UFC 135 was last Saturday, and it was not a particularly exciting night of fights. Two really bad heavyweight fights in the middle of the main card sapped all the livelihood out of the night, especially coming after Nate Diaz’s first round destruction of Takanori Gomi. Even Koscheck’s likely ending of Matt Hughes’ career and Jon Jones’ clinical destruction of Rampage Jackson couldn’t really pump enough life into this card to make it memorable. Also, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were absolutely insipid on commentary. It was possibly the worst I’ve ever heard from them, and that’s saying something.
It started early, when Gomi winged a hook and slipped on the mat and fell, without a blow even coming near him. Rogan then proceeded to yell, “he’s rocked!” even though it was just a slip. There was more in this fight, which I’ll get to when I discuss Nate Diaz. During the Mark Hunt-Ben Rothwell tilt, Rogan lost his mind over a gassed Hunt putting an armbar on a gassed Rothwell like it was Nogueira submitting Bob Sapp. Then, while both men wheezed their way through limp punches and tired takedowns, Goldie and Rogan talked it up like it was the fight of the year. Their commentary during Jones-Jackson was also dreadful, as even though Jones was impressive, they made him out to be the lovechild of Thor and Anderson Silva. More on this in the Jones part of this entry. So now, lets get to it.
Nate Diaz: Diaz looked great in his return to the lightweight division, absolutely wrecking Gomi. I can’t tell if that was due to Diaz really improving that much since I last saw him or the fact that he had a huge reach advantage and Gomi has essentially been done as a fighter for years. Either way, his striking was crisp and his grappling looked good as well. These things have never been his problem. That would be defending the takedown and stopping wrestlers. This fight didn’t show if he has improved in that way. He is probably a fringe top 10 lightweight and a match with a top 10 fighter like Jim Miller could go a long ways towards determining whether or not Diaz should be in the title hunt in the next year or two. Right now he is behind Melvin Guillard and the winner of Ben Henderson-Clay Guida, as well as Strikeforce’s Gilbert Melendez, so a Miller fight would really establish him in the contender bracket.
Travis Browne: Browne looked utterly unimpressive in a win over the unknown Rob Broughton. Prior to the fight, he was receiving the Zuffa hype as someone to watch. Instead, he showed the massive gulf between the top of the division and everyone else. He is clearly not ready for anyone of actual importance (and I would argue that was obvious in his prior fights with Struve and Kongo as well), so I would say either set him up against the winner of Roy Nelson-Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Hunt, or Matt Mitrione should he beat Cheick Kongo. I think Mitrione would be best, as a fight between those two would actually move someone up the heavyweight ladder, whereas the other two are more water treading fights for has beens or guys the UFC want to push by beating recognizable names. Based on his performance on Saturday, Browne needs a real fight against another prospect to determine how much skill he really has and not an easy win over a name to push him into the title picture (hello, Brendan Schaub!).
Mark Hunt: Hunt somehow lasted through all three rounds and won a decision over Ben Rothwell in a fight that should have been stopped when Big Ben had to be carried to his corner between rounds because he was so gassed he couldn’t move. If you can’t walk to your corner on your own free will, you’re done and the fight should be over. I digress, however. Hunt somehow ended up being the guy with better cardio and improved his record to 7-7. He is not a contender and so he shouldn’t be treated as such. I think that he should fight the winner of Roy Nelson-Mirko Cro Cop. If it’s Nelson, it lets two fat guys have another slugfest that I think Hunt has enough power to win by knockout or Nelson could get to the ground and win by submission. If it is Cro Cop, it gives Mirko the chance to avenge his losses to Hunt in K-1 and PRIDE. Another option is putting him in against Brendan Schaub, as he is a slow moving enough target for Schaub to pick at and re-establish himself against. He also has enough punching power to test Schaub’s chin and make him learn some striking defense.
Matt Hughes: Retirement, like it should have been after BJ Penn blasted him last year. Despite Rogan and Goldie raving about Hughes’ improved striking and how he was taking it to Koscheck fight, there was no improvement and Hughes is still owner of some of the worst striking I have ever seen. It’s Jake Shields level terrible. Hughes was wobbly the whole round against Koscheck and couldn’t really block any strikes, nor absorb them particularly well. He was not particularly competitive in the fight and really should not do this anymore. There’s no shame in losing to Koscheck, a man whose last fight was for the title, but its clear that Hughes just doesn’t have “it” anymore.
Josh Koscheck: He didn’t get a lot of love from the announce crew, but Kos looked pretty good coming in after an injury layoff and on two weeks notice. Granted it was against someone he should beat, but he did it efficiently and without a scratch. More surprising was how gracious he was in his post-fight interview, a rarity for him that deserves a mention. He’s in a weird position in the division, as he is now a gatekeeper. He would have to crush some people to get another title shot and even then I wouldn’t give him much of a shot against GSP. Unless he is moving up in weight like he suggested, I think that if both GSP and BJ Penn win at UFC 137 that he should go against Penn. Otherwise, a match with Thiago Alves might make sense. It would pit two top ten guys who aren’t really near a title shot against each other in a rematch of a fight where Kos came in on short notice and lost a decision a few years ago.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: Rampage showed some decent striking defense and takedown defense against Jones, but that was about it. He didn’t really land any significant strikes and proved to be too slow and short of range to compete against the champ. He requested Shogun Rua for the UFC’s Japan card early next year, and I’m inclined to go for that fight. If Shogun doesn’t get hurt against Hendo in November, then the UFC should go with it. It’s a nice PRIDE throwback for the Japanese fans and would be a thrilling slugfest. Win or lose for Rua, they should do this fight because I would not give Shogun a chance in a rematch against Jones if they were to lock up again in the next year. If Shogun is unavailable, I think a fight with Rich Franklin or Little Nogueira would be the best, as they all like to mix it up and throw strikes. Rampage’s style is based on brawling and he hasn’t been against anyone that showcases that skill since he fought Jardine two years ago. Part of this is Jackson’s fault for being stagnant and too slow at this stage to force brawls, but part of it is that the UFC has put him up against guys who lay and pray (Rashad, Matt Hamill) or use distance and counterpunching (machida and Jones). Rampage needs a brawl to resolidify himself in the eyes of fans, as a pay per view draw for the company, and regain the luster he had from knocking out Liddell and Wanderlei.
Jon Jones: Jonny Bones turned in an efficient, workmanlike performance in his dominating win over Rampage. Still, despite what Rogan and Goldie were saying, it was not a perfect win by any means. On the positive front, he combined the strategies used by Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans to win. He used leg kicks to cripple Rampage’s lead leg and clinch grappling to tire him out. He also used his superior range and speed to avoid any damaging blows. It was a victory that was on par with GSP’s one sided beating of BJ Penn a few years back. Now that I think of it, I am going to write something up in the next week or two comparing that fight with the Jones one. Now, for the negative.
For starters, it was not “flawless” like Rogan gushed or “Anderson Silva like,” as Goldie put it. Rampage managed to avoid a lot of Jones’ strikes and blocked a lot of the headkicks that Rogan was going nuts over. Rampage also stuffed all but two takedowns. If he wasn’t so slow and lacking in range, he could have punished Jones for these things. As for the Silva comparison, its absurd. Silva’s striking may as well be laser guided, its so precise and deadly. Jones has very good and unique striking, but it isn’t on par with that of Anderson’s. No one’s is. Also, Jones turned his back and ran away from more than one exchange and Silva doesn’t do that. Running is weak, and the announcers never even called him on it. Second, Jones fights cheap. In the first round, he kneed Rampage in the nuts twice and neither he nor the ref stopped. At the end of the third, he and Rampage were tangled up and Jones tossed him to the mat a couple of seconds after the bell rang. Goldie called it a “diss;” I call it cheating. He also threw push kicks to the knee cap, which are legal but dickish (even when Anderson does them, I don’t approve).
Part of the reason Jones is so dominant, a large part really, is that he is huge for a light heavyweight. I’m not going to get into detail here, as my brother already did so in an excellent blog post earlier this week. I’m just going to use it as a segue into his next opponent, which has already been announced as Rashad Evans. He is going to use that massive advantage in conjunction with Greg Jackson’s game planning and experience training Rashad to beat a hole into him. Rashad may be fast enough to avoid some of the things that got Rampage and Shogun into trouble, but he is not big or strong enough to stop Jones. Lyoto Machida has the best chance to do so, as he is really the only fighter in the division that can force Jones to fight his style and not the way that Jonny Bones would like to.
That does it for this post. UFC 136 is in 10 days (!?!?). Expect predictions soon, as well as a couple of other posts I have done or will have done soon.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Joe's NBA 2k12 Preview Rant and Hopes
NBA 2K12 comes out in less than one week. It has already garnered a ton of press due to having three different covers featuring Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. There’s also been a lot of attention given to the game since it is going to feature nearly 30 classic teams and 15 legendary players. I’m not sure exactly how that works since if there’s almost 30 different teams there must be more than 15 legends. Since the NBA lockout has made it impossible for 2k to update rosters, the main focus of the game has been placed on the legends. This is most likely going to be a great thing and I am very excited. With what we know (or at least I know) as of right now, six days before the release, I want to give some scattered thoughts on what I think will be awesome and what is messed up.
First, the player ratings have leaked and they are fucked up. LeBron James is the highest rated player in the game at 98, including an A- in outside shooting. I don’t know why this guy keeps choking in the playoffs every year and is rewarded with great video game ratings. And to put his mid-range and three point game so high is insane. I mean, that’s saying LeBron is nearly as good of a shooter as Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk got jobbed on the ratings, falling to 85 which is behind titans of the game like Rudy Gay (86). He’s also behind Melo, Amar’e, and tied with Blake Griffin. This is Dirk here. Top 25 ever probably and he was just one of the top three players in the league this past year. Kobe somehow got rated 94 even though he didn’t play well and should only be in the high 80s. I’m also a little sad Luol Deng is only a 77 since he’s a true warrior.
Deron Williams is a 90 and Russell Westbrook is an 88. I don’t know what world these 2k developers live in where Williams and Westbrook are better than Dirk, but it must be nice there. As long as LeBron’s clutch rating is about a 49 then I won’t be that upset with all these initial ratings. Assuming there’s a season and the rosters update things will change. That’s really all I can bitch about in terms of current players, but I will praise the Mavericks for acquiring Rudy Fernandez before the lockout so he’s on their roster in the game. That is so important to me as Rudy is one of the most important men to ever live. Aside from that, I don’t care about the modern stuff as my focus is all on the legends.
The legend stuff looks awesome. If you’re the 60s Celtics with Bill Russell then the game presentation is just like it would be in the 60s, including the black and white screen. I hope this means for the older teams there won’t be a scoreboard on the bottom of the screen during the game and it will just show up sporadically throughout the quarter like it did for years. While I am excited about the at least four different classic Bulls teams the roster reveal showed, I feel that’s kind of weak to do. Out of the almost 30 legendary teams, how many are going to be the same team with slightly different players? Will there be four different Bird-era Celtics or something? If that happens and there’s no 1993 Phoenix Suns I’m going to be pissed. I’m really looking forward to there being a lot of different classic teams so you can use a lot of different legends like NBA Live 2000. That brings me to my next hope.
I really hope that with The Association—the game’s season mode for those who aren’t familiar—when you do a fantasy draft you can pick legendary players. In Live 2000, which is the second greatest NBA game behind 2k11, they had legendary all star teams broken down by era. There was the 50s/60s team, the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s all stars. You could complete ridiculous tasks and unlock the players from those teams to be placed on any team in the active roster. You could then do a season with legends on any team. I had a Bulls team with MJ, Pippen, Wilt, Bird, Dr. J, and McHale among others I can’t remember since it has been so many years. But the point is that it was awesome to take legends and have them face off against the stars of 2000.
