One of the things I want to do on fightgameblog.com is provide a follow up to major shows or stories. With a roster of 5 writers (and possibly more) we can gather different viewpoints on issues. Sometimes, the second day look is more important than the immediate one. For starters, the FGBers (fightgamebloggers) took a second look at what we liked (and didn’t) about UFC 86.
Big D
Show overall rating: Thumbs in the middle
Best Fight: Forrest Griffin vs. Quintin “Rampage” Jackson
Worst Fight: Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida
Here are my predictions for the five fights that are scheduled to be on the PPV show.
Tyson Griffin over Marcus Aurelio by decision.
Josh Koscheck over Chris Lytle by decision. (If Koscheck lets his hands go, this could be the sleeper fight of the night. If not, might be the worst fight of the night.)
Joe Stevenson over Gleison Tibau by third round submission.
Ricardo Almeida over Patrick Cote by second round submission via guillotine.
Rampage Jackson over Forrest Griffin by third round TKO.
By the way, I suck at predictions, so take that for what it’s worth.
When I heard that UFC President Dana White announced at the Spike TV Video Game Awards that UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Ultimate Fighter Season One Winner Forrest Griffin would be the two head coaches for the seventh season of the Ultimate Fighter reality series, I got giddy with glee. The 205 lb division in the UFC is without a doubt the most stacked in terms of talent. The most popular stars in the UFC with a few notable exceptions are all from the 205 lb division.
I’ve been there.
I’ve been at the bars and seen the people cheer. Who are they cheering for? Forrest Griffin. Forrest Griffin, ever since giving one hell of a performance against Stephan Bonnar in the finals of the Ultimate Fighter, has been so unbelievably popular its surreal. Anytime he’s fighting anybody, the crowd chants his name. They admire his work ethic and never-say-die attitude. His fight with Tito Ortiz may have done more for his career than anything to notarize the man, but his victory against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is what really made a lot of people say “damn… this Griffin guy is for real”.
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
Frank Shamrock Hype Interview
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.
- Both lightweight champion Sean Sherk and contender Hermes Franca tested positive for steroids after their fight at UFC 73 according to UFCMania.com. Franca sent an apology to MMA Weekly.com to explain his positive test.
- Sherdog.com’s Josh Gross has a story about a drug violations report released by the California State Athletic Commission.
- Zach Arnold of FightOpinion.com provides his take on the situation.
- Dave Meltzer reported yesterday that Mauricio Shogun Rua will face Forrest Griffin on the under card of UFC’s September card in Anaheim. The main event is Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine.
Talking Points
Dana White doesn’t want a dirty sport. That much is obvious. At every step, he and Marc Ratner have talked about regulation as a positive thing. One way to halt UFC’s mainstream push is for many of their fighters to fail steroid tests. Sean Sherk is a workout madman. The fact that he failed a steroid test doesn’t really surprise many in the MMA world, just based on how he looks. But to the common fan who watched his UFC All Access show and watched how hard he trained, I’m not so sure they have the same unsurprised opinion. Most regular sports fans don’t understand steroids and don’t want to understand steroids. To them, a baseball player can steal signs to his benefit, but if he puts something in his body that helps him hit a home run, he’s a cheater. It’s all about the level playing field. And it’s very much black and white.
As UFC grows, they will be under closer examination for failing anything. One way the boxing industry can counter argue MMA and UFC is if more UFC fighters test dirty than boxers. I think Dana White and the people at UFC are smart enough to see this as a problem that could eventually hurt them and will do what they need to do to make sure it doesn’t become a huge issue. But having your lightweight champion test positive for steroids is a big enough deal to raise some eyebrows.
After wondering why Chuck Liddell wasn’t facing Forrest Griffin rather than Keith Jardine, my final thought was that they were protecting Griffin. Well, that thought is out the window. He’s now facing Shogun Rua, who is arguably the best 205 pound guy in the world. He doesn’t have the notoriety of a Chuck Liddell or Rampage Jackson in the US, but many consider him the best based on his career in Pride FC. To me, Liddell vs. Griffin is the biggest match they could’ve created with the situation at hand. Some might say that putting Griffin with Shogun gives the fight some mainstream eyes because Griffin is still the more well known fighter in the US. I buy that somewhat. But if the idea is to make the most money off of two fights, there is no doubt in my mind that Liddell and Griffin would do much more business than any other combination of the four fighters. Yes, that includes putting Shogun in the ring with Chuck, which is a dream fight for any MMA fan. The fact is that Griffin is simply better known and far more popular with the UFC audience. If Griffin loses to Rua, maybe Rua earns instant credibility in the eyes of the US fight fan, but where does that leave Griffin? If he loses to Liddell, he just lost to the UFC’s biggest star. And let’s say that Griffin were to upset either guy. Who does he gain most in beating? Well, that’s an easy one as well.
Match maker Joe Silva and Dana White understand what they are doing. I’m not doing to discredit either man. Both men have forgotten more than I currently know about UFC and their marketplace. The thought simply might be that Rua needs a win over Griffin to immediately become a star in the US. And if that’s the thought, I’m ok with it. Maybe secretly I just want to see Liddell vs. Griffin.
- There is a fantastic piece on The Smashing Machine Mark Kerr, who was the focal point of an excellent documentary several years ago. Written by Kenny Rice for NBCsports.com, Kerr talks a lot about the drug issues in sports today.
- Last week, Dana White was interviewed by ESPN.com and talked about Frank Shamrock (with a reply by Shamrock), PPV in 2008, HBO, and the possibility of heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko coming into UFC, among many other things.
- Todd Martin writes about the number two MMA company in the US (a very distant second place), Elite XC.
- Sam Kaplan has a Q&A with free agent and former UFC Heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett.
- After talks with Wanderlei Silva broke down for a fight with Chuck Liddell, Dana White and Joe Silva scrambled to put a fight together with the “Ice Man” and Keith Jardine according to UFCmania.com.
- Sherdog reports that UFC 75 will be televised on Spike TV rather than on PPV.
Talking Points
Rather than go with a more proven box office draw in Forrest Griffin, UFC decided to put Keith Jardine in the match with Chuck Liddell. I haven’t really heard why they avoided Griffin, but it would be the bigger match. Griffin can talk and he’s very well liked and better known based on his contract winning fight after the first Ultimate Fighter with Stephan Bonner and even more recently in losing a match against Tito Ortiz that many people thought he won. But the fight goes to Jardine, who beat Griffin last December decisively, but also lost to little known Houston Alexander in his last fight. Matching Jardine with Liddell seems like more of a best case scenario than a well booked fight. But it stems from losing out on the possible juggernaut fight that they were trying to put together between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell. Silva’s camp wanted a later date than the proposed September date, but UFC didn’t want to postpone the fight. They could still do that fight at a later date.
You’d expect Liddell to be a heavy favorite and maybe it’s not the right time for Griffin to be in there with Chuck. There might be other reasons to not do the fight. But a fight with Griffin would be at least twice as marketable as this one with Jardine. In any case, Liddell is still the star of the promotion, and the fight will be big enough, just based on him being involved.
- In an argument that we’re going to see probably until the end of time, ESPN.com goes 12 rounds with writers Tim Struby and Ryan Hockensmith. Someone please send Tim Struby a tape of Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar I or even the fight last weekend between Tyson Griffin and Clay Guida.
- Two days ago, The Fight Network’s Brian Knapp reported through Loretta Hunt that Ken Shamrock could possibly come out of retirement to face new young star Michael Bisping on the undercard of UFC 75. The scheduled main event for that card is a showdown between UFC Light Heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Pride Middleweight and Welterweight champ Dan Henderson. However, just yesterday, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that while the match between Shamrock and Bisping has been discussed, the scheduled match at this time is still between Matt Hamill and Michael Bisping.
- Sports Illustrated’s Todd Martin has quotes from both Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz about their match-up Saturday night in the finals of the latest The Ultimate Fighter.
- Manny Gamburyan also chatted with Sam Caplan from CBS Sportsline about his experience on The Ultimate Fighter including what Gabe Ruediger was really like on the show.
Talking Points
There’s a lot of fan discussion about who really won the fight between Tyson Griffin and Clay Guida at last Saturday’s UFC show from Belfast, Ireland. I scored it for Griffin simply because I thought he scored more from being on the bottom than Guida did from being on the top in the third and deciding round. However, it seems that the majority of fans (including those in Belfast) thought Guida won, which is entirely possible. Those in the Guida camp believe that he not only won the second round (which I also had him winning), but that by being on top, he dominated the third round. I’m not sure it was robbery, though both Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez from Figure 4 Online thought Guida won definitively. I’m fine with the fight going either way, but I may have to watch it again to see how I’d score it a second time. It’s not like watching that great fight again would be a chore.
I will be attending Strike Force’s first Pay Per View event on Friday night in San Jose, CA. The fight between Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni has been built up for many months and is sure to be a big ticket seller in the Bay Area. I will have a live report and hopefully some photos from the event. I’ll also have more on the fight and the event itself in the next couple of days.
The show comes from Anaheim, California and the announcers are Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg.
Tyson Griffin and Thiago Tavares start off the show.
1. Tyson Griffin vs. Thiago Tavares
Griffin is the aggressor for the entire round. Tavares tries for submissions, but he didn’t really latch onto anything. Griffin won the round with heavy rights and knees to the body, while controlling Tavares when it went to the ground.
Tavares has early control of the round. He hits a flying knee that slightly wobbles Griffin and takes him down. He has Griffin’s back, but he stands up with him and eventually gets out of it. Griffin is aggressive on top with right hands, but Tavares gets his back again and again Griffin stands up. This time, Griffin dumps him right on top of his head and Tavares has a huge mouse under his left eye. Great round that I’d give slightly to Tavares.
Round three is tough to score. Tavares was persistent with the submissions, but never had anything tight. Griffin eluded them all and was the better striker of the round. Tavares ended up taking him down a couple times, but Griffin ended up in better position. I’d slightly give it to Griffin, but could see it going to a draw too.
Winner: Tyson Griffin by way of unanimous decision.
2. Lyoto Machida vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Machida looks bigger, faster, stronger, and no, that wasn’t meant to copy Daft Punk/Kanye West. He kept his distance with strikes and didn’t allow Nakamura to get inside. And when it went to the ground, he was in the top position and Nakamura didn’t even try to do anything from the bottom. Easily Machida’s round.
Machida wins about 4:15 of this round with strikes and a rear naked choke attempt. He had it in for several seconds. He also had strong ground and pound. Nakamura got one big punch in and had one takedown, but it wasn’t enough. Another easy round for Machida.
Nakamura knows he has to knock him out or submit him to win the round and he’s more busy. Machida seems to be willing to counter punch and fight defensively, but Nakamura presses on and they fight in the clinch for much of the second half of the round. They both score with hard strikes, but it’s too little to late for Nakamura. Another round for Machida.
