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MMA

Josh Neer To Fight Eddie Alvarez at May Bellator Event…

I am eagerly anticipating the next season of Bellator. They are signing so many top prospects that could be future stars that it’s easy to forget that they have one of the top lightweights in the world already in the fold. Eddie Alvarez will return to the cage to take on Josh Neer in May, according to a press release from Bellator.

CHICAGO, Ill. (February 16, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that its reigning lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, the No. 2-ranked lightweight in the world, will square off in a non-title “Super Fight” with UFC veteran Josh “The Dentist” Neer under the Bellator banner this May.

The fight is the first Super Fight matchup to be announced by Bellator, which is now gearing up for its much-anticipated nationally-televised second season. These non-tournament, non-title catch-weight fights will pit Bellator’s Season 1 Champions — Alvarez, Joe Soto, Lyman Good and Hector Lombard — against top competition as they prepare to defend their titles from Bellator’s Season 2 tournament winners this fall.

First off, I don’t know who has Alvarez ranked second, but I’d like to meet him. I’d put Kenny Florian, and even Shinya Aoki in front of him. That doesn’t change the fact that he is a top five fighter. His last fight was at DREAM 12 where he defeated Katsunori Kikuno by arm triangle in round two. The Philadelphia-based boxer/wrestler won season one of Bellator by defeating Toby Imada in the finals.

Josh Neer was recently released by the UFC after losing consecutive fights to Kurt Pellegrino and Gleison Tibau. Altogether, he was 2-3 in the UFC before being released. A good ground fighter, his specialty is the standup which is where he earned his nickname “The Dentist.” He provides veteran competition to Alvarez, but shouldn’t provide the favorite too much of a problem.

A quick thought about this fight: Why is it non-title? What is the point of creating a belt if they aren’t going to make the champ defend it?

MMA

Gomi Vs. Florian Official For Fight Night 21

A long rumored fight between Takanori Gomi and Kenny Florian has been made official ESPN’s MMA Live Twitter broke the news.

Kenny Florian-Takanori Gomi expected as the main event for UFC Fight Night 21 March 31st in North Carolina.

Florian obviously has ties to MMA Live as he serves as a co-host.

Florian currently is considered the second or third best lightweight in the world. He’s coming off a very impressive performance against Clay Guida. In that fight he showcased greatly improved boxing, to go along with his Thai skills, and excellent wrestling. He stuffed Guida’s takedowns and even slammed the strong wrestler.

Gomi on the other hand is a fighter on the decline. Once unanimously considered the top lightweight in the world the Fireball Kid has lost 2 of his last 4 fights. While this is a solid main event for a Fight Night, much better then Maynard/Diaz, I’m not sure what the long term plan with Gomi is. If he beats Florian then what? He already got smoked by Penn. And if he loses then what? For Florian this is lose, lose situation. A win won’t get him closer to Penn and for the most part really anywhere. Let’s be honest outside of the Pride faithful no one knows who Gomi is. A loss would be cripling for K-Flo.

I have a therory as to why the UFC is suddenly pushing Gomi but you’ll have to wait till later today to read it.

MMA

Sanchez Moving Back To 170?

Update:

According to Diego Sanchez’s Twitter:

“Yes I’m going back to welterweight. I’m loving my new diet. I want Kos or Fitch but any top guy will do. Just want to give you fans the best fight.”

Is Diego Sanchez considering a move back to welterweight?

The New Mexico native on Sunday night left a somewhat cryptic message via his Facebook page stating “going back up to 170.”

When contacted by MMAWeekly.com, Jeff Clark, Sanchez’s manager, indicated that there has been no official decision made at this time about what weight class he will compete in next.

A move to 170 makes sense for Sanchez.  He was a decent size 170 pound fighter and a huge lightweight.  It’s easy to imagine the cut to 155 wasn’t very easy for him.  At lightweight there are a lot of interesting matchups for him, most notably Kenny Florian, but he already has fought the champ and lost.  It’s hard to imagine Sanchez ever getting another title shot as long as Penn holds the belt.

It’s not like Sanchez didn’t have success at 170.  Sanchez was 7-2 in the division, in the UFC, with his only losses being to top welterweight contenders Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck.  If he moved back to welterweight full time he’d easily be the 5th or 6th best fighter in the division at worst.

Usually it’s moving down in weight that reinvigorates a career, but in Sanchez’s case moving up in weight may do the same thing.

MMA

UFC 107: Kenny Florian’s TapouT Walkout Shirt

Yes, I know. We’re behind. We’ve all been busy. Leave me alone.

While Frankie Edgar might be next in line to fight B.J. Penn, there is little support for him as the current number two lightweight in the world. Instead, most people (mainly me) beleive that honors falls on the shoulder of Kenny Florian. Florian has all the tools to be the best in the world, and showed improvement in his weakest areas, boxing and wrestling, in his last few fights.

Florian led up to UFC 101 talking about his desire to kill the master and all kinds of other talk from kung-fu movies. Now, he gets a shirt with his own samurai on it. This is the latest in the TapouT signature collection, which actually has some pretty awesome shirts that are VERY fighter specific.

MMA Warehouse has it for 27.99.

For more UFC-Worn gear, check out The 3rd String Store.

MMA

Florian v. Gomi Makes No Sense...

There were one hundred reasons that I was happy when the UFC signed Japanese MMA legend Takanori Gomi. It shows that the UFC is still interested in signing the best talent in the world, even during a time when the lightweight division is so full of talent that it’s busting at the seems.

Then, when I heard the rumor that Florian v. Gomi seems to be ready to happen, my mind was blown. Everything I thought I knew before this announcement no longer makes any sense.

Here’s the main reason: The consensus amongst the MMA internet community seems to be that this fight is going to lead to a title match for someone. That sounds fine and good on the surface, because Gomi is a legend, and Florian is arguably the second best lightweight the UFC has. However, when you look a little deeper, you realize that neither of these fighters are deserving of title fights. Florian was just smashed by Penn. I don’t care if some of the judges thought that Kenny won some rounds. He didn’t. He was dominated. You are going to put him up against Penn again? I’m a huge Kenny Florian fan, and not even I want to see that.

As for Gomi, we aren’t getting “The Fireball Kid” in his prime. He’s 4-2 in his last six fights. He’s getting up there in fight age, as he’s just 31, but has been fighting since 98. You have to wonder how he is going to fare against the best lightweight fighters in their primes.

More than anything, it annoys me because there are guys in the lightweight division who deserve the shot. Next Monday, Gray Maynard will defeat Nate Diaz. When he does that, he will have a serious case that he deserves to be the next guy to take on Penn. While Penn has amazing takedown defense, Maynard may be the best wrestler in the UFC, or at least the best non-French Canadian wrestler. If anyone can take him down, it’s Maynard.

Frankie Edgar has been a good solider for quite awhile now. He’s piled up wins over Jim Miller (The first fight I ever attended), Spencer Fisher, Hermes Franca and Sean Sherk. Now, he should start to be angry enough at the UFC that he starts demanding things. Like the title shot he rightfully deserves. However, the problem is that he has a loss to Maynard on his record. That may put him second in line.

Overall, I’m a fan of equality and fairness. While Florian may be second best fighter in the division, he had his shot. While Gomi is a legend, he’s the new kid on the block that has to prove himself in the UFC. Not to mention that he might be passes his prime. Not to mention there are at least two contenders that have the track records to deserve title shots.

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