Author: Ben Fowlkes

In Hockey-Crazed Vancouver, UFC 131 Not Exactly a Hot Ticket

Filed under: UFCVANCOUVER, British Columbia – In retrospect, the timing could have been better. Or maybe it just couldn’t have been worse.

UFC 131 marks the second time in as many years that the world’s biggest MMA organization has visited this city, …

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CanucksVANCOUVER, British Columbia – In retrospect, the timing could have been better. Or maybe it just couldn’t have been worse.

UFC 131 marks the second time in as many years that the world’s biggest MMA organization has visited this city, and unfortunately for the UFC, all eyes are not exactly on the Octagon this weekend.

With the Vancouver Canucks tied in a 2-2 Stanley Cup finals series against Boston – and Game 5 headed here on Friday night – Saturday’s UFC event seems to be almost an afterthought for most of the city’s sports fans.

“It’s tough. The UFC couldn’t have come to Vancouver on a tougher day, or at a tougher time,” says Shawn Tompkins, a Canadian-born MMA trainer now living in Las Vegas.

One of his best lightweights, Sam Stout, is fighting on Saturday’s card, but he knows that getting people’s attention with anything other than hockey this weekend is no easy sell.


“The fact that it’s their hometown team in the Stanley Cup finals? The Stanley Cup, in Canada, is everything,” Tompkins adds.

If you don’t believe him, just take a quick walk around downtown Vancouver. On the afternoon of Wednesday’s Game 4, Canucks flags hang from windows everywhere you look, and fans are already sporting their temporary Canucks tattoos on their faces hours before game time.

And once the puck drops at 5 p.m. local time, you can forget about talking to anyone here about any sport other than hockey.

Take the four fans decked out in Canucks jerseys, waving a Canucks flag and screaming indiscriminately at passing cars on the corner of Hornby and Smithe, for instance. Clearly, these are people who love pro sports – or at least one pro sport. But are they even aware that there’s a fight in their town this weekend?

“Who cares about that?” one of them shouts at me when I ask. “Where’s your jersey?!”

But to his friend, this sounds familiar.

“Oh yeah, what’s his name, Carwin?” he ventures.

That’s right, I tell him. Shane Carwin. One half of Saturday night’s heavyweight main event. He’s heard of him?

“Not really. My boss mentioned it on Facebook.”

Inside Earl’s restaurant and bar downtown, where a standing-room crowd has gathered to watch the game, the sentiment is the same.

26-year-old Vancouver resident Jamil Sunverji remembers hearing about the fight, but he never considered going, he says. Not with a game in Vancouver on Friday night, and then another on Monday.

“You don’t want to waste a night out on that,” he says, adding that once he heard the fight card had lost Brock Lesnar from the main event, that’s when his interest really waned.

“I pretty much only watch [Georges St. Pierre] and Brock Lesnar,” he adds.

Sean Sanbanjin, 30, mostly shares this attitude.

“People here only care about hockey,” he says, though he isn’t exactly wowed by the turnout or fan enthusiasm tonight.

“I’m from Montreal. There, it’d be way crazier, way more people in a place like this. And the girls would be hotter, too.”

The lack of interest is reflected in online ticket sales on sites like StubHub.com, where UFC 131 tickets were going for as little as $38 on Thursday morning. According to a report in the Vancouver Sun, that figure is expected to fall even farther as fight night approaches. It makes for a great deal for bargain-seeking sports fans, and somehow, several of the people I talk to in Earl’s during Game 4 know only one thing about the fights, and it’s that tickets are suddenly cheap.

“All I heard is that tickets are going for below face value,” offers one man, who says he still won’t buy them because he’d probably just end up spending twice that in beer and food at the venue.

Not that anyone seems to be thinking about their bar tab at the moment, however.

As the Boston Bruins go up by two goals, then three and then four, the once jovial mood in Earl’s sours. The vuvuzelas stop blowing, and the drinking goes from fun to angry, with shots replacing beers. Still, few people are headed for the door midway through the third period.

“It’s hockey,” says Sunverji. “You can score three or four goals in a couple of minutes.”

The Canucks don’t, however. They score none, and late in the game the only excitement comes when the game turns more violent than usual. Players drop their gloves and sticks and take their frustrations out on one another, and the crowd here – which ironically has professed little interest in the type of professional fighting that doesn’t happen on ice skates – suddenly comes to life.

