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.

The Sunday Junkie: Oct. 19 Edition

KEITH JARDINE SHOULD NOT BE IN THE TITLE PICTURE

Congratulations to Keith Jardine for his split decision of Brandon Vera. There have been a handful of bloggers and other people on the Internet saying that this victory over Vera puts Jardine back in the title picture, but I'm here to disagree. I don't see how a razor thin split decision victory over a fighter who is 1-3 in his past four fights is a statement. Also taking in to consideration that Keith has been knocked out twice in his last four fights, Jardine doesn't really have a case when it comes to title contention. I'm not trying to take anything away from either one of these great athletes. This win did put some momentum back in his career, but I just dont see how this victory means that much in the super-stacked light-heavyweight division. On a side note, those boos really were not deserved.

Not Your Sandbox Mr. White

For anyone reading this blog you most likely know of Jesse Taylor and the events that accrued on The Ultimate Fighter Season 7. For those of you that don’t here is some info to get you up to speed. Jesse Taylor was well on his way to the finals of the TUF 7, winning all four fights while on the show and setting himself up to face Amir Sadollah for a UFC contract. The final bout was all set to go but there was still one more episode left to go in the season. Teasers on Spike showed what looked like a car window being broken with the voice over “the shocking ending that you can’t miss”. Fans would come to find out that the night after the show ended filming a group of cast member’s went out for a night in Vegas before leaving. During this night, Taylor got into a drunken rage. He kicked out a window of a rented limousine and then cause a mess inside a bar screaming that he was a UFC fighter. For his actions Dana White removed Jesse from the finals and told him that he was not mentally ready to be part of the UFC.

You might be wondering if there is a point to all this. Well yes there is. Junie Browning, a 155 pound fighter, in the short amount of time he had been on TUF8 has cause enough mayhem to have him booted from the show. In the five episodes that have aired we have seen him trash the house, pick fights with almost every person in the house (including trying to drown Ryan Bader) and jump into the cage after a fight because he was upset with the out come. Why has Junie not been removed? Because he is a exciting fighter.

The true reason Dana cut Jesse Taylor is because Jesse is a boring fighter. During his time on the show Jesse Won his fights by a boring ground and pound style. He took his opponents down and laid on them until he could find a submission or until the fight was over. Mr. White knew that with Taylor being in the finals it would be more of the same and he would be awarding a contract to a fighter he didn’t want around. The video of his drunken rampage must have been the golden ticket to Dana White. Dana could save the season and have an excuse for doing so. The events of TUF8 and action of Junie Browning only prove this point even more.

More proof can be found in the events around Quinton Jackson. Jackson was one of the coaches on TUF7 and had also made a remark about Taylor saying that Dana wouldn’t want someone like that representing the company. Ironically, after the show was done taping Quinton was arrested for reckless driving and hit and run. He even led officers on a chase while driving on the wrong side of the street and on sidewalks in his Ford F-350. A pregnant women who was involved in on of the hit and run had a has miscarriage. How did the UFC management punish Quinton Jackson for his actions? By giving him the possibility of having a third fight with Wanderlei Silva and there by putting a quarter million in his pocket.

Dana White needs to stop playing around with fighters and the UFC like its his own personal sandbox. He could get away with such things when the promotion wasn’t as popular but now the fans are a little more wise to the way White has been treating some of the fighters now a days.

I would like to end this post on a lighter note and post a video of one of the greatest fights that has ever happen on The Ultimate Fighter reality show: Jesse Talyor vs. A Dishwasher.

The Sunday Junkie: Oct. 12 Edition

STILL WAITING FOR MATT SERRA VS. MATT HUGHES

Some very anticipated bouts are finally going to take place over the next couple months, including Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin, Rashad Evans vs. Forrest Griffin, and the return of Randy Couture. What I'm wondering is where is the news on Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra? The UFC has already invested enough money and time promoting this matchup with "The Ultimate Fighter," and both men say they are still interested in it happening. Both fighters are approaching the end of their careers and no longer seem to be a factor in the welterweight division. It's really the only matchup that makes sense at this point in time for either one of them. There is still plenty of bad blood between the two of them, and it's a battle many fans are still waiting to see.


My submission was picked for this weeks Sunday Junkie. To be honest, I really don’t care too much about Serra vs. Hughes. Don’t get me wrong I would love to see this fight happen , but if it doesn’t my heart will still be intact . It’s good that I got off my butt and wrote something for once and hope to be working up to full article submissions in the coming months.

Hello World

Some day I hope to make a living as either a fighter, trainer, or writer. So, why not combine them all and create a blog about it? Things you will see in the future:

Sunday Junkie Submissions: mmajunkie.com has a little thing they run on Sundays they call The Sunday Junkie. This is where fans of the site can submit one hundred and fifty word rants about topics in the mixed marital arts world. I will post here if any of mine are picked and I will expand a pound them if need be.

Wrestling Season Updates: As of the 2008 - 2009 wrestling season I will be a assistant coach of the Winthrop(MA) High School Wrestling Team. I will also be head coach of the youth program. Through out the season I will post meet and tournament scores, pictures, and just general B.S. about the season.

Fighting and Training Updates: As I said before, I have a goal of becoming a successful professional fighter. Fight videos and pictures, training, and upcoming news can be seen here when they come up.

MMA/Boxing Reviews and Previews: Books, movies, video games….you get the idea.