Nostalgia can be a funny thing.It plays with the senses, confounds reason, and clouds memory. Like a drug, it impairs proper judgement and good sense in favour of a high that’s progressively harder and harder to achieve.In combat sports, nostalgia is a…
Nostalgia can be a funny thing.
It plays with the senses, confounds reason, and clouds memory. Like a drug, it impairs proper judgement and good sense in favour of a high that’s progressively harder and harder to achieve.
In combat sports, nostalgia is a fun, almost vital part of the fan experience. No sport fosters an emotional fan connection like one-on-one fighting, and that’s a connection that can stay strong in the face of time’s cruel onward march. Time and again, we forget the obvious realities of the fight game while we rally once again around a beloved fight or fighter.
Most of the time, when it comes to fighting, nostalgia is like pissing your pants: sure, it feels all warm and fuzzy while it’s happening, but once it’s over you’re left with a big mess, and an even bigger embarrassment.
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk surrounding a possible rematch between Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira at UFC 134 in Brazil. That isn’t really a surprise to me as both men are some of the most legendary figures in all the sport. Their names in a headline will, for good or ill, get fans talking.
No, what surprises me is that the reaction has been largely positive. As in, people actually want to see this fight happen.
So I’m going to go ahead and throw a cold glass of water on those (potential) plans before the sport of MMA finds itself once again with a spreading stain on its pants and an embarrassed look on its face.
I can already hear the howls of the MMA faithful as they pour out of the woodwork to burn me in effigy. How dare I desecrate the names of two of PRIDE’s greatest legends! In fact, if MMA hardcores had a “holy trinity” it would be these two men along with Wanderlei Silva (Fedor having been excommunicated to the M-1 underworld).
But beyond rabid fandom, there is a legitimate argument being put forward for making this fight.
“Both guys are old and past their moment,” the argument goes, “so why not have them square off now in a fun, just for the hell of it fight? What’s the harm?”
It’s ironic, because just last weekend MMA fans were railing against the perceived pointlessness of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley fight. And now, within the space of a few days, here they are calling for a fight that has “pointless” written all over it.
I realize the analogy isn’t a perfect one. Manny Pacquiao is by no means over the hill, and any PPV with his name on it—be it Pacquiao vs. Jose Canseco, Pacquiao vs. Zulu, even Pacquiao vs. His inner doubt—is a cultural event.
But Shane Mosley certainly is. And the perception of this fight from fans top to bottom was that it was a “keep busy” fight, a filler fight for Pac-Man in lieu of a serious, actual, Floyd Mayweather-inclusive fight.
In other words, barring a fluke Mosley win, it was utterly pointless. Boxing fans accepted it, but MMA fans were livid. To paraphrase Gus Johnson, such things don’t happen in MMA.
Yet here we are, talking about dragging a bell-rung and injury plagued Nogueira out for another dance with Mirko Cro Cop’s ghost. I think a large part of this has to do with how unbelievably awesome their first fight was, back in the halcyon days of PRIDE. If you’ve never seen it, then for God’s sake stop reading this article and go watch it! Few fights in all of combat sports have ever been so emotional and dramatic.
In fact, if you had to judge based on this fight alone, you’d be forced to to conclude that Antonio Nogueira is one of the baddest men who ever lived.
And he is. So is Mirko, for that matter. But their moment has passed, and the magic of their first clash will never be duplicated.
Look at what made their first fight so exciting: Mirko’s incredible striking and Antonio’s cast iron chin.
Today, Mirko’s striking consists of high-fiving Pat Barry and absolutely refusing to pull the trigger, while Nog’s iron chin is a thing of the past. In two of his last three, “Minotauro” has been knocked cold by guys who had a reputation for “pillow-fists” BEFORE their fight with him.
Call me crazy, but that doesn’t exactly seem like a recipe for a fun rematch. Instead, it looks like the makings of a classic fistic disaster.
My grandfather served in the air force in the Second World War. My friend’s grandfather served in a similar position in the German Luftwaffe. If they ever actually fought, I guarantee their battle was dramatic, emotional, scary, and pulse-pounding every single second.