One of 2k’s big marketing points with 2k12 is to give everybody a chance to see how all the legends would fare against the stars of today. What better way than to be able to incorporate them into the regular gameplay? Most of the time when I do an Association or Playoffs I just draft a team to make it more interesting. Well with all of these legends I want to be able to be the Bulls, give myself the number one pick, take Jordan, and then maybe take Derrick Rose in the second round and so on and so forth. They could even make the game super smart so if you do this legend incorporation it will take a player like Mike Bibby who is on the Heat now and sucks, and simply throw him out of the roster in exchange for the better Bibby that is on the 02 Kings. I want to be able to put together my dream team of classic and current stars then go bust some skulls.
We don’t know what all the classic teams are yet but from that roster reveal we see a lot of Bulls teams and the 93 Hornets. Also I pre-ordered the game from Game Stop and it says on their website I’ll get to unlock the 91 Warriors and the 02 Kings for that. The thing with these classic teams is that they’re not unlocked to start the game, you have to complete parts of a special game mode to unlock them. That is most likely going to be a lot of fun and cause me to waste a lot of time I could be using to write papers or do reading for school. Part of what makes it exciting is the fact 2k won’t reveal every team and won’t tell us every change they’ve made to the game. If they do that change with The Association I’ll shit my pants.
Apparently My Player mode has changed up so you don’t start off rated like a 37 and playing shit games that mean nothing. You start out going right into the league, or at least that’s what I think I read about it. That’s pretty cool since I always hated My Player because it took so long to get into the NBA and then you sucked when you made it. They’ve also redone the teammate grading system in the mode so you don’t drop four letter grades if you accidentally hit X to call for a pass at a bad time. From what I’ve read there’s just a ton more stuff, like being able to make commercials and what not. I still probably won’t play it but for people who like that mode hopefully this is good news. Also the Creating a Legend mode, which in 2k11 involved taking a rookie Michael Jordan and putting him on a current team and playing through his career, has returned only now you can be a player on a current team and go through the rest of their career. That’s pretty nifty.
The bottom line is this: 2k12 is going to fucking rule. This legendary team mode is going to turn everybody’s brains into shit. I am so excited for it I briefly considered taking all of next week off so I can play it, even Monday despite the game not coming out until Tuesday. I’m trying to slam through the last few games of my season in Madden so I can be ready. Once that game drops everything we know is going to change. If they don’t put a classic Seattle Supersonics team there so I can demolish people with the Reignman I’m going to be furious and may consider getting rid of the game though.
First, the player ratings have leaked and they are fucked up. LeBron James is the highest rated player in the game at 98, including an A- in outside shooting. I don’t know why this guy keeps choking in the playoffs every year and is rewarded with great video game ratings. And to put his mid-range and three point game so high is insane. I mean, that’s saying LeBron is nearly as good of a shooter as Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk got jobbed on the ratings, falling to 85 which is behind titans of the game like Rudy Gay (86). He’s also behind Melo, Amar’e, and tied with Blake Griffin. This is Dirk here. Top 25 ever probably and he was just one of the top three players in the league this past year. Kobe somehow got rated 94 even though he didn’t play well and should only be in the high 80s. I’m also a little sad Luol Deng is only a 77 since he’s a true warrior.
Deron Williams is a 90 and Russell Westbrook is an 88. I don’t know what world these 2k developers live in where Williams and Westbrook are better than Dirk, but it must be nice there. As long as LeBron’s clutch rating is about a 49 then I won’t be that upset with all these initial ratings. Assuming there’s a season and the rosters update things will change. That’s really all I can bitch about in terms of current players, but I will praise the Mavericks for acquiring Rudy Fernandez before the lockout so he’s on their roster in the game. That is so important to me as Rudy is one of the most important men to ever live. Aside from that, I don’t care about the modern stuff as my focus is all on the legends.
The legend stuff looks awesome. If you’re the 60s Celtics with Bill Russell then the game presentation is just like it would be in the 60s, including the black and white screen. I hope this means for the older teams there won’t be a scoreboard on the bottom of the screen during the game and it will just show up sporadically throughout the quarter like it did for years. While I am excited about the at least four different classic Bulls teams the roster reveal showed, I feel that’s kind of weak to do. Out of the almost 30 legendary teams, how many are going to be the same team with slightly different players? Will there be four different Bird-era Celtics or something? If that happens and there’s no 1993 Phoenix Suns I’m going to be pissed. I’m really looking forward to there being a lot of different classic teams so you can use a lot of different legends like NBA Live 2000. That brings me to my next hope.
I really hope that with The Association—the game’s season mode for those who aren’t familiar—when you do a fantasy draft you can pick legendary players. In Live 2000, which is the second greatest NBA game behind 2k11, they had legendary all star teams broken down by era. There was the 50s/60s team, the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s all stars. You could complete ridiculous tasks and unlock the players from those teams to be placed on any team in the active roster. You could then do a season with legends on any team. I had a Bulls team with MJ, Pippen, Wilt, Bird, Dr. J, and McHale among others I can’t remember since it has been so many years. But the point is that it was awesome to take legends and have them face off against the stars of 2000.
One of 2k’s big marketing points with 2k12 is to give everybody a chance to see how all the legends would fare against the stars of today. What better way than to be able to incorporate them into the regular gameplay? Most of the time when I do an Association or Playoffs I just draft a team to make it more interesting. Well with all of these legends I want to be able to be the Bulls, give myself the number one pick, take Jordan, and then maybe take Derrick Rose in the second round and so on and so forth. They could even make the game super smart so if you do this legend incorporation it will take a player like Mike Bibby who is on the Heat now and sucks, and simply throw him out of the roster in exchange for the better Bibby that is on the 02 Kings. I want to be able to put together my dream team of classic and current stars then go bust some skulls.
We don’t know what all the classic teams are yet but from that roster reveal we see a lot of Bulls teams and the 93 Hornets. Also I pre-ordered the game from Game Stop and it says on their website I’ll get to unlock the 91 Warriors and the 02 Kings for that. The thing with these classic teams is that they’re not unlocked to start the game, you have to complete parts of a special game mode to unlock them. That is most likely going to be a lot of fun and cause me to waste a lot of time I could be using to write papers or do reading for school. Part of what makes it exciting is the fact 2k won’t reveal every team and won’t tell us every change they’ve made to the game. If they do that change with The Association I’ll shit my pants.
Apparently My Player mode has changed up so you don’t start off rated like a 37 and playing shit games that mean nothing. You start out going right into the league, or at least that’s what I think I read about it. That’s pretty cool since I always hated My Player because it took so long to get into the NBA and then you sucked when you made it. They’ve also redone the teammate grading system in the mode so you don’t drop four letter grades if you accidentally hit X to call for a pass at a bad time. From what I’ve read there’s just a ton more stuff, like being able to make commercials and what not. I still probably won’t play it but for people who like that mode hopefully this is good news. Also the Creating a Legend mode, which in 2k11 involved taking a rookie Michael Jordan and putting him on a current team and playing through his career, has returned only now you can be a player on a current team and go through the rest of their career. That’s pretty nifty.
The bottom line is this: 2k12 is going to fucking rule. This legendary team mode is going to turn everybody’s brains into shit. I am so excited for it I briefly considered taking all of next week off so I can play it, even Monday despite the game not coming out until Tuesday. I’m trying to slam through the last few games of my season in Madden so I can be ready. Once that game drops everything we know is going to change. If they don’t put a classic Seattle Supersonics team there so I can demolish people with the Reignman I’m going to be furious and may consider getting rid of the game though.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Unlikable King of Light Heavyweights
On Saturday night UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones cemented his place at the top of his division with a dominant win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jones fought well and controlled the fight from the start, but Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg’s commentary made it seem as though Jones was putting on the greatest performance in the history of mixed martial arts. It wasn’t, no matter how much the UFC is going to want people to believe that Bones is the new king of the MMA world. It was insulting to hear commentary that called Jones “flawless” and constantly compared him to Anderson Silva, the greatest to ever step into the octagon. Jones was impressive and is one of the best in the world, but for some reason he still seems lacking in that quality that makes the UFC’s other champions so likable.
This quality can’t be easily explained, as it is more than just charisma and essentially falls into what professional wrestling fans would call “it.” Jones just isn’t a likable guy. Maybe it is the fact he broke four rules en route to his vicious victory over Shogun Rua (See the end of this article). He headbutted Shogun in the chest several times, elbowed him in the throat, and gouged his eyes at various points in the fight. He even cheaply attacked Shogun’s surgically repaired knee, and while not illegal it is pretty low class considering he had such a massive size and strength advantage and seemed poised to easily win the fight.
Before he won the belt, Jones was signing autographs with “UFC Light Heavyweight Champion” before his name. When he won the title he said he hates the idea of replica title belts because the fans who own them didn’t have to work like he did to earn his. And while that wasn’t bad enough, Jones was allegedly caught with a spy in Rampage Jackson’s camp leading up to their fight.
Why anybody would spy on Rampage is confusing. He’s used the same strategy for his entire career: boxing. He’s going to stand there and try to hit you, only he’s a lot slower now than he was when he first started. For Jones to spy on Rampage is completely idiotic since it would show an utter lack of knowledge of your opponent if you don’t realize he’s going to stand and bang, and it is completely low class because you can’t claim to carry yourself as a champion and be a champion as a person if you’re cheating and trying to get an unfair advantage. Jones continually comes across as a guy who is a good fighter but not somebody you can easily get behind and respect.
In interviews he comes off as arrogant or awkward. He tries to be funny and charming, but much like when LeBron James or Kobe Bryant does it, it just doesn’t seem genuine. It seems like an athlete playing the part of a funny and charming guy to help promote the company or product. This isn’t to say that he’s a terrible human being, but he just seems uncomfortable with the spotlight and seems like he’s trying to be a good company man and play ball rather than be himself. And if he is trying to be himself then he comes across as a dweeb. He isn’t funny and doesn’t have the charisma like GSP or Silva.
Georges St-Pierre is an incredible fighter but not the best talker in the business. Georges seems like a geek but he has charisma. He seems funny and he gives answers that make you respect him. Jones doing things like saying he’s already champion before he even fought Shogun make him come across as arrogant, especially since he hadn’t defeated anybody of note. Of course Michael Jordan was and probably still is a terrible person and very mean, but he was easy to love because he took over a game like nobody before or since. When Jordan came to play he gave you one of the greatest shows you’ll ever see.
With all athletes, as long as you play well people won’t care about what you do outside the ring, or off the court/field, etc. People watch sports to see something special and see somebody blow their mind with an incredible performance. Anderson Silva does that with mixed martial arts. Watching Jon Jones fight, the UFC commentary team will try to tell you Jones is doing it just as well as Silva when it isn’t even the case. That ridiculous hype is part of what makes Jones so unlikable, and it is exacerbated by the fact Jones seems to believe everything they say about him despite him not proving it all yet.
If you’re force-fed something long enough, you’re bound to get sick of it. It is why so many people grow tired of anything from music and movies when they get popular to athletes when they hear so much about them from the sporting press or commentary teams. As Jones picked apart Jackson on Saturday, Goldberg and Rogan said Jones was “Silva-esque” with his striking. That is not remotely true. Comparing somebody’s striking to that of Anderson Silva is as insulting as when Mark Jackson will say Kobe Bryant’s fadeaway is as good as Michael Jordan’s. You’re taking the greatest of all time and belittling their skills to make what’s new appear to be better or as special.
Jones displayed very good striking against Rampage, which of course was made easier by the fact Rampage’s speed is measured with a calendar rather than a stop watch. This isn’t to say that Jones would have had piss poor striking against a faster fighter as Jones has good strikes, but it is worth noting that Rampage isn’t known for his quick movements so this helped Jones look a little better. However aside from leg kicks, Jones’ stand up game wasn’t that effective as Rampage didn’t appear to take much damage until Jones finally got him to the ground. This of course didn’t stop Goldberg and Rogan from declaring Jones was putting on a performance reminiscent of Anderson Silva with such lethal strikes.
