Tag: Opinion

UFC 130 Fight Card: Is Brian Stann A Threat To Anderson Silva’s Title?

Anderson Silva is without a doubt the king of the UFC’s middleweight division.The owner of the longest title reign in the UFC, “the Spider” has won each of his thirteen bouts inside the Octagon as well as defending his title eight consecutive times&mda…

Anderson Silva is without a doubt the king of the UFC’s middleweight division.

The owner of the longest title reign in the UFC, “the Spider” has won each of his thirteen bouts inside the Octagon as well as defending his title eight consecutive times—both records.

Set to face top contender Yushin Okami at UFC: Rio in August, there remains very few in the division who pose a threat to Silva’s belt.

Most analysts see the pound for pound king facing Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre or moving up to light-heavyweight if he gets past Okami. 

But what about Brian Stann?

War hero and former WEC light-heavyweight champion, Stann quietly amassed a respectable 3-2 record in the UFC coming into the biggest fight of his career against the dangerous Chris Leben in January.

Known for his cut physique and world-class athleticism, analysts saw Stann as a strong, athletic guy, but lacking the striking and technical skills possessed by others in the division. Leben was thought to have the better hands—boy were they wrong.

Stann came out swinging hard, knocking down Leben, known for his tough chin, multiple times. Showcasing any array of techniques, Stann landed a myriad of body kicks and punches before ending the fight with a knee to the body against the cage 3:37 into the first round.

The only other fighter to dominate Leben with strikes—Anderson Silva.

Now don’t get me wrong, Silva is by far the better striker in comparison to Stann. With a list of knockouts including Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin and Vitor Belfort, Silva wouldn’t worry about Stann’s striking.

But the former Marine is ever improving his game, with Leben just the latest victim of his newly added skills.

Stann showed off his submission skills last August, catching Mike Massenzio in a triangle in the third round. His debut at middleweight, this bout also earned the “All-American” Fight of the Night honors.

Training under the mastermind that is Greg Jackson, Stann’s raw athletic ability and hard work ethic make him the ideal student for Jackson. Working with his stable of champions in New Mexico, Stann will no doubt come out even better when he faces Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago later this month.

If Stann can put on another dominating performance, this time against a champion caliber fighter in Santiago, look for this American hero to be catapulted into stardom.

Time will only tell if Brian Stann can craft himself into a champion, but if he keeps dominating opponents inside the Octagon, Silva and the rest of the division will definitely have to take notice.  

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UFC 131 Fight Card: A Head-to-Toe Breakdown of Junior Dos Santos vs Shane Carwin

It’s a bout that we all wanted to see happen for a long time, ever since Shane Carwin earned his crack at Brock Lesnar with his UFC 111 win over Frank Mir, to be exact.But it’s a bout that we all thought would stay a fantasy and never truly surface …

It’s a bout that we all wanted to see happen for a long time, ever since Shane Carwin earned his crack at Brock Lesnar with his UFC 111 win over Frank Mir, to be exact.

But it’s a bout that we all thought would stay a fantasy and never truly surface as a legitimate fight, especially when Lesnar came off of a hard-fought split decision win in a bout with diverticulitis to survive a fatal and unquestionable 8-10 first round and submit Shane Carwin with a second-round “Death-Clutch” Arm Triangle choke at UFC 116.

Unfortunately for fans of the former WWE Champion, 2002 WWE King of The Ring, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion, MMA Junkie reports that diverticulitis has engaged in a rematch with the Minnesotan, and thus Lesnar will not be able to face fellow TUF 13 coach Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos at UFC 131.

Stepping in for Lesnar is one of the only two men that fans legitimately believe can and definitely could knock Dos Santos out, and with UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez sidelined until the still-TBA UFC card slated to take place in Houston, that man is none other than Shane Carwin, who will be revamping his game plan to prepare for Dos Santos in lieu of a young and hungry Jon Olav Einemo.

It’s the bout we were close to never actually seeing, and since we now know that it will indeed happen, it’s about time for Yours Truly to run it down from top-to-bottom: this is the head-to-toe breakdown of Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin!

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UFC 131: With Brock Lesnar Out, the Main Event Fight Is Now Even Better

My immediate reaction to changing Brock Lesnar and substituting in Shane Carwin was “Junior dos Santos will crush him.”The more I think about it though, the more of a good—and better—main event fight it will be.Carwin is deserving of a seco…

My immediate reaction to changing Brock Lesnar and substituting in Shane Carwin was “Junior dos Santos will crush him.”

The more I think about it though, the more of a good—and better—main event fight it will be.

Carwin is deserving of a second shot at a title and JDS is a great stepping stone to get there. If Carwin does get a shot at Cain Velasquez, it’s very well deserved seeing as he had Lesnar beat until he gassed.

But the fight between Carwin and JDS is more interesting now. Instead of watching Lesnar trying to take down JDS the entire fight, you get two guys who know how to strike and do it very well.

