Fight Game Blog

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Frank Mir talks about how he’s going to beat Brock Lesnar.

- Adam Swift says that UFC 81 is getting the pro wrestling push.

- Dave Meltzer chronicles how well amateur wrestling champions have done in MMA.

- ESPN’s podcast center now lists Sherdog’s podcast.

- Could this be what The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 has to offer?

Talking Points

You have to give it to Dana White. He’s made Brock Lesnar’s debut into something that has a lot going for it. It’s the pro wrestler vs. the mixed martial artist and MMA fans do not want to see Lesnar win. Lesnar is playing it up perfectly as well. He’s the guy that doesn’t care that Mir is a former champion or that Mir broke Tim Sylvia’s arm. It just doesn’t matter to him. He just thinks he’s too big and too strong and will run rough shot over the heavyweight division. I’m sure that he respects the division and probably doesn’t really think it’s going to be easy, but that’s how you promote. That’s how you make a fight noteworthy.

The UFC has to want Lesnar to be victorious. He’s the one guy with star power in a division that has quality fighters, but none with real star power now that Randy Couture is gone. If Mir wins, he’ll get one more shot at Sylvia, but unless he truly dedicates himself to the sport and gets in shape, he’s simply going to be the former champion. With Lesnar, you have a guy who is probably at his athletic peak, who according to those in the know, picks up everything like a sponge. He has a good future ahead of him as long as he keeps improving and is a great story. He’s a legit amateur wrestling star who became a pro wrestling star and left pro wrestling while at the top of his game. He tried out for the NFL and with no college experience, made it through nearly all the cuts with the Minnesota Vikings before starting in MMA. Only Frank Mir right now, stands in his way.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- If you missed UFC Fight Night 12, we summarized it on the blog.

- The payouts have also been reported and Kurt Pelligrino (dark match) made just as much as the headliner, Mike Swick, if the report is accurate.

- Sam Caplan interviews WEC vice president Peter Dropick and they talk 2008, PPV, and other things upcoming for the WEC. He also chats with Eddie Alvarez who fights tonight on the ShoXC card.

- Todd Martin gives readers insight about who “The Beast” Bob Sapp is and why you need to know about him if you don’t already.

- Dave Meltzer writes about the perennial semi-main eventer, Tim Sylvia.

- Matt Hughes says he wants Matt Serra if Serra loses to Georges St. Pierre.

- Mia St. John is putting her boxing gloves away for MMA gloves. I talked to her when she was in San Francisco trying to fight at the MMA show that never happened during the wrestling convention at the Cow Palace. She said that at the time, the California State Athletic Commission didn’t think she knew enough jiu-jitsu to be cleared to fight.

- Kevin Iole talks about how people were right not to give up on Patrick Cote.

Talking Points

Although he was promoting a show on the National Geographic, Randy Couture talked mostly about how he’s done with the UFC and how he’s not their heavyweight champion, though he’s still called their champion. At the end of the three minute piece, the interviewer asked him if we would ever see him fight again in the UFC. It really shows that to most media, the UFC is the only game in town. She didn’t ask him about MMA and probably didn’t even know there were other organizations. I just thought that interview told the entire story about how much UFC has become the Xerox of MMA. Couture tried to say that he hoped to fight again, but by then, it seemed like it was an afterthought.

1. Nate Diaz vs. Alvin Robinson

Diaz got two early slams, but got stuck in a guillotine. He eventually got out of it and nearly got the mount, but Robinson flipped him over. Diaz tried to put a lock on Robinson’s shoulder, but settled for a quick triangle and Robinson had to tap out.

Winner: Nate Diaz by way of first round submission.

2. Thiago Tavares vs. Michihiro Omigawa

The first round showed both guys using their skills as Tavares is a jiu-jitsu guy and Omigawa is a judo guy. It was technical and fun to watch.

As for the second and third rounds, the fight was uneventful. Tavares tried to take Omigawa down in the second, but wasn’t successful. In the third, they both were getting takedowns, but couldn’t do anything on the ground. Tavares was more active and simply the better fighter, and he got the unanimous decision.

Winner: Thiago Tavares by way of unanimous decision.

3. Patrick Cote vs. Drew McFedries

They both came out throwing heavy kicks and punches. McFedries was trying to soften him up with leg kicks. He landed a huge left that landed clean, but Cote followed it with an uppercut and a left that sent McFedries into cover up mode. Cote followed up by grabbing the back of his head and throwing uppercuts and the referee stopped it.

Winner: Patrick Cote by way of TKO.

4. Kurt Pelligrino vs. Alberto Crane

Crane came out and threw a kick that Pelligrino walked right into. It caused Pelligrino’s teeth to cut through his lip. But the rest of the round was Pelligrino throwing heavy right hands and Crane trying to figure out how to stand up with him.

In the second, it was all Pelligrino. Crane got him down on his knees with his back up against the cage, but when he went to try to get into position, Pelligrino ended up on top and threw a right hand that made Crane turn over and hold his face. The referee ended it.

Winner: Kurt Pelligrino by way of TKO.

5. Mike Swick vs. Josh Burkman

Burkman started off strong, beating Swick to the punch and shooting in, working for the takedown. He got the only takedown of the fight in the round, but also got stuck in a guillotine for a few seconds. He landed the cleaner big shots as well.

In the second round, Swick used his length to keep his distance and land a few blows. He also landed the best strike of the round with a high kick, but he didn’t follow up on it.

In the final round, it was pretty close. Burkman would go for the takedown, but not get it, and Swick would keep his distance to try and score points to win the round. It was largely boring and could’ve easily been a draw fight.

Winner: Mike Swick by way of majority decision.

One judge had it 29-29, but the other two judges had it 29-28 in Swick’s favor. Can’t actually say that was a very successful welterweight debut, but as they say, a win is a win.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- If you didn’t watch it this weekend, you can read our play by play of UFC 80.

- B.J. Penn makes history.

- Mike Swick talks about his move to welterweight and why he fought at middleweight for so long.

- Harley-Davidson is the UFC’s newest sponsor.

- CBS Sportsline previews UFC Fight Night 12 and everyone made weight.

- Tito Ortiz agrees to a fight with Lyoto Machida and rips the UFC.

- Here’s another look at Randy Couture vs. Zuffa.

- Dave Meltzer writes about Brock Lesnar and how his being a former WWE superstar helps in the promotion of his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 81.

- Frank Shamrock says he’s promoting his fight against his brother Ken.

- Antonio Silva’s opponent for February’s EXC event is Ricco Rodriguez.

- Where has Keith Jardine been?

- Bob Sapp fights Jan Nortje for Strikeforce’s Tacoma Dome show.

Talking Points

If you ever get a chance to watch UFC in HD, do it. Don’t even worry about the extra $10. It’s worth every penny. I was having issues with my cable company on Saturday morning while I was trying to order the UFC 80 show and the technical service representative basically told me that I was out of luck. I immediately called my ex-wife and told her I was going to order it at her house and she said she wasn’t home anyway so it was fine. I live only a couple minutes away so I was at the house at a minute before the 12:00PM start time and immediately turned everything on and looked at the PPV menu on Direct TV. I noticed that they offered the show in HD (my cable company doesn’t) and bought the HD version. I then turned on the surround sound and sat for the next three hours in what felt like a mini theater.

There really is no comparison between watching sports in high definition and the regular broadcast television signal. Everything is so crisp and you don’t miss anything. There have been times when I’ve watched UFC and had to rewind the DVR because I didn’t see what the announcers saw. That isn’t an issue with HD. You see everything so clearly. In the main event, I was able to see the exact moment when B.J. Penn split Joe Stevenson’s head open because I saw the small splatters of blood immediately. And I know this is a bit morbid, but seeing Joe Daddy’s crimson mask was eye opening to say the least. Even though I won’t be able to watch every UFC show in HD, I don’t know how I’ll cope without it. It was a beautiful three hours.

Yes, there’s another UFC show tomorrow night. Fight Night 12 will be the second of three shows in two weeks and I have a feeling that not too many people will be watching. However, we never sleep and we’ll have a blog post with the results and a longer show review on the site later in the week.

The announcers are Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.

1. Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera

Rivera catches Grove with a right hand and then takes him down. Rogan warns that Grove can take care of himself down there, but Rivera is relentless with the ground and pound. Grove tries to stand up, but Rivera doesn’t stop punching and knocks him loopy with a left hand. The referee stops the fight at 1:20 in the first round. Grove was manhandled.

Winner: Jorge Rivera by way of first round TKO.

2. Wilson Gouveia vs. Jason Lambert

Lambert wins round one for simply controlling the action. He was on top of Gouveia for nearly the entire round, trying to strike from his guard. Gouveia went for a triangle, and a couple guillotines, but Lambert didn’t look like he was in much trouble. Round one goes to Lambert.

Lambert pushed Gouveia up against the cage, while getting short punches in. Gouveia threw two punches that missed and Lambert’s guard was down and just hammered him with a left hook. Lambert was out.

Winner: Wilson Gouveia by way of second round TKO.

