MMA is a unique sport in which sometimes the most entertaining fights happen between two combatants that none of us have ever heard of. Sometimes it’s these fighters who are dead set on making a name for themselves and they lay it all on the …
MMA is a unique sport in which sometimes the most entertaining fights happen between two combatants that none of us have ever heard of. Sometimes it’s these fighters who are dead set on making a name for themselves and they lay it all on the line when they step in the cage.
But at the end of the day, like any combative sport, we pay to see the top fighters in the world.
While the UFC is generally considered the top organization, with Zuffa now owning both the UFC and Strikeforce, Dana White has presented the idea of having fighters from each organization fight one another. This would truly settle the question of who the best really is.
Still, as we saw with Shane Carwin’s odd matchup against Jon Olav Einemo, Joe Silva and the decision-makers in the UFC don’t always give us the fights we want to see.
Here are 11 fights we want to see in 2011, but won’t.
News broke on Friday afternoon that contracts had been signed for a Nick Diaz versus Jeff Lacy boxing match.ESPN.com reported that Lacy, the former IBF super middleweight champion, has specifically signed on to fight Diaz, the current Strikeforce welte…
News broke on Friday afternoon that contracts had been signed for a Nick Diaz versus Jeff Lacy boxing match.
ESPN.com reported that Lacy, the former IBF super middleweight champion, has specifically signed on to fight Diaz, the current Strikeforce welterweight champion. Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, stated that Diaz’s deal was “tentative.”
Following the official press conference for UFC 129, UFC president Dana White spoke more informally to a smaller group of MMA press.
When asked about Diaz’s contract and the stipulation for a boxing match in 2011, White said, “Listen, for the last 10 years, I’ve dealt with the craziest, coolest, the baddest, the this, the that, and I’ve always tried to make everybody happy. You can’t make them all happy, but you can try, and I’m going to sit down with Nick Diaz, literally after this fight, and try to figure out what’s next for him. It’s in his deal that he can do it (box), absolutely.”
The main event of UFC 129 saw welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defeat Diaz’s teammate, Jake Shields, by unanimous decision.
Following the fight, Diaz stated in interviews that he wanted to meet St-Pierre inside the Octagon.
For his part, White eluded to the fact that he could make a St-Pierre versus Diaz fight happen if he wanted to, “I imagine I could do whatever I wanted to do if I really wanted to, but we have a contract with Showtime and he’s a Showtime fighter,” White told MMAWeekly. “I don’t know we’re going to have to see how this whole thing works out. That’s an interesting fight (GSP vs. Diaz).”
Gracie reported to ESPN that the talk that White had mentioned having with Diaz had yet to take place.
If the conversation between Diaz and White had not occurred before the signing of the Lacy contract, why the rush? It makes little sense for Diaz’s camp to not even wait to hear what White had to say.
When the president of the promotion says, “I imagine I can do whatever I wanted to do,” in regard to making a fight that just months ago seemed impossible, it seems reasonable to give the guy a chance to speak to you.
If the tactic was done with the thought of applying pressure on White and the UFC into making the St-Pierre fight happen, well, that’s a very risky proposition.
MMA fans would like to see Diaz and St-Pierre fight and the fight is probably the most sensible fight to make from a business standpoint, but the fact remains that the UFC and White do not need a Diaz versus St-Pierre fight.
The promotion will go on without ever presenting that fight, but will Diaz be able to go on without the UFC and Zuffa LLC, the owner of both the UFC and Strikeforce?
If the plan is to force White’s hand it may backfire. No matter how much White likes Diaz he surely knows that the UFC does not need him or the headaches he could possibly bring them. It is very likely that White calls Diaz’s bluff and says, “Good luck with your fight and better luck when your contract with Strikeforce runs out and it is not renewed.”
If Diaz thinks he is the most underpaid fighter in MMA now, one wonders what he would think if he was forced to fight outside of the Strikeforce or UFC promotions.
With that being said, ESPN did report Gracie saying, “Nick’s [MMA] contract takes precedence. That’s why we’re not out there telling everyone what we’re going to do. We’re trying to work together with the UFC and not against them. And we’re trying to do things the right way.”
It remains to be seen if signing the boxing contract before hearing anything from White constitutes doing “things the right way.”
This situation, between two of the more interesting personalities in sports bears watching.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona a…
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona at Pride Critical Countdown 2004.
Rampage defeated Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He has posted a 6-2 record inside the UFC.
However, to many observers, Jackson hasn’t been “Rampage” since defeating The Iceman.
In the past couple of years, Rampage has been a very marketable person. His personality is very likable and this has led to endorsement and movie deals.
As his showbiz career was taking off, Rampage faced Rashad Evans and put on arguably the worst performance of his career in a decision loss.
Weeks after that, it was announced that he would face Lyoto Machida at UFC 123. Leading up to that fight, Rampage stated that he was going to be the old Rampage. When it came time for the fight, he walked out to the Pride promotion’s old theme song, and you could see the hunger in his eyes. For the first two rounds, Rampage controlled the pace and out-struck Machida, as well as scoring a couple of takedowns. In the end, Rampage received the split-decision win.
