Archive for September, 2007

Sep 28 2007

Rear Naked Ramblings – 09/28/07

Published by GG under Uncategorized

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Here’s the lineup for Strikeforce at the Playboy Mansion.

- Todd Martin discusses Strikeforce’s business model as well as their show this weekend.

- Sam Caplan talks to Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez about his fight this weekend.

- Daniel Puder talks about his fight this weekend as well, but also about the possibility of fighting Kurt Angle.

- It’s not only wrestlers and MMA fighters being reported for taking steroids these days. And doesn’t Shane Mosely now work with Oscar De La Hoya?

- Yahoo! Sports updates their Top Ten rankings.

- Mike Coughlin writes about how well Pride guys have really been doing in the UFC.

- The Rock talks UFC, wrestling, and movies.

Talking Points

After all the UFC craziness of the last two weeks, there’s a bit of a lull in the fighting schedule. Strikeforce will be streamed on Yahoo! Sports starting at 9PM Pacific on Saturday. The show is taking place at the Playboy Mansion and I actually was thinking about trying to get tickets for the show. I had a contact who said she could probably get them, but did let me know that they were $1000 a pop. Interestingly enough, I thought about it for a good day and a half before I came back to reality and stopped pretending like $1000 for a show wasn’t expensive.

Anthony Figueroa, who is fighting early on the show, told me that it’s really a party built around an MMA card. There are going to be after parties, catered food, card games, and the chance to hang out at the Mansion. Hopefully, I’ll be able to interview Figueroa sometime in the future and get him to talk about the experience.

If you want to contact me, click here.

Thanks for reading,

Garrett M. Gonzales
MMA.Consumerhelpweb.com

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Sep 26 2007

The Ultimate Fighter Season 6: Episode 2

Published by GG under Uncategorized

Mac Danzig is all smiles, and so is Matt Hughes, after the victory over Joe Scarola. Dana White reminds us that unlike in previous seasons, the winner of the fight doesn’t necessarily get to choose the next fight. The teams trade off after every fight.

Troy Mandaloniz from Team Serra draws a scoreboard on the wall and crosses Joe’s name from the list. Joe is still in the house. Joe says he let Matt down and Matt is like a big brother to him.

Mac is back training after his victory, taking no time off. Dan Barrera says that being on Hughes team gives them a military mindset. Hughes says after the victory, the team was so fired up that they gave him more energy than he’s ever seen in practice.

Scarola decided to skip practice. Serra tells the team that Scarola put himself into the triangle because he was too nervous and he found his way out of the fight. Danzig writes his name back on the scoreboard as a sign of friendship. Danzig tries to help Scarola get his head clear. Scarola wants out of the house and Danzig tells him to take advantage of the opportunity.

Serra goes to the house to talk to Scarola. Serra tells him that it’s the easy way out to do what he wants to do. He tells him to man up. Scarola says he’s going to do the right thing and stick it out. Scarola wants to call home, but Serra says they won’t let him.

Serra says that Scarola is going to help him with teaching and will be like another coach.

Dorian Price thinks Team Serra is going to choose him because he’s a Muay Thai guy and he’s in his own head. He was paranoid that Team Serra thought they could beat him in the stand-up, even though he was supposedly the best guy on his feet on both teams.

Team Serra picks Matt Arroyo to face Dorian Price. Price thought they were going to face him off with Ben Saunders, and he was mad dogging Saunders before the decision was made.

One of Hughes’ coaches says that it’s the perfect match-up for them. Hughes tells Price that he didn’t have a good evaluation day, but his stand-up is 100% better now. Hughes looks very happy.

Arroyo says he thinks he has the least amount of fights. He has been training in jiu-jitsu for four years and just picked up MMA in the last year.

Hughes gives his team bibles. He also gives them homework. You have a bunch of fighters discussing the bible right next to the octagon. Danzig decides against reading the bible. Hughes tells him that he doesn’t have to do it, but it’s interesting. Hughes tells the group to read the book of Esther and that they have to figure out who Hughes would relate to in the book. Hughes says he’s the queen because he helps people out.

