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MMA Live (June 4th, 2009) show recap
By Zach Arnold | June 5, 2009
If you want me to continue doing these recaps, please leave a comment on this post. Even if you aren’t interested in the recaps, at least let me know if you have no interest. I need to gauge the interest level here. Thanks.
This week’s show hosts: Jon Anik, Miguel Torres, and Franklin McNeil
The lead story on this week’s show is about Kimbo Slice going on The Ultimate Fighter. Not a negative word said at all about this situation. (For negativity and criticism on the situation, read this and this). Franklin says that he did a double-take when he first heard the news, but he’s very excited about it and thinks it is a great move by Dana White. Regardless of what you think about Kimbo Slice, he is a huge attraction and will bring a ton of casual fans to UFC. Franklin goes as far as to say that Kimbo will help bolster MMA’s appeal in the State and internationally. Miguel says that he doesn’t like Kimbo too much, but he will watch The Ultimate Fighter with him on it. Kimbo doesn’t have many skills but has big star power.
Stephan Bonnar was in full UFC-company mode this week on MMA Live. He said that Kimbo Slice is demonstrating good character and humility by signing up for The Ultimate Fighter. Bonnar thinks ratings will be through the roof and that there won’t be friction between Kimbo and Dana White because Dana’s got him now. Stephan says that Kimbo didn’t have to go on The Ultimate Fighter and that ‘house’ which is like living in prison, but that Kimbo has character and does the unexpected. As far as what kind of chance Kimbo has of winning on the show, Stephan says he doesn’t know who Kimbo will face but that if he faces a heavyweight with good submission skills, he will be in trouble.
Jon Anik asked Miguel if Kimbo is coachable. Torres noted that if you’re not coachable (ask Bas Rutten about his experiences with Kimbo), then you’re not going to be a great fighter. However, he expects that Rampage and Kimbo will mesh well together. Franklin says that Kimbo Slice has other opportunities, such as boxing, so he doesn’t have to do MMA but chose it because it’s a chance for him to showcase how far he’s come as an MMA fighter. It’s also an opportunity to become ‘legitimate’ in the top company in the sport. Franklin says that Kimbo is a very nice guy who is easy to talk to.
Next was a preview of this Sunday’s fight in the WEC cage between Urijah Faber and Mike Brown at Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. As far as what Urijah learned in his loss to Brown, he said that he made a small mistake and has to be more a little bit more careful but that he’s not going to change his style too much. Faber said that he didn’t underestimate Brown the first time and that he was doing well in the fight, but just got caught. You live by the sword and die by the sword. As far as how Faber sees himself beating Brown, he says that he can use any method (submission, KO) to win. His hands are good, he can submit guys, and his biggest thing right now is being on his A-game and not making any mistakes while capitalizing on his opponent’s mistakes as well. When asked how important the WEC Featherweight title is to him, Faber said that this sport is all about being the best and believing that this is where you belong, so the belt is important to him not physically (to have the actual belt) but just for his career ranking and place in the fight game. He had the belt before and knew how great it was, so it’s all about being the best and right now Mike Brown is on top. As far as a third match between the men, Faber says that he is focused on this current bout but if the fans want a third match, the promoters will book it. If they don’t, then Urijah is ready to face whomever the bookers slot him against.
Miguel Torres said that Brown/Faber will be an awesome fight and that Urijah has all the skills to put Brown away. Franklin thinks that Urijah is going into the fight with the pressure on him, but it’s the kind of pressure that will make Faber better. The key to the fight for Urijah is to keep it standing and not grapple with the bigger, stronger Brown who has one-punch power. Stephan Bonnar noted that many people thought Brown got lucky when he Faber, but that Brown proved it wasn’t luck when he destroyed Leonard Garcia in Texas.
Next, The Spotlight focused on Strikeforce’s Saturday card in St. Louis. Jon Anik interviewed Robbie Lawler. Lawler clearly did not seem interested at all in the interview and was very terse with his words. Painful to watch. Lawler said that the 10 month layoff hasn’t hurt him too bad and that he’s been working on his overall skills during the time. He said that he’s not impressed with Jake Shields moving up to 185 pounds in hopes of looking for better competition. As far as Cung Le’s inactivity is concerned, Lawler wants a shot at the Middleweight belt. Franklin said that the key for Jake Shields winning the fight against Lawler is to get it on the ground and try to make the fight as long as possible so that Lawler gets worn down.
After the Lawler interview, onto discussion of Andrei Arlovski vs. Brett Rogers. Miguel says that the best thing for Andrei to do is to box, but his chin is suspect. Franklin says that this will be a boxing match between Brett Rogers is the type of opponent that will let Andrei box as opposed to taking the fight to the ground. Brett is not technically sound as a boxer, so Franklin thinks Andrei will counterpunch with him. Rogers is somewhat of a threat because of his one-punch power.
An e-mail question: Who should Frank Trigg fight first in UFC? (Well, it seems like it is Josh Koscheck.) Torres says he does not want to see that fight and instead wants to see Trigg/Hughes III.
The next topic revolves around Rampage Jackson choosing to coach season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter instead of facing Machida right away. Franklin says he thinks it’s a pretty good decision because he didn’t have a great fight against Keith Jardine.
We move onto quick coverage of the upcoming Bellator show in Ontario, California with Jeff Sherwood from Sherdog.
Jon Anik interviewed Scott Smith, who did a really good job here of putting over his upcoming fight with Nick Diaz. Smith came off good on Comcast Sportsnet last week, as well. In regards to the amount of punishment Smith took in the fight against Benji Radach last April, Scott says that he likes the fact that he’s fight on short-notice because he’s in great shape and it’s kept his training camp going. He feels like it’s perfect timing to fight Nick Diaz. Smith noted that he would rather continue his fight style and fight for 2-3 more years as opposed to playing it conservatively and fighting for 6-7 more years. Scott says the key to beating Diaz is to impose his will on him and worry about doing what he does best. Smith said that the big mistake Frank Shamrock made in the April fight was throwing one punch at a time against Nick and allowing Nick to pick him apart with combinations. Scott said that Cung Le needs to get active in MMA and give someone a title shot soon. Miguel Torres said that he doesn’t like fighting on short notice because your body doesn’t recover and mentally you don’t get in the right frame where you should be. Franklin said that Smith is in OK shape because Nick Diaz is not a hard slugger, but he does think that Nick has an advantage with the stand-up aspect of this fight. As long as Diaz out-boxes Smith and stays away from power shots, he should be good to win.
Onto e-mail questions…
E-mail: Which DREAM lightweight fighter would you like to see in UFC?
Miguel says that he wants to see Crusher Kawajiri in UFC because he has such raw power and a raw fighting style. Franklin said that he wants to see Shin’ya Aoki because he’s considered the best in his weight class outside of BJ Penn.
E-mail: Which Strikeforce guy should face Cung Le for the Middleweight belt?
Miguel thinks Nick Diaz should be the next challenger, while Franklin thinks that Robbie Lawler should be the challenger because he has the Elite XC Middleweight belt.
Onto fight predictions:
Andrei Arlovski vs. Brett Rogers – Miguel thinks Arlovski wins by TKO, while Franklin thinks Andrei takes it to a decision.
Robbie Lawler vs. Jake Shields – Miguel thinks Shields will win with technique over power, while Franklin thinks Lawler wins because he’s the bigger, stronger fighter.
Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown – both men pick Faber to win.
Buy or sell Kimbo Slice winning at least once on The Ultimate Fighter – both men buy it happening.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Great idea for this recap, I rarely get the time to watch the show so this benefits me personally and I’m sure many others who don’t bother to watch but will take a few minutes to read the recap.
My spin – Kimbo on TUF will be a good business move for Zuffa and is the way he should be introduced to the masses (low on talent, high on buzz). I wish him well even though I’m not a fan. I don’t have as much venom for the situation as Zach appears to. Bottom line, will we watch – yes.
Brown-Faber, excellent match but I wasn’t surprised Brown won the first time and I’m more convinced he will this time; Faber keeps saying he just got caught and that’s not a fair assessment of what happened. He’ll realize Brown’s got his number this time. (I still say Faber would beat Kid Yamamoto though.)
Strikeforce – nice card with some exciting matchups. This is why I watch MMA, matchups where the unexpected can happen; it doesn’t alway have to be about the top 10 weight class contenders. Robbie Lawler though has to be the worst interview in MMA; he never fails to bore me almost to the point of not wanting to see him fight.
Can we get Jens Pulver in the UFC ‘Hall of Fame’?
Great job on the recap. I hope you keep doing them and other blogs link to it
I have a moderate level of interest; if I see a recap I might read it, but I won’t miss it much if it’s not there.
awesome idea. One suggestion I’d make (and I could very well be in the minority here) is that I’d like more opinion from Zach. Maybe the odd counterpoint in italics or whatever.
I really enjoy and appreciate your recaps. In fact thats the first thing I do – as most other sites tend to regurgitate information available elsewhere.
Good recap. I would like to see it continued.
I think Faber wins the rematch. He looked to have a speed advantage in their first fight, and I don’t think Brown being stronger will be much of a factor. Then again, I’m wrong 50% of the time.
i really enjoyed the recap. Please keep doing them. I would also like to see some side opinions of yours Zach.
Thumbs up on the recap Zach.
I dont have HDNET (and cant stand kenny rice anyway) so this is perfect.
Also…on that note, any news on HDNET and Time Warner Cable. As promised by TWC, all the HDNET channels are gone from the lineup.
I was very happy to read that the negotiations were in regard Cuban’s desire for HDNET to be added to the standard cable package, but I guess it didnt work out?
Nice recap Zach. I say keep them coming.
I like the recap because I can’t stand watching that show.
I like these Zach–as I most often miss the show entirely. The outside links are also great.
InsidemMMA feature on the Gracie’s was much better.
I like the recap, keep em coming
Good idea Zach.
My suggestion is to add something for those who watch the show anyway, namely, more of a commentary/critique of the show rather than just a recap.
Does anyone have any idea what the big beefs were between Kimbo and Bas??
Seemed like Bas put over how humble, dedicated and hardworking Kimbo was and then suddenly they parted ways and he started sounding like Kimbo wasn’t quite all those things he said.