Josh Barnett says there’s no way you can rank Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin above Fedor in the Heavyweight rankings
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2010
JOSH BARNETT: “I think it was just carelessness on Fedor’s part. I’m not taking away from Werdum as a fighter because one, Fedor was careless (walking) into Werdum’s skill set. He threw himself into Werdum’s territory, his bread and butter, jiu-jitsu and he’s got a good triangle. He’s used it a lot in competition as well and I just think that he didn’t have anybody in training, Fedor, that could lock him up like that. He could always get away with throwing himself into it and chucking the leg off, throw himself into it, chuck the legs off. Werdum is a lot longer… I’m not talking about his penis size, so you can just… stop with that, ask Babalu if you want to know. And… you know he’s taller, he got long legs, and he’s really adept at locking that hold up, so the first time I would have thought that he, Fedor, would have thought this is a little too close for comfort, I’ll be a little more careful, but instead he just shoved himself right in even deeper. At that point, Werdum got behind his shoulder and when that happened he wasn’t able to twist out of it and Fedor’s going to be able to throw himself out of most triangles because of his build, you know, thick neck, you know, round head, broad shoulders, going to be able to generate a lot of torque and throw through here. When Bob Sapp fought Nogueira, I said, do it man, his A-1 hold will never work on you because you’re too physically big unless you entirely gas out, he’ll never triangle you ever. So with Fedor, I can understand why in some respects and in most cases he has no concern for triangle chokes but in this case he really should have been more attentive.”
INTERVIEWER: “Were you shocked at the results?”
JOSH BARNETT: “Yes but not… I was shocked with it overall, but not in watching the fight and seeing what he was doing, it didn’t really surprise me that he ended up throwing himself into a dang choke. It was just… I’m sure he’s kicking himself over thinking going why did I do that, that was so rudimentary to make that mistake.”
INTERVIEWER: “Do you feel Fedor’s going to back stronger or do you feel that since this is first loss that it might have a psychological effect on him?”
JOSH BARNETT: “No, I don’t think he’s going to, I don’t think it’s going to get into his head at all. He was plenty strong for the fight, I just think he’ll be smarter about it and I’m sure his group has an automatic rematch clause in their contract so that’s why Werdum’s got to fight him. I don’t know if that’s ever been seen by anyone but I would bet… I don’t know, I’m sure there’s a euphemism in there that would work for this, but I would put money on the fact that they’ve got an automatic rematch clause in place so they have to fight anyways.”
INTERVIEWER: “Do you think with this loss with Fedor that it automatically shoots Lesnar and Carwin to the top of the Heavyweight pound-for-pound rankings or do you think it’s just so close that you can’t really tell between who and who is the best?”
JOSH BARNETT: “No, I don’t think Lesnar and Carwin can surpass Fedor in ranking. I don’t think either one of have done anything near his accomplishments, recently or career-wise. I think it’s folly to put those two guys above Fedor in any way, shape, or form. I feel like Werdum, he got clipped by dos Santos in a good shot on the feet but if they were to fight again I don’t necessarily think it would go that way and I think styles make match-ups.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Joe Rogan says you should consider Cain Velasquez or Junior dos Santos for #1 spot in Heavyweight rankings
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2010
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW RADIO INTERVIEW.
Also discussed during that interview was the fact that, because he accidentally gave out his phone number on Twitter, he has had to convert his private cell phone number into a fan line. The number is 818-517-2774.
DAVE FARRA: “Let’s talk about UFC 116 that’s happening this Saturday. Main event, do you think that this fight between Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar determines the #1 Heavyweight in the world now that Fedor has lost?”
JOE ROGAN: “That’s a good question. I mean it definitely is a huge test for Brock Lesnar but I don’t think you can discount Cain Velasquez and you got to include him in that heap and I also think you have to include Junior dos Santos, you know especially considering the fact you know Werdum just beat Fedor and then Junior dos Santos knocked out Werdum. I think there’s quite a few guys in the mix right now and the big ones right now are Carwin, Velasquez, and dos Santos. Those are the three in the UFC that are the big threats.”
MAHONEY: “Who do you rank higher? Do you have Cain higher than Junior dos Santos?”
JOE ROGAN: “No, I don’t rank either one any higher than the other until they face each other, I don’t think you can. I think it’s a really interesting mix of heavyweights right now. The division’s very exciting.”