Serra calls Hughes a wack job for trying to force his fighters to read the bible. Serra calls him a rooster sucker and says he can’t wait to fight him.

Scarola tells his team that he’s sick after his loss. Scarola says he’s not only a fighter, but he’s a lover too and he misses his girlfriend dearly. Let’s hope he doesn’t turn into another Noah Inhofer.

Hughes says Price is going to knock Arroyo out. Serra gives the impression that Arroyo is immediately going to take him down, which is not what Hughes wants. Dana White says that Price has five submission wins and says it could go to the ground and Arroyo could get surprised.

Scarola continues to talk about his girlfriend and the show is dying a slow death. He needs to stop. He’s begging for a phone call. I hope Dana White tells him to leave.

Pete Sell is a coach on Team Serra. Serra is in the cage watching two guys spar and he gets a phone call. It’s about Scarola who continues to cry about his one phone call. Serra gathers his team together and tells him that he’s going to kick Scarola out of the house, and calls him a name that rhymes with wussy. He then calls him a witch. Well, you know what he really called him.

Serra comes back to the house and Scarola is still crying and says when he gets home, he’s going to ask his girl to marry him. Serra tells Scarola not to ask about the phone call again. I think he’s more annoying than Noah Inhofer.

Price says fighting helps him release the pain in his life. He says the judges can go home because the fight won’t go to the judges. Arroyo says he wants the $5,000 for stopping Price. Price has a near four inch height advantage, but not nearly the reach advantage that I thought.

Round One

Price hits him with a big knee, but Arroyo eats it and takes him down. He gets side control after missing a big punch and is hitting Price with elbows and punches. He’s in Price’s half guard now and is hitting Price with punches to the body. He gets the mount and is throwing punches and elbows from the top. Price is just covering up and not punching back. He gives up his back and Arroyo sinks in a rear naked choke and Price taps in seconds.

Winner: Matt Arroyo by way of first round submission.

At least Price was right in that the judges could’ve gone home. Hughes says he wasn’t disappointed because Price gave it his all. Serra says that Hughes didn’t know what Serra say in Arroyo. He says he was very confident in the match-up. Price apologizes to Hughes and Hughes says he’s not the only one who is going to lose. Price says that he wishes he wouldn’t have tapped out and that he should’ve gone to sleep so he could’ve dreamed of some fat hookers and a Latino midget. Where did that come from?

Next week: It looks like we get more of crybaby Scarola. Matt Hughes also tells his team that he probably only has two or three fights left in him.

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Sep 25 2007

Rear Naked Ramblings – 9/25/07

Published by GG under Uncategorized

We’re going to skip the news today and go straight to the talking points. Actually, the news is mostly UFC 76 fallout anyways. If you want to read a quick recap of the show, check out the blog.

Talking Points

One of the more interesting things to do after watching a big show is to think about what match-ups could be created out of the results. UFC 76 featured two light heavyweight match-ups in which four of the top light heavyweights in the company faced off. With Forrest Griffin’s upset submission win over Shogun Rua, and Keith Jardine’s surprise decision victory over Chuck Liddell, the results of UFC 76 didn’t just shake up the division, it shook up the entire company.

It has been one of Dana White’s goals to put together a match between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva. With Liddell being one of the top light heavies in the UFC, and Silva being the same in Pride, White wanted to give fight fans a super fight between the two men. He’s been close a couple times, including last year when Silva came out and stated that he wanted “fight Chuck”, but instead mixed the beginning of each words and nearly asked for something entirely different. But it didn’t happen. Earlier last month, White inked Silva to a UFC deal and believed that he had his fight after all. All Liddell had to do was beat Jardine, and the super fight would happen in December. Unfortunately for White, Silva, and Liddell, Jardine had other plans and now sits pretty, nudging himself into the mix.

What does White do now? Well, I’m not Dana White, and if I was, this blog would have several “f” words splattered in between words, but here’s what I’d like to see happen.