3. Marcus Davis vs. Jess Liaudin

Liaudin scored early with inside leg kicks. Davis threw one straight left that hit Liaudin right underneath the ear and Liaudin was out. Three fights, three knockouts.

Winner: Marcus Davis by way of first round TKO.

4. Paul Taylor vs. Paul Kelly

It’s the battle of the Pauls. The fight started out as a brawl, with both guys just throwing punches like crazy. Taylor was getting the best of it, so Kelly pushed him against the cage. Taylor jumped into a guillotine and fell to his back but didn’t get it. Kelly was on top of him for the rest of the round with some good ground and pound, though Taylor also got some shots in from the bottom.

The second round was all Kelly. For some reason, Taylor went for a takedown and actually got it, but it wasn’t to his advantage. Kelly reversed the position and simply pounded him from the top the rest of the round. He opened up a nasty cut along his forehead.

The third round was much of the same. Taylor tried to keep it standing, but Kelly used a simple trip takedown to get him back on the ground. Herb Dean even stood them both back up, and Taylor tried to fire in, but was taken down and the fight ended with Kelly on top and Taylor trying for kimuras that got nowhere.

Winner: Paul Kelly by way of unanimous decision.

5. Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum

Gonzaga was getting the better of the standup and was killing Werdum with kicks, but Werdum took him down and the round ended with them both on the ground.

Gonzaga looked tired and was allowing Werdum to get inside and land knees to the head. Gonzaga was still answering with kicks, but Werdum was starting to take over. Werdum had him up against the cage and was continuing to land knees and Gonzaga sat down and was stuck against the cage. He turned his back to Werdum and Werdum threw right hands that Gonzaga couldn’t answer. The referee stopped the fight.

Winner: Fabricio Werdum by way of second round TKO.

6. Joe Stevenson vs. B.J. Penn

Penn dominated round one and took it to the ground immediately. Stevenson was fighting off his back simply trying to stop Penn’s progression. Late in the round, Penn hit him with an elbow and Stevenson bled an Abdullah The Butcher like gusher.

Stevenson’s cut wasn’t even really stopped in the corner. Stevenson came out boxing and hit Penn a couple times, but ate a big left hook. He ate two more and went down and was a bloody mess. Penn got his back and trapped his left arm with his legs, and sunk in the rear naked choke for the win. Dominant, dominant victory.

Winner: B.J. Penn by way of second round submission.

Penn said that Sherk was dead and walked out of the cage, but Sherk came into the cage and Penn walked back in only to shake his hand and say it will be a good fight. Sherk said Penn had only one more fight as champion.

They’re going to show one more fight from the undercard since they have time.

7. Antoni Hardonk vs. Colin Robinson

Hardonk threw two leg kicks to the thigh and Robinson just went down and couldn’t get up. The referee stopped the fight just 17 seconds in.

Winner: Antoni Hardonk by way of first round TKO.

8. Alessio Sakara vs. James Lee

Lee immediately shot in for the legs and got the takedown, but Sakara got up. Lee held onto his legs like a child would it’s mother. They repeated the sequence again, but this time, when Lee was holding on, Sakara hit him with some hammer fists that hurt Lee and the fight was over.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Ken Shamrock has an opponent for his March Cage Rage fight.

- MMAPayout looks at the UFC 80 Countdown Show.

- Dave Meltzer writes about Fabricio Werdum and Gabriel Gonzaga which is a rematch of a fight that Werdum won 4 years ago.

- CBS Sportsline analyzes UFC 80.

- UFC is going to work with TNA Wrestling to help in promoting Brock Lesnar.

- Kimbo Slice says that he’s going to make Tank Abbott piss blood.

- B.J. Penn wants another crack at Georges St. Pierre after Joe Stevenson.

- FHM showcases the girls of the octagon.

- Dana White doesn’t think Europe is a profitable market.

Talking Points

UFC 80 comes from Newcastle, England on Saturday and it has an early start for US viewers. It’s a 3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific start time, which means I’m going to be watching this show before I eat lunch. I should have live play by play here on the blog.

B.J. Penn faces Joe “Daddy” Stevenson in the main event for the lightweight championship. Interestingly enough, it’s a title that has evaded Penn, who is a former welterweight champion. The reason why this fight is for the lightweight title is because former champion Sean Sherk failed his drug test for steroids and was suspended. He was then stripped of the belt, but according to Dana White, will get the first shot at the new champ. Penn and Sherk have been squawking at each other through the media and their match-up is a natural one, and would’ve been the match-up had Sherk not failed his drug test. Stevenson was the next in line and he’s in his first main event on a PPV show. The show itself is one of the weaker efforts on paper and is a show that more than likely will be one of the lower bought efforts since the UFC explosion in 2006.

