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By Anthony De Franco  February 18, 2010, at 2:21 am  There are plenty of careers on the line at UFC 110. That’s part of what makes it the most interesting card we’ve had in months. However, there is some debate in the community about the UFC cutting some of the losers on Sunday morning.
After UFC 109, when the organization cut six fighters, there are worries that the clear-cutting could continue. With legends like Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop, and vets like Keith Jardine on the chopping block, there could be some wholesale changes on the way home from Australia. Let’s take a look at some necks on the line and assume they lose. Should they stay?
- Stephan Bonnar - All these years later, and Bonnar is still living off the good will that he created for himself when he put the UFC on the map with Forrest Griffin. Since that war took place on that magical night in 2005, Bonnar is 5-6 in the UFC. Until UFC 100, you could have made the argument that all his losses had come against top competition, but then he lost to Mark Coleman. Oh yeah, there is also that whole horse steroids thing.Bonnar is fighting a decent opponent in Krzysztof Soszynski, but he still should be out as he loses. However, his saving grace may be Strikeforce. Would Scott Coker want Bonnar if he is cut by the UFC? I think we are going to find out.
In or Out?: Out.
- Wanderlei Silva – The Axe Murderer is an MMA legend. He was the best fighter in the world for most of his tenure in PRIDE. His blinding strikes put down many a fighter for a long winter’s nap. However, that success has not translated to the UFC as he is just 1-3. I personally believe that he won the Rich Franklin fight, but whatever. Now, he makes the drop to 185, which he should have done a long time ago, to fight Michael Bisping.Silva has also just had facial surgery to remove all the scar tissue that 10-plus years of fighting has accumulated on his face. He won’t cut as easy and won’t be as easy to knockout.Silva is a real legend, and his action-filled style always is exciting. He’s safe.
In or Out?: In
- Mirko Cro Cop – No PRIDE star has struggled more than Cro Cop. He claims to have a mental block from fighting in the cage, but I think that it has more to do with lack of steroid testing in Japan and Cro Cop getting up their in years.That’s not mention that his flawed gameplan of relying on head kicks has stopped working as mixed martial artists have become more skilled.If he loses to Rothwell, he’ll be 1-4 in the UFC. At some point, even the most insistent PRIDE fans (Jason) will have to admit it’s over.
In or Out?: Out
- Keith Jardine – Jardine has always been overrated in my opinion. His “unorthodox” (DING!) striking can be neutralized by the fact that he has a tendency to go down VERY early in fights. Of his five UFC losses, three of them have come in the first five minutes. To make it worse, he already trains at Greg Jackson’s. He just doesn’t have what it takes to make it as a contender in the UFC.He simply isn’t all that good, and in a crowded division, there really isn’t any room for him to hang around to be a gatekeeper.
In or Out?: Out
By Anthony De Franco February 13, 2010, at 3:54 pm It’s the best striker in MMA versus the best grappler in MMA. Anderson Silva will step into the cage with Vitor Belfort in Abu Dhabi, replacing the injured Vitor Belfort.
From the horse’s mouth at UFC.com:
“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”
The difference? Maia’s standup remains well below average and Anderson Silva’s ground game is still above average. Silva will and should be a huge favorite in this fight, as Maia has much less of a chance of defeating Silva than Belfort did.
This does raise other questions about the middleweight division though. Will Vitor Belfort receive a title shot upon getting healthy or will he have to re-earn number one contender status. If he faces Chael Sonnen, there is no guarantee that he’d win. Most of Vitor’s losses are to guys who were able to put him on his back.
By Anthony De Franco January 18, 2010, at 2:18 am Demian Maia was supposed to be the guy on the fast track to dethroning Anderson Silva. Until he ran into Nate Marquardt’s fist at UFC 102. With that knockout, his name went back into the magical hat of the middleweight division.
However, he tries to get back on the horse at UFC 109 against Dan Miller. Here’s the shirt he’ll be wearing to the cage on that night:
Maia is a submission specialist who has a shot at being something very special. All he needs is to build somekind of stand-up game to deal with the first few minutes of the fight, and he could be a championship caliber fighter. Buy this shirt and get on the bandwagon. Maia is going nowhere but up.
MMA Warehouse has it in stock for 39.99.
For more Bad Boy Gear, visit The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco January 11, 2010, at 3:49 pm I love Twitter. Only in our generation could you stories via the horse’s mouth in less than 140 characters. According to Da Spyder’s twitter account, he’s back in the cage for UFC 112.
