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On This Day in MMA History

(Back when Ken was making more than GSP…)

The TUF 11 Finale went down 1 year ago.

Why it matters:

Five of the fighters from the show are still active in the UFC and four are undefeated in the Octagon.

TUF winner Court McGee, who defeated Kris McCray in the finale by rear naked choke also beat Ryan Jensen by arm triangle at UFC 121 in October. He’s set to face Don Yi Yang at UFN “Battle at the Bayou” in September.

Kyle Noke, who was beaten by teammate McCray by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals of the show, defeated Josh Bryant by TKO at the finale and rattled off two rear naked choke submission wins against Rob Kimmons at UFC 122 in November and TUF 11 cast mate Chris Camozzi at UFC 127 at home in Australia in February. He’ll face Tom Lawlor next at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle in August.

Brad Tavares, who lost to McGee in the semi-finals by rear naked choke is undefeated in official competition as well as 2-0 in the Octagon.He defeated TUF 11 quarterfinal opponent Seth Baczynski at the finale by unanimous decision and Phil Baroni by knockout at UFC 125 in January.

(Back when Ken was making more than GSP…)

The TUF 11 Finale went down 1 year ago.

Why it matters:

Five of the fighters from the show are still active in the UFC and four are undefeated in the Octagon.

Nick Ring, who was forced out of the competition due to a lingering knee injury that also left him unable to compete at the finale is undefeated in his MMA career and is 2-0 in the UFC with a February UFC 127 unanimous decision win over Riki Fukuda and a UFC 131 rear naked choke win over James Head at last weekend’s UFC 131.

Cage Potato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich Attonito beat Rafael Natal at the finale and lost a hard-fought decision to Dave Branch at the TUF 12 Finale in December. He squares off with Daniel Roberts next week at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story.

Strikeforce Challengers: Villasenor vs. Cyborg went down two years ago.

Why it matters:

The card, which featured a ton of talent was one of Strikeforce’s “B” show’s best. Tim Kennedy made his debut with the promotion on the card, as did Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Kennedy defeated Nick Thompson via tapout due to strikes, while Santos dropped a split decision to Joey Vilasenor.

Also on the card were future SF women’s welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman, Dennis Hallman, Lyle Beerbohm, Luke Rockhold, Conor Heun and Duane Ludwig.

UFC 48: Payback went down 7 years ago.

Why it matters:

Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes both earned a shot at the vacant UFC welterweight title with their respective wins over Jay Hieron and Renato Verissimo.

Frank Mir won the vacant UFC heavyweight strap by defeating (and breaking the arm of) Tim Sylvia. Three months later he was in a serious motorcycle accident in which he broke his leg in several places. He didn’t compete again until nearly two years after winning the belt. Two years later he won the interim title by defeating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by TKO at UFC 92 in December 2008, but failed to unify the belts by beating Brock Lesnar seven months later at UFC 100 in July 2009. An impressive unanimous decision win last month over Roy Nelson at UFC 130 has elevated him back to contender status.

Evan Tanner defeated Phil Baroni for the second time in as many fights. One more win over Robbie Lawler (via triangle) at UFC 50 earned Tanner a shot at the vacant UFC middleweight strap, which he won by beating highly-touted David Terrell at UFC 51 by first-round TKO.

Ken Shamrock beat Kimo Leopolda by first-round TKO (knee). The fight would be Kimo’s last in the Octagon. Shamrock made $170,000 for the bout (including a $50,000 win bonus), while Kimo took home $55,000. St-Pierre, who was on the undercard, made $8,000, including a $4,000 win bonus.

Mike Swick was born 31 years ago.

Why he matters:

Of the 16 contestants from the show, only seven are still in the UFC. Although he hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success as cast mates like Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian or Chris Leben, Swick, like Stephan Bonnar, has some personal victories to his credit.

Beating a former number one contender like David Loiseau like he did at UFC 63 was a huge upset. Beating the career-threatening stomach ailment that hindered his training and ability to put on and cut weight is another notch in his belt. Although his job with the UFC is at risk coming off two straight losses, a year and a half away from the game spent training in places like Thailand and medical treatment to cure his misdiagnosed dyspepsia will hopefully have done the welterweight good and help to rejuvenate his career.

His next fight is against Erick Silva at UFC 134 in Rio in August.

On This Day in MMA History…

(Since this sculpture seemed to be a major talking point…)

Minoru Suzuki was born 43 years ago.

Why he matters: One of the co-founders of Pancrase — the pre-cursor to the UFC — Suzuki was of the best Japanese submission specialists of his era. He holds wins over Ken Shamrock, Vernon White, Matt Hume and Guy Mezger and Maurice Smith. A former Olympic alternate freestyle wrestler for Japan and former Japanese freestyle wrestling national champion, Suzuki retired from MMA competition in 2002 with a record of 27-20 to focus on professional wrestling, in which he is still active today.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MrDartzero)

Many MMA luminaries from Bas Rutten and Ken Shamrock to Josh Barnett count Suzuki as one of THE best catch wrestlers the sport has ever known.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/scientificwrestling)

(Since this sculpture seemed to be a major talking point…)

Minoru Suzuki was born 43 years ago.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MrDartzero)

Many MMA luminaries from Bas Rutten and Ken Shamrock to Josh Barnett count Suzuki as one of THE best catch wrestlers the sport has ever known.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/scientificwrestling)

Kuniyoshi Hironaka was born 34 years ago.

Why he matters: Besides a win over Nick Diaz, and a stint as the Cage Force lightweight champion, Hironaka’s claim to fame could be that he is the fighter who created Shinya Aoki’s appetite for arm-breaking.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/dannykeat)

In a 2007 jiu-jitsu competition, Aoki caught Hironaka in an armbar, but his opponent refused to tap out. Although Aoki was much more sportsmanlike and reserved than he would be when he duplicated the feat against Mizuto Hirota at K-1 Dynamite! two years later, the incident seemed didn’t seem to bother “Tobikan Judan” in the least. Incidentally, the pair fought a year prior to the jiu-jitsu match under the Shooto banner, with Aoki winning via TKO due to cut.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/belfastbootboy)

Andrei Semenov was born 34 years ago.

Why he matters: Semenov is one of the best fighters who never really got a fair shake in the UFC. Had he been given one, he may have become a household name like Chuck Liddell or Tito Ortiz, rather than a fighter most non-hardcore MMA fans have never heard about.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Damienhis)

His 30-9-2 record includes wins over Amar Suloev, Ricardo Almeida, Martin Kampmann and Martijn de Jong, as well as a pair of draws with Mike Pyle and Denis Kang. After winning his UFC debut against Almeida, he lost to Ivan Salaverry in his second (and last) fight in the Octagon and was dropped by Zuffa. Folowing a three-year hiatus from the sport, Semenov returned to competition in April of this year to beat Luigi Fioravanti at M-1 Chalenge in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Chris Weidman was born 27 years ago.

Why he matters: Being an undefeated fighter in MMA is like being a messageboard commenter with actual MMA credentials — it’s a rarity. A product of Matt Serra’s gym in New York, Weidman is 6-0 in the sport and 2-0 in his UFC career. He defeated veteran Alessio Sakara by unanimous decision at UFC Live 3: Sanchez vs. Kampmann in March and followed up that impressive performance three months later in Vancouver at UFC 131 with a first-round submission win over Jesse Bongfeldt.

Bellator 22 happened one year ago.

Why it mattered: Ben Askren won Bellator’s Season 2 Welterweight Tournament by defeating veteran Dan Hornbuckle by unanimous decision at the event. He would go on to win the Bellator strap from Lyman Good in his subsequent title shot at Bellator 33.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/BellatorMMA)

On This Day in MMA History…

(Thank Crom somewhere along the way, they decided to wear shorts.)

36 years ago: MMA’s version of Yoda, Greg Jackson, was born in Washington, DC.

34 years ago: UFC middleweight and former CagePotato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich Attonito was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Check out the rest after the jump.

(Thank Crom somewhere along the way, they decided to wear shorts.)

36 years ago: MMA’s version of Yoda, Greg Jackson, was born in Washington, DC.

34 years ago: UFC middleweight and former CagePotato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich Attonito was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

4 years ago: UFC 72: Victory took place in Ireland, marking the first time the Octagon made an appearance on the Emerald Isle.

Although the card was not a particularly great one, a few things of note happened:

• A number of notable fighters fought their last respective bouts in the Octagon that night, including Hector Ramirez, Scott Smith and Rory Singer.

• Yushin Okami lost his first UFC bout against Rich Franklin. Had he won, he would have fought Anderson Silva next.

Martin Kampmann was originally scheduled to fight Franklin, but withdrew from the bout due to injury.

Jake O’Brien was scheduled to fight Tom Murphy, but was also forced to withdraw due to injury. Since no replacement for O’Brien could be found, Murphy too was pulled from the card.

