Author: Matthew Hemphill

Strikeforce: Which Fighter on the Card Saturday Has the Most to Gain?

It is 2012 and somehow Strikeforce has been able to stay alive and keep breathing.Now fans get to see the first event of after the new year and predict where the company will end up.The first card of the year is still strong, though lacking a few names…

It is 2012 and somehow Strikeforce has been able to stay alive and keep breathing.

Now fans get to see the first event of after the new year and predict where the company will end up.

The first card of the year is still strong, though lacking a few names, which means some unknown fighters are getting the chance to square off against more established fighters.

If any upsets occur it could introduce fans to some fighters whom they might want to keep tabs on.

So the question is, who could gain the most from a win this Saturday?

A great case could be made for Lorenz Larkin, who is going to be facing Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.  After all, Lawal is a former Strikeforce champion and is coming off a win against Roger Gracie.

Up until now Larkin has only fought on Strikeforce Challenger cards against limited opposition.  A win against Lawal, who is very vocal and has made himself a name in MMA, would get him instant exposure and get fans buzzing.

And if Strikeforce still had most of it’s champions he would be the fighter with the most to gain.

As Strikeforce has lost a bunch of marquee talent to the UFC recently, there is one fighter who could benefit more from a dominant win.

Keith Jardine.

If Jardine can beat Luke Rockhold for the Strikeforce title it would send a message to his employers that he deserves to be back in the UFC.

He was cut after getting four losses in a row.  That says a lot as most fighters get two to three losses in a row before getting the ax. Dana White, the head of the UFC, is a fan of Jardine’s and that saved Jardine from getting his pink slip so quickly.

White has also pulled almost every single Strikeforce champion into the UFC fold within a short time after buying the company.  White is a fan of Jardine, and though he might be coming off a draw against Gegard Mousasi that many thought he lost, it might be enough to get him another shot in the company.

Jardine just has to beat Rockhold and do it in a manner that leaves few disputing the decision.

It is Jardine’s last real chance to get into the UFC again as a loss would send him to the end of the line.  At 36 years old it might be too late for him to give it one last go if he doesn’t win this fight.

So not only does Keith Jardine have the most to gain if he wins his match, he has the most to lose.

In the end, that might add more pressure than fighting for the title does.

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The 10 Lamest Excuses MMA Fighters Use After a Loss

MMA fighters step into the cage and risk their lives every time. For that alone, they should be afforded some slack in how they deal emotionally with a loss.It has to be devastating on an emotional level, along with the loss of the money that would hav…

MMA fighters step into the cage and risk their lives every time. For that alone, they should be afforded some slack in how they deal emotionally with a loss.

It has to be devastating on an emotional level, along with the loss of the money that would have gone with the win.

So fans give some free rein to fighters without judgment. The only time fans will start rolling their eyes is when fighters do the same dreaded thing after losing a match.

That is when fighters start to make excuses.

Some make sense; some don’t.

Either way, fans don’t want to hear them.

Here are the top 10 excuses made by MMA fighters.

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Why the Strikeforce Heavyweights Will Fail to Compete Seriously in the UFC

Not every heavyweight can be judged by a company.  Individuals will succeed and fail based on their own merit and not anything else.After all, it seems like Alistair Overeem is doing well in the UFC.  However, the UFC stripped him from Strike…

Not every heavyweight can be judged by a company.  Individuals will succeed and fail based on their own merit and not anything else.

After all, it seems like Alistair Overeem is doing well in the UFC.  However, the UFC stripped him from Strikeforce before the rest of the other heavyweights followed, so he might be one exception.

I also wrote an article about how Fabricio Werdum would beat Roy Nelson, so perhaps the focus should be on their competition at the highest level.

The a level where in which fighters who reach it are talked about being put in a title shot and possibly being the future of the division.

No matter how fans break it down, most of the Strikeforce heavyweights will get beaten once they appear in the UFC or otherwise self-destruct.

Many of the heavyweights that are in MMA‘s second biggest promotion are polite and healthy.  The only one who might be destructive is Josh Barnett.

He not only competes in pro wrestling, which the UFC and its president, Dana White, won’t condone, but also he has been busted several different times for taking different types of substances banned in MMA.

