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By Anthony De Franco  February 28, 2010, at 10:00 am  Last year, Pre-ordering UFC 2009: Undisputed netted you access to the winners of TUF 8, Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero. This year, you’ll get some more Ultimate Fighter vets for ordering early, according to sports gaming website PastaPadre:
The pre-order bonus for UFC Undisputed 2010 will offer a code to download four exclusive fighters. The first has been announced as James McSweeney. The other three, though not officially revealed, are expected to be fellow TUF 10 participants Roy Nelson (winner), Brendan Schaub (runner-up), and Marcus Jones. Gamestop is currently the only outlet that has this offer listed.
Personally, I’m excited that McSweeney was announced. This means that I’ll be able to create Ring of Combat Light Heavyweight Champion Ricardo Romero, and smash McSweeney just like Ricardo did in real life.
Just like every sports game, I’m excited for the reveal of the ratings for the fighters. Here are some guesses:
- Roy Nelson: 83
- Brendan Schaub: 80
- Marcus Jones: 75
- James McSweeney: 78
Have guesses of your own? Leave them in the comments!
By Jason Comack February 21, 2010, at 1:21 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?
Brian Foster: Showed solid wrestling and was looking good against Lytle before getting caught in a knee-bar. There’s no one in the world who thought Lytle would even attempt a knee bar so it’s not shocking that Foster was caught as off guard as the rest of us. Hopefully he isn’t injured significantly as the lock looked gruesome at first.
As for who he should fight next it depends on his injury status but the loser of Rob Kimmons and Mike Pierce or the loser of Nate Diaz and Rory Markham both would make sense.
Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski: In his own words Bonnar would “like to finish the fight” and it’s hard to disagree with him. The Bonnar/Soszynski decsion is a giant red flag for unregulated MMA. For those that didn’t see the fight it was a very even, exciting brawl that was very close after two-rounds. Most scoring the fight at home saw the fight at one round each. In the 3rd round Bonnar and Soszynski accidentally butted heads. The headbutt opened a giant leaking faucet right in the middle of Bonnar’s head that forced the fight to be stopped. Now this fight should have been ruled a “technical draw.” Much like the Varner/Cerrone fight if there’s an accidental foul that causes the fight to be stopped, the fight is scored from where it was. In this case if it was 19-19 on the judge score cards it would have been a draw. In short, Bonnar got screwed, but it might be the best thing to happen to him.
Bonnar desperately needed a win in this fight and while he didn’t get it he got something that’s almost better. An angle. No one really wanted to see Bonnar fight again, win or lose, but now you have the angle of “well these guys need a rematch because it was a good fight that we never got to see end properly.”
Seems perfect for a PPV under card or Spike TV Prelim fight. A fight that no one really cared about now comes with built in drama. I wouldn’t even consider other options for these fighters.
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 October 14, 2009, at 10:07 am Well, here we go again. Anderson Silva appears to have cooled on the concept of fighting Vitor Belfort. At this point, it appears that there aren’t many people that Silva does want to fight. Here’s the Sherdog blog post that I got this from:
On a bad day, nothing less than Mothra would appear to get Anderson Silva out of bed in the morning. The UFC’s middleweight champion and manager Ed Soares told MMA Weekly that they take some issue with Vitor Belfort being chosen as Silva’s next contender. (The bout is rumored for January 2.)
“Vitor has not fought in the UFC at 185 pounds,” Soares said. “Now, I know people can say Anderson fought for the belt after one fight, and that’s true, but he fought at 185 pounds. At 195 pounds, he [Belfort] didn’t make weight, at first. So he couldn’t make weight at 195 pounds, but now he’s going to fight for the title at 185 pounds?”
Is any MMA manager getting more face time right now than Ed Soares? I feel like right now he does more than most fighters right now. Anyway, isn’t this getting a little absurd at this point? Who does Silva plan on taking on next? There have been rumors flying around that Frank Mir wants a piece of The Spider, but does anyone really want to see that fight? Even at heavyweight, Silva’s standup would probably be too much for Mir. Soares swears that the winner of a Nate Marquardt/Dan Henderson should get the first shot, but the UFC isn’t crazy about putting either of those guys in the cage against Silva as he’s already beat them both.
This is what happens when the fighters start getting too much power. I liked it better when no one was taking advantage of the matchmaking good will of Joe Silva and the UFC. Anderson, just fight who they tell you. Trust me, they are TRYING to make you look good.
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