The return of MMA Mondays. UFC 129 fight matchups- Couture vs. Machida/ GSP vs. Shields
Here it is folks, the return of my MMA Mondays section of my blog. My apologies for keeping you in wait for so long, but my timing couldn’t be any better. With less than 5 days away until UFC 129, there is much to preview. The fight card is stacked to say the least. It brings you 3 fights that could be headliners and are definitely fan favorites.
Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick is sure to be a fun fight to watch. Although Hominick is no slouch on the ground, look for Jose Aldo’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to overpower Hominick. I have Aldo getting submission of the night honors in the 2nd round
Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson is also going to be an all out brawl. Henderson needs to prove himself worthy of mention among the top fighters in the sport after a disappointing loss to Anthony Pettis’s ninja skills, better known as the kick heard round the world. Observe exhibit A.
Now we get to the good stuff.
LYOTO MACHIDA vs. RANDY COUTURE
Ladies and gents, if you aren’t pumped for this fight, quite frankly you aren’t a fan of the sport. Randy Couture has said on many occasions that Machida is a puzzle that he’d like to solve and that’s an understatement. If you’ve never seen Machida fight before in your life, the best way to describe it is to say he has a strategic assault.
It’s like a Jack in the box; you know it’s going to jump at you sooner or later, but you don’t know when and you never see it coming.
Most fighters like to lean forward and throw lazy jabs at you, followed by a timed flurry of fists. Not Machida. He actually leans back, waits for the opening, and by the time you know what hits you, Bruce Buffer is announcing his KO victory.
Couture though is an expert at picking you apart. He does one of two things very well; He can either beat you at your own game or he can dissect you and find a weakness that no one previously knew about. Just ask Tim Sylvia or Chuck Lidell.
The milestone for Couture, if he can win, will be that 20th victory. That’s a nice round number to retire to, don’t you think?
I hate going against Couture, especially since this is likely Couture’s last fight ever, but I think Machida is on his way back to the top. I predict Machida wins a decision over Couture.
And the main event of the night will feature
JAKE SHIELDS VS. Georges St. Pierre
Have you ever been in gym class as a little kid and played dodgeball? Did you ever think that you were the best at dodgeball in your class but there was always another kid from another class that swore he could beat you? My apologies if this analogy failed miserably but that’s kind of what this fight is like.
Jake Shields has been fighting for a lifetime it seems, and he has not lost a fight with anyone in 6 years.
GSP is an MMA Veteran and has been fighting since he was a young teen.
This is a tale of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object.
Jake Shields is a fighter that has established his dominance from his days at Strikeforce and trains with the most dominant fight camp in MMA (Cesar Gracie). He’s beaten Dan Henderson, Yushin Okami, and Carlos Condit.
Georges St. Pierre has an excellent fight camp as well, and like Shields trains year round to make sure he is the best fighter when he steps into the Octagon. Even GSP has said that a fighter that trains the way he does is sure to be a dangerous one. Especially when you add Shields’s BJJ into the mix.
My prediction for this fight;
It doesn’t look like Jake Shields has any holes in his game. His BJJ is superior (perhaps not to GSP’s but still) to most of his opponents. However, if you saw Shields’s last fight versus Martin Kampmann he looked a little flat. It was his debut fight in the UFC, and everyone was expecting a beast that was going to roll over Kampmann, and it didn’t happen. Shields won, but it wasn’t impressive.
GSP will win this fight via decision and will keep his belt.
Hope you enjoyed this edition of MMA Mondays. It’s good to be back folks.
Fighter Spotlight: Jason “Mayhem” Miller back in the UFC
Jason “Mayhem” Miller is an MMA Veteran middleweight fighter, specializing in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai. He trains at Team Quest in Temecula, California and has trained extensively with such greats Randy Couture, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Marc Laimon, to name a few. Mayhem regularly co-hosts “Mayhem Mondays” on the Jason Ellis show which can be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio and hosts a show called “Bully Beatdown” on MTV. His professional record is an impressive 23-6-0 and has fought the who’s who of MMA such as Japanese Legend Kazushi Sakuraba, Frank Trig, Georges St. Pierre, and Tim Stout.
