Author: Matthew Hemphill

UFC 142 Predictions: How Vitor Belfort Will Demolish Anthony Johnson

Twenty-four hours ago, a fight between Anthony Johnson and Vitor Belfort seemed like one that could go either way depending on which Belfort showed up and how Johnson looked when he made weight.Except Johnson didn’t make weight.He was 11 pounds over.Th…

Twenty-four hours ago, a fight between Anthony Johnson and Vitor Belfort seemed like one that could go either way depending on which Belfort showed up and how Johnson looked when he made weight.

Except Johnson didn’t make weight.

He was 11 pounds over.

The man who struggled with making the welterweight limit of 170 pounds didn’t even come close to clocking in at the middleweight limit of 185 pounds.

Instead, he weighed in at a healthy 196 pounds with an impressive physique, but a slightly thicker face.

Johnson should have been able to make the limit easily and didn’t, so now the pressure is on for him to win.

The president of the UFC, Dana White, is never pleased when fighters don’t make weight.  It is one of his biggest pet peeves and even though Johnson has been with the promotion for a while, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get axed if he loses.

But does his weight mean that it will be easier for him to fight or will it mean that he is too sluggish to engage with Belfort tonight?

If Johnson did struggle to make weight, then he is in for a long night and Brazilian fans will be going away happy.  If he didn’t struggle, he might win the fight, but lose a war.

Belfort is loved in the MMA community and if Johnson looks like he didn’t struggle during the fight, especially after failing to make weight by such a wide margin, he may enrage fans and his boss.

But there is a better chance that he did struggle to make weight.  In fact, news broke that he tried to make weight but had to rehydrate for safety purposes.  A fighter tries to make as much money as possible, and losing 20 percent of a purse is serious.  

Johnson’s attempt to make was a serious one and that makes things even worse for him.

Even if he did rehydrate, he damaged his body further and gave himself less time to recover from the weight cut before he steps into the ring with a UFC veteran.  Both men enjoy striking, which burns a lot of energy no matter if a strike lands or not.

When Johnson isn’t standing and throwing punches, he is wrestling.  That takes an immense amount of energy to take opponents down and then control them on the ground.  The physical strength needed to do it is exhausting and the fastest way to burn cardio in MMA.

Johnson’s failed weight cut removes some of his abilities to do those things as the fight goes on.  If he can’t find a way to get rid of Belfort in the first round, he won’t have the energy to do it at all.

And that not only means a loss, but a good chance of becoming jobless as well.

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UFC 142 Predictions: Which Fight Will Steal the Show?

Knowing that Jose Aldo is heading the show almost makes the fight of the night a lock before it happens. The man is a vicious striker who beats his opponents in one-sided affairs that are just exciting enough to make fans not want to blink.His affair w…

Knowing that Jose Aldo is heading the show almost makes the fight of the night a lock before it happens. The man is a vicious striker who beats his opponents in one-sided affairs that are just exciting enough to make fans not want to blink.

His affair with Mark Hominick is a great example.

Aldo just has that special mix of being a fighter who can win on the highest levels, do it consistently and do it in a way that fans enjoy. If he was a heavyweight, he would have already become a pay-per-view star and be headlining every show he appeared on.

As a featherweight champion, it has taken him longer. However, if UFC 142 is any indication, it would appear that his time has come.

It seems only fitting that, in headlining a card in Brazil, he is also going to win the fight of the night as he has in the past, right?

While it is possible, there is one other fight that screams out being a possible fight of the night just a little bit more then his match with Chad Mendes.

That is, the opening bout on the main card.

Edson Barboza going in against Terry Etim sees a standard striker go in against a grappler. Barboza is best known for his Muay Thai striking, which he used while competing in that discipline professionally. Meanwhile, Etim has 12 submission victories in 15 wins.

Obviously, by 2012, both men will have at least some skill in every field. However, they still have their specialties, with Barboza’s striking having won him fight of the night twice in a row now and Etim having won submission of the night four times in his UFC career.

Not only have they proven to be proficient in two different fields of martial arts during their UFC tenure, they have done it while being fun to watch.

Plus, as lightweights, it means that they are able to bring a pace that should be able to come close to matching the one that Aldo and the other featherweights are known for setting in their fights.

While Aldo might beat Mendes in their fight come Saturday, he could still lose if Etim and Barboza can display their skills to the best of their abilities.

