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Crazy Enough to Be True: Ten Wild MMA Predictions For 2011

("…three…two…one…Happy New Year! Damn, take it again, Brock had another stroke.")
By CagePotato.com contributor Jason Moles
2010 is in the books, and MMA fans and fighters alike have endured tremendous highs and lows. Who would hav…

("…three…two…one…Happy New Year! Damn, take it again, Brock had another stroke.")

By CagePotato.com contributor Jason Moles

2010 is in the books, and MMA fans and fighters alike have endured tremendous highs and lows. Who would have guessed that The Last Emperor, Brock Lesnar, BJ Penn and the WEC would all collapse this year? Who could imagine that Chael Sonnen would accuse Lance Armstrong of giving himself cancer, then test positive for a banned substance? Ironic? You bet. But enough about last year — a new decade is upon us. Here are ten predicitions that will sound ridiculous until they actually happen in 2011…

1. MMA will be sanctioned in New York.
While watching WEC bid adieu, I couldn’t help but notice the commercials for the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) at MSG (Madison Square Garden). Pro bull riding averages 1 to 2 deaths per year — that’s not including amateurs, sometimes children, participating at the county fair. Regardless of what Bob Reilly has to say, this is a no-brainer that only the likes of the M-1 management team could foul up. MMA will be sanctioned in New York in ’11, even if we have to blackmail a senator to make it happen.

2. GSP will relinquish his Welterweight title to change weight classes.
Jake Shields blah, blah, blah — Georges St. Pierre is indestructible and will wipe the floor with him, or at least dry hump him to death. With his ‘le-gacy’ secured, he can bump weight classes and test the waters in the process in becoming the best mixed martial artist from Canada with an extra ‘s’ in his name OF ALL TIME.

3. Dana White will coin a new phrase.
"You want to be a %^&@$#! fighter?" and "Never leave it in the hands of the judges." will be replaced by something catchy like "Don’t cross the boss." Oh, wait, that one’s already taken. How about "Go big or go home," or "Suns out, guns out"? I never said it would be original — just catchy.

Exclusive: Losses Haunt and Drive Gray Maynard Toward UFC Title

("I’ve been doing this too long to take things for granted. I’ve seen it happen too often where a guy loses and then comes back and wins." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda
There’s a fu…

("I’ve been doing this too long to take things for granted. I’ve seen it happen too often where a guy loses and then comes back and wins." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

There’s a fun game you can play with undefeated UFC lightweight Gray Maynard: Ask him to name, let alone talk about, someone he’s beaten. He can’t do it.

It should be easy for the #1 title contender — he’s had just eleven fights in his four-and-a-half year MMA career, and hasn’t lost a single one. He has many more wins to choose from if you include his entire amateur wrestling career that dates back to his childhood.

Still, as he sits during some downtime between training on the Saturday exactly two weeks before he will face UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 125 in Las Vegas, Maynard’s brain freezes when asked about his wins. Gray isn’t difficult to speak with, and his mind is sound. It just works a bit differently than most of ours.

Ask Maynard who he’s lost to and he can rattle ten names off in a row. “People say, ‘oh, you’ve never lost.’ Sure I have. I’ve been in combat sports since I was a kid and have lost lots of times from when I was three all the way through college.”

Gray seems to remember every time he’s come up short on the mats — recalling even grade-school losses with gritted teeth. “They still irk me today,” he says.

Warriors on the Rise: 2010’s Breakout Fighters

Every year, a handful of MMA fighters ascend from obscurity to contendership, from prospect status to championship gold — from nothing to something. In honor of The Warrior’s Way, which hits theaters next Friday, we’d like to salute MMA’s breakou…

Every year, a handful of MMA fighters ascend from obscurity to contendership, from prospect status to championship gold — from nothing to something. In honor of The Warrior’s Way, which hits theaters next Friday, we’d like to salute MMA’s breakout class of 2010, whose careers exploded this year, and who are all poised for even larger accomplishments in 2011.

PHIL DAVIS

Notable 2010 victories: Brian Stann (unanimous decision, UFC 109), Alexander Gustafsson (submission R1, UFC 112), Tim Boetsch (submission R2, UFC 123)
Between his pink shorts, action-figure physique, and aggressive grappling, Mr. Wonderful has become an unmistakable figure in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division. A year ago, he was a relatively unknown 4-0 prospect trying to re-invent himself as a cage-fighter after a brilliant collegiate wrestling career at Penn State, which culminated in a 2008 NCAA title. Davis made his Octagon debut this February, and has since sent four straight opponents back to the drawing board, beginning with former WEC champ Brian Stann, and ending with a Submission of the Night performance against Tim Boetsch. Having proven himself against gritty veterans and promising rookies, we’re about to find out if Davis can keep his dominant run going against the next level of UFC contenders.

COURT McGEE

Notable 2010 victories: Kris McCray (submission R2, TUF 11 Finale), Ryan Jensen (submission R3, UFC 121)
Court McGee’s life is an object lesson in never, ever giving up, no matter how dire the circumstances. A former drug-addict who was declared clinically dead after an overdose in 2005, McGee got clean and devoted his life to MMA. His stint on The Ultimate Fighter 11 this year was almost cut short after he lost a bum decision to Nick Ring, but McGee re-entered the competition as an injury replacement, and went on to choke out James Hammortree, Brad Tavares, and Kris McCray to earn the season’s middleweight trophy. In his first post-TUF test at UFC 121, he survived getting bombed out on by Ryan Jensen in the first round, and turned the momentum around when Jensen began to fade in round two. In the end, Jensen was tapping like the rest of them, and Court McGee had secured his reputation as one of toughest (and most likable) bastards TUF has ever produced.