Forrest Griffin’s star may never be brighter. With his victory over Shogun, you could state the case that he’s ready for a title shot against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. But with Rampage out until early next year because of injuries sustained in his victory over Dan Henderson, Griffin would have to wait several months to fight again. I think he has to fight sooner than later. He’s a possible drawing card. He might be a guy who could push PPV buyrates past normal numbers. And I think you have to take advantage of that. I’d have him step in for Liddell and fight Silva. Much like this fight with Shogun, it’d be a win/win for Griffin. He’d probably be the underdog, but he’d also have a good chance at an upset. His star would shine brighter no matter what. And with his charisma, he could build that fight up in a way that would give it more interest than it looks to have on paper.

I’d save Keith Jardine for Rampage’s next title defense. It’s not a sexy fight by any means. But with Rampage, you have someone who will create the story for the fight. Jardine’s herky jerky style could give Rampage fits, but it’s my belief that Rampage is on top of his game right now and is in a spot where he’s a money fighter. It wouldn’t do huge buyrates, but Jardine’s win over Liddell puts him in a spot to where you could stick him in a title fight, and it’s justified.

As for Shogun and Chuck, you could put them in a match together (which would’ve been huge before Saturday happened), or you could put them in fights with either the winner of the Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz rematch, or with the winner of Michael Bisping and Matt Hamill rematch that is rumored to be happening. I’m not sure if Dana White would put Lyoto Machida with either guy for fear of a boring fight.

Even if those match-ups don’t happen, what is quite certain is that the division is stacked and whatever White, and match-maker Joe Silva decide, it will be fun to watch unravel.

If you want to contact me, click here.

Thanks for reading,

Garrett M. Gonzales
MMA.Consumerhelpweb.com

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Sep 21 2007

Rear Naked Ramblings – 09/21/07

Published by GG under Uncategorized

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- If you missed UFC Fight Night 11, we have the results posted in the blog.

- The first episode of The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 is also recapped in the blog.

- JZ Calvan wins the K-1 Hero’s middleweight tournament.

- Josh “The Punk” Thompson builds up his fight at the Playboy Mansion.

- Dave Meltzer previews UFC 76.

- Keith Jardine talks about his upcoming fight with Chuck Liddell.

- Rich Franklin leaves his hometown for his hometown fight.

Talking Points

UFC Fight Night 11 was a sloppy show for fans of good boxing, but with two “out of nowhere” type knockouts, it was still an entertaining show.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 is going to be great. The first episode was really good and it looks like Matt Hughes is going to screw with Matt Serra all season long.

There are three marquee match-ups this weekend and the main event probably has the least amount of buzz among fight fans. Chuck Liddell is still UFC’s top star, but his fight Saturday against Keith Jardine doesn’t have a lot of hype surrounding it. It could be that Jardine as an opponent, simply doesn’t have the star power yet, or maybe it’s because both men are coming off losses and fans see this as a stepping stone fight for Chuck. Either way, I still think it will be an exciting stand-up war, and one that Liddell needs to win. I think he’ll probably knock out Jardine in the second.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua makes his octagon debut against fan favorite Forrest Griffin. Rua is a fight finisher and if Forrest wants an entertaining fight, he’s going to stand in there and trade. I think Rua outlasts him and probably overpowers him late in the second or in the third.

What is to make of Jon Fitch? He’s a guy who has the hardest time finding people to fight, according to insiders. Fighters see him as a bad match-up and he doesn’t have the marquee name yet, so losing to him wouldn’t make you necessarily look good. But Diego Sanchez needs to rebuild his name after losing to Josh Koscheck several months ago. It came out after the fight that Sanchez had a staph infection that probably was part of the reason for his poor showing. Diego has a big enough name to where if he loses this fight, he’s still known. But it’s Fitch’s first real shot at climbing the ladder. He’s unknown except to MMA die hards, but he is training buddies with Koscheck in San Jose, so I’m sure they are trading secrets. Diego will have the edge in overall stamina, but Fitch may be the overall more sound fighter. This is his chance to prove it. I think Fitch takes a unanimous decision.

If you want to contact me, click here.

