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« | Home | »

Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami in August for UFC Brazil return

By Zach Arnold | April 13, 2011

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Yushin Okami will finally get his title fight and UFC gets to book it for a show that will be a sell-out and not an event where they will have to worry about how Okami is as a draw. If Anderson doesn’t knock him out in short order, this could be an ugly five-round fight.

Here’s an interview Anderson did with Ron Kruck of HDNet in which Anderson does the talking and there’s no Ed Soares. Take note of what he has to say about Jon “Bones” Jones. Popular guy these days. Even Chael Sonnen won’t talk trash about Bones.

With the murmurs of Royce Gracie fighting on the UFC Brazil card, who do you think he should fight on the show and where should that fight be placed on the card?

Scott Coker’s comfortable in his new Reed Harris-style role for Zuffa

I caught his interview the other day with Mauro Ranallo and what was striking was just how comfortable he was as a company spokesperson. His tag line is “Strikeforce 3.0 powered by Zuffa.” Some notes from the interview:

He is not Top 5. Sorry.

Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 71 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

71 Responses to “Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami in August for UFC Brazil return”

  1. edub says:

    “He claims that Shinya Aoki is Top 5 in the world in his weight class.”

    Hahaha Zach that’s one of the only things in the rundown I agree with. 5. Alvarez, 4. Aoki, 3. “Melendez/Maynard”, 2. “”, 1. Frankie Edgar. Just because his fight with Nagashima was am exhibition and not technically on his record.

    Mauro is trying his hardest to spin this, and he’s doing pretty good. But anybody with any sense realizes the to promotions aren’t on equal footing.

  2. smoogy says:

    So Zach, who at 155lbs has more wins against top ranked opponents to push him out of the top 5? Jim Miller? Dennis Siver?

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Doesn’t really matter. Aoki & Alvarez have no business being ranked with the Zuffa guys.

      There should be Zuffa rankings and then everything else rankings. As of right now Alvarez has no chance of fighting basically all of the Top 25 Lightweights. So his ranking is irrelevent.

      And within a few months we should know what is going to happen with Aoki.

      • nottheface says:

        I recently had to defend Aoki against Subo so I came prepared. To paraphrase my defense of his position in the rankings:
        Since 2008 Shinya Aoki is 12-2-1 at LW while facing the then (according to the SBNation consensus rankigns) #2, #3, #8, #8, #8, #11, #12, #19, and #21 LW. That’s 9 ranked opponents and 5 top 10. And to reinforce the strength of his past opposition, 5 of them are currently ranked (not counting George Sotiropoulos) and 3 of them are currently in the top 10.

        You can argue that you don’t think he really is as good as his ranking, but there is no way in hell to argue against where he is sits in the rankings. The guy fights top competition and wins. Kind of like Forrest Griffin but even better.

      • Stel says:

        Aoki is legit top 5 fighter, Alverez is top ten and 45 cuddle is not even in the top 100 and best to be ignored.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Mr. Cuddle thinks you missed my point.

          If 22 to 23 of the Top 25 fighters all fight under the same company…. Then the guys not in that company have no business being in those rankings. They have no chance of fighting that level of talent. Has nothing to do with what their wins are….

          It is pointless to have universal rankings when so much of the talent is in one organization. There should e Zuffa rankings only.

      • smoogy says:

        Yeah, it doesnt really matter if you can actually put five lightweights ahead of him or not, even though Aoki fights just as high a level of competition as anyone… because he doesn’t fight under the right promotional banner.

        Leave it to fanboys to try and tell everyone that Aoki can’t be top five even though there aren’t five better alternatives by any rational measure. Brand loyalty yay!

        • smoogy says:

          “If 22 to 23 of the Top 25 fighters all fight under the same company…. Then the guys not in that company have no business being in those rankings. They have no chance of fighting that level of talent.”