But at least the this fight should be good. The match has all the makings of a ground war that should be fast paced for at least a few rounds. Stevenson will probably try and push the pace to test Penn who has been out of shape in the past. But after watching the countdown show on Spike TV, he looks to be taking his training very seriously. I think Penn will win by submission, but not until at least the third round. This is one of those fights where Stevenson can make his name just as much by losing a great fight, as he could by upsetting Penn. Not too many people are expecting him to win. While it’s not the marquee style of main event, especially after all the star power on the December card, it should still be a fun fight and one that should bring the goods.

The semi-main event pits Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum. After beating Mirko Cro Cop and main eventing against Randy Couture, Gonzaga is now a big name in the UFC. But I’m not sure about Werdum. Werdum actually beat Gonzaga when both were early in their career, so this is a revenge fight for Gonzaga. Werdum fought in Pride and made his name there, but after his fight last year against Andrei Arlovski, it doesn’t seem like he and Gonzaga should be all that close. You’d think that with the level of competition he’s faced in his last two fights, Gonzaga should be ready to fight at different level than Werdum. I think Gonzaga wins the fight, either by a knockout or submission in the second round. They’re both jiu-jitsu fighters, but Gonzaga seems to have the better stand-up based on what I’ve seen from both in the UFC. With a win, you’d think that Gonzaga would be thrown right back in with the top heavyweight fighters again.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Zuffa sues Randy Couture.

- Josh “The Punk” Thomson’s title match against Gilbert Melendez is off because of Thomson’s shoulder injury.

- Carlos Condit gets a chance to avenge his first loss against Carlo Prater. Carlos vs. Carlo!

- Sam Caplan talks to new EXC 160 pounder, Eddie Alvarez.

- Mac Danzig says that Ritchie Hightower wasn’t a warrior.

- Dave Meltzer has a story on the San Diego WCO show that was canceled last weekend.

- Zach Arnold summarizes an issue with where Phil Baroni is fighting next.

- Mike Swick talks about dropping down to welterweight for his next fight.

- Corey Hill wants to be the Anderson Silva of the lightweights.

- Urijah Faber was raised on carrot juice.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Frank Shamrock and Cung Le are ready to do battle on March 29th in a Strikeforce/EXC joint show.

- Thiago Silva could be facing Rashad Evans in a light heavyweight battle in the near future.

- Gary Shaw takes some shots at Dana White and the UFC.

- And White fires back.

- Joe Daddy answers some questions.

- The IFL starts up again on Leap Day.

- Might the UFC be talking with Budweiser?

- Dave Meltzer looks at The UFC’s “money” division.

- Spike TV is using the UFC to reach possible new voters.

- Here’s one book review on the new Matt Hughes book and it’s not a positive one.

- Sean Sherk will face the winner of the interim lightweight title match between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson in May.

Talking Points

At the last Strikeforce show in November, Frank Shamrock interviewed Cung Le, who had just beaten Sammy Morgan in a one sided fight. Shamrock was laying the foundation for a possible match-up between he and Le, two of San Jose’s most popular fighters. At the time, I figured that Shamrock and Le each had at least one more fight before they’d get in the cage together. For one, Le hasn’t necessarily fought enough competition, in my opinion, to be ready for someone as savvy as Shamrock. And it seemed that Shamrock wanted a rematch with Renzo Gracie before he would go after Le. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. It looks like they want to build off the mini confrontation that they had in November. It’s the best drawing main event that Strikeforce could put together today, unless Ken Shamrock were agree to fight Frank.

It will also be the second joint card between Strikeforce and EXC. The first was the fantastic summer card in San Jose where Shamrock beat Phil Baroni, the winner of our first match of the year award. According to Dave Meltzer’s blog, the show will have at least two Strikeforce title fights and two EXC title fights, along with a fight in which one Strikeforce fighter will battle with an EXC fighter. It will also be broadcast live on Showtime.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Where does Matt Hughes go from here?

- Thales Laites is out of UFC 81 because of injury.

- Sam Caplan predicts his breakout stars for 2008.

- Adam Swift chooses his 2007 awards and summarizes 2007’s power players.

- Tank Abbott vs. Kimbo Slice is on for February.

- What’s next Mirko Cro Cop?

- Dave Meltzer recaps the business of 2007 and and foretells the business of 2008.

- How well do you know MMA? (I scored 7 out of 10. If you take the quiz, let me know your score in the comments section.)

- Guess who’s back, back again?

- It looks like Diego Sanchez is staying at welterweight.

