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UFC Live on Versus 4: 5 Things to Take Away

Seems like you should be able to predict the fight based on the shorts alone. PicProps: MMAJunkie

It happens everytime. You write off a UFC card as uninteresting and decide to paint along with Bob Ross (or whatever it is you do with your personal time), and the fighters get wind of it and take your lack of interest personally.

They get in to the Octagon and perform stupifying acts of athleticism and heartitude, Dana White gets a huge boner at the press conference, and now you have to read recaps and watch GIFs to catch up on the action. Sucks to be you, we guess.

Frankly, you need to be making better choices in your life — you cannot paint those happy little clouds and friendly little mountains like Bob Ross — no one can. Frodog himself couldn’t even paint like that; all of Bob Ross’s shows were actually produced by Industrial Light and Magic. There, the secret is out, and we can die in peace.

For those dedicated souls that tuned in, hey wow, how about that show, huh? Like you, we had some thoughts during the fights, and unlike you, we wrote some of these thoughts down during and after the fights. Come on in and let us tell you how you’re feeling right now.

All hail Zombie Prophet!

Seems like you should be able to predict the fight based on the shorts alone. PicProps: MMAJunkie

All hail Zombie Prophet!

1. Cheaters still prosper…or do they?

Charles Oliveira and Nik Lentz were putting on a damn show in the prelims, until Oliveira blasted Lentz in the eyepiece with an illegal knee. When referee Chip Snider missed the blow completely and kept the fight going, Lentz was submitted like he had no clue what was going on. (Because he didn’t.) Oliveira gets the win, and our blood pressure started going up … until we’re informed that reps from the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission were on the case, and the fight and the result would be examined. Props, kudos, and respect to the AC for being on the ball to: A) catch the foul, and B) move swiftly to assure everyone that they caught the foul.

2. Hey look! Another walk-off knockout!

It was quickly apparent in the Mitrione-Morecraft fight that Meathead hits quite a bit harder than Christian Morecraft appreciates being hit, and we were surprised to see it make it out of the first. It was the accumulation of damage, rather than one crushing killshot, that sent Morecraft to the floor, but Mitrione knew his work was done. Morecraft shying away from the referee like he’d just been tag-teamed by a honey badger and a silverback gorilla hopped up on Cialis only served to reinforce that he was done for the night. Mitrione was already off shaking hands with Joe Silva and thinking of a joke for his Rogan interview. Walk-off knockouts: yep, still awesome.

3. Maybe it’s NOT such a good idea to take fights back to back ….

Saturday, Rick Story was riding an impressive win streak (poised to join the 7 Win Club), coming off a great victory, shooting up the welterweight rankings, and was a chic pick to spoil Nate Marquardt’s debut at 170. Sunday night, he’s getting outwrestled by some guy from the prelims. While the late change in opponents could have been a factor, Story looked to be having some fatigue issues as the fight went on. Whether he was over-trained or under-gameplanned, Story probably wishes he’d taken a couple months off. On a related note…

4. It’s time to take a good look at Charlie Brenneman.

And we don’t mean his skinny-puppy physique or those awesomely bad highlighter vale tudo shorts. Charlie Brenneman is now 14-2 professionally, with losses to John Howard (three years ago) and Johny Hendricks — no shame there. In the UFC, he’s sent two other fighters home with a pink slip, including his debut victory over Jason High. On one hand, it seems surreal to even mention Brenneman against guys like GSP, Fitch, or Koscheck; on the other, he deserves more than just returning to the prelims versus TJ Grant. There’s plenty of fights for him: Brian Foster (if his brain is ok) or Matt Brown would be appropriate tests for him, but if he wants to make a splash he’ll go after Thiago Alves. We can’t see him winning that fight, but then again, dude, did you see what he did to Rick Story?

5. Hey look! Another “back from the dead” win!

Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry brought the artillery for their fight, and they manages to use all of it in just about two and a half minutes. HD had Kongo reeling all over the Octagon between two knockdowns, and everyone expected ref Dan Mirgliotta to jump in and save Kongo — including Mirgliotta himself. Kongo managed to regain his footing, shaky as it was, and land a right hook and a follow-on uppercut that put Barry directly in touch with his belated great-nana . It was a scary KO and we were glad to see our boy HD was ok, but holy Scott Smith Batman! Between his “hay ladies” physique and his concussive knockouts, Kongo reminded all of us why he’s still in the UFC last night.