          Let’s just ignore that Aoki fought tougher opposition than most of those 22 to 23 fighters. Don’t let stupid reality get in the way of your creative writing.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          There are great guys in the Japanese Baseball leagues. There are great guys in the European Basketball leagues.

          But they aren’t covered and their stats aren’t intermingled with MLB & NBA players.

          The same should be true in MMA. If it’s not under the Zuffa banner at this point, they have no business being in the same discussion.

          Only in MMA do a select few reporters and fans make such a huge deal out of the athletes not in the big leagues.

          And nobody is saying that Aoki isn’t talented. Of course he is. But he is 100% irrelevent to the sport until he signs with Zuffa. Which is the same for every other fighter out there. Until they sign with Zuffa they are irrelevent.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          And even reporters as biased as Josh Gross have come forward and said that Zuffa is not the NFL of MMA.

          There is no reason to cover the rest and act like it matters anymore. It doesn’t. If a fighter cares about being the best, they will sign under the Zuffa banner.

          If they don’t care, then fans shouldn’t care about them….. Which is basically how things are right now with companies like Bellator and M-1 getting sub 200,000 audiences for their shows. Nobody cares about the non-Zuffa talent. The quicker the MMA Media gets behind this the more seemless the sport will be. Stop confusing casual fans checking a website with mentions of various title belts. The UFC Titles are all that matter. Who cares if Daley/Diaz was for a Strikeforce belt. Who cares if Alvarez/Curran was for a Bellator belt. They are paperweights and shouldn’t even be covered like they are a title fight.

      • Alexandre Mogue says:

        Nice poorly use comparison to Euroleague and JPBL. Because there stats are compared and intermingled with MLB and United States Baseball for that matter. So in this case, Aoki claim can be used with Zuffa guys.

  3. Chuck says:

    Well, here is Sherdog’s top ten lightweights, including the five in the others category (basically 11-15 un-numbered);

    1.) Frankie Edgar
    2.) Gilbert Melendez
    3.) Gray Maynard
    4.) Shinya Aoki
    5.) Eddie Alvarez
    6.) Kenny Florian
    7.) Jim Miller
    8.) Anthony Pettis
    9.) Tatsuya Kawajiri
    10.) Sean Sherk

    The others being Clay Guida, Melvin Guillard, Benson Henderson, Dennis Siver, George Sotiropoulos.

    Can’t really argue with those rankings. Eddie Alvarez might be a little over-ranked, but really, that is correct.

    • edub says:

      My only thing is Kawajiri has got to go IMHO. Kenny Florian is fighting at 145 now so he doesn’t belong there either. This is my 6-10 Melvin Guillard, Sean Sherk, Anthony Pettis, Dennis Siver, Evan Dunham.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    1) Hooray for Silva/Okami. WHOOOO!!!!!! I cannot stand the idea of champions moving up in weight for no reason. I could not stand GSP/Penn. I hated the idea of Silva/GSP even worse. Okami is the #1 contender. And let me predict that Silva will not play games during the fight. This is in his home country. He is not going to want to embarrass himself. This will not be a boring fight unless Silva can’t stop Okami’s takedowns.

    2) Sherdog Rankings Ultimate Fail….. Edgar is #1. Melendez is #2. Maynard is #3. Do they lack basic logic skills? Edgar went to a DRAW with Maynard without any point deductions. They are even based on their last fight. How can any fighter be ranked between them? It would make more sense for them to have Melendez at #1 or #3…. But not #2. Then again they have Hector Lombard now ranked at #10, so they continue to lose credibility. Just have a meaningless title and get a bunch of wins a row and they will rank you.

    3) Please no Royce Gracie. He was great for what he did for the sport back in the 1990’s. He has no purpose of being in the UFC today.

    4) Edgar/Maynard is still fight of the year. Nothing has come close.

    5) Diaz is not even Top 5. Let him fight a wrestler first. He beat a #8-#10 ranked fighter in Daley. He is finally top 10 now. But shouldn’t be ranked above #8.