Jon Jones doesn’t even have the stand up of Georges St-Pierre, let alone Silva. Jones won by submission in the fourth round after mostly standing and banging. Anderson Silva isn’t going to stand and strike nearly the entire fight with somebody and go to the fourth round unless he feels like taking them that deep into the fight. Silva has won his last 15 fights (14 in the UFC), seven of them by first round knockout (6 UFC). Two more were second round knockouts. Silva finishes fights with deadly strikes. Jones has good strikes but they aren’t as precise and damaging as somebody like Silva. Jones has amazing ground and pound due to his vicious elbows, but to say his stand up is as great as the most dangerous striker in the history of the sport is ludicrous and annoying and makes you want to see Jones get beaten up so the UFC will stop with the hype. It is even worse because Jones buys into his own hype.
The biggest problem with Jon Jones, and this one is also tough to explain, is that when you watch him it lacks what is best summed up by being called the “holy shit” factor. Jones has such great skill, but he’s also so much bigger and stronger than every other light heavyweight so the fact he’s going to win is readily acceptable. It will be very interesting to see what happens when he moves up to heavyweight in a couple years because then he won’t have as much of a dominant physical presence. This isn’t to say that Jones being big makes him unlikable, but it just takes excitement away from the fight because he possesses an unreal level of physical tools for the weight he fights at. Of course people can’t hit him since his reach is about a foot longer than many opponents’ at light heavyweight.
Michael Jordan possessed the “holy shit” factor since he could take a team of nearly all scrubs and put them on his back to beat much more talented teams. In 1998 it seemed the Utah Jazz were destined to beat the Bulls as Scottie Pippen was injured, but Jordan willed Chicago to victory. You knew deep down he was going to do it, but that didn’t stop you from worrying that it wouldn’t happen. With Silva every fight is a worry. You know deep down he’ll still win, but it doesn’t stop you from doubting. Against Vitor Belfort there was the fear of his amazing striking power, but Silva still beat him. Chael Sonnen’s wrestling nearly took the title away from Silva, but even with broken ribs Silva still pulled off an amazing submission win.
When Silva wins a fight, you step back and have to catch your breath since he takes his opponent’s soul as well as the victory. His last fight against Yushin Okami was incredible since Okami is one of the most mentally tough fighters in the world, and Silva broke his spirit and made him afraid to even move. Forrest Griffin is another mentally tough fighter praised for his toughness, willingness to push the pace, and willingness to fight anybody no matter what. Silva embarrassed him en route to a first round knockout and Griffin hasn’t seemed like he enjoys being a fighter since. Silva wins and you’re stunned as to how he does it in such an impressive fashion, while Jones wins and you’re not really stunned.
Essentially the “holy shit” factor is overcoming insane odds like Silva with the broken rib or beating somebody in such a brutal and degrading fashion you know their career will never be the same. In the light heavyweight title fight when Randy Couture beat Tito Ortiz so bad he began to spank Tito in the fifth round, that is the ultimate “holy shit” moment. Tito was crying when the round ended because he knew he had just gotten decimated. It took Tito over three years to get another shot at the title. Nobody thought Couture had a chance at winning.
Jones wins in impressive fashion, but it lacks the excitement or the rush of adrenaline that you get from other fighters. It is like Georges St-Pierre. GSP wins every time he fights, but it isn’t something you must see. If you’ve seen GSP beat one contender you’ve seen him beat them all. That’s how it feels with Jones. He’s going to keep his distance, throw some kicks and a spinning elbow, take you down and beat you up. With Silva you never know what’s going to happen. Is he going to put his hands down and goad you into hitting him only to drop you with a jab? Is he going to run right at you as you strike only to dodge every strike like The Matrix? Is he going to get taken down only to pull a submission out of nowhere?
The comparisons to Silva are there because the UFC and a great deal of the MMA community are now hyping Jones as the golden boy when there’s so much he’s yet to accomplish. Yes he is the future of the sport and yes he will have a great career, but he is still so raw it seems like too much credit is being given to his technique when it isn’t even developed, and the fact he agrees with the hype makes him too unlikable. Cheating in his first championship bout and spying on Rampage Jackson also adds to this sense of dislike. He isn’t charismatic and acts very arrogant or awkward. It isn’t easy to like him as much as the UFC wishes everybody would because of one simple statement: Jones just doesn’t have “it.”
This quality can’t be easily explained, as it is more than just charisma and essentially falls into what professional wrestling fans would call “it.” Jones just isn’t a likable guy. Maybe it is the fact he broke four rules en route to his vicious victory over Shogun Rua (See the end of this article). He headbutted Shogun in the chest several times, elbowed him in the throat, and gouged his eyes at various points in the fight. He even cheaply attacked Shogun’s surgically repaired knee, and while not illegal it is pretty low class considering he had such a massive size and strength advantage and seemed poised to easily win the fight.
Before he won the belt, Jones was signing autographs with “UFC Light Heavyweight Champion” before his name. When he won the title he said he hates the idea of replica title belts because the fans who own them didn’t have to work like he did to earn his. And while that wasn’t bad enough, Jones was allegedly caught with a spy in Rampage Jackson’s camp leading up to their fight.
Why anybody would spy on Rampage is confusing. He’s used the same strategy for his entire career: boxing. He’s going to stand there and try to hit you, only he’s a lot slower now than he was when he first started. For Jones to spy on Rampage is completely idiotic since it would show an utter lack of knowledge of your opponent if you don’t realize he’s going to stand and bang, and it is completely low class because you can’t claim to carry yourself as a champion and be a champion as a person if you’re cheating and trying to get an unfair advantage. Jones continually comes across as a guy who is a good fighter but not somebody you can easily get behind and respect.
In interviews he comes off as arrogant or awkward. He tries to be funny and charming, but much like when LeBron James or Kobe Bryant does it, it just doesn’t seem genuine. It seems like an athlete playing the part of a funny and charming guy to help promote the company or product. This isn’t to say that he’s a terrible human being, but he just seems uncomfortable with the spotlight and seems like he’s trying to be a good company man and play ball rather than be himself. And if he is trying to be himself then he comes across as a dweeb. He isn’t funny and doesn’t have the charisma like GSP or Silva.
Georges St-Pierre is an incredible fighter but not the best talker in the business. Georges seems like a geek but he has charisma. He seems funny and he gives answers that make you respect him. Jones doing things like saying he’s already champion before he even fought Shogun make him come across as arrogant, especially since he hadn’t defeated anybody of note. Of course Michael Jordan was and probably still is a terrible person and very mean, but he was easy to love because he took over a game like nobody before or since. When Jordan came to play he gave you one of the greatest shows you’ll ever see.
With all athletes, as long as you play well people won’t care about what you do outside the ring, or off the court/field, etc. People watch sports to see something special and see somebody blow their mind with an incredible performance. Anderson Silva does that with mixed martial arts. Watching Jon Jones fight, the UFC commentary team will try to tell you Jones is doing it just as well as Silva when it isn’t even the case. That ridiculous hype is part of what makes Jones so unlikable, and it is exacerbated by the fact Jones seems to believe everything they say about him despite him not proving it all yet.
If you’re force-fed something long enough, you’re bound to get sick of it. It is why so many people grow tired of anything from music and movies when they get popular to athletes when they hear so much about them from the sporting press or commentary teams. As Jones picked apart Jackson on Saturday, Goldberg and Rogan said Jones was “Silva-esque” with his striking. That is not remotely true. Comparing somebody’s striking to that of Anderson Silva is as insulting as when Mark Jackson will say Kobe Bryant’s fadeaway is as good as Michael Jordan’s. You’re taking the greatest of all time and belittling their skills to make what’s new appear to be better or as special.
Jones displayed very good striking against Rampage, which of course was made easier by the fact Rampage’s speed is measured with a calendar rather than a stop watch. This isn’t to say that Jones would have had piss poor striking against a faster fighter as Jones has good strikes, but it is worth noting that Rampage isn’t known for his quick movements so this helped Jones look a little better. However aside from leg kicks, Jones’ stand up game wasn’t that effective as Rampage didn’t appear to take much damage until Jones finally got him to the ground. This of course didn’t stop Goldberg and Rogan from declaring Jones was putting on a performance reminiscent of Anderson Silva with such lethal strikes.
Jon Jones doesn’t even have the stand up of Georges St-Pierre, let alone Silva. Jones won by submission in the fourth round after mostly standing and banging. Anderson Silva isn’t going to stand and strike nearly the entire fight with somebody and go to the fourth round unless he feels like taking them that deep into the fight. Silva has won his last 15 fights (14 in the UFC), seven of them by first round knockout (6 UFC). Two more were second round knockouts. Silva finishes fights with deadly strikes. Jones has good strikes but they aren’t as precise and damaging as somebody like Silva. Jones has amazing ground and pound due to his vicious elbows, but to say his stand up is as great as the most dangerous striker in the history of the sport is ludicrous and annoying and makes you want to see Jones get beaten up so the UFC will stop with the hype. It is even worse because Jones buys into his own hype.
The biggest problem with Jon Jones, and this one is also tough to explain, is that when you watch him it lacks what is best summed up by being called the “holy shit” factor. Jones has such great skill, but he’s also so much bigger and stronger than every other light heavyweight so the fact he’s going to win is readily acceptable. It will be very interesting to see what happens when he moves up to heavyweight in a couple years because then he won’t have as much of a dominant physical presence. This isn’t to say that Jones being big makes him unlikable, but it just takes excitement away from the fight because he possesses an unreal level of physical tools for the weight he fights at. Of course people can’t hit him since his reach is about a foot longer than many opponents’ at light heavyweight.
Michael Jordan possessed the “holy shit” factor since he could take a team of nearly all scrubs and put them on his back to beat much more talented teams. In 1998 it seemed the Utah Jazz were destined to beat the Bulls as Scottie Pippen was injured, but Jordan willed Chicago to victory. You knew deep down he was going to do it, but that didn’t stop you from worrying that it wouldn’t happen. With Silva every fight is a worry. You know deep down he’ll still win, but it doesn’t stop you from doubting. Against Vitor Belfort there was the fear of his amazing striking power, but Silva still beat him. Chael Sonnen’s wrestling nearly took the title away from Silva, but even with broken ribs Silva still pulled off an amazing submission win.
When Silva wins a fight, you step back and have to catch your breath since he takes his opponent’s soul as well as the victory. His last fight against Yushin Okami was incredible since Okami is one of the most mentally tough fighters in the world, and Silva broke his spirit and made him afraid to even move. Forrest Griffin is another mentally tough fighter praised for his toughness, willingness to push the pace, and willingness to fight anybody no matter what. Silva embarrassed him en route to a first round knockout and Griffin hasn’t seemed like he enjoys being a fighter since. Silva wins and you’re stunned as to how he does it in such an impressive fashion, while Jones wins and you’re not really stunned.
Essentially the “holy shit” factor is overcoming insane odds like Silva with the broken rib or beating somebody in such a brutal and degrading fashion you know their career will never be the same. In the light heavyweight title fight when Randy Couture beat Tito Ortiz so bad he began to spank Tito in the fifth round, that is the ultimate “holy shit” moment. Tito was crying when the round ended because he knew he had just gotten decimated. It took Tito over three years to get another shot at the title. Nobody thought Couture had a chance at winning.
Jones wins in impressive fashion, but it lacks the excitement or the rush of adrenaline that you get from other fighters. It is like Georges St-Pierre. GSP wins every time he fights, but it isn’t something you must see. If you’ve seen GSP beat one contender you’ve seen him beat them all. That’s how it feels with Jones. He’s going to keep his distance, throw some kicks and a spinning elbow, take you down and beat you up. With Silva you never know what’s going to happen. Is he going to put his hands down and goad you into hitting him only to drop you with a jab? Is he going to run right at you as you strike only to dodge every strike like The Matrix? Is he going to get taken down only to pull a submission out of nowhere?
