MMA: UFC 91 Preview

Tonight is the biggest UFC fight in....well....EVER!!!

Tonight is the UFC return of Heavyweight Champion Randy "The Natural" Couture as he defends his title against monster MMA newcomer Brock Lesner.

Brock comes into this fight with just a 2-1 career record. His last fight came on August 9th when he dominated Heath Herring for 3 rounds on his way to the unanimous decision. The highlight of the match was when Brock started the fight with a punch to the face which caused Herring to do a backwards somersault. It was AWESOME! At the start of this match Brock will have close to a 50 pound weight advantage on the champion.

Randy Couture is 45 years old and his last fight was against a scared Gabriel Gonzaga on August 25, 2007. It has been absolutely ridiculous that Couture has fought at this high of a level as long as he has, and sooner or later his luck will run out. I hope that happens tonight.

If I was booking this match I would build up Brock Lesner as the super awesome unstoppable babyface and future of the UFC Heavyweight division. Randy Couture is the obvious heel, the man who "retired" while UFC Heavyweight Champion because he wanted to go elsewhere(ie-Affliction) to fight Fedor. He sued the UFC to get out of his contract while the UFC filed a countersuit for breach of contract. THEN Couture appeared and was interviewed on the first Affliction pay-per-view. It was only after he made that stupid mistake that he renegotiated a new contract with the UFC at which point this fight was announced. I would paint Couture as a UFC turncoat. As a man who doesn't care about the company while he still holds the belt. I would build him up so that the fans will hate him and boo him relentlessly. All great fighters have to be able to work as a babyface as well as a heel.

But alas, Brock Lesner is a natural heel, so despite me wanting to see Randy Couture get knocked out in 30 seconds the fans will be chanting, "Randy, Randy!" Whatever.
Regardless of the winner this should be a great fight, and probably the best heavyweight fight that we have seen in a long time.

The most intriguing fight on the undercard is the lightweight matchup between Ultimate Fighter alums Kenny "Ken Flo" Florian and Joe "Daddy" Stephenson. Ken Flo has won 5 straight fights including his August fight where he completely shut down Roger Huerta in dominating fashion.
I hate Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. I hope that Ken Flo chokes him out in 30 seconds.

Other fights on the undercard:

-Nate Quarry vs Demian Maia
-Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks in a fight between two heavyweights that no one wants to see fight.
and Dustin Hazelett vs Tamden McCrory in a fight that is only on the main card because The Ultimate Fighter winner Amir Sadollah had to pull out of his fight due to an infection on his leg. The best thing that I can say about Hazelett is that he was knocked out in amazing fashion when he lost to Josh Koscheck.

MMA: One of the biggest nights in MMA history is tonight! EliteXC Heat

EliteXC is running a show tonight live on CBS. The main event is Kimbo Slice vs Ken Shamrock which is an intriguing matchup to say the least. If Kimbo can make quick work of Kenny then it will propel Kimbo into the type of top flight MMA money making draw that EliteXC needs in order to exist as a company going forward.

If this show does a poor rating then CBS is likely to drop EliteXC which would mean that it is just a matter of time before the company goes under. If the show does a good rating then CBS and Showtime will be in line to purchase the group and give the upcoming shows the publicity and money backing that one needs to run an MMA company in the modern landscape. This is one of the most important MMA shows in recent memory.

In other MMA companies possibly going under news: After Affliction canceled their October show they made an agreement with EliteXC to add an Affliction promoted fight to tonight's CBS show. It is the Andrei Arlovski vs Roy Nelson fight which will supposedly decide who gets the next shot at Fedor Emelianenko's WAMMA Heavyweight Championship sometime early next in 2009.

On the other EliteXC shows this year the fighters were not allowed to wear Affliction brand clothing. I imagine this will no longer me the case beginning with tonight.

EliteXC needs a big rating tonight to survive the weekend. As for Affliction? I think that Obi Wan is their only hope.

