The Sunday Junkie: Nov. 23 edition

SOUR GRAPES FOR SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT SUPPORTERS

What is all this fuss about the heavyweight division? After UFC 91 I have heard many people say there should be a new super-heavyweight class and feel that there is too big of a gap between 206 and 265 pounds. I say these fans are either just a little butt hurt that Randy Couture lost or are looking for any reason not to give Brock Lesnar credit. Not too many people were saying how unfair the weight gap was after Randy beat Tim Sylvia. It isn't Lesnar's fault that he is a true heavyweight. The UFC has had a hard enough time finding talent for one weight class, so they would only be adding to the problem by creating a second division.

The King is Here

I am not sure if readers of this blog caught this, but I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Kimbo Slice. Just months ago, I couldn’t even comprehend why I had to put up with this guy being considered a good fighter and why I had to put up with his ignorant fans. I very much disliked hearing so called fight fans tell me how “street certified” Kimbo was. I really didn’t care for the people who were saying “he could knock out anyone”. The true MMA fans knew just what a garbage fighter Kimbo Slice was, but still couldn’t convince the mainstream TV audience. One could only imagine my face when Seth Petruzelli knocked Kimbo out in just 14 seconds. I was jumping around and yelling. I think I almost cried a tear of joy. I would put money down that UFC President Dana White was doing the same thing that night. I would also put money down that he was doing the same thing after last night’s card ended.

Dana White has been living a nightmare for the last year. The UFC Heavyweight Champion and the organization’s most popular fighter, Randy Couture, wanted out of his contract. To good Couture felt he was for the rest of the fighters left in the UFC. The only man left on the planet that was worthy enough to face him was the pound for pound best fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Mr. White and Mr. Couture did battle in court rooms for the better part of 2008. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Dana White was the one left standing and Randy Couture wouldn‘t be getting his dream fight with Fedor. Not in the near future that is. There was still a problem that UFC management needed a solution for. Their champion had left the company once before and still could cause trouble down the road. With a right hand and a stream of endless hammer fists, Brock Lesnar help Dana White and UFC management get that forty five year old monkey off their back.

That’s right, after only four professional MMA fights Brock Lesnar is the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Even more impressing is how he won it. Their were a handful of unanswered questions about Lesnar that I pointed out in my preview of the fight. It would be safe to say that he answered all of those after last night.

The first round opens up with a clinch battle that sees Couture winning and Lesnar is forced against the fence. Right away something is very off. In all the hype and previews it was seen that Lesnar had super human power and would easily control Couture in the grappling parts of the fight. Joe Rogan even said, when Brock was making his cage walk, that because of his size and look that he was like a boss character from a video game. The start of round one might say other wise. Randy Couture was keeping Brock Lesnar against the cage wall and threatening him with takedowns. Lesnar did end up taking his opponent to the ground with a double leg but Randy wouldn’t be there for long, and got to his feet quickly. Something else was off from the previews. Brock Lesnar was winning in the stand up. Brock was able to throw big knees and also able to land a combination or two of punches. In the end, I felt that Lesnar was able to win the round because of it.

Round two is where “the next big thing” shined. Lesnar landed a good elbow that rocked Couture to open the round. The first part of the round was a kick boxing match which saw both fighter take big hits. I had talked about before how Lesnar wasn’t tested in his fights and fan didn’t know if he could take a punch. Fans can now scratch that one off the list. Randy landed punches that would have put other fighters down, or at least hurt them. Not Brock Lesnar, he just walked through the hall-a-famer’s best strikes and dished out his own. One of Couture’s punches did happen to cut Brock above the eye. Showing how far he had come as a fighter, Brock Lesnar stayed calm and didn’t try to rush the fight because of it. Just over the half point of the round Lesnar landed a right hand that dropped Couture. The challenger jumped on the champion and started to rain down hammer shots before the fight was stopped.

So we know now that Brock Lesnar can take a punch. We know now that Brock Lesnar had the smallest learning curve of anyone in the sport. We know now that Brock Lesnar here to stay. What we don’t know about Brock Lesnar is, who’s out there that can defeat him? If he can get past the winner of Mir/Nog, who really knows?

No WEC Love

When it comes to Mixed Martial Arts you could say that I’m a nerd. I watch almost all the MMA events on TV including every episode of The Ultimate Fighter and Inside MMA. I check up on MMA Junkie more times during the day than I log on to my Facebook. I read books about fighters, watch fight movies, look up old events on youtube and now I’m keeping a blog about my thoughts on the sport. To top it off I train in Jujitsu, Tai Boxing, and I’m going to be a head coach for my local wrestling team this season. All this being said I would like to make one thing perfectly clear to Zuffa: I don’t give a shit about the WEC.


The World Extreme Cagefighting is a fight promotion owned by the same company that owns the UFC, Zuffa. Since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa in December 2006, the WEC has been used the same way a major league baseball team uses their minor league counter part. In baseball a minor league team is used to see how younger players are growing, a place for injured players to recover and play without being in a major game, and a place for old players to still be able to play. The goal isn’t to have the minor league team be better than it’s bigger brother. The WEC has been used the same way. It’s a place for young up-and-comers to fight and get TV time that are just not ready yet for the big time. The promotion is also a stopping ground for veteran fighters or guys that Zuffa likes but just are not right for the UFC. It isn’t, nor should it be, nearly as big or as popular as it’s sister promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.



Here is the problem. Zuffa wants to make the WEC just as popular and as big as the UFC without the talent to support it. As of before, all of WEC shows were free on TV and why shouldn’t they be? They don’t have the best fighters and half the roster most fans have never heard of before. But there is news that starting next year WEC will be running PPV and building up to the point of having a PPV once a month along with a free show. Now I know I do not speak for everyone but I don’t care for the UFC younger sibling. In fact, I seem to always forget when their shows are on and usually seem to miss them. I had to look up when their show was on this week. Seeing as I’m a hardcore MMA fan, if I don’t care enough to watch the free events, what in the hell makes Zuffa think I’m going to pay to watch a WEC card? More importantly, what makes them think the casual fan is going to pay and watch?

As I stated before, WEC doesn’t have a good roster of fighters. They have maybe five or six well known guys and the rest of their fighters are lost on the casual fan. Urijah Faber is arguably their only fighter that has been a successful main event draw and he can only fight four to six times a year. What does Zuffa do for the other 18 events they plan to have in a year?

Here is what they should be doing if they even want to have a chance. Get rid of all the blue: I don’t know when they first started using blue, but it’s every where. The fighters gloves are blue, and full cage is nothing but blue. It might not seem like such a big deal but, it is really an eye sore after a while. Change the floor mat to grey, throw out blue gloves and bring in the black. They can keep the cage posts blue if they must. Bring in Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler: There were few people that left EliteXC having more popularity and dignity then when they went in and these are tow of them. Both these guys would add some star power to the lacking roster. Have women’s MMA in WEC: Dana White has said there are no good women fighter out there but EliteXC was able to do one thing right and prove Dana wrong. There is still a huge fight that needs to happen between Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos and many fan want to see.


Maybe the promotion should be left alone and Zuffa is getting a little too greedy. Maybe there are people out there willing to pay for what they already get for free and I have no idea what I’m talking about. I know I will not be paying for minor league quality shows when major league events from the same company is going on.

The Sunday Junkie: Nov. 2 edition

TOO MUCH UFC AND WEC FROM ZUFFA?

With UFC 89 and 90 taking place in a one-week span last month, people have been talking about how it was better when fans had to wait months between events. Getting new fans by having free shows is great for MMA, but it seems we have reached a breaking point. It just seems like there are too many shows with little hype or advertising time going into each one. There are six shows planned by Zuffa packed into the final two months of 2008. Also taking into account that Zuffa fires off "The Ultimate Fighter" seasons one after another and news that they plan to have WEC PPVs starting next year, maybe it's time to step off the gas. They might be trying to suffocate the competition, but they could also be suffocating themselves.

Junkie Update

A couple weeks ago I wrote my first Sunday Junkie about waiting for news on Hughes vs. Serra. Well, it would seem that the news is now here.

“This week, I talked to Joe Silva at the UFC and a possible date for Serra and I is in April. I don’t know the exact date right now or venue. So, that is something that I can look forward to and I can set my training up for that schedule.”

This was the statement made by former two time UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes on his official website. He made the same claims again last Friday at a UFC Fight Club Q&A.

“Middle of April, I'll be fighting Matt Serra, and if I have my way, it won't be the Midwest. It will be Illinois.”

The fight was originally going to happen back on December 29, 2007 for UFC 79 but Serra backed out due to a back injury. Thankfully, just because it came out of Hughes' mouth does not mean the fight is official. There has been no word from Serra or his camp. Also both Dana White and UFC match maker Joe Silva have yet said anything about the matter.

UFC 91: Couture vs Lesnar

People think up some crazy stuff when they’re bored. If you are a sports fan a good portion of the that time is wondering who would claim victory in battle. Some of these make believe events seem like good ideas (Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Luis, 72 Dolphins vs. 07 Patriots ) and some of them are just plain stupid ( Bear vs. Karate Master). The one common factor in most of these battles is that its rare or impossible for them to become reality. They just seem to always sit around in “what if” world.

Several years ago there was a “what if” topic spreading like wild fire on the MMA forums all across the internet. What if Brock Lesnar became a mixed martial artist? At the time Lesnar had just left World Wrestling Entertainment to chase a dream of becoming a pro football player. It seemed like a silly question but it was very well possible. Like anything on the internet everyone had there opinion and nobody was listening to each other, but after a while something strange happened. People started agreeing and came up with a solid answer to the question. MMA fans across the web decided that Brock Lesnar would have no problem defeating the lower echelon of fighters but would not be able to compete against the very best of the heavyweight division. It was a closed case and a done deal. After that anytime some one would bring the question up again they would be met with that answer and of course other responses such as, “It’s cold in this topic” and “I hear the dinosaurs went extinct”.

Years later here we are on the threshold of UFC 91 and Brock Lesnar is fighting for the biggest prize in heavyweight fighting. With only three fights under his belt can it be said that the internet was right? Not yet, but there will be much to be said after he faces UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy "The Natural” Couture. Really, Couture’s nickname should be “The World Greatest Underdog”. In his last two fights, Randy Couture was seen again as being too old, too slow, too weak, and too small to win. Both times Couture proved the fans and experts wrong and not only won but completely out classed his opponents. MMA fans worldwide were saying “ill never bet against him ever again”. It would seem now that every fan has forgot what they said. Once again Couture is seen as too old, too slow, too weak, and way too small in comparison to Brock Lesnar.

At first glace it would seem what the obvious outcome will be. Also, for the second time it would seem the internet has decided and agrees on what will happen. Lesnar will overwhelm Couture with his size and strength for the first two or three rounds of the fight. If the fight goes to the later rounds, Couture will win with his superior cardio and striking. That was easy enough right? Not really considering how many different factor and question that go into this fight.

How will the forty five year old champion handle the year long lay off? Some people might call him Captain America, but Randy Coutre is not invincible. Even he is going to feel the effects of time sooner or later. Add a year off and there will be some ring rust that might factor in to the contest.

After the year long contract battle with the UFC, where will Randy Couture be mentally? He has said before that battles in his personal life have effected his performance in the octagon. Could his court battles for the right to fight Fedor outside the UFC take its toll?

Has Brock Lesnar improved enough on his stand up to be able to trade with the champion? Against big men, "The Natural" has been very effective with his punches and dirty boxing. Hopefully the challenger has picked up enough skill to stand a chance on his feet.

How good is Lesnar’s chin? In his three MMA bouts, Brock has yet to be tested with a solid shot.

Is Brock capable of submitting or knocking out Couture? Within seconds of the first round, Lesnar floored Heath Herring with a huge punch........and then didn't capitalise on the opportunity. To make matters worse Brock seemed unable to do much when he mounted Herring or had his back. Brock Lesnar is a foolish man if his game plan is to win a decision.

What is for sure is that the UFC and Dana White want Brock Lesnar too win this fight badly. In the last two years we have seen many heavyweights leave the Ultimate Fighting Championship for one reason or another. Former UFC champs Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski are both now under contract with Affliction MMA. PRIDE FC stand out, Mirko Filipovic seems to be on his way out of fighting. At the moment there are only four athletes in the division that fans follow: Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Antônio Nogueira, and Frank Mir. While Couture is arguably the most popular fighter of all time, he is forty five and it’s all a matter of time before he retires for good. A win at UFC 91 and Brock Lesnar would be a stand out for a long time and just what Dana White needs for his dying heavyweight class.

Will the match live up to the hype? Does Lesnar still need a script to win a championship? Can Randy Couture overcome time and old age? Can Brock Lesnar prove the internet wrong? One thing is for sure, lets hope it’s better than Silva vs. Cote.

The Circus Has Packed Up And Left.

While many people now know Seth Petruzelli as the man that embarrassed Kimbo Slice with one off balanced jab, fans will soon know him for something else, the man that forced ProElite to cease operations. While not official as of the time of this writing, many sources close to the company state that ProElite will be out of business starting next week.

In the first two years of the companies operations they had accumulated $55 million in debt. The event EliteXC “HEAT” and the events leading up to it seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Antonio Silva, the promotions Heavyweight champion, tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone. The Lightweight champion KJ Noon refused to defend his title against Nick Diaz and as a result was stripped of the title. One of the “HEAT” main event fighters, Ken Shamrock, was to meet James “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, but somehow suffered a cut sometime between weight-ins and the fight. To make matters worse Shamrock’s replacement only needed 14 seconds to knock out the former internet sensation and ProElite’s biggest draw.

After all this it would seem that the company made it’s own bed and should quite before things got even more out of hand. But ProElite had one more ace up its sleeve. EliteXC “HEAT” had impressed CBS with the three and a half million viewers it had managed to attract. So much so that CBS was interested in buying the company. Gone would be the 55 million owned, it would be a clean slate, a new day so to speak for Gary Shaw and Jeremy Lappen. So what bought the company to it’s knees?

"The promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him. They didn't want me to take him down; let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him."

The comments made by the pink haired, Ultimate Fighter reject, on "The Monsters in Orlando" show on 104.1 FM on Oct. 6 is what did them in. MMA news outlets and fans have a accused Gary Shaw for fixing fights or at least swinging things in the companies favor for a while now but never had hard proof. Seth Petruzelli later said that what he meant was the company was offering him a “knock out” bonus. It was too late, the damage had been done. The statement had caused an investigation from the Florida Athletic Commission, and the radio clip is what effectively alienated CBS from purchasing the company. Say good bye to the dream of saving a company and creating a promotion that could go head to head with the UFC. Say hello to court dates, fines, and possible imprisonment. All because of a something that slipped out of Mr. Petruzelli’s mouth on a Florida radio show.



So, where does that leave the fighters and the Mixed Martial Arts scene as a whole? Sadly many of the fighters will most likely fade away on local cards and might never be in a televised fight again. Some will find a home in Affliction. The EliteXC Welterweight champion, Jake Shields might be the only fighter to be picked up by the UFC. There had been talk of Jake going to the UFC and he himself said he would like to join their ranks.

Once again it would seem that the Ultimate Fighting Championship is the only respectable MMA promotion in town. EliteXC was viewed by most that follow the sport as the No. 2 promotion in the country behind the UFC. Also Affliction had made a deal with Golden Boy Promotions, meaning that the company would run shows featuring MMA and Boxing matches.

The irony of all this? Don’t expect to see the EliteXC’s main event fighters Kimbo Slice and Seth Petruzelli in the UFC or Affliction anytime soon. Most fans already knew that they were both garbage fighters in the big sceme of things. ProElite didn't have a compelling enough product to generate revenue to stay in business. I guess that’s what you get for trying to build a company around an internet fad/homeless bum.