At UFC 130, Rampage will meet up-and-coming Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. This fight has a lot riding on it. With a win, Rampage will be one step closer to facing Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship. If he loses, Hamill would move into that role, and Rampage might never receive another title shot under the UFC banner.
Hamill has the opportunity to not only defeat a legend, but break into the top 10 and be taken seriously as a title contender. With a loss, Rampage would start to take the path of many Pride veterans, but a win will keep him going.
You’re only as good as your last fight. The underlying effect of this mantra on MMA fans is amazing at times. An upper-echelon fighter could put together a solid résumé over quality opposition, and the MMA world will adorn him or her with…
You’re only as good as your last fight.
The underlying effect of this mantra on MMA fans is amazing at times. An upper-echelon fighter could put together a solid résumé over quality opposition, and the MMA world will adorn him or her with iconic praises and immortality.
If the fighter ever has a rough outing, fans and critics will claim the fighter was exposed and gear up the “over-hyped” bandwagon. When the fighter returns to form, everything will be right in the world again, and the praise will resume as if it had never left.
MMA isn’t special, and this particular type of banter is present in other sports as well.
After losing to the New York Jets in the 2010-2011 football season, the New England Patriots bounced back with five consecutive victories, including wins over tough teams like the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens.
The Patriots were starting to look like the team of destiny, but when they suddenly lost on the road to the Cleveland Browns, the aura of hype was ripped apart. They rebounded with significant wins after the loss, and once again, they were back to being the favorites in the NFL.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre had already faced criticism about finishing fights, but the criticism was magnified in his tough unanimous decision win over Jake Shields. Featherweight champion Jose Aldo’s night wasn’t any easier. After gassing out in the early rounds, he was forced to gut out a unanimous decision victory over Mark Hominick.
Aldo is listed as third on most top 10 pound-for-pound publications. He is on a 12-fight win streak, and seven of those victories were stoppages.
Meanwhile, St-Pierre picked up his sixth consecutive welterweight title defense at UFC 129, which is one shy of tying UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes’ record. It’s been four fights since his last stoppage, but all of his victories have been completely dominant.
The sports world doesn’t allow any leeway for human error, and sometimes fans get so caught up in the present that they forget about the past, which is crippling in looking towards the future. As UFC champions, St-Pierre and Aldo are forced to face the best fighters in the world on a consistent basis. There aren’t any scrubs in between.
It’s asking a lot to expect these guys to completely dominate every opponent. Shields is listed in most pound-for-pound rankings, and Hominick could easily be considered a top ten featherweight.
This is where fighting deters from the rest of the sporting herd. In other sports, fans long for great matchups. They want to see the top dog tested and pushed like never before.
When UFC middleweight champion and proposed pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva fought Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, it was an incredibly tough and entertaining bout that ended with Silva pulling out the submission in the final round.
The backlash was incredible after the fight. For a long time, fans had claimed to want to see Silva tested, but when he actually was, the media horde blasted his in-ring abilities.
If you fast-forward a few months to Silva’s tremendous upkick victory over Vitor Belfort, you’ll see that he is back to being MMA’s messiah.
Former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida could also be included in this discussion. After coming off back-to-back losses to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, some began to question Machida’s fighting style and future as a title contender.
At UFC 129, he busts out the Karate Kid’s crane kick on a 47-year-old Hall of Famer, and the MMA world is already buzzing about a potential title bout between Machida and current champion Jon Jones.
Regardless of pound-for-pound placement, we all agree that guys like St-Pierre, Aldo and Silva are three of the best fighters in the world.
Why can’t we just enjoy special moments as they come?
People have become more occupied by watching these guys pull a rabbit out of their hat instead of actually enjoying the fights.
Yes, St-Pierre and Aldo looked mortal at UFC 129. They are only human. Isn’t that what propels the selling out of large arenas and big pay-per-view numbers. Just ask yourself. Why do you love MMA?
The unexpected keeps us on the edge of our seats. Sure, St-Pierre was a huge favorite against Shields, but if Shields managed to drag the fight to the ground, the possibility of an upset was real.
If Aldo made the slightest mistake against a savvy kickboxer like Hominick, his night could’ve been ended early.
Did anyone expect Matt Serra to knock out St-Pierre at UFC 69? What about Gabriel Gonzaga’s highlight reel KO victory over Mirko “Cro Cop?”
Even though the mantra has been used for years, it has never been true. Your last outing doesn’t determine your overall ability. If it did, every world-class athlete and team would all have been classified as overrated at one time or another.
Whether you see these fighters as Superman today or tomorrow, just remember, even Superman gets “exposed” every now and then.
UFC 129 was a true war theater of the absurd. A night of fantastic fights leading to a vexing main event that aroused more excitement before and after the fact than during.Just when I thought nobody in his right mind would bear the agony of watching th…
UFC 129 was a true war theater of the absurd. A night of fantastic fights leading to a vexing main event that aroused more excitement before and after the fact than during.
Just when I thought nobody in his right mind would bear the agony of watching the champion Georges St-Pierre and his challenger Jake Shields plod for 25 minutes again, I was proven wrong.