Da spyders fighting in abudabi April 10 so pumped
Bad grammar aside, I am one of the few people in the world that remains on the side of Grove. When he won TUF 3, he was clearly an excited kid who wasn’t ready for the big show. He’s only 6-3 since, but is coming off a win against Jake Rosholt in which he showed some nice BJJ. He’s also showed increased maturity over his last few matchups, often talking about his desire to get better because he needs to feed his family. You’d be shocked what a motivator survival is.
Let me also say that his three losses aren’t exactly bad losses eithier. He lost Ricardo Almeida, who is just awesome. He lost to Patrick Cote, who went on to fight Anderson Silva for the middleweight title. He lost to Jorge Rivera…okay, that’s a terrible loss.
Also, here is yet another name fighter for UFC 112. Since we last spoke, we found out that the man behind the Abu Dhabi Combat Club grappling championship Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has bought a small percentage of the UFC. That may explain part of the reason that the card has been so stacked. However, I still think that if they do choose to go with two title fights, Renzo Gracie v. Matt Hughes, and Kendall Grove, they are going to regret it in the following months.
By Anthony De Franco November 9, 2009, at 12:29 pm Nothing like putting two big slow white guys the ring together. Here’s the news from MMA Weekly:
Light heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski are expected to do battle at UFC 110.
MMAWeekly.com learned of the match-up Friday from sources close to the situation. Though bout agreements have not been signed, both fighters have agreed to the fight and are expected to put pen to paper shortly.
UFC 110 has yet to be officially announced by the promotion but is expected for Feb. 21 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Bonnar (11-6) last appeared at UFC 100 in July, where he lost by unanimous decision to former heavyweight champion Mark Coleman in the promotion’s blockbuster summer event. It was his second consecutive loss on points after a setback to Jon Jones at UFC 94.
Since emerging from the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Bonnar has gone 5-5 in the Octagon.
Well, here’s the good part. Neither of these two are going to take this thing to the ground. They are going to slug it out. It ends one of two ways. Either one of them gets put down, or it’s a sloppy fight that ends in a decision.
How is Stephan Bonnar still employed? How much more goodwill can he have from The Ultimate Fighter One finale? Since entering the UFC, he’s 5-5, not to mention that whole thing where he was suspended for taking horse steroids. We’ve talked before about how he should be cut, but if he loses this one it really has to be over.
By Anthony De Franco November 3, 2009, at 9:01 pm Five Years, 85 million.
That’s likely what it would cost to make sure that what’s happening to the Yankees right now won’t happen again anytime in the near future. That’s what it would cost to have stop Tim Mccarver stop making reference to pitcher’s from his era (before the dinosaurs, by the way) pitching on two days rest. That’s what would make sure that the name Chad Gaudin is never said in the same sentenced as “starting game 5 of the World Series” ever, ever again.
That’s what it will likely cost for the Yankees to get John Lackey.
I’ve never been a real big fan of signing free agent pitchers. Generally, they cost far too much, and almost never perform up to the standard that they set before they became multi-millionaires. Just bring up the name Barry Zito in front of a San Francisco Giants fan and pass out the entire cast of Fast Forward.
As much as that thought makes me squirm in my chair, I can’t take this “three days rest” thing anymore. I don’t want to hear about C.C. Sabathia doing it, it’s clear that the dude is a freak. He’s just a huge horse of a man that can take the ball every other day and dominate one of the league’s best lineups while barely breaking a sweat.
What no one has mentioned about that this whole pitching on short rest thing is that pitchers are a grand total of 19-34 in the division playoff era on three days rest. They haven’t told you that only the Minnesota Twins of 1991 have won a World Series recently by pushing up their entire staff. They didn’t tell you that starting A.J. Burnett on short rest was a TERRIBLE idea.
The truth of the situation is that it wasn’t the fact that his stuff wasn’t crisp that screwed A.J. It was the fact that the mix in his schedule screwed with his frequently discussed head. He still threw gas, but just couldn’t locate his curveball for anything. That was mental more than physical.
Even better, let’s put his personal catcher in that sabotages the end of the team’s batting lineup?
How many different ways did the Yanks want to screw themselves in this game?
I’m not one to just complain and not offer a solution, so let’s think about how we can keep this craziness from happening in the future. The first would be to finally stretch out Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes and just leave them the hell alone. No more of this situational pitching or putting them in the bullpen because there’s a hole. They are starting pitchers. That is the most important position in the game and that’s where they belong. With a full season to gauge their progress (which will be far superior if Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi let them be) the team can just let them go in the playoffs.
But, there is another way. The team can take a grizzled, veteran pitcher who wants the ball every time the manager is willing to give it to them. A guy who has a winning pedigree and a career 3.12 ERA in the postseason. A guy who screamed at his manager for taking him out in a tight game because all he wanted was to pitch out of the jam he got into.
All it would take is a commitment of five years and about 85 million bucks.
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