MAHONEY: “In the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions, it seems like you know wrestlers are becoming the most dominant. Do you think the Unified Rules kind of favor wrestling, though, with the cage and without head kicks or head stomps? Do you think that is a unfair advantage for wrestlers?”
JOE ROGAN: “Honestly, I think if the Unified Rules were altered it would favor wrestlers even more because people want out of the Unified Rules, the changes are knees to the ground to a downed opponent — that favors wrestlers because they’re going to be the one on top and stomps and soccer kicks, that favors wrestlers, too, because they’re going to be the ones that are on top.”
DAVE FARRA: “The main event on Saturday night between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, it’s two wrestlers and everyone says that Brock will probably have a slight advantage when it comes to the wrestling game, you know D-1 vs. D-2. How do you see this match actually playing out, especially early in the first round?”
JOE ROGAN: “I think that certainly Brock’s advantages are in speed and in athleticism. He’s got, I mean he’s one of the fastest men I’ve ever seen that’s you know 265 pounds. Literally I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody that could say, well, he’s close to Brock. No. Brock moves so much faster than your average 265 pound man. he just, it doesn’t seem right, so the big thing for Shane is, can he stuff the takedown and if he can stuff the takedown and keep the fight on its feet, that’s when things get interesting. If he gets taken down, can he get back up again? If it does, then it gets interesting. But if he can’t, then it gets ugly because then you ahve that big white gorilla on top of you smashing you in the head with those big lunchbox fists.”
DAVE FARRA: “There’s a lot of reports that Brock Lesnar, this illness that he went through, it kind of hit the reset button on his attitude and up to this point, at least in the public eye, Brock has kind of a dick and he’s dealt with pretty well in the sense that he enjoys being the heel and he likes to get under people’s skin and it’s just all part of his persona in what he plays but do you think that we’re going to see a different type of attitude from Brock Lesnar in the cage on Saturday night or do you think that he’s going to be the same character that we’ve seen up to this point?”
JOE ROGAN: “We might see a slight change but I think the attitude that carried him to success in the WWE, his way of dealing with the crowd, you know that heel act that he puts on, I think that’s very comfortable for him. It’s very easy for him to fall right into that. I think that’s just what he does. He’s great at being heel. The only one who does it as good as him, in my opinion, is Koscheck. Koscheck is fantastic at it. You know when Koscheck beat Paul Daley and the crowd as booing and then he yelled at the crowd, you know, oooh, the Penguins are going to kick your ass and then I’m going to beat GSP.”
DAVE FARRA: “And then he shouted out his after party.”
JOE ROGAN: “Yeah, I mean, it’s hilarious. I mean, Josh Koscheck is a master at being the heel. He’s awesome at it. I love it.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Paul Heyman admits that he and a group of investors considered buying out Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2010
ARIEL HELWANI: “A lot of fans when they heard that you were around they’re like, wow, so, Paul isn’t involved in wrestling any more and he’s friends with Brock Lesnar. There were rumors at one time of you perhaps buying Strikeforce. Are you ever going to get into MMA? Because there’s a lot of people out who say this is the perfect guy to get into this sport.”
PAUL HEYMAN: “I don’t know. It’s… man, this is some brand here (UFC), you know, I mean the Fertittas and Dana White have built one hell of a brand. You know if I get into MMA, it ain’t going to be to compete with these guys because that’s just asking to get your ass kicked. Strikeforce was an interesting situation. At the time we had a group of people and a group of investors and a group of producers that wanted to get together and it looked like the right deal at the right time and at the last second it turned out not to be the right deal and so we are all friends. I have a lot of respect for Scott Coker. I have a lot of respect for the brand that he built and I have a lot of respect for all the growth that Strikeforce has experienced, you know, but to come up against these guys?”
ARIEL HELWANI: “No interest? I’m sure people come to you all the time, right?”
PAUL HEYMAN: “You got to be really well-financed. You got to have a long-term game plan. You got to have TOTAL network support. You know, I mean, listen, you know… if it’s interesting and if it’s there, yeah, you know. But I just… it would have to be all the pieces put together because these guys HAVE THEIR [expletive] TOGETHER. I mean, think of it this way: last year, UFC sold more PPVs domestically in the United States than the entire professional wrestling industry did on a worldwide basis. We’re just talking domestic against the pro-wrestling industry worldwide and these guys sold more PPVs domestically than wrestling worldwide. C’mon.”
I would highly encourage you to watch this interview. (This is why I didn’t transcribe the entire interview.) You will see why Heyman had such emotional control over so many people for such a long time in wrestling.
