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UFC 146 Fight Card: Can Frank Mir Shock the World, Defeat Dos Santos?

If there is one thing that is true about the sport of mixed martial arts, it is the fact that you never know what to expect around the next corner. These days, it seems like there is a new polarizing headline at least once a week.Lately, TRT, judging, …

Lately, TRT, judging, weight-cutting issues, rape videos and crazy tweets seem to be an everyday occurrence in the world of an MMA fan.

So, when a story broke that Alistair Overeem had failed his drug test prior to UFC 146, I was hardly shocked at the news. I wasn’t happy about it, but like I said before, it seems to the norm these days. It feels like this is a war and this is just one of the 500 bombs that have fallen from the sky just this week.

Not to downplay the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs, but are we all that shocked that the gargantuan Alistair Overeem is doing more than eating horse meat and lifting weights? Not really.

In all likelihood, Overeem will be yanked from the main event of this May’s UFC 146 event. This would leave UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos without an opponent. Many have recently speculated that Frank Mir will fill the gap left by an Overeem removal.

This seems to be the only likely scenario if Overeem does in fact find himself removed from the main event. Frank Mir is not only a former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, but he is the only heavyweight who is riding a win streak over top competition.

Mir is seasoned, in shape and confident enough to take the fight to Dos Santos from the opening bell.

Anything can happen in a MMA fight with four-ounce gloves and a couple of heavy-handed big boys, so there typically isn’t a huge shock factor in heavyweight bouts.

When a guy at bantamweight scores a crushing knockout, we all stop and take much more notice due to the rarity. But with heavyweights, we aren’t easily shocked due to the fact that all these guys can finish their fights so quickly with their power and size.

Now, with this in mind, it would still be an unlikely scenario for Mir to be favored in this fight. After all, Junior Dos Santos has precision boxing and power in his hands that is incredible.

Frank is coming off of a beautifully brutal come-from-behind win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira in which he snapped Minotauro’s shoulder with a kimura.

But Frank also showed that Nogeuira could rock him with punches. Mir has been knocked out recently by bigger, stronger men, such as Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin taking him out with strikes.

It is absolutely possible that Frank Mir could emerge the champion at UFC 146 if given the opportunity.

However, he had better look to get it to the ground and work the champion into his world. If he does not get Dos Santos to the ground early, he will lose. He simply cannot let Junior get his boxing and range going early.

Frank cannot survive the ferocious punch combinations that JDS puts together. In the end, can Frank Mir shock the world and beat Junior Dos Santos?

He can if he makes the champion fight his way. It would be an extremely lofty goal indeed, but this is the only way that he can win.

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If Soccer Is the Beautiful Game, What Is MMA?

Soccer is a game of fluid motions. There is constant running, kicking the ball back and forth. The scores are low, yet fans of soccer find the game to be beautiful and exciting. Many fans of mixed martial arts and the UFC may not understand the sport a…

I actually gave it a whirl when the last World Cup was on television, but I just can’t get into the game. I think its mostly because I don’t understand much of what is going on. Even if I don’t understand soccer, the entire rest of the world seems to see it as poetry in motion.

The reason I am less likely to rip on soccer than most people is because as an MMA fan, I understand what it is like to have most of the world question my favorite sport. I have literally had people tell me “that UFC stuff is just two guys humping each other” or even worse that it is “crazy and barbaric.”

I try my best to never say bad things about soccer because even though it is not my cup of tea, that does not mean that soccer isn’t an incredible sport. Just because I have not grasped the sport does not mean much. There are hundreds of millions out there that love it like a family member. Who am I to judge what sport a person likes?

However, I do find it difficult to be an MMA fan at times. I went on a date recently and was told by this particular woman that she cannot stand anyone wearing Tapout or Affliction clothing because of the fact that idiots wear that stuff. I think these kind of stereotypes are simply unfair.

I have worn this type of apparel for years, and frankly, when I started wearing these brands there was very little interest in them. I’m sure some of the readers of this article have felt the sting of the UFC fan stereotypes as I have over the last few years. It is mostly unwarranted in my opinion.

But, that still leaves me wondering what is MMA? How would I philosophize about mixed martial arts or rather what would be an accurate description of what the sport means in the hearts of the true fans?

Matt Hughes has often referred to MMA in the past as a chess match of sorts and that is the direction that I am headed, sort of. If someone was to jump out of the bushes and say, “What is MMA? How would you sum this sport up, Michael?”