With all this going on for Miller, someone was sure to take notice eventually. Well, someone did; mmaweekly.com reports that the always colorful and animated Miller has signed a new multi-fight deal to make his return to the UFC.
Here’s my thoughts on Miller;
At first glance, you might not like Mayhem Miller because of his “out there” personality and his showboating ways. In fact, I was one of those people that really didn’t like him. I mean if you were a young fighter and walked around with a chip on your shoulder, always laughing and being over the top, you probably wouldn’t make too many fans either. Then I realized something; he’s not young anymore. He’s a veteran fighter, who takes his job seriously, but has fun while doing it. Actually if you think about it, why wouldn’t you? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at Miller here beating up on another veteran (some would even say legend), Kazushi Sakuraba.
And here is Jason Miller talking about the fight versus Sakuraba.
Jason “Mayhem” Miller is a rare breed indeed, and if you ask me he’s earned his ticket back to the UFC. Dare I say he’s ready for another shot at the top fighters in the sport. Heck, I consider him one of the top fighters already and it’s time for everyone else to realize that.
Just a quick note on…
HEART…
People ask me all the time, why am I a fan of MMA? What’s so special about it? I’ve answered this question about 50 different ways but it’s always the same; Heart. No other fighting sport can embody the true heart of a champion the way Frankie Edgar did. I always wished that I could take a specific fight and show non viewers what I meant. If there was ever a fight that could physically demonstrate what “heart” is, it’s this one right here. Pure nuts and guts ladies and gents. I know it’s early, but this fight is my pick for fight of the year.
Pretty soon I’ll be doing bios on MMA fighters that have upcoming fights for the average (or uneducated) fight fan, but consider this a teaser and the blueprint for most MMA fighters, especially champions. Enjoy.
So what’s th best sports movie of all time?
Hey what’s up guys and gals, YourMVP here with a very important question for all you movie viewers out there. I was just wondering, What’s the best sports movie of all time? I know which one mine is but I want to get a feel for what everyone else thinks out there.
But before I give you my personal favorite of all time, I want to give you my top 5, ending with my own personal favorite at number 1. If you disagree with me or think that I left a movie out of this list, tell me damn it! This post is meant to get you thinking about that kind of thing. So without further ado, at number 5 I give you…
5. Rookie of the Year
I bet all you parents out there hated this movie. Not because it isn’t good, but because for an entire summer, kids all over America were hoping to break their arms in hopes that it would turn them into a major league pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. This movie has all the makings of a classic. A little comedy, a little drama, and even a small hint of romance for the female audience.
4. Bloodsport
This one was hard to pick because I couldn’t decide whether bloodsport was better than Van Damme’s “Kickboxer.” Bloodsport gets the edge because of JC’s number of crazy “fight me” faces. But really, there’s no loser here when you consider that it’s 2 hours of wishing you were an American kick boxer in some foreign country having to fight a foreign dude on steroids.
3. The Waterboy
If it’s one thing than Adam Sandler does better than being funny as hell, it’s making a sports movie that’s equally as funny. Most of his movies actually turned out really good like Happy Gilmore, and The Longest Yard. But the all time greatest Adam Sandler sports movie is The Waterboy. I mean you just can’t get any better than seeing a half retarded waterboy power bomb another linebacker.
2. Million Dollar Baby
This movie isn’t so much number 2 on my list is it is number 1A. Here’s the kicker, before this movie I had never seen a Clint Eastwood movie in my entire life. Not even Dirty Harry. Ever. All it took was one inspiring performance by Eastwood as a trainer who is reluctant to take on a female boxer (complimented by Morgan Freeman by the way), and one incredibly believable performance by Hilary Swank as a boxer to make this movie epic. Yes, I just used the “E” word.
1.Hoosiers
Hoosiers is the greatest sports movie of all time. This movie wins hands down. There is no debate if you ask me. When other sports movie directors think of making a movie, it takes cues from this movie. Seriously there’s a blueprint here.