One further note — MMAFighting.com is now providing a link to buy UFC PPVs online. The way UFC has been able to embed into major media outlets through financial means is a key reason why they have been able to influence, to an extent, what is talked about and what is focused on.
(Writers who claim that fear isn’t a motivating factor about what is said versus what is not said are misleading you. I’ve had plenty of conversations on this front with many MMA writers in the past.)
It’s the same deal with UFC Live MMA Live on ESPN as well. It really is incredible to watch how Zuffa has been able to do something that other major sports organizations haven’t achieved in influencing media coverage. MLB has its own site for online content, but UFC has been able to take that business component and use it in a way to give the media that is currently covering them a financial reason to stay on good terms and not rock the boat, politically-speaking.
As Jordan Breen recently stated, UFC is playing chess as far as controlling the media while everyone else is playing checkers.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White calls Fedor a “mythological creature” made up by the media
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2010
CLICK HERE TO WATCH DANA WHITE’S 8-MINUTE INTERVIEW WITH MMAFIGHTING.COM
For any fan or writer who is educated on the latest happenings in the business in the past week, this is a terribly frustrating interview to watch and read the transcript of. There were a couple of points where I threw up my hands.
Rather than poison the well for you when you watch the interview or read the transcript, I will let you observe this interview and then I will address the many things that need to be pointed out.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Five things I’m focusing on for the Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin UFC 116 fight
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2010
Dave Meltzer has his list and here is mine.
Will this be the predictable ‘wrestleboxer’ style of match or will we get a swerve?
Notwithstanding what Brock Lesnar has said to tweak everyone regarding having Peter Welch coach him to stand-up and fight like a southpaw, the conventional wisdom is that we’ll have two guys in a five-round fight who will be lucky to make it past the second round.
But what if we get a sluggish fight with two guys who get tired quickly and it drags along? Let’s say that neither man is able to get a KO. I highly doubt we’ll see a submission in this match, though as we’ve seen in the past with Lesnar you can submit him and if Carwin is able to avoid having Brock sit on top of him and wear him out like he did to Frank Mir, I’d love to see Shane test him on the ground.
Pressure.
On every big stage Brock Lesnar has been on his life, he’s thrived under pressure. He loves it. Untouchable. The only time he didn’t care for pressure was when he tried to make the Minnesota Vikings squad, but that was largely a reflection upon Brock’s personality. If he cares about something, he can accomplish it. If he doesn’t want to put the time into doing something, he just moves on.
With Brock Lesnar, his track record says that he won’t wilt under pressure.
I wonder about Shane Carwin being under pressure. Of course, I’m amused by UFC pushing Shane Carwin in TV ads this week as someone who has knocked out all of his opponents in the first round. But, I do wonder what would happen if the fight goes past the second round. I don’t care how great Shane’s training camps are and what altitude he’s training at; he doesn’t have someone who can punch with the power that Brock Lesnar can. Lesnar is a steamroller. He can very well wear out Carwin and sap his energy level through physical punishment.
Speed.
The conventional wisdom is that Carwin will be the faster fighter. He also will, probably, display the better technique during the fight. However, with Brock Lesnar coming off of his illness, I am very curious to see if he’s the same size as he usually is or if he comes into the fight a little lighter. If he comes in a little lighter, that would certainly help increase his speed and agility — which he already had in a freakish manner in the first place.
Can Carwin use his speed and capitalize with better technique to cherry pick Lesnar in the stand-up game?
Brock Lesnar’s chin.
Does he have one? He’s not a fan of taking punches. No one is. But when Shane Carwin tries to keep the fight standing, is he going to be able to withstand some heavy blows to the face? I don’t care how many coaches you bring into a training camp, you can’t teach someone to have a chin and you aren’t going to magically alter their stand-up ability in the course of a couple of months. Bad habits are bad habits. Against someone with real boxing skills, I have a lot of questions about Brock getting knocked out.
Who has the better coaching and who will be more useful corner men during the fight with advice?