Carwin was able to get rocked and get going again as evident by his first round, knockout win over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 96.

But Gonzaga is no JDS. JDS has great striking ability and is very agile. The man even knows how to do the “Showtime Kick” for crying out loud. 

You couldn’t possibly put two better fighters in the cage at UFC 131.

Not to mention now we don’t have to see Carwin fight someone like Jon Olav Einemo. Einemo hasn’t even fought since 2006.

Carwin now gets a nice tough test against someone of name value and a top heavyweight in the world. Coming off an injury that required surgery.

The fight features two good strikers now that could duke it out to earn the right to face Velasquez sometime in the fall of this year.

Unlike the removal of Gray Maynard versus Frankie Edgar from UFC 130, this is a good move for the card. 

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UFC 130: Quinton Jackson’s Patella and Why We Didn’t Need to Hear About It

So it was his patella after all.Or, in layman’s terms, his “knee” (and not the Spanish dish).The following is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s explanation on why he slapped Rashad Evans in a nightclub. It comes with a bonus: the other reason why…

So it was his patella after all.

Or, in layman’s terms, his “knee” (and not the Spanish dish).

The following is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s explanation on why he slapped Rashad Evans in a nightclub. It comes with a bonus: the other reason why Evans kicked his gluteus maximus last time they fought in the UFC, the first being octagon rust.

“Like Rashad came up to me and told me ‘I fought [Lyoto] Machida the same way he fought me.’ He come tell me stuff like that cuz he sour because I beat Machida and he got knocked the hell out by Machida. And he basically didn’t do anything against Machida, so he trying to get sour about that.

“He knows the only reason he beat me is because I was rusty and I was injured. If you go back and watch that fight he was punching me in my knee, my knee that was hurt. I never seen anybody punch anyone in the knee in MMA in all the years I been doing MMA. But somehow he knew my knee was injured” (MiddleEasy.com, May 9, 2011; italics added).

In case you lost count, he mentioned knee four times.

An ailing knee or any injury may be a valid reason for losing a fight.

The losing fighter, if given the benefit of the doubt, could be publicizing it post-fight simply as a matter of fact.

But he only makes it sound like a sorry excuse.

Leading into the fight, it’s a given that teammates, trainers and physicians must know about any injury or sickness afflicting the fighter, from mild to severe.

But you wouldn’t want your opponent to be in the know and exploit it—unless it’s your tactic to make him overconfident.

It’s a principle in combat sports not to expect your opponent to make your liability his liability.

You can’t make him limit his offensive options by obliging him to spare your injury.

You can’t go like, “Hey, Rashad! My knee’s hurt so don’t hit it while I hit every part of you as the rules allow.” (In fairness to Jackson, he implied that Evans was not supposed to know about it but “somehow he knew.”)

Tell your trainer, teammate, doctors and manager. From there, let the sports media and fans do their sleuthing without making their job easier.

Otherwise, if you think the severity of your injury will greatly disadvantage you and cause you to lose the fight—or worse—then don’t fight at all. And tell the world about it.

A UFC fighter can always text Dana White, “My head was crane-kicked last sparring session and it flew out of the window. I’ll just have myself sewn back together again and fight next time.”

Here’s praying that our UFC 130 main event fighters Quinton Jackson and Matt Hamill will be fighting fit and ready to rumble this May 28.

Especially after the cancellation of the original main event, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III, due to injuries.

By the way, has Hamill ever complained about his hearing conditions?

UFC 130 Results, News and More

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Ultimate Fighter Team Lesnar vs. Team Dos Santos: UFC & Spike Should Update Adds

As I watched the new episode of the Ultimate Fighter on a hot and humid night in Tennessee, something I rarely see caught my eye. The main event for UFC 130 has been changed to the Quinton Jackson and Matt Hamill match-up, yet the promos for the event …

As I watched the new episode of the Ultimate Fighter on a hot and humid night in Tennessee, something I rarely see caught my eye. The main event for UFC 130 has been changed to the Quinton Jackson and Matt Hamill match-up, yet the promos for the event have not changed. 

It seems odd that the UFC or Spike would make such a simple error.

There very well could be thousands of people who, at this moment, do not know that Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard have both had to withdraw due to injury.  It is not a huge deal to me or anyone who follows the sport constantly, but it could leave a bad taste in the mouth of the casual fan.

Hopefully, by tomorrow the mistake has been corrected and the people who see the replays will know of the change.  Not everyone follows the news like hardcore fans do and that was very misleading.

In the end it probably won’t matter all that much because there are three weeks remaining to do damage control for the hiccup but in an era when the UFC President is touting that they can compete with the NFL, NBA and MLB nothing can be spared to scratch their way to the top.

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UFC: Why Mirko "Cro Cop" vs. "Minotauro" Nogueira II Should NOT Happen

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.

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