[RX]

Gambling Addiction Enabler — ‘Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum’ Edition

(“Overeem is my son. Scott Coker is my uncle. Gina Carano is my hot cousin. Josh Barnett is my sister’s meathead boyfriend.”)

Betting odds for the complete lineup of tomorrow night’s Strikeforce card were released yesterday, and looking over these numbers, it seems like the perfect opportunity to dig yourself out of the hole you put yourself in by following our previous gambling advice. Now, we don’t actually recommend the use of off-shore gambling sites these days, in light of the government’s recent eRaids, but hey, entertainment purposes and all, right? Check out the juiciest lines for Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com, then listen very carefully to what we have to say…

Main Card (Showtime, 10 p.m.)
Alistair Overeem (-321) vs. Fabricio Werdum (+300)
Josh Barnett (-319) vs. Brett Rogers (+309)
K.J. Noons (-144) vs. Jorge Masvidal (+135)
Daniel Cormier (-300) vs. Jeff Monson (+325)
Valentijn Overeem (+111) vs. Chad Griggs (-122)

(“Overeem is my son. Scott Coker is my uncle. Gina Carano is my hot cousin. Josh Barnett is my sister’s meathead boyfriend.”)

Preliminary Card (HDNet, 8 p.m. ET)
Gesias Cavalcante (-115) vs. Justin Wilcox (+110)
Conor Heun (+120) vs. Magno Almeida (-130)
Nah-Shon Burrell (+275) vs. Joe Ray (-313)
Todd Moore (+260) vs. Mike Bronzoulis (-280)
Brian Melancon (-115) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (+105)

The Main Event: Look, I hug Ubereem’s nuts as much as the next dude. I’m just saying, Werdum was a +430 underdog against Fedor Emelianenko, and he managed to end that fight in 69 seconds. (He was also good enough to submit Overeem five years ago, if that means anything to you.) Most likely, Overeem will be able keep the fight standing and have his way with Werdum — but there’s always the chance that Fabricio could catch the jacked Dutchman. And since he’d triple your investment, it’s worth a modest bet.

The Good ‘Dogs: A lot of them, actually — this is definitely a card that encourages risk. Besides the main event, you have Jeff Monson as a more-than-3-to-1 underdog against Daniel Cormier. Cormier is undefeated, and always impressive in his fights, but he’s a baby in the sport, and he’s never faced anybody even remotely close to Monson’s level of skill and experience. (Stupid fact: In the Snowman’s 53-fight career, he’s earned the same number of wins via north/south choke [7] as Cormier has total fights on his record.) The line is a little inflated, is what I’m saying.

Similarly, the well-traveled Valentijn Overeem is a slight underdog against rising prospect Chad Griggs, when I’d put Alistair’s bro as a slight favorite. But the opposite is true in Cavalcante vs. Wilcox. Despite JZ’s previous history of top-ten-ranked excellence, he’s really struggled to make an impact in the last three years, while Wilcox has been on a tear. Cash on the Silverback could pay off.

Keep Away: Josh Barnett as a 3-1 fave over Brett Rogers sounds about right to me; there’s not enough edge for a straight bet, so save him for the parlay. I also think KJ Noons makes sense as a solid favorite over Jorge Masvidal, but I’d like to see how Noons looks back at lightweight for at least one fight before I start putting money on him.

The Guy You’ve Never Heard Of: Magno Almeida is a 9-1 submission ace who has ended seven of his fights in the first round. Due to injuries and bad matchups, his opponent Conor Heun hasn’t won a fight in nearly three years, and hasn’t been inside the cage since losing a decision to KJ Noons last June. Give the new kid a shot.

Official CagePotato Parlay #1 (novice): $10 on A. Overeem + Barnett + Wilcox + Almeida returns a $46.48 profit at BetUS.

Official CagePotato Parlay #2 (advanced): $10 on Werdum + Barnett + V. Overeem + Monson + Noons returns a $589.63 profit.

CagePotato Ban: Giving It Up for ‘Heart’

(Shane may have had heart, balls, guts, and a chin, but they were no match for Junior’s elite-level anatomical-metaphor defense.)

We’re almost a week removed from the magnificent beatdown that Junior dos Santos laid on Shane Carwin, and it’s probably safe to assume that all of the post-fight articles have been written about the main event at UFC 131. Well, all but one.