Thanks for reading,

Garrett M. Gonzales
MMAHelpWeb.com

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Sep 19 2007

The Ultimate Fighter Season 6: Episode I

The UFC is marketing this season’s The Ultimate Fighter (or TUF for short) as the craziest yet.

Matt Hughes coached on the second season of TUF and Serra won the fourth season. Both guys were brought back to coach this season of welterweights. This will build up to their late December fight for Serra’s welterweight championship.

The show opens with Matt Serra and Dana White embracing. Serra says White called him right after his win over Georges St. Pierre. Serra says he wants to beat Hughes in the competition and then in the ring. Hughes comes in the building and Serra says he doesn’t want to be fake with Hughes and they know where they stand with each other. Hughes says he’s not the one bad mouthing Serra. Serra basically says he tells it like it is and it’s based on how Hughes treats other people. The one thing that is quite certain is that Hughes looks much bigger than Serra. Hughes says he can’t let his kids watch Serra because he’s always cursing and that’s not how a champion should act.

Serra calls Hughes a typical jock. Hughes says out of all the welterweights in the UFC, Serra is the easiest one to beat. Serra calls him an enemy.

White brings the contestants into the TUF training center and immediately has the guys train to be evaluated by the coaches. Mac Danzig is probably the only decently known guy of the group, because he fought in Pride. Joe Scarola is a Serra student and was the best man at his wedding. Looks like Serra will try to get him. Scarola tells Hughes that he’s loyal to Serra. Hughes tells the cameras that he wasn’t too impressed with him anyway. But then, Hughes tells Scarola that Serra better pick him first or else he’d take him. He didn’t really want him, but he wanted Serra to use his first pick on him.

Hughes didn’t pull a BJ Penn and ask who wanted to be on his team. Serra wins the coin flip and he can use the first selection, or pass it on to Hughes. If he passes to Hughes, he can select the first fight. This year, the winner of the fight doesn’t hold the power to select the next fight. But, the coach of the team who has the most winners gets to pick the quarterfinals match-ups. Interestingly enough, Mark Burnett and Sugar Ray Leonard’s The Contender series copied the rule that the winning team gets to pick the next fight from TUF, for this season of their show.

Hughes decides to use his first pick and picks Scarola. Hughes picks Dan Barrera with his first pick. Mac Danzig says that he was a little upset when Serra passed on him with his second pick, but Hughes took him next anyway. The rest of the picks were made and both coaches said that they got the guys they wanted.

Roman Mitichyan hurt his elbow during the evaluations. The doctor says that he broke his elbow and Mitichyan dead pans and says, “I’m going under depression now.” The doctor tells him not to fight, but he’ll have none of it. He says he’s not sure what’s wrong with the doc because he’s fighting and the doc must be a comedian because he’s making him laugh with all the nonsensical talk of him not being able to fight. He scolds the doctor and says that he’s here to fight and he’s not a pussy. The way he says that word may be one of the funniest things I’ve heard all day. The doctor tells him what is wrong with his elbow and he goes off on the doctor again. With his arm in a sling, he tells the doctor off and leaves the office in a huff.

Serra notices Mitichyan is missing. Mitichyan walks in and says that he’s not going to listen to the doctor and wants to work out. Serra says no, but he’ll call Dana. Dana says that Mitichyan needs to leave, but praises him for his toughness. The show just lost probably the most entertaining guy. But he made sure he’s no pussy. Actually, I just want him back on the show so he can say that word again. Jon Koppenhaver is Mitichyan’s replacement. Serra seemed impressed with him.

Hughes says he’s not going to put his best guys in with Serra’s weakest guys. He wants to go after Serra’s best guys and get them out of the way.

Hughes picks Mac Danzig from his team to fight Joe Scarola. Robbie Lawler is one of the coaches on Hughes’ team. Yes, the same Robbie Lawler that just knocked out Ninja Rua to win the EXC middleweight championship.

Danzig says he’s laid back until he gets set off. Danzig is a vegan. He says don’t mess with his food or with his sleep. Danzig says he’s the most experienced guy here and has been in long and tough fights.