Greg Jackson and his affiliate camps are highly-regarded as the best in MMA and the most consistent. Carwin is a disciplined fight who starts slow and then when things start to get shaky kind of ‘wakes up’ and starts motoring fast to finish his opponent. Will Brock be able to capitalize on this tendency or will Shane’s coaches be able to alter the game plan enough to throw a curve ball at Brock and change the pace early in the fight.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
It’s amusing watching the critics of rankings get more worked up than those who actually like rankings
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2010
“The championship is a way to increase business. The championship should not be there to be used to supercede and do worse business. I mean, then what’s the point? You shouldn’t even have a championship if you’re going to be a slave to your championship when it gets in the way of business. That’s retarded.” — Dave Meltzer
Whenever I listen to him talk about online MMA rankings lists, for some reason he manages to mesh about three different issues into one specific topic. The question was brought up to him as to why anyone takes rankings seriously at all and his immediate response is to somehow mix the Fedor/Werdum rematch into the conversation and psychoanalyze why people don’t think the rematch should happen. Then on top of that, he starts to talk about how people care more about championship fights and other factors rather than rankings.
Which, in a funny way, is the point of the person bringing up the question as to why rankings even matter.
UFC titles mean something to the public. Strikeforce titles mean nothing to the public. The way the two promotions treat their champions and book them is so diametrically opposite to each other, it’s not funny. One promotion ignore rankings and won’t publish a rankings list. The other promotion actually considers what online rankings are and has booked ‘super fights’ in the past based off of this.
That’s your set-up for this passage about why the Internet MMA message boards continue to explode with threads about rankings and how the critics are going crazy reading such threads.
DAVE MELTZER: “Jon Fitch has a better record than Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch lost the one match to St. Pierre, then he’s won every match since, OK? Based on that, he’s more deserving of a match with St. Pierre than Koscheck. Koscheck lost to Paulo Thiago. Koscheck lost to Thiago Alves. OK? However, OK, what match do people want to see?”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Yeah, but, regardless, hold on a second. Why would anyone even care about these mythical worldwide rankings when whether Fedor is #1 or #10, it doesn’t mean A THING. It doesn’t matter what he’s ranked, he’s not getting a shot at the UFC Heavyweight title. If UFC actually had a rankings system and based on where you were in that system…”
DAVE MELTZER: “UFC can’t have a rankings system because if they did and followed it, it would get in the way of business.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “All I’m saying is, if they had one, if they had one that actually led to fights, then sure, this is something that is open to debate. But when you’re ranking a Strikeforce guy versus a UFC guy and you’re getting very, very upset over where they should or should not be ranked, why would you waste your time?”
DAVE MELTZER: “OK, well… to me, if it’s just fans, that’s cool. But if it’s writers that know the sport that are you know arguing about you know I mean we had that whole thing with Shin’ya Aoki you know and BJ Penn on who deserved to be #1.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “YEAH, WHO CARES!”
DAVE MELTZER: “And it was like the whole thing was ludicrous because you know #1, BJ Penn is so much far above Shin’ya Aoki as a fighter.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “BUT IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER. None of that matters.”
DAVE MELTZER: “But the point is that they’re not going to fight each other anyways.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Exactly! It doesn’t matter if Aoki, if BJ’s #1, it doesn’t matter if he’s #2, it doesn’t matter if he’s #10. He’s never facing anybody except who UFC wants him to face next. If every writer in the world had a universal Top 10, it doesn’t matter.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Oh, no. But you know but every magazine does it, every web site does it except ours.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “What a waste of time.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Yeah, well, again, I don’t mind fans debating it. It’s just that you can’t debate it and pretend it means something because it means nothing and…”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “But it does mean something to these people. I mean, it really bothers them.”
DAVE MELTZER: “You know, it bothers people that you know a guy with a 4-1 record, you know, if he wins he’s going to be 5-1, you know. I mean, if Brock Lesnar wins, he’s going to be you know he’s going to be as close I mean there’s no such thing as undisputed because there’s too many differences of opinion, but he will be the consensus #1 guy in the world if he wins this fight.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Which means what?”
DAVE MELTZER: “Well, it doesn’t really necessarily mean anything…”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben a 50/50 fight?
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2010
When I saw the Chris Leben interview with Fighters Only Magazine, I came away with the impression that he’s game for a war against Akiyama. He has a lot of guts but not a lot of technique and against Akiyama, that might make the difference in the fight. Plus, Leben talked about how his body hurt after the Aaron Simpson fight. I really do question the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowing him to fight on two weeks rest. No one is even bringing this up at all, but I don’t exactly see how it’s great in terms of fighter safety to be doing this.
Nevertheless, I would peg Akiyama as a favorite but only slightly so — maybe 55/45. The Alan Belcher fight performance is the type of fight that I think will sway a lot of last-minute bettors to put their money on Leben to win.