The comparisons to Silva are there because the UFC and a great deal of the MMA community are now hyping Jones as the golden boy when there’s so much he’s yet to accomplish. Yes he is the future of the sport and yes he will have a great career, but he is still so raw it seems like too much credit is being given to his technique when it isn’t even developed, and the fact he agrees with the hype makes him too unlikable. Cheating in his first championship bout and spying on Rampage Jackson also adds to this sense of dislike. He isn’t charismatic and acts very arrogant or awkward. It isn’t easy to like him as much as the UFC wishes everybody would because of one simple statement: Jones just doesn’t have “it.”
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Meeting the Hitman
The list of celebrities (or at the very least have achieved some modicum of fame) I’ve met over the years is tiny. There was an autograph signing with Bruce Campbell when I was like 13 and I met the WWF wrestler Haku when I was six. Before a reading at the Palace Theatre I met David Sedaris before his show and t it was very awkward. I also ran into Donald Sutherland at an IKEA furniture in LA, but my family wouldn’t let me “disturb” him. I made the point that any actor walking around an IKEA while carrying a man purse is already at least a bit disturbed, but to no avail. Besides that, my time around famous people has not been particularly noteworthy, with one exception.
The date: April 26, 2009. The place: Collector’s Realm, Poughkeepsie, NY. The person in question: former WWF superstar Bret “Hitman” Hart. The Hitman was in town for an autograph signing at Collectors Realm before heading to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, where he was making an appearance for Northeast Wrestling (NEW). Also with him at this signing was his former tag team partner Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart, but I didn’t really care about meeting him. Not to digress, but the Anvil was always a bit of a tool and Bret was obviously the workhorse in their team.
With me on this journey to meet Bret Hart was my brother Joe and my girlfriend Brie came down to hang out, but not to see the Hitman. The signing was set to take place between noon and 2 p.m., but you had to purchase autograph/photo tickets in advance. We purchased our tickets a few weeks before the signing and it was a good idea, as Raymond Ave. was packed with several hundred people from all over waiting to meet Hart. This was a surprise, as I didn’t think many people had ever heard of Collectors Realm. I only knew of it because Brie went to Vassar College down the road from the store. While overhearing multiple conversations over the course of the three hour wait in the ninety degree heat, I found out that Collectors Realm evidently hosts autograph signings with ex-wrestlers regularly.
The meet and greet took place in a back room on the second or third floor of the building that holds Collectors Realm and the other shops on the block. To get up to this room, we had to wait outside and eventually make our way into a cramped hallway reminiscent of a narrower version of a high school hall. From here, the ninety degree heat from outside transformed into a a hotter, humid environment that reeked of sweaty wrestling nerds. By the time we got to the threshhold to meet Bret, Joe and I were clammy messes clutching our items to be signed, our hair all kinds of dishevelled and eyes gone dead from the hours of heat and waiting. The only consolation was that we were by far not the dorkiest people there, but that is something to discuss another time.
By the time we got inside the room to meet Bret, our shabby condition was the least of our concerns. More important was the fact that the Hitman looked pissed. I should explain this: several years ago, Bret had a stroke that limited him a great deal. He recovered enough to walk and talk and appear basically normal, but you could tell when he was tired and worn down. After three plus hours of shaking hands, signing autographs, and taking pictures he looked miserable.
Once it was our turn, we decided to try to beat his misery with sheer enthusiasm. We came upon the Hitman with Rollins like focus - solid handshakes and a “nice to meet you” with solid eye contact. It definitely took him aback, but none of us (me, Joe, and the Hitman) had that much time to react, because it was photo time. For the record, the picture ended up looking absolutely ridiculous. After that we were marshaled out of the room, where we had to get back in line to get our items signed.
Waiting in line again afforded us the opportunity to watch the Hitman interact with his adoring public. He was mostly brief with them, a bit cold and abrupt. To be fair to the man, he had been doing this for hours and for years before this, really. It had to be old hat. He came alive for a moment with the person in front of us, who mentioned the drawing with a bulldog on the inside cover of his autobiography and brought his own bulldog with him for the photo. Bret then asked the guy what he thought of the book, but clammed right up and merely signed it and sent the guy away once he said he hadn’t started it yet.
And then it was our turn. Joe went first, carrying an action figure to be signed. When he got up to him, he told Bret something along the lines of “You were the greatest.” Bret nodded appreciatively and thanked him while signing. I brought his autobiography with me to get signed and as I handed it to him, I struggled to come up with something interesting to say. What I ended up telling him was severely dorky, although not as bad as the “It’s still real to me dammit” guy.
I told him a true story from my youth, circa 1992. At the time, Hulk Hogan was on his way out of the WWF and Bret was poised to become the new top face of the company. It goes more or less as follows: When I was a little kid, I was a fan of you and Hulk Hogan, but I wasn’t sure who would win. So I asked my grandfather and he said, “Hogan is big, but Bret Hart is a real wrestler.” From that point on, you were my favorite.
It was weird. He looked at me and asked my name. I gave it and he signed my book. I remember thinking, “That’s all? Name and signature? What a dick.”
But then, he spoke. “Hogan was always afraid of me. He knew I would show him up, show everyone what he really was.”
At this time, my brother and I were wide eyed. We knew he didn’t like Hogan, but he was going on a tirade. Unfortunately, the Collectors Realm staff pushed us away to keep the line moving while Bret was going off on Hogan. As we looked back on our way out, Bret was still talking with an impassioned look in his eye.
It was, in a few words, both surreal and awesome. We managed to meet Bret Hart (a childhood hero) and have a memorable experience in doing so. After hours of sweating and standing around like characters in a bad Kevin Smith movie, the payoff was worth it. When celebrity encounters can often be major disappointments, the Hitman truly delivered one for the ages.
The date: April 26, 2009. The place: Collector’s Realm, Poughkeepsie, NY. The person in question: former WWF superstar Bret “Hitman” Hart. The Hitman was in town for an autograph signing at Collectors Realm before heading to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, where he was making an appearance for Northeast Wrestling (NEW). Also with him at this signing was his former tag team partner Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart, but I didn’t really care about meeting him. Not to digress, but the Anvil was always a bit of a tool and Bret was obviously the workhorse in their team.
With me on this journey to meet Bret Hart was my brother Joe and my girlfriend Brie came down to hang out, but not to see the Hitman. The signing was set to take place between noon and 2 p.m., but you had to purchase autograph/photo tickets in advance. We purchased our tickets a few weeks before the signing and it was a good idea, as Raymond Ave. was packed with several hundred people from all over waiting to meet Hart. This was a surprise, as I didn’t think many people had ever heard of Collectors Realm. I only knew of it because Brie went to Vassar College down the road from the store. While overhearing multiple conversations over the course of the three hour wait in the ninety degree heat, I found out that Collectors Realm evidently hosts autograph signings with ex-wrestlers regularly.
The meet and greet took place in a back room on the second or third floor of the building that holds Collectors Realm and the other shops on the block. To get up to this room, we had to wait outside and eventually make our way into a cramped hallway reminiscent of a narrower version of a high school hall. From here, the ninety degree heat from outside transformed into a a hotter, humid environment that reeked of sweaty wrestling nerds. By the time we got to the threshhold to meet Bret, Joe and I were clammy messes clutching our items to be signed, our hair all kinds of dishevelled and eyes gone dead from the hours of heat and waiting. The only consolation was that we were by far not the dorkiest people there, but that is something to discuss another time.
By the time we got inside the room to meet Bret, our shabby condition was the least of our concerns. More important was the fact that the Hitman looked pissed. I should explain this: several years ago, Bret had a stroke that limited him a great deal. He recovered enough to walk and talk and appear basically normal, but you could tell when he was tired and worn down. After three plus hours of shaking hands, signing autographs, and taking pictures he looked miserable.
Once it was our turn, we decided to try to beat his misery with sheer enthusiasm. We came upon the Hitman with Rollins like focus - solid handshakes and a “nice to meet you” with solid eye contact. It definitely took him aback, but none of us (me, Joe, and the Hitman) had that much time to react, because it was photo time. For the record, the picture ended up looking absolutely ridiculous. After that we were marshaled out of the room, where we had to get back in line to get our items signed.
Waiting in line again afforded us the opportunity to watch the Hitman interact with his adoring public. He was mostly brief with them, a bit cold and abrupt. To be fair to the man, he had been doing this for hours and for years before this, really. It had to be old hat. He came alive for a moment with the person in front of us, who mentioned the drawing with a bulldog on the inside cover of his autobiography and brought his own bulldog with him for the photo. Bret then asked the guy what he thought of the book, but clammed right up and merely signed it and sent the guy away once he said he hadn’t started it yet.
And then it was our turn. Joe went first, carrying an action figure to be signed. When he got up to him, he told Bret something along the lines of “You were the greatest.” Bret nodded appreciatively and thanked him while signing. I brought his autobiography with me to get signed and as I handed it to him, I struggled to come up with something interesting to say. What I ended up telling him was severely dorky, although not as bad as the “It’s still real to me dammit” guy.
I told him a true story from my youth, circa 1992. At the time, Hulk Hogan was on his way out of the WWF and Bret was poised to become the new top face of the company. It goes more or less as follows: When I was a little kid, I was a fan of you and Hulk Hogan, but I wasn’t sure who would win. So I asked my grandfather and he said, “Hogan is big, but Bret Hart is a real wrestler.” From that point on, you were my favorite.
It was weird. He looked at me and asked my name. I gave it and he signed my book. I remember thinking, “That’s all? Name and signature? What a dick.”
But then, he spoke. “Hogan was always afraid of me. He knew I would show him up, show everyone what he really was.”
At this time, my brother and I were wide eyed. We knew he didn’t like Hogan, but he was going on a tirade. Unfortunately, the Collectors Realm staff pushed us away to keep the line moving while Bret was going off on Hogan. As we looked back on our way out, Bret was still talking with an impassioned look in his eye.
It was, in a few words, both surreal and awesome. We managed to meet Bret Hart (a childhood hero) and have a memorable experience in doing so. After hours of sweating and standing around like characters in a bad Kevin Smith movie, the payoff was worth it. When celebrity encounters can often be major disappointments, the Hitman truly delivered one for the ages.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
UFC 135 Predictions
Hard to believe that it’s time for another UFC ppv, as it seems like the very exciting UFC 134 just happened. On the surface, UFC 135 does not appear to be on that level. It is a top heavy card, with a really strong main event of wunderkind Jon Jones making his first light heavyweight title defense against veteran and fan favorite Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and a co-main event of Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck that could be really dull or potentially interesting. The rest of the card is hit or miss, since it is short on name fighters and has two heavyweight fights on the main card. That could be disastrous, but at least there is a lightweight fight that could be really good.
Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt: Both men in this heavyweight tilt are veterans, with Rothwell fighting for the first time since winning a decision over Gilbert Yvel in 2010 and Hunt fighting for the first time since blasting Chris Tuscherer out of the UFC earlier this year. Hunt looked pretty good in that fight, weighing close to 100 lbs less than he did in his PRIDE days, when he was an exciting knockout artist susceptible to submisisons. I’ve never been particularly impressed by Rothwell, dude just looks like a schlub. Coming off a long layoff can’t be good for Rothwell, but he has a lot of wins by submission and Hunt is not exactly a world beater. His win over Tuscherer was his first in nearly five years. I’m going to cheer for Hunt to throw down a KO, but it is going to be Rothwell by second round submission.
Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi: This lightweight scrap is my pick for fight of the night. It’s kind of neat, since five years ago Gomi fought Nick Diaz at PRIDE 33 and lost in one of the most exciting battles of all time. Both fighters here have struggled as of late, which I like to blame on the fact that they have both been pitted against wrestlers, which neither of these men are. I expect a fast paced brawl. I’m not sold on Nate Diaz, he is like a less skilled version of Nick. I also don’t know if Gomi is still any good. He was exciting in PRIDE, but has struggled since that organization folded. I do think he has better striking than Nate and if he doesn’t get involved in any grappling exchanges, I think it will be Gomi by decision.
Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton: This heavyweight match pits one guy who I’ve seen knock out Stefan Struve and get dominated by Cheick Kongo (Browne) against someone I’ve never heard of. Browne seems to be someone that the UFC thinks has potential, since he has been up against midlevel competition like Struve and Kongo. I’m just going to guess and say Browne by second round TKO.
Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck: This was originally supposed to be Hughes vs. Diego Sanchez, but Sanchez pulled out last week with an injury and Koscheck stepped up on two weeks notice to take the fight. I think that Hughes had a better shot of winning when it was Sanchez, even if Kos is stepping up on short notice after recovering from an eye injury. I can’t stand Koscheck; he’s obnoxious and cheats, but I respect that he is willing to take on anyone at any time and that shows a certain respect for fans and the sport that is commendable. Sanchez is a small welterweight, Kos is a large one. Kos also has more power than Sanchez and is arguably as good a wrestler as Hughes. Koscheck should also be closer to his prime than Hughes, who has fought roughly a million fights in his career. What makes this fight interesting is the claim that Koscheck has made for years that Hughes has avoided fighting him like the plague. I think in this battle of two wrestlers, most of it will be on the feet. That’s how these things always end up. In this case, Hughes has woeful standup and while Kos’ is overrated, he is still better at it than Hughes. Kos can also take a punch better than Matt, so let’s say Koscheck by second round knockout.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: Jon Jones will be looking to be the first fighter since Machida in 2009 to successfully defend the light heavyweight belt while Rampage looks to become only the second two-time champ in the division’s history. For Jackson, this is in all likelihood his last shot at UFC gold. He’s been around a while and with a burgeoning movie career and newer, more dynamic fighters coming up his chances of getting to the top again are slim. For Jones, this is the chance to solidify himself as the best 205er in the world and not just someone who pummeled a crippled Shogun to win the belt. While I would tilt the odds heavily towards Jones in this fight, I wouldn’t count Rampage out. Jones will have a significant reach, size, and speed advantage over the lumbering Jackson. I would say Rampage has better boxing and footwork, as well as arguably more power in his strikes. Jones, while dynamic, doesn’t really set his feet and blast people. Quinton has some of the best boxing in MMA and can crush someone with his hooks or uppercuts. Jones has great trips, throws, and takedowns but Rampage will easily have the best takedown defense of anyone Jones has faced. What favors Jones is that Rampage is too one dimensional. He doesn’t go for takedowns or the slams that were a trademark of his PRIDE days. He is content to stuff takedowns and box. He is going to have to be more active if he wants to win and fight in a fashion similar to his fight with Machida last year. I think that something else working in his favor is that Jones is the most arrogant fighter not named Anderson Silva and unlike Jones, Silva has earned that right to be arrogant. There is a chance he is overlooking Rampage or gets too cocky and gets sloppy. The best way for Jones to win would be to take either the Forrest Griffin or Rashad Evans route by keeping distance and utilizing leg kicks or by grinding away in the clinch as opposed to getting into any firefights with Jackson. I’ll be cheering for Rampage, but I think that realistically he has about a 25% chance of winning this fight. I think that Machida is the best stylistically to beat Jones and will be the first one to do it, but that won’t stop me from rooting for Jackson. I do think that Jones grinds out a decision or possibly 4th round TKO.
As always, feel free to share your predictions in the comment section or on my facebook page.
Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt: Both men in this heavyweight tilt are veterans, with Rothwell fighting for the first time since winning a decision over Gilbert Yvel in 2010 and Hunt fighting for the first time since blasting Chris Tuscherer out of the UFC earlier this year. Hunt looked pretty good in that fight, weighing close to 100 lbs less than he did in his PRIDE days, when he was an exciting knockout artist susceptible to submisisons. I’ve never been particularly impressed by Rothwell, dude just looks like a schlub. Coming off a long layoff can’t be good for Rothwell, but he has a lot of wins by submission and Hunt is not exactly a world beater. His win over Tuscherer was his first in nearly five years. I’m going to cheer for Hunt to throw down a KO, but it is going to be Rothwell by second round submission.
Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi: This lightweight scrap is my pick for fight of the night. It’s kind of neat, since five years ago Gomi fought Nick Diaz at PRIDE 33 and lost in one of the most exciting battles of all time. Both fighters here have struggled as of late, which I like to blame on the fact that they have both been pitted against wrestlers, which neither of these men are. I expect a fast paced brawl. I’m not sold on Nate Diaz, he is like a less skilled version of Nick. I also don’t know if Gomi is still any good. He was exciting in PRIDE, but has struggled since that organization folded. I do think he has better striking than Nate and if he doesn’t get involved in any grappling exchanges, I think it will be Gomi by decision.
Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton: This heavyweight match pits one guy who I’ve seen knock out Stefan Struve and get dominated by Cheick Kongo (Browne) against someone I’ve never heard of. Browne seems to be someone that the UFC thinks has potential, since he has been up against midlevel competition like Struve and Kongo. I’m just going to guess and say Browne by second round TKO.
Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck: This was originally supposed to be Hughes vs. Diego Sanchez, but Sanchez pulled out last week with an injury and Koscheck stepped up on two weeks notice to take the fight. I think that Hughes had a better shot of winning when it was Sanchez, even if Kos is stepping up on short notice after recovering from an eye injury. I can’t stand Koscheck; he’s obnoxious and cheats, but I respect that he is willing to take on anyone at any time and that shows a certain respect for fans and the sport that is commendable. Sanchez is a small welterweight, Kos is a large one. Kos also has more power than Sanchez and is arguably as good a wrestler as Hughes. Koscheck should also be closer to his prime than Hughes, who has fought roughly a million fights in his career. What makes this fight interesting is the claim that Koscheck has made for years that Hughes has avoided fighting him like the plague. I think in this battle of two wrestlers, most of it will be on the feet. That’s how these things always end up. In this case, Hughes has woeful standup and while Kos’ is overrated, he is still better at it than Hughes. Kos can also take a punch better than Matt, so let’s say Koscheck by second round knockout.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: Jon Jones will be looking to be the first fighter since Machida in 2009 to successfully defend the light heavyweight belt while Rampage looks to become only the second two-time champ in the division’s history. For Jackson, this is in all likelihood his last shot at UFC gold. He’s been around a while and with a burgeoning movie career and newer, more dynamic fighters coming up his chances of getting to the top again are slim. For Jones, this is the chance to solidify himself as the best 205er in the world and not just someone who pummeled a crippled Shogun to win the belt. While I would tilt the odds heavily towards Jones in this fight, I wouldn’t count Rampage out. Jones will have a significant reach, size, and speed advantage over the lumbering Jackson. I would say Rampage has better boxing and footwork, as well as arguably more power in his strikes. Jones, while dynamic, doesn’t really set his feet and blast people. Quinton has some of the best boxing in MMA and can crush someone with his hooks or uppercuts. Jones has great trips, throws, and takedowns but Rampage will easily have the best takedown defense of anyone Jones has faced. What favors Jones is that Rampage is too one dimensional. He doesn’t go for takedowns or the slams that were a trademark of his PRIDE days. He is content to stuff takedowns and box. He is going to have to be more active if he wants to win and fight in a fashion similar to his fight with Machida last year. I think that something else working in his favor is that Jones is the most arrogant fighter not named Anderson Silva and unlike Jones, Silva has earned that right to be arrogant. There is a chance he is overlooking Rampage or gets too cocky and gets sloppy. The best way for Jones to win would be to take either the Forrest Griffin or Rashad Evans route by keeping distance and utilizing leg kicks or by grinding away in the clinch as opposed to getting into any firefights with Jackson. I’ll be cheering for Rampage, but I think that realistically he has about a 25% chance of winning this fight. I think that Machida is the best stylistically to beat Jones and will be the first one to do it, but that won’t stop me from rooting for Jackson. I do think that Jones grinds out a decision or possibly 4th round TKO.
As always, feel free to share your predictions in the comment section or on my facebook page.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Will those of us who pick Rampage regret it?
“Do you really want to be on the wrong side of history?”
That was a question my brother once posed when we were discussing how silly it was people were going to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008. Obama was clearly going to win and with his priorities on the economy over the war he seemed like a more logical choice than McCain, but some people seemed to think McCain was the one. Of course this isn’t a political blog, but the question still holds a lot of weight in everything from politics to sports.
This Saturday is UFC 135 and features one of the most intriguing and exciting main events the Ultimate Fighting Championship will probably ever have. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones defends his title against Quentin “Rampage” Jackson. Rampage is looking to become only the second man to be a two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and Bones Jones is looking to continue his quest to become the greatest talent mixed martial arts has ever seen. Predictions for the show will undoubtedly come later in the week, but I’ll state right now I both think and hope Rampage Jackson will lay out Jones to regain his belt. It is with that prediction I step back and think of Jimmy’s question: Do you really want to be on the wrong side of history?
I think of that question and I think of Michael Jordan. MJ is the undisputed greatest athlete in the history of any sport ever. Six championships in eight years, which could have easily been eight straight or even nine straight had he not retired, make him the leader of one of the NBA’s all time great dynasties. I think of how the Bulls made the 1991 NBA Finals and critics said Jordan was too selfish to win a title, but then he went out and the Bulls effectively ended Magic Johnson and the Lakers to become champs. I think of the 1992 NBA Finals in which people said Clyde Drexler was on Jordan’s level and the Portland Trailblazers could stop the Bulls from repeating as champions. I think of how in Game 1 Jordan scores 36 first half points and simply shrugs, cementing his place as the best in the world and Drexler’s inferiority. They won the title that year too, and again next year against a tough Phoenix Suns team people thought could give the Bulls a run for their money.
I think of the last two championships the Chicago Bulls won, in 1997 and 1998, and how there were people who really thought the Utah Jazz could beat them. In ’97 Jordan put on one of the two greatest performances in the history of the NBA when he scored 38 points in Game 5 despite being sick as hell and eventually propelled Chicago to a Game 6 championship win. Of course in 1998 age and injures slowed the Bulls big time, but they had one weapon no other team had: Michael fucking Jordan. In Game 6 Jordan puts on the other one of the two greatest performances in NBA history as the Bulls win title number six. Now I’m sure somebody is wondering why I just gave this longwinded explanation of the Bulls title wins. I’ll get to that.
Now we have Jon Jones. He is an incredible athletic specimen. He’s in great shape; he’s got great speed and great strength. His wrestling is good and his striking has proven to be vicious. If you’ve ever seen him fight then you’ve heard commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg hype Jones up as the guy who very likely may go down as the greatest fighter ever. He has looked like a juggernaut in his first 14 fights, with his only loss coming after an illegal elbow during the midst of demolishing Matt Hamill. Jones has 8 wins by way of knockout and 3 by submission. Everybody he has faced has been beaten and beaten badly. And he is very young, so as he gets older and moves closer to his prime he’s only getting better. It is because of this that I start to wonder if I’m making the right pick.
But there is a chance I’m not wrong. When you look at the list of people Jones has beaten, it isn’t particularly impressive. His big standout win is the one over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the championship, but once you get past the surface the win isn’t that impressive. Shogun’s legs were badly hobbled going into the fight and he looked to be in piss poor shape. He had no stamina and no lower half of his leg and clearly had no chance. Of course I went against history and picked Shogun to win because he was amazing back in the day, but that’s not the case anymore. I was in denial at the time and thought he could slow down Jones’ meteoric rise to the top. Whoops.
Shogun’s injuries proved to be too much for him to overcome and he shouldn’t have even been in the octagon fighting. Jones completely overwhelmed him en route to becoming champion. A win over a legend like Shogun Rua makes your legacy, but when you realize Rua was in no condition to even fight it weakens the moment. Jones fought sloppy in that fight and Rua took his back on several occasions, Rua was so small and weak he couldn’t capitalize. That right there serves as my hope that I’m not betting against history by picking Rampage Jackson this Saturday.
If Jones gets inside, tries one of those spinning elbows, and Rampage ends up taking his back he won’t just hold Jones there like Shogun did. Rampage is well known for once having devastating slams, and with the title on the line in such a big moment, I doubt he’d forget about using them. Rampage also has devastating boxing, with an uppercut that could stop a train. Jones has never been hit so we have no idea what his chin is like. If Rampage belts him in the jaw, Jones could very likely be taking a nap. But that’s when I stop and think.
What about those people who said Jordan was too selfish to win in ’91? What about the people who said Drexler could take Jordan off his throne in ’92? What about people who thought Charles Barkley and the Suns could stop the Bulls from getting the historic “three-peat” in 1993? The 1996 Bulls were the greatest team ever so there was no real doubt, but what about the people in ’97 and ’98 who thought John Stockton, Karl Malone, and their coach Jerry Sloan were destined to finally become NBA Champions? Imagine how foolish all of those doubters must have felt by the end of June in 1998. They must have felt like the biggest assholes ever since here they were constantly betting against a guy who ended up being the greatest basketball player of all time.
For the second straight fight now, I’m betting against the fighter who could potentially go down as the best. But Jones has yet to beat a real fighter in prime condition so who knows if the hype is deserved. Of course if Rampage loses a lot of people will say it is because he’s past his prime, but he’s still near the top of the division so should Jones win he’s still proven himself. And if Jones wins I once again have to sit here with egg on my face and claim to know and understand the sport but for some reason keep picking wrong when it comes to the new golden boy. With the potential happiness I’ll feel if I see Rampage Jackson land a few big punches, howl, and become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, I will take the chance.
That was a question my brother once posed when we were discussing how silly it was people were going to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008. Obama was clearly going to win and with his priorities on the economy over the war he seemed like a more logical choice than McCain, but some people seemed to think McCain was the one. Of course this isn’t a political blog, but the question still holds a lot of weight in everything from politics to sports.
This Saturday is UFC 135 and features one of the most intriguing and exciting main events the Ultimate Fighting Championship will probably ever have. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones defends his title against Quentin “Rampage” Jackson. Rampage is looking to become only the second man to be a two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and Bones Jones is looking to continue his quest to become the greatest talent mixed martial arts has ever seen. Predictions for the show will undoubtedly come later in the week, but I’ll state right now I both think and hope Rampage Jackson will lay out Jones to regain his belt. It is with that prediction I step back and think of Jimmy’s question: Do you really want to be on the wrong side of history?
I think of that question and I think of Michael Jordan. MJ is the undisputed greatest athlete in the history of any sport ever. Six championships in eight years, which could have easily been eight straight or even nine straight had he not retired, make him the leader of one of the NBA’s all time great dynasties. I think of how the Bulls made the 1991 NBA Finals and critics said Jordan was too selfish to win a title, but then he went out and the Bulls effectively ended Magic Johnson and the Lakers to become champs. I think of the 1992 NBA Finals in which people said Clyde Drexler was on Jordan’s level and the Portland Trailblazers could stop the Bulls from repeating as champions. I think of how in Game 1 Jordan scores 36 first half points and simply shrugs, cementing his place as the best in the world and Drexler’s inferiority. They won the title that year too, and again next year against a tough Phoenix Suns team people thought could give the Bulls a run for their money.
I think of the last two championships the Chicago Bulls won, in 1997 and 1998, and how there were people who really thought the Utah Jazz could beat them. In ’97 Jordan put on one of the two greatest performances in the history of the NBA when he scored 38 points in Game 5 despite being sick as hell and eventually propelled Chicago to a Game 6 championship win. Of course in 1998 age and injures slowed the Bulls big time, but they had one weapon no other team had: Michael fucking Jordan. In Game 6 Jordan puts on the other one of the two greatest performances in NBA history as the Bulls win title number six. Now I’m sure somebody is wondering why I just gave this longwinded explanation of the Bulls title wins. I’ll get to that.
Now we have Jon Jones. He is an incredible athletic specimen. He’s in great shape; he’s got great speed and great strength. His wrestling is good and his striking has proven to be vicious. If you’ve ever seen him fight then you’ve heard commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg hype Jones up as the guy who very likely may go down as the greatest fighter ever. He has looked like a juggernaut in his first 14 fights, with his only loss coming after an illegal elbow during the midst of demolishing Matt Hamill. Jones has 8 wins by way of knockout and 3 by submission. Everybody he has faced has been beaten and beaten badly. And he is very young, so as he gets older and moves closer to his prime he’s only getting better. It is because of this that I start to wonder if I’m making the right pick.
But there is a chance I’m not wrong. When you look at the list of people Jones has beaten, it isn’t particularly impressive. His big standout win is the one over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the championship, but once you get past the surface the win isn’t that impressive. Shogun’s legs were badly hobbled going into the fight and he looked to be in piss poor shape. He had no stamina and no lower half of his leg and clearly had no chance. Of course I went against history and picked Shogun to win because he was amazing back in the day, but that’s not the case anymore. I was in denial at the time and thought he could slow down Jones’ meteoric rise to the top. Whoops.
Shogun’s injuries proved to be too much for him to overcome and he shouldn’t have even been in the octagon fighting. Jones completely overwhelmed him en route to becoming champion. A win over a legend like Shogun Rua makes your legacy, but when you realize Rua was in no condition to even fight it weakens the moment. Jones fought sloppy in that fight and Rua took his back on several occasions, Rua was so small and weak he couldn’t capitalize. That right there serves as my hope that I’m not betting against history by picking Rampage Jackson this Saturday.
If Jones gets inside, tries one of those spinning elbows, and Rampage ends up taking his back he won’t just hold Jones there like Shogun did. Rampage is well known for once having devastating slams, and with the title on the line in such a big moment, I doubt he’d forget about using them. Rampage also has devastating boxing, with an uppercut that could stop a train. Jones has never been hit so we have no idea what his chin is like. If Rampage belts him in the jaw, Jones could very likely be taking a nap. But that’s when I stop and think.
What about those people who said Jordan was too selfish to win in ’91? What about the people who said Drexler could take Jordan off his throne in ’92? What about people who thought Charles Barkley and the Suns could stop the Bulls from getting the historic “three-peat” in 1993? The 1996 Bulls were the greatest team ever so there was no real doubt, but what about the people in ’97 and ’98 who thought John Stockton, Karl Malone, and their coach Jerry Sloan were destined to finally become NBA Champions? Imagine how foolish all of those doubters must have felt by the end of June in 1998. They must have felt like the biggest assholes ever since here they were constantly betting against a guy who ended up being the greatest basketball player of all time.
For the second straight fight now, I’m betting against the fighter who could potentially go down as the best. But Jones has yet to beat a real fighter in prime condition so who knows if the hype is deserved. Of course if Rampage loses a lot of people will say it is because he’s past his prime, but he’s still near the top of the division so should Jones win he’s still proven himself. And if Jones wins I once again have to sit here with egg on my face and claim to know and understand the sport but for some reason keep picking wrong when it comes to the new golden boy. With the potential happiness I’ll feel if I see Rampage Jackson land a few big punches, howl, and become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, I will take the chance.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
One Final Rampage
At UFC 135 this Saturday, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson gets what will likely be his last shot at reclaiming the UFC Light Heavyweight Title when he faces the future of the division in Jon Jones. Coming into this as a heavy underdog, Rampage is going to have to pull off the performance of a lifetime to win. It would have to be a performance no one can really be sure he is capable of.
Since his beginnings in PRIDE, Rampage has always been near the top of the 205 lb. division. He entered the sport with solid wrestling and vicious slams and evolved his striking until he became one of the best strikers in all of MMA. If you watch him strike, his footwork and head movement are excellent by MMA standards and he can throw his hooks and uppercuts with great power and force. While Rampage has always had the tools to be a great fighter, he doesn’t always manage to put them together consistently. Two things have held Rampage back throughout his career: a lack of focus and an increasingly unevolved gameplan in his fights.
Rampage can be a bit of a goofball, to the point of inhibiting his effectiveness as a fighter. You can go on youtube and see an enormous amounts of clips of him doing stuff like humping a reporter’s leg, motorboating in a reporter’s cleavage, or just go off on random obscenity laced jokes about his opponents. It seems like some of this takes away from his training and preparation for fights. Look at the Rashad Evans fight - if Rampage hadn’t ballooned to 250+ pounds before that fight and had taken it more seriously, he wouldn’t have gassed out early and could have finished the fight in the third round. His loss to Forrest Griffin is another example. He took Forrest lightly and showed up for the fight out of shape. He ended up losing a decision, even though he landed the more powerful blows, because Forrest outworked him. In PRIDE, he went through a slump where he won an unimpressive decision over Ninja Rua and then followed it up by being on the receiving end of a mauling from Shogun Rua. When Rampage focuses, he does much better.
Both of his wins over Chuck Liddell show this. When they faced off in the 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix, Rampage pounded the Iceman with relentless takedowns and ground and pound, as well as boxing. He ended up winning the fight by TKO when Liddell’s corner threw in the towel to prevent any more damage. Their rematch in the UFC also showed what happens when he takes a fight seriously. He locked into Liddell’s timing and blasted him with a hook that began the end of Chuck’s career. His UFC 92 rematch with Wanderlei Silva was a fight where Rampage had something to prove. He was able to make up for the two prior brutal losses to Silva by crushing him with a hook in the first round that absolutely pasted the Axe Murderer.
While those two knockout wins showcase his striking prowess, too often Rampage has been content to go into fights looking merely to box. In the Griffin fight he was standing still, looking to land knockout blows and ended up paying the price by eating a ton of leg kicks and ended up on his back a few times. In the Evans fight, he was looking to brawl and ended up pinned against the cage for the bulk of the night. Even in wins against Jardine and Hamill, he was far too content to shrug off takedown attempts and stand and box. Even while boxing he isn’t very active; he just looks to throw and not really push any pace. As he has gotten older and slower, he has become far too easy to plan for and against. Leg kicks and a fast pace, as well as some clinch work and keeping your hands up to block the hands are really all that is needed to win against Rampage on most nights.
When Rampage is active, moves around, and mixes it up he fairs much better. His win over Dan Henderson was a classic example. He wasn’t going to be able to KO Hendo (its just never been done), so he was forced to mix it up. He was able to reverse off his back, shoot for and land takedowns, and fight in the clinch. It was one of the more well rounded showings in his entire career, and definitely his most all around effort in the UFC. His November win against Machida, while questionable, still showed a better Rampage than the one that lost to Evans. He moved more, played the aggressor, and didn’t just stand around. He also went for takedowns and even put in an attempt at a slam. If that Rampage shows up every time, he easily wins the bulk of his fights. He’s just too strong and talented to lose lackluster decisions that come from him being plodding.
PRIDE-era Rampage was never called out for being one dimensional or inactive. Over there, he was using a wide range of throws and merciless ground and pound to overwhelm people. If he was trapped in a bad situation, he was willing to just use brute force to escape. Evidence of that can be seen when he slammed Ricardo Arona with the force of a car crash. To succeed against Jon Jones, he is going to have to tap into his arsenal and take advantage of both his experience and raw strength.
