Swick might cause problems for Serra, who is just 5′6.
Swick should have gotten someone he could have beaten and got back on track, not a fight that is almost a toss-up.
Update (3/5): Swick told the world on his twitter that there was no truth to this rumor.
Not fighting Serra guys. Most likely having surgery soon. @oxphos Any truth to Serra fight 4/17? Seems unlikely unless ur arm is better
So much for that one.
By Anthony De Franco February 27, 2010, at 6:05 am Yancy Medeiros defeated Raul Castillo via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
This is a tough fight to get excited about. It’s not that Medeiros did anything wrong, or didn’t impress. It’s that we saw him outstrike a grappler who clearly is not comfortable on his feet whatsoever. However, let’s choose to be positive. He defeated an American Kickboxing Academy member by using effective, if not dominant striking and showed some really nice takedown defense. The only offense that Castillo put together came after a low blow. That should say something.
Saffiedine defeated Terry via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
I’ll say it again: Training with Cung Le might be a mistake. I keep saying that Anthony Johnson needs to get with a real camp if he wants to be a legit contender, and we saw again here that Terry was simply overmatched. Terry has a great highlight reel TKO with a head kick, but against a tougher opponent in Saffiedine, he was peppered with shots throughout and couldn’t get a takedown. Saffiedine looked good, and I like the combination of all the different arts he combined in his attack.
Luke Rockhold defeated Paul Bradley via TKO (Knees to the Body) at 2:24 of round 1.
Rockhold was absolutely dominant. He was winning the standup battle many times over and did it by using impressive counters. The finishing sequence was impressive as he threw a couple of really nice knees against the cage to drop Bradley. Combine this win with some of Luke’s submission wins, and suddenly this is a guy that we really need to start looking at.
Trevor Prangley vs. Karl Amoussou ends by Technical Draw due to accidental eye poke from Prangley at 4:14 of round 1
Everyone is going to get on the referee for this, but it isn’t really his fault. He was a slave to a dumb rule. When someone gets poked in the eye like that, why should they not be allowed five minutes to recover? Is it any different then getting hit with a low blow? After a few minutes, unless you really got gouged, your eye starts to open and you can go on fighting. That was a good fight for four minutes, and it’s a shame that it was stopped because of a stupid rule like that.
Sarah Kaufman defeated Takayo Hashi via Unanimous Decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Kaufman was just too strong for Hashi. The reality is that 135 is not a very deep division in women’s MMA. Hashi is a 125 fighter who was fighting up in order to give Kaufman an opponent. Kaufman boxed well throughout the fight, but Hashi simply could not keep up with the Canadian fighter. The problem is going to be finding an opponent for Kaufman. Even Jordan Breen might have to dig deep into the bag of tricks to find one.
By Anthony De Franco January 7, 2010, at 3:42 pm In a battle of two ultra-athletic welterweights, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will take on John “Doomsday” Howard at Ultimate Fight Night 21, which will be aired on Versus. Here’s the news from Bloody Elbow:
After a lot of smack talk and some genuine bad blood between both guys, it looks like the two will finally meet in the octagon.
John Howard on Twitter: “Me and Anthony crumble Johnson will be fighting. Time to shut him up. See u soon crumble. ur ass is mine Here comes the Doom!”
He also says the fight will happen this March. They have two cards planned on that month, the UFC card on Versus, and UFC 111 on New Jersey about a week later.
[UPDATE]: MMA Junkie reports that the bout will take place on the main card of UFN 21 on Versus
That’s shaping up to be a pretty decent card. We’ve already talked about Jon Jones taking on Brandon Vera and the possibility of Kimbo Slice bringing the ratings bonanza to Versus.
The first thing that I thought when I saw this fight was how far Anthony Johnson fell after his loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 106. Sure, Johnson was dominated the whole fight. However, he’s still a top-10ish welterweight. Johnson should be able to handle Howard easily.
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 15, 2009, at 4:09 pm Another battle in the burgeoning MMA war that is the Zuffa empire against Strikeforce is going to be fought this Saturday night. In one corner is the empire, bringing us a card without many names but with a decent main event and a couple of rising starts. In the other is little MMA promotion that could, bringing us one of the best prospects in MMA, a lightweight fight that could be one for the ages, and a main event star returning to the cage.