• Clay Guida lost by split decision to Tyson Griffin, which was his second loss in a row. He pulled out a close split decision in his next fight against Marcus Aurelio. Had he lost that one, he may have been cut from the UFC.

• Fight of the Night went to Clay Guida and Tyson Griffin.

• Submission of the Night went to Ed Herman for his second-round rear naked choke over Scott Smith.

• Knockout of the Night went to Marcus Davis for his 1:15 knockout of UFC newcomer Jason Tan.

• 7850 attended the event.

1 year ago: Strikeforce LA took place on a Wednesday night at at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The event, whose final line-up changed several times after Charles Bennett, Jason Miller, Bobby Lashley, and Ron Sparks all ended up being pulled from the card for various reasons.

Two of the card’s bouts had title implications.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral defeated Robbie Lawler by decision in a 195-pound catchweight bout and was awarded a number one light heavyweight contendership bout his next fight against Dan Henderson after declaring that he would not face his friend and sometimes training partner Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

Tim Kennedy defeated Trevor Prangley and got a shot at the Strikeforce middleweight strap (which was vacated by Jake Shields when he left for the UFC) against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. Had Lawler defeated Sobral, he would have faced Souza instead.

It’s estimated that 164,000 viewers tuned in for the event with a peak audience of 197,000 watching it on Showtime.

5259 attended the show.

‘Modern Warriors’: The MMA/Gladiator Connection

(Well, that’s what you get for leaving it in the hands of the judges.)
Friends, Romans, CagePotatoans, lend me your ears. We’re all familiar with the UFC’s famous gladiator introduction. And if you’re familiar with it, you probably …

(Well, that’s what you get for leaving it in the hands of the judges.)

Friends, Romans, CagePotatoans, lend me your ears. We’re all familiar with the UFC’s famous gladiator introduction. And if you’re familiar with it, you probably want them to change it. Guess what? It ain’t happening. Dana White (along with most Americans) is fascinated by that era of Roman history and its various dramatic representations, be it in the movie Spartacus, HBO’s Rome or the upcoming movie The Eagle. One can’t help but be infatuated with their tales of valor, violence, and debauchery. We can all go peruse Wikipedia and learn about the roots of MMA in pankration, so there’s no need for us to delve into its lineage and bore you.

Let’s take a quick look at gladiators. Many of them were slaves or prisoners condemned to fight, though there are some who volunteered for the job. While most gladiators’ non-fighting lives were rife with pain and sorrow — I mean, they were slaves after all — stepping into the arena was seen as a blessing, a chance to showcase their skills, a place to hear the cheers of the crowd and the love of the people. Some gladiators were as popular in the arena as the Senators themselves. While outsiders saw combat as barbaric and violent, it was a necessary evil to the combatants in order to attain glory.

For the gladiator, it wasn’t always about winning or losing, though losing could prove to be fatal; it was also about getting the crowd behind you. Most people aren’t aware that many gladiatorial contests were worked (like wrasslin’) in order to garner fan support. Look at it like Chris Lytle making a deal to try and win Fight of the Night. If you fought valiantly, the crowd cheered — unless you kept losing. We’ve all seen that “thumbs up or thumbs down” scene in Gladiator; well that wasn’t exactly accurate, but it wasn’t too far off from the truth. Your life was potentially in the hands of the official over the games and if they weren’t entertained, you died.

Dissection by Dallas: Liddell vs. Franklin

By CagePotato contributor Dallas Winston To see past installments of Dallas’s incredibly thorough (and usually accurate) fight breakdowns, click here.
The UFC’s infusion of Pride and other overseas fighters had a significant impact on the near…

By CagePotato contributor Dallas Winston
To see past installments of Dallas’s incredibly thorough (and usually accurate) fight breakdowns, click here.

The UFC’s infusion of Pride and other overseas fighters had a significant impact on the nearly invincible aura surrounding Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin.

Only a few short years ago, the duo had thoroughly cleaned out their respective divisions as UFC champions, shellacking any and all takers with unorthodox striking that commonly ended in highlight-reel knockouts, until Pride’s demise opened the flood gates for an influx of hungry new blood.

Before first meeting Anderson Silva in 2006, Franklin boasted a stout 20-1-1 clip, ending all contests but one by stoppage — fourteen of which were handled in the opening frame — with some mysterious karate guy accounting for his only stain on the carpet. Since that dark eve of the profoundly deviated septum at UFC 64, Franklin has notched a mediocre 5-4 run, checkered by three brutal first-round beatings and one tight decision loss, all dealt by former Pride fighters (although Vitor Belfort’s classification should remain amorphous).