If they fought again today, it would be two old men circling each other, tentatively poking each other with their canes.
That’s not a fight I want to see. And neither is Mirko Cro Cop vs. Minotauro Nogueira II.
Welcome back for The Ultimate Fighter 13 episode seven blog with Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil. Once again this episode was more than entertaining. Delivering a good fight, funny jokes and horrible football skills. There wasn’t enough room after editing…
Welcome back for The Ultimate Fighter 13 episode seven blog with Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil. Once again this episode was more than entertaining. Delivering a good fight, funny jokes and horrible football skills. There wasn’t enough room after editing to even add in all the crazy stuff that was going on. But…….That’s why I’m here. To give the stories of what the episode didn’t show.
The wild card selection took place immediately after the fights between Tony and Justin and Myself vs Zach. After the selection was announced, Len instantly ran over to Dana and tried pleading his case. He followed this up with an entire van ride home going on and on about how upset he was. This was followed up with three weeks straight of him constantly complaining about the situation. He was constantly talking about how much better he felt he was than everyone in the house and how he was screwed from the wild card slot along with his third round with Ryan.
He would also constantly mention how he should be on the finale and how he hoped Ryan would lose so he could get that fight. I don’t think he fully understood the extent to which he was completely disrespecting everyone in the house. By stating you’re the best in the house to any and every ear available is not only annoying but also disrespectful. Ramsey’s quote on the episode explained it best, stating that Len thought he was the biggest, strongest and toughest guy in the room at all times and that nobody should mess with him.
The situation with Len got more and more entertaining and tense as the last couple of weeks played out. A lot of the guys in the house started to get annoyed with him. We would all still be able to hang out with him and have a good time. But when he started going on his rants it became time to fake sleep. The guys on Team Lesnar all had an inside joke of not only calling Len Captain America, we also would fake pass out into a deep sleep when his rants would begin. Nordin absolutely loved getting this going and even got Team JDS to get in on the fun. There will definitely be more of Len to come in the coming weeks!
We got a chance to see some interaction between Len and Ryan during this episode as well. Ryan absolutely could not stand Len before, during or after their fight. Ryan would take any and every opportunity to cause trouble with Len and sit back and laugh as it all unfolded. Outside of that Ryan would just avoid conversation with Len as if it were the plague. He’d go as far as just stopping a conversation he was having with people just to walk away from an incoming Len. This was all pretty funny because Ryan is a super nice guy who totally avoids confrontation.
At the house, outside of all the Len business, we had a B-day party for Tony. I had planned it out days in advance with Team Lesnar to make homemade pizza for our guys, along with a pinata and a cake. Certainly not the best nutritional choices but Tony was on the lighter side and most of the guys were either out of the competition or didn’t have a fight for almost two weeks. Tony also ordered himself a bottle of Patron, which was polished off within an hour span between Tony, Charlie and Clay.
Charlie and Tony continued on to destroy beers and started feeling pretty good. Clay on the other hand was getting pretty rambunctious and started destroying things in the house. This was awesome because that reminded me of my brother and our antics together back home. So I, being sober, quickly joined the fun.
I was also coming up with funny stuff to do in the house as it was getting pretty repetitive day in and day out. Myself and Clay had food fights, antiqued Charlie twice and came up with the idea of re organizing the contents of the fridge. The fridge thing may sound pretty lame but knowing that Ryan and Javier spent hours a day organizing their food, it was pretty funny. We drew and wrote stuff all over the eggs we had in the house, basically trying to do anything we could to start some kind of situation in the house. As I said we got pretty bored.
This episode also highlighted a problem between Chris Cope and Shamar. I remember being in front of the confrontation in the house and thinking “man Chris just got punked”. Being away from it and seeing it on t.v I definitely view it the other way and find Chris pretty funny. Chris pretty much just yup’d Shamar to make him stop talking, told him he’s not going to stop woo’ing because its what he does. Meanwhile, Shamar had come running out into the kitchen in his cute pj pants while rocking his sleeping mask on his head which was pretty funny on it’s own.
At this point, a lot of the guys were getting a little tired of Shamar’s tough guy attitude. He was pretty much walking around the house holding his nose up in the air like he was better than all of us and was acting like he was the only one who deserved to be there. I recall a situation with Shamar that took place when myself and Charlie went into the training center to grab our things out of the gym. Shamar was infuriated as if we were there to steal his super special move he had or something. He tried to pull the tough guy card and I believe try to scare us away.
Asking us “do you guys know what time it is?”. Apparently the answer he was looking for wasn’t the “game time!” one I gave him and told me we were late and to leave their practice. Charlie and I just pretty much laughed the situation off thinking this guy couldn’t be serious.
We got to see the coach’s challenge on this episode which was a sloppy football drill. Brock and Junior looked very good within the agility aspect of the challenge but when the actual football skill came into play things got ugly! Neither of them could really kick or throw a football very well. But then again who really expected them to. I remember being within the competition seeing Junior catch the pass and break away down the field. I just became sad, knowing I just lost my chance at an extra $1500. In the end Junior being the good guy that he is gave all of the guys on Team Lesnar $100 which was very generous of him. All in all it was cool to get out of the house into a different scenery for a change of pace.
Onto the actual fighting part of this show. This episode shows me going slow on the aerodyne bike looking out of it. This leads to Brock being nervous about having me as his wild card pick. Thinking I didn’t actually want the fight. What was really going on was I was trying to re-focus myself in on this competition and what I needed to do to win this fight. I was also pretty nervous on having to make weight again for the second time in four days. My weight had already gotten back up to 187 after my fight with Zach. On a side note I have never made weight and fought twice in a month let alone twice in a week.
I decided it was time to get rid of my trash beard. It had definitely over stayed its welcome in the house. I felt with the trash beard gone I’d be able to focus much more. Well that and I was done looking like a complete piece of crap. During this time period, I looked to my two close friends in the house, Charlie Rader and Clay Harvison. They both helped me get my head on straight and understand what I needed to do to win this fight. Many times a day Charlie would remind me how he wasn’t getting a second chance and I needed to take mine and make the most of it. Charlie would make it clear telling me he was just as much in my fight as I was. Having two solid friends not only in this competition with me, but also on my team gave me a huge advantage.
It just so happened that when my focus in the competition arrived so did Brock’s coaching abilities. Brock started working with me directly which was something very new to our team and made us pretty optimistic for the remaining half of the competition. It was very noticeable, Brock really wanted me to win this fight. He was going over a lot of great wrestling techniques as well as having me work a lot with Compredo. Compredo, as stated before is a world famous BJJ black belt with an endless amount of skill and knowledge.
He worked a lot on my triangle defense as well as my passing the guard technique. It became pretty much a two hour private with a world class black belt. I was beginning to have more and more faith in my coaches through this process which brought on a higher level of confidence for the fight.
Fight day finally arrived and I was super focused at this point. As shown Tony asked if this was the upgrade of me but like I told him it was the real me. I left for the fight with Charlie and Clay. Once I got there I sat in the room in complete silence focused on the game plan we had put together. I just kept replaying it over and over again in my head and each time it happened it made me realize this WAS going to happen. Brock explains second chances don’t come often and I had to make the most of mine. I feel like I did, as I went out and fought a tough fight with a very game Javier Torres.
The first round saw a pretty close match up as we were landing shots back and forth on each other. Javier kept trying to work the clinch with me but I would keep reversing him and or breaking away, as we worked on in the game plan. First round was super close but I feel like I landed more clean shots to edge out the first round. Second round we came out swinging again where I started landing more of the clean shots and made Javier start second guessing his attack. Javi got a nice sweep takedown but it was quickly reversed as I got up the cage and took him down.
Immediately passing his guard I got to half guard and started grinding on him taking his energy away. Eventually I sunk in the fight ending choke, letting team JDS know that I wasn’t some bum who didn’t belong on the show. I showed I belonged, wanted to be here and that whoever was next better be ready!
