Author: kmowatt

Heading into this past weekend’s tilt between Shane Carwin and Frank Mir, where Carwin once again demonstrated that the human brain doesn’t function very well when being battered by his barrel sized fists, much of the focus remained on whether or not the winner would emerge unscathed to face Brock Lesnar this summer. After all, Dana White and the UFC crew had insisted that if the victor couldn’t throw down for a while, Cain Velasquez would get a crack at Lesnar. Well, as we all know, Carwin didn’t appear to injure himself while beating the hell out of Mir…

So, what’s in store for Velasquez? What about throwing him in against the division’s other ‘’holy sh-t this guy is good’ prospect in Junior Dos Santos? Seems like a sweet idea right? Well according to a report from MMA Junkie, it sounds like White will have Velasquez remain on the sidelines until later in the year, to face the winner of Carwin / Lesnar.

“Velasquez will get the next title shot after [Lesnar vs. Carwin],” White told MMAjunkie.com last week. “He earned it. And Dos Santos will probably have to win another win.

“But really, isn’t this a good problem to have?”

Yes and no. Is it a good problem to have that, barring any injuries, the heavyweight title picture looks like it has several awesome fights lined up in a row? Yes. Does that mean it sucks that our selfish needs aren’t being addressed with an immediate bout between Velasquez and Dos Santos? Yes, yes it does.

Last week we passed along a quote from Kenny Florian, who criticized those fans from the TUF generation, that don’t know who former Pride champion Takanori Gomi is (pssst- that’s Kenny’s opponent for Wednesday). In other words, don’t call yourself a ‘massive’ MMA fan, if you’re completely unaware of Gomi’s extensive accomplishments while fighting in the land of the rising sun (or if the only non-UFC fighter you can name is ‘oh that Russian dude, Federer something…’)

Now to be fair, Gomi hasn’t exactly been dominating headlines in Japan lately, like say, Shinya ‘I broke your arm now eff off’ Aoki. Although Gomi has won back-to-back fights, he is just 3-2 in his last five, and many observers around the sport have long speculated as to whether or not “The Fireball Kid’s” best days are behind him. While talking to MMA Weekly, however, Florian disagreed with the contention that Gomi is no longer world class opposition.

 ”I don’t buy any of that ‘Gomi has been declining.’ I don’t believe that’s the case at all,” said Florian in an interview with MMAWeekly Radio recently.

“From what I hear, it seems like it’s his last run. When you get a guy like that who says things like that, he’s a dangerous guy,” said the Bostonian. “He wants to make one last run at getting a belt in a major organization. He feels this is the toughest organization in the world, which it is, and he’s going out there for blood.”

It’s going to be damn interesting to see how Gomi fairs against Florian; one of the UFC’s best. To bet on the tilt head here.

We’ve never been shy about the fact that we played the sh-t out of UFC Undisputed when it came out last year (which may speak volumes about our priorities or lack thereof) and as a result, we’ve been stoked to see what improvements THQ has made heading into the 2010 version (set to come out late May).  So far the little hints and previews that have eked out over the internet have looked pretty damn promising, for example, southpaw fighters are finally in (if you’re not a gamer, just be thankful we’re not waxing on about the new ‘sword of smiting’ we picked up while playing Warcraft).

Gamespot has a new video interview up that provides a ton of info about the next edition of Undisputed, and…it’s looking better and better (so much so, one of our staffers went back to place he hadn’t been since unwrapping his new Millennium Falcon in  X-Mas ’81). The create-a-fighter and career modes look much improved, including opportunities to ‘disrespect’ your opponent at weigh-ins…and oh yeah, you can pick a voice for your fighter…Sounds like they’ve made a lot of improvements to the fight engine too.

Keep an eye out at the beginning of the interview for the WFA cage and clock…Crazy. Be a proud gamer; check out the interview here.

Of course, being ‘the man’ in your division is a good thing, after all, this means that you’ve probably beaten the piss out of at least two or three decorated fighters, and as a result, people aren’t expecting you to give up your belt anytime soon. Hello Georges St. Pierre. Of course, the down side to this situation is that there’s a ton of pressure, if you win, you were supposed to, if you lose, you’re on the receiving end of a million person WTF? This is precisely what will happen Saturday night if Dan Hardy takes out GSP (hair salons may also want to stock up on red hair dye for a wave of Hardy wannabees).

It’s not like St. Pierre hasn’t been down this road before; see his shocking defeat and then follow up ‘knees and ribs don’t mix’ victory over Matt Serra. While speaking to the media, it really does sound like GSP continues to return to his first bout with Serra, as a means to motivate himself heading into another bout where he’s a massive favorite. For example, while speaking to UFC.com’s Thomas Gerbasi, the champion stated:

“I just have to remember what happened to me when I fought Serra the first time,” he said. “I don’t want it to happen twice.”

“I’m never overconfident, I’m always afraid of losing,” he said. “There’s no such thing as an invincible man and everybody’s beatable.”

If GSP loses to Hardy, and yes, that’s a big if, it’s going to be damn interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts as to why… To bet on the bout head here.

Unless you’ve been ignoring the internet the last couple of days, trying to show it who’s really in charge, you’re probably fully aware of the fact that Ben Saunders will now fight Jon Fitch Saturday, instead of his American Top Team buddy, Thiago Alves. It’s a ballsy move stepping up to fight a dude like Fitch. This is a guy who has gone 11-1 in the Octagon, and for the most part, the wrestler turned fighter has had very few difficulties with most of the opponents he’s faced.

Of course, this is precisely why Saunders was eager to toss scheduled opponent, Jake Ellenberger, to the side; Ellenberger’s a bad ass (and probably an under-rated fighter), but he doesn’t have the resume of Fitch. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Saunders offered these comments, as to why he was quick to dial up Dana White and inform the UFC boss man ‘let’s do this.’

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “I saw it there, and I had to jump on it.”

Plus, remember, Fitch stopped Alves in 2006, so…

“I’m looking to get a little ATT payback on a friendly competitive level,” Saunders said. “Nothing personal.”

Fair enough. With great risk comes great reward no? As for Ellenberger, he gets his win and show money which is nice, but here’s hoping for his sake that he doesn’t end up fight less for another 4 months.  To bet on UFC 111 head here.

Recently we passed along news that the UFC had tried to put together a fight between Nate Marquardt and Michael Bisping for UFC 114, but due to the fact that Marquardt’s is expecting his first child to be born that weekend, the accomplished middleweight turned down the bout. Understandable. We’ve been known to turn down engagements simply because we couldn’t find the remote to turn off the TV, so, although we’d love to see that fight, we can’t fault Marquardt for wanting to witness the birth of his first born.

In a recent interview with Fighters Only Magazine, Bisping confirmed that he had agreed to the bout, and goes on to say that he completely understands Marquardt’s decision to be with his wife (it’s expected that Bisping will fight Dan Miller at UFC 114). What does “The Count” think of his chances against Nate “The Great”?

“I think I match up well with Marquardt. He’s had some good momentum behind him but if you look at the guys that he has beaten none of them are amazing. Kampmann went down to welterweight, he got beat by Thales Leites. Wilson Gouveia blows hot and cold, a decent fighter but he’s been axed by the UFC now so there you go. I think I match up well. He is good fighter, great skills, good camp and very experienced but I think I match up well with pretty much anyone in the middleweight division.”

Interesting, although noticeably absent on that list was Marquardt’s 21 second bomb out of Demian Maia, you know, a certain someone that tapped out Chael Sonnen and is fighting Anderson Silva next?