Eight MMA Fighters Who Desperately Need a Stoppage Victory

By CagePotato contributor Dan “siksik6” Teague
#8: Gray Maynard When fans and fighters complain about wrestlers in MMA, they’re talking about Gray Maynard. He takes fighters down because that’s what he’s good at. In Maynard’s nine-figh…

By CagePotato contributor Dan “siksik6” Teague

#8: Gray Maynard

When fans and fighters complain about wrestlers in MMA, they’re talking about Gray Maynard. He takes fighters down because that’s what he’s good at. In Maynard’s nine-fight UFC career, he has just one stoppage, a KO of Joe Veres over three years ago. He’s earned his title shot not because of his performances, but rather because what the hell else do you do with a guy who’s undefeated and has won eight straight fights, including one over the current champ? Cole Miller said it best: Taking people down should be a means to an end. Gray needs to start having some refs pull him off of people if he’s ever going to have any drawing power.

#7: Ben Askren

Ben Askren is just starting to make his way into mainstream MMA discussions. However, it’s not exactly a heralded arrival. The kid makes picking strawberries look like it belongs in the X Games. His last “stoppage” was a controversial sub over Ryan Thomas, who promptly and correctly displayed his best WTFIYP face. Before that it was a north-south choke over some guy you’ve never heard of in some organization you’ve never heard of back in August of ’09. For his last fight, in which he won the Bellator welterweight strap, he came about as close to finishing Lyman Good as I did. I was on the couch eating Mayfield Butter Pecan ice cream. It was delicious. As a title holder for an up-and-coming organization, Askren needs to show more of a killer instinct if he ever wants his fights to be broadcast by anyone other than Fox Sports South.

UFC 122: The New Guys

(Alexandre Ferreira vs. Lew Polley, 2/29/08. Props: YouTube.com/IFL)
At this Saturday’s UFC 122 event in Germany, four men will begin their journeys from UFC preliminary card prospects to…whatever they end up becoming. For example, our first-eve…

(Alexandre Ferreira vs. Lew Polley, 2/29/08. Props: YouTube.com/IFL)

At this Saturday’s UFC 122 event in Germany, four men will begin their journeys from UFC preliminary card prospects to…whatever they end up becoming. For example, our first-ever "New Guys" column included a unknown kid by the name of Jon Jones. Our most recent "New Guys" column included a guy who got beat up by Rob Broughton then fired for steroid use. So, there’s a pretty wide swing here in terms of potential success. Let’s meet the latest batch of Octagon newbies…

ALEXANDRE "Cacareco" FERREIRA (LHW)
Experience: 18-6 record dating back to 1998, with 17 wins by first-round submission, including victories over Heath Herring, Bob Schrijber, Branden Lee Hinkle, and Fabio Maldonado. Has made appearances in Rings, the IFL, and Jungle Fight, among other promotions.
Will be facing: Vladimir Matyushenko (24-5, 5-3 UFC)
Lowdown: A stocky fireplug of a man, the 31-year-old "Cacareco" began fighting professionally while still in his teens. Ferreira comes from a decorated BJJ/luta livre background, and his grappling accomplishments include a 2nd-place finish in the 2003 ADCC Absolute Division tournament, where he placed ahead of Fabricio Werdum, Marcelo Garcia, Saulo Ribeiro, Marcio Cruz, and Jeff Monson.

This Q&A on UFC.com reveals that Alexandre’s favorite striking technique is the "takedown" (!) so don’t expect the guy to do much standing and banging. When asked which college he attended, Ferreira responded "Unfortunately I could not go to college; my college was my survival as a human." He hasn’t competed since a 70-second kimura victory over Walter Mazurkievicz last October. Ferreira was supposed to face Jamal Patterson at "Shine Fights: Mayorga vs. Thomas" in May, but that event famously imploded at the last minute.

The 10 Most Bizarre Submissions in MMA History

Getting trapped in a submission is a panic-inducing experience for any fighter. But what happens when you’re put in a position that you’ve never even seen before? In honor of next week’s DVD/Blu-ray release of Locked Down (which co-stars Rashad Evans, …

Getting trapped in a submission is a panic-inducing experience for any fighter. But what happens when you’re put in a position that you’ve never even seen before? In honor of next week’s DVD/Blu-ray release of Locked Down (which co-stars Rashad Evans, Kimbo Slice, and Cheick Kongo), we’re taking a look back at MMA matches where fighters were "locked down" for real — caught in off-the-wall subs that offered no chance of escape. Enjoy the list, and come back next Thursday for a chance to win a Locked Down combo pack in our next caption contest…

#10: Alexander Otsuka’s double-armbar vs. Mike Bourke
PRIDE 11, 10/31/00

Dusting himself off after a pathetically botched dropkick attempt early in the fight (see the video’s 0:38 mark), Otsuka begins working his jiu-jitsu against the tank-topped American brawler. When Bourke starts to hang out with one arm posted and the other throwing down telegraphed punches, the "Diet Butcher" seizes the moment, snapping his legs over Bourke’s head and torquing both of his arms simultaneously. Bourke is so screwed he has to tap with his knee.

#9: Ivan Salaverry’s anaconda body lock vs. Tony Fryklund
UFC 50, 10/22/04

We usually think of the body-triangle as a technique used to soften up an opponent before or during a rear-naked choke. It takes real talent to actually finish somebody with it. After taking Tony Fryklund’s back, Salaverry passes up the neck and instead wrenches his arms around Fryklund’s body, driving his hips forward to exert maximum pressure on the spine and ribs. Fryklund has two options at this point: Allow himself to be cracked like a walnut, or scream for mercy. Fortunately, he makes the right choice.