    6) Doesn’t really matter who “won” Jardine/Mousasi. What was important to see was that Mousasi still have zero takedown defense and is not a threat to the top tier guys of the division. You could have scored it 30-25 for Mousasi, but it was what happened during the fight that killed his stock in MMA.

    7) Marquardt/Johnson at welterweight will headline Versus 4. I like this fight a lot. And I like how they are giving Marquardt one of the biggest Welterweights right off the bat.

    8: The last Strikeforce’s payroll was very high. $770,000. They are overpaying Diaz big time. The event did not draw a big crowd. Kawajiri got almost $100,000 for a loss which is cringeworthy. Those types of paydays will force Showtime to either greatly increase what they are paying for Showtime (when the contract is up) or just make it that much easier for Zuffa to justify folding up the company. No wonder the parent company wanted out. Far too much risk with little upside.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      9) Roger Gracie vs. King Mo is being rumored for the July Strikeforce card. One thing that Coker failed at was putting on their top guys against each other on a consistent basis. Too many fluff fights. Zuffa has changed that real quick. Fights like Gracie/Lawal and Del Rosario/Cormier are fights that just wouldn’t have happened under Coker. Of course Zuffa has an underlining motive. They want to test their new fighters so they can determine who is worthy of what level contract. There are no easy paychecks in the UFC for the most part. They have continued this trend with the SF matchmaking.

      10) Askren is now training with Team Roufus full time. If he truly embraces the striking…. But doesn’t forget his wrestling roots like a Koscheck (and I don’t think he will)….. He is going to be a complete beast in a few years.

      • nottheface says:

        I;m not quite sure how you can make that argument. Cormier was already reportedly going to be in the next round of the alternate HW matches. So there are only 3 possibilities; Griggs, Overeem, and Del Rosario and all four and paired up for that card. As for Roger Gracie and King Mo, there were rumors of that fight for the June card back in February. Roger himself discussed fighting Feijao or King Mo but wanted to make sure he got a contract extension before agreeing to any bouts. And King Mo confirmed at the end of January he’d be fighting in June against either Roger Gracie or Jeff Monson. So I don’t know how much Zuffa played a part in this.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          If Coker was still in charge, we would have gotten Del Rosario vs. V. Overeem and Cormier waiting for another 6 months. There are 2 years of history to show that Coker had a hard time making the fights that made sense and stars either fought fluff fights or sat out for an extended period of time.

          Zuffa has come in, and every logical fight is being made and there are really no fluff fights left. Each fighter is being tested to the level that makes the most sense.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Not to mention the June main card is already set except for Carano’s opponent. We already know 2 fights for the July card….. Lawal/Gracie and Cavalcante/OSP….. With Henderson/Fedor being highly rumored.

          This stuff just didn’t happen with Coker.

        • nottheface says:

          That may be true but your argument is based on specious reasoning and the examples you cite as evidence – King Mo vs Roger Gracie and Shane Del Rosario vs Daniel Cormier – really don’t prove anything since these are matchups that were being discussed and made before Zuffa’s purchase.

          And I will go on a limb and predict that the winner of the Del Rosario/Cormier fight will meet the winner of the V. Overeem/Griggs fight, barring any injuries or anyone dropping out of the Grand Prix. If that fight happens should we credit it to Zuffa involvement?

        • 45 Huddle says:

          My reasoning is sound. The April event was supposed to be the Grand Prix. It was cancelled last minute and they had to redo the entire card on less then 2 months notice. That was THIS YEAR.

          Compare that to what Zuffa is doing and we already are starting to know 3 months out what the cards are shaping up to be. And they have barely started to work with the company. It’s only going to get more seemless from here.

          SF was a total mess. Just look at how relaxed Coker is now. He was a ball of nerves when he was running SF. And the way he put on the cards it showed.

  5. Darkmader says:

    Chuck: my god, you are 100% correct with the ratings. Good job on that.