He was a large part of the reason why Affliction folded so quickly.  They may have been headed down that route anyway, but his removal from their main event didn’t help.

It’s hard to see a guy like that not butting heads with White and the UFC.

The other heavyweights are a little different.

Most are names that casual fans won’t have heard of.  The only one they probably know is Herschel Walker.

The others are fighters like Chad Griggs, Daniel Cormier and Antonio Silva.  Some of these men have faced former UFC fighters and done well.  Some have just started cutting their teeth and are now being thrown into MMA’s shark tank.

And that is the real problem.  It isn’t that they aren’t good enough.  It’s that they aren’t prepared.

Strikeforce’s business model left them with a few marquee heavyweights but mostly young or inexperienced fighters who were just cutting their teeth.  Some are very good, but they haven’t been put in with elite opposition or anything close to it.

They won’t know how to react to not only the pressure in the UFC, but the nervousness which goes with being viewed by that many fans.

It is tough and there is no way to really prepare for it.  Especially when the Strikeforce heavyweights realize that there is nowhere else to go back to.  Between a lack of experience and the intensity they will face when they step into the cage, it will trouble them heavily.

When fighters get in the cage, they do so as themselves and should be judged as such.  It doesn’t matter what organization they fought for.

It does, however matter what opposition they have faced and how it prepared them, and to be honest, the Strikeforce heavyweights are not ready.

And just like the division, the fighters will be swallowed up by the UFC.

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MMA Regulation: What Needs to Happen to Get the Sport Legalized in New York

It is 2012 and yet it is still impossible to see live mixed martial arts in Madison Square Garden.  There seems to be some kind of oddity in that.For a long time, MMA has faced opposition from New York about the legalization of the sport.It certai…

It is 2012 and yet it is still impossible to see live mixed martial arts in Madison Square Garden.  There seems to be some kind of oddity in that.

For a long time, MMA has faced opposition from New York about the legalization of the sport.

It certainly was head-scratching.  Here was a way for a state in the middle of a bad economy to generate serious income for its constituents and, at the same time, become a destination mecca for one of the biggest growing sports in the world.

It seemed like a no-brainer.

And then it was revealed that some of those who were voting against the sport were doing so because of pressure from the culinary union.  They have even stated that the UFC is homophobic.

It’s a bit ridiculous considering that the UFC is so global that being homophobic would only remove clientele, but it shows that unless the UFC and MMA have a lot of things to overcome.

So what is it going to take for MMA to become legal in New York?

Pressure and a lot of media attention.

In the history of most legal cases it comes down to interest groups.  The culinary union obviously most hold some serious leverage with the New York legislature.

The problem for them is they only have so much.  If enough New Yorkers and journalists alert people to what is going on and demand to see MMA legalized it will happen.

And that is because politicians are only friendly to those that help them stay in power.  The culinary has some power, but if the very people who keep those politicians in office show anger over the lack of MMA fights in their state then it will change.

So for once MMA fans have to find the time and energy to do what seems to come natural to them.

They have to complain.

Except this time they have to put that aggression towards those that they elected to serve them.  That might mean writing a letter or making a phone call, but it shouldn’t be an e-mail.

A letter or a phone call shows that the person spent time on that task and that task alone to make sure it conveyed their feelings.

The other thing that fans can do is call their local media news outlets.  If enough people demand a story, the media will deliver because it will mean either ratings or papers bought.

Fans have the power with their vote and their dollar.  All they need to do is flex it and MMA will be legal before the year is out.

It is the single greatest thing about America.  Democracy.

Now we just need to see it take place in the very heart of the nation.

We just need to see New York legalize MMA.

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UFC 141 Results: Jon Fitch Will Never Fight for the Title Again

Jon Fitch has focused on trying to get a rematch with UFC welterweight Georges St-Pierre for so long it seems like he has ignored his opponents whenever he stepped into the cage. Tonight, at UFC 141, it finally cost him. He might have just gotten caugh…

Jon Fitch has focused on trying to get a rematch with UFC welterweight Georges St-Pierre for so long it seems like he has ignored his opponents whenever he stepped into the cage.