The problem is: Which one should you watch, and which should you DVR? Let’s break it down:
WEC 45
The card is headlined by the return of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone against Ed “9MM” Ratcliff. While Cerrone is a draw in the WEC, he’s really not a high level fighter by any stretch of the imagination. If we put him in the UFC lightweight division, where would he stand? Is he better or worse than a guy like Clay Guida, or an aging Sean Sherk? Let’s go as far to say that just maybe Mac Danzig could beat him. Ratcliff is a knockout artist that no one has really heard of. Could he be a star? Sure. However, he’s more likely to be a comeback fight for Cerrone.
The semi-main has a chance to be a real good fight as Anthony Njokuani tries to get his third consecutive knockout victory against newcomer Chris Hordecki. General Manager Reed Harris said that he has been trying to sign Hordecki for almost three years, so alot is clearly expected of him. However, the best case scenario for the WEC is Njokuani gets an impressive KO and a title shot.
If you are looking for a wildcard fight, check out Joseph Benavidez vs. Rani Yahya. Benavidez is a fast rising prospect out Urijah Faber’s camp, and could make a name for himself with a victory here.
Strikeforce: Evolution
The main on this card is the return of Cung Le. Le is a controversial figure in MMA, because he is one of the few “old” style fighters still being successful. He is a kickboxer, but uses some interesting takedowns and defense from the realm of San Shou. The guy he’s fighting, Scott Smith, is a former Ultimate Fighter Alumni. He’s not quite a can, but he really shouldn’t beat Le. He’s going to try and stand with a guy who broke Frank Shamrock’s arm with a kick. Not a good plan.
The Semi-main might be the best fight of the night. Gilbert Melendez might be the best lightweight that no one has eve heard of. He’s got sick cardio, great wrestling, a Gracie BJJ background, he’s really the complete package. He’s the interim champ, and is looking to unify the title against Josh Thomson. Thomson is a UFC and PRIDE veteran with some of the best wrestling in a division full of wrestlers. Let’s put it this way: Sherdog thinks that he can take B.J. Penn down. He previously defeated Melendez by decision, and this is long anticipated rematch.
The third best fight on this card is the major promotion debut of King Mo, Muhammed Lawal. He’s been touted as the next great heavyweight in MMA, and the world will finally get to see him this weekend. He’s going to move down to 205, according to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, but will fight Mike Whitehead first. Whitehead is also a TUF alum, but has always had spotty cardio, and just doesn’t have the athleticism to hang with Lawal.
The Verdict
I don’t think there is much of a question here. Strikeforce offers a better card with bigger names. The best fight of the night is on the card, in addition to one of MMA’s up and coming stars. Tune into Showtime on Saturday, and then check out the WEC after Cung Le breaks Scott Smith’s skull.
By Anthony De Franco November 27, 2009, at 4:30 pm Awhile ago, we got really really pumped for the UFC 108 fight that would likely tell us who was the number one contender for the heavyweight title would be. When Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira took to the cage, it was going to be a battle of a MMA legend against one of the hottest prospect in the sport. What a fight.
Until it was found out that Nogueira had staph infection in his blood and wouldn’t be able to fight in January. We even surmised that Velasquez would get a different opponent, but it turns out we were wrong. Here’s the news from MMA Weekly:
Ask and ye shall receive.
“In February I’ll be ready to fight when they ask me to fight. In February I think I’ll be in shape. I’d love to fight in Australia. If they put me on the card, I would love to fight there,” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira told MMAWeekly.com recently, addressing his return from a fourth staph infection in the past year.
He was initially slated to face fellow heavyweight contender Cain Velasquez on Jan. 2 at UFC 108, but the infection derailed those plans.
Despite several reports that UFC 109 on Feb. 6 was under consideration, MMAWeekly.com has confirmed an MMAJunkie.com report that UFC 109 is not likely. Sources close to the bout informed MMAWeekly.com that UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia, is expected to host the bout.
It looks like Nogueira gets his wish.
All of a sudden, That UFC 110 card is looking very strong with Velasquez and Big Nog, and Bisping taking on Wanderlei Silva.
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