“Akiyama is too small for the weight class by UFC standards and he’s got nice stand-up… decent power… I don’t know about his quickness, you know he’s never, you know realistically I mean Akiyama was always protected in Japan, you know? And he also has not really had a good impressive outing since really since Kazuo Misaki you know knocked his brains out a couple of years back. You know, I thought he was very lucky to beat Alan Belcher, I thought Belcher should have won that decision. However, you know, Leben just fought. Leben is, you know, Leben’s not a great fighter. He’s a mediocre fighter, you know, better than mediocre but not a top guy so actually I see this as a pretty even match as well. I mean, Akiyama… I mean, I think he is more-skilled, he’s probably going to be giving up some size in there. We saw with Aaron Simpson, which was an interesting thing, you know who is a lot better takedown guy than Akiyama and you know Leben survived being taken down several times in round one and came back in the Aaron Simpson fight. Leben hits hard, he can take a good punch. He doesn’t have very good movement. Akiyama’s got better movement. He’s a much better all-around athlete. So… tough fight. I guess I’m going to favor Akiyama on this one. But, not greatly so.”
For some reason, Yoshihiro Akiyama’s fight with Denis Kang still sticks out in my mind…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce’s firing of Jake Shields
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2010
I love the use of the term ‘release.’ I love even more the fact that Strikeforce, according to Dave Meltzer, tried to keep Jake Shields out of HP Pavilion from watching this past weekend’s MMA event.
But the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae is that for some reason the promotion simply didn’t let Jake Shields walk away to the UFC. No, you see, they ‘released him’ while negotiating with him during a bidding war with the UFC. Take note that it’s Jake Shields’ father who is quoted in the Sherdog article. Even on media leaks, Showtime and Strikeforce get outworked!
Sorry, Strikeforce & Showtime, but you can’t fire someone who already fired you (shamefully, I might add) when he showed up with Dana White at Arco Arena a week after beating your biggest free-agent signing. This kind of story is exactly the thing I talked about yesterday in my MMA Torch column that you should read if you haven’t already done so.
A passage from last night’s Observer radio show about the firing:
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Jake Shields, FIRED today. You can’t quit, YOU’RE FIRED!”
DAVE MELTZER: “Yeah. Well, it was bound to happen. I mean, before he even left when they were already talking about the tournament, you know what I’m saying? I mean, you know, and I saw Jake at the show Saturday and you know I mean he wasn’t like 100% but I mean you know… the minute he showed up on that WEC show with Dana (White), you know, even if he hadn’t decided, the bottom line is that I think that Strikeforce pretty much decided they weren’t going to make him any kind offer. That was slapping them in the face, it really was.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Well, he probably [expletive] himself on his own negotiations, too.”
DAVE MELTZER: “He may have. You know… I mean as far as leverage and going back-and-forth, you know them pulling out certainly hurts his leverage, you know but I think Dana is going to make him a good offer no matter what. He was already going after him. I don’t think he’s going to lowball him even though he’s got the leverage to do it now. However, he… if they had gotten both sides you know they could have gotten into a bidding war to take it higher on both sides and that is not going to happen. So, you know, he’s going to get I think what probably would be a fair deal, you know, and it’ll be interesting to see who he faces because you get a guy who can strike with the takedown defense and I mean Jake’s got that weakness, you know, I mean his striking sucks, you know by you know the level of a top 185 or 170 pounder. His ground game is fantastic and his wrestling is very good. So, you know he can beat you know if you don’t have very good takedown defense, he will beat you. But, you know, the guys, if you got great takedown and you can hit, that’s going to be Jake’s weakness.”
The most interesting aspect to this story is that the Shields camp wants to face Anderson Silva. We all know what Dana White said before the fight between Shields and Dan Henderson when he said that Shields had no business being in there against a guy that big. Wonder what Dana would say if there was money at stake to book a fight between Shields and Anderson?
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fedor vs. Werdum II all but a certainty
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2010
- Beau Dure: Tale of two losses — How USA, Fedor must move on
- Dave Meltzer: Just OK ratings for Fedor/Werdum on Showtime
With news breaking that Alistair Overeem has read the tea leaves in Strikeforce and has reportedly accepted a booking in DREAM against Ricco Rodriguez, it’s all but a formality now that we will get a rematch between Fedor and Fabricio Werdum. (An update on Overeem and DREAM here.)
The news about Overeem taking the booking against Ricco broke right as I finished this brand new column over at MMA Torch talking about all the problems Strikeforce & Showtime have and how the Fedor situation is a perfect reflection of all of their major faults.
