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By Anthony De Franco  January 30, 2010, at 7:00 pm  Here is another gem from Tito Ortiz. Now he’s claiming that the salary increases that MMA has seen over the last few years are all his doing. From MMA Junkie:
“People like (Rashad) Evans and ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Chuck Liddell – these guys are making the millions now because of me holding out. If I didn’t hold out, they’d get taken advantage of.”
… “‘Rampage’ is a guy who I’ve helped out a lot. When he came from PRIDE, he got the same contract I did – exactly the same contract as I did. I gave it it to him, and I told him, ‘This is what I’m getting, bro. This
what you should be getting.’ He did, and he got it. It’s just one of those things that I’ve always tried to help out guys like Matt Hughes, the dirtbag, and guys like that who just hate on me – probably because either they wanted to be like me or they can’t achieve as much as I have.”
Uhhh…Tito. Hughes has achieved way, way more than you. He is a no doubt UFC hall of famer, you are a guy who held the title once and has been smoked by Chuck Liddell twice. Hughes may be a dirtbag, but at least he has the cred to back it up.
Earlier this week, Ortiz claimed that Liddell had an alcohol problem. We all know Chuck likes to party, but Ortiz claimed he was an alcoholic. Not cool.
I shouldn’t be so annoyed by Ortiz. This is what he does. He uses his mouth to get attention. He says outlandish things that annoy people. We all have a friend like this. If you think you don’t then you are probably your group’s Tito.
After all he said this week, I am looking forward to Chuck throwing a looping right hook and knocking Ortiz the hell out.
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 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 September 3, 2009, at 10:18 pm Well, it looks like Dana White isn’t going to wait for Strikeforce to schedule Fedor’s first fight to have B.J. Penn defend his lightweight title. According to MMA Weekly, Diego Sanchez will get his shot against the Hawaiian on December 12th on Pay-Per-View.
After weeks of speculation, the fight is settled and so is the date.
UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn will fight Diego Sanchez in the co-main event of UFC 107, which also features a battle between The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.
“B.J. is fighting Dec. 12,” UFC president Dana White stated Thursday afternoon in a video blog on BJPenn.com.
White already confirmed the bout a week ago at the UFC 102 pre-fight press conference. At the time, he said there was a chance it would headline an as of yet unannounced third November event that would be neither a pay-per-view nor a Spike TV event, leading to speculation about the oft-rumored network television deal.
Whatever the reason, a third November event has yet to materialize.
White has frequently stated, “Once we get the right offer, we will be on network television.” Apparently the right offer hasn’t yet arrived, or at least not in time for November.
There have long been rumors that whenever Fedor stepped foot into a Strikeforce ring, White and the UFC would counterprogram a huge draw like Penn or Anderson Silva on free TV. Since Silva doesn’t seem to want fight anyone right now, It was assumed that Penn and Sanchez would be the fight headlining that card. Now, You have to wonder what White still has left in the cupboard to counterprogram with. All the champions and big draws are booked through the end of the year.
As for the fight, I still am not a big beleiver in Sanchez. He has a very good ground game as long as he is on top, and showed decent elbows from the bottom in his instant classic bout against Clay Guida, but make no mistake; Penn is not Clay Guida. I wonder if Sanchez will be able to get Penn down, and if he does, Penn will completely neutralize his submission game and maybe even sweep him. B.J. is sharper on the feet as well, and will likely dominate this fight.
By Jordan Lauterbach August 23, 2009, at 6:47 pm For the next few weeks our very own Jordan Lauterbach will be previewing the upcoming 2009 College Football season. Each day, he will be posting a new preview so be sure to check in everyday.
Last Season: 9-4, 5-3, lost to LSU in Chick-fil-A Bowl
Coaches and AP Poll: 15
There is no denying that the loss of Darren Evans at Virginia Tech opens up the A.C.C Coastal division. While I still believe that the Hokies are still the class of the conference, I have my questions about the offense without Evens.