As it turns out, it’s true that our ever-reliable MMA fight analysts don’t sleep on the job inside their respective Situation Rooms.
And that they actually bothered to rewind and do a frame-by-frame analysis of the fight video is what separates them from casual fans.
It didn’t take long before Internet sites showing photos and slow-motion replays of the alleged eye pokes propagated like mushrooms—courtesy of our techie fans, er, I mean fight scientists.
Now what makes the past fight interesting is the hot debate swirling around it post-fight.
Now the buzz zeros in to a matter of sight, precisely the loss of it by St-Pierre in his left eye in the second round.
Was it caused by an eye poke or a legit jab?
If it was an eye poke (or pokes), was it intentional or not?
And if it was intentional, was it the main tactic of Shields and his camp to take home the UFC Welterweight Title?
And just how much did it adversely affect the champion’s game plan?
Apparently, in the eyes of some fans, Shields’ integrity as a fighter is now verbally poked by accusations, while St-Pierre’s lackadaisical performance finds absolution.
“If only St-Pierre’s left eye didn’t go blind, he would’ve won in convincingly dominating fashion,” some think.
The MMA public is divided between those who opine that Shields fought with malice and those who give him the benefit of the doubt that his finger only accidentally twitched toward his opponent’s eye every time within touching distance.
Still, there are others who insist that only knuckles landed on St-Pierre’s face.
There are, as expected, contradicting in-depth readings of the fight video. Here are samples from the comments on my previous article UFC 129 Results: Expect a Quantum Leap in Jake Shields’ Stand-up Striking.
“GSP was poked at least five times. I can say with reasonable certainty that two were successful..three of the pokes definitely seemed intentional. One was a thumb-out jab. The other two were jabs in which he opened his hand at the end of its extension. It’s very unlikely that the latter two were clinch attempts as Shields was moving backwards.”
“It really is difficult to say if it was intentional or not. I would like to believe that it wasn’t, because he does seem like a decent guy…The only real way to tell is to cross-reference his previous fights to see if these kinds of strikes are a trend. If this is the first time, then I would say there is little doubt it was intentional.”
A dissenter claims that,”My inexpensive DVD recorder has from 4 x slow up to 64 x slow or frame by frame. The PUNCH that did the damage was from the small knuckle of Shields’s left jab, it went right into the eye once and landed mostly on the same eye all night.”
How do you see it?
If you’re asking me, I foresee Frankie Edgar successfully retaining his lightweight title on UFC 130.
I think we have Manny Pacquiao’s future MMA equivalent lurking here somewhere…for those interested in Philippine MMA, check out here the official website of our country’s premier MMA organization, the Universal Reality Combat Championship and our top MMA online forum at PinoyMMA.com.
Delivering a Knockout of the Night crane kick to the jaw of the immortal Randy Couture during their matchup at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has rebounded from his defeat to both Quinton Jackson and…
Delivering a Knockout of the Night crane kick to the jaw of the immortal Randy Couture during their matchup at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has rebounded from his defeat to both Quinton Jackson and Mauricio Rua and elevated his stature within the UFC light heavyweight division.
Holding notable victories over Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua and the aforementioned Randy Couture, Machida has competed against some of the sports best fighters.
This Brazilian born mixed martial artist is a former UFC light heavyweight champion and is currently ranked the No. 5 light heavyweight fighter on the planet.
With an overall MMA record of 17-2 with six knockouts, “The Dragon” has re-positioned himself amongst the list of contenders viable to face the current UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon “Bones” Jones.
Defeating Mauricio Rua in March of this year to claim the championship title, Jones’ reign at the top will be tested.
Known for his athleticism and unpredictability within his striking, Jones has demolished each opponent he has faced, including notable victories over Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, Ryan Bader and most recently, Rua.
With an amazing 84.5″ reach, explosiveness, tremendous athleticism and a solid wrestling background, Jones may be the quintessential ultimate fighter created by engineers in a laboratory.
Receiving rightful accolades, I do believe that Machida may be the one light heavyweight contender who could challenge Jones for his championship.
“The Dragon’s” fighting style is grounded in karate. He is known for his elusiveness, dynamic strikes from various angles and planes, as well as his cautious, yet precise, counter striking.
Machida, like Jones, is extremely unpredictable inside the Octagon. Unlike Jones, who is more of an explosive, aggressive, mauling style of fighter, Machida is tactically precise and delivers punches and kicks with perfect execution.
That difference in the ability to deliver a perfect strike may off-set Jones’ advantages inside the Octagon.
Due to the elusiveness of both fighters, and the fact that both Machida and Jones create abnormal striking angles, the winner of this matchup will be determined by a random variable.
I believe the advantage in the variable department lies with Machida, because he is not only athletic, elusive, dynamic and a solid all-around fighter with a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he is also extremely precise with his strikes and delivers knockout power with perfect execution.
If you doubt Machida’s stand-up brilliance; just ask Randy Couture.
Fully aware of the level of difficulty that faces Machida if he is honored with a title shot against Jon Jones, I still feel that of the talent pool that resides within the UFC, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida’s fighting style would prepare the former champion with the ability to once again reign supreme within the UFC light heavyweight division.