- The new coach that does things his way or the highway
- The star player that is reluctant to jump on board
- The group of misfits that no one believes in
- The Pre-game speech
- The iconic moment…”Coach…I’ll make it”
I mean c’mon! If there’s a better movie out there I dare you to clue me in please!
I will be waiting patiently for the day that a movie can top this level of sports greatness. In the mean time, keep an eye out for all those good movies guys and gals
Until next time, This has been YourMVP.
Still think MMA is pointless?
Hey guys, I just want to share a quick story with everyone. As some of you may know, in New York this past weekend there were stories of a mad man that went on a 28 hour killing spree. The search for that madman, Maksim Gelman, ended when a native new yorker, Joe Lozito (in the picture above) helped the police take capture Gelman. How did he do it, the murderer who went on a 28 hour killing frenzy was subdued by Lozito using moves that he learned from watching MMA and UFC fighters.
This just goes to show that MMA is more than just two people beating each other to bloody pulps, as some anti- MMA critics would put it. It is a game of human chess that at it’s core, is the definition of self defense.
So how was Lozito rewarded? Apparently news of this got all the way to Dana White, the President of Ultimate Fighting Championship. Dana just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet this guy. I mean who could? Heck, I would have wanted to meet him and tell him he’s a hero all along. But now that I know it’s possible to take a guy with a knife down (most likely with a double leg takedown I presume) I just want to ask him how he did it?
So the next time someone talks to you about MMA as being a “pointless” sport, I suggest you tell them to say that to Joe Lozito’s face, cause you’re going down! You can check out Dana White’s praise to Joe here in this video courtesy of myfoxny.com
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/manhattan/subway-hero-meets-ufc-president-20110214
image source: tmz.com
video source: myfoxny.com
Happy New Year, YourMVP style! The 1st MMA Monday blog of 2011
Here it is ladies and gentlemen. As promised, MikesViewPoint is back in full force for 2011 and is ready to deliver with the first MMA Monday segment of the New Year. I certainly hope everyone had a worthwhile 2010 and is having a good start to 2011 so far.
In the world of sports, I was certainly on the lookout to see who was going to make the first big statement of 2011 and I didn’t have to wait long at all. Less than 24 hours after the new year rang in, UFC 125 delivered. If you didn’t see it you missed everything from a broken nose, to a long haired dancing fighter, to a 5 round battle of wills that ended in a draw. Yes you read correctly, a DRAW.
However, first thing’s first. Let’s start with:
CLAY GUIDA VS. TAKANORI GOMI
Takanori Gomi (left) Clay Guida (right)
Coming off his impressive 1st round KO victory over Tyson Griffin, Takanori Gomi seemed to be the favorite in this fight. Clay Guida had lost 2 of his last 4 bouts; notably losing against Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian. Then, the octagon door closed and I realized how much of a mismatch this fight was for Takanori Gomi. He had never even seen a fighter even close to Guida’s fighting style. I don’t know if it was part of Guida’s gameplan, but he certainly threw Gomi off with all the hair dancing, head fakes, and bobbing and weaving. You have to credit Guida’s conditioning for being able to move around that much and change angles, which is never a surprise. Eventually the veteran Clay Guida showed that he can still finish fights and applied a guillotine choke on Takanori Gomi for the victory.
DON HYUNG KIM VS. NATE DIAZ
Nate Diaz (right) loses his fight against Don Hyung Kim (right)
Love him or hate him, Nate Diaz is known for his relentless taunting of fighters and his arrogance. If you ask me, I prefer some of the more humble fighters over the “bad boy”. Personally (and this goes for athletes in every sport), the worst kind of fighter is the guy that talks crap and backs it up. In MMA, few people fit this description, but Diaz does.
So when an unknown Don Hyung Kim stepped into the ring with him, I wasn’t expecting much. As always, Nate Diaz taunted his opponent. Then I saw Hyung Kim physically match up with Diaz. He was taller, had as much reach, and in my opinion was just stronger than Diaz. What surprised me even more was that Hyung Kim refused to be bullied and he actually taunted Diaz back. Kim was very impressive. It was a close 3 round fight, but I thought Kim dominated Diaz on the ground. However, Diaz pulled the trigger too late winning only the last of the 3 rounds. I didn’t think it was as controversial as everyone made it seem. Diaz didn’t do much off his back and the take-down wins over the judges every time.
FRANKIE EDGAR VS. GRAY MAYNARD
Allow me to begin by saying that this fight is the reason why I’m such a huge fan of MMA. Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard had it all. Near Knockouts, big slams, displays of courage, determination, and heart. It was just a straight up FIGHT! Nobody thought this this fight had much to offer because Frankie Edgar had gone to a decision in six of his last seven fights, and Gray Maynard went to a decision in seven straight. True fight fans know they had nothing to prove but Maynard must have thought so because in round 1, he came out swinging and caught Edgar with a beautifully timed punch within the first minute. For five minutes straight, Gray Maynard had Frankie Edgar on dream street. Somehow, Frankie had enough awareness to intelligently defend himself against Maynard’s barrage of punches, but even as a spectator I thought four minutes was an eternity to survive after you get rocked by a punch like that. A mix of luck and defense alone got Edgar out of that round. A perfect example of this was when one of Maynard’s punches knocked Edgar off his feet. Instead of falling flat on his back, he rolled away from Maynard’s attacks. It sounds simple, but it’s such a brilliant guard from strikes. Had Edgar fallen flat on his back, Maynard’s ground and pound would have knocked Edgar out for sure.
Round 2 started and it looked like Edgar was still flat footed and wobbly. I thought all it was going to take was one more well timed punch and they would be raising Gray Maynard’s hand in victory, but out of nowhere Frankie Edgar catches a knee thrown by Maynard, and uses it to lift Gray Maynard up off the ground and slam him. That seemed to put the life back into Frankie and there was no doubt that it also won him the second round.
By the 5th round, no one could argue that they were tied at two rounds each. Honestly, I still don’t know who won that final round but I know that there is no way that it should have ended in a draw (split decision). People have blamed the judges on a horrible job when it comes to the scorecards. If this wasn’t a championship fight, then I’d actually be defending the judges. Edgar vs. Maynard was too close to call and if you call it a draw after a 3 round non-championship fight, that’s okay but in a title fight there HAS to be a winner. The judges have to be more responsible when calling that fight. And yes, I said the judges. Dana White can’t do anything in this situation because he can’t personally appoint judges. That comes down from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The question for Dana White now becomes who gets the rematch? Does he give it immediately to Maynard or does Anthony Pettis step up next? Initial reports say Pettis gets the champ Frankie Edgar, but look for Dana White to comment in the near future.
Hope you enjoyed the first post of 2011 and as always this has been,
YourMVP
Image source: ufc.com
MMA MONDAYS: Brown Pride Night at UFC 121
Introducing your New UFC Heavyweight champion of the world.
Saturday was a big night in my opinion for the progression of this sport. Not only because we saw the crowning of a new heavyweight champion. Nor is it because that newly crowned champion is the first Mexican born fighter to become a champ. Every single bout that was shown Saturday night showcased the true heart of a champion and also showed how much these guys leave out there on the Octagon. Mexicans all over America became big UFC fans if you watched UFC 121. Oddly enough, Cain Velásquez wasn’t even the only Mexican fighter that won that night. But before I get to the main event, I’m going to highlight what I thought was the 2nd best fight of the night, and a serious fight of the year candidate.
DIEGO SANCHEZ VS. PAULO THIAGO
Diego Sanchez (the fighter with both feet on the ground) executes one of the most difficult and exciting moves; an over the shoulder slam on Paulo Thiago.
Mexican Pride was out in full force Saturday night. Perhaps Cain Velásquez fed off of this other Mexican’s energy. From the start of this fight, Diego Sanchez had a fire in his eyes, as he always does. It seems as if the only way he can win a fight is if he takes it personal. Paulo Thiago is a tough opponent, and had no problem making it personal for Sanchez as he began to fire back, verbally taunting Diego in Portugese before round 1 started.
Then the doors closed in the Octagon, and these 2 fighters went at it like madmen. Each of the 3 rounds were close, but I did give the edge to Diego Sanchez for pressing the issue in the later rounds, especially with this textbook slam that you see up above. Trust me folks, this move is a lot harder than it looks. Sometimes a fighter will successfully mount an opponent on his shoulder but that doesn’t always translate into a slam, much less a full body slam onto your opponent’s back. Still, Paulo Thiago went toe to toe with Diego Sanchez and lost slightly. And I mean ever so slightly. This fight could have easily gone the other way via a split decision. Nevertheless, it had all the makings of “fight of the year.” Congratulations to Diego Sanchez on the victory. Now the question becomes who should he fight next? Does he get Frankie Edgar? We shall see.
And of course that brings me to the main event
BROCK LESNAR VS. CAIN VELÁSQUEZ
Cain Velazquez (on the right) delivers one of many devastating blows to Brock Lesnar (left)
YourMVP’s Thoughts;
I gotta say, going into this fight I really thought Brock Lesnar was going to win. I thought that at 280lbs, Brock had too much power combined with speed and with just roll right over Velásquez. However, after a conversation with MMA Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach John Danaher, he shared with me that Velásquez’s conditioning is the hidden weapon that would make the difference vs. Brock, and boy was he right.
This fight lasted exactly 4:10 in the first round with Cain raining down some vicious ground and pound punches to Brock. This led ref Herb Dean to stop the fight because Brock couldn’t intelligently defend himself. However, for the first minute it seemed as if Brock was in control and even took Cain down to the ground. So what happened? Cain amazingly just stood right back up. Twice, and then turned the fight around. Let me rephrase that, a 240 pound Cain Velásquez stood up on Brock Lesnar, who outweighs him by 40 frigging pounds! Cain is a strong guy, but not stronger than Brock. So what gives? The brilliant mind of John Danaher called it exactly. Cain’s conditioning gave him the necessary breaths of air to be able to stay toe to toe with Brock.
And with that said, we now have a new Heavyweight champion of the world, Cain Velásquez. He is at the top of the world and so he should. One thing is for sure, the heart that he displayed on Saturday will have to be his primary weapon if he’s going to face top contenders in a division that sports the likes Frank Mir, Junior Dos Santos, and of course Lesnar (should a rematch happen).
I hope you enjoyed this MMA Monday segment as much as I enjoyed blogging about it. And as always, this has been YourMVP.
Image Source: ufc.com
MMA Mondays: Chael is a Cheat!
If you don’t know who Chael Sonnen is by now, it’s not for lack of effort.
In case you forgot, Sonnen is the guy that MMA diehards knew a lot about, but your casual fan does not. In order to promote that, he took on this big mouth personality and blatantly challenged Silva and guaranteed that he would taste defeat. He even made rather offensive comments about an athlete that had nothing to do with the MMA! He accused famous cyclist, Lance Armstrong, of using steriods–that he “gave himself cancer”.
But in a bizzare case of foot-in-mouth syndrome over the weekend, we learned that Chael Sonnen tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, thus failing his post fight drug test for UFC 117. I purposely chose not to blog about it until it was clear on what he tested positive for. Because I was such a fan of his epic fight with Anderson Silva and his gritty win over Nate Marquardt, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I even blogged and went on a rant about how Chael Sonnen’s fight made him the baddest man on the planet. This was probably the first guy that ever talked crap about someone that I actually liked. However, on Monday, seemingly very clear news confirmed every Sonnen fan’s worst fear–that he actually did test positive for an over the counter pharmaceutical steroid, which by the way is still steroids!!
YourMVP’s Thoughts:
In case you’re wondering, this is not the first time that an MMA fighter has been suspected of using steroids, but this story in particular really upsets me more than most. I’ve always said about athletes in general that you, the athlete, are under a huge magnifying glass. The holders of those magnifying glasses are the press, the TV stations, the fans, and the bloggers. As such, you are ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE for what goes in and out of your mouth. I don’t buy any athlete ever saying “I unknowingly used PED’s.” Quite frankly, ladies and gents that is a load of crap. Given the volume of stories these days about players not knowing what was given to them by a trainer, you should already be prepared for that sort of thing.
Chael Sonnen failing his drug test is one thing, but Chael testing positive for steroids after he publicly denounced others using steroids in pre-fight interviews is an entirely different animal. Especially when the particular athlete that he mentioned (Lance Armstrong) has never failed any pre or post event drug test in his life. Sonnen is lucky that we’re still in September because he would have been the front runner for October’s Idiot of the Month. I’m not sure which direction the UFC is going to go on this one. I hope he gets a suspension of some sort, but because of his antics I certainly couldn’t blame Dana White if he decides to release him.
And if you’re not sure how to feel about this one, don’t feel bad about it because I don’t either. But you should check out a side by side comparison of body type and Chael Sonnen’s “backne” as the MMABADASS likes to put it. Check out these photos courtesy of mmabadass.com and see for yourself.
Until next time, this has been YourMVP.
Image Source: mmabadass.com
Failed drug test information: mmafighting.com
MMA Mondays: The Ultimate Fighter 12
Welcome everyone to your MMA Monday segment. YourMVP took a much needed extended labor day break from sports blogging but here we are again and trust me I will get straight to the point. Despite it being the first week of the NFL season and having everyone pumped up about that, I still feel the need to bring you a sneek peek at what’s going on in the MMA world, and man are you in for one hell of an upcoming 10 weeks.
Part of what makes Dana White (Owner of the UFC) such a genius and mastermind when it comes to publicity is that he realizes that there are still those people out there that don’t necessarily watch MMA, but want to get into it. His answer…The Ultimate Fighter.
So what do you get when you have:
- 16 fighters of a certain weight class
- throw them into a house with no TV, phone or any other form of outside communication
- split them up into two teams with two coaches that hate each other
- and have a tournament style fight every week to determine only 2 winners?
The answer? well a lot of this.
If you’ve never seen a season of The Ultimate Fighter, don’t worry. Allow me to give you 3 very important guidelines to follow as you watch the new season this Wednesday.
- You need a good coach’s staredown
nothing says "I hate you" more than standing in front of another man and giving him your meanest mug possible. Manly invitation to a knock-down drag out fight, check.
2. You need a cocky, arrogant rookie who thinks no one in the world can beat him…until someone beats him
- Meet Jamie Yager, just like in every season we meet a fighter who talks the talk but can’t walk the walk. Yager looked very good in his first 2 or 3 fights against fighters who had little to no experience. However, when it was time to fight someone his own size, he quit in the 2nd round. Another one bites the dust.
3. Perhaps the most important rule…DON’T LEAVE IT IN THE HANDS OF THE JUDGES
It happens all the time. A fighter will punch and wrestle his heart out and will leave it all out on the mat and at the end of 3 rounds the judges will steal the win from him. What makes this even more upsetting is that a judge, a guy that has nothing to do with the fight, will reward a losing fighter with a win because he landed 1 or 2 more jabs than the other guy. Part of me wants to curse these guys out but then again, maybe it’s the fighter’s fault for choosing not to finish the fight decisively. It’s a catch 22.
YourMVP’s thoughts;
As I’ve said before, The reason why the show is a huge success is because they do a good job of explaining to the viewers on what the sport is like. It gives you an inside look as to how MMA fighters train, what goes into their hard work, and how a good coach can turn even your average fighter into a top contender. Names like Kenny Florian, Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck (who is actually a coach this year), Diego Sanchez, and Keith Jardine have all reached UFC super stardom because they all made their big debut on The Ultimate fighter. And if you ask me, the other reason why the show is so popular is because this is the epitome of the American Dream. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want a piece of super stardom and experience a rags to riches story? I know I would. You’re telling me that all I need to become rich and famous is a desire to fight and a pair of gym shorts? Sign me up!
So tune in Wