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West Coast vs East Coast: Who Has the Better MMA Fighters?

It is a rivalry as old as American sports. Well, at least since professional sports teams moved out west.Whether it be college or professional football, basketball, baseball or even horse racing; the main rivals in this country seem to be the west coas…

It is a rivalry as old as American sports. Well, at least since professional sports teams moved out west.

Whether it be college or professional football, basketball, baseball or even horse racing; the main rivals in this country seem to be the west coast vs the east coast.

When Nate Diaz walked out to “Still Ballin” by Tupac Skakur, (a song that among other things talks about pride for the westside and being from California) in his opponent Jim Miller’s hometown of East Rutherford, New Jersey, it seemed as if there may be some “West Coast vs East Coast” tension brewing in MMA too.

Sooner or later this rivalry had to start. Which coast produces the better fighters? Are their unique styles associated with where a fighter’s from? Or is MMA different from other sports because it is an individual sport and fighters come from all over the globe?

Is there any way to settle who is really better? Of course there isn’t an exact science, but what if there was a way to try to tally up a score to see which coast has the supreme MMA fighters?

There are going to be some gray/controversial areas in this competition. Logistics can be a controversial topic because what parts of the country exactly constitute as the West Coast and the the East Coast?

Does a fighter like Rampage who was born and raised in Tennessee, but became an MMA fighter while training and living in Irvine, California, count as west or east?

Are we counting Canada? Do Brazil, Japan, the UK and Eastern Europe have similar geographical rivalries?

There are several ways to do this, however, I developed a scoring system to try to settle a little bit of the score. So when you’re done with the slideshow, let me know what you think of the system and how I could make it better.

Enjoy…

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UFC on Fuel 3: Predicting the Winners of the Post-Fight Bonuses

UFC on Fuel 3 will be an early-week treat for MMA fans. Can’t ask for much more on a Tuesday night than a full card of fights on free television. The card features some intriguing matchups, starting with TUF Season 12 guillotine magician…

UFC on Fuel 3 will be an early-week treat for MMA fans. Can’t ask for much more on a Tuesday night than a full card of fights on free television.

The card features some intriguing matchups, starting with TUF Season 12 guillotine magician Cody Mckenzie, who had won 10 straight fights by guillotine choke until his two setbacks in the UFC, vs. Marcus Levesseur in his UFC debut.

Another intriguing matchup will feature UFC Veteran Jason McDonald in his 14th fight in the organization against Tom Lawlor, who will be making his sixth appearance in the Octagon.

Another fighter who is no stranger to the Octagon, Jeremy Stephens, will be taking on Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Cowboy has a combined 10-4 record in his Zuffa Career and has taken on some of the best in both the WEC and UFC.

TUF Season 7 veteran and part-time UFC promoter and commentator Amir Sadollah will take on Jorge Lopez in an intriguing welterweight matchup. Lopez only has a loss to Justin Edwards on his UFC résumé; however, he had a 10-fight win streak before he joined the organization and will be looking to prove that he can get a victory on the sport’s biggest stage.

In the main event, Chan Sung Jung, better known by his nickname “The Korean Zombie,” will take on Dustin Porier. The Korean Zombie lost his last two fights in the WEC but is 2-0 since joining the UFC. He won by a rare twister submission against Leonard Garcia and then knocked out Mark Hominic seven seconds into Round 1. Porier, another WEC transfer, is 4-0 in the UFC and has recently won by two submissions of his own.

Going into every UFC card, each fighter has an extreme incentive to win his fight. However, there is also that little extra incentive, which offers a large financial reward, if they can earn a post-fight bonus by either getting the best knockout of the night, submission of the night or being involved in the fight of the night.

Here are my predictions for the fighters who will bring home an extra check next Tuesday night.

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Bas Rutten and 7 Other Ex-Fighters That Are Still Relevant in MMA

The sport of mixed martial arts as we know it is approaching 20 years of age. Since Royce Gracie introduced most of the world to Jiu-Jitsu and won three of the first four UFC tournaments without suffering a defeat, the sport has seen its share of domin…

While Royce Gracie was displaying his dominant fighting skills on the ground, dominant strikers like Bas Rutten were displaying dominant standup skills and evolving that aspect of the sport.

Over the past 19 years, most fighters that created legacies in the ring/octagon became disconnected from the the sport after they retired. However, there are some fighters that continue to stay relevant in the sport and keep contributing to the sport even though they no longer step inside the cage themselves to fight competitively.

Here is a list of fighters that are still relevant and will likely continue to be relevant in the sport long after their fighting days are done.

Please feel free to add other fighters below that you think should have made this list. Keep in mind I tried to make sure these were all “ex-fighters” and tried to justify their current contributions.

Enjoy.

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UFC on FOX 4: Early Predictions

The UFC and FOX have improved their combined product since the debacle that was the UFC on FOX 1. Not that it wasn’t an historic night for the sport and Junior dos Santos, but spectators unfamiliar with MMA were only treated to a couple minutes of action. Not to mention, FOX didn’t even televise the possible fight of the year between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson.

MMA fans know that isn’t what a night of UFC fights is all about.

MMA has separated itself from boxing in that a night of fights truly is that. A night of the plural word fights. Part of what makes a UFC night so exciting is predicting which fighters will receive awards for Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night and KO of the Night.

UFC on FOX 3 more closely resembled what traditional MMA fans are used to. We had some impressive TKO victories by Lavar Johnson and Alan Belcher, a competitive fight that went the distance between Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks and saw Nate Diaz establish himself as probably the No. 1 contender in the UFC Lightweight division.

Despite all that, television ratings were down for UFC on FOX 3. Several factors could have contributed to that. One reason could be that it was going up against Mayweather vs. Cotto. Another could be that it was Cinco de Mayo and the younger UFC fans were out partying.

Either way, UFC on FOX 4 has some intriguing matchups and it is never too early to make some predictions.

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12 Strikeforce Fighters Who Could Contend for UFC Titles

Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal, Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley and Luke Rockhold all recorded impressive victories in Strikeforce this past Saturday night. The next question for the four victorious fighters is, what’s next?Will King Mo fight for the vacant Str…

Will King Mo fight for the vacant Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship? Will Rockhold defend his middleweight belt? Or do they want something more? Maybe a step up in competition?

Dana White reiterated Saturday night that Zuffa wants to keep Strikeforce intact. Their actions since Zuffa’s acquisition of Strikeforce has sent mixed signals as to the validity of that statement.

Sending Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem to the UFC suggests that the top fighters will all eventually progress to the UFC.

Keeping Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce suggests that maybe some of the top fighters will stay in Strikeforce after all.

Personally, I doubt that any of the top contenders will stay in Strikeforce for too long.

Why would Zuffa want MMA fans to wonder if the best fighter in the world at a certain weight class currently fights in Strikeforce when they have the power to settle it in the cage?

This isn’t college football. We don’t have to debate about the champions.

I believe that Strikeforce will someday be the minor leagues of MMA. Baseball has Triple-A, basketball has the NBA D-League and I believe that soon UFC’s minor leagues will be Strikeforce.

Two of the top Strikeforce transfers, Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem, had successful UFC debuts in which they each defeated former UFC champions.

Gilbert Melendez has publicly said on several occasions he wants the UFC belt. I believe that eventually Melendez and other worthy Strikeforce contenders will get their opportunities in the UFC.

But which current Strikeforce fighters are currently ready to make runs at UFC belts?

Here are 12 Strikeforce fighters who could possibly contend for UFC gold:

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Predicting the UFC Champions of 2012

Over the past five years, some things have drastically changed while others have stayed the same in the world of mixed martial arts.Pride went from the top organization in the world to non-existent. Strikeforce went from a contender to challenge the UF…

Over the past five years, some things have drastically changed while others have stayed the same in the world of mixed martial arts.

Pride went from the top organization in the world to non-existent. Strikeforce went from a contender to challenge the UFC for MMA supremacy to Zuffa’s latest investment. During that time, some UFC belts have stayed in the same hands for years while others have traveled the world.

Anderson Silva has been the UFC middleweight champion since October of 2006. Georges St-Pierre has had his belt nearly the same length of time minus the first title defense vs. Matt Serra. The lightweight belt stayed in B.J. Penn’s hands for two years after he defeated Sean Sherk in May of 2008. Frankie Edgar has had it in his possession since defeating B.J. Penn in August of 2010.

Now on to the less predictable weight classes. There have been seven light heavyweight champions over the last five years. Jon Jones has recently become the first fighter to defend the belt more than one time since Chuck Liddell.

The heavyweight belt has moved around quite a bit as well. There have been five UFC champions and three separate interim heavyweight champions during that time period.

In November of 2010, the bantamweight and featherweight divisions were introduced to the UFC after the merger was complete with the WEC. Jose Aldo has been the featherweight champion while Dominick Cruz has been the bantamweight champion since the merger took place.

But who will be the seven UFC champions one year from now? How many times will the belts change hands in 2012?

Here are my predictions for the fate of the seven UFC belts over the next 12 months.

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