STRIKEFORCE AND SHOWTIME — THE GANG THAT CAN’T SHOOT STRAIGHT
I want all of you to read the Torch article. (And not just 30 of you. The least you can do is read the column.)
The column hit the word count limit, so I kept out a 2-minute transcript passage from Sherdog radio on Monday that amplifies all of the chaos going on right now in the organization.
So, here’s the passage…
LUTFI SARIAHMED: “So, I think there are always these mitigating circumstances for not just (Cung) Le but really for fighters across the board. For whatever reason and it’s just… it you’re Scott Coker, how do you not pull, start pulling at your scalp now because obviously the man has no hair. Just because of nothing that you’re really trying to do is going to plans right now, coming into fruition, not really, nothing is really actually happening and it’s just disappointing more than anything because I think you’ll find 8 Middleweights to put together for this tournament but it’s not going to be the 8 Middleweights that going’s to make it as captivating as it could be, which is just sad and just kind of speaks to a bigger point that Strikeforce is just having with matchmaking and planning and just in general coming up with future ideas for their cards.”
JACK ENCARNACAO: “I think it also speaks to the strengths of the UFC model that you know we only tend to see the downside of it or pay attention to the downside of. I mean you talk about how this is a problem for fighters across the board — true, but I mean, maybe once a year a Rampage (Jackson) will do something that will disrupt the schedule? Other than that, really, nothing, I mean there’s a firm control over who’s going to be able to fight and when, barring injuries or things coming out of fights you can pretty much put your schedule together and execute it based on how the UFC contracts are written, based on the conditions of the marketplace and guys you know not willing to be due to fear of lawsuits or be of fear of anything like they used to just leave the UFC for PRIDE or K-1 if they don’t like what they see or hear. And so, you just get this situation, it’s a Strikeforce-specific ailment right now where guys just don’t want, are just never seeming interested. Their biggest names, their most intriguing names don’t seem interested in following whatever plan Strikeforce and/or Showtime comes up with them in terms of what’s next, who they fight next, what it’s all building towards. They’ve got guys who just never stick to one weight class. I mean, Nick Diaz now, is he going to fight Middleweight? He’s their Welterweight champion. He had one Welterweight fight. He used to fight Lightweight. I mean, it’s just… KJ Noons, when you give him a microphone, he wants to fight 170. Pat Healy was on Jordan Breen’s show. He said, all right, fine, I’ll call out KJ Noons because I want to prove I can do the 155 and 170 run in Strikeforce and in Josh Thomson you going to fight Gilbert Melendez, you just got a great win on TV. A rubber match. No, I’m not ready. Oh my God. I would absolutely jump out of a window.”
LUTFI SARIAHMED: “Here’s a question for you that just kind of popped into my head: For the longest time when we were talking about the Dan Henderson discussion in regard to what he was going to do, where he was going to sign, why he was going to sign where he said, we had said, all right Dan Henderson is going to go to Strikeforce because it’s more about the individual as opposed to just the promotion and it’s more about pumping up the individual than it is about the promotion on the whole. And you love that for the fighters because obviously it’s good for them, but it seems as if Strikeforce has run into all sorts of problems because they let the fighters dictate what’s going on.”
JACK ENCARNACAO: “Yeah. I think rather the fighters feel more emboldened to you know speak their mind in the direction and I’ve praised fighters in the UFC and the WEC on air for calling people out after fights because I consider it a huge waste of time to get a great win on TV and then just be you know not put into the mind of people who just watched you get you this great win who you might fight next and therefore invest them in your future to some small degree. But you know it seems to go in the complete opposite extreme with Strikeforce where I mean their big names are just impossible to pin down for fights, you just don’t know where they’re going, what they’re doing, who they want next, they’ll throw names out there just there’s nothing that’s built to it, you know why does Babalu want to fight Dan Henderson? If he has his reasons, you know he lost to him in 1999… if he his reasons, they certainly have nothing to do with what’s happened in Strikeforce you know whereas when guys in the UFC want to fight certain guys it’s because pf things they’ve done in the UFC and I think that’s part of the missing ingredient there for Strikeforce right now.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Should Fabricio Werdum be ranked as the #1 Heavyweight in MMA?
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2010
“To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.” — Ric Flair
Prepare for your head to explode if you actually care about rankings. There’s plenty of discussion of putting Fedor at #3 and having Werdum at #2. I think it’s crazy talk all the way around, but you will hear the arguments repeatedly — especially after the ending of UFC 116.