    • Chuck says:

      Do I detect some sarcasm in that post of yours? And as I said, those are Sherdog’s ratings, not mine. I just more or less agreed with them.

  6. EJ says:

    1. I’m fine with Okami vs. Silva all things considered it’s the best fight to make right now.

    2. I like the idea of Royce having his final fight in the UFC’s return to Brazil. The problem is who can they match him up with to make a competitive fight aside from Sakuraba I don’t have anyone else that is realistic choice.

    3. There is zero surprise that Coker is right on board as a company man. He was miserable heading up SF, he was way over his head and now he doesn’t have to deal with the headaches that he himself caused by giving leverage to Showtime and fighters like Fedor/Overeem. Now he can just throw out company lines while Dana, Lorenzo and guys who know how to run an mma org the right way deal with those problems.

    • Steve4192 says:

      “I like the idea of Royce having his final fight in the UFC’s return to Brazil. The problem is who can they match him up with to make a competitive fight”

      WALLID!!!!!

  7. Mr.roadblock says:

    Do Royce vs BJ.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      I’m against Royce fighting for the UFC again…. But to throw around a few names….

      1) Kazushi Sakuraba
      2) Ken Shamrock
      3) Gerard Gordeau
      4) Art Jimmerson
      5) Dan Severn
      6) Wallid Ismael

      • Mr.roadblock says:

        How about Royce vs Kimbo.

        That’s Royce going full circle. It would be a fitting end.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Kimbo is good.

          Kimo would be another good one.

        • The Gaijin says:

          I actually think those are both pretty ‘cool’ ideas, though Kimo is pretty messed up these days isn’t he?

          Brazil has a pretty big ex-pat Japanese population, so I could see them bringing in one of the Gracie nemesises (nemesii?)from back in the day too. And Wallid-Royce is a pretty big blood feud isn’t it.

  8. Zach Arnold says:

    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/mma/post/2011/04/dana-white-interview/1

    Read this interview. Tons to comment on. Take note of Dana saying that he will not do SF/UFC interpromotional matches and that if SF guys fight UFC guys, they will sign UFC contracts and become UFC fighters.

    Also, he basically outright says what 45 has said about big media outlets hiring people that are more friendly to Zuffa if they want to get credentials.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      No 60 year old sports executive would have the balls to do what Dana White is doing. They are so afraid to shun the establishment.

      Dana White is young enough that he knows they don’t need them. His demographic doesn’t read newspapers. His demographic knows how to find the information they want online. So they don’t have to give into anybody, including established sports media. Do they need at least a few to cover them to help out? Absolutely. ESPN and Yahoo cover them. But they don’t need them all, so if they want to hire journalists they don’t like, he can ban them without feeling any bad effects. If done correctly online, the power is truly in the hands of the content provider not the ones who try to latch on and cover it.

      Dana White completely gets new media. His use of facebook to air prelims is a great example of this. Not only are they giving away free fights, but they probably got 6 figures more people who “like” them on facebook. Even if they lost a few bucks on the feed, they established more people they can directly advertise to. This is stuff that some of the big sports leagues are behind the times on.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        I should also point out that for people who compare Dana White to Vince McMahon…. They really aren’t comparing him to the right guy.

        Dana White is to MMA what Steve Jobs it to technology.

        Both are brilliant in their fields. Both are ruthless dictators of their company (mostly for the better). Both have a general dislike for the media, although White is actually friendlier to a few reporters then Jobs ever has been. And they both bully the media and manipulate it to get what they want out of it.

        Steve Jobs purposely gives his products to a select few reviews a little early. These reviewers always give his products good reviews. And I’m not talking about bloggers. There are some guys are respectable news outlets that are on his short list. And he has banned tech journalists from his presentations over the most petty stuff (far more petty then White has).

        And yet it works for Apple. The END PRODUCT…. Which really is all that matters….. Is better for it. He has built a well structured cocoon that has made the end product the best possible for the consumer. That is exactly what Dana White has done. Sure it can be dirty sometimes, but he is getting guys who are positive about his business to have the most access…. Which in the long run will only help the industry. Apple is now biggest then Microsoft because of it. Zuffa will only benefit from this practice as well.

        I know the people who cover the sport indepth cannot stand it, but for the casual fans, it actually creates a better experience. And that’s the most important thing….. Is the end product.

        • Robert Poole says:

          A better experience or better pro-Zuffa propaganda? They are not one in the same. Guys like Ariel Helwani are great at getting the company message out but they hardly stand up to the test of being true journalists. The problem is Dana White wants you to believe his company is infallible and they want to control the message completely.

          Ironically while you praise his understanding of New Media you fail to realize that people are using the same said new media to spread background info and stories that these corporations don’t like and it’s much harder to control. So while Dana may have the upper hand right now, all it takes is the right guy roaming around an arena with a newer video capable device that can stream and access to a few fighters through back channels to make the whole facade start crumbling down.

          If White’s company had the integrity and standing he believes they have, he could take some criticism from the media and stop whining about it like a petulant child.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Only that doesn’t happen. Nobody has been able to take down Apple despite their way of doing business.

          Nobody has been able to make a dent in Zuffa. What you are saying just isn’t going to happen.

          And is White really acting like a child with Hunt? Or is Hunt just burned her bridges so many times that she doesn’t deserve to be credentialed. I would say the later.

          Business is done like this all the time. To refer to it as being a child shows how ignorant you are to how this all works.

    • EJ says:

      That’s not what he said at all Zach, he basically said he doesn’t care what you write about him but if you don’t have your facts right about the company that’s when you have problems.

      Dana also laid out just how far and deep the beef goes with Gross and Hunt and why CBS and ESPN were idiots to hire them.

      You don’t have to agree with Dana, but he’s 100% right on this topic i’ve been yelling about how horrible mma writers and media are for years. People talking about how the media needs to push back against the UFC must be living in some bizarro world. Because sites like Sherdog and BE have been built on pushing against the UFC and trying to prop up whatever other org they could as competition.

      It’s one of the many reasons why Dana doesn’t respect them and has taken the hard stand he has against them. People who know what they are doing won’t be getting banned anytime soon but horrible writers and people with agenda’s against the UFC like Hunt and Gross aren’t it’s that simple.

      • Zach Arnold says:

        I can see both sides of the issue. However, I am a believer in ‘soft power’ and I think it would serve him well.

        Do I need credentials to do what I do here? No. Like I said before, he isn’t going to change until someone outside of his political sphere independently demonstrates they can make money without him. Then, and only then, will he care.

  9. Kelvin Hunt says:

    Call me crazy…but Royce should fight Ken Shamrock…someone he has history with…they are near the same age, and there’s unfinished business from their last fight.

  10. zack says:

    Will Royce have to answer to the CSAC before taking a Zuffa promoted fight? In his last fight he tested off the charts for the sauce in CA and hasn’t fought since.

    • Steve4192 says:

      Of course not.

      He doesn’t need a California license in order to fight in Brazil, and even if he did, the Sakuraba rematch was nearly four years ago. His California suspension has long since expired.

  11. edub says:

    WTF moment everyone!

    http://prommanow.com/index.php/2011/04/14/nick-diaz-signs-boxing-contract-to-fight-fernando-vargas/

    Diaz is trying to play hardball with Zuffa I believe. I say just let him take the boxing match with Vargas. I think he’ll win. I’ve been saying it other places for a while and a little here but I believe Diaz has the best boxing in MMA. Now whether that will transfer over I don’t know, but he should be able to beat up a WAYYYY past his prime blown up Junior Middleweight.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Don’t you think it’s the wrong time to be playing hardball with Zuffa?

      Diaz is running scared because he knows that his stock is about the plummet when he has to fight real competition time and time again…. And his big paydays will expire once his contract is up and he has a few losses.