This article is not specifically about UFC 131 or Shane Carwin — it’s about a certain phrase that has been tied to Carwin’s performance following his three-round beating, and that phrase is “He showed a lot of heart.”

Do a Google search on MMA “showed heart” and look at the names associated with the term: Shane Carwin, Paul Daley, Roy Nelson, and Andrei Arlovski, just to name a few. Any fighter that stood in there and took a beating, yup, he “showed a lot of heart.”

It’s time to retire that phrase, and here’s why…

(Shane may have had heart, balls, guts, and a chin, but they were no match for Junior’s elite-level anatomical-metaphor defense.)

It’s time to retire that phrase, and here’s why…

It’s lazy. I’ve been guilty of using the phrase myself, but I will no longer use it and I encourage anyone covering MMA to do the same. We see a fighter get beaten bloody, but he doesn’t tap, he doesn’t get KO’d and he doesn’t quit, so we attribute his performance to this mythical thing called “heart.” It’s an easy way out, and too often replaces actual analysis of the losing fighter’s performance.

It’s essentially meaningless. How do you measure heart, guts, and chutzpah? You can’t; it’s all perception. One man’s version of heart is another man’s version of sheer stupidity. Not to pick on Carwin – God knows he was beaten enough on Saturday night — but did he hang in there out of “heart” or out of the never-quit attitude that is pounded into wrestlers and other combat sport participants from a very young age? Do these fighters show this “heart” out of fear of looking soft? (As BJ Penn once said, “You tap from strikes, you’re a little bitch, that’s what I think.”) Besides, these are professional fighters we’re talking about. We don’t really expect them to run out of the cage screaming when things get tough.

It masks the truth. If I were going to write a story about UFC 131 using simple, everyday language and avoid any type of euphemism, the lede would read something like this: “On Saturday, Shane Carwin took a 15 minute beating at the hands of Junior dos Santos. At the end of the fight Carwin’s face was bloody and swollen, he was cut under both eyes and appeared to have a broken nose. Carwin was ineffective during the fight, landing 22 strikes compared to dos Santos’ 104. Carwin was never in the fight, but he showed that he can stand in there and take a beating.” No mention of heart, and you know why? Because it doesn’t exist, outside of the realm of metaphor. The truth is that Carwin can take a punch and he elected to take many of them over the course of the fight. That’s more a deficiency of strategy than anything else.

It leads to things like this. Carwin’s trainer, Trevor Wittman, who by all accounts is one of the best in the business, had the following to say to MMAMania after the fight, “To me, that was like watching a Rocky Balboa movie. Movies are made about stuff like that. As a trainer, I felt we won. We didn’t win the fight but we won as a person and as a team. He did not get beat mentally.”

I understand where Wittman is coming from in this – he has to take something positive away from the loss for his fighter – but to state that Carwin’s beating is the stuff “movies are made about.” Well, that’s a stretch. To say he won as a person and a team? How is that the case? Your fighter gets a loss on his record and he also received a trip to the ER. That’s a loss. The “moral victory,” like heart, is just a weak consolation. While Carwin may not have been beaten mentally he sure as hell was beaten physically and in a sport where you are judged with a W or an L, that’s what counts. There are no asterisks after a loss that say, “He showed a lot of heart.”

So please, let’s do away with “heart.” It was a lame power to have on Captain Planet, and has even less relevance in the real world.

[TR]

Five Fights for Florian to Consider Before Aldo

This should not be Florian’s stiffest test before Aldo. Just saying. PicProps: Examiner.com

Dana White has all but made official the next featherweight championship fight, saying that Kenny Florian “pretty much” is next in line for Jose Aldo, and we’ve kind of grumbled about it. It’s not the we don’t like Ken-Flo — we do — but we’re not entirely sold on Florian as the number one contender in the featherweight division.

Being brand new to the weight class, most reasonable people would expect Florian to get two or three good wins before they throw him in against the Brazilian destroyer of legs and faces. It’s not like we’re asking him to go on an eight fight win streak before he gets a title shot, just spend more than fifteen minutes in the weight class.

Being the kind and helpful people we are, we decided to share our own ideas about who Florian could fight next to strengthen his case for a shot at the belt. If Florian wins, then by all means slate him for the Aldo fight. If he loses, he probably wasn’t ready anyway, right?

This should not be Florian’s stiffest test before Aldo. Just saying. PicProps: Examiner.com

Dana White has all but made official the next featherweight championship fight, saying that Kenny Florian “pretty much” is next in line for Jose Aldo, and we’ve kind of grumbled about it. It’s not that we don’t like Ken-Flo — we do — but we’re not entirely sold on Florian as the number one contender in the featherweight division.

vs. Chad Mendes

Money Mendes would be a perfect test for Florian, who had difficulty with Gray Maynard’s wrestling at UFC 118. Florian has worked to improve his wrestling, but Diego Nunes was not going to test that — Mendes would test the shit out of Florian’s TDD and scrambling. If Florian beats Mendes, he’ll make a clear statement that he belongs in the title picture at 145. The catch here is that Mendes already has a fight scheduled for UFC 133 on 6 August, against Rani Yahya. Against Rani Yahya. Rani Yahya. Yeah, they could totally scratch that fight.

vs. Mark Hominick

Hominick came up short against Jose Aldo, but did it in the most impressive manner possible. Clearly a top five talent, Hominick is dealing with postpartum depression after giving birth to that forehead alien Aldo gave him, and has a clear schedule. As soon as he’s medically cleared and ready to fight, we’d love to see him return to challenge Florian. While the Canadian striker wouldn’t necessarily test Florian’s ground game, he should be a good litmus test for Florian’s striking at 145, and we know there will be no shortage of heart when Hominick enters the cage.

vs Dustin Poirier

If you want to sound like a New Orleans native, that city should be properly pronounced “Nawluns”. Draw out that first syllable a little bit. Similarly, Dustin the Diamond’s surname would be “Pwawyay”. In general, just go slowly and cut down on enunciation, and the locals will at least think you’re from somewhere nearby, rather than another damn tourist. Anywho, Josh Grispi would be in this slot, except he’s now lost two in a row, one of those courtesy of our young friend from Lafayette. Poirier has one loss at 155, and he’s looked great as an undefeated featherweight. While admittedly this is a very dangerous fight for Florian — Poirier is no name opponent — we’d like to see someone test Florian’s cardio and resolve at 145. Poirier should administer that test capably.

vs Chan Sung Jung

There are few fighters in the UFC’s featherweight division more well-known than The Korean Zombie, so this would be a big-name matchup worthy of a main event five rounder. Like Florian, Jung is long and tall at 145, and dangerous both standing and on the ground. While it debatable if a win over Jung would bolster Florian’s claim to contendership, who cares? It would be plenty of fun to watch. Jung’s dance card is clear after his redemption win over Leonard Garcia, so can we pencil this one in at the end of the summer?

vs Hatsu Hioki

The Sengoku champ and much-ballyhooed potential pickup will need a test of his own when he signs with the UFC, and a Hioki-Florian matchup sounds like a great chance to take the temperature on both fighters. Hioki looked like a complete fighter in his victory over Marlon Sandro, showing better striking to complement his already tight ground game. That victory earned Hioki nods as a top five talent from pretty much everyone, so a victory puts Florian as a legitimate championship contender, something we haven’t been completely convinced of quite yet. Again, Hioki hasn’t been officially signed yet, but when he is, Florian would be a blockbuster first fight for him.

What you got, Nation? Is Ken-Flo ready for Aldo, or should he take another fight first?

[RX]

The Potato Index: UFC 131, TUF 13 Finale, and UFC 130 Edition

(Clay Guida’s party-animal status: Unchanged. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Now that we’re halfway through a six-week stretch featuring a UFC or Strikeforce event every weekend, it might be time to take a deep breath, drag out a semi-retired recurring feature, and assign some totally meaningless scores to some of the notable trends and fighters we’ve seen lately. Who’s up, who’s down, and by how much? Well…

The UFC heavyweight division +113
Some have already labeled Shane Carwin’s loss at UFC 131 the “end of an era” for gargantuan heavyweights. (Didn’t last long, did it?) At the top of the division, we’re left with two guys who are smaller, faster, and better-conditioned than their predecessors; Velasquez vs. Dos Santos could be an all-time classic. Meanwhile, prospects like Travis Browne and Dave Herman continue to add depth at 265.

Cageside monitors -98
Nope, the judging in this sport still sucks, and the problem doesn’t appear to be technological. When you have shit for brains, every angle is a bad angle.

