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By Anthony De Franco  March 10, 2010, at 10:35 pm  With Dominick Cruz winning the Bantamweight title, I beleive that the 135 pound division in the WEC has officially entered the transitional period that the light heavyweight division did when Forrest Griffin defeated Rampage Jackson. There are a few guys who are capable of holding the belt, and I’m not sure that any of them can hold it.
However, if there was a gun to my head, I would say that Joseph Benavidez would be the guy to do it.
Let’s take a look at the two fights from last Saturday that contained the four best fighters in the division.
When Dominick Cruz won his belt, he did so by TKO because of Injury. It wasn’t an injury that Cruz cause by doing an immense about of damage in the cage. Hell, it wasn’t even a freak injury like Patrick Cote suffered against Anderson Silva. It was a pre-existing injury that snuck up on Brian Bowles and bit him in the proverbial ass. He broke his hand knocking out Miguel Torres, and took seven months to heal up. Then, he throws and lands one punch on Cruz and breaks it again. So, are we really going to pretend that Cruz’s victory isn’t somewhat tainted? Yes, he was winning the first two rounds, but he was doing so with a jumpy, twitchy style that just screamed “Punch me in face!” Bowles continued to rush Cruz, and just seemed a second late at all times. If Bowles had connected, you might not be reading this right now.
Now, look at Joseph Benavidez’s fight against Miguel Torres. Look at the way that he snuffed out almost all offense from a guy who was at one time considered the best fighters on the planet. He continually moved forward, landed his offense and put Torres is tough positions. Most importantly, he finished the fight. He pushed Torres up against the cage, pounded him, and opened up a cut that I’m pretty sure that he used a samurai sword to create. Once the cut was open and Torres was off-kilter, Benavidez finished the job with a guillotine. Done. Fight over, all doubts alleviated.
Can you say that about Cruz?
Yes, Cruz does have a victory over Benavidez. However, as everyone always says, fighters change from fight to fight. I beleive that Benavidez is a better fighter than he was WEC 42, and with him training at Team Alpha Male with WEC godfather Urijah Faber, There is no doubt that he is. As for Cruz, he showed us jab-leg kick-escape over and over again. The best thing he did was gameplan for a fighter who wasn’t as athletic as he was.
This is a prediction and like all predictions has a chance of going terribly awry. However, if you told me that Cruz and Benavidez’s rematch was tomorrow, I’d take Benavidez every single time.
By Anthony De Franco January 22, 2010, at 3:31 pm It’s been a boring few days in MMA. Nothing has really happened this week that is all that newsworthy. No cards, no one got arrested, nothing.
However, There is a bit of an interesting story unfolding in Niagara Falls tomorrow night. Former UFC fighter Corey Hill is returning the cage for the first time since his gruesome leg injury suffered at UFC Fight for The Troops over a year ago.
For those who don’t remember Hill, he lied his way onto TUF 5, saying that he had four pro fights, when in reality he had one. He still managed to win a fight on the show, and was signed to the UFC after defeating Joe Veres on the finale.
His skill set was remarkably raw, but he possesses a remarkable attribute for a 155 pounder: He’s 6′4. That’s right. Most lightweights are 5′9 at most, and Hill is the size of an NBA shooting guard.
He lost to Justin Buchholz at UFC 86, and than suffered his remarkable injury against Dale Hartt, making him 2-2. Now, he begins the comeback trail tomorrow in Niagara Falls.
Good luck, Corey. Everyone at the site will be rooting for you. Who knows, if we don’t have anything to do tomorrow, maybe we’ll take a nine hour ride up to watch you come back.
By Jason Comack January 19, 2010, at 4:44 pm In an interview with Ariel Helwani last week Dana White said that the UFC would hold a press conference this week to clear up Lesnar’s future. Apparently those plans have changed. Lesnar is now scheduled to appear on ESPN’s Sportscenter tomorrow.