One of the teams that could benefit from a Virginia Tech team that is a little less scary is Georgia Tech. Like the Hokies, the Yellow Jackets offense is defined by an outstanding running game. But unlike the Hokies, that running game is completely healthy.
Known as one of the best running backs in the country, Jonathan Dwyer returns as the defending A.C.C player of the year. Dwyer ran for 1395 yards last season and found the endzone 12 times. He finished twelfth in the country in rushing yards.
What’s scary about Dwyer is that he figures to be even better this season. The junior is ten pounds lighter this season. He expects that the drop in pounds will only improve his game, which boasts an incredible balance of power running and speed.
By Jonathan Dwyer is not the only aspect of this rushing attack that will scare opposing defenses. Dwyer’s counterpart in a running game that ranked fourth in the country last year is Roddy Jones. Last year, Jones ran for 690 yards and four touchdowns. Also keep an eye out for Louisville transfer Anthony Allen. Allen has racked up over 1000 yards in his last two years with the Cardinals.
But Georgia Tech’s running attack doesn’t end with Dwyer, Jones, and Allen. Quarterback Josh Nesbit is far more dangerous with his legs than with his arms. Despite missing two games with injury, Nesbit was second on the team with 693 yards. To give a sense of how important Nesbit is to the running game, consider that Jonathan Dwyer carried the football only 28 more times than Nesbit last season.
Two question marks exist on the offensive side of the ball. One is the offensive line. Georgia Tech, despite having an outstanding rushing game, did not have a fantastic offense line. Add in the loss of David Brown and Andrew Gardner and that could equal even more question marks for Tech. The offensive line will have to rely on new blood stepping in and playing effectively alongside Dan Voss and Cord Howard on the line.
The second question mark is not as big, but still warrants a look. The passing game. If the Chick-fil-A showed anything about the Yellow Jackets, its that the offense is fairly one dimensional. In a 38-3 loss to LSU, Georgia Tech’s offense was shut down. Although Jonathan Dwyer averaged over 6 yards a carry, but only touched the ball out of the backfield ten times. Both Josh Nesbit and Roddy Jones were stifled.
If the running game is shut down, the passing game doesn’t provide much relief. In the bowl loss, Nesbit completed only eight of twenty four passes and threw one interception. This stat line was not tremendously out of the ordinary for Nesbit either. Last season, the quarterback completed less than fifty percent of his passes and had a touchdown to interception ratio of 2-5. He was also sacked twelve times.
This gives some credence to the theory that last year’s offensive success isn’t necessarily set up to continue. Being only head coach Paul Johnson’s second season, these players were not recruited to play in this system. Some insiders wonder how much of last year was a fluke.
I don’t think an offense with a back as good as Jonathan Dwyer can ever be a fluke, but I do have my questions about how this team stacks up against good rush defenses.
Defensively, the Yellow Jackets boast one of the best secondaries in the A.C.C. All-American safety Morgan Burnett grabbed seven interceptions last season. Cornerback Rashaad Reid and Cooper Taylor also return. But perhaps the most intriguing player on Georgia Tech’s defense is Jerrard Tarrant. Tarrant was suspended last season and redshirted in 2007. He had a great spring and is poised for a big year.
While the defensive line lost three starters, it returns end Derrick Morgan who had seven sacks last year.
Georgia Tech’s running game is the best in the A.C.C coastal division. Assuming the Yellow Jackets regain that offensive production, the defense looks to be good enough to at least challenge Virginia Tech.
3 Games To Watch
September 26th- North Carolina- A tough defense strolls into Atlanta one week after what may be a tougher game then people think against Miami. A win here would show a lot in terms of the A.C.C coastal division race.
October 10th- @ Florida State- The toughest road game of the season. Florida State is predicted to be the class of the A.C.C Atlantic division. With the Va.Tech game looming, this would be an awful time to look ahead.
October 17th- Virginia Tech- This may be the battle for the division. Virginia Tech has a heck of a run defense and may cause a lot of problems for this offense.
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