(Clay Guida’s party-animal status: Unchanged. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Cageside monitors -98
Nope, the judging in this sport still sucks, and the problem doesn’t appear to be technological. When you have shit for brains, every angle is a bad angle.

Demian Maia -184
Ugh. Bro, nobody wants to see you kickbox your way to another decision. Submitting people used to be Demian’s gimmick — and it was a great one. But he hasn’t been able to do that since UFC events were still numbered in the double-digits. Maia is officially a stepping stone in the middleweight division, and it’s a shame to see it.

Sam Stout +250
Meanwhile, Hands of Stone scored the first stoppage victory of his five-year, 11-fight UFC career at “Dos Santos vs. Carwin,” snapped a seven-fight decision streak in the process, and gobbled up his sixth performance bonus, like a boss.

Meaningless rumors -322
That’s the last time you fool us, Internet. THE LAST TIME.

Michihiro Omigawa -62
Yeah, he got his win bonus, but officially he’s 0-4 in the Octagon now. You know who else went 0-4 in the Octagon? Tiki Ghosn. You’re in good company, Michi.

The Ultimate Fighter +138
Season 13 might have been a drag, but with the booking of Bisping vs. Mayhem in the coaching slots and the debut of bantamweights and featherweights on the show, we’ll actually have a reason to watch this thing again.

Trying to win a fight off your back -241
Miguel Torres couldn’t do it against Demetrious Johnson, and Anthony Pettis couldn’t do it against Clay Guida. Top-game rules in this sport. Resistance is futile.

Joe Rogan +300/-300
…depending on your feelings about the word “cunty.”

Quinton Jackson +276
Beats up Matt Hamill, earns a title shot, and mock-motorboats Karyn Bryant without getting pepper-sprayed. Alpha.

Brian Stann +437
An American hero who’s now a legit threat at middleweight. Stann TKO’d former Top-10 fighter Jorge Santiago on Memorial Day, picking up his second Fight of the Night bonus in his last three fights.

Guys who get ranked in the Top 10 by dominating local talent in Japan, then get squashed the first time they fight in (or return to) the Octagon -602
See above.

(BG)

Some Dude Hit a $50,000 12-Fight UFC 131 Parlay…And in Other News, Vancouver MMA Judge Seen Driving New $50,000 Lexus Off the Lot Today

Okay, we made that last part up, but doesn’t it seem kind of odd that someone randomly picked all of the winners in a 12-fight parlay from a card that was steeped in controversial judges’ scoring?

We don’t even get half of our picks right, and we’re paid to analyze the sport and its fighters.

According to a story from MMAFighting.com an unnamed individual won $51,547 from a $200 bet placed through Bodog.eu.

“Hitting parlays in MMA happens often but to hit every fight right on a 12-fight card in one night is unheard of, especially that the parlay included a mix of favorites and a few medium underdogs, including two controversial decisions that went in the bettor’s favor.” Bodog Sports Book Director Richard Gardner told MMAFighting.

Unheard of unless you’re a judge who has the power to do what it takes to ensure the losers are winners and the winners are losers. We’re just spitballing here, but maybe a crooked official utilized the newly approved video monitors to pipe in other footage from a previous fight for the judges to score. Who are we kidding? They probably just sucked at judging like 3/4 of the posters on Sherdog.

We don’t even get half of our picks right, and we’re paid to analyze the sport and its fighters.

According to a story from MMAFighting.com an unnamed individual won $51,547 from a $200 bet placed through Bodog.eu.

What’s interesting is that four of the five judges on hand Saturday night were ex or current fighters. Bill Mahood (20-7-1), Jason Darrah (0-2) and Dave Hagen (0-3) and Chris Franco (2-3) each made some questionable scoring calls. Even longtime judge and the creator of the 1/2 point scoring system Nelson “Doc” Hamilton seemed divided in some of his scores, which differed completely than some of his peers.

So what can we do to fix the problem?

How about having judges apprentice or shadow established officials for a specified number of fights after the completion of a reputable judging course? That is one of the suggestions on the table here in Ontario and I think it’s a good one considering that Saturday night proved that putting inexperienced local judges in to score a fight for the sake of keeping the work local may come at the detriment of the fighters.

Something needs to be done about the issue. Whatever it is, hopefully it happens sooner than later.

Check out the rest of the scorecards below.