The enthusiasm is short-lived, and the bar begins emptying out as soon as the game ends. The series comes returns here on Friday night for a pivotal game five. Good luck trying to interest that crowd in coming back the next night for several hours worth of fights.

But then, there’s not much the UFC can do about it now. It’s bad luck, and bad timing, but all it can do is make the best of it.

Tompkins knows all about it, since he and Stout will be hosting an anti-bullying awareness event at the Vancouver Players Chophouse on Friday night, trying to use a mixed crowd of MMA personalities and NHL players to draw attention to their cause. If they can generate interest on the day of the game, he reasons, the UFC will make do with whatever local attention it can get.

“It’s a tough time for them to come, but I’m sure the UFC will persevere,” he says. “We’ve got some great Canadian fighters on the card. At the end of the day, UFC fans are UFC fans, whatever else is going on.”

 

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After Frustrating Layoff, Junior dos Santos a ‘Fine-Tuned Machine’

Filed under: UFCVANCOUVER, British Columbia – Junior dos Santos sure didn’t look like a pro fighter who hasn’t worked in ten months.

There was no extra flab on display in his first public appearance before his fight with Shane Carwin on Saturday nigh…

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Junior dos Santos sure didn’t look like a pro fighter who hasn’t worked in ten months.

There was no extra flab on display in his first public appearance before his fight with Shane Carwin on Saturday night. No visible signs of torpor. Not even close.

As the Brazilian showed off his boxing skills with some tricky mitt work at Wednesday afternoon’s UFC 131 open workouts, he looked as sharp as ever. Even if he were rusty from the time off, one would think that the way he swatted the focus mitts with the speed and timing of a punk rock drummer couldn’t help but knock that rust right off.

Then again, that’s what the mitts are there for. Lots of people look good hitting them on workout day. After nearly a year on the shelf, though, dos Santos has the distinct air of a man who is tired of hitting a target that doesn’t hit back.

“I don’t care about the opponent now. I want to fight,” dos Santos said, after admitting that he was initially “a little bit disappointed” not to get a crack at Brock Lesnar. “My last fight was ten months ago, so [that’s] too much time to sit out [of] fights.”

It’s also a long time to go without a paycheck, especially for a young fighter in what are supposed to be his best, most profitable years. That, said manager Ed Soares, is why they never really considered waiting for UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez to get healthy enough to give dos Santos his promised title shot.

“It would have been too long,” said Soares. “He would have been inactive for over a year. He wants to fight. He’s got to stay busy. He’s 26 years old and he’s a fine-tuned machine. It’s like having a Ferrari and just leaving it in the garage.”

Then again, agreeing to take the Ultimate Fighter coaching gig opposite Lesnar also put the Ferrari in the garage for a little while, which had financial implications of its own, Soares admitted.

“It does, but you know what? The UFC always finds a way to make things right.”

At long last, the wait is nearly over. He may have lost the chance to trade blows with Lesnar – who dos Santos referred to as “the most popular fighter in the world” – but it didn’t hurt his popularity any to have a weekly stint on reality TV where he was the smiling, gregarious counterweight to the scowling, misanthropic Lesnar.

“People recognize me more on the streets,” said dos Santos. “I’m very happy with that because I lost my opportunity to fight for the title, and then comes the TUF in my life. So it was very good and God blessed me again.”

Allowing fans to see his friendly, easy-going side might have even been the best thing to come out of the experience, though Soares wasn’t surprised to see people take to dos Santos’ warm personality as a coach, he said.

“He’s just a great guy. He’s an all-around good guy. He’s super intelligent, very motivated. He has his goals set and he’s going after them. He doesn’t steer away from that.”

When they heard that Lesnar was out and Carwin was likely in, Soares said, they figured it was a fight they’d have to take sooner or later, so they might as well go ahead and do it.

“Whether he fights Carwin on Saturday or eight months from now, eventually this fight was going to happen. So let the chips fall where they may. In this business, you have to be prepared for everything. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and I guarantee you it won’t be the last. Doing what we do for a living, we have to be prepared for this. His coaches have been a great influence in putting that in his head that, look, we’re professional fighters. This happens. It’s part of the game.”

With the fight just days away, dos Santos no longer has to worry about when he’ll get paid for hitting someone again. Now it’s just a question of what will happen when he finally gets the chance.

Not surprisingly, “Cigano” likes his chances.

“[Carwin] has good skills in boxing, but I think I’m better than him in boxing. That’s why I think he’s going to try to take me down, because when he starts to feel…I know he’s good and he’s got heavy hands. But I think I’m faster and I’ve got more skills [in the] stand-up than him.”

And just because he’s appeared patient and understanding of all the changes and delays, don’t let it fool you. Dos Santos has been just as frustrated at times with the long layoff due to other people’s medical problems, Soares said, even if he didn’t often complain about it.

“Or, well, at least he doesn’t complain to the media,” Soares added.

 

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Nine Ways of Looking at UFC 131

Filed under: UFCFrom big opportunities, big individuals, and big worries about being overshadowed by Canada’s love affair with hockey, UFC 131 has plenty of storylines in the works. Here are just a few of them.

I. It’s quickly approaching now-or-never…

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From big opportunities, big individuals, and big worries about being overshadowed by Canada’s love affair with hockey, UFC 131 has plenty of storylines in the works. Here are just a few of them.

I. It’s quickly approaching now-or-never time for Shane Carwin. He’s 36 years old and has spent almost as much time with his surgeons as his trainers in the last couple of years. He can’t do this forever. Judging by his absolute refusal to give up his full-time day job as an engineer, it doesn’t seem as if he wants to try, either. If he doesn’t get his title shot now, he may not get another chance while he’s still young and healthy enough to do anything about it. A loss to dos Santos, and Carwin might soon decide that there’s more of a future for him in his other career. He might even be right.

II. It’s Brazil versus the USA…kind of…again. With the exception of the Einemo-Herman fight, all the main card bouts feature this familiar rivalry. Sadly, it’s long since lost its novelty. Am I the only one who thinks we need a new international rival in MMA? We’ve done USA-Canada and even dabbled in USA-Japan. When is France going to hurry up and get its MMA act together? Chael Sonnen probably has tons of insults that are going to waste right now.

III. Kenny Florian doesn’t need this, but he needs this. Florian is the rare fighter who could probably quit tomorrow and make his living exclusively as a commentator and on-air personality. He’s articulate and charismatic, but he also knows what it’s like to bleed for his cash, so he has the street cred that matters with many fans. As a color commentator and TV analyst, he’s almost as good as Pat Miletich, and probably a little more appealing to the producers who wince every time they have to put Miletich’s battered (but still loveable) mug on the screen. Florian doesn’t really have to keep fighting for too much longer if he doesn’t want to. But if he does want to – and if he wants to do it with a legitimate hope of being a champion some day – he has to win this fight. If he starts out his new life as a featherweight with a loss, it makes him look like a guy who’s wandering around looking for easier game – and not finding it anywhere.

IV. How much does the city of Vancouver care about MMA right about now? With their hockey team in the Stanley Cup finals, having a traveling circus like the UFC pass through town is a much smaller blip on the radar. Canadians love them some prizefighting – this we know – but hockey is a religion in these parts. How many devotees still have the energy or cash to spend on MMA after so many nights in their national church of late?

V. The Carwin-dos Santos fight will be decided by range. Dos Santos wants to keep his distance from the big, burly wrestler and beat him with superior boxing and footwork. Carwin, however, will want to get into the clinch and/or on the ground and make sure he can smell the Brazilian’s after-shave as he’s battering him with those engine blocks he calls fists. They can’t both have it their way, but the guy who gets the fight where he wants it is the one who’ll get his hand raised in the end.

VI. Dark horse pick for Fight of the Night: Yves Edwards vs. Sam Stout. It’s an interesting stylistic match-up to begin with. But with Stout’s desperation to string a couple wins together and stop doing the whole ‘two steps forward, two steps back’ thing, and Edwards’ desire to keep his current win streak alive and prove his viability in what might prove to be his last big push in the UFC, both these guys have ample motivation to go out there and prove something. Fading options and exciting styles are two key ingredients to great fights.

VII. Anybody remember Demian Maia? Two years ago he was the submissions wizard who captivated our imaginations. Then after losses to Nate Marquardt and Anderson Silva – not a bad pair of guys to lose to, by the way – he kind of dropped out of the middleweight conversation altogether. Now he’s just another very dangerous fighter who can beat 90% of the men in the division, but who few people are clamoring to see in a title fight anytime soon. Lately he’s gone from spectacular submissions to forgettable decisions, but he’s still a handful for just about any 185-pounder out there. Against Mark Munoz you kind of have to wonder what he’s fighting for, though. A win won’t vault him to the top of the ladder, and a loss won’t drop him completely off it. Like many former title contenders, he’s stuck in a holding pattern for now.

VIII. It’s time for the (technically) undefeated Nick Ring to lay his cards on the table. Officially, he won the decision over Riki Fukuda in his first UFC bout in February, but the UFC sure didn’t act like it. Fukuda got his win bonus anyway and the brass made it clear that they thought he got hosed, which is nice for Riki but couldn’t have made Ring feel too great. He was coming off a long layoff due to knee surgery then, so it’s possible he was just a little rusty. Now he’s getting another UFC newcomer in James Head, so this is his chance to make everyone forget how mediocre he looked in his last outing. Will he do it? I think so. And after all the potential he showed on TUF, it’d be nice to see him parlay that into a career we can get excited about.

IX. Win or lose, Junior dos Santos has been a real team player lately. It can’t be easy for a 26-year-old fighter in top form to give up nearly a year of prime money-making time when he’s healthy and ready to go. Dos Santos suffered for the injuries of others, and he didn’t even really complain about it. He even kept his good humor all through a season of TUF, and then saw his fight fall from the media spotlight after Brock Lesnar pulled out. Again, he took it in stride, kept whatever gripes he may have had to himself, and acted like a real company man. The UFC ought to remember what he did – and what he gave up – just to go along and get along.

 

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Falling Action: Best and Worst of TUF 13 Finale

Filed under: UFCI’ve always wondered what Ultimate Fighter winners do with their cut-glass trophies. It looks like something you might get for being the most improved player on a high school water polo team, so I’d be surprised if too many recipients h…

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I’ve always wondered what Ultimate Fighter winners do with their cut-glass trophies. It looks like something you might get for being the most improved player on a high school water polo team, so I’d be surprised if too many recipients have it displayed prominently in their homes.

I keep expecting to see one show up on Ebay, but then who would buy it? I have no idea, but maybe Tony Ferguson will get a chance to find out. He’s our latest reality show winner, joining a diverse group that has had wildly varied post-grad results.

So what does Ferguson’s win mean, and how far has Anthony Pettis fallen after putting his title shot on the line against Clay Guida? The answers to those questions and more await you, as we sort through the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between after the TUF 13 Finale.

Biggest Winner: Clay Guida
Any lightweight who has ever considered a strategy that involves tiring Guida out only needs to look at him bouncing around in the post-fight interview after three hard rounds to know what a bad idea that is. Against Pettis, Guida showed that a non-stop motor and a wealth of quality experience to draw upon is sometimes all you need to get your hand raised. The decision victory was Guida’s 29th win and his 40th pro fight overall. Even Guida would probably agree that Jim Miller deserves to be ahead of him in line for a crack at the belt, but “The Carpenter” is definitely in the conversation now. What he lacks in sheer talent, he makes up for with work ethic and a willingness to get right in your face and stay there all night. How can you not root for a guy like that?

Biggest Loser: Anthony Pettis
Pettis gets this distinction less for his performance than for what it cost him. He didn’t fight poorly, but all it took was fifteen minutes on a Saturday night for him to go from number one contender to the middle of a crowded pack. Not that it needs to be anything more than a minor setback in the long run. He’s young and has a lot of potential, but Guida showed us all that there are some holes in his game. Some of that is just inexperience. He caught a big break in the third round, yet couldn’t capitalize on it. It’s also possible that he’s trying to force those crowd-pleasing kicks a little too much, which resulted in more interesting misses than useful hits against Guida. He lost his title shot with the defeat, but it’s not the end of the world. If he uses it as a learning experience, this will be nothing more than a speed bump in a promising career.

Best Prospect: Tony Ferguson
He can wrestle and he can swat – a combination that makes him a man to be taken seriously. If we’ve learned anything from 13 seasons of TUF, however, it’s that winning the show is not quite the career-crowning achievement it’s made out to be. What it is, is a nice start for Ferguson and a chance to develop in the UFC with a little more slack than most new hires get. That’s why I wouldn’t recommend calling out guys like Amir Sadollah. While there are benefits to being proactive about matchmaking, the TUF winner usually gets to ease into the big time a little more gently. I don’t want to say he should expect an easy fight in his first post-TUF appearance. There aren’t many of those to be found in the UFC. But there are easier fights out there, and with them, a chance to get comfortable in the Octagon. Just because you’re a reality TV hero, it doesn’t mean the roads are all paved with gold now. Just ask Efrain Escudero.