Dana later made the quarter final fight announcements. The episode didn’t show the selection process which actually took place. He took all eight of us into his office to ask who we wanted to fight. I told him I wanted to fight Junior at first, as I thought he was the weakest guy in the house. Clearly they knew I was joking, they could tell I wanted to keep my jaw in place. I then told Dana and the coaches I wanted to fight anybody who was left. When asked for two names I asked for either Ryan or Ramsey. I felt I would match up well with Ryan and it would be a fun fight.
With Ramsey I felt his style would clash with mine and I would give him some major trouble. Well that and the fact that he beat one of my best friends so it was somewhat of a revenge thing. Dana also asked who I thought was the toughest guy in the house. I told him I felt Tony was. Reason being he gave me the most trouble out of anyone in practice and we would have some absolute wars. I also felt he was very mentally tough.
So the picks were made and they were actually in a completely different order on the episode then they actually were in real time. In real time it was Chris vs Shamar, Clay vs. Ramsey, Tony vs Ryan and the rematch of myself vs Zach. I was definitely thinking I was going to get Ryan but oh well I get the chance to avenge my loss to Zach now instead. This was an Ultimate Fighter first as a prelim fight would be rematched in the quart finals. This should be exciting!
Thats all for this week on The Ultimate Fighter 13 episode seven blog. Check back next week to see what kind of nonsense Len is up to along with the house drinking and pranks taking place. Also we will get to see two fights in one episode again as Clay takes on Ramsey and Chris takes on Shamar. Until next time, this is the most ridiculous man on the show Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil and I want to thank everyone for their continued support!
At UFC 129, I heard Mike Goldberg say the strangest thing: he called Vladimir Matyushenko a “legend.” Now, I understand that Mike has been prone to say many dubious things, like the time he described Travis Lutter’s Jiu-Jitsu as “Mich…
At UFC 129, I heard Mike Goldberg say the strangest thing: he called Vladimir Matyushenko a “legend.” Now, I understand that Mike has been prone to say many dubious things, like the time he described Travis Lutter’s Jiu-Jitsu as “Michael Jordan-esque.” I also understand that the man is simply trying to hype up fights. But calling Matyushenko a legend? Hold your horses, buddy.
Listen, I have absolutely no problem with Vladimir Matyushenko. The man has a great record (26-5) and has been through some tough fights in his long career. He has had several good battles against the likes of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tito Ortiz, and Andrei Arlovski, among others. And to continue being competitive at his age? Remarkable.
Still, those achievements are not enough to earn the title of “legend.” His most notable accomplishments are winning the IFL Light Heavyweight championship from someone you’ve never heard of and defending said championship against someone you’ve never heard of.
Let me get to my point: Matyushenko is not a legend, he is a veteran. He’s a veteran the same way Yuki Kondo is a veteran, or Matt Serra (GSP upset withstanding), or even the beloved Fedor’s younger sibling.
To become a legend, you would need to have done something incredible for the sport. Royce Gracie very arguably sowed the roots of MMA to become what it is today. The Shamrock brothers are not just pioneers, they also brought the sport much needed exposure and were incredibly successful during their prime years.
Kazushi Sakuraba was one of the most exciting fighters to watch in Pride, and his victories over notable opposition made him a national hero in Japan. Chuck and Wanderlei held on to their UFC and Pride belts, respectively, for so long we thought they’d never lose them. Today, Anderson Silva’s legacy is secure as we wait for his next move.
Vernon White was a great fighter in his day. Carlos Newton won the UFC welterweight championship once. Renzo Gracie has had some really exciting fights over the years. These men are not legendary. They have been in the sport a long time, have had good success, and, well, that’s it.
To be sure, I don’t believe any of the veterans I have described would call themselves legendary. Aside from Frank Shamrock, most legends are humble and wouldn’t describe themselves as such either. Still, a distinction has to be made between the two. 50 years from now, what will MMA fans be remembering the most: BJ Penn winning belts in two divisions, or Luiz Azeredo’s three fight win streak in the early 2000s? Let’s not give the future something to laugh about when they recall the past and its tendency to bestow titles on the undeserving.
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos has officially emerged from what is traditionally the reality-television portion of its season with surprisingly little reality-television fare.For the strict MMA purist at heart, that’s great news….
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos has officially emerged from what is traditionally the reality-television portion of its season with surprisingly little reality-television fare.
