Showing posts with label Fedor Emelianenko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fedor Emelianenko. Show all posts

Saturday, November 15, 2008

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.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

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.