Least Certain Future: Ramsey Nijem
He looked great on TUF, but all it took was one lunging left hook from Ferguson to stiffen him up like stale toast. He’s obviously got talent, but he also seems like he might not be quite ready for the UFC just yet. He’s now 4-2 in his career, and his most high profile wins were reality show exhibition bouts. He might still turn into a legitimate UFC fighter, but he’d better do it soon. It doesn’t take much to go from TUF finalist to TUF footnote. Just ask Kris McCray. And Vinny Magalhaes. And Luke Cummo. And…you know what? I think you get it.

Biggest Win Under Dire Circumstances: Ed Herman
After losing three of his last four and sitting out with a recurring knee injury for nearly two years, Herman was desperate for a big victory. Knocking out a tough opponent like Tim Credeur in less than a minute is a good way to get back on the map. Herman should consider it a temporary stay, and one possibly aided by the fact that Credeur had been out of action nearly as long as he had. Now Herman has to hope that he’s more successful in his comeback than he was before his initial injury.

Most Disturbing Trend: Ken Stone‘s recent KO’s
He was on the business end of a brutal slam knockout back in December, then got pounded out by Scott Jorgensen in the first round on Saturday night. Two scary knockouts in a row – all in a six-month span – is never good for your career prospects, but it’s even worse for your brain. While we still don’t know a ton about knockouts and long-term brain health, we do know that it’s a bad sign when a fighter keeps ending bouts asleep on the mat, especially when the knockouts start to come easier and easier. Maybe Stone could take some time off and reevaluate. Even if he doesn’t want to, it’s quite possible that the Zuffa contract axe will do it for him.

Most in Need of a Step Up in Competition: Kyle Kingsbury
The decision over Maldonado was his fourth straight victory in the UFC. Now that his skills have caught up to his size and natural athleticism, he seems like a guy who might actually go places in the light heavyweight division. It’s hard to know for sure though, since the UFC keeps giving him opponents who are all at roughly the same level. Jared Hamman, Ricardo Romero, Fabio Maldonado – all are tough guys, but it’s not exactly a steady climb in quality of competition. Now’s the time to throw Kingsbury into the deep water and find out if he can swim.

Least Convincing Effort: Josh Grispi
It’s strange to think that not so long ago, this guy was considered a credible challenger for Jose Aldo’s title. The fighter who showed up to face George Roop on Saturday looked like a man who would have preferred to be almost anywhere else. It’s never a good sign when your cornermen are all but begging you not to quit between rounds. He made it into the third, but just barely, and he didn’t need much encouragement to crumble up and collapse after Roop hammered him with a body shot. Any fighter is going to have his good nights and bad nights, but Grispi has fallen off hard lately. Might be time to sit down with his coaches and talk about what he’s really trying to accomplish here.

 

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TUF 13 Finale: By the Odds

Filed under: UFCYou paid close attention to a full season of reality TV shenanigans on The Ultimate Fighter. You even sat through Brock Lesnar’s repeated attempts to turn a kind of insulting metaphor into a motivational speech. And what did you get for…

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You paid close attention to a full season of reality TV shenanigans on The Ultimate Fighter. You even sat through Brock Lesnar’s repeated attempts to turn a kind of insulting metaphor into a motivational speech. And what did you get for it? Nothing but a brain full of video game commercials and Burger King slogans.

Until now.

With the TUF 13 Finale barreling down upon us, time to put that hard-earned knowledge to good use and make the oddsmakers pay for their indolence. The experts have laid down their odds on Saturday night’s action. Now it’s our turn to tell them where they went wrong.

Clay Guida (+190) vs. Anthony Pettis (-250)

One word: seriously? Okay, so that’s one word aided by punctuation, but you get the point. You’re telling me Guida is nearly a 2-1 dog against a fighter who most people know for one (albeit amazing) kick and very little else? That seems like a stretch. Look, I don’t disagree that Pettis ought to be the favorite. On skills alone, he’s the better fighter. But that’s nothing new for Guida. His experience, his pace, his badger-like relentlessness – all that makes him impossible to overlook. Sure, Pettis has the ability to kick him upside the head, but it’s not like Guida hasn’t been there before. His list of scalps is much more impressive than Pettis’, even if he lacks the mainstream attention that comes with SportsCenter highlights. Look past “The Carpenter” at your peril, people.
My pick: Guida. At these odds he’s simply too good to pass up. He could get outclassed, or he could win this on veteran savvy alone. At 2-1, I’ll risk it on the latter option.