For the strict MMA purist at heart, that’s great news.
Less boorish nonsense in the house and gym means more blood, sweat and tears inside the cage. Of course, if you’re a strict purist, what the hell are you doing watching the 13th season of TUF?
This is the UFC’s offering to the brave new pop culture world and it’s as much about the show outside of the Octagon as it is about the go inside it. From the non-purist perspective, it’s been a tremendous letdown.
With arguably the sport’s biggest star attached, in Brock Lesnar, we were supposed to be treated to a must-see phenomenon similar to the Forrest Griffin-Stephan Bonnar collision that thrust TUF into the mainstream. Instead, we’ve had weeks of bedroom-eye promos that got the pulse racing, only to be disappointed with a TUF peck on the cheek and a lonely drive home, as the flirtations have gone unfulfilled.
Oh well.
The second round of fights begins tonight, and that means the reality-television overtones usually become muted as the focus shifts and the last men standing get whittled down. That means more scrapping and less yapping as that six-figure contract on the horizon gets closer and closer.
So maybe the window for salacious scandal has closed, but the one for legitimate tussles just opened wider.
Check back at the top of the hour for reactions to this week’s action.
While Rashad Evans prepares for his bout against Phil Davis, the former UFC light heavyweight champion took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with ESPN.com.It’s certain to say, he had a lot on his mind.Evans, who appeared at the UFC Summit in L…
While Rashad Evans prepares for his bout against Phil Davis, the former UFC light heavyweight champion took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with ESPN.com.
It’s certain to say, he had a lot on his mind.
Evans, who appeared at the UFC Summit in Las Vegas, spoke of his ongoing feud with Jones and it seems as though his animosity has grown towards the 23-year-old in the past few months via Twitter.
“Yeah I was gettin’ into it. I like to talk, and I was gettin’ real excited about it. There were a lot of things that made me mad about the whole situation so…I definitely wanted to address a few things,” Evans said.
The former training partners have suddenly grown apart within the past few months, and their feud escalated further when it was learned that Evans would be facing Jones for the light heavyweight title. It is something Evans has been quite vocal of and as a result, he decided to cut off ties between himself and Greg Jackson’s MMA.
Since departing from his former camp, Evans has traveled elsewhere to train.
“I’ma do a little bit in Florida, I’ma do some in Arizona, and I’ma try to get up to New York City and do some training.”
In the meantime, Evans will have to turn his attention to Phil Davis, who has replaced Jones after a hand injury forced him to withdraw from UFC 133. Evans looked at the contrast between Davis and Jones and said Davis still has some maturing to do as a fighter.
“Jon is more confident. Jon will throw something, and just believe it’s going to hit 100%. Phil is still at the point where he’s unsure,” he said.
UFC 133 is scheduled for August 6 live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
UFC 131 on June 11 from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, will be monumental for MMA because of the emergence of cage-side technology to be used by the commissioned judges.According to Sherdog.com, judges will be able to utilize video monitors thr…
UFC 131 on June 11 from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, will be monumental for MMA because of the emergence of cage-side technology to be used by the commissioned judges.
According to Sherdog.com, judges will be able to utilize video monitors throughout the fights.
In an act of precedence, Mark Ratner, UFC vice president of regulatory affairs, told Sherdog, “anything we can do to give the judges another tool is great. We’re very excited about it.”
This historic news for the Canadian venue comes immediately after the request by the UFC to place video monitors cage-side at UFC 130 on May 28.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has yet to vote on whether or not monitors will be available for the judges at UFC 130.
Headlining the star-studded fight card at UFC 131 in Vancouver will be a heavyweight clash between the former UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar, and his counterpart on The Ultimate Fighter, Junior dos Santos.
Additional fights include the return of former contender Shane Carwin and the debut of Kenny Florian at featherweight as he challenges Diego Nunes.
Will the video monitors be in place prior to May 28? That question is still undetermined.
What is certain, however, is that the UFC is taking steps to ensure the greatest reliability of scored fights and to minimize judges’ errors as they sit cage-side.
Nostalgia can be a funny thing.