Instead, Lesnar is scheduled to appear on “SportsCenter,” where he’s expected to give an update on his health status and a timetable for a possible return. Both White and Lesnar’s camp have been tight-lipped about the illness in recent months. However, Lesnar’s trainer, Greg Nelson, told MMAjunkie.com earlier this month that Lesnar “will fight again,” though a timetable wasn’t known.
I would assume the news on Lesnar is positive at this point. The UFC brass wouldn’t trot him out on television if he didn’t have good news. It’s a smart move by the UFC here. Lesnar and the UFC have been out of the spotlight recently due to a lack of marquee cards. By having Lesnar appear on T.V. it’ll help get the buzz back as well as promote UFC 109.
By Bryan Berg January 13, 2010, at 12:14 am Just got home from the Coliseum a little while ago… WOW. Of all the things I thought I’d see tonight, a 6-0 Islanders win would have been at the very bottom. A perfect performance from the Islanders tonight, and that is no exaggeration. Maybe the bright future of the New York Islanders isn’t as far away as we all thought.
As for the Blueshirts, they lost in the shootout to the Devils. However, by all accounts, this was one of the best games in the entire league this season. Unfortunately, a quick search of the iO Channel Guide does not indicate a replay of this game airing anytime soon, which means that those of us who didn’t see this game missed out on something special. Hopefully, Zach will be by later on or tomorrow to post his thoughts.
In closing, thanks to the Islanders and the Rangers for giving us great performances tonight. Here’s hoping the season’s second half is full of many more nights like this one.
By Anthony De Franco December 31, 2009, at 3:09 pm So. Tired. Up til 9am watching Dynamite 2009. Fuck Shinya Aoki’s stupid pants.
As i try and form coherent sentences right now, We’d like to take a moment to wish you and yours a Happy and Healthy New Year. Take this time to realize how good you have it, and to plot world domination in the coming year. That’s what we’re doing.
So, from Jason, Alex, Zach, Bryan, Matt, Jordan and of course myself, Have a happy New Year. We may be signing off for 2009, but we’ll be back tomorrow with more Bowl predictions, UFC predictions, and we’ll all get to see if Alex drinks himself retarded tonight.
By Bryan Berg December 26, 2009, at 9:38 pm When the Rangers scored with 47 seconds left in the third period to tie tonight’s game at 2, I assumed that was it for the Islanders. The Rangers would go on to win in overtime; if they didn’t do that, they’d win in the shootout. I had my mental consolation speech prepared. It went something like this: “It’s a damn shame they didn’t win tonight. Kyle Okposo was a beast. Even if he never scores again, he should make the U.S. Olympic team, because he still makes things happen. Oh, and I f*&@ing hate the Rangers.”
Then, almost out of nowhere, Kyle Okposo, he who was a beast tonight, fired off a wrist shot that deflected off Marc Staal’s skate, then the post, and then found the back of the net. Islanders win in overtime.
MSG Plus gave us a bunch of stats that I thought said a lot about these two teams. First, Brandon Dubinsky’s second goal gave the Rangers their first point in a game where they trailed after two periods. That’s plenty of fodder for the “The Rangers have no heart” chorus. Second, the Islanders earned their 37th point a full 13 games before they hit the 37-point mark last year. Third, the one we all know a little too well, this was Okposo’s first goal in nineteen games. Lastly, and perhaps most pathetically, the Islanders have consecutive wins for the first time in almost two months.
Yes, the Islanders gave up a crucial point to the Rangers, a team they may be battling for a playoff spot later this season. But this was a big win for the Islanders. They took it to their biggest rivals tonight and got two points. They got a bit of a raw deal with the schedule – their game against the Flyers tomorrow starts just 22 hours from the drop of the puck tonight – but the Flyers are terrible and the Islanders are riding a great wave of momentum. Truly, there’s no reason why they can’t beat Philadelphia tomorrow night; there’s even less reason why they can’t beat Columbus on Tuesday night. That’d be four in a row. It probably wouldn’t get the Isles into the top eight before the end of the year, but it certainly would send them into 2010 on a positive note.
Huge win tonight. And one last note on Okposo – now that he’s broken his goal drought, look for him to heat up in the very immediate future.
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