If they can do that and put on a dazzling display of striking and grappling, they could steal fight of the night right from under the champion’s nose.

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Josh Barnett’s Issues with Dana White

As Strikeforce heavyweights start to make their way to the UFC, there are a few fighters who fans are intrigued to see compete in the Octagon.Chief among them was Alistair Overeem, but another is Josh Barnett.Barnett is a veteran of the sport, a winner…

As Strikeforce heavyweights start to make their way to the UFC, there are a few fighters who fans are intrigued to see compete in the Octagon.

Chief among them was Alistair Overeem, but another is Josh Barnett.

Barnett is a veteran of the sport, a winner of most of his fights, someone who has dabbled in pro wrestling and knows how to build up a fight, and someone who will never make it to the UFC.

On paper he has everything that the president of the UFC, Dana White, is looking for.  He should be an easily promotable heavyweight.

It’s too bad that Barnett and White have such bad history.

Barnett is a promotable fighter, but he is also one that has gotten in trouble.  He has failed two different drug tests.

The second time was in his fight for Affliction against Fedor Emelianenko which lead to the company folding.  Affliction wasn’t in good shape to begin with, but the loss of their main event hastened their demise.

The first time was when he beat Randy Couture for the UFC title.  There is no way to prove when White started disliking Barnett, but this could have been the beginning.

The UFC was still a fledgling promotion at the time and the heavyweight title has always been important in combat sports.  Having a fighter not only win the belt in the biggest weight class in MMA and then test positive for performance enhancing drugs hurt what little credibility the company had at the time.

White seems to have a hard heart when it comes to repeat drug offenders as shown in the case with Nate Marquardt.  After having failed medicals, not for the first time in his career, Marquardt was cut and banned from the UFC.

It’s obvious that White has little tolerance for repeat offenders.

And that was with Marquardt who is considered one of the nicer fighters outside of the cage.

White and Barnett have also traded verbal jabs in the media.  In an interview with Ariel Helwani, White admitted that he has zero tolerance for Barnett and wouldn’t have him in the UFC.

Barnett responded on Helwani’s MMA Hour show by saying a monkey could do White’s job.

Recently, they seem to have buried the hatchet as Barnett put a picture on his Twitter of the two hugging.

But just because White is now in a truce with the heavyweight doesn’t mean that Barnett will get back in the UFC.  White might have been fine with Barnett competing in a purchased Strikeforce, but nothing in the picture means that he will get a second chance in the Octagon. 

Otherwise, fans could already have seen Paul Daley or Renato Sobral get some fights in the UFC or at least take pictures with White.

There is one chance though.  If he wins Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix he will have some bargaining power and a status that might make White be willing to sweep their animosity under the rug.

If Barnett doesn’t win, it doesn’t mean his career is over.  It just won’t be in the UFC.

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Can Jose Aldo Sell a Featherweight Main Event to Casual Fans at UFC 142?

This Saturday Jose Aldo defends his featherweight title against Chad Mendes in Brazil at UFC 142.  When he does he will face his ultimate test.Seeing how much of a pay-per-view draw he is.The card is a good one, but the only recognizable other tha…

This Saturday Jose Aldo defends his featherweight title against Chad Mendes in Brazil at UFC 142.  When he does he will face his ultimate test.

Seeing how much of a pay-per-view draw he is.

The card is a good one, but the only recognizable other than Aldo is Vitor Belfort.  Most of the fights on the card may end up being great, but they have unknown fighters in them.

Aldo is going to make his main event debut without much of a supporting cast ,and it will set the stage for how he is going to be marketed throughout his UFC career.

Defending the belt is something Aldo has done twice in the UFC successfully.  Mendes is a serious challenger and will push Aldo, but it isn’t anything he hasn’t faced before.

Trying to sell a PPV to casual fans will be a different story.

Traditionally in combat sports, it is the heavier fighters who can sell PPVs and events to the public.  In boxing, heavyweights were the biggest draw and even with the division in a less-than-interesting state the smaller weights haven’t been able to make the difference needed.

There are always exceptions to this case, such as Urijah Faber, who will always draw well.  He is the Oscar De La Hoya of MMA and with one flash of a smile can make even fringe fans tune in.