Serra tells Scarola that Danzig isn’t out of his league and technically he’s right there. He tells him not to make the fight bigger than it really is. Scarola doesn’t look too confident.

They are exactly the same height and have the same reach. Scarola is one year older, but the big difference is that Danzig has 22 fights to Scarola’s 6. Danzig has to be one of the favorites for the season.

Round One

Scarola shoots in and they’re in a clinch, but Danzig powers him to the ground. He’s in side control. Scarola gives up his back, but they roll around until Scarola draws guard. Danzig is back in side control, but Scarola gives up his back again. They’re back on their feet, but Scarola wants it back down. Now Danzig draws guard. Scarola slips one of his legs out. He’s back in Danzig’s guard. Danzig tries for a triangle and locks it in. Scarola taps out with only 6 seconds left.

Winner: Mac Danzig by way of first round submission.

Hughes says his guy just beat Serra’s first round pick and he feels like he’s in a pretty good spot.

Scarola says that the nerves got to him. Serra says that he took the easy way out by tapping to the choke. Scarola says he feels like he let Serra down.

Next week: Scarola wants to leave the house and Danzig and Serra try to talk him off the edge. Also, Hughes seems happy with Serra’s fight selection.

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Sep 19 2007

UFC 73: Stacked – Live PPV Results

Published by GG under Uncategorized

UFC 73 comes from Sacramento, California. I will have a much more detailed recap up later this weekend

The show starts with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring. Nogueira is being promoted as Minotauro Nogueira.

First round: Nogueira owns the stand up for about the first four minutes and was stalking a back pedaling Herring. Herring then hits a huge left kick to the head and Nogueira goes down like a sack of potatoes. Herring goes for the kill, but for some reason he lets Nogueira get up and Nogueira holds on.

Second round: Herring stays away for some reason and Nogueira gets two take downs and wins the stand up in the round.

Third round: Nogueira gets Herring down and in both a rear naked choke attempt and a kimura attempt, but Herring got out of both. Nogueira won the stand up and probably wins a decision.

Decision: Nogueira by way of unanimous decision.

Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca for Sherk’s lightweight title is next.

First round: Franca gets a guillotine choke in early, but Sherk escaped it and spent the rest of the round on top of Franca with the ground and pound. It was Sherk’s round.

Second round: Franca hits a big knee right off the bat but Sherk’s strength continues to give him the best position, though Franca seems to be trying to pick his spot from his guard.

Third round: Sherk smothers Franca the entire round and Franca spends most of the round in the turtle position on his knees. Easy round for Sherk. The crowd doesn’t like the ground battle.

Fourth round: Other than receiving a knee to the head, Sherk dominates the round completely again. He hits a big slam and just out muscles him on the ground.

Fifth round: Complete and total domination.

Decision: Sherk by way of unanimous decision.

Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans is next which means Anderson Silva’s title defense against Nate Marquardt goes on last. Both guys look great, but Ortiz is so much bigger.

First round: Ortiz gets an early take down and simply looks stronger. Evans stays away for most of the round, but cuts Ortiz with what looks to be a thumb. Ortiz wins the round.

Second round: Ortiz gets a point taken away for holding onto the fence and has Evans in a guillotine, but Evans is saved by the bell.

Third round: Evans isn’t active enough until the last ten seconds when he takes down Ortiz. If the judges give Evans the last round, this thing could be a draw based on the point Ortiz lost in the second round.

Decision: Draw

Three fights. Three decisions. Anderson Silva and Nate Marquardt needs to be exciting. The event has been good, but for the new fan, having all three fights be so technical probably hurts it in their eyes.

First round: Marquardt stays in Silva’s guard for much of the first. Silva hits a big left and Marquardt goes to his hands and knees. Silva gets on top of him and reigns down fists from the top and McCarthy stops it.

Decision: Anderson Silva by way of first round TKO.

They still have time for Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson in Robinson’s UFC debut.

First round: Florian dominates with three takedowns and gets the mount late in the round and Robinson taps out.

Decision: Kenny Florian by way of first round TKO.

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Rear Naked Ramblings – 09/28/07