Ramsey Nijem (-120) vs. Tony Ferguson (-110)

As usual with TUF finale fights, oddsmakers seem unsure what to make of this one. How much can you really know about two guys after seeing them in a frantic series of fights over the course of a few weeks? The TUF house tells you a lot about how different fighters handle pressure and outside stimuli, but it doesn’t always tell you who’ll be the better man after they’ve had some time to go home and work on things. Nijem likely gets the edge because of his wrestling ability, while Ferguson had to close out the season by listening to his coach, Brock Lesnar, hoping out loud that his athleticism could “make up for some things.” What a confidence-builder. It’s a pick ’em, and one where you won’t profit much either way.
My pick: Nijem. I’d save it for the parlay, if at all. Oddsmakers seem intent on making sure no one has any fun here.

Ed Herman (-115) vs. Tim Credeur (-115)

The same rule applies here as in the Nijem-Ferguson fight. A line like this – you’d have to bet $115 on either guy to make $100 if he wins – is the oddsmaker’s way of trying to steer you away from a bet or at least make sure you don’t score too big on it. And really? That’s fitting here. After nearly two years off for each fighter, we don’t know what they’ll have in their respective first fights back. If this fight were happening in the summer of 2009, I’d throw my support firmly behind Credeur and never think twice. Now I have to think twice, but I honestly still come up with the same answer. Herman has always had some cardio issues, and knee injuries rarely help those. At least Credeur was out for a brain anomaly, which ended up being a false alarm and not an actual physical defect to overcome.
My pick: Credeur. I’m saving it for the parlay, but I think Herman tires out while Crazy Tim stays strong.

Kyle Kingsbury (-200) vs. Fabio Maldonado (+160)

I’m a little surprised to see the line this close, particularly after word went out that Maldonado was laid up in a hospital with a virus recently and, if I’m reading the translation on Tatame.com correctly, ate “salty food” to raise his blood pressure back to normal levels. I’m no doctor, but I do wonder if that’s the best strategy for a pro fighter. He weighed in a couple pounds under the limit, while Kingsbury was his usual shredded self at 206 pounds, thanks to the help of Victor Conte. I’d probably pick Kingsbury even if both were at full strength, since he’s been on a tear in the UFC of late. But hearing that Maldonado might be in a weakened state for this fight really seals it for me.
My pick: Kingsbury. I’m putting it in the parlay and then putting it out of my mind. Next.

Chuck O’Neil (-175) vs. Chris Cope (+145)

So how is it that oddsmakers feel they know enough about these two to pick a clear favorite, when they haven’t seen much more of them than they have of Nijem and Ferguson? I have no idea, which is why I’m treading lightly here. Honestly, I’m still sort of shocked that the UFC opted to put this fight on Spike TV at the expense of some other, more compelling undercard bouts, but there’s no point crying over dark fights, I suppose. Based on what little we saw of them – and on the almost arbitrary odds – Cope seems like a decent enough pick. Still, something doesn’t feel right here. I’m suspicious. If this were an action movie, here’s where someone would point out that it was quiet….too quiet.
My pick: Cope. I guess. But I’m leaving this one alone.

Quick picks:

– Danny Downes (+250) over Jeremy Stephens (-350). You want a crazy underdog pick that could easily blow up in your face? Here it is. Stephens can always knock you stiff with one big punch, but he depends on that too much and loses rounds in the process. Downes can play it smart and pull out a decision. If he remembers to get his chin out of the way when it matters.

– Scott Jorgensen (-430) over Ken Stone (+330). Not exactly going out on a limb here, but Jorgensen is being handed what I would term a showcase fight…if only it weren’t on the prelims. Thank God for the last-minute Facebook save.

The ‘For Entertainment Purposes Only’ Parlay: Guida + Credeur + Kingsbury + Jorgensen.

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Seven Ways of Looking at the TUF 13 Finale

Filed under: UFCAfter a pay-per-view letdown last weekend, it’s nice to have a solid, free fight card to lift our spirits. Now for an examination of the interesting storylines, annoying questions, and begrudging admissions surrounding the TUF 13 Finale…

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After a pay-per-view letdown last weekend, it’s nice to have a solid, free fight card to lift our spirits. Now for an examination of the interesting storylines, annoying questions, and begrudging admissions surrounding the TUF 13 Finale.