Aldo hasn’t proven that he can.  It isn’t as if the Brazilian featherweight isn’t fun to watch.  He is undefeated in his WEC and UFC careers and usually knocks opponents out.  His double-knee KO of Cub Swanson is a thing of beauty to watch.

But Aldo can’t speak English and he isn’t someone who has been marketed seriously outside the UFC.

He may be a fan favorite, but it has yet to be seen.

Once the pay-per-view numbers become available fans will get to see what kind of fighter Aldo is and what impact the lower weight classes can make in MMA. If the numbers are healthy, Aldo is a proven draw and will get another main event slot and the money and prestige that comes with it.

If he fails he will return to co-main event status.

More importantly, it will show that lighter weights are going to have to deal with the same issues their boxing counterparts suffer from: the ability to put on fights and not have anyone watch them because they aren’t big enough.

Hopefully, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes get a decent buyrate this Saturday and show the world that not only is MMA growing, but fighters don’t need to look like Brock Lesnar to succeed.

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Why Gegard Mousasi Doesn’t Belong Anywhere Near the UFC Unless He Improves

Gegard Mousasi was the future of the light heavyweight division.Before Jon Jones made it on the scene or Lyoto Machida won a championship, many had earmarked the young Armenian fighter as a future champion.He still could be.  He has shown the abil…

Gegard Mousasi was the future of the light heavyweight division.

Before Jon Jones made it on the scene or Lyoto Machida won a championship, many had earmarked the young Armenian fighter as a future champion.

He still could be.  He has shown the ability in the past to beat better-than-average competition.  At one point he even seemed unbeatable.  He even won the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.

Then he faced his first serious wrestler in Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal for his belt.  It was the first time he had to deal with a grappler who knew how to use his size to eliminate the threat of Mousasi’s striking. Without the ability to stop Lawal’s takedowns, Mousasi was thrown around the cage with ease.  He ended up losing a unanimous decision.

His wrestling was improved in his fight with Ovince St. Preux, but he was a far cry from the Mousasi of old.  He didn’t have the killer edge that he used to.  He just couldn’t finish his opponent even though he was dominating him and then struggled in the third round.

It might have been shades of the Lawal fight still haunting him or it might have been his first time using wrestling in such a way that left him drained.

Either way, it showed that the 26-year-old has a way to go.

He could still beat a decent amount of fighters in the UFC if he went over, but he would lose if he stepped up to fight the elite in his weight class.  Wrestlers dominate the UFC at light heavyweight ,and for all of Mousasi’s improvement in wrestling, he is no match for them.

With his striking having been put on the back burner, or at least toned down, it would just end up with one result.

Mousasi losing.

He is just learning how to deal with wrestling and needs to incorporate it with his striking and blend the two together.

Strikeforce is the perfect place to test this.  He will be able to take fights against difficult opponents and maintain a high profile while remaining out of the UFC’s wrestler-infested waters.  While he is improving he can slowly start winning fans back to his side.

By the time he gets better at wrestling the UFC will want him in its division and he will make the move without getting swallowed up as just another tough light heavyweight.

Mousasi is just starting to feel out a new part of MMA that he hadn’t come up against, but will if he steps into the Octagon.  The extra time in Strikeforce might do him good.

It could also help him gain his confidence back.  As young as he is, Mousasi is a veteran and the Lawal fight could have burned him out.

Fighting in a less stressful environment that he is familiar with could help him to regain some of the mental surety the Lawal loss has taken from him.

Mousasi still could be a champion, but he has to take his time and learn.

He has a long way to go.

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5 Ways Dana White Single-Handedly Changed Mixed Martial Arts

Dana White is the most polarizing character in MMA today.  Even more than Chael Sonnen or Tito Ortiz from a few years ago, it is the UFC president who catches both the attention of mixed martial arts fans and the media alike.White may have people …

Dana White is the most polarizing character in MMA today.  

Even more than Chael Sonnen or Tito Ortiz from a few years ago, it is the UFC president who catches both the attention of mixed martial arts fans and the media alike.

White may have people who despise him, but he has changed MMA in ways that no other human being could have from taking a a half-dead promotion and turning it into the face of MMA to buying out his competition.

Dana White has made MMA what it is today. Others may have helped along the way, but it was his well-marketed dream that made it happen.

White has made some serious power plays to help the sport and grow the UFC.

Here are the most notable.

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