This passage is from Sherdog radio and it actually started off with someone sending them a snippy e-mail about the MMA media and rankings in that if Matt Serra became ranked #1 after beating GSP and Frankie Edgar became #1 after beating BJ Penn, why doesn’t that apply to Fabricio Werdum? It prompted this passage:
TJ DE SANTIS: “Kevin writes in, he says: Let me begin by admitting that I agree with the winner of Carwin and Brock should be the #1 Heavyweight. BUT… when Matt Serra, a Welterweight that was not even Top 15 at the time, beat Georges St. Pierre, hew as given the #1 spot. Frankie Edgar won a bogus decision against BJ Penn and he was given the #1 spot. How come no one talks about giving Fabricio Werdum the #1 spot? Is this because most do not believe that Fedor was a true #1 or are we now calling this a fluke? Sometimes I just don’t get the MMA media. Signed, Kevin.
“I think you have to argue that Fabricio Werdum should get the #1 spot. You know, Carwin and Brock, maybe because of their records and how they’ve done… you can really make a statement for them being #1. I personally think the winner of Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar should be #1. However, I don’t think the loser should be #2. I think they have to slip down. I think, I mean, really for me, it’s Carwin or Brock at #1, probably Fabricio Werdum at #2, Fedor Emelianenko at #3 and then the loser of Carwin and Brock at #4. How do you feel about that, Lutfi?”
LUTFI SARIAHMED: “I’m fine with that and I don’t tink there’s really, I mean I understand his e-mail but I don’t think it’s, I don’t really agree either because in each one of those cases that he cites, we’re talking about things that ultimately took place in the UFC. There wasn’t really anything outside of the UFC in the Welterweight division or the Lightweight division that said, OK, if this happened, then there’s somebody else outside that should deserve to take the #1 spot. What happened here is you had Fedor, the only guy outside of the UFC… but he was the #1 ranked guy, all the while there’s still a lot of relevant Heavyweight MMA taking place in the UFC on top of obviously Lesnar and Carwin. So, with Fedor losing to Werdum, you go and you move onto the next best thing and the next best thing after Fedor would be whoever wins Lesnar/Carwin and I think there was that other viable option there. I think he mentions Edgar, he mentions Serra. When Serra beat GSP, there was really no other number #2 guy to give it to. I mean the same thing for Edgar, too. All the action in each of those specific divisions was taking place inside the one promotion. So I think it’s a bit of a different argument than you had here when you had Fedor outside of the UFC and you have Lesnar/Carwin within it.”
And this led to a much larger discussion about rankings and the importance of rankings if you have Top 10 fighters not under the Zuffa umbrella of employment.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 35 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fedor has had little or no financial impact on the North American MMA scene
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2010
From Sherdog radio last Monday, it’s mostly a psychoanalysis of Fedor fans and why they are so depressed that their guy lost. It’s actually very accurate, although the discussion about Fedor having no impact on the North American MMA scene in terms of UFC making money is like taking a match, lighting your favorite Fedor fan on fire, and then pouring a container of gasoline on them instead of putting the fire out with water.
I think the most interesting question to come out of this discussion is just how exactly does Fedor ‘reinvent’ himself… or does he stay constant with what he is and just continue plugging away? Some fighters who are great are also stars because they’re charismatic. Some fighters who are stars win a lot and some who remain stars don’t always win but people still cheer them on. And then, there’s that category of athlete where they have to win and win all the time to keep any sort of fan attention because the winning is what defines them and nothing else.
The best example of this that I can bring up is Tim Duncan. Automatically, the first words that comes out of the mouths of so many fans when talking about Tim Duncan is not “The Big Fundamental” or NBA champion, but ‘boring’. He’s labeled as ‘the boring guy’ who only shows emotion whenever a foul gets called on him and whines like the biggest baby in the world and acts as if he’s never committed a foul in his life. Other than that, you rarely ever see any emotion out of him. Even though he’s been on the biggest stage in his sport, people largely don’t see him as an important star or emotionally invest themselves into cheering for him outside of San Antonio.
(Tim, ironically, is a big UFC fan. Hi Tim.)
With Fedor, he’s a star first and foremost because he was a winner and he was not aligned with Zuffa. He was the anti-UFC guy. And as you will read in the radio passage transcribed below, Fedor in many ways represented the exact same qualities that PRIDE did for fans of the organization who absolutely hated what Zuffa stood for. After all, Fedor was the gaijin ace for the organization. Fedor and PRIDE are forever joined at the hip in MMA history. It can never be whitewashed.