If I had to answer that question I would say that MMA is honorable combat. MMA is a combat sport first of all. It is impossible to ignore that fact that these men and women are entering a cage to fight in a one-on-one battle.

But, that is far too simplistic for mixed martial arts. After all, MMA involves much more than just one martial art. To me, MMA is a perfect fusion of all martial arts. Georges St-Pierre often describes himself as a martial artist and not a fighter. I think this is because he sees himself as being part of an honorable combat sport.

MMA has its fair share of characters, goofballs, trash talkers, prima donnas and outcasts. However, the modern day UFC is a far cry from pre-Zuffa UFC days where there were little rules and when that was used as a marketing tool. Today’s UFC is heavily regulated with weight classes, drug testing and other things that make MMA a much different sport than it was in its infancy.

Fighters such as Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva treat their opponents with respect, and they take their profession very seriously. Yes, it is true that many fighters do an injustice to their sport, but there are also many men who treat themselves as honorable combat artists who bring the sport to another level.

In the end it is very difficult to describe MMA in a single phrase but I think that honorable combat is one of the best ways to describe the modern UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts. The majority of fighters at the top are honorable men and women who compete in a combat sport, therefore I described MMA as honorable combat.

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Was the UFC Simply in the Right Place at the Right Time?

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has only existed since November 1993. In its current Zuffa-owned form, it has only been around since 2001.That is a relatively minuscule amount of time for a sport to develop, yet the UFC has grown so much since 2001 …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has only existed since November 1993. In its current Zuffa-owned form, it has only been around since 2001.

That is a relatively minuscule amount of time for a sport to develop, yet the UFC has grown so much since 2001 that the product is barely comparable to that of yesteryear.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Boxing dominated the American sports landscape and it produced stars such as Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Mike Tyson.

But by the 1990s, the sport was losing steam and the American sports landscape was ready for something new.

Rorion Gracie, brother of Royce, devised a tournament to find out what fighting discipline was the best.

Could a boxer beat a karate master?

Would a jiu jitsu fighter beat a kickboxer?

The world wanted to know and Gracie knew this. It exploded in popularity and a sport was born.

If we fast forward to 2005, the first season of the Ultimate Fighter (TUF) aired on Spike TV and millions of new fans were introduced to mixed martial arts.

The timing and the great list of fighters could not have come at a better time.

The UFC was badly in debt before season one of TUF. After the now-legendary bout between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin at the TUF season one finale, the world took notice of the peculiar sport that mixed striking and submissions.

Was the UFC in the right place at the right time?

I would say that it was.

Boxing had badly lost its luster by the time Zuffa and UFC President Dana White took ownership of the UFC in 2001. And the decision to start the Ultimate Fighter reality show in 2005 was a genius move by the UFC.

However, I do not think the UFC simply got lucky.

There were many factors that lead to the success it has today.

Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and all of the UFC’s hard-working staff have made it happen through toil, tribulation and true grit. The UFC connects to its fans better than any other sports organization and they try harder to cater to us.

We appreciate them for this.

The UFC comes off like the underdog. It’s pretty damn cool to be a fan of the UFC. Us UFC fans are like our own little club. We get it and others don’t and that is perfectly fine with us.

The UFC is the blue collar sport to the white collar sport of the NFL. Most athletes in the UFC are accessible, friendly and pretty darn awesome.

I can vouch because I have been lucky enough to meet a few of them.

Even though the UFC benefited from the decline of boxing, the fact that MMA is unique compared to other sports and the TUF reality show, the UFC did not luck into this.

It was in the right place at the right time to an extent, but this is no more a truth than the fact that the first Super Bowl was held at the right time.

The UFC benefits from great and giving athletes, hard-working employees and fiercely loyal fans who, combined, go above and beyond to do their part to help the sport grow.

The UFC caught a few breaks, however it was not simply lucky. There is way too much that has happened for this to be luck.

One thing is certain: The UFC is here to stay!

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UFC 145 Fight Card: 7 Burning Questions Heading into Atlanta

The main event could easily take up this entire article, but this card is stacked and that means there are a lot of questions to ponder coming in. It will be interesting to hear the jawing that comes from Jon Jones and Rashad Evans on the UFC Primetime special before the event, and that is definitely something that I am looking forward to for sure. But, I could talk about Jones and Evans all day, and there are 11 other bouts on this card.

Some of the bouts that I am looking forward to are the bouts between Chad Griggs and Travis Browne, Mac Danzig and Efrain Escudero, John Makdessi and Anthony Njokuani and the return of Mark Hominick just to name a few. This is one of the most stacked cards in a long time, and the great part for the fans is that UFC 146 is an even more impressive card.