By all accounts, Rampage is taking this fight very seriously, much more so than he has since the Silva fight. If that is the case, Jones could be in trouble. He’s young, extremely gifted, but brash. Rampage is easily the toughest challenge of his young career. Even an unmotivated Jackson is extremely difficult to finish; in fact, both of his losses in the UFC were by decision and he hasn’t been finished since that aforementioned drubbing from Shogun Rua in 2005. His boxing is more powerful and technically sound than Jones’ and when combined with some intensity from Jackson, that could make for a long night. However, Jones runs out of a better, more varied camp (Greg Jackson’s as opposed to the one-dimensional Wolfslair) and has constantly improved with every fight while Rampage has seemed to stagnate over the past few years. Either way, this Saturday will show whether Jones really is deserving of the fawning he has received from MMA fans the past few years by beating one of the toughest men in the sport or if Rampage has enough left in him to do what legends like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz have never done: reclaim the UFC Light Heavyweight Title.
Since his beginnings in PRIDE, Rampage has always been near the top of the 205 lb. division. He entered the sport with solid wrestling and vicious slams and evolved his striking until he became one of the best strikers in all of MMA. If you watch him strike, his footwork and head movement are excellent by MMA standards and he can throw his hooks and uppercuts with great power and force. While Rampage has always had the tools to be a great fighter, he doesn’t always manage to put them together consistently. Two things have held Rampage back throughout his career: a lack of focus and an increasingly unevolved gameplan in his fights.
Rampage can be a bit of a goofball, to the point of inhibiting his effectiveness as a fighter. You can go on youtube and see an enormous amounts of clips of him doing stuff like humping a reporter’s leg, motorboating in a reporter’s cleavage, or just go off on random obscenity laced jokes about his opponents. It seems like some of this takes away from his training and preparation for fights. Look at the Rashad Evans fight - if Rampage hadn’t ballooned to 250+ pounds before that fight and had taken it more seriously, he wouldn’t have gassed out early and could have finished the fight in the third round. His loss to Forrest Griffin is another example. He took Forrest lightly and showed up for the fight out of shape. He ended up losing a decision, even though he landed the more powerful blows, because Forrest outworked him. In PRIDE, he went through a slump where he won an unimpressive decision over Ninja Rua and then followed it up by being on the receiving end of a mauling from Shogun Rua. When Rampage focuses, he does much better.
Both of his wins over Chuck Liddell show this. When they faced off in the 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix, Rampage pounded the Iceman with relentless takedowns and ground and pound, as well as boxing. He ended up winning the fight by TKO when Liddell’s corner threw in the towel to prevent any more damage. Their rematch in the UFC also showed what happens when he takes a fight seriously. He locked into Liddell’s timing and blasted him with a hook that began the end of Chuck’s career. His UFC 92 rematch with Wanderlei Silva was a fight where Rampage had something to prove. He was able to make up for the two prior brutal losses to Silva by crushing him with a hook in the first round that absolutely pasted the Axe Murderer.
While those two knockout wins showcase his striking prowess, too often Rampage has been content to go into fights looking merely to box. In the Griffin fight he was standing still, looking to land knockout blows and ended up paying the price by eating a ton of leg kicks and ended up on his back a few times. In the Evans fight, he was looking to brawl and ended up pinned against the cage for the bulk of the night. Even in wins against Jardine and Hamill, he was far too content to shrug off takedown attempts and stand and box. Even while boxing he isn’t very active; he just looks to throw and not really push any pace. As he has gotten older and slower, he has become far too easy to plan for and against. Leg kicks and a fast pace, as well as some clinch work and keeping your hands up to block the hands are really all that is needed to win against Rampage on most nights.
When Rampage is active, moves around, and mixes it up he fairs much better. His win over Dan Henderson was a classic example. He wasn’t going to be able to KO Hendo (its just never been done), so he was forced to mix it up. He was able to reverse off his back, shoot for and land takedowns, and fight in the clinch. It was one of the more well rounded showings in his entire career, and definitely his most all around effort in the UFC. His November win against Machida, while questionable, still showed a better Rampage than the one that lost to Evans. He moved more, played the aggressor, and didn’t just stand around. He also went for takedowns and even put in an attempt at a slam. If that Rampage shows up every time, he easily wins the bulk of his fights. He’s just too strong and talented to lose lackluster decisions that come from him being plodding.
PRIDE-era Rampage was never called out for being one dimensional or inactive. Over there, he was using a wide range of throws and merciless ground and pound to overwhelm people. If he was trapped in a bad situation, he was willing to just use brute force to escape. Evidence of that can be seen when he slammed Ricardo Arona with the force of a car crash. To succeed against Jon Jones, he is going to have to tap into his arsenal and take advantage of both his experience and raw strength.
By all accounts, Rampage is taking this fight very seriously, much more so than he has since the Silva fight. If that is the case, Jones could be in trouble. He’s young, extremely gifted, but brash. Rampage is easily the toughest challenge of his young career. Even an unmotivated Jackson is extremely difficult to finish; in fact, both of his losses in the UFC were by decision and he hasn’t been finished since that aforementioned drubbing from Shogun Rua in 2005. His boxing is more powerful and technically sound than Jones’ and when combined with some intensity from Jackson, that could make for a long night. However, Jones runs out of a better, more varied camp (Greg Jackson’s as opposed to the one-dimensional Wolfslair) and has constantly improved with every fight while Rampage has seemed to stagnate over the past few years. Either way, this Saturday will show whether Jones really is deserving of the fawning he has received from MMA fans the past few years by beating one of the toughest men in the sport or if Rampage has enough left in him to do what legends like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz have never done: reclaim the UFC Light Heavyweight Title.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Reem!!!, GSP vs Condit/Penn vs Diaz?, and the Strikeforce GP Final
Big MMA comings and goings in the past week, between new signings and fights being made, as well as last Saturday’s Strikeforce card. Let’s get right down to it.
In arguably the biggest news of last week, Alistair Overeem has signed with the UFC and he will be fighting a returning Brock Lesnar on December 30. To the casual fan, the biggest part of that is the return of Lesnar after another potentially career threatening bout of diverticulitis. It’s a great fight to introduce Overeem to UFC fans and it pits two behemoths against each other. It’s like Thor vs. the Incredible Hulk. Its also a win-win for Zuffa. If Lesnar wins and looks good doing so, he beats a highly regarded heavyweight and is reinserted in the title picture. If the Reem wins and does so decisively, he beats the company’s top draw and is the next contender for the heavyweight title. While this is a winnable fight for Brock due to his superior wrestling, I don’t think he will win. He has mediocre striking and due to that, his takedowns are set up poorly. Overeem isn’t Frank Mir or Randy Couture; he can’t just be hurled around. Lesnar reacts poorly to getting hit and Overeem is a K-1 kickboxing champion. If Cain Velasquez can knock Brock around, imagine what Overeem can do. Plus, the Reem has a nasty guillotine choke or Uberknee just waiting for Lesnar to shoot for one of those chest high takedown attempts he goes for after getting punched. However, if Lesnar can get it to the ground, his superior cardio and brutal ground and pound can get him through this. Still, as of right now I think Overeem takes this with a first round TKO. The combination of Overeem’s power striking and Lesnar looking vulnerable and coming back from a long layoff will be too much.
The other biggest story this week was the upheaval at the top of the UFC 136 card. Georges St. Pierre is no longer fighting Nick Diaz and is instead facing Carlos Condit. Meanwhile BJ Penn is fighting Diaz rather than Condit. This all came to pass after Diaz missed two flights to Las Vegas for a press conference to formalize the fight and didn’t return several of Dana White’s calls. While I would have liked to have seen GSP and Diaz to see how St. Pierre reacts to Diaz’s smack talk and technically sound boxing and jiu jitsu, I think that Condit may make a better fight. He has better takedown defense and fights hard, hard enough that I think he has a better chance of finishing St. Pierre than anyone he has faced in a while. And the only real way to beat him is by finishing him. Georges can go five rounds easily and his style lends itself to decision wins. On the other side of it, BJ Penn and Nick Diaz should be one of the more exciting fights of the year. Both have great boxing and BJJ and neither man shies away from a scrap. I think it can go either way. BJ is the more talented fighter overall, but Diaz has much better cardio. I lean towards Penn, but it could go either way. Regardless, whoever wins this should be next in line for a title shot. If GSP and Penn both win however, I would just go to the GSP-Silva superfight route instead because Baby Jay can’t beat Georges. If Diaz wins, I might still go with GSP-Silva since Nick flaked out on the last fight and the Silva fight needs to happen. If Condit wins, anything goes. If I was forced to pick winners, I would go with Condit and Penn. In the future, I’ll go into further detail about why I think GSP loses. I may even discuss Nick Diaz flaking out on the biggest fight of his career.
The final match of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is set, as Josh Barnett (the favorite in his side of the bracket) will face Daniel Cormier (an injury replacement for Overeem) at some undetermined point in the future. For Barnett, his path was easy. He outgrappled Brett Rogers in the first round earlier this year and then outgrappled Sergei Kharitonov, winning both fights by submission. I don’t know who Cormier beat in his injury replacement fight, but he knocked out Bigfoot Silva impressively to advance. This is an interesting fight, one that could make Cormier a legit heavyweight with a shot at contending in the UFC next year or give the blacklisted Barnett another shot in the company he was tossed from nearly a decade ago. Cormier is the better wrestler of the two, but Barnett has size and experience on his side. Of course, this is not the fight that Strikeforce had planned on. They originally set up the brackets so that we could see some combination of Overeem, Werdum, and Fedor square off against Barnett. Unfortunately, their brackets yielded a dud in the Reem-Werdum match, Fedor was blasted by Bigfoot Silva, and then Overeem was forced out of the tournament. Still, this should be a good one if it ever happens. One has learned never to accept things from Strikeforce at face value, especially when their erratic scheduling is paired with Zuffa cherrypicking the promotion’s best fighters. That could include one or both of the finalists in the GP to help boost a sagging heavyweight division.
That does it for this installment. Feel free to comment on anything that catches your eye. Stay tuned for UFC 135 predictions next week.
In arguably the biggest news of last week, Alistair Overeem has signed with the UFC and he will be fighting a returning Brock Lesnar on December 30. To the casual fan, the biggest part of that is the return of Lesnar after another potentially career threatening bout of diverticulitis. It’s a great fight to introduce Overeem to UFC fans and it pits two behemoths against each other. It’s like Thor vs. the Incredible Hulk. Its also a win-win for Zuffa. If Lesnar wins and looks good doing so, he beats a highly regarded heavyweight and is reinserted in the title picture. If the Reem wins and does so decisively, he beats the company’s top draw and is the next contender for the heavyweight title. While this is a winnable fight for Brock due to his superior wrestling, I don’t think he will win. He has mediocre striking and due to that, his takedowns are set up poorly. Overeem isn’t Frank Mir or Randy Couture; he can’t just be hurled around. Lesnar reacts poorly to getting hit and Overeem is a K-1 kickboxing champion. If Cain Velasquez can knock Brock around, imagine what Overeem can do. Plus, the Reem has a nasty guillotine choke or Uberknee just waiting for Lesnar to shoot for one of those chest high takedown attempts he goes for after getting punched. However, if Lesnar can get it to the ground, his superior cardio and brutal ground and pound can get him through this. Still, as of right now I think Overeem takes this with a first round TKO. The combination of Overeem’s power striking and Lesnar looking vulnerable and coming back from a long layoff will be too much.
The other biggest story this week was the upheaval at the top of the UFC 136 card. Georges St. Pierre is no longer fighting Nick Diaz and is instead facing Carlos Condit. Meanwhile BJ Penn is fighting Diaz rather than Condit. This all came to pass after Diaz missed two flights to Las Vegas for a press conference to formalize the fight and didn’t return several of Dana White’s calls. While I would have liked to have seen GSP and Diaz to see how St. Pierre reacts to Diaz’s smack talk and technically sound boxing and jiu jitsu, I think that Condit may make a better fight. He has better takedown defense and fights hard, hard enough that I think he has a better chance of finishing St. Pierre than anyone he has faced in a while. And the only real way to beat him is by finishing him. Georges can go five rounds easily and his style lends itself to decision wins. On the other side of it, BJ Penn and Nick Diaz should be one of the more exciting fights of the year. Both have great boxing and BJJ and neither man shies away from a scrap. I think it can go either way. BJ is the more talented fighter overall, but Diaz has much better cardio. I lean towards Penn, but it could go either way. Regardless, whoever wins this should be next in line for a title shot. If GSP and Penn both win however, I would just go to the GSP-Silva superfight route instead because Baby Jay can’t beat Georges. If Diaz wins, I might still go with GSP-Silva since Nick flaked out on the last fight and the Silva fight needs to happen. If Condit wins, anything goes. If I was forced to pick winners, I would go with Condit and Penn. In the future, I’ll go into further detail about why I think GSP loses. I may even discuss Nick Diaz flaking out on the biggest fight of his career.
The final match of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is set, as Josh Barnett (the favorite in his side of the bracket) will face Daniel Cormier (an injury replacement for Overeem) at some undetermined point in the future. For Barnett, his path was easy. He outgrappled Brett Rogers in the first round earlier this year and then outgrappled Sergei Kharitonov, winning both fights by submission. I don’t know who Cormier beat in his injury replacement fight, but he knocked out Bigfoot Silva impressively to advance. This is an interesting fight, one that could make Cormier a legit heavyweight with a shot at contending in the UFC next year or give the blacklisted Barnett another shot in the company he was tossed from nearly a decade ago. Cormier is the better wrestler of the two, but Barnett has size and experience on his side. Of course, this is not the fight that Strikeforce had planned on. They originally set up the brackets so that we could see some combination of Overeem, Werdum, and Fedor square off against Barnett. Unfortunately, their brackets yielded a dud in the Reem-Werdum match, Fedor was blasted by Bigfoot Silva, and then Overeem was forced out of the tournament. Still, this should be a good one if it ever happens. One has learned never to accept things from Strikeforce at face value, especially when their erratic scheduling is paired with Zuffa cherrypicking the promotion’s best fighters. That could include one or both of the finalists in the GP to help boost a sagging heavyweight division.
That does it for this installment. Feel free to comment on anything that catches your eye. Stay tuned for UFC 135 predictions next week.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Chael Sonnen doesn't deserve a title shot, UFC on Fox, and Overeem!
Due to the severe lack of a basketball season, the bulk of the articles I’m writing are MMA related. I’m thinking of popping out with a pro wrestling story soon just to break the monotony of MMA articles, but we’ll see. If you are looking for something different, please feel free to peruse my other blog entitled Price Vincent, which is a constant ode to testosterone.
Speaking of testosterone, that brings me to Chael Sonnen. In the wake of Anderson Silva’s destruction of Yushin Okami, there has been a renewed call for Silva to face Sonnen, the person who has come closest to defeating him. This is a terrible idea for multiple reasons. 1.) Sonnen lost decisively by tapping out, 2.) Although he was winning the fight decisively, he ended up with more damage inflicted upon himself than upon Silva, 3.) He was dominating due to the fact that he was using testosterone illegally and Silva fought with a severe rib injury, which leads to 4.) Giving him a rematch right away or after his next fight only rewards someone who was caught cheating in the recent past. Seriously, I know there are a serious lack of challengers for Anderson Silva at this point, but Sonnen should have to win at least two fights before being given another shot at a title. And there’s only one real fight to book Silva in that matters: a catchweight bout against Georges St. Pierre. That would put the two best and most dominant fighters in the world against each other in a match most fans want to see, plus it could set up for at least one rematch depending on the fight’s outcome. If that fight isn’t possible, Dan Henderson is available and he is far more deserving of another shot at UFC gold than Sonnen, who could have created quite the PR problem last year if he had won the belt while juicing. That’s something Dana White has forgotten about when defending Chael, but I digress.
In other, more positive news the UFC announced the main event for its network TV debut on Fox November 12th: a UFC Heavyweight Title match between Cain Velasquez and the challenger Junior dos Santos. Oddly enough, this is the only fight that will be aired on the one hour program. I personally would have added a lightweight fight between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson that would 100% guaranteed been a match of the year candidate to open the show, but a title fight on free TV is a big deal. I think that the UFC went the right way in picking this as the fight to go with, as opposed to an Anderson Silva title match or the rumored Tito Ortiz-Rich Franklin fight. Silva, while absolutely brilliant, is mercurial and there is no guarantee that he’ll deliver a positive memorable opponent. Plus, there is some serious question as to how much name recognition he actually has in the US. Now Tito Ortiz has name recognition, but he is way past his prime. Same for Rich Franklin. While both are names and I would consider myself to be a fan of both men, there is a good chance that this could be a bland encounter and you don’t want to showcase two guys who are a bit over the hill in your network TV debut. A lot of people will be tuning in to see a UFC fight for the first time, and a good impression needs to be made. That is why this fight makes sense. Nothing draws people in like a heavyweight fight. Historically in boxing,heavyweights have been the most popular (Louis, Ali, Tyson, Holyfield) and a heavyweight title holds a common perception of being the accolade that shows who the biggest, baddest man is. While there is always the risk that a heavyweight scrap can be a dull, plodding affair, that most likely won’t be the case here as Velasquez-dos Santos is going to be great, great enough that it would be worth buying on a pay per view card. Velasquez is a machine, just absolutely relentless and efficient in his striking, takedowns, and ground and pound. As an added bonus, he never tires out. Junior dos Santos is the best technical striker in the heavyweight division and will test Cain’s chin like no one has yet, plus this fight could be where dos Santos is finally forced to use the jiu jitsu skills we hear he has. This really is the best fight the UFC can go with on this card and its great for fans to get a title fight without having to pay $45.00.
While on the subject of heavyweights, the UFC has been negotiating with Alistair Overeem and rumor has it the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ could be making his debut inside the octagon as soon as the end of the year against Frank Mir or a returning Brock Lesnar. As a fan of the ‘Reem, this excites me. I’ve gushed about him far too often, but his inclusion into the UFC would greatly bolster its sagging heavyweight ranks. After Cain and dos Santos, the top of the division is pretty thin. Mir is near the top and can main event, but he has not looked impressive as of late and wouldn’t really stand a chance against either of the UFC’s top two heavyweights. Brendan Schaub was exposed as a very green prospect, Cheick Kongo would get murdered again by Cain or for the first time by Junior, and Matt Mitrione is a prospect. Shane Carwin has lost two in a row and is really out of contention, and as much as I love Minotauro Nogueira, he isn’t really a threat to capture the title again. Bringing in Overeem creates a Champion vs. Champion fight, plus Alistair is very marketable. He’s built like Thor and can beat the hell out of people. Since the rest of the Strikeforce heavyweights aren’t joining the UFC anytime soon, the addition of Overeem would be a major plus and would greatly bolster the main event scene - especially when 2011 was marked by a severe depletion of credible main eventers due to injuries and the ‘Reem is known for wanting to fight several times a year. More on this if he actually does join the UFC.
That about does it this time, hopefully I’ll put something up again soon. Feel free to comment here or on facebook.
Speaking of testosterone, that brings me to Chael Sonnen. In the wake of Anderson Silva’s destruction of Yushin Okami, there has been a renewed call for Silva to face Sonnen, the person who has come closest to defeating him. This is a terrible idea for multiple reasons. 1.) Sonnen lost decisively by tapping out, 2.) Although he was winning the fight decisively, he ended up with more damage inflicted upon himself than upon Silva, 3.) He was dominating due to the fact that he was using testosterone illegally and Silva fought with a severe rib injury, which leads to 4.) Giving him a rematch right away or after his next fight only rewards someone who was caught cheating in the recent past. Seriously, I know there are a serious lack of challengers for Anderson Silva at this point, but Sonnen should have to win at least two fights before being given another shot at a title. And there’s only one real fight to book Silva in that matters: a catchweight bout against Georges St. Pierre. That would put the two best and most dominant fighters in the world against each other in a match most fans want to see, plus it could set up for at least one rematch depending on the fight’s outcome. If that fight isn’t possible, Dan Henderson is available and he is far more deserving of another shot at UFC gold than Sonnen, who could have created quite the PR problem last year if he had won the belt while juicing. That’s something Dana White has forgotten about when defending Chael, but I digress.
In other, more positive news the UFC announced the main event for its network TV debut on Fox November 12th: a UFC Heavyweight Title match between Cain Velasquez and the challenger Junior dos Santos. Oddly enough, this is the only fight that will be aired on the one hour program. I personally would have added a lightweight fight between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson that would 100% guaranteed been a match of the year candidate to open the show, but a title fight on free TV is a big deal. I think that the UFC went the right way in picking this as the fight to go with, as opposed to an Anderson Silva title match or the rumored Tito Ortiz-Rich Franklin fight. Silva, while absolutely brilliant, is mercurial and there is no guarantee that he’ll deliver a positive memorable opponent. Plus, there is some serious question as to how much name recognition he actually has in the US. Now Tito Ortiz has name recognition, but he is way past his prime. Same for Rich Franklin. While both are names and I would consider myself to be a fan of both men, there is a good chance that this could be a bland encounter and you don’t want to showcase two guys who are a bit over the hill in your network TV debut. A lot of people will be tuning in to see a UFC fight for the first time, and a good impression needs to be made. That is why this fight makes sense. Nothing draws people in like a heavyweight fight. Historically in boxing,heavyweights have been the most popular (Louis, Ali, Tyson, Holyfield) and a heavyweight title holds a common perception of being the accolade that shows who the biggest, baddest man is. While there is always the risk that a heavyweight scrap can be a dull, plodding affair, that most likely won’t be the case here as Velasquez-dos Santos is going to be great, great enough that it would be worth buying on a pay per view card. Velasquez is a machine, just absolutely relentless and efficient in his striking, takedowns, and ground and pound. As an added bonus, he never tires out. Junior dos Santos is the best technical striker in the heavyweight division and will test Cain’s chin like no one has yet, plus this fight could be where dos Santos is finally forced to use the jiu jitsu skills we hear he has. This really is the best fight the UFC can go with on this card and its great for fans to get a title fight without having to pay $45.00.
While on the subject of heavyweights, the UFC has been negotiating with Alistair Overeem and rumor has it the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ could be making his debut inside the octagon as soon as the end of the year against Frank Mir or a returning Brock Lesnar. As a fan of the ‘Reem, this excites me. I’ve gushed about him far too often, but his inclusion into the UFC would greatly bolster its sagging heavyweight ranks. After Cain and dos Santos, the top of the division is pretty thin. Mir is near the top and can main event, but he has not looked impressive as of late and wouldn’t really stand a chance against either of the UFC’s top two heavyweights. Brendan Schaub was exposed as a very green prospect, Cheick Kongo would get murdered again by Cain or for the first time by Junior, and Matt Mitrione is a prospect. Shane Carwin has lost two in a row and is really out of contention, and as much as I love Minotauro Nogueira, he isn’t really a threat to capture the title again. Bringing in Overeem creates a Champion vs. Champion fight, plus Alistair is very marketable. He’s built like Thor and can beat the hell out of people. Since the rest of the Strikeforce heavyweights aren’t joining the UFC anytime soon, the addition of Overeem would be a major plus and would greatly bolster the main event scene - especially when 2011 was marked by a severe depletion of credible main eventers due to injuries and the ‘Reem is known for wanting to fight several times a year. More on this if he actually does join the UFC.
That about does it this time, hopefully I’ll put something up again soon. Feel free to comment here or on facebook.
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