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By Anthony De Franco  February 19, 2010, at 4:08 pm  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a legend. He is a multiple time champion. He is one of the few fighters who successfully made the transition from PRIDE to the UFC. He is even training a heavyweight in Junior Dos Santos that could continue his legacy. He is truly one of the best ever.
Now, he’ll step into the cage against up and comer Cain Velasquez at UFC 110 to prove that the old lion can still go. Here is the Affliction shirt that is wearing to the cage on Saturday.
It looks kind of like a different color of Randy Couture’s UFC 109 shirt, but it is slightly different. The back of the shirt has a cool logo with Nog’s name name on the back. Once again, here is the black and blue color scheme that we’ve seen so many times before.
MMA Warehouse has it for 51.99.
For more UFC 110 gear, check out The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco January 25, 2010, at 5:58 am Is it ever a good idea to make fun of a guy who is generally referred to as a “ninja?”
Probably not. Nonetheless, that is exactly what middleweight contender Chael Sonnen is doing. Here is what he had to say about Silva and Brazillian manager of the stars, Ed Soares. From Bloody Elbow:
“You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn’t. I’ve had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he’s so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking.”
“It’s quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me. How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, ‘jeez, they’re out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can’t understand them,’” Sonnen stated.
“That guy’s no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods,” said Sonnen. “That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there’s a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon.
How concise. Sonnen is making a lot of claims, and I wouldn’t doubt if some of them are true on a small level. However, to claim that Soares and Silva have created an elaborate ruse just to keep Anderson from talking to media seems a bit insane. Also, Soares might not be the world’s most interesting man, but is his probably one of the most powerful in the whole MMA world. He controls a whole stable of superstars that includes Silva, Big Nog, Jose Aldo and others. I’d be boring if I could be rich and powerful.
Here is what Soares said in response:
“I think Chael’s a really super nice guy and every time I’ve met the guy he’s always been really cool to me. That’s weird that he would say stuff on the radio, but I think at the end of the day, Chael’s not a dumb guy, he’s a pretty smart guy,” Soares commented. “I think no one will really pay attention to what he has to say unless he probably talks about Anderson.”
“Anyone that has a mouth can say what they want,” he said. “I don’t think people pay too much attention to what Chael does. Saying that Anderson’s boring or Anderson’s this, Anderson’s that, we don’t even need to go back and see what Chael has done. If you really want to analyze Chael’s career over the past couple years, he’s had some wins, but he said he didn’t tap against Paulo Filho. If the ref wouldn’t have stopped the fight, Paulo Filho would have his arm in Brazil with him.
What Sonnen is trying to do here is clearly build a little heat between himself and Silva in order to get himself a title shot. He probably knows that The Spider is not long for the middleweight division and a chance at beating Silva is Sonnen’s shot at leaving behind a huge legacy. He also would make some nice bank in the process.
By Anthony De Franco January 11, 2010, at 4:36 am The 3rd String Store
Starting in October 2009, a partnership with MMA Warehouse will allow us to highlight some of the best Mixed Martial Arts gear that they have on their website. All of these items will be posted on the main page, but if you are looking for the newest walk-out shirts and other MMA merchandise. This is the page to check consistently. Bookmark it.
View the store by:
Event | Fighter | Brand
Store Listed Alphabetically by Brand Name. Newest Item on Top.
By Anthony De Franco January 7, 2010, at 12:53 am Okay. Let me get this straight. On the same day that B.J. Penn says that his next fight is going to be on the UFC 112 card in Abu Dhabi, Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort is rumored to be on that same date?
Weird.
While the UFC is introducing their brand to the middle eastern audience, it seems weird that they would choose to defend two belts on the same night. Silva and Penn are two of the biggest draws that the UFC has in their pockets. I know for a fact that there are a ton of people out there who are excited to see The Spider pushed by a fighter who is at least close to his level. Is Vitor close to Silva’s level? Who knows? At the very least, I’m excited to find out.
As for Penn, there is a bit of a question about which weight class this fight will be in. If it’s going to be in April, then it could be a title defense. Assuming that the top two lightweights in contention right now are Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, it would give both of them a chance to train for the fight. Edgar is coming off a defeat of decent prospect Matt Veach, and Gray Maynard will fight this Monday against Nate Diaz. Assuming Maynard beats Diaz, then he would have more than two full months to train. Edgar last fought in December, so he even has a head start.
The other option is B.J. fighting at welterweight. It’s not that crazy to think. While Dana might have said that he needs to clean out the division, and that would take another win, it wouldn’t be that nuts to see him fight a top ten welterweight in an attempt to put together a massive show for their first trek into a new territory.
I’m not a fan of loading cards up like this. Look at last July and UFC 100. Sure, that was an awesome card. However, what happened after that? UFC 101 was headlined by B.J. Penn, and that is fine. However, 102 was Couture and Nog, which while it was an awesome fight, isn’t the strongest main event. They sold that card on the fact that Couture would be fighting in his home area of Portland. At UFC 103, Vitor Belfort defeated Rich Franklin. There needs to be an understanding about Franklin. America loves him, but he is just not a main event draw. A ton of people pointed at the Mayweather fight that night as the reason why the card barely drew, but I beleive that it’s more because Franklin just isn’t really a draw.
The next few cards suffered because of UFC 100. How much better would it look if the UFC held off GSP v. Alves til UFC 101, and had B.J. fight at UFC 102?
Couture and Big Nog could have been an awesome semi-main at either of those cards. Remember what the semi-main of 102 was? The wonderful Thiago Silva knockout of Keith Jardine from the “I saw that coming” file. Hell, even if they would have kept that and moved Franklin down to Semi-main, the cards would have looked better.
So, after all those words, let me say this. The source on Silva and Belfort is TATAME, which is a brazillian source. Let’s just say it’s not the New York Times. While it might be true, there is a chance that it’s not.
While it might seem incredible to look at a card like this and say “Sick, I’m so ordering that!” it’s just not good business for the month-to-month plan.
By Anthony De Franco January 4, 2010, at 2:24 pm Junior Dos Santos looks like the perfect MMA prospect. He’s got everything you want to see in an elite fighter. However, he does have one major flaw that is just about out of his control.
Before we talk about the problem, let’s talk about the positives. First off, is there anyone in the world that can claim that they have a better camp for a heavyweight? Everyday, “Cigano” gets to spar with a heavyweight legend in Antonio “Rodrigo” Nogueira. Big Nog is always complemented not just as a legend in the sport, but for his individual skills in both boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That is what Junior gets to learn from every single day. Oh yeah, Nog is still at the top of his game, too. Not to mention the rest of the guys down their at Blackhouse like oh, I don’t know, Anderson Silva.
As for his current track record, it’s pretty much spotless. He’s 10-1 total, and his only loss came more than two years ago. It was a submission by armbar, which would raise questions about his ground game, unless of course he had a high level belt from an incredible teacher. Like, for example, a brown belt from Big Nog.
Let’s not worry too much about that loss. Instead, lets all take a look at his 4-0 UFC record. First, he comes in and upsets Fabricio Werdum by knocking him out in the first round. While Werdum has never been known for his chin, it was still an accomplishment for this guy no one had heard of to defeat a top ten fighter so quickly. Then, he gets fellow heavyweight prospect, Stefan Struve. While I continue to be a Struve adversary, he’s a pretty decent fighter. Well, he didn’t look so good next to “Cigano.” Junior dropped him in just 54 seconds. At this point, most knew that Dos Santos was in line for a bigger fight, but no one knew how big it would be.
Mirko Cro Cop may have been done as a fighter, and everyone might have known it, but a victory over him would still be a huge feather in the cap of a fighter that most had never heard of. Many assumed that Dos Santos would take the Croatian down and attempt to use his BJJ in an attempt to avoid a head kick of doom. Well, he avoided it just fine, but he did it by staying on his feet and outboxing the PRIDE legend. In round three, Mirko just gave up from being beaten so thoroughly.
Throw in one more win against Gilbert Yvel, who the UFC spent a ton of time hyping, but really isn’t anything all that special, and you have one hell of a record going forward.
So, what is holding this monster of a man back? He has the striking game to outshine anyone on the feet, and the ground game to, at the very least, get up if taken down. Who could stop him?
Well, here’s a better question: what do the names Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, and the new and improved Frank Mir have in common?
Dos Santos weighs in at about 240 pounds. As we’ve said millions of times before, the new Heavyweight is someone who cuts to 265 pounds, and walks into the cage around 280, at least. What will happen to Junior when someone who is 30-40 pounds heavier than him takes him down and lays on him? My expectations is that he will do nothing and lose his first UFC fight.
Can Junior do anything about this flaw? Here is the tragic part: not really. Unless he gets on the Frank Mir workout plan quick, he may be in a ton of trouble. Even if he does, I’m not sure that his body has the room to pack on another 20-25 pounds of muscle. Here’s hoping it does, because I really like Junior. I just am nervous about anyone who wants to be a high level heavyweight without weighing in at the limit.
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