Tonight, at UFC 141, it finally cost him.

He might have just gotten caught.  It happens even to some of the best fighters in the world.  He isn’t in any danger of losing his job in the UFC and he will live to fight again another day.

His days of campaigning for another title shot might be done, though.

Fitch was on a win streak but he wasn’t even close to getting a rematch with GSP and he probably wasn’t going to get one even after this fight.  Winning would have helped his case and that’s it.

Instead he was taken out in devastating fashion by an under hyped opponent with no name value.  It’s hard to promote a fight with Fitch in the main event when he just lost to a fighter that many casual fans don’t see as a viable threat.

That doesn’t make it true, but perception is part of what sells pay-per-views.

Fitch had built up a win streak until and with it the reputation as a boring fighter.  Whoever watched Fitch’s matches either loved the technical side of MMA or wanted to see if he would keep steamrolling his opponents.

Now that he has lost he is back at the bottom.  He might not even get a fight on the main card when he returns.

It’s not the first time it would have happened.  Right after Fitch fought GSP for the title and lost he was placed on a preliminary fight against Akihiro Gono at UFC 94.

He had gone from being in the main slot on a pay-per-view to not even being on the televised fights.

That kind of drop only happens when a fighter is technically skilled, known for winning fights and putting fans to sleep. 

At 33 years old with a birthday in February, Fitch isn’t done fighting for the UFC by any means.

He is done fighting at a chance for the title, though.  It would just take him too many years to build up another win streak and by the time he was ready for another crack at the belt he would be past his prime.

It’s a somewhat depressing tale, but Fitch has no one other than himself to blame.  He took his focus off Hendricks and now he won’t have to focus on getting to the title.

That ship has sailed.

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Why Nate Diaz Will Never Become a Legit Contender for UFC Gold

Nate Diaz is only 26 years old, is coming off a win and is about to face another fighter who is on a six-fight win streak.  He has a great chance to win and give himself better opportunities in the MMA.And even with all of that, he will …

Nate Diaz is only 26 years old, is coming off a win and is about to face another fighter who is on a six-fight win streak.  He has a great chance to win and give himself better opportunities in the MMA.

And even with all of that, he will still never be a legitimate contender for the UFC championship.

At any weight.

Diaz is just too erratic to make the leap from being a fun, talented fighter to anything more.  To do it he would need to settle down and focus on not just a specific weight, but also mentally order himself a bit better.

His brother, Nick Diaz, has never done such a thing but he is naturally better at fighting.  He just has the ability to still be chaotic outside of the cage while turning in impressive performances when the bell rings.  

Nate Diaz doesn’t have that same ability, so he has to compensate with focus and determination.  Unfortunately, that isn’t a skill set that either brother seems to have much of a talent for.

Diaz’s biggest problem is that he can’t focus.

He can’t focus outside the cage mentally.

He can’t focus on neutralizing an opponent, even if it means not getting an exciting win.

He can’t even focus on a weight class.

He has flipped between 170 pounds and 155 pounds.  Even though he was never serious about fighting at welterweight he chose to do so for his own reasons.

The size difference made it hard for him to succeed at that weight, and at the end of his run he went 2-2 with his last two fights both being losses.  It hurt his chances at lightweight and he had to beat Takanori Gomi before he was given a better fight.

In Diaz’s mind it made sense.  He had to move up.  Instead of taking a loss and learning from it, Diaz immediately decided to make a major change because he didn’t want to emotionally deal with it.

After his loss to Gray Maynard, a fight which Diaz thought he won, he moved up in weight.  

He could have chose to look at the tape and see if he could learn something.

He could have shrugged his shoulders and bounced back.

Instead he moved up because he was hotheaded enough to try it.

Without a long-term strategy for what he wants, Diaz is always going to be lacking in what he wants and he is going to fail.  

It isn’t something that happens just in fighting.  No matter what peoples’ goals are in life, if they don’t plan out what they want in the long run, they are doomed to fail.

So even if Diaz does beat Donald Cerrone he still has to deal with what his next step is going to be.  

Diaz doesn’t seem like the type that plans out a next step.  He just reacts.  As long as that is his mentality he will always fight as a challenger and not as a champion.

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