- Look at how they are building up Brock Lesnar.

Talking Points

Two big MMA names are on prime time network television, and there’s not much buzz about it. Tito Ortiz is one of the contestants on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice and Gina Carano is a gladiator on American Gladiators. I missed the first episode of Celebrity Apprentice because of DVR difficulties, but I’ll be watching it from here on out. Based on previous episodes I’ve seen of the show, this is tailor made for Ortiz and he should do well. As for American Gladiators, based on the Sunday Night premiere (I haven’t watched Monday’s show yet), Carano isn’t really show cased and doesn’t stand out, but she is the prettiest of the female gladiators (though really, that’s not saying much). I’m interested to see how she does because by being natural looking, she’s not memorable right off the bat.

If you get the chance, make sure you check out the UFC 81 site that I linked above. There’s a trailer where they show Brock Lesnar with his WWE belt and in the hype video for Mir and Lesnar, they even talk about his pro wrestling background. I think it’s great that the WWE allowed the UFC to use the footage, and let’s face it, it probably helps WWE just as much as it does UFC to have WWE footage on UFC TV. I especially liked it when Lesnar called Mir, Frank Mur.

Rather than do the regular news updates, I’m going to give out some awards. This will encompass all of MMA, but really, my focus will be on the American companies since I didn’t see much of Pride or K-1 this year.

Fighter Of The Year

There are some great candidates for this one, including guys that will get overlooked like Urijah Faber. But I think the year belonged to three men. Randy Couture had the comeback that all comebacks will be measured by, but near the end of the year, he was done with the UFC and any proposed big year end match was out the door. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had a banner year by beating Marvin Eastman, Chuck Liddell, and Dan Henderson. Anderson Silva held the middleweight title all year long, beating Travis Lutter, Nate Marquardt, and Rich Franklin for the second time. If you look at someone who dominated their division, the choice is Silva. But if you’re looking for who won the toughest and biggest fights, the answer is Jackson.

Winner: Rampage Jackson

Fight Of The Year

In the early summer, Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni had a war that ended when Shamrock called his own shot. Early on, he mocked Baroni, by putting his hands together on his cheek, insinuating that he was going to put Baroni to sleep. And after two rounds of fighting that left both guys completely exhausted, Shamrock caught Baroni in a choke and rather than tapping out, he went to sleep, just like Shamrock predicted. Tyson Griffin seemed to be on fire all year long, having great matches in wins against Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares. But his best fight was one in which he lost, against Frankie Edgar at UFC 67. It was a wrestling war and ended with Griffin pulling on Edgar’s knee at the bell after putting him in a knee bar. Edgar would take the decision. Right before year’s end, Roger Huerta shook off two losing rounds against Clay Guida at the season finale to The Ultimate Fighter Season 6. He would go on to finish him in the third round in a very exciting comeback victory. While the two UFC fights were great, I have to go with the fight I saw in person.

Winner: Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni at Strikeforce Judgment Day

Fight Card Of The Year

Strikeforce Judgment Day was an exciting card with a fantastic main event. UFC 68 had the most emotional MMA match that I’ve ever seen. UFC 76 had five matches that went the distance and had two of the biggest upsets of the year. And I was never able to see a good copy of the Pride show in February. But if I had to choose the card of the year, I’d have to go with The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale. It had two fight of the year candidates with an exciting finish to end the night when Huerta came back to stop Guida. The War Machine vs. J-Rock was a great brawl as well.

Winner: The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale

Upset Of The Year

Oh, there were many. How about Randy Couture coming out of retirement to chop down Tim Sylvia? What about Forrest Griffin beating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who was in his first UFC fight, after coming over from Pride. Keith Jardine outpointing Chuck Liddell? Or what about both Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo beating Mirko Cro Cop? Well, I guess that since he lost twice, maybe they weren’t such huge upsets. But the winner has to be Matt Serra beating Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69 in Houston. When that fight ended, my jaw hit the floor. St. Pierre came into the fight looking unstoppable and Serra took the fight right to him, knocking him out and shocking St. Pierre himself.

Winner: Matt Serra knocking out Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.

Promotion Of The Year

When the UFC is the biggest game in town, how can they not be the best promotion? They are making money and drawing huge crowds and good PPV buyrates. Who are their competitors? Well, Zuffa, the same company that owns the UFC also owns the WEC, which put on some very fun and exciting cards, focusing on the smaller fighters. The San Jose based Strikeforce understands their fan base and sets up fights that the locals want to see. With local fighters like Cung Le and Frank Shamrock, they should have a pretty good 2008 as well.

Winner: UFC