MMA News: Anderson Silva and Fedor dominate, Tim Sylvia sucks

I tried to go to Piecora's in Seattle last night to watch the free UFC show. I was arriving late, because I only really wanted to see the Anderson Silva-James Irvin fight. When I got to the restaurant they had the Mariners game on the TV, but their website said they were going to have the UFC show on. Boo!

I thought about driving 25 minutes to the Magnolia Pub, the other place I know that shows UFC fights, but I wasn't really up to it after working all day. If Silva was actually defending the middleweight title then I would have gone the extra mile(s) to see the fight live.

Instead, I just watched it online.

Silva wins in dominant fashion via knockout in 1:01. James Irvin doesn't hit him. Well he doesn't hit Silva until he throws a kick to the body which Anderson Silva catches. Silva catches the leg and throws a heavy right that lands right in the middle of the face. Irvin goes down from there and Silva pounces on him and throws some more shots to the head until the ref has finally seen enough. An easy day at the office for the UFC middleweight champion fighting up in weight at 205.

In his post-match promo Silva says that his first priority is to defend the title at 185, but he wants to have the best matchups regardless of weight class. I look forward to the impending middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs welterweight champ Georges St.Pierre fight. Seriously, book this now!

I was also able to track down the main event of last night's inaugural Affliction pay per view, which Donald Trump is still claiming was sold out. Prior to this fight I had never seen Fedor Emelianenko fight. He absolutely dominated Tim Sylvia. The fight lasts 36 seconds, but this is a murder. Sylvia grabs a muay thai clinch early, and Fedor lands an uppercut and punches his way out of it(!) and down goes Sylvia, covering his head. Fedor jumps on him and starts swinging away at the head. Sylvia rolls over and gives up his back. Then Fedor shows just how massively strong he is: Sylvia has his arms up covering his head- I would have actually stopped the fight at this point if I was the ref, because covering your head does not constitute intelligently defending your self- then Fedor just thrusts his arm in between Sylvia's arm and his neck. Instantly, Sylvia grabs a hold of Fedor's arm so that he doesn't get choked out. But Fedor locks in the choke with no struggle, clasps his hands, and Sylvia is tapping out. Fight over in 36 seconds. Holy fuck is Fedor strong! I mean, Tim Sylvia is a big dude and Fedor just had his way with him landing punches while Sylvia held him in the clinch and then getting the rear naked choke without even having to try hard.

Fedor is your WAMMA(World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts) Heavyweight Champion!

After the fight Fedor said he wants Randy Couture. Randy Couture entered the ring and said that he wants the fight as well. A pro wrestling angle just broke out! You see, Randy Couture is the UFC Heavyweight Champion and he has a no-compete clause in his UFC contract until at least October. Also, the UFC is currently suing Couture for refusing to fight. I don't think this appearance on a competitor's PPV is going to help Couture's legal defense at all.

Andrei Arlovski beat Ben Rothwell via KO in the third round of their fight, which the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer called a great fight. I like Arlovski, and I think it's a good bet that we will see Fedor defend his new title against Arlovski at the next Affliction show. The Affliction website currently has no mention of when the next event will take place.

So, WAMMA is this group of people who do a "global ranking" of fighters by weight class. It's stupid, and unnecessary. They think they are awesome though, and I think it's a complete joke that they crowned a champion in the first main event that they are involved in. At least set up a tournament of sorts. Maybe on this show have a couple of "semifinal" matches and next shows have the "finals" and crown the champion then.

It's safe to say that Affliction lost millions of dollars putting on their show tonight. They threw a lot of money at people in order to put together the card that they did. They did get plenty of media exposure.

ESPN.com had Fedor on the main page all day yesterday with an article about him. That's right, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson lost his UFC title to Forrest Griffin and nothing mentioned on ESPN.com. Quinton Jackson goes on a rampage and no mention of it on ESPN.com. Fedor Emelianenko fights in the first Affliction pay per view and it's front page news!

MMA News: Your daily dose of Rampage

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson's hearing for felony evading, reckless driving and hit and run has been set for August 15. The Costa Mesa police have stated that drugs nor alcohol were involved in the incident.