In the next few slides, I will reveal the seven questions I’m burning on leading into fight night in Atlanta.

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5 Reasons You Must Pay Attention to Bellator

It’s official at this point that Bellator Fighting Championships is relevant, exciting and constantly improving its presentation, image and stock of top-notch talent. Bellator is the unofficial second biggest mixed martial arts promotion on the planet,…

Bellator hasn’t gotten the greatest ratings on MTV2 lately, but all of that should change in 2013 when the organization will be broadcast on Spike TV. Bellator provides a tournament format that harkens back to the old UFC days and features homegrown talent from all corners of the globe.

One of the facets that has made it less appealing is that their champions often sit on the shelf for long periods of time waiting for the tournaments to play out. Although now it seems that will be less of an issue with tournaments happening at greater frequency. And with the total, unrelenting support of CEO Bjorn Rebney, Bellator is poised to take it to the next level along with the UFC, and help bring the sport of mixed martial arts into the mainstream once and for all.

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UFC on Fuel TV 2: Does Alexander Gustafsson Pose a Threat to Jon Jones?

Jon Jones has gone through a metamorphosis-type of change in his life since 2009. At UFC 94, Jones displayed his amazing combination of strength, length and athleticism by completely outclassing The Ultimate Fighter’s season one finalist Stephan Bonnar with spinning back elbows, kicks and Greco-Roman throws that looked like something out of a comic book. The only difference is Jon “Bones” Jones is very much real.

Now, just three short years and some change later and Jon Jones is not only the UFC’s undisputed light heavyweight champion, but he also is coming off possibly the greatest calender year in the history of his sport. Yes, I know it is incredible! The guy is absolutely amazing and the scary part is he can only get better.

In 2011, Jones started the year viewed as a top ten light heavyweight with a very high ceiling. He ended the year looking like an unstoppable martial artist with combined submission, wrestling and striking skills that would rival any mixed martial artist to ever tape up the four-ounce gloves.

In his first bout of the year, Jones dispatched top contender Ryan Bader by submission at UFC 126 in February. In March, Bones stepped in for future opponent Rashad Evans and handed a one-sided beatdown to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to capture the 205 pound world title. Jones then finished the year with two submission wins over former champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

It was a remarkable year for a fighter who is improving and learning. He has been dominant already in the UFC and the scary thing is he is still hungry to take it to the next level.

It appears that there are only a small number of opponents to oppose Jon Jones this year. Really after you consider Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson and a possible Shogun rematch (albeit an extremely unlikely fight) there is only Alexander Gustafsson left near the top at this point. Every other fighter seems to be either too far away from a shot, too green, over the hill, unworthy or a number of other reasons you can insert here.

Gustafsson started his UFC career with a bang by knocking out Jared Hammon at UFC 105 in less than a minute. A quick setback loss by submission to Phil Davis has now been offset by an impressive four fight win streak in the Octagon including two knockouts and two rear naked choke victories, respectively.

The “Mauler” recently picked up his biggest win to date at UFC 141 when he knocked out Vladimir Matyushenko in two minutes to solidify his top ten status among fellow light heavyweights in the UFC. He now looks to make a statement for a title at UFC on Fuel TV 2 by taking on slugger Thiago Silva who is to be a late replacement for the injured Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

If Gustafsson wins this bout, I could easily see the UFC giving him a number one contender fight in his next bout. Only Dan Henderson is next after Jon Jones’ dispatch of Rashad Evans, so Alexander could be getting his shot by the end of this calender year.

The real question here is if Gustafsson poses much of a challenge to the champion. Is Alexander Gustafsson a threat to Jon Jones? He is a threat only in a puncher’s chance sort of way. He is a threat in the same way that Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson both have heavy hands and can knock someone out at 205 pounds.

But, the simple fact of the matter is that Jones has too much reach, too much movement, effective wrestling, improvised submissions and flying strikes that no other man can duplicate. He has been dominant in the UFC in a way that only the great Anderson Silva can match.

Alexander Gustafsson may have a tough time with Thiago Silva, as well. If Silva is healthy and in good shape for this fight, I have doubts about the Swedish native winning his UFC on Fuel TV 2 bout, let alone a bout with the champion. Gustafsson is not a threat to Jones at this point, but he is dangerous and if he learns to use his range like Jones does, he could very well hold the gold one day down the road. I just don’t see him taking it from Jon Jones.

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