I. No one has less to gain and more to lose on Saturday night than Anthony Pettis. Theoretically, he earned a UFC lightweight title shot when he beat Ben Henderson. Then circumstances conspired against him in almost comically unfortunate fashion, one after another, and now he’ll probably have to win two more fights before getting a crack at the gold. Clay Guida is a tough guy to start that journey against. His pace is unrelenting, and he can make you look bad even if you beat him. Aside from a paycheck and a chance to stay active, Pettis can’t possibly get much out of this bout that he hasn’t already been promised. If he doesn’t win and look at least fairly decent doing it, though, those promises are worth about as much as a slurred offering of undying love right around bar closing time. Pettis can’t go up right away, no matter what he does. He has to win just to stay where is, and that’s never a good spot.

II. On the other hand, it’s an ideal situation for Guida. Talent-wise, he’s not among the best in the division. But talent is only part of the equation in this business, and Guida knows it. His work ethic is exemplary. His toughness is unquestionable. He has the cardio of a gazelle on methamphetamines. In short, he’s a truth machine who will, over the course of a fight, make sure the whole world knows just how seriously you took your training. You can beat him if you show up fully prepared and don’t make many mistakes. Anything less and he’ll expose you. This is not a fight Guida is especially expected to win. More than anything, it’s a way of keeping Pettis in the conversation. If Guida loses, fine. He’s always fun to watch, so he’s not going anywhere. But if he wins? Then suddenly we can’t even have a conversation about the UFC lightweight title picture without breathing his name. That’s exactly where Guida wants to be right now.

III. What does it mean to be “The Ultimate Fighter” in today’s UFC? If you look back at recent winners and finalists from the UFC’s long-running reality show, you quickly find that some Spike TV exposure and a cut-glass trophy does not an MMA superstar make. Some go on to do well. Others do just well enough to hang around. A few get dropped altogether. Lately, relatively few non-finalist contestants on the show even get a tryout in the UFC, which kind of makes you wonder about the true significance of being the best among a group that, on the whole, is deemed not quite good enough for the big leagues. Winning the show is a nice start to a UFC career, but it’s only a start. Remember that when the winner is getting slapped on the back and showered with love in the center of the Octagon on Saturday night.

IV. No one seems quite sure what to expect out of Tim Credeur and Ed Herman, and that’s kind of fun. You take two hard-nosed guys who have been out of action for nearly two years – one with a knee injury and the other with a brain…thing – put them up against each other in a fight both really need to win, and there’s no telling what will happen. Fight of the Night? Wheezing, ring-rusted performances from one or both? Totally forgettable decision? Desperate, frantic attempts to gnaw one another’s faces off? Who knows. If I had to bet, though, I’d say they’re going to put on a show for at least one round. If it goes longer than that, it’s anybody’s guess.

V. Kyle Kingsbury has earned a step up in competition, but he’s still not getting it. No disrespect to Fabio Maldonado, who seems like a tough dude, but Kingsbury has won three straight in the UFC. Most recently he crushed a very tough Ricardo Romero at UFC 126, which might have led one to believe that he’d get a bigger name opponent in his next fight. Maldonado has one fight and one win in the UFC, over the now not-so-employed James McSweeney. That’s not to say Maldonado isn’t ready for this level of competition, but Kingsbury has already proved that he is. If he wins this, how about giving him a name that fans will recognize in his next outing?

VI. And now that I’m thinking about it, where’s the love for Scott Jorgensen? Back in December he challenged for Dominick Cruz’s bantamweight title. He lost a one-sided decision, sure, but how do you go from a title shot to an unaired prelim fight on a TUF Finale card with one defeat? Seems like a precipitous drop for a guy who’s known to put on exciting performances. Winning five straight may qualify you for a crack at the belt, but apparently one loss to the best in the world at 135-pounds and you get nudged into a dark match just so fans don’t have to miss Chuck O’Neil vs. Chris Cope. What a business.

VII. Okay, I admit it: I’ve been spoiled by all those Facebook prelim fights. Now when I look at a card that features five TV fights and six genuine dark matches, I actually feel a little short-changed. As if it isn’t free. As if an opportunity to see every single fight on the card is a birthright and not a pretty recent (and also awesome) development. How quickly we get used to the new normal. Still though, you’re telling me I probably won’t get to see Jeremy Stephens and Danny Downes go at it? Bummer, man. That’s a bummer.

(Editor’s note: Six prelim fights have been added to Facebook.)

 

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