On Wednesday afternoon Rampage was in fact detained at a hospital for a mental health evaluation. Right now I can not find any information on when, or if, he was released. If he has not yet been released then he will probably be let go this afternoon as we are slowly approaching the 48 hour mark of when he was taken in for an evaluation.

One of the few quotes available comes from someone who works at the same training facility as Rampge, “I think he just snapped. He had a nervous breakdown,” said Paul Foster, a friend and fellow trainer at Huntington Beach’s Ultimate Training Center. “Normally, he’s 99.9% under control. Everybody loses control at one time or another. But not everybody’s around to see it.”

In other MMA news: This Saturday is the debut Affliction show live on pay per view from Los Angeles. There are a ton of tickets available and TicketMaster just slashed the prices. Tickets priced at $1000 are now priced at $585. Despite all of this Donald Trump, who has money in the promotion, continues to do media interviews claiming that the show is sold out. Shouldn't the point of his interviews this week be to drum up interest and ticket sales?

The Affliction show has Fedor vs Tim Sylvia as the main event. Skip it. Watch the free show on UFC instead with the main event of Anderson Silva vs James Irvin. I'm taking Anderson Silva via submission in the 2nd round with a triangle choke.

I hope that Fedor wins by knockout.

In WWE news: This Sunday's Great American Bash is headlined by CM Punk's first ever pay per view title defense when he takes on Batista. Punk should win, if only to appease me.

Rampage!

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson was arrested yesterday after police were responding to reports of a hit and run involving his vehicle. As you can see from the AP picture, his truck is easy to find since it has a huge picture of himself on it. Awesome.

Once the police caught up with him he continued to drive on a flat tire and led the police on a short chase before he finally stopped. Police officers had their guns drawn as he was taken into custody.

THIS IS HUGE NEWS

Rampage lost the Light Heavyweight title to Forrest Griffin on July 5th. It was a very close and an extremely awesome fight. The UFC Light Heavyweight Championship is the premier title belt in the premier mixed martial arts organization in the world.
Quinton Jackson was the 12-5 favorite in Vegas for this fight, and chances are he will be the odds makers favorite for a potential rematch. He is one of the top fighters in the world at the premier weight class in the UFC.

The only reason why this story isn't being reported everywhere is because it's going to take the media sources a while to figure out who this guy is and what it means. The sports writers in this country are an old boys club, and they are slow to learn no things. They didn't spend anytime learning about MMA as a sport growing up, so as it becomes more popular they have no idea how to report on it. So instead they look down upon it and publish lies. The weekend of the last UFC pay per view where Rampage lost the title ESPN gave something like 12 times the amount of coverage to the competitive hotdog eating contest in Long Island. Let me rephrase that- The premier sporting news network in the world spent 12 times as long covering an eating contest than they did on a title change in the UFC.

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reported that UFC President Dana White went to Orange County to post bail. I hope that someday n I get into trouble a very powerful rich man will come to my aid.

He was booked on suspicion of felony evading, hit and run and reckless driving.
There were no injuries, so I would not be surprised to see absolutely no jail time handed down. Then again this is the United States and Quinton Jackson is a black man, so you never know. With the PPV buyrate percentage that is negotiated into his contract it's estimated that he made right around 7 figures for his fight on July 5, so he should be able to afford to get himself some excellent lawyers.

It has been a full 24 hours since the incident and no one is reporting that there were drugs or alcohol involved. It does seem like erratic behavior of sorts from the former champion.

In other MMA news the UFC is running a free a show on Spike TV this weekend with a main event of current middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs James Irvin. This will not be for the Middleweight Championship as Silva will be fighting up a weight class. He is hoping to defend the Middleweight title at 185 lbs and also fight at 205 lbs. I hope he holds two belts in two weight classes at the same time.

This free Spike TV special is going head to head with the first pay per view from the Affliction group which has a main event of former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia and Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor has long been considered the top heavyweight in the world, but since he's never fought in the UFC my question is, then who has he really beaten? I hope Fedor wins, because I sure hate Tim Sylvia. Regardless I'm only watching this match if it shows up on youtube.

Save your money, watch the free show on Spike.