That’s what I was trying to say when I said after the loss last Saturday that I felt like I was watching the true end of the PRIDE era when Fedor lost to Fabricio Werdum.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Do you still consider Fedor to be the most clutch fighter in MMA?
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2010
When it comes to talk radio topics like this, this is like taking candy from a baby and the Sherdog crew did that on Monday.
There’s several debates rolled into one passage here. The first part is where you position Fedor in MMA rankings now that he lost and lost to someone who barely made the Top 10 of most Heavyweight rankings lists. The second part is where you position Fedor historically on the list of greatest MMA fighters of all time. (Is he ahead of Georges St. Pierre?) The third part and the most intriguing to me is if you still view Fedor as a fighter that you would put your mortgage payment on to win a fight or do you feel he is slipping to the point that it’s no longer an automatic pick to take him against a multi-dimensional Heavyweight fighter or even a Heavyweight fighter who is talented in one particular skill set.
Regarding the latter point, Fedor has had a history of attacking the strength of his opponent and trying to mentally break his rivals down. (Think: mentally breaking Cro Cop down striking or pounding on Nogueira in his open guard.) Really, in essence, that’s what Fedor did here with Werdum — he knocked the guy down and went right into his guard and started pounding away to try to pass but unlike Nogueira, Werdum went for the air-tight lock and got it.
So, there’s your setup for what will no doubt be an endless debate about all of these relevant questions.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Chris Leben wonders how much judo skills really do transfer over to MMA
By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2010
“Well, the total is 14 days. It’s two Saturdays, so I fought one Saturday, I get one off, and now I’m fighting next Saturday. So it’s pretty crazy. I did fight one time in my amateur career, which obviously is a lot different than the top level of UFC but I did do it once before in my amateur career. But yeah it’s never happened in the UFC. I think the closest is maybe a month, Josh Koscheck, was about a month. So, it’s pretty exciting, we’re making history.”
“I just got home from my fight. I got home on Sunday, ate a large pizza, watched a movie with my girlfriend, passed out. I woke up and Joe Silva’s on my phone. So the first thing I was like, oh my body was hurting, I said, you know I don’t know if it’s a good idea, you know, da da da. A couple of minutes later, Dana called me back and they really wanted me to take the fight and actually after I woke up I started to think about it you know and you know I mean I’m a fighter, this is what I do. Right now is my time. I’m healthy, I’m not hurt. We only have a small window in this sport, so you know I’d be a fool not to capitalize on this opportunity.”
“My coach is very familiar with the style, so you know Sexyama they call him, you know he’s big in Japan, I think he dates a supermodel, you know he’s on some TV shows over there. He’s been fighting for a long time. What I see you know is he’s going to have definitely a lot more ring experience than Aaron Simpson. His stand-up is pretty tricky. I don’t think he hits the hardest in the world, you know but definitely poses some different threats than Aaron Simpson. I think that he’s going to have fast kicks, he’s going to be a little bit trickier, a little bit more crafty in the ring but he’s not going to have near the caliber of wrestling.”
“Well, he’s a judo guy and I’ve trained with a lot of judo guys and as much respect to them as possible, I don’t know how much of judo necessarily carries over. A lot of judo is throws and a lot of those throws rely solely on the gi. You know as a matter of fact in a lot of his fights he actually wore a gi back in the day in Japan, you know we don’t have a gi, we’re sweaty and I’m punching in the face. The game changes, sure.”
“I look at myself as a martial artist, not a fighter. The big difference is a fighter is an athlete. … My goal as a martial artist is to continue to grow and strive to get better and I think I can continue to do that and I will continue to do that for the rest of my life. You know, so as a martial artist over my career I’ve [taken] these steps you know, I continue to go out and I lose a fight and I go, OK, now I go back and I reevaluate what do I need to change and what do I need to improve. Also there’s the coaching side of it. You know I’ve stepped over into being a coach and a trainer and a corner man as well. I love everything about this sport and you know coaching guys from my gym is probably my favorite thing to do you know so I love not only helping them get better but I love watching lose weight, watching them gain self-respect and really watching a lot of these kids really turn into productive members of society instead of possibly going down a different route so you know this sport has done so much for me and it’s really helped me grow in so many ways, so many more ways than just solely my MMA career. You know, I’m just so grateful for it.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |