November '08 will be remembered as a big month for British boxers. At the beginning of the month Bernard Hopkins conqueror Joe Calzaghe stormed The Garden and overwhelmed the legend that was Roy Jones Jr. Then at the end of the month The Manchester Masher Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton descended on Sin City and destroyed Brooklyn speedster Paulie Malignaggi.
Hatton was returning to the site of his only loss when he walked in to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but this was to be another night. Paulie Malignaggi might be almost as fast as the retired undefeated champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., but he not only didn't have the ring strategies of Hatton's conqueror, he also was noted for his total lack of power. Also Hatton had a brand new brain in his corner as he entered the ring with .............. Floyd Mayweather Sr. as his head trainer. Ricky was so loose and relaxed that he climbed the steps and lumbered around the ring in a "fat suit" designed to poke fun at his between fights weight gains and his home town moniker of Ricky "Fatton".
Hatton and Mayweather Sr. had promised a new Hitman who would box more, give away less in trades and rely less on raw strength and sheer energy and more on solid strategies and ring generalship. You could see Ricky struggling with his new skills in the first round as Paulie slipped his punches, popped him with quick jabs and slid around the ring like a top level figure skater. At this point it was obvious that the Brooklyn Boy had the potential to rise to the top of his craft ................ if only the lad had some pop in his punches. Unfortunately, for him, Malignaggi can't break eggs and didn't even slightly discourage the man from Manchester.
In the second round Hatton hit his stride and began to successfully mix his boxing and brawling. When Ricky cracked Malignaggi with a hard right, stunned the speedster and Paulie held on to his antagonist for dear life to keep from hitting the canvas ............ the tone of the match had been set. The second round was followed by eight more rounds of repeated similar action. Ricky stalked and Paulie ran. Paulie would pop Hatton with a few powerless jabs and Hatton would respond with bombs that repeatedly stunned the Brooklynite and Malignaggi would hold again. Considering that the Malignaggi team had made loud complaints about expecting Hatton to hold in pre fight conferences, Malignaggi's continual clutching was shameless.
In the Malignaggi corner between rounds, head trainer Buddy McGirt begged, demanded and asked his fighter over and over again to stay off the ropes, employ more effective angles and to Please throw his right hand, but to no avail. Between the tenth and eleventh rounds McGirt told Malignaggi that he would stop the fight if Paulie couldn't find a way to stop being pounded by the Englishman. When Hatton stunned Paulie, yet again in the 11th, McGirt mercifully threw in the towel, giving Hatton a TKO win. In his post fight interview Malignaggi was very complimentary of Hatton, but incensed that his own corner had stopped the fight while he was still on his feet. Paulie may be powerless, but he has the heart of a warrior and he was lucky that Buddy was there to save him from himself. Hatton spoke kindly of his defeated opponent and stated that he doesn't think that anyone can beat him at the Jr. Welterweight level and that he is ready again to face the best there is at both 140 .... and 147 LBS.
The primary undercard fight of the night pitted two Texas power punching middleweights. James "The Mandingo Warrior" Kirkland is an up and coming Jr. Middleweight to keep an eye on. He is trained by master woman boxer Ann Wolf and she puts her young charge through hell each and every training camp to be sure that he is in tip top condition and ready to fight all night. Across the ring was tough Texas middleweight Brian Vera. These bangers were meeting at a catch weight of 157 LBS and they were both ready to rumble. The first round saw Kirkland on the attack and Vera countering, but neither man was particularly effective as they warmed to their tasks. Then a mere thirty seconds into the second round Kirkland floored Vera. Vera rose on fairly steady legs and fired back with vigor, but Kirkland stayed on him, caught him off balance and floored him once again at the end of the round. Rounds three through seven repeated the scenario of Kirkland stalking and landing regularly and Vera keeping it interesting by staying steady, occasionally landing a telling right hand of his own and grinning like a jack o' lantern throughout the entire process. In the 8th round Kirkland once again put Vera on the canvas with an explosive short, right, southpaw hook. Vera once again demonstrated his toughness, by climbing upright, but when Kirkland cornered him and landed solid yet again the ref stepped in and ended the action giving Kirkland an 8th round TKO win. James Kirkland is one hell of a fighter and as long as he listens to Ann Wolf, will be ready to stand up to anyone and everyone in the Jr. Middleweight division. Brian Vera is one tough hombre and probably should have been given an opportunity to finish that fight. Win or lose he will remain a crowd favorite.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Youth & Power Overcome Knowledge & Experience and..........Suddenly ..THE UFC HAS A NEW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Raw power and sheer athleticism overcame a wealth of MMA experience and knowledge last Saturday evening, when Big Brock Lesnar TKO'd Randy "The Natural" Couture to become the New UFC Heavyweight Champion. The big question coming into the fight was if a powerful, but very inexperienced fighter could defeat a much older, but also much wiser and vastly more experienced cage warrior ........... who was coming off a long lay off. The answer was a resounding YES .................... this time.
The first round was fairly even, with neither man particularly effective on their feet. Big Brock used his massive size and incongruous speed to score a couple of take downs, but each time The Natural easily scrambled out from under his 275 pound nemesis. Couture also managed to muster the power of his 220 pound frame and pin the wrestling monster to the cage and try a little of his famed "dirty boxing", but Lesnar would manage to escape before any real damage was done.
As the second round began, the Minnesota Monster began to unload his strikes and scored with a few knees and elbows. Randy responded with quick, accurate punches which sliced open the big man's brow. Lesnar checked the cut and was obviously distressed by the bleeding. For a moment it looked like he might be one of those beginners who lose focus at the sight of their of their own flowing claret, but Big Brock answered back with a big right hand. Randy almost ducked out of the way and would have against a normal sized fist, but the Lesnar hamhock hand grazed Randy just behind his ear. Unfortunately for the beloved Natural, Brock Lesnar appears to have Foreman - esque power. Former heavyweight Boxing champion Big George Foreman often floored his foes with glancing blows ............. and Big Brock did the same thing. The big wrestler immediately dropped on his fallen foe and began to rain down a plethora of rather sloppy hammer fists on Randy's noggin. These hammer fist might have been amateurish, but they were the size of canned hams and the weight of Brock's massive arms alone could break bricks, so after Couture couldn't answer about thirty of these hamhok hammers, the referee was forced to halt the contest and award Brock Lesnar the win and the heavyweight strap.
So the UFC has a new Heavyweight Champion and Randy Couture is weighing his future options. Of course Lesnar now has a big target on his back, which always arrives with a title belt. His next outing will be against the winner of the Antonio Nogueria - Frank Mir matchup on December 27th. Both of these men are at the top of their game. Nogueria is the Interim Heavyweight Champion, a quasi title that he acquired while Couture and the UFC were in contract disputes and Mir is a former Heavyweight champion who didn't lose his title in the ring, but instead to car crashing into his motor cycle. Mir is finally fully recovered from his accident injuries and his last victory is the lone loss on Lesnar's record. Both Mir and Nogueria are jujitsu masters and will present a whole different set of problems for Lesnar. He is very aware of this though as he was pounding on Mir, when the fallen ex-champ suddenly saw an ankle in front of him, tripped up the big man and secured a match ending heel hook. For his part, Mir says that the match felt like getting run over by a truck ............ until he saw that ankle. Big Brock had better spend the next few month working hard at submission defense as Nogueria's jujitsu is even higher level than Mir's. Just today word arrived that Randy Couture considers that at age 45 he is far from done. That he just got caught with a big punch Saturday and that he will be ready to go again soon. In fact there are rumors of a possible Couture vs. "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell match, at heavyweight and perhaps as soon as February.
Many post fight comments have voiced the opinion that a former professional exhibition wrestler winning the UFC heavyweight strap in his fourth MMA match, even though the guy was also an NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, has somehow cheapened the value of the title. Probaly this reaction is just a knee jerk reflex because of the love and admiration that everyone in and near MMA has for Randy Couture, but these folk would do good to remember that on Dec. 21st, 1997, much admired and vastly well thought off, long time kick boxing champion Maurice Smith, lost his UFC heavyweight title to an upstart wrestler who was participating in only his fourth MMA match ................ and that wrestler was on Randy Couture. Couture defeated the experienced champion with so little MMA experience that Joel Gold of "Full Contact Fighter" magazine dubbed him "The Natural".
The entire event featured a stampede of stoppages. Boston's Kenny Florian controlled the stand up in his first round with Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, quickly recovered from a Stevenson take down in the second, scored his own take down and submitted "Daddy" with a picture perfect rear naked choke, winning himself another shot at the lightweight title. Two time All American wrestler Josh Hendricks recieved a rude introduction to the UFC when Gabe Gonzaga knocked him out with a straight right hand at one minute and one second of their first round. Nate "The Rock" Quarry didn't fair much better when submission wizard Demian Maia slapped on a rear naked choke at 2:13 of their first round, keeping the young Brazilian undefeated. Dustin "McLovin'" Hazelett continued his winning streak by catching Tamden "Barn Cat" McCrory in an arm bar at 3:59 of their first round. Those two guys definitely have the best new fight names out there.
It was yet another great evening of entertainment provided by the UFC. Thankfully this original MMA promotion is staying strong while other MMA promotions stumble and dissapear around them.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
The first round was fairly even, with neither man particularly effective on their feet. Big Brock used his massive size and incongruous speed to score a couple of take downs, but each time The Natural easily scrambled out from under his 275 pound nemesis. Couture also managed to muster the power of his 220 pound frame and pin the wrestling monster to the cage and try a little of his famed "dirty boxing", but Lesnar would manage to escape before any real damage was done.
As the second round began, the Minnesota Monster began to unload his strikes and scored with a few knees and elbows. Randy responded with quick, accurate punches which sliced open the big man's brow. Lesnar checked the cut and was obviously distressed by the bleeding. For a moment it looked like he might be one of those beginners who lose focus at the sight of their of their own flowing claret, but Big Brock answered back with a big right hand. Randy almost ducked out of the way and would have against a normal sized fist, but the Lesnar hamhock hand grazed Randy just behind his ear. Unfortunately for the beloved Natural, Brock Lesnar appears to have Foreman - esque power. Former heavyweight Boxing champion Big George Foreman often floored his foes with glancing blows ............. and Big Brock did the same thing. The big wrestler immediately dropped on his fallen foe and began to rain down a plethora of rather sloppy hammer fists on Randy's noggin. These hammer fist might have been amateurish, but they were the size of canned hams and the weight of Brock's massive arms alone could break bricks, so after Couture couldn't answer about thirty of these hamhok hammers, the referee was forced to halt the contest and award Brock Lesnar the win and the heavyweight strap.
So the UFC has a new Heavyweight Champion and Randy Couture is weighing his future options. Of course Lesnar now has a big target on his back, which always arrives with a title belt. His next outing will be against the winner of the Antonio Nogueria - Frank Mir matchup on December 27th. Both of these men are at the top of their game. Nogueria is the Interim Heavyweight Champion, a quasi title that he acquired while Couture and the UFC were in contract disputes and Mir is a former Heavyweight champion who didn't lose his title in the ring, but instead to car crashing into his motor cycle. Mir is finally fully recovered from his accident injuries and his last victory is the lone loss on Lesnar's record. Both Mir and Nogueria are jujitsu masters and will present a whole different set of problems for Lesnar. He is very aware of this though as he was pounding on Mir, when the fallen ex-champ suddenly saw an ankle in front of him, tripped up the big man and secured a match ending heel hook. For his part, Mir says that the match felt like getting run over by a truck ............ until he saw that ankle. Big Brock had better spend the next few month working hard at submission defense as Nogueria's jujitsu is even higher level than Mir's. Just today word arrived that Randy Couture considers that at age 45 he is far from done. That he just got caught with a big punch Saturday and that he will be ready to go again soon. In fact there are rumors of a possible Couture vs. "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell match, at heavyweight and perhaps as soon as February.
Many post fight comments have voiced the opinion that a former professional exhibition wrestler winning the UFC heavyweight strap in his fourth MMA match, even though the guy was also an NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, has somehow cheapened the value of the title. Probaly this reaction is just a knee jerk reflex because of the love and admiration that everyone in and near MMA has for Randy Couture, but these folk would do good to remember that on Dec. 21st, 1997, much admired and vastly well thought off, long time kick boxing champion Maurice Smith, lost his UFC heavyweight title to an upstart wrestler who was participating in only his fourth MMA match ................ and that wrestler was on Randy Couture. Couture defeated the experienced champion with so little MMA experience that Joel Gold of "Full Contact Fighter" magazine dubbed him "The Natural".
The entire event featured a stampede of stoppages. Boston's Kenny Florian controlled the stand up in his first round with Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, quickly recovered from a Stevenson take down in the second, scored his own take down and submitted "Daddy" with a picture perfect rear naked choke, winning himself another shot at the lightweight title. Two time All American wrestler Josh Hendricks recieved a rude introduction to the UFC when Gabe Gonzaga knocked him out with a straight right hand at one minute and one second of their first round. Nate "The Rock" Quarry didn't fair much better when submission wizard Demian Maia slapped on a rear naked choke at 2:13 of their first round, keeping the young Brazilian undefeated. Dustin "McLovin'" Hazelett continued his winning streak by catching Tamden "Barn Cat" McCrory in an arm bar at 3:59 of their first round. Those two guys definitely have the best new fight names out there.
It was yet another great evening of entertainment provided by the UFC. Thankfully this original MMA promotion is staying strong while other MMA promotions stumble and dissapear around them.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Friday, November 14, 2008
Contender Alumni Box On VS
In preparation for the 4th season of the boxing reality show "The Contender" airing on their channel beginning in Dec., VS ran a Fight Night on Thursday November 13th which featured five alumni of "The Contender" series.
The show took place in Providence Rhode Island and the main event featured Contender Season #1 runner up. "The Pride Of Providence" Peter Manfredo Jr. facing the season three winner Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika. Both men had lost to the undefeated Welsh icon Joe Calzaghe, but while the native of Cameroon, who lives in Australia gave Super Joe a run for his money, the boy from Providence had frozen in the face of greatness and been stopped early. Needless to say, the crowd was entirely for Manfredo, but Bika often fights in the other fella's home town, so the jeers rolled off his back like .......... sand off a scorpion. The Camaroon/Australian Warrior set the pace in the first round snapping his Italian/American opponent's head back with both overhand and straight rights. In the second round the combatants tangled feet, bumped heads and may have both landed light punches as they both fell down .................... but the ref scored this mess as a knock down for Manfredo. The Scorpian was enraged, but the round ended before he could extract retributions. Bika emerged from his corner ready to sting his irritating antagonist. He trapped Manfredo along the ropes and unloaded a barrage of leather which the Italian lad could find no way to answer. The partisan audience was unhappy when the ref stepped in, but Manfredo didn't complain and Sakio "The Scorpian" Bika had scored a 3rd round TKO win
The Co-Main Event of the evening turned out to be a prime example of why experienced veteran, old friend fighters who have trained together usually put on a boring performance. Contender Season #2 winner Grady "Bad Boy" Brewer was facing his old training partner and room mate from The contender show, well traveled and well known Corneluius "K9" Bundrage. K9 had been more active and is a much more powerful puncher than Brewer, so a Bundrage stoppage was expected. But ................ Corneluius just couldn't put a solid right hand on Brewer and Brewer was incapable of hurting him. The 35 year old Bundrage was stiff and slow while the 37 year old Brewer was powerless. Brewer did score a knock down in the third, but he actually had only pushed Bundrage, proving only that the referee was as incompetent as the fighters. From there the match deteriorated in to an array of clutching, posing, holding and hitting, pushing, hitting behind the head and hitting on the break. The ref got his camera time by deducting arbitrary points and in general a perfect picture of a sloppy club fight was presented. In the end Bundrage had better punch stats, but Brewer got the split decision ............. and nobody cared.
On the undercard season three runner up Jaidon Codrington was obviously still trying to shake off the effects of the beating administered to him by Sakio Bika in the finals of their season. He was in an obvious confidence builder against losing club fighter Will Gill. Somehow Jaidon still managed to look awful. He had no balance what so ever and even had a point deducted for repeatedly holding himself up with the ropes. In the 5th round Codrington finally dropped Gill ............. but with a low blow, thereby giving the club fighter a bunch of recovery time. For his part Will kept trying to the limitations of his limited skill set and made Codrington really work. Finally, with only 9 seconds left in the fight Codrington finished off Gill and got his TKO win .......... but a fighter who arrived in the ring with an 8 wins and 20 loses record had just stretched Codrington to the limit.
Except for Sakio Bika, this show didn't do anything to erase The Contender show fighter's reputations as "Just Reality Show Fighters", but expect "The Scorpion" to be a big factor in the race for an undisputed 168 LB champion now that Joe Calzaghe is gone.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
The show took place in Providence Rhode Island and the main event featured Contender Season #1 runner up. "The Pride Of Providence" Peter Manfredo Jr. facing the season three winner Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika. Both men had lost to the undefeated Welsh icon Joe Calzaghe, but while the native of Cameroon, who lives in Australia gave Super Joe a run for his money, the boy from Providence had frozen in the face of greatness and been stopped early. Needless to say, the crowd was entirely for Manfredo, but Bika often fights in the other fella's home town, so the jeers rolled off his back like .......... sand off a scorpion. The Camaroon/Australian Warrior set the pace in the first round snapping his Italian/American opponent's head back with both overhand and straight rights. In the second round the combatants tangled feet, bumped heads and may have both landed light punches as they both fell down .................... but the ref scored this mess as a knock down for Manfredo. The Scorpian was enraged, but the round ended before he could extract retributions. Bika emerged from his corner ready to sting his irritating antagonist. He trapped Manfredo along the ropes and unloaded a barrage of leather which the Italian lad could find no way to answer. The partisan audience was unhappy when the ref stepped in, but Manfredo didn't complain and Sakio "The Scorpian" Bika had scored a 3rd round TKO win
The Co-Main Event of the evening turned out to be a prime example of why experienced veteran, old friend fighters who have trained together usually put on a boring performance. Contender Season #2 winner Grady "Bad Boy" Brewer was facing his old training partner and room mate from The contender show, well traveled and well known Corneluius "K9" Bundrage. K9 had been more active and is a much more powerful puncher than Brewer, so a Bundrage stoppage was expected. But ................ Corneluius just couldn't put a solid right hand on Brewer and Brewer was incapable of hurting him. The 35 year old Bundrage was stiff and slow while the 37 year old Brewer was powerless. Brewer did score a knock down in the third, but he actually had only pushed Bundrage, proving only that the referee was as incompetent as the fighters. From there the match deteriorated in to an array of clutching, posing, holding and hitting, pushing, hitting behind the head and hitting on the break. The ref got his camera time by deducting arbitrary points and in general a perfect picture of a sloppy club fight was presented. In the end Bundrage had better punch stats, but Brewer got the split decision ............. and nobody cared.
On the undercard season three runner up Jaidon Codrington was obviously still trying to shake off the effects of the beating administered to him by Sakio Bika in the finals of their season. He was in an obvious confidence builder against losing club fighter Will Gill. Somehow Jaidon still managed to look awful. He had no balance what so ever and even had a point deducted for repeatedly holding himself up with the ropes. In the 5th round Codrington finally dropped Gill ............. but with a low blow, thereby giving the club fighter a bunch of recovery time. For his part Will kept trying to the limitations of his limited skill set and made Codrington really work. Finally, with only 9 seconds left in the fight Codrington finished off Gill and got his TKO win .......... but a fighter who arrived in the ring with an 8 wins and 20 loses record had just stretched Codrington to the limit.
Except for Sakio Bika, this show didn't do anything to erase The Contender show fighter's reputations as "Just Reality Show Fighters", but expect "The Scorpion" to be a big factor in the race for an undisputed 168 LB champion now that Joe Calzaghe is gone.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Thursday, November 13, 2008
THE RETURN OF RANDY COUTURE & THE NEXT BIG THING --UFC 91 This Saturday
The Heavyweight Champion of the UFC will finally return to the eight sided cage known as the Octagon on Saturday Evening November 15th. Randy "The Natural" Couture has been out of action for well over a year due to contractual disputes, but with that now behind him the ageless 45 year old warrior is ready to face the untested, yet still feared gargantuan wrestling monster Brock Lesnar. Randy Couture is probably the highest skilled and most achieved mixed martial artist in the history of the emerging young sport, but can a forty five year old phenom come off a long lay off and defeat a young, hungry giant who's wrestling skills and lineage match those of the old master.
Brock Lesnar is a unique blend of size, strength, speed, brains and desire. His two hundred and sixty five pounds of ripped muscle topped with spiked blond hair combined with steely blue eyes and ready to destroy visage immediately remind one why all Europe trembled under the wrath of the North Men for a couple hundred years. But ........... this monster of a man has only competed in three mixed martial arts contests and he lost one of those. Admittedly the one he lost was to the very talented former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, and even Mir admits that Lesnar was pounding the crap out of him until Frank managed to trap one of the big man's feet and apply a perfect heel hook. Lesnar's first MMA match was at one of those Japanese sensationalist events where Lesnar defeated some unknown Asian giant who knew even less about mixed martial arts than Brock did and then came his UFC debut against Mir. Lesnar followed that up with a three round demolition of former Pride FC standout and top ten heavyweight MMA fighter, Keith "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring. Herring went home with a loss on his record and a busted orbital bone, while Brock Lesnar stepped into the top ten heavyweights.
So Saturday's main event will be like the martial arts legends of old where the venerable master must face the younger and larger opponent who wants to add the defeat of the master to his reputation. Couture will probably have a very hard time applying his usual tactics of jamming the opponent into the cage, letting loose with some of his famous dirty boxing to soften the guy up, then take him down with a spectacular Greco-Roman wrestling throw and ground and pound to a victory. Lesnar is simply too big and powerful to bull into the cage given that he will have about forty pounds on the older guy and with his wrestling skills he will be hard to take down. Lesnar hits like a sledge hammer, but Randy strikes faster and move often. Lesnar has great ground control, but has he learned any submissions yet? We know that Randy can do it all, but can he do it against this size and youth and wealth of raw athletic talent? Will Couture be able to wear down and tire out the bigger man, who has to carry more weight around or will Randy tire from carrying the big guy around? Can Any 3 fight fighter defeat Any 3 time heavyweight and 2 time lightheavy weight champion? ................... The Old Master Against The Young Lion, it will be classic intrigue at its best.
This card will also decide who the second best lightweight in the UFC is when Kenny Florian meets Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. This is a match up of two Brazilian Jujitsu experts who have both gone on to learn the other aspects of the game. The also have both contended for the lightweight crown and each came up a bit short. Now they both want another shot at the strap, but only the winner of this match can expect a title shot any time in the near future, These TUF veterans are about as well matched as one could ask for. Florian has been on a winning streak and has recently developed a reputation for ripping elbow shots. Stevenson is the better jujitsu technician of the two and seems to be a bit more durable. Big stakes for good fighters should provide great action.
Undefeated Brazilian Jujitsu wizard Demian Maia will take on popular TUF alumni Nate "The Rock" Quarry. These young warriors know every aspect of their game, but their strong points will most likely dictate that this become a classic grappler vs. striker confrontation. Can The Rock KO the Brazilian before he gets submitted? It will be fun to find out. Also representing Brazil will be heavyweight Gabe Gonzaga, who won fame by knocking out Mirco Cro Cop with the Croatian's trade mark kick to the juncture of the spine and skull. Gonzaga then went on to drop a decision to Couture for the title, but was still impressive as The Natural returned to his home a winner with a broken arm. Facing the young Brazilian power house Saturday night will be veteran Josh Hendricks.
It'll be a BIG Show when "The Next Big Thing" Brock Lesnar tries to break The Legend and 5 Time World Champion, Randy "The Natural" Couture.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Brock Lesnar is a unique blend of size, strength, speed, brains and desire. His two hundred and sixty five pounds of ripped muscle topped with spiked blond hair combined with steely blue eyes and ready to destroy visage immediately remind one why all Europe trembled under the wrath of the North Men for a couple hundred years. But ........... this monster of a man has only competed in three mixed martial arts contests and he lost one of those. Admittedly the one he lost was to the very talented former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, and even Mir admits that Lesnar was pounding the crap out of him until Frank managed to trap one of the big man's feet and apply a perfect heel hook. Lesnar's first MMA match was at one of those Japanese sensationalist events where Lesnar defeated some unknown Asian giant who knew even less about mixed martial arts than Brock did and then came his UFC debut against Mir. Lesnar followed that up with a three round demolition of former Pride FC standout and top ten heavyweight MMA fighter, Keith "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring. Herring went home with a loss on his record and a busted orbital bone, while Brock Lesnar stepped into the top ten heavyweights.