      This is a desperate attempt by a guy who knows the easy fights are over.

      • Light23 says:

        45 – it’s kinda bizarre to see you continue to hate on Strikeforce fighters. It’s all Zuffa now.

        Since when was Paul Daley an easy fight? Diaz looked spectacular in that fight, aside from his defense which mainly consisted of his chin.

        I was amazed at how quickly he started picking apart Daley.

        • edub says:

          You shouldn’t have been amazed. Paul Daley was getting picked apart on the feet by Jorge Masvidal only a couple fights ago. Diaz picked apart KJ Noons who’s boxing is worlds ahead of Daley two fights ago.

          Diaz hasn’t fought a legitimate top 20 wrestler since leaving the UFC. There’s a reason he is on such a streak.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I guess it’s not because they are SF fighters…..

          Nick Diaz hasn’t fought the dominant form of MMA fighter since Sean Sherk multiple years ago. He does anything to avoid fighting wrestlers. He ducked Jay Hieron on more then one occassion. I believe it was edub who said he only tried to avoid the pee test….. But even after that when asked if he wanted to fight Hieron he said no. Now he has to fight another wrestler and he is calling out Anderson Silva instead.

          He’s a complete headcase.

        • edub says:

          “I believe it was edub who said he only tried to avoid the pee test….. But even after that when asked if he wanted to fight Hieron he said no.”

          Are you talking about when he said he didn’t think Hieron deserved to fight him? That’s not really the same thing as ducking.

          Although I completely agree that he hasn’t fought a legitimate top tier wrestler since Sherk (but I guess Gomi could be classified as one).

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I should also point out my view on how I would like to see the sport.

          I cannot wait for the day that the UFC has all 8 weight classes, SF is gone, and each weight class is fully established with fighters all competing at their optimal weight classes. Maybe add in a legit feeder league to develop talent would be an extra bonus.

          I don’t want to see any of the Champion vs. Champion stuff unless a fighter legitimately starts to get too big for his current weight class. No catch weights unless there is a really good reason (which 99.9% of the time there is not). I don’t want to see fighters going back and forth between MMA and boxing. I don’t want to see fighters avoiding the top competition for years like Fedor Emelianenko.

          The Nick Diaz’s of the MMA world need to go away. Or at least the mindset. That they are entitled to a big paycheck while avoiding better talent. It has ruined boxing for years. It has no place in MMA.

        • edub says:

          We share a lot of the same views. However, the one I would disagree with is fighters taking one off fightsw in other disciplines. Personally I’d love to see guys like Diaz and Penn taking boxing matches, GSP wrestling against international stars and olympians, aand other fighters taking on boxers in mixed rules matches.

          The match I would want to see most in all of combat sports right now is Jose Aldo vs. Manny Pacquiao in a kickboxing match.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          What percentage of active MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL players actively participate in professional sports outside of their major one?

          If the UFC is to be treated like a sport on those levels, fighters cannot be going back and forth. They are either mixed martial artists or they are not.

        • edub says:

          The percentage isn’t high, but there have been cases in the past. Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson, Brian Jordan, and on smaller levels Jeff Smardjda(sp?), Julius Peppers,Kenny Lofton…

          Again it’s not a big percentage, but no one is saying a “big percentage” in MMA should do this either.

          BTW: Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson were to of the biggest stars in all sports when they were in their prime.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders basically did there stuff before the start of the new century. The rest really didn’t do both much.

          If you look at the last 10 to 11 years of major sports, its basically non-existent. Too much money involved. Too much risk. The level of competition continues to go up making it increasingly harder to happen.

          Diaz has no business in boxing. He is only using it to avoid looking bad in his real sport.

        • Steve4192 says:

          “Diaz has no business in boxing. He is only using it to avoid looking bad in his real sport.”

          No.

          He’s using it to try and create some leverage with his new/old employer. I don’t think Diaz has any intention of giving up MMA for boxing. What he is trying to do is get Zuffa to move him over to the UFC now and give him big fights rather than wasting his time having him defend the Strikeforce belt. He wants to be challenged, and he doesn’t feel there are any challenges for him in Strikeforce.

        • Isaiah says:

          Light,
          Agreed. I would have thought the purchase would spell the end of knee-jerk promoter fanboys. Oh well. Good times for fans of actual, you know, fighting.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      And this has pretty much guaranteed that once Jon Fitch gets healthy he is being sent over to Strikeforce to get the title belt off of Nick Diaz….

      Diaz is playing a bad game. The UFC could have easily protected him into a title shot by feeding him non-wrestlers like Hardy got. He could have gotten Condit, Kampmann, and a few others.

      Now once he fights MMA, he is going to see nothing but wrestlers. I honestly think Fitch is going to be sent over to send a serious message. And there is no downside for Zuffa on there. They don’t want Fitch around anyways, so if he happens to lose, no big deal.

      But most likely he will win, make it look ugly, and Diaz is back to making $40/$40…..

      • edub says:

        You make some good points. I don’t know if all of em are true, but it does coincide with a few things:

        -The top ranked fighter in SF is now a good wrestler (Something Diaz has always struggled against).

        -If he were to be brought into the UFC fold he would have a plethera of bad matchups to go against. All his “great” submission wins are against guys who had overrated ground games in the first place.

        -He knows he’s at his highest in marketability that he’s ever been, and already had a boxing match in his contract. Perfect place to argue for more money or fight a past his prime name opponent in boxing.

        Again, I say just let him take it. He’s got the provision in his contract. Win or lose he’s not a UFC fighter, he’s a strikeforce fighter (which most people still look at as a minor league).

      • The Gaijin says:

        Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Diaz has 150, er, thousand reasons to fight in mma.

  12. 45 Huddle says:

    Nick Diaz now wants to stop fighting MMA and start boxing.

    Hmmmm….. The UFC has all of these top level wrestlers awaiting Nick Diaz within the next 2 years…. And now he wants out.

    Cesar Gracie isn’t exactly the smartest in pushing for this at the same time. It’s not like Diaz has many options in MMA if he starts to burn even more bridges….

    • 45 Huddle says:

      And it’s one more reason why Zuffa has the contracts they do. What kind of 2nd rate promoter is Coker to allow a champion to the option to get wrecked in another sport.

      all of these loopholes are going the way of the dinosaurs. As these contracts wind down and are replaced by better ones…. Fighters won’t be able to play the Diaz and Fedor type of games. They will have to earn their paychecks, which they shoudld….

      • The Gaijin says:

        “And it’s one more reason why Zuffa has the contracts they do. What kind of 2nd rate promoter is Coker to allow a champion to the option to get wrecked in another sport.”

        One assumes it was a deal that allowed him to have his boxing on Showtime/Showtime PPV.

        If he wants to fight in boxing and thinks he can make more money there, more power to him. But he’s made like $350k (reported only) so far this year for two fights, so I’m not so sure he’s going to be able to make much more in boxing…pure negotiating ploy and they’ll tell him go ahead and box but we own your ass for mma.

        • edub says:

          I think you hit it on the head Gaij. He wins and Dana can market his ass as a Zuffa fighter who went over to boxing and beat an all time great opponent (Vargas was great at one point). He loses and he was just a strikeforce fighter.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          You say negotiating ploy…. I say a way to duck better competition.

          He is grasping at straws right now to avoid fighting a wrestler….

        • The Gaijin says:

          “You say negotiating ploy…. I say a way to duck better competition.”

          Pot-A-to. Po-ta-toe.

          ?

  13. Light23 says:

    It’s ranking arguments like this that makes me wish everybody would “officially” use FIGHT! Magazine’s rankings.

    There’s a lot of venom directed towards them, but seriously – they’re awesome. Anybody I’ve seen who has disagreed simply does not understand them or are annoyed that their favourite guys aren’t ranked where they perceive them to be.

    Often they haven’t followed the rankings and are used to reading very imprecise subjective rankings. They’ll then ask “why is X fighter ranked in position Y? He should be ranked higher/lower!”. No, no he shouldn’t.

    The rankings measure fighter skill in a mathematical way. Not how skilled you perceive a guy to be, but how skilled his performances say he is.

    It’s pretty easy to do. If you have two guys fight, you can predict how well/bad they should do based on their currently listed skill level. If the actual result conflicts with this, you mathematically calculate what both fighters new skill levels should be.

    The system obviously isn’t perfect, but is still miles ahead of “journalist rankings”. I’d like to see them eventually implement the final scorecard in the ranking process, or even Fightmetric data.

    This would be pretty complex, but it’d overcome the biggest limitation in the system. E.g. Chael Sonnen should be ranked a bit higher than he is, since the system doesn’t take into account he was winning 40-36 before he lost.

    • Light23 says:

      P.S. Shinya Aoki is ranked no. 4. He does not drop that much by losing a five round unanimous decision to Melendez where he showed caution and fought smart.

      He also beat Kawajiri really quickly afterwards, which bumped him back up a bit.

  14. David M says:

    The idea that Nick Diaz is scared of fighting in the UFC against good wrestlers is pathetic. I know Diaz trained with Andre Ward some, and I’m sure it frustrates the hell out of him that he can be the biggest draw in the 2nd biggest mma company in the world and get only a fraction of what similarly-ranked boxers get.

    Also in re: wrestlers, let’s not act like having trained with Jake Shields for many years means nothing, or that because he lost to Diego and Sherk, when he was like 23, that he is scared to fight wrestlers. This is just stupid, and Zuffa asslicking at its worst.

    The Diaz boys aren’t as bad as you think at wrestling btw. Nate IMO beat Gray Maynard (Gray won a split decision), and Nick is a far better fighter than his brother is. I don’t think Woodley has a shot in hell against Diaz; on the feet Nick is far superior, and on the ground he is far superior too. Could I see him losing a 3 round snoozefest to Koscheck or Fitch where the latter just tries to hold him on the ground and not engage in any actual fighting? Of course. But I could also see him knocking either one of those dudes out.

    • edub says:

      Let’s also not pretend that he had trouble taking down KJ Noons, and Cyborg took him down with ease in their bout. Let’s also not pretend that he’s fought anyone that is top twenty with wrestling experience since Takanori Gomi (who himslef has suspect submission defense anyway).

      Could Diaz beat those guys you mentioned? Sure he could. Could he lose to those guys plus Ellenberger, Sanchez, Kampman, Condit, Hendricks, Story, Woodley, Askren, Pierce, or Penn? Yes he could.

  15. The Gaijin says:

    Totally unrelated note, but g-d damn, Joe Warren needs to be in Zuffa yesterday. That guy would be a fk-in super star.

  16. EJ says:

    I don’t know why anyone is surprised that Nick is pulling this stunt the guy was absolutely furious that Zuffa bought SF. He knows that he won’t be protected with good style match ups and he’ll actually have to face tough guys that will give him fits from now on. He’s desperate right now but because he re-signed with SF a few months back his options are limited to say the least.

    What is surprising is Cesar Gracie’s acting like he can play hardball with Zuffa, I mean all he has to do is ask Couture how that goes. Zuffa doesn’t play and Nick isn’t near the draw or important enough to think him quitting will get him what he wants it’ll probably do the opposite. Looks like they will have to make another by humbling him just like they did Fitch, seriously when are these guys going to smarten up here.

  17. RossenSearchTeam says:

    Come on Yushin!

    (Channel your inner Chael! But Without the bummer pee, and the old fashioned wrestler weakness to rudimentary submissions. And the money laundering.)

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