World Wrestling Entertainment has been experiencing a loss of fans due to the fact they've made their product TV-PG and got corny. Recently though, they've begun bringing fans who left them back into the fold, including yours truly, due to recent work by CM Punk. Back in 2007 my brother and I gave up watching wrestling on a regular basis because it started sucking. We’d still order the “big four” pay per views of WrestleMania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble but we’d give up investing serious time watching the product. Why? Because the WWE had gotten lamer than lame. The Rock was long gone, Brock Lesnar left for the UFC, and John Cena was made to be superhuman and was put over every big star in the company as a means of the WWE forcing him down everybody’s throat.
Cena was put over Chris Jericho, Edge, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. He even dominated Kurt Angle. All of this despite the fact Cena, who is supposed to be the WWE's golden boy and biggest face, was getting booed. WWE began making their product more kid friendly in an effort to secure Cena’s fan base and figured if they just kept having him win the fans would change their tune. We’re at the point in time where it is really only little kids who cheer for Cena and everybody else wants him to lose. This has been the story for a few years, and that’s why my brother and I gave up watching.
However, during this time there was one ray of hope. There was a superstar – WWE doesn’t call their performers wrestlers – who had the potential to be the king of the business. He had that sort of rock star swagger of Edge, the unbelievable charisma of Chris Jericho, and the wrestling ability of Bret Hart. Of course I’m talking about the “straight edge superstar” CM Punk. What originally drew me to CM Punk was the fact he is straight edge. It blew my mind that a guy in a business full of substance abuse and steroids just steered clear of all of it. Punk is so much smaller than so many of the top guys in the WWE but he never looks outmatched or outclassed. The next thing that got me intrigued was the fact Paul Heyman supported him.
In the summer of 2006 Punk was brought in to WWE’s reboot of ECW because Heyman loved him. Heyman ran the original ECW (greatest wrestling promotion of all time) and had been a huge supporter of Lesnar and Raven and other awesome performers. If Heyman said Punk was good, then you better believe Punk was the man. Punk had long been hailed as the king of the independent wrestling leagues, but I had never seen him until his debut promo on ECW. I thought he could be pretty cool, so I started looking up his past promo work. I found this classic promo on Germany and I was hooked. It was amazing that Punk played the heel so perfectly by using his straight edge lifestyle to proclaim himself better than everybody else. But of course, WWE brought him in as a good guy and misused him for a long time.
Eventually Punk won the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania, in which the winner receives a contract for a world championship match good anytime and anywhere within the calendar year. One night in 08 I was watching Raw since there was nothing else on and Edge, World Heavyweight Champion at the time, was cutting a promo but then Batista came out and beat the shit out of him. Then Punk came out and cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot and became World Champion for the first time. Of course they kept him face and put him in stupid feuds and never gave him attention. It was crap, but luckily they've changed their ways.
I shit you not, four years ago I told my brother the best thing the WWE could do is turn CM Punk heel and feud him with John Cena. I said Punk had all the charisma and skill to be the number one heel in the company. It would be amazing to pit the real wrestling fans against the little kids and women. I told my brother this, but I figured it would never happen. But finally in the summer of 2009 things started changing. Punk turned heel that summer in a feud against fan favorite and drug abusing scumbag Jeff Hardy. Punk became the arrogant straight edge douche and played it off perfectly. This then led to Punk starting “The Straight Edge Society” in which he’d brainwash people into joining his cult of clean living. He cut great promos, worked awesome matches, and always got a rise out of the crowd.
I started watching wrestling a little bit again this year because The Rock had made his return to guest host WrestleMania. It did my heart good to watch Raw and see CM Punk be the best part of it with his great promos on Randy Orton. After losing to Orton at WrestleMania I had figured WWE once again dropped the ball with CM Punk. I could not have been any more wrong.
Last month the WWE started the storyline that has made them relevant once again. Punk went on a winning streak against the top guys on Raw then announced his contract with WWE ended the night of the Money in the Bank pay per view, which took place in his hometown of Chicago. He made a promise to win the championship from John Cena that night and then leave WWE with the belt. Punk cut one of the greatest promos of all time, ripping the WWE and owner Vince McMahon and his family to shreds and proclaiming himself to be the best in the world. They cut the mic off during the promo and people began to wonder if this was a storyline or if this guy was for real. Punk spent the weeks in buildup to the pay per view speaking his mind and going nuts. He is supposed to be the heel but everybody is giving him massive ovations and loving him up. Punk’s work is drawing the attention of all kinds of people. Colin Cowherd of ESPN was talking about how brilliant Punk was, GQ had a huge interview with him, Bill Simmons of ESPN has started a new website and there have been a few pieces on Punk written there. People were taking notice, and it all came to a head at Money in the Bank.
In the main event of what was one of the best shows WWE has run in ages, CM Punk and John Cena faced off in a match that people have been raving about for a couple weeks now. Punk’s entrance was one of the craziest things to happen as of late in wrestling because he’s supposed to be the bad guy going up against the biggest hero in the company, but everybody in that Chicago crowd was chanting Punk’s name for two minutes before his music even hit. When he came out it was the ultimate hero’s welcome and when he hit his finisher, the Go to Sleep, on Cena and got the three count for the win the crowd exploded. The guys who write about the inner workings of the business online all lost their shit and began calling this The Summer of Punk. Indeed it is.
In the span of a month CM Punk has become what WWE always wanted John Cena to be but hasn’t been able to become: the huge crossover star that gets people talking about the company again. After Punk won the title he claimed he was retiring and staying home in Chicago with the title. People were buying into this like he was really done. WWE even did a tournament for the “vacant” WWE title and made no mention of CM Punk as if they had a real split. Punk crashed the WWE/Mattel panel at Comic Con to say the tournament was crap and he’d have the real belt back home in Chicago, reaffirming he was done with WWE. When John Cena won the championship to end Raw this past Monday, “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour hit and out walked CM Punk with the real WWE Championship. Normally the heel would be booed for interrupting the face’s celebration, but CM Punk received a standing ovation and when he stared down Cena the crowed popped way more for Punk than they did Cena when each man lifted his championship.
You want to know how big this whole CM Punk angle is getting? If you type in “cult of personality” in a search on Youtube, the first suggested result is “cult of personality cm punk.” That song was big before Punk used it in WWE, but now it is picking up steam just because he stared down John Cena with it playing. The mere fact WWE was willing to pay to use the song says something. At Money in the Bank Punk had an amazing shirt with his logo and the words “Best in the World” on it, and they were only sold that night. They’re now going for hundreds of bucks on Ebay. That’s pretty amazing. Punk made a funny appearance on Jimmy Kimmel this past week, and was featured on Bill Simmons' podcast.
On that podcast Punk talked about the world of professional wrestling and how he’s out to “make that shit cool again.” Much like Stone Cold Steve Austin transformed wrestling in the 1990s by being the anti-hero, CM Punk is doing the same and is breaking ground in the WWE. There’s never been a wrestler who openly rips apart the company and its main star, talks about how the company’s booking is crap, then wins the championship and becomes the most popular guy in the business. He is the best in the world, and has been for years. It is just nice that finally the WWE has taken notice and has given him the ball.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Strikeforce: Fedor vs Henderson Thoughts and Prediction
This Saturday on Showtime, Strikeforce will be running another event. For the life of me, I don’t know most of the card but it is headlined by an intriguing fight: Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Dan Henderson in a heavyweight bout against the former longtime PRIDE Heavyweight Champ Fedor Emelianenko. As both men are legends in MMA and nearing the ends of their illustrious careers, it is definitely a match worth seeing.
What irks me about this fight is that it is being catered to Fedor unfairly. Henderson is going to come into the fight weighing about 206 lbs., roughly the same as when he fights at light heavyweight. Fedor will be coming in at around 225-230 lbs., meaning Hendo will be at a significant weight disadvantage. Originally talk had centered around a catchweight of 215 lbs. or even having Fedor cut down to light heavyweight, but Fedor and his M-1 Global camp balked at the suggestions. This would make sense if Fedor was still chumping fighters like it was 2005, but the reality of it is that Fedor looked terrible in his two recent losses (the first real losses of his career) and was losing to Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers before a glass jaw and inexperience respectively ended their nights. If anything, Strikeforce should be catering more to Hendo. He has apparently moved on from being a solid, if unspectacular, middleweight and has looked very good at light heavyweight., where he has won two straight fights by knockout. It’s quite the late resurgence for the man who at one point held the 205 and 185 titles in PRIDE, the only man in MMA to hold two titles simultaneously.
Henderson deserves a lot of credit for taking this fight and not . The last time he fought against a heavyweight, he was a game opponent for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2002. He held his own into the third round despite giving up over 30 lbs., where he was eventually submitted by Big Nog. Even though Fedor’s star has lost some of its luster, this is still a tough match up for Hendo.
For Fedor, this is a make or break fight for him. As mentioned prior, he has not looked particularly impressive since choking out Tim Sylvia in under a minute three years ago. His last two losses, while considered huge upsets, can still be rationalized and don’t necessarily mean he’s done. Werdum is one of the best BJJ practitioners in MMA and getting submitted by him isn’t a huge deal and in the Antonio Silva fight, Fedor was giving up roughly 50 lbs. and was outmuscled. What is troubling for Fedor is that his physique, well never impressive, has looked even doughier and calls into question his motivation and effort at this stage in his career. If he gets levelled or dominated by the much smaller Henderson, retirement should be his next step. If he loses an exciting, close fight he can be given the benefit of the doubt since Hendo is one of the all-time greats. For Henderson, a loss isn’t as big a deal since he is a lot older and a lot smaller than Fedor. When you come in at a disadvantage and lose, it doesn’t really hurt you. A win under those circumstances, even against a past his prime Fedor, is a big deal.
Fedor could really use an impressive win in order to continue his career, if that’s what he wants to do. Henderson has always been tough to finish, so if he can do that it will help to wash away the bad taste from his last few fights. I don’t know that he will though. I think at this point in their careers, Hendo is more motivated and in better condition than Fedor. It seems like Emelianenko just continues to fight to have something to occupy his time, not out of any real desire to do it. That’s always the wrong mindset to go into a fight with, and as other fighters’ training and conditioning improves, Fedor seems to stagnate and not care that he is. If I had to put my money down on a fighter, I would say Dan Henderson by decision. Either way, I’m excited to see how this fight turns out. It isn’t every month that two legends, even ones not at their peak, go against each other.
What irks me about this fight is that it is being catered to Fedor unfairly. Henderson is going to come into the fight weighing about 206 lbs., roughly the same as when he fights at light heavyweight. Fedor will be coming in at around 225-230 lbs., meaning Hendo will be at a significant weight disadvantage. Originally talk had centered around a catchweight of 215 lbs. or even having Fedor cut down to light heavyweight, but Fedor and his M-1 Global camp balked at the suggestions. This would make sense if Fedor was still chumping fighters like it was 2005, but the reality of it is that Fedor looked terrible in his two recent losses (the first real losses of his career) and was losing to Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers before a glass jaw and inexperience respectively ended their nights. If anything, Strikeforce should be catering more to Hendo. He has apparently moved on from being a solid, if unspectacular, middleweight and has looked very good at light heavyweight., where he has won two straight fights by knockout. It’s quite the late resurgence for the man who at one point held the 205 and 185 titles in PRIDE, the only man in MMA to hold two titles simultaneously.
Henderson deserves a lot of credit for taking this fight and not . The last time he fought against a heavyweight, he was a game opponent for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2002. He held his own into the third round despite giving up over 30 lbs., where he was eventually submitted by Big Nog. Even though Fedor’s star has lost some of its luster, this is still a tough match up for Hendo.
For Fedor, this is a make or break fight for him. As mentioned prior, he has not looked particularly impressive since choking out Tim Sylvia in under a minute three years ago. His last two losses, while considered huge upsets, can still be rationalized and don’t necessarily mean he’s done. Werdum is one of the best BJJ practitioners in MMA and getting submitted by him isn’t a huge deal and in the Antonio Silva fight, Fedor was giving up roughly 50 lbs. and was outmuscled. What is troubling for Fedor is that his physique, well never impressive, has looked even doughier and calls into question his motivation and effort at this stage in his career. If he gets levelled or dominated by the much smaller Henderson, retirement should be his next step. If he loses an exciting, close fight he can be given the benefit of the doubt since Hendo is one of the all-time greats. For Henderson, a loss isn’t as big a deal since he is a lot older and a lot smaller than Fedor. When you come in at a disadvantage and lose, it doesn’t really hurt you. A win under those circumstances, even against a past his prime Fedor, is a big deal.
Fedor could really use an impressive win in order to continue his career, if that’s what he wants to do. Henderson has always been tough to finish, so if he can do that it will help to wash away the bad taste from his last few fights. I don’t know that he will though. I think at this point in their careers, Hendo is more motivated and in better condition than Fedor. It seems like Emelianenko just continues to fight to have something to occupy his time, not out of any real desire to do it. That’s always the wrong mindset to go into a fight with, and as other fighters’ training and conditioning improves, Fedor seems to stagnate and not care that he is. If I had to put my money down on a fighter, I would say Dan Henderson by decision. Either way, I’m excited to see how this fight turns out. It isn’t every month that two legends, even ones not at their peak, go against each other.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Solving (Most of) the NBA lockout is easy!
According to ESPN and the rest of people “in the know,” the odds of there being an NBA season starting up in a few months are nil. Evidently, the players and the owners are extremely far apart on reaching a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the future. The owners want shorter contracts, a larger share of revenue, and a fixed salary cap since they are claiming to be bleeding money. They also want the fixed cap to avoid the creation of superteams like the Miami Heat and to keep their own star players from leaving and destroying their market. The players don’t want a change in the system, but are willing to compromise a bit on some of these issues.
Both sides are being slightly ridiculous. Yes, the owners should want to stop the creation of superteams. It is bad for the NBA if the star players are on only a handful of teams, leaving 25 other teams that range from mediocre to terrible. Look at the NFL - parity can be a good thing. But for the owners to cry about being taken advantage of by the players is profoundly dumb. The owners were the ones who set a minimum market value for Mike Miller at $5 million a year for five guaranteed seasons, or signed an injured Elton Brand to a five year, $80 million contract. To be fair, the players have to realize that even though it is unfair that they should have to compromise and receive less compensation going forward because the owners are too stupid to spend wisely, things do have to change. There are too many average players receiving too much guaranteed money for too long a period of time. One would also assume that the players realize that the superteam concept is a serious issue that needs to be addressed going forward, as it puts too many teams at a competitive and financial disadvantage.
The owners want a hard salary cap, as opposed to the flexible cap set at $58 million last season and a luxury tax threshold of $70 million. In prior seasons, a team could spend $58 million on player salary and could go over that limit in order to resign its own players. Then, if the salaries went over $70 million the team would have to pay a dollar for every dollar that they were over that threshold. If you were wondering, this is why there are so man sign and trades, as opposed to just a regular signing. When LeBron James announced he was going to Miami, he didn’t directly sign with the Heat. He re-signed with Cleveland in order to get the maximum amount of guaranteed years and better salary and then the Cavs traded him to Miami. This allowed the Cavs to get some draft picks and compensation in return for losing LeBron, and it allowed Miami to go over its salary cap to sign him. This is how nearly every team lands a free agent.
In the future, the owners want the cap to be $40 million, no exceptions. The players are obviously opposed, as it would lead to considerably less pay for them. This is where a solution is easy, if both sides would quit being babies. Under the current rules, a team can go over the salary cap to sign its own players and are allowed to offer more guaranteed years and more money per season. The problem lies in the flexible cap and the sign and trades. The sign and trade negates the concept of a team being able to offer a better deal than the rest of the league. It also allows larger teams like New York, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles to pick up nearly anyone they want because they bring in enough revenue that paying the luxury tax doesn’t matter, as they can still turn a profit either way. Teams like Charlotte, New Orleans, and Sacramento can’t compete with that and this needs to change. There are two ways to do this.
The first would be contraction, an idea I support. The NBA should eliminate two teams (at least) from each conference and put all the players on waivers. This would cut a large chunk of that disputed $300 million loss the owners claim to have faced. Get rid of the Hornets, Timberwolves, Bobcats, and the Raptors. It helps to solve the problem of teams being diluted because of expansion and cuts losses from the bottom line. Besides, are there normal people really clamoring to see the Bobcats and T-Wolves on TNT or ESPN? No, but contracting the teams and disbursing the players means that you could potentially see someone like Kevin Love grabbing boards and catching passes from John Wall or Chris Paul lobbing alley oops to Blake Griffin. You could see Demarcus Cousins running and gunning with Steve Nash or Tyreke Evans playing the shooting guard off Deron Williams. Automatically the teams that add these guys become more watchable and therefore more profitable.
The other way is to have a hard cap and eliminate the sign and trade if it puts a team over the cap. This cap should be somewhere between the owners’ proposal of $40 and the last season’s $70 million threshold. Let’s split the difference and set a hard cap of $55 million, not far off from the salary cap last season. Keep the Bird Rights, where a team can resign its own player even if it puts them over the salary cap, but eliminate them on a sign and trade. If Carmelo wants to go to New York, he has to sign for the most the Knicks can offer and not sign the maximum allowed from when he was in Denver, then having that transferred via trade. If a player wants a max deal and wants to go somewhere else, too bad. This would eliminate the superteam dilemma from a financial aspect. Now, if two stars wanted to team up together they would have to give up money and show that they are actually serious about winning. LeBron James would have to sacrifice and accept the best Miami can offer, instead of taking a pay cut from $20 million to $17 million a season by doing a sign and trade and taking a little less so that the he can claim to be unselfish. If a player really cares about winning and playing for a champion above all else, let’s see them leave $15 million a year for three to five years on the table. A $55 million cap gives players a lot more than the $40 million cap (an average of $1.25 million for a team composed of 15 players), but also negates throwing out massive contracts to schlubs like Eddy Curry or Erick Dampier.
A punitive cap and blaming the players is a bad move by the owners. People pay to see Kobe Bryant or Derrick Rose, not to see Jerry Buss or Jerry Reinsdorf. If teams are losing money, it is more often than not on the part of poor business planning and financial management, rather than greedy players sucking teams dry. The only legitimate gripe is that small market teams are hurt by the luxury tax and the movement for superstars teaming up in larger markets. But the owners are claiming to be taking it on the chin as businessmen and are choosing to blame player greed for that. In reality, the players are just taking advantage of a system set up by the owners. Wouldn’t that be considered smart business, not some kind of malicious dealing? If anything, the owners should be embarrassed with themselves for acting like spendthrifts and doling out stupid contracts left and right. While some changes in salary structure are necessary, as there are a lot of players seriously overpaid, casting all the blame on the players and trying to punish them is not a good faith negotiation and for that the owners should be castigated.
Changing gears abruptly, the other part of the lockout equation is revenue sharing, a concept I don’t fully
know all the particulars of and am not nearly egotistical enough to solve. All I can say is that both sides need to sit down and get a deal done, lest they lose all momentum from one of the most exciting and memorable seasons in the NBA since I started watching over 20 years ago. If the 2011-2012 season ends up getting cancelled, both sides will only have themselves to blame.
Both sides are being slightly ridiculous. Yes, the owners should want to stop the creation of superteams. It is bad for the NBA if the star players are on only a handful of teams, leaving 25 other teams that range from mediocre to terrible. Look at the NFL - parity can be a good thing. But for the owners to cry about being taken advantage of by the players is profoundly dumb. The owners were the ones who set a minimum market value for Mike Miller at $5 million a year for five guaranteed seasons, or signed an injured Elton Brand to a five year, $80 million contract. To be fair, the players have to realize that even though it is unfair that they should have to compromise and receive less compensation going forward because the owners are too stupid to spend wisely, things do have to change. There are too many average players receiving too much guaranteed money for too long a period of time. One would also assume that the players realize that the superteam concept is a serious issue that needs to be addressed going forward, as it puts too many teams at a competitive and financial disadvantage.
The owners want a hard salary cap, as opposed to the flexible cap set at $58 million last season and a luxury tax threshold of $70 million. In prior seasons, a team could spend $58 million on player salary and could go over that limit in order to resign its own players. Then, if the salaries went over $70 million the team would have to pay a dollar for every dollar that they were over that threshold. If you were wondering, this is why there are so man sign and trades, as opposed to just a regular signing. When LeBron James announced he was going to Miami, he didn’t directly sign with the Heat. He re-signed with Cleveland in order to get the maximum amount of guaranteed years and better salary and then the Cavs traded him to Miami. This allowed the Cavs to get some draft picks and compensation in return for losing LeBron, and it allowed Miami to go over its salary cap to sign him. This is how nearly every team lands a free agent.
In the future, the owners want the cap to be $40 million, no exceptions. The players are obviously opposed, as it would lead to considerably less pay for them. This is where a solution is easy, if both sides would quit being babies. Under the current rules, a team can go over the salary cap to sign its own players and are allowed to offer more guaranteed years and more money per season. The problem lies in the flexible cap and the sign and trades. The sign and trade negates the concept of a team being able to offer a better deal than the rest of the league. It also allows larger teams like New York, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles to pick up nearly anyone they want because they bring in enough revenue that paying the luxury tax doesn’t matter, as they can still turn a profit either way. Teams like Charlotte, New Orleans, and Sacramento can’t compete with that and this needs to change. There are two ways to do this.
The first would be contraction, an idea I support. The NBA should eliminate two teams (at least) from each conference and put all the players on waivers. This would cut a large chunk of that disputed $300 million loss the owners claim to have faced. Get rid of the Hornets, Timberwolves, Bobcats, and the Raptors. It helps to solve the problem of teams being diluted because of expansion and cuts losses from the bottom line. Besides, are there normal people really clamoring to see the Bobcats and T-Wolves on TNT or ESPN? No, but contracting the teams and disbursing the players means that you could potentially see someone like Kevin Love grabbing boards and catching passes from John Wall or Chris Paul lobbing alley oops to Blake Griffin. You could see Demarcus Cousins running and gunning with Steve Nash or Tyreke Evans playing the shooting guard off Deron Williams. Automatically the teams that add these guys become more watchable and therefore more profitable.
The other way is to have a hard cap and eliminate the sign and trade if it puts a team over the cap. This cap should be somewhere between the owners’ proposal of $40 and the last season’s $70 million threshold. Let’s split the difference and set a hard cap of $55 million, not far off from the salary cap last season. Keep the Bird Rights, where a team can resign its own player even if it puts them over the salary cap, but eliminate them on a sign and trade. If Carmelo wants to go to New York, he has to sign for the most the Knicks can offer and not sign the maximum allowed from when he was in Denver, then having that transferred via trade. If a player wants a max deal and wants to go somewhere else, too bad. This would eliminate the superteam dilemma from a financial aspect. Now, if two stars wanted to team up together they would have to give up money and show that they are actually serious about winning. LeBron James would have to sacrifice and accept the best Miami can offer, instead of taking a pay cut from $20 million to $17 million a season by doing a sign and trade and taking a little less so that the he can claim to be unselfish. If a player really cares about winning and playing for a champion above all else, let’s see them leave $15 million a year for three to five years on the table. A $55 million cap gives players a lot more than the $40 million cap (an average of $1.25 million for a team composed of 15 players), but also negates throwing out massive contracts to schlubs like Eddy Curry or Erick Dampier.
A punitive cap and blaming the players is a bad move by the owners. People pay to see Kobe Bryant or Derrick Rose, not to see Jerry Buss or Jerry Reinsdorf. If teams are losing money, it is more often than not on the part of poor business planning and financial management, rather than greedy players sucking teams dry. The only legitimate gripe is that small market teams are hurt by the luxury tax and the movement for superstars teaming up in larger markets. But the owners are claiming to be taking it on the chin as businessmen and are choosing to blame player greed for that. In reality, the players are just taking advantage of a system set up by the owners. Wouldn’t that be considered smart business, not some kind of malicious dealing? If anything, the owners should be embarrassed with themselves for acting like spendthrifts and doling out stupid contracts left and right. While some changes in salary structure are necessary, as there are a lot of players seriously overpaid, casting all the blame on the players and trying to punish them is not a good faith negotiation and for that the owners should be castigated.
Changing gears abruptly, the other part of the lockout equation is revenue sharing, a concept I don’t fully
know all the particulars of and am not nearly egotistical enough to solve. All I can say is that both sides need to sit down and get a deal done, lest they lose all momentum from one of the most exciting and memorable seasons in the NBA since I started watching over 20 years ago. If the 2011-2012 season ends up getting cancelled, both sides will only have themselves to blame.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
UFC 132: Thoughts, Where do we go from here?
Last Saturday’s UFC 132 card was one of the more exciting and entertaining cards that the promotion has run this year, and was far superior to last month’s pay per view. The highlight of the evening by far was Tito Ortiz’ shocking first round submission victory over Ryan Bader. It was his first win in five years and first time finishing someone NOT name Ken Shamrock in ten. Tito needed a win to keep his job with the UFC and with the Las Vegas fans firmly behind him, levelled Bader with an uppercut and finished him with a guillotine within minutes of the opening bell. The main event of Faber and Cruz was an exciting technical affair, but as someone who was rooting for Faber I was disappointed. This wasn’t because he lost, as I had expected him to lose by decision, it was that he really blew a winnable fight. There were several instances where Faber should have followed up with some strikes after getting up from a takedown or busting in and out of the clinch, but did not. He didn’t push the pace at the times when he needed to and instead was tagged by Cruz’ smart boxing and crazy footwork. In other news from the card, PRIDE again took a blow as Wanderlei Silva was annihilated in 27 seconds by Chris Leben. I’ll go into this some more in a minute, but I don’t necessarily think that this fight should be the end for Silva. He just fought in a profoundly stupid fashion and it cost him. With that being said, let’s get down to what should come next for the winners (and some of the losers) from UFC 132.
Dominick Cruz: The UFC Bantamweight Champion looked good in his first fight since the WEC closed shop. His herky jerky footwork and angles he throws strikes from makes it very difficult to score any points against him, but it also makes it nearly impossible for him to throw any power strikes hard enough to finish an opponent. He showed great takedown offense and defense against Faber, who has very strong grappling skills, and his performance in that department should halt a lot of criticism against him. Look for him to take on former WEC Bantamweight Champ Brian Bowles and/or Demetrius Johnson before hooking up with Faber for a rubber match.
Urijah Faber: Faber didn’t look awful in this loss, but he should realize that this was a fight that he could have won if he showed some more urgency. He still performed better than anyone else has against Cruz to date and within one to two more matches, I would expect him to get another shot for the belt. A fight with fellow fan favorite Miguel Torres could be fun and makes a lot of sense for both men.
Chris Leben: The Crippler brutally finished Wanderlei Silva and has managed to eliminate some of the negativity surrounding him after his loss to Brian Stann back in January. He’s probably 2-3 fights away from a middleweight title shot, but the odds of him being able to avenge a loss to Anderson Silva are nil. I would suggest Mark Munoz, but he’ll likely be paired off with Stann for his next fight. I would like to see him take on Vitor Belfort, assuming Belfort beats Akiyama at UFC 133. That could be exciting.
Wanderlei Silva: I’m in the minority of people who think that Silva could potentially continue his career. I think with a change in his strategy, he could fight a couple more years (barring any more massive knockouts). His biggest problem in the Leben fight was that he charged like a bull and reacted poorly. Instead of backing up and taking a second to recover before going back on offense, he kept fumbling for a clinch that he had no momentum and leverage for and received several vicious uppercuts to the grill for his trouble. If he had fought more like he had in the Bisping fight last year, he wouldn’t have been laid out quite as badly. What worked for him in PRIDE won’t work for him anymore and if he wants to keep fighting, he needs to learn to cope with that fact. I would let him get started on that trail by putting him up against Demian Maia. Maia doesn’t wade into firefights and his punching power isn’t going to put Silva away, but his striking is solid and his ground game is top notch and it could push Wanderlei into a new direction that doesn’t involve major head trauma.
Carlos Condit: The Natural Born Killer looked fantastic in knocking out Dong Hyun Kim with a flying knee and a flurry of punches in the first round. He showed better ground defense than he has in the past as well, getting up quickly from a takedown. I would say that he is one more fight away from a title shot. If BJ Penn and Jon Fitch have their rematch and Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger still face off in September, then Condit should either face a returning Josh Koscheck in the winter. If that isn’t an option, then put him up against Diego Sanchez if Sanchez beats Matt Hughes. If Penn-Fitch 2 doesn’t happen, put him up against Fitch in a number one contender bout. It would be the best way to see if Condit is ready, as Fitch is clearly the second best fighter in the division and if someone can beat him, that man is very deserving of a title shot.
Melvin Guillard: The Young Assassin scored a brutal knockout win over the hopelessly outmatched Shane Roller and is poised to be a contender for the lightweight title in the next year. The only problem is that the title picture is gridlocked until Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard settle their business. If Jim Miller beats Ben Henderson next month at the UFC on Versus, then Miller is the top challenger and Melvin should take on Dennis Siver. If Henderson wins, I would pair him off against Guillard for a title eliminator and put Clay Guida up against the winner of Edgar-Maynard III (whenever that happens).
Ryan Bader: Bader has fallen so far, so fast this year. He went from being mentioned in the same breath as Jon Jones for the future of the light heavyweight division to being tooled by Jones and nearly KOed and actually choked out early by Tito Ortiz in a fight that was supposed to be a gimme for him. Bader has some serious soul searching and work to do. Although he has good power, his striking has never been as good as he thought it was and it’s come back to bite him in the ass. His strongest suit is wrestling, so he should probably go back to that a bit more while he shores up his standup technique and submission defense. A fight against fellow wrestler/mediocre striker Matt Hamill makes a lot of sense for him, since he’s in no danger of being on the receiving end of a guillotine again and it is apparent that neither man can hang with the upper echelon of the 205 lbs weight class right now.
Tito Ortiz: Tito gave the fans one of the best moments in recent memory in the UFC with his win over Bader. The emotion from the fans in the arena, as well as the emotion from himself combined with the vicious uppercut that floored Bader and the guillotine that finished him made for a riveting experience. Tito went from being forced into retirement to having new life in the UFC. He wants the winner of Shogun Rua and Forrest Griffin, but I think that both those guys are a little out of his league right now. The fight that makes the most sense for him would be against the winner of Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Despite this win and what he may think, Tito is at best a top 20 ranked light heavyweight. If he beats one of the aforementioned guys, then a fight with someone on the lower half of the top ten would make sense.
That’s it for this piece. If there are any fights coming out of UFC 132 you think should be made, or you have thoughts to share on the event, have something you would like to say, then feel free to leave a comment or post on facebook.
Dominick Cruz: The UFC Bantamweight Champion looked good in his first fight since the WEC closed shop. His herky jerky footwork and angles he throws strikes from makes it very difficult to score any points against him, but it also makes it nearly impossible for him to throw any power strikes hard enough to finish an opponent. He showed great takedown offense and defense against Faber, who has very strong grappling skills, and his performance in that department should halt a lot of criticism against him. Look for him to take on former WEC Bantamweight Champ Brian Bowles and/or Demetrius Johnson before hooking up with Faber for a rubber match.
Urijah Faber: Faber didn’t look awful in this loss, but he should realize that this was a fight that he could have won if he showed some more urgency. He still performed better than anyone else has against Cruz to date and within one to two more matches, I would expect him to get another shot for the belt. A fight with fellow fan favorite Miguel Torres could be fun and makes a lot of sense for both men.
Chris Leben: The Crippler brutally finished Wanderlei Silva and has managed to eliminate some of the negativity surrounding him after his loss to Brian Stann back in January. He’s probably 2-3 fights away from a middleweight title shot, but the odds of him being able to avenge a loss to Anderson Silva are nil. I would suggest Mark Munoz, but he’ll likely be paired off with Stann for his next fight. I would like to see him take on Vitor Belfort, assuming Belfort beats Akiyama at UFC 133. That could be exciting.
Wanderlei Silva: I’m in the minority of people who think that Silva could potentially continue his career. I think with a change in his strategy, he could fight a couple more years (barring any more massive knockouts). His biggest problem in the Leben fight was that he charged like a bull and reacted poorly. Instead of backing up and taking a second to recover before going back on offense, he kept fumbling for a clinch that he had no momentum and leverage for and received several vicious uppercuts to the grill for his trouble. If he had fought more like he had in the Bisping fight last year, he wouldn’t have been laid out quite as badly. What worked for him in PRIDE won’t work for him anymore and if he wants to keep fighting, he needs to learn to cope with that fact. I would let him get started on that trail by putting him up against Demian Maia. Maia doesn’t wade into firefights and his punching power isn’t going to put Silva away, but his striking is solid and his ground game is top notch and it could push Wanderlei into a new direction that doesn’t involve major head trauma.
Carlos Condit: The Natural Born Killer looked fantastic in knocking out Dong Hyun Kim with a flying knee and a flurry of punches in the first round. He showed better ground defense than he has in the past as well, getting up quickly from a takedown. I would say that he is one more fight away from a title shot. If BJ Penn and Jon Fitch have their rematch and Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger still face off in September, then Condit should either face a returning Josh Koscheck in the winter. If that isn’t an option, then put him up against Diego Sanchez if Sanchez beats Matt Hughes. If Penn-Fitch 2 doesn’t happen, put him up against Fitch in a number one contender bout. It would be the best way to see if Condit is ready, as Fitch is clearly the second best fighter in the division and if someone can beat him, that man is very deserving of a title shot.
Melvin Guillard: The Young Assassin scored a brutal knockout win over the hopelessly outmatched Shane Roller and is poised to be a contender for the lightweight title in the next year. The only problem is that the title picture is gridlocked until Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard settle their business. If Jim Miller beats Ben Henderson next month at the UFC on Versus, then Miller is the top challenger and Melvin should take on Dennis Siver. If Henderson wins, I would pair him off against Guillard for a title eliminator and put Clay Guida up against the winner of Edgar-Maynard III (whenever that happens).
Ryan Bader: Bader has fallen so far, so fast this year. He went from being mentioned in the same breath as Jon Jones for the future of the light heavyweight division to being tooled by Jones and nearly KOed and actually choked out early by Tito Ortiz in a fight that was supposed to be a gimme for him. Bader has some serious soul searching and work to do. Although he has good power, his striking has never been as good as he thought it was and it’s come back to bite him in the ass. His strongest suit is wrestling, so he should probably go back to that a bit more while he shores up his standup technique and submission defense. A fight against fellow wrestler/mediocre striker Matt Hamill makes a lot of sense for him, since he’s in no danger of being on the receiving end of a guillotine again and it is apparent that neither man can hang with the upper echelon of the 205 lbs weight class right now.
Tito Ortiz: Tito gave the fans one of the best moments in recent memory in the UFC with his win over Bader. The emotion from the fans in the arena, as well as the emotion from himself combined with the vicious uppercut that floored Bader and the guillotine that finished him made for a riveting experience. Tito went from being forced into retirement to having new life in the UFC. He wants the winner of Shogun Rua and Forrest Griffin, but I think that both those guys are a little out of his league right now. The fight that makes the most sense for him would be against the winner of Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Despite this win and what he may think, Tito is at best a top 20 ranked light heavyweight. If he beats one of the aforementioned guys, then a fight with someone on the lower half of the top ten would make sense.
That’s it for this piece. If there are any fights coming out of UFC 132 you think should be made, or you have thoughts to share on the event, have something you would like to say, then feel free to leave a comment or post on facebook.
Friday, July 1, 2011
PRIDE's Next Last Stand: Wanderlei Silva Edition
As I stated a few months ago, the legends of the defunct Pride FC have fallen at an alarming rate in the UFC. Most recently Shogun Rua, possibly the most violent fighter I've ever seen, was on the receiving end of a massacre at the hands of Jon Jones. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira went from being an iron chinned submission master to a punching bag that has a better than 60% chance of losing to Brendan Schaub, the type of fighter that would have been destroyed by Big Nog five years ago. I've discussed the rapid decline of Mirko Cro Cop, the man at one time considered the most feared kickboxer in all of MMA. This weekend, Wanderlei Silva returns to the Octagon for the first time in fifteen months to take on Chris Leben. Unlike a lot of his fellow PRIDE legends, Silva is coming in after winning his most recent fight, a unanimous decision over Michael Bisping. Despite that win however, Silva has lost five of his last seven fights.
This Saturday should be a telling sign to how much gas is left on Wanderlei's tank and whether his chin can still hold up. It will be his second fight at 185 lbs. and Leben is known for having very heavy hands. Prior to the move to 185, he had been thrice knocked out in his last four fights at his original weight of 205 lbs. It was a sad end to his time at light heavyweight, since from 2001-2006 he was the most feared 205 lbs. fighter in the world.
PRIDE-era Wanderlei Silva was a monster, plain and simple. He had nasty muay thai knees and soccer kicks that he used to great effect, going 18-1 at in his weight class over the aforementioned five year span. His two knockout victories over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson were legendary and cringe inducing for their brutality. His trilogy of knockout wins over Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba also famed for their violence.
The most noted part of Wanderlei's fighting technique, besides the most intimidating pre-fight staredown in history, was his sheer aggression and zeal with which he went at an opponent. It made perfect sense for a man dubbed "the Axe Murderer" to fight like he was going to rip someone limb from limb. It's what made him so exciting and so beloved amongst the fans. To this day, Silva brings up that he fights this way out of his own instinct and to entertain the fans. An interview doesn't pass without him mentioning that he likes to have exciting fights that pump up the crowd.
Of course, this aggression has managed to take its toll on him over the past five years. First, he was headkicked into the next year by Mirko Cro Cop in the 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix. Then, he was brutally knocked out by Dan Henderson at PRIDE 33. He followed this up with an entertaining brawl against fellow legend Chuck Liddell, but he was on the receiving end of a decision loss. He bounced back from these losses by beating the starch out of Keith Jardine in 36 seconds, and it appeared that the Axe Murderer of old was back.
His next opponent was his old nemesis Quinton Jackson. Like their prior fights it would end in a knockout. This time, it would be Wanderlei getting scraped off the canvas after Rampage levelled him with a picture perfect hook. At this point, it seemed that Silva was essentially done. His inability to take a punch while combined with a chin that was looking increasingly fragile had made him a shell of the man that electrified Japan for years.
February of 2010 marked his debut in the UFC Middleweight Division, where he won a decision over Michael Bisping. In what was a good fight, Silva managed to show his jiu jitsu skills by locking in a nasty guillotine that nearly ended the fight in the second round and he floored Bisping with a flurry of punches to end the third round. It was his first victory in two years and looked to be the start of a rebirth in his career. His next opponent was slated to be Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, but Silva broke three ribs during training and had knee surgery as well and hs been out of action since. His replacement for that fight was Chris Leben, who beat Akiyama by submission with twenty seconds left in the final round in what was one of the best fights of the year. Following that fight, Leben called out Silva as an opponent, which brings things to UFC 132.
This is the type of fight that both men live for - a wild brawl that should feature no grappling whatsoever. If Silva wins, it sets him up for fights with Chael Sonnen and/or Vitor Belfort and potentially a shot at Anderson Silva's Middleweight Title further down the line. Recently, he stated that he wants to continue to fight for five more years and a total of ten fights. If he gets crushed by Leben, he should seriously consider retirement. On another note it would be yet another PRIDE legend losing a fight that years ago wouldn't have been much of a challenge. Regardless of a decline in skill, everyone can still expect Silva to come out the same way he always has: forward and punches flying.
This Saturday should be a telling sign to how much gas is left on Wanderlei's tank and whether his chin can still hold up. It will be his second fight at 185 lbs. and Leben is known for having very heavy hands. Prior to the move to 185, he had been thrice knocked out in his last four fights at his original weight of 205 lbs. It was a sad end to his time at light heavyweight, since from 2001-2006 he was the most feared 205 lbs. fighter in the world.
PRIDE-era Wanderlei Silva was a monster, plain and simple. He had nasty muay thai knees and soccer kicks that he used to great effect, going 18-1 at in his weight class over the aforementioned five year span. His two knockout victories over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson were legendary and cringe inducing for their brutality. His trilogy of knockout wins over Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba also famed for their violence.
The most noted part of Wanderlei's fighting technique, besides the most intimidating pre-fight staredown in history, was his sheer aggression and zeal with which he went at an opponent. It made perfect sense for a man dubbed "the Axe Murderer" to fight like he was going to rip someone limb from limb. It's what made him so exciting and so beloved amongst the fans. To this day, Silva brings up that he fights this way out of his own instinct and to entertain the fans. An interview doesn't pass without him mentioning that he likes to have exciting fights that pump up the crowd.
Of course, this aggression has managed to take its toll on him over the past five years. First, he was headkicked into the next year by Mirko Cro Cop in the 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix. Then, he was brutally knocked out by Dan Henderson at PRIDE 33. He followed this up with an entertaining brawl against fellow legend Chuck Liddell, but he was on the receiving end of a decision loss. He bounced back from these losses by beating the starch out of Keith Jardine in 36 seconds, and it appeared that the Axe Murderer of old was back.
His next opponent was his old nemesis Quinton Jackson. Like their prior fights it would end in a knockout. This time, it would be Wanderlei getting scraped off the canvas after Rampage levelled him with a picture perfect hook. At this point, it seemed that Silva was essentially done. His inability to take a punch while combined with a chin that was looking increasingly fragile had made him a shell of the man that electrified Japan for years.
February of 2010 marked his debut in the UFC Middleweight Division, where he won a decision over Michael Bisping. In what was a good fight, Silva managed to show his jiu jitsu skills by locking in a nasty guillotine that nearly ended the fight in the second round and he floored Bisping with a flurry of punches to end the third round. It was his first victory in two years and looked to be the start of a rebirth in his career. His next opponent was slated to be Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, but Silva broke three ribs during training and had knee surgery as well and hs been out of action since. His replacement for that fight was Chris Leben, who beat Akiyama by submission with twenty seconds left in the final round in what was one of the best fights of the year. Following that fight, Leben called out Silva as an opponent, which brings things to UFC 132.
This is the type of fight that both men live for - a wild brawl that should feature no grappling whatsoever. If Silva wins, it sets him up for fights with Chael Sonnen and/or Vitor Belfort and potentially a shot at Anderson Silva's Middleweight Title further down the line. Recently, he stated that he wants to continue to fight for five more years and a total of ten fights. If he gets crushed by Leben, he should seriously consider retirement. On another note it would be yet another PRIDE legend losing a fight that years ago wouldn't have been much of a challenge. Regardless of a decline in skill, everyone can still expect Silva to come out the same way he always has: forward and punches flying.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
UFC 132 Predictions
Greetings readers! It's been a long time coming, but I'm updating the blog with an easy post: predictions for this weekend's UFC 132. It looks to be a great card, headlined by a main event of UFC Bantamweight Champ Dominick Cruz taking on "The California Kid" Urijah Faber and a co-main of Chris Leben vs. PRIDE legend Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva." Since I'm typing this up while I'm at work, let's just get down to it.
Main Card
Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman: This is a lightweight scrap featuring two men who have each won seven of their past eight fights. I don't know too much about Wiman besides the fact he was on a season of Ultimate Fighter in 2007 and didn't win. I'm also not sure I've ever seen him fight. I've seen Siver and he is an impressive kickboxer with a solid ground game. He's coming off a decision win against top contender George Sotiropoulos and is looking like he could be a potential contender within the next six to twelve months. I hate going with a fighter just because I know him more, but Siver has the more impressive record and a skillset I'm aware of. Let's go with Siver by decision.
Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim: This is a welterweight fight featuring two of the top fighters in the division, with both men probably one or two fights away from a title shot. Condit is coming off two impressive knockouts - a first round KO of Dan Hardy in October and a third round miracle TKO against Rory McDonald last June. Kim has shown effective wrestling and grappling in winning fights over Amir Sadollah and Nate Diaz. Condit has been out of action for a long time and is coming off of surgery, so ring rust could be a major factor for him. I think Kim has the grappling to win this by decision, but Condit is exciting and fights hard. I'm a fan of his and so I'm going to with Condit by 3rd Round TKO.
Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader: This fight has a better than forty precent chance of being really boring, as both men are wrestlers with some weak striking. Bader is coming off his first loss ever after being tooled by Jon Jones and submitted. Tito hasn't won a fight since beating the piss out of Ken Shamrock in 2006. Since then he has lost a decision to Lyoto Machida (where he almost pulled off a submission), had a draw with Rashad Evans after having a point deducted for grabbing the cage, a split decision loss to Forrest Griffin that shouldn't have been split, and was dominated by Matt Hamill this past fall en route to a decision loss. With the exception of the Hamill fight, he has only lost to top flight competition and he hasn't been finished in any of them. He's been competitive for the most part, but he isn't good enough to win or bad enough to just get crushed like Chuck Liddell over the past few years. Bader is another tough fight, as he was considered a top light heavyweight with a lot of potential before Jones tooled him. It will be interesting to see how he recovers from that. He should be able to beat Tito, as he is a younger version of of Ortiz. I'll be cheering for Tito just because that dude deserves to win at least once more before he retires, but I'm almost certain this is going to be Bader by decision.
Co-Main Event
Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben: This is a fight that has been a year in the making, but Wand had about fifteen surgeries and hasn't fought since February 2010, when he beat Michael Bisping by decision. Leben took Silva's place in May and beat Yoshihiro Akiyama by third round submission in one of the best fights I've ever seen and then followed that up with a DWI and a first round knockout loss to Brian Stann this past January. This should be an exciting brawl, since both men do not go to the ground and will stand and trade punches all day. I think it is a near certainty someone is getting knocked out. Leben's chin has come into question after Stann finished him in a way that had only been done once prior, and Silva's chin has been called into question consistently over the past few years. I would like to see Wand go into PRIDE mode and beast on Leben with a knockout, but I think that his chin won't hold up to his opponent's punching power. I want Wanderlei by 2nd round KO, but think it will be Leben by 2nd round KO.
Main Event
UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber: This fight pits the dominant champ in Cruz, who has not lost in four years against Faber, the former featherweight kingpin and the only man to beat Cruz. Cruz employs a technical striking style that, although lacking in finishing power, has not been deciphered by any opponent yet. The odds of Cruz finishing Faber are pretty much nil, as no one finishes the California Kid. Faber is in his third fight at 135 lbs. and his last fight was a disappointing decision win over Eddie Wineland. What makes this fight especially interesting, other than Cruz attempting to avenge his lone loss, is that these two dudes can't stand each other. They have been sniping at each other for a couple of years now, so it should be interesting to get to see them face off again. Faber can't stand and box with Cruz, or he will lose a decision. He needs to push the pace, bully Cruz against the cage, work some takedowns and try to throw him off his game early. If he doesn't, he'll lose a decision. I will be desperately cheering for a Faber win, as he is exciting and seems like a good dude. I doubt how much Faber has left in the tank though. He had to drop to bantamweight after it became apparent he could no longer compete for the title at featherweight, and his last fight at 135 was not very impressive. Cruz, on the other hand, should be entering the prime of his career. I think it's going to be Cruz by decision.
As always, feel free to leave your predictions on the comments page or my facebook page.
Main Card
Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman: This is a lightweight scrap featuring two men who have each won seven of their past eight fights. I don't know too much about Wiman besides the fact he was on a season of Ultimate Fighter in 2007 and didn't win. I'm also not sure I've ever seen him fight. I've seen Siver and he is an impressive kickboxer with a solid ground game. He's coming off a decision win against top contender George Sotiropoulos and is looking like he could be a potential contender within the next six to twelve months. I hate going with a fighter just because I know him more, but Siver has the more impressive record and a skillset I'm aware of. Let's go with Siver by decision.
Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim: This is a welterweight fight featuring two of the top fighters in the division, with both men probably one or two fights away from a title shot. Condit is coming off two impressive knockouts - a first round KO of Dan Hardy in October and a third round miracle TKO against Rory McDonald last June. Kim has shown effective wrestling and grappling in winning fights over Amir Sadollah and Nate Diaz. Condit has been out of action for a long time and is coming off of surgery, so ring rust could be a major factor for him. I think Kim has the grappling to win this by decision, but Condit is exciting and fights hard. I'm a fan of his and so I'm going to with Condit by 3rd Round TKO.
Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader: This fight has a better than forty precent chance of being really boring, as both men are wrestlers with some weak striking. Bader is coming off his first loss ever after being tooled by Jon Jones and submitted. Tito hasn't won a fight since beating the piss out of Ken Shamrock in 2006. Since then he has lost a decision to Lyoto Machida (where he almost pulled off a submission), had a draw with Rashad Evans after having a point deducted for grabbing the cage, a split decision loss to Forrest Griffin that shouldn't have been split, and was dominated by Matt Hamill this past fall en route to a decision loss. With the exception of the Hamill fight, he has only lost to top flight competition and he hasn't been finished in any of them. He's been competitive for the most part, but he isn't good enough to win or bad enough to just get crushed like Chuck Liddell over the past few years. Bader is another tough fight, as he was considered a top light heavyweight with a lot of potential before Jones tooled him. It will be interesting to see how he recovers from that. He should be able to beat Tito, as he is a younger version of of Ortiz. I'll be cheering for Tito just because that dude deserves to win at least once more before he retires, but I'm almost certain this is going to be Bader by decision.
Co-Main Event
Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben: This is a fight that has been a year in the making, but Wand had about fifteen surgeries and hasn't fought since February 2010, when he beat Michael Bisping by decision. Leben took Silva's place in May and beat Yoshihiro Akiyama by third round submission in one of the best fights I've ever seen and then followed that up with a DWI and a first round knockout loss to Brian Stann this past January. This should be an exciting brawl, since both men do not go to the ground and will stand and trade punches all day. I think it is a near certainty someone is getting knocked out. Leben's chin has come into question after Stann finished him in a way that had only been done once prior, and Silva's chin has been called into question consistently over the past few years. I would like to see Wand go into PRIDE mode and beast on Leben with a knockout, but I think that his chin won't hold up to his opponent's punching power. I want Wanderlei by 2nd round KO, but think it will be Leben by 2nd round KO.
Main Event
UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber: This fight pits the dominant champ in Cruz, who has not lost in four years against Faber, the former featherweight kingpin and the only man to beat Cruz. Cruz employs a technical striking style that, although lacking in finishing power, has not been deciphered by any opponent yet. The odds of Cruz finishing Faber are pretty much nil, as no one finishes the California Kid. Faber is in his third fight at 135 lbs. and his last fight was a disappointing decision win over Eddie Wineland. What makes this fight especially interesting, other than Cruz attempting to avenge his lone loss, is that these two dudes can't stand each other. They have been sniping at each other for a couple of years now, so it should be interesting to get to see them face off again. Faber can't stand and box with Cruz, or he will lose a decision. He needs to push the pace, bully Cruz against the cage, work some takedowns and try to throw him off his game early. If he doesn't, he'll lose a decision. I will be desperately cheering for a Faber win, as he is exciting and seems like a good dude. I doubt how much Faber has left in the tank though. He had to drop to bantamweight after it became apparent he could no longer compete for the title at featherweight, and his last fight at 135 was not very impressive. Cruz, on the other hand, should be entering the prime of his career. I think it's going to be Cruz by decision.
As always, feel free to leave your predictions on the comments page or my facebook page.
Monday, June 13, 2011
You Were Right LeBron, Karma is a Bitch
Note: This rant was started last night after the Mavs won and then finished today. I don’t know if it is coherent at all since I’m still so hyped that Shawn Marion has a ring and I don't proof read, but you’ll get over it.
“Crazy. Karma is a bitch”
With that tweet directed at the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James set the basketball world on fire back in January. The Cavs of course are LeBron’s former team. The team LeBron shit all over for at least two seasons when talking about the idea of leaving in free agency. Then last summer he left Cleveland to “take his talents to South Beach” and join up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. LeBron ended up tweeting that karma is a bitch because the Cavs lost by 55 to the Los Angeles Lakers and were on an 11-game losing streak. For some reason this pleased LeBron and he put up that tweet. I’m not sure how that is karma since they did nothing to deserve getting dumped on that way, but alright LeBron.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to say 20 minutes after the Dallas Mavericks started celebrating their first NBA Championship, a year after The Decision, and after watching an entire career thus far of arrogance: Yes LeBron, karma is a bitch.
You see, after the Heat got their big three together, they had only Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley under contract. Beasley was obviously getting traded and people weren’t sure what was going to become of Chalmers. So the Heat did what any organization would do in that position: they had a championship celebration.
Using the slogan “Yes. We. Did.,” the Heat had a stage show like something out of a Kiss concert, complete with pyro and smoke bombs. The Big 3 popped out of the stage and Bosh was flexing and screaming like an idiot, LeBron danced, and Wade stood around with his herpes. They said they were a dynasty, despite not even having a roster. LeBron promised more than six championships, as if that would somehow make them all better than Michael Jordan. They danced and pranced then were confused as to why people hated them. Maybe if you weren’t a team with a proven choker (LeBron) and a guy who thinks he is a superstar but isn’t (Chris Bosh) and a guy who gives STDs to his wife (Dwyane Wade) and maybe if you didn’t celebrate like you won it all before playing a single game, people wouldn’t care so much.
That pre-season, pre-having a roster championship celebration set the tone for the entire NBA season. You were either a fair-weather NBA fan and a frontrunner and wanted Miami, or you were a true fan of the game and wanted to see them lose to a team who embodied the concept of five people on the court working together over the idea of three stars and a bunch of scrubs. Or of course you were my Mom and had been a Heat fan since the 90s.
Either way, the Heat celebrated and partied it up all summer and talked such shit about how they’d top the 1996 Chicago Bulls’ all-time best NBA record of 72-10 and they’d win the championship. They flexed and pranced around once the season started and they would beat on bad teams. Of course they had a shit record against the league’s elite, but that didn’t matter. They were riding high.
Now here we sit on this glorious Sunday night and the Heat have fallen short in every way imaginable. How did it happen? It happened because of the perfect storm brought on by the basketball gods. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game, “None of us really expected this.” Really, Coach Spo? Yes I understand you don’t go into a game expecting to lose, but deep down you couldn’t have seen this Finals Fail coming? Let’s look at some stuff that went down.
First off, the Heat had problems closing out games throughout the regular season because the ball would go to LeBron James and never Dwyane Wade. There’s nothing I need to say since it was put together wonderfully in this video. There was that beautiful span of time when they fell to the Bulls, Knicks, Magic, and Bulls again because of moments of unclutch play. For some reason against Boston and Chicago in the playoffs, LeBron James shattered the old playoff image of him being a choker. He closed out games against those teams like he was one of the best ever. But even then, Erik, you had to realize all good things come to an end. We’ll get back to that.
Over in the Western Conference, Dirk Nowitzki lost his fucking mind. He had a great season and should’ve been up with Dwight Howard as an MVP candidate not named Derrick Rose. People thought the Mavericks could potentially contend, but after years of failure previous they had their doubts. In the first round against Portland, many people thought Dallas would be sent packing. In Game 4, Dallas blew a 23 point lead and lost. People thought that was the end of the Mavericks and Dirk. We’d have to chalk Dirk up as another very good player who couldn’t hit that next level. Whoops.
Dallas came back from that loss and reeled off 7 straight victories, including a sweep of the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Then people thought the OKC Thunder would beat Dallas, but Shawn Marion played defense like it was 2006 to shut down Kevin Durant and Dirk continued his dominance and the Mavericks made the Finals once again, and once again they found themselves against the Heat. Dirk had played out of his mind all season and looked to finally destroy the notion of him being soft and a choker. After hitting so many big shots and leading the Mavs to numerous comeback victories in the post season, people still weren’t convinced Dallas could compete with Miami’s star power.
Sorry, but I’ll take the team that puts five people out there working together over the team with three egomaniacs treating the sport like a pick up game that will be so easy any day. As Bill Simmons put it, “8 always beats 3,” referring to the depth of Dallas over the star power of the Heat. Miami took Game 1, but in Game 2 they fucked up when LeBron and Wade started celebrating taking a 15 point lead with 7 minutes left. Dirk and Co. came to life and punished Miami, evening the series at 1 apiece. Miami took Game 3, but Dirk’s heroics despite being sick as hell came through in Game 4 to even the series again. The Mavs made the big plays down the stretch and came up with the win in Game 5 as well. This brought us to the deciding Game 6 in Miami. Spoelstra and the Heat may have been saying they weren’t in trouble and were still confident, but it sure didn’t seem that way.
Remember when I said I’d get back to LeBron closing out Boston and Chicago? Here we go. LeBron could close out Boston with ease since Rajon Rondo, their best player, was hurt, thus costing the Celtics down the stretch in games. Shaq was hurt as well and the C’s still hadn’t fully incorporated the new guys from that trade. All of this made them inferior to Miami, thus giving LeBron confidence to hit shots since he saw their weaknesses. Chicago is a young team with much to learn, and Luol Deng and Derrick Rose were cooked from playing so many minutes so LeBron had no problems hitting big shots and flexing and dancing. They were inexperienced and uncomfortable in the big games so LeBron had that swagger.
But once he went up against a crafty veteran team who had nothing holding them back from bringing it, LeBron did a disappearing act. Just like he always does. Shawn Marion outplayed LeBron in at least two games and his defense on the self professed “King” helped keep him out of the game. Of course LeBron is also mentally weak so once he realized Dallas was going to fight to the end he collapsed and relied on Dwyane Wade to have an amazing series. LeBron was nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter of many of the games. He had only 11 fourth quarter points going into Game 6. For the series he finished with 18 fourth quarter points…but Chris Bosh had 23. Dirk Nowitzki had 62 and was a death dealer in the clutch. LeBron was the one being shit on.
The Heat went back to their old ways of being unable to close out games as they gave up numerous fourth quarter leads to Dallas. Spoelstra had to realize that his team suddenly closing games was too good to be true, right? He had to realize that LeBron was missing during the big moments and had a history of doing this and history is always doomed to repeat itself...right?
LeBron came out in Game 6 and hit his first few shots while Dirk started 1-12. Dirk went 8-15 the rest of the way while scoring 10 points in the fourth and sealing the victory. LeBron had 21 points on 9-15 shooting, but if you saw that game you knew he was ineffective. He was driving to the hoop then passing the ball away. Dwyane Wade may have shot poorly but he at least went all out. In the biggest game of the year LeBron had as many turnovers as assists (6) and went 1-4 from the foul line. He hit his first four shots then suddenly didn’t seem to have much of an effect and finished with the quietest 21 points I’ve seen in a big game. Sure he had 7 points in the fourth, but how many times did he get the ball then whip it away to Mario Chalmers as if Wade's STDs were dripping off the ball?
And the moral of the story is as LeBron said those few months ago: Karma is a bitch. Before Game 5 LBJ and Wade were mocking Dirk’s sickness in Game 4 by fake coughing and putting their shirts over their faces like Dirk did in his postgame interview. Cool LeBron. Real tough for a guy who got outplayed by Shawn Marion. When that video game out after Dallas had already won Game 5, the Heat had signed their death warrant for Game 6. Dirk may have shot poorly initially, but in that fourth quarter it was like he had the game sliders all the way up and began raining fire down on the Heatles, sending them on a long and bitter vacation.
Not to mention the fans in the arena in Miami! As Dallas owner Mark Cuban said, “Our fans punked the shit out of the Heat fans.” There were an awful lot of blue shirts in support of Dallas for that final game. Even Miami’s frontrunner fans knew they were screwed. Hell with two minutes left in the game Miami’s weak ass fans were already walking to the exits. LeBron choked in the biggest series of his life and did it in front of a crowd unwilling to support him and the team. It was beautiful.
That’s what happens when you mock a player who is demolishing your team. That’s what happens when you declare your team a dynasty when there’s no roster. When you act like LeBron and the Heat act, that crazy thing called karma gets you and you choke and fail miserably on the biggest stage in the sport. Chris Bosh acted like he was a superstar and such hot shit, and his season ends with him falling on the ground sobbing like a baby.
Now LeBron is saying he’s fine since he’s got a better life and more money than all of us and people have to get back to their lives and stop ripping on Miami. Hey fuck face, if you don’t want the scrutiny then don’t always try to draw attention to yourself. Don’t have championship celebrations before there’s even a team. Don’t go on television and have an hour infomercial that culminates in you kicking your former team in the balls for no good reason. Don’t shit all over a sports city that has been shit on for decades then say only your real fans will understand this move. Don’t tweet stupid shit about taking joy in your former team losing when clearly they were never built to withstand something like you leaving. Don’t dance and flex while you beat inferior teams. Don’t mock Dirk Nowitzki for being sick since he went out and played like Jordan and you played like Karl Malone.
Here is a guy with so much skill and who could be so amazing, but he acts in ways which draw attention to himself, and then he says everybody else is messed up when they don’t like how he acts. He refers to himself as “King James” and acts so arrogant, but then when the going gets tough he calls out everybody else like we all did something. Hell Chris Bosh played better than him in the biggest game of the year! LeBron is a total douche and so cocky for no reason, but once again it is summer time and LeBron James is not an NBA Champion.
People thought Jason Terry’s tattoo of the Championship trophy would be the ultimate stat curse in NBA history, but it appears as though all those lavish celebrations in South Beach and that talk all summer about domination was the real curse. Dwyane Wade mockingly said back in March, “The world is a better place because the Heat is losing.” I don’t know if the world as a whole is a better place, but the basketball world certainly is. The concept of a team still rules over all, and for that all real fans of the game should be pleased.
“Crazy. Karma is a bitch”
With that tweet directed at the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James set the basketball world on fire back in January. The Cavs of course are LeBron’s former team. The team LeBron shit all over for at least two seasons when talking about the idea of leaving in free agency. Then last summer he left Cleveland to “take his talents to South Beach” and join up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. LeBron ended up tweeting that karma is a bitch because the Cavs lost by 55 to the Los Angeles Lakers and were on an 11-game losing streak. For some reason this pleased LeBron and he put up that tweet. I’m not sure how that is karma since they did nothing to deserve getting dumped on that way, but alright LeBron.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to say 20 minutes after the Dallas Mavericks started celebrating their first NBA Championship, a year after The Decision, and after watching an entire career thus far of arrogance: Yes LeBron, karma is a bitch.
You see, after the Heat got their big three together, they had only Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley under contract. Beasley was obviously getting traded and people weren’t sure what was going to become of Chalmers. So the Heat did what any organization would do in that position: they had a championship celebration.
Using the slogan “Yes. We. Did.,” the Heat had a stage show like something out of a Kiss concert, complete with pyro and smoke bombs. The Big 3 popped out of the stage and Bosh was flexing and screaming like an idiot, LeBron danced, and Wade stood around with his herpes. They said they were a dynasty, despite not even having a roster. LeBron promised more than six championships, as if that would somehow make them all better than Michael Jordan. They danced and pranced then were confused as to why people hated them. Maybe if you weren’t a team with a proven choker (LeBron) and a guy who thinks he is a superstar but isn’t (Chris Bosh) and a guy who gives STDs to his wife (Dwyane Wade) and maybe if you didn’t celebrate like you won it all before playing a single game, people wouldn’t care so much.
That pre-season, pre-having a roster championship celebration set the tone for the entire NBA season. You were either a fair-weather NBA fan and a frontrunner and wanted Miami, or you were a true fan of the game and wanted to see them lose to a team who embodied the concept of five people on the court working together over the idea of three stars and a bunch of scrubs. Or of course you were my Mom and had been a Heat fan since the 90s.
Either way, the Heat celebrated and partied it up all summer and talked such shit about how they’d top the 1996 Chicago Bulls’ all-time best NBA record of 72-10 and they’d win the championship. They flexed and pranced around once the season started and they would beat on bad teams. Of course they had a shit record against the league’s elite, but that didn’t matter. They were riding high.
Now here we sit on this glorious Sunday night and the Heat have fallen short in every way imaginable. How did it happen? It happened because of the perfect storm brought on by the basketball gods. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game, “None of us really expected this.” Really, Coach Spo? Yes I understand you don’t go into a game expecting to lose, but deep down you couldn’t have seen this Finals Fail coming? Let’s look at some stuff that went down.
First off, the Heat had problems closing out games throughout the regular season because the ball would go to LeBron James and never Dwyane Wade. There’s nothing I need to say since it was put together wonderfully in this video. There was that beautiful span of time when they fell to the Bulls, Knicks, Magic, and Bulls again because of moments of unclutch play. For some reason against Boston and Chicago in the playoffs, LeBron James shattered the old playoff image of him being a choker. He closed out games against those teams like he was one of the best ever. But even then, Erik, you had to realize all good things come to an end. We’ll get back to that.
Over in the Western Conference, Dirk Nowitzki lost his fucking mind. He had a great season and should’ve been up with Dwight Howard as an MVP candidate not named Derrick Rose. People thought the Mavericks could potentially contend, but after years of failure previous they had their doubts. In the first round against Portland, many people thought Dallas would be sent packing. In Game 4, Dallas blew a 23 point lead and lost. People thought that was the end of the Mavericks and Dirk. We’d have to chalk Dirk up as another very good player who couldn’t hit that next level. Whoops.
Dallas came back from that loss and reeled off 7 straight victories, including a sweep of the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Then people thought the OKC Thunder would beat Dallas, but Shawn Marion played defense like it was 2006 to shut down Kevin Durant and Dirk continued his dominance and the Mavericks made the Finals once again, and once again they found themselves against the Heat. Dirk had played out of his mind all season and looked to finally destroy the notion of him being soft and a choker. After hitting so many big shots and leading the Mavs to numerous comeback victories in the post season, people still weren’t convinced Dallas could compete with Miami’s star power.
Sorry, but I’ll take the team that puts five people out there working together over the team with three egomaniacs treating the sport like a pick up game that will be so easy any day. As Bill Simmons put it, “8 always beats 3,” referring to the depth of Dallas over the star power of the Heat. Miami took Game 1, but in Game 2 they fucked up when LeBron and Wade started celebrating taking a 15 point lead with 7 minutes left. Dirk and Co. came to life and punished Miami, evening the series at 1 apiece. Miami took Game 3, but Dirk’s heroics despite being sick as hell came through in Game 4 to even the series again. The Mavs made the big plays down the stretch and came up with the win in Game 5 as well. This brought us to the deciding Game 6 in Miami. Spoelstra and the Heat may have been saying they weren’t in trouble and were still confident, but it sure didn’t seem that way.
Remember when I said I’d get back to LeBron closing out Boston and Chicago? Here we go. LeBron could close out Boston with ease since Rajon Rondo, their best player, was hurt, thus costing the Celtics down the stretch in games. Shaq was hurt as well and the C’s still hadn’t fully incorporated the new guys from that trade. All of this made them inferior to Miami, thus giving LeBron confidence to hit shots since he saw their weaknesses. Chicago is a young team with much to learn, and Luol Deng and Derrick Rose were cooked from playing so many minutes so LeBron had no problems hitting big shots and flexing and dancing. They were inexperienced and uncomfortable in the big games so LeBron had that swagger.
But once he went up against a crafty veteran team who had nothing holding them back from bringing it, LeBron did a disappearing act. Just like he always does. Shawn Marion outplayed LeBron in at least two games and his defense on the self professed “King” helped keep him out of the game. Of course LeBron is also mentally weak so once he realized Dallas was going to fight to the end he collapsed and relied on Dwyane Wade to have an amazing series. LeBron was nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter of many of the games. He had only 11 fourth quarter points going into Game 6. For the series he finished with 18 fourth quarter points…but Chris Bosh had 23. Dirk Nowitzki had 62 and was a death dealer in the clutch. LeBron was the one being shit on.
The Heat went back to their old ways of being unable to close out games as they gave up numerous fourth quarter leads to Dallas. Spoelstra had to realize that his team suddenly closing games was too good to be true, right? He had to realize that LeBron was missing during the big moments and had a history of doing this and history is always doomed to repeat itself...right?
LeBron came out in Game 6 and hit his first few shots while Dirk started 1-12. Dirk went 8-15 the rest of the way while scoring 10 points in the fourth and sealing the victory. LeBron had 21 points on 9-15 shooting, but if you saw that game you knew he was ineffective. He was driving to the hoop then passing the ball away. Dwyane Wade may have shot poorly but he at least went all out. In the biggest game of the year LeBron had as many turnovers as assists (6) and went 1-4 from the foul line. He hit his first four shots then suddenly didn’t seem to have much of an effect and finished with the quietest 21 points I’ve seen in a big game. Sure he had 7 points in the fourth, but how many times did he get the ball then whip it away to Mario Chalmers as if Wade's STDs were dripping off the ball?
And the moral of the story is as LeBron said those few months ago: Karma is a bitch. Before Game 5 LBJ and Wade were mocking Dirk’s sickness in Game 4 by fake coughing and putting their shirts over their faces like Dirk did in his postgame interview. Cool LeBron. Real tough for a guy who got outplayed by Shawn Marion. When that video game out after Dallas had already won Game 5, the Heat had signed their death warrant for Game 6. Dirk may have shot poorly initially, but in that fourth quarter it was like he had the game sliders all the way up and began raining fire down on the Heatles, sending them on a long and bitter vacation.
Not to mention the fans in the arena in Miami! As Dallas owner Mark Cuban said, “Our fans punked the shit out of the Heat fans.” There were an awful lot of blue shirts in support of Dallas for that final game. Even Miami’s frontrunner fans knew they were screwed. Hell with two minutes left in the game Miami’s weak ass fans were already walking to the exits. LeBron choked in the biggest series of his life and did it in front of a crowd unwilling to support him and the team. It was beautiful.
That’s what happens when you mock a player who is demolishing your team. That’s what happens when you declare your team a dynasty when there’s no roster. When you act like LeBron and the Heat act, that crazy thing called karma gets you and you choke and fail miserably on the biggest stage in the sport. Chris Bosh acted like he was a superstar and such hot shit, and his season ends with him falling on the ground sobbing like a baby.
Now LeBron is saying he’s fine since he’s got a better life and more money than all of us and people have to get back to their lives and stop ripping on Miami. Hey fuck face, if you don’t want the scrutiny then don’t always try to draw attention to yourself. Don’t have championship celebrations before there’s even a team. Don’t go on television and have an hour infomercial that culminates in you kicking your former team in the balls for no good reason. Don’t shit all over a sports city that has been shit on for decades then say only your real fans will understand this move. Don’t tweet stupid shit about taking joy in your former team losing when clearly they were never built to withstand something like you leaving. Don’t dance and flex while you beat inferior teams. Don’t mock Dirk Nowitzki for being sick since he went out and played like Jordan and you played like Karl Malone.
Here is a guy with so much skill and who could be so amazing, but he acts in ways which draw attention to himself, and then he says everybody else is messed up when they don’t like how he acts. He refers to himself as “King James” and acts so arrogant, but then when the going gets tough he calls out everybody else like we all did something. Hell Chris Bosh played better than him in the biggest game of the year! LeBron is a total douche and so cocky for no reason, but once again it is summer time and LeBron James is not an NBA Champion.
People thought Jason Terry’s tattoo of the Championship trophy would be the ultimate stat curse in NBA history, but it appears as though all those lavish celebrations in South Beach and that talk all summer about domination was the real curse. Dwyane Wade mockingly said back in March, “The world is a better place because the Heat is losing.” I don’t know if the world as a whole is a better place, but the basketball world certainly is. The concept of a team still rules over all, and for that all real fans of the game should be pleased.
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