So Saturday's main event will be like the martial arts legends of old where the venerable master must face the younger and larger opponent who wants to add the defeat of the master to his reputation. Couture will probably have a very hard time applying his usual tactics of jamming the opponent into the cage, letting loose with some of his famous dirty boxing to soften the guy up, then take him down with a spectacular Greco-Roman wrestling throw and ground and pound to a victory. Lesnar is simply too big and powerful to bull into the cage given that he will have about forty pounds on the older guy and with his wrestling skills he will be hard to take down. Lesnar hits like a sledge hammer, but Randy strikes faster and move often. Lesnar has great ground control, but has he learned any submissions yet? We know that Randy can do it all, but can he do it against this size and youth and wealth of raw athletic talent? Will Couture be able to wear down and tire out the bigger man, who has to carry more weight around or will Randy tire from carrying the big guy around? Can Any 3 fight fighter defeat Any 3 time heavyweight and 2 time lightheavy weight champion? ................... The Old Master Against The Young Lion, it will be classic intrigue at its best.
This card will also decide who the second best lightweight in the UFC is when Kenny Florian meets Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. This is a match up of two Brazilian Jujitsu experts who have both gone on to learn the other aspects of the game. The also have both contended for the lightweight crown and each came up a bit short. Now they both want another shot at the strap, but only the winner of this match can expect a title shot any time in the near future, These TUF veterans are about as well matched as one could ask for. Florian has been on a winning streak and has recently developed a reputation for ripping elbow shots. Stevenson is the better jujitsu technician of the two and seems to be a bit more durable. Big stakes for good fighters should provide great action.
Undefeated Brazilian Jujitsu wizard Demian Maia will take on popular TUF alumni Nate "The Rock" Quarry. These young warriors know every aspect of their game, but their strong points will most likely dictate that this become a classic grappler vs. striker confrontation. Can The Rock KO the Brazilian before he gets submitted? It will be fun to find out. Also representing Brazil will be heavyweight Gabe Gonzaga, who won fame by knocking out Mirco Cro Cop with the Croatian's trade mark kick to the juncture of the spine and skull. Gonzaga then went on to drop a decision to Couture for the title, but was still impressive as The Natural returned to his home a winner with a broken arm. Facing the young Brazilian power house Saturday night will be veteran Josh Hendricks.
It'll be a BIG Show when "The Next Big Thing" Brock Lesnar tries to break The Legend and 5 Time World Champion, Randy "The Natural" Couture.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Calzaghe was Brilliant and Jones Tough as Nails ..... but that undercard ..........
Excitement is always high when big time Boxing returns to the Mecca of the sport, Madison Square Garden and Saturday night's main event lived up to all expectations. Joe Calzaghe arrived ready to remain undefeated and talking of retiring after defeating the best of his class. His calm and relaxed demeanor radiated the confidence of a fighter who couldn't even imagine defeat. Many thought that Roy Jones Jr. had passed his prime a half dozen fights ago and had earned this big time match on past reputation alone, but Jones was in tremendous condition and his confidence was buoyed by his outstanding wins in his two matches before this one. Two of the best fighters on the planet were facing each other and both men were ready to win.
Joe Calzaghe came out smoothly in the first round, but a short ways in he ducked right into a Jones hook, which landed mostly forearm across the Welshman's temple, depositing him on the canvas, with a groggy consciousness. Calzaghe rose on instinct and these same instincts boxed him out of trouble and at the end of the round had him firing back at Jones, as the blood ran down his nose. Calzaghe entered the second round clear eyed and immediately began to pump up the volume of his punch output. Jones stayed on the attack like a barbarian hoard on the plains before Rome, but Calzaghe smoothly slid past these attacks, countering sharply and out punching the Floridian. Jones landed his second best punch, or perhaps his first considering the contact point of his big hook in the 1st round, of the evening in the 6th round, when he made contact with a sizzling uppercut. Calzaghe weathered the storm and went back to overwhelming the former four weight class champion with an unending shower of blows. In the 7th round a crisp straight left from Calzaghe slashed through Jones' eyelid and left the icon bleeding for the remainder of the match. Despite the best efforts of the doctor in Jones' corner, one tap from Calzaghe and the claret would begin yet again to flow down the visage of Jones. Roy Jones exhibited the tenacity of a rogue tiger and never stopped trying to overcome his opponent, but the Welshman was not to be denied on that evening. Jones even seemed to take it in stride when Calzaghe began to drop his hands and to a damn good imitation of vintage Roy Jones Jr. In the end Joe Calzaghe had thrown only fifteen shy of a thousand punches at Roy Jones and had landed 344 of them, which was quite enough for an unquestionable unanimous decision. Even Roy Jones didn't question the decision and seemed quite happy with his and Calzaghe's 50/50 business venture.
At the end of the Evening Roy Jones said that he would go home and talk to his team to discuss his future in the fight game. Then a few days later the 39 year old boxing icon began talking about possible future opponents. Primary on that list is a long awaited rematch with fellow icon Benard Hopkins. In his post fight interview Calzaghe was strangely silent on the subject of his retirement considering that he had spoken of it extensively before the match. A few days after the fight, word came from the Calzaghe camp that the champ might fight in his home of Wales next year ........... but ....... that Calzaghe doesn't like fighting rematches in general ---- and that he would Never fight Bernard Hopkins again under any circumstances. Guess Hopkins had better start talking to Roy.
The under card of the Calzhage - Jones show demonstrated why some fight fans feel that the guarantied five competitive fight minimum of the average MMA card is simply a better deal for their pay per view budget. The Boxing Game is reaching a point where they really need to beef up the under cards of their major pay per view events.
The big name on the undercard last Saturday evening was former Jr. welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah. Judah had lost four of his previous six matches and was badly in need of a win. His opponent, Ernest Johnson was, in the words of television commentator Max Kellerman, "Here to make Zab Judah look good." The 18 - 2 fighter from San Diego only had 7 KO's on his dossier and so presented no danger to Judah. Except for a couple accidental head buts in the third which bloodied Judah, the match was a boring walk through the park for the former champ. It was good to see Jackie Kallen at ringside, but she must realize that her newest charge, Ernest Johnson is no James Toney and needs a lot more local work out on the coast. The highlight of this match was veteran referee Steve Smoger repeatedly addressing Zab Judah, who he has known since the Brooklyn fighter's amateur days, as "Zabbie". Cute ....... but not much of a high point for a boxing match.... but Judah got his win.
A number of fans were excited in anticipation of the Dimitry Salita match as the Jewish lad has quite a local following in New York City. Unfortunately Salita has been shielded from serious opposition and Saturday was no exception. At first Salita was to meet fellow Ukrainian, WBA Jr. welterweight champion, Andreas Kotelnik, but the champ injured his ribs ... just after seeing the paltry payment on his contract. Then Salita was going to face Scottish journeyman and EU champ, Willie Limond, who is a slick powder puff puncher, but apparently someone thought the Scotsman was still a wee bit too dangerous and saw that he was offered only a three fight contract for a minute amount of re numeration. The Scot would have accepted a bargain one fight deal to compete in the Garden .......... but 3 fights?? Enter Topeka, Kansas club fighter Derrick Campos! The stubby banger gave away height and reach and although he showed that he has no quit in him and has a little pop in his punch, he just couldn't catch the streaking Jewish slickster who peppered him with feather duster shots in route to a decision win. Max Kellerman was right on point again when he called Salita, "A nice little local attraction". But should a nice little local attraction be on the undercard of a major event?
Emanuel Augustus has made a career of being ready to fight on a few days notice and always willing to fight in the other guy's back yard and Saturday night at The Garden was a prime example of this. "The Drunken Master" once again took a fight on three days notice and faced #4 ranked WBC Jr. welterweight from The Bronx, Frankie Figueroa. For his part Frankie was no more ready for the unorthodox and awkward style of Augustus than Emanuel was expecting weekend work, but they both set out to make the best of it. Augustus uncharacteristically went on the attack all night long while his younger and more accomplished opponent back peddled and countered. Its a testament to Figueroa's skills that Augustus only got to do his Drunken Master Dance a couple times and never right in front of Figueroa as Emanuel would often do to lesser fighters. But --------- the older journeyman with the 50/50 record was obviously out punching his younger antagonist and scoring the points. At the end of the match HBO unofficial judge Harold Lederman had Augustus ahead by four points, but -------- low and behold ........ Emanuel Augustus somehow managed to drop yet another split decision to yet another home town hero. That's how his record got to be 50/50, but his entertaining style and willingness to step up to the plate at a minutes notice keeps The Drunken Master working. This was actually a good fight except for the atrocious decision. For his part Augustus shrugged it off as a regular occurrence and went to collect his paycheck.
Good Night - Good Fight
Frank "The Snake"
Joe Calzaghe came out smoothly in the first round, but a short ways in he ducked right into a Jones hook, which landed mostly forearm across the Welshman's temple, depositing him on the canvas, with a groggy consciousness. Calzaghe rose on instinct and these same instincts boxed him out of trouble and at the end of the round had him firing back at Jones, as the blood ran down his nose. Calzaghe entered the second round clear eyed and immediately began to pump up the volume of his punch output. Jones stayed on the attack like a barbarian hoard on the plains before Rome, but Calzaghe smoothly slid past these attacks, countering sharply and out punching the Floridian. Jones landed his second best punch, or perhaps his first considering the contact point of his big hook in the 1st round, of the evening in the 6th round, when he made contact with a sizzling uppercut. Calzaghe weathered the storm and went back to overwhelming the former four weight class champion with an unending shower of blows. In the 7th round a crisp straight left from Calzaghe slashed through Jones' eyelid and left the icon bleeding for the remainder of the match. Despite the best efforts of the doctor in Jones' corner, one tap from Calzaghe and the claret would begin yet again to flow down the visage of Jones. Roy Jones exhibited the tenacity of a rogue tiger and never stopped trying to overcome his opponent, but the Welshman was not to be denied on that evening. Jones even seemed to take it in stride when Calzaghe began to drop his hands and to a damn good imitation of vintage Roy Jones Jr. In the end Joe Calzaghe had thrown only fifteen shy of a thousand punches at Roy Jones and had landed 344 of them, which was quite enough for an unquestionable unanimous decision. Even Roy Jones didn't question the decision and seemed quite happy with his and Calzaghe's 50/50 business venture.
At the end of the Evening Roy Jones said that he would go home and talk to his team to discuss his future in the fight game. Then a few days later the 39 year old boxing icon began talking about possible future opponents. Primary on that list is a long awaited rematch with fellow icon Benard Hopkins. In his post fight interview Calzaghe was strangely silent on the subject of his retirement considering that he had spoken of it extensively before the match. A few days after the fight, word came from the Calzaghe camp that the champ might fight in his home of Wales next year ........... but ....... that Calzaghe doesn't like fighting rematches in general ---- and that he would Never fight Bernard Hopkins again under any circumstances. Guess Hopkins had better start talking to Roy.
The under card of the Calzhage - Jones show demonstrated why some fight fans feel that the guarantied five competitive fight minimum of the average MMA card is simply a better deal for their pay per view budget. The Boxing Game is reaching a point where they really need to beef up the under cards of their major pay per view events.
The big name on the undercard last Saturday evening was former Jr. welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah. Judah had lost four of his previous six matches and was badly in need of a win. His opponent, Ernest Johnson was, in the words of television commentator Max Kellerman, "Here to make Zab Judah look good." The 18 - 2 fighter from San Diego only had 7 KO's on his dossier and so presented no danger to Judah. Except for a couple accidental head buts in the third which bloodied Judah, the match was a boring walk through the park for the former champ. It was good to see Jackie Kallen at ringside, but she must realize that her newest charge, Ernest Johnson is no James Toney and needs a lot more local work out on the coast. The highlight of this match was veteran referee Steve Smoger repeatedly addressing Zab Judah, who he has known since the Brooklyn fighter's amateur days, as "Zabbie". Cute ....... but not much of a high point for a boxing match.... but Judah got his win.
A number of fans were excited in anticipation of the Dimitry Salita match as the Jewish lad has quite a local following in New York City. Unfortunately Salita has been shielded from serious opposition and Saturday was no exception. At first Salita was to meet fellow Ukrainian, WBA Jr. welterweight champion, Andreas Kotelnik, but the champ injured his ribs ... just after seeing the paltry payment on his contract. Then Salita was going to face Scottish journeyman and EU champ, Willie Limond, who is a slick powder puff puncher, but apparently someone thought the Scotsman was still a wee bit too dangerous and saw that he was offered only a three fight contract for a minute amount of re numeration. The Scot would have accepted a bargain one fight deal to compete in the Garden .......... but 3 fights?? Enter Topeka, Kansas club fighter Derrick Campos! The stubby banger gave away height and reach and although he showed that he has no quit in him and has a little pop in his punch, he just couldn't catch the streaking Jewish slickster who peppered him with feather duster shots in route to a decision win. Max Kellerman was right on point again when he called Salita, "A nice little local attraction". But should a nice little local attraction be on the undercard of a major event?
Emanuel Augustus has made a career of being ready to fight on a few days notice and always willing to fight in the other guy's back yard and Saturday night at The Garden was a prime example of this. "The Drunken Master" once again took a fight on three days notice and faced #4 ranked WBC Jr. welterweight from The Bronx, Frankie Figueroa. For his part Frankie was no more ready for the unorthodox and awkward style of Augustus than Emanuel was expecting weekend work, but they both set out to make the best of it. Augustus uncharacteristically went on the attack all night long while his younger and more accomplished opponent back peddled and countered. Its a testament to Figueroa's skills that Augustus only got to do his Drunken Master Dance a couple times and never right in front of Figueroa as Emanuel would often do to lesser fighters. But --------- the older journeyman with the 50/50 record was obviously out punching his younger antagonist and scoring the points. At the end of the match HBO unofficial judge Harold Lederman had Augustus ahead by four points, but -------- low and behold ........ Emanuel Augustus somehow managed to drop yet another split decision to yet another home town hero. That's how his record got to be 50/50, but his entertaining style and willingness to step up to the plate at a minutes notice keeps The Drunken Master working. This was actually a good fight except for the atrocious decision. For his part Augustus shrugged it off as a regular occurrence and went to collect his paycheck.
Good Night - Good Fight
Frank "The Snake"
Friday, November 7, 2008
End Of An Era...Or Two -- CLASSICAL BOXING AT THE GARDEN ..Sat. Night
Saturday Night November 8th the Mecca Of Boxing, Madison Square Garden will host yet another classical and potentially legendary boxing encounter. Former four weight class champion and future hall of fame member Roy Jones Jr. will face the current light heavy weight champion of the world, the undefeated Italian Welshman Joe Calzaghe.
Jones was once considered the best fighter in the world as he cruised his way to titles from middleweight to heavyweight. Then he hit his mid thirties and slowed a little just as he was also dropping back from heavyweight to light heavyweight. This resulted in Jone's infamous back to back knock out loses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, after which the boxing public pretty much considered Jones to be a done deal. Jones surprised everyone by bouncing back with a win against young contender Anthony Henshaw and in his last encounter Jones defeated fellow living legend, former welterweight and middleweight champion Felex "Tito" Trinidad.
Many sports writers and boxing fans consider Joe Calzaghe to be the best fighter in the world ... Now! Calzaghe is undefeated at 45 - 0 with 32 knock outs and won a record 21 title defenses at 168 LBS before taking the light heavy weight title from yet another living legend, the venerable and unstoppable Bernard Hopkins. After losing to Calzaghe, the 43 year old Hopkins promptly took the 26 year old middleweight champion Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik to school, beating the young, previously undefeated fighter and making Joe Calzaghe look even better in the process.
Most of the boxing world expects Joe Calzaghe to use his masterful knowledge of angles, tireless stamina, quick hands and volume punching to out work the older Jones and record yet another win. Meanwhile the 52 and 4 Jones has 38 Ko's on his resume, is back in superb condition and has been showing flashes of his previous ring brilliance as of late. Jones seemed to be a washed up sitting duck against Tarver and Johnson, but demonstrated a resurgence of his defensive skills against Hanshaw and Trinidad and might even hit a little harder than he did in his youth. Unlikely as the scenario is, Roy Jones is capable of pulling off the miraculous upset ..... and then and again, Joe Calzaghe might simply outclass Jones all night long. These possibilities make this a match worth watching, but for hard core boxing fans this one is a must. as the 36 year old Joe Calzaghe has announced that this will definitely be the last fight of his career .... and at 39, every fight could be the last one for Roy Jones. Therefore, Saturday night, Madison Square Garden will probably be showcasing the end of an era ... or two.
Also on the card that evening a couple of Brooklyn boys are going in easy. Former Jr. welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah will take on one Ernest Johnson. At one time Judah was the Golden Boy of Brooklyn Boxing, but a string of losses and a bunch of bad attitude displays have greatly tarnished Judah's reputation. He has gone 2 - 4 in his last six fights and really needs a win. Enter Ernest Johnson, a fighter who has been a lightweight for most of his career and with only 7 KO's on his record should present no threat to Judah.
Also coming to The City from Brooklyn Saturday evening will be one of the latest borough pugilistic stars, the Orthodox Jewish phenom, Dimitry "Star Of David" Salita. Salita is a Ukrainian born fighter who grew up and fights out of Brooklyn. He is noted for keeping all the rules of his religious beliefs like not even training on the Sabbath, praying four times a day and keeping a strict kosher diet ... and still managing to be 28 - 0 with 16 KO's. Salita's trainer Jimmy O'Pharrow says, "The boy looks Russian, prays Jewish and fights Black." Salita has brought hoards of Jewish fans back to the fight game and they of course see the undefeated fighter as the second coming of Benny Leonard, but the Brooklyn lad has yet to be tested by being in tough ........... and Saturday evening will not change this as Salita is matched with Scottish journeyman Willie Limond, who is 29 - 2, but with only 8 KO's on his record is unlikely to be able to actually hurt Salita.
Luckily Emanuel "The Drunken Master" Augustus will also be fighting Saturday at the Garden. Augustus actually loses almost as many fights as he wins, but on any given night he is capable of beating anyone in his weight class and he Never puts on a boring fight. Augustus is always ready on a minutes notice and he has done it again this time stepping in as a late substitute opponent for WBC #4 ranked, IBF #5 & WBA ranked #15 Jr. welterweight Frankie Figueroa. Win or lose Emanuel Augustus' blazing spirit, high volume punching and freaky deaky movement never fails to win over the crowd and make the evening entertaining.
Tomorrow Night --------- There will Be Fights!
Good Night - Good Fight
Frank"The Snake"
Jones was once considered the best fighter in the world as he cruised his way to titles from middleweight to heavyweight. Then he hit his mid thirties and slowed a little just as he was also dropping back from heavyweight to light heavyweight. This resulted in Jone's infamous back to back knock out loses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, after which the boxing public pretty much considered Jones to be a done deal. Jones surprised everyone by bouncing back with a win against young contender Anthony Henshaw and in his last encounter Jones defeated fellow living legend, former welterweight and middleweight champion Felex "Tito" Trinidad.
Many sports writers and boxing fans consider Joe Calzaghe to be the best fighter in the world ... Now! Calzaghe is undefeated at 45 - 0 with 32 knock outs and won a record 21 title defenses at 168 LBS before taking the light heavy weight title from yet another living legend, the venerable and unstoppable Bernard Hopkins. After losing to Calzaghe, the 43 year old Hopkins promptly took the 26 year old middleweight champion Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik to school, beating the young, previously undefeated fighter and making Joe Calzaghe look even better in the process.
Most of the boxing world expects Joe Calzaghe to use his masterful knowledge of angles, tireless stamina, quick hands and volume punching to out work the older Jones and record yet another win. Meanwhile the 52 and 4 Jones has 38 Ko's on his resume, is back in superb condition and has been showing flashes of his previous ring brilliance as of late. Jones seemed to be a washed up sitting duck against Tarver and Johnson, but demonstrated a resurgence of his defensive skills against Hanshaw and Trinidad and might even hit a little harder than he did in his youth. Unlikely as the scenario is, Roy Jones is capable of pulling off the miraculous upset ..... and then and again, Joe Calzaghe might simply outclass Jones all night long. These possibilities make this a match worth watching, but for hard core boxing fans this one is a must. as the 36 year old Joe Calzaghe has announced that this will definitely be the last fight of his career .... and at 39, every fight could be the last one for Roy Jones. Therefore, Saturday night, Madison Square Garden will probably be showcasing the end of an era ... or two.
Also on the card that evening a couple of Brooklyn boys are going in easy. Former Jr. welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah will take on one Ernest Johnson. At one time Judah was the Golden Boy of Brooklyn Boxing, but a string of losses and a bunch of bad attitude displays have greatly tarnished Judah's reputation. He has gone 2 - 4 in his last six fights and really needs a win. Enter Ernest Johnson, a fighter who has been a lightweight for most of his career and with only 7 KO's on his record should present no threat to Judah.
Also coming to The City from Brooklyn Saturday evening will be one of the latest borough pugilistic stars, the Orthodox Jewish phenom, Dimitry "Star Of David" Salita. Salita is a Ukrainian born fighter who grew up and fights out of Brooklyn. He is noted for keeping all the rules of his religious beliefs like not even training on the Sabbath, praying four times a day and keeping a strict kosher diet ... and still managing to be 28 - 0 with 16 KO's. Salita's trainer Jimmy O'Pharrow says, "The boy looks Russian, prays Jewish and fights Black." Salita has brought hoards of Jewish fans back to the fight game and they of course see the undefeated fighter as the second coming of Benny Leonard, but the Brooklyn lad has yet to be tested by being in tough ........... and Saturday evening will not change this as Salita is matched with Scottish journeyman Willie Limond, who is 29 - 2, but with only 8 KO's on his record is unlikely to be able to actually hurt Salita.
Luckily Emanuel "The Drunken Master" Augustus will also be fighting Saturday at the Garden. Augustus actually loses almost as many fights as he wins, but on any given night he is capable of beating anyone in his weight class and he Never puts on a boring fight. Augustus is always ready on a minutes notice and he has done it again this time stepping in as a late substitute opponent for WBC #4 ranked, IBF #5 & WBA ranked #15 Jr. welterweight Frankie Figueroa. Win or lose Emanuel Augustus' blazing spirit, high volume punching and freaky deaky movement never fails to win over the crowd and make the evening entertaining.
Tomorrow Night --------- There will Be Fights!
Good Night - Good Fight
Frank"The Snake"
Thursday, November 6, 2008
UPSETS & UNDERDOGS REIGN IN THE WEC!
The World Extreme Cagefighting organization's last venue of this year looked to be a showcase of veteran stars and an affirmation of the rankings. The stellar event had been postponed from September due to the threat of Hurricane Ike, but hadn't lost any of its star power in the interim. The Featherweight MMA champion of the world and WEC poster boy, Urijah "The California Kid" Faber was defending his title and Middleweight champion, Paulo Filho, was taking on his rival Chael Sonnen in a long awaited rematch. Veteran superstar, former UFC Lightweight champion, Jens "Little Evil" Pulver, was featured in a featherweight match and former WEC Lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough looked toward another title shot, as soon as he steped over up and coming 8 and 0 contender, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone.
Fate seemed to see a different playing of the cards though as a series of undaunted underdog warriors slugged their way to upgrading upsets. In the featured match of the evening the favored featherweight champion was facing the 33 year of veteran from Portland, Maine and fighting for American Top Team out of CoCo Beach, Florida, Mike Brown. As the venue was at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida, Brown had some local fans on hand, but much of the crowd still favored Faber. Mike Brown is a big featherweight and has fought much of his career at lightweight. He has fought all over the place, but never in such a big venue and certainly not with such a spotlight on him. The first round began with quick stand up action. Farber was faster, but Brown seemed more powerful. Brown attempted a couple single leg take downs, but Farber easily avoided them. Farber rolled off an attack and came around in one of his surprising spins. This time the champ had a vicious elbow strike whipping around with his momentum, but before his elbow reached its target .... POW .. Farber's head ran right into Mike Brown's right hand. The champ went down and Brown was quickly all over him with a series of devastating ground and pound strikes which forced the referee to stop the match at 2:23 of the 1st round. Suddenly Mike Brown was the NEW WEC Featherweight Champion and the unbeatable Urijah Farber was ....... beaten. After the match Urijah Farber was the picture of a gracious loser, complementing the skills of Mike Brown and vowing to return to the top of the rankings. Mike Brown was the picture of a hurting winner as he headed to the local hospital with an apparent rib injury.
The big middleweight title fight of the evening became a non title fight when champion Paulo Filho failed to make weight. His challenger Chael Sonnen felt disrespected and was saddened as he had promised his father on his death bed that he would win the world title. Now he was robbed of a title shot in what would have been the last WEC middleweight title match before the WEC closes down the Lt. Heavy and Middleweight classes to concentrate on the smaller guys. Sonnen will undoubtedly move over to the UFC, but a fellow there named Anderson Silva will make winning a title there somewhat more problematical. For his part the undefeated champion was somewhat cavalier about the situation stating that he would feel bad if he hadn't already defeated Sonnen, but as he had .......... he didn't really care. A rather punk attitude considering that their previous match up had ended with a disputed verbal submission after Sonnen had dominated the fight. The the biggest surprise of all in this match up was that with all the bad feelings neither guy seemed real motivated. Filho seemed content to lay on his back and try to entice Sonnen down there with him and much of the time Sonnen was happy to walk around the supine champion and kick his legs a bit. The most action Filho attempted was a couple of trys to jump guard. The one that worked got him carried across the ring and then slammed down hard enough to jar Sonnen loose and they returned to their regular routine. Even the ref was lackadaisical in this one and seemed to often forget that he should be standing Filho up and generating action. When on their feet Sonnen completely controlled all the action, but did so with constant movement and a quick, snappy jab. In the end his jab won Sonnen the decision in a rematch that everyone hopes won't become a trilogy. This match certainly upset the idea that Paulo Filho is the 2nd best middleweight in the world. After this performance he will be lucky to be considered in the top ten.
"Little Evil" Jens Pulver's match up with Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia had all the ear markings of a rough and tumble brawl. Both men are derived of tough backgrounds with hard, tempering life styles. Pulver has been a reformed, clean living athlete for quite a while now, but his ruffian attitude still surronds his ring personae. Garcia on the other hand still tends to sandwich his training and matches between scrapes with the local authorities. He has recently been training in Greg "Yoda" Jackson's camp though and therefore was undoubtedly well schooled and in tremendous condition. The match began as advertised, a street warrior slug fest in the cage. Then at only one minute and twelve seconds into the match "Bad Boy" Garcia landed the crunching shot that ended "Little Evil"'s evening. In his post fight interview Garcia made it a point that he appreciated a chance to fight Pulver and that "Little Evil" has always been one of his heroes. The local ruffian had upset the legend.
Former Lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough was the WEC poster boy before Urijah Faber inherited the position. When the WEC first went on television with their VS channel contract, Rob McCullough's face was on every poster, staring down at you with a raised fist and a caption something to the effect of, "This is the last thing my opponents see!" Last night when VS presented the last WEC show of the year ............ Rob's match with an undefeated, up and coming young contender wasn't even on the televised card! Instead we saw a quartet of undefeated youngsters with records like 2-0, 3-0, and 4-0. Apparently Rob and "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone didn't let this deter their fighting spirits and they waged a 3 round back and forth war. In the end the "Cowboy" was seen as doing better by the judges and was awarded the decision and another star fighter had been upset by an up and comer.
In one of the young unbeaten matches 3-0 Aaron Simpson KO'd 2-0 David Avellan in 18 seconds flat to score the fastest knock out in a night of knock outs. In the other young gun match, 4-0 All American, NCAA champion wrestler Jake Rosholt survived a standing pounding from 5-0 Relson Gracie BJJ Blackbelt, Nissen Osterneck, scored with a few take downs and then ended the match with a serious ground and pound attack for a TKO win in the second round. It was a very entertaining show and we should all look forward to the return of World Extreme Cagefighting in the new year.
The VS - WEC show ended just in time to catch the latest installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality show over on Spike TV. This week juvenile Junnie Browning was still causing trouble. This time coaching the opposing team's lightweight on how to defeat his team Mir opponent. When it came to the actual fight, Brooklyn's Fighting Filipino Phillipe Nover quickly destroyed Team Mir's best lightweight and had Dana White calling him a new GSP. Nover was cute when he proclaimed himself to be "The Toughest Emergency Room Nurse In the World". Oh Yeah - and the show also boasted the most disgusting immature in-house pranks ever seen on the series.
Other MMA news this week is that Elite Extreme Combat contracts will be auctioned off on November 17th. This will decide where fighters like Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields, Eddie Alveraz, Chris Cyborg, Gina Carrano & Kimbo Slice end up. One rumor has Tito Ortiz and his girl Jenna Jameson buying the EXC organization ------------ wouldn't that be Something Else!
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Fate seemed to see a different playing of the cards though as a series of undaunted underdog warriors slugged their way to upgrading upsets. In the featured match of the evening the favored featherweight champion was facing the 33 year of veteran from Portland, Maine and fighting for American Top Team out of CoCo Beach, Florida, Mike Brown. As the venue was at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida, Brown had some local fans on hand, but much of the crowd still favored Faber. Mike Brown is a big featherweight and has fought much of his career at lightweight. He has fought all over the place, but never in such a big venue and certainly not with such a spotlight on him. The first round began with quick stand up action. Farber was faster, but Brown seemed more powerful. Brown attempted a couple single leg take downs, but Farber easily avoided them. Farber rolled off an attack and came around in one of his surprising spins. This time the champ had a vicious elbow strike whipping around with his momentum, but before his elbow reached its target .... POW .. Farber's head ran right into Mike Brown's right hand. The champ went down and Brown was quickly all over him with a series of devastating ground and pound strikes which forced the referee to stop the match at 2:23 of the 1st round. Suddenly Mike Brown was the NEW WEC Featherweight Champion and the unbeatable Urijah Farber was ....... beaten. After the match Urijah Farber was the picture of a gracious loser, complementing the skills of Mike Brown and vowing to return to the top of the rankings. Mike Brown was the picture of a hurting winner as he headed to the local hospital with an apparent rib injury.
The big middleweight title fight of the evening became a non title fight when champion Paulo Filho failed to make weight. His challenger Chael Sonnen felt disrespected and was saddened as he had promised his father on his death bed that he would win the world title. Now he was robbed of a title shot in what would have been the last WEC middleweight title match before the WEC closes down the Lt. Heavy and Middleweight classes to concentrate on the smaller guys. Sonnen will undoubtedly move over to the UFC, but a fellow there named Anderson Silva will make winning a title there somewhat more problematical. For his part the undefeated champion was somewhat cavalier about the situation stating that he would feel bad if he hadn't already defeated Sonnen, but as he had .......... he didn't really care. A rather punk attitude considering that their previous match up had ended with a disputed verbal submission after Sonnen had dominated the fight. The the biggest surprise of all in this match up was that with all the bad feelings neither guy seemed real motivated. Filho seemed content to lay on his back and try to entice Sonnen down there with him and much of the time Sonnen was happy to walk around the supine champion and kick his legs a bit. The most action Filho attempted was a couple of trys to jump guard. The one that worked got him carried across the ring and then slammed down hard enough to jar Sonnen loose and they returned to their regular routine. Even the ref was lackadaisical in this one and seemed to often forget that he should be standing Filho up and generating action. When on their feet Sonnen completely controlled all the action, but did so with constant movement and a quick, snappy jab. In the end his jab won Sonnen the decision in a rematch that everyone hopes won't become a trilogy. This match certainly upset the idea that Paulo Filho is the 2nd best middleweight in the world. After this performance he will be lucky to be considered in the top ten.
"Little Evil" Jens Pulver's match up with Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia had all the ear markings of a rough and tumble brawl. Both men are derived of tough backgrounds with hard, tempering life styles. Pulver has been a reformed, clean living athlete for quite a while now, but his ruffian attitude still surronds his ring personae. Garcia on the other hand still tends to sandwich his training and matches between scrapes with the local authorities. He has recently been training in Greg "Yoda" Jackson's camp though and therefore was undoubtedly well schooled and in tremendous condition. The match began as advertised, a street warrior slug fest in the cage. Then at only one minute and twelve seconds into the match "Bad Boy" Garcia landed the crunching shot that ended "Little Evil"'s evening. In his post fight interview Garcia made it a point that he appreciated a chance to fight Pulver and that "Little Evil" has always been one of his heroes. The local ruffian had upset the legend.
Former Lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough was the WEC poster boy before Urijah Faber inherited the position. When the WEC first went on television with their VS channel contract, Rob McCullough's face was on every poster, staring down at you with a raised fist and a caption something to the effect of, "This is the last thing my opponents see!" Last night when VS presented the last WEC show of the year ............ Rob's match with an undefeated, up and coming young contender wasn't even on the televised card! Instead we saw a quartet of undefeated youngsters with records like 2-0, 3-0, and 4-0. Apparently Rob and "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone didn't let this deter their fighting spirits and they waged a 3 round back and forth war. In the end the "Cowboy" was seen as doing better by the judges and was awarded the decision and another star fighter had been upset by an up and comer.
In one of the young unbeaten matches 3-0 Aaron Simpson KO'd 2-0 David Avellan in 18 seconds flat to score the fastest knock out in a night of knock outs. In the other young gun match, 4-0 All American, NCAA champion wrestler Jake Rosholt survived a standing pounding from 5-0 Relson Gracie BJJ Blackbelt, Nissen Osterneck, scored with a few take downs and then ended the match with a serious ground and pound attack for a TKO win in the second round. It was a very entertaining show and we should all look forward to the return of World Extreme Cagefighting in the new year.
The VS - WEC show ended just in time to catch the latest installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality show over on Spike TV. This week juvenile Junnie Browning was still causing trouble. This time coaching the opposing team's lightweight on how to defeat his team Mir opponent. When it came to the actual fight, Brooklyn's Fighting Filipino Phillipe Nover quickly destroyed Team Mir's best lightweight and had Dana White calling him a new GSP. Nover was cute when he proclaimed himself to be "The Toughest Emergency Room Nurse In the World". Oh Yeah - and the show also boasted the most disgusting immature in-house pranks ever seen on the series.
Other MMA news this week is that Elite Extreme Combat contracts will be auctioned off on November 17th. This will decide where fighters like Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields, Eddie Alveraz, Chris Cyborg, Gina Carrano & Kimbo Slice end up. One rumor has Tito Ortiz and his girl Jenna Jameson buying the EXC organization ------------ wouldn't that be Something Else!
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Postponed WEC Extravaganza Premieres On VS Tomorrow
Tomorrow evening the World Extreme Cagefighting Featherweight title fight show which was postponed last September will premiere on the VS channel at 8:00 PM, EST. This extravaganza will originate from Hollywood, Florida, which was under threat from seasonal hurricanes in September, henceforth the show moving to November.
Headlining this last WEC show of the year is the organization's poster boy, Featherweight Champion, Urijah "The California Kid" Faber. Challenging Faber for his 145 LB title will be Portland, Maine's own number 7 Featherweight contender, Mike Brown. The 33 year old Brown has labored for years in smaller shows and is happy to finally be in a spotlight venue for the lighter weight classes. The veteran will make the most of his moment in the sun and give "The Kid" a run for his money. but should this underdog actually win the encounter, he will upset the entire WEC organization and deprive them of their most popular and well known champion.
Also featured on this card will be the second best known 145 LB MMA fighter in the world, the experienced and venerable MMA warrior, Jens "Little Evil" Pulver. Little Evil wants to work his way back to another shot at The Kid and standing in his way will be little known veteran Leonard Garcia. Garcia will hope to find The Evil One a bit shop worn and to use him as a stepping stone out of obscurity. Pulver will look to use his vaunted left hook to pound these hopes right out of Garcia.
The WEC will also offer a last look at their number one middleweight Paulo Filho, who some think is the man to mount an actual challenge to 185 LB King Anderson Silva. With a good showing tomorrow evening, Filho might get his chance to prove he is the best middleweight as the WEC is abandoning its middleweight and lightheavy weight divisions, next year in favor of showcasing the little men. As ZUFFA owns both the UFC and the WEC, one assumes that the best WEC fighters in these classes will segue seamlessly into the UFC, which could set up a Filho vs. Silva match. But -- first Paulo Filho must once again defeat his #1 WEC rival Chael Sonnen. Sonnen feels that Filho's defeat of him was a fluke and he plans to prove this tomorrow and move into the UFC as the WEC's best middleweight. Filho, of course, thinks that another win over Sonnen is a lock ............ but he was off to a bad start today when he failed to make weight and scaled at 192 LBS. Sonnen stepped up to the plate and agreed to meet Filho anyway, so the rematch war is on.
Former champion "Razor" Rob McCullough will look to regain his status in the lightweight division tomorrow and earn a rematch with champion Jamie Varner. Standing in his way will be undefeated lightweight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, who would like that title match for himself. The 8 - 0 Cowboy hopes to ride his winning streak all the way to the top of the division. This one could easily be the fight of the night.
In other MMA news today the EXC is claiming that they will put on at least one more show. Most insiders feel that this event will never happen and that the EXC is simply trying to keep their top fighters under contract until they can sell said contracts to help cover their 55 million in losses. One must wonder if this rumor will impact the other new MMA rumor which is that Dream (the guys who used to own Pride FC) were looking to add the Kimbo Slice - Seth Petruzelli rematch to their big end of year show. The MMA landscape is remaining fluid, interesting and entertaining.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
Headlining this last WEC show of the year is the organization's poster boy, Featherweight Champion, Urijah "The California Kid" Faber. Challenging Faber for his 145 LB title will be Portland, Maine's own number 7 Featherweight contender, Mike Brown. The 33 year old Brown has labored for years in smaller shows and is happy to finally be in a spotlight venue for the lighter weight classes. The veteran will make the most of his moment in the sun and give "The Kid" a run for his money. but should this underdog actually win the encounter, he will upset the entire WEC organization and deprive them of their most popular and well known champion.
Also featured on this card will be the second best known 145 LB MMA fighter in the world, the experienced and venerable MMA warrior, Jens "Little Evil" Pulver. Little Evil wants to work his way back to another shot at The Kid and standing in his way will be little known veteran Leonard Garcia. Garcia will hope to find The Evil One a bit shop worn and to use him as a stepping stone out of obscurity. Pulver will look to use his vaunted left hook to pound these hopes right out of Garcia.
The WEC will also offer a last look at their number one middleweight Paulo Filho, who some think is the man to mount an actual challenge to 185 LB King Anderson Silva. With a good showing tomorrow evening, Filho might get his chance to prove he is the best middleweight as the WEC is abandoning its middleweight and lightheavy weight divisions, next year in favor of showcasing the little men. As ZUFFA owns both the UFC and the WEC, one assumes that the best WEC fighters in these classes will segue seamlessly into the UFC, which could set up a Filho vs. Silva match. But -- first Paulo Filho must once again defeat his #1 WEC rival Chael Sonnen. Sonnen feels that Filho's defeat of him was a fluke and he plans to prove this tomorrow and move into the UFC as the WEC's best middleweight. Filho, of course, thinks that another win over Sonnen is a lock ............ but he was off to a bad start today when he failed to make weight and scaled at 192 LBS. Sonnen stepped up to the plate and agreed to meet Filho anyway, so the rematch war is on.
Former champion "Razor" Rob McCullough will look to regain his status in the lightweight division tomorrow and earn a rematch with champion Jamie Varner. Standing in his way will be undefeated lightweight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, who would like that title match for himself. The 8 - 0 Cowboy hopes to ride his winning streak all the way to the top of the division. This one could easily be the fight of the night.
In other MMA news today the EXC is claiming that they will put on at least one more show. Most insiders feel that this event will never happen and that the EXC is simply trying to keep their top fighters under contract until they can sell said contracts to help cover their 55 million in losses. One must wonder if this rumor will impact the other new MMA rumor which is that Dream (the guys who used to own Pride FC) were looking to add the Kimbo Slice - Seth Petruzelli rematch to their big end of year show. The MMA landscape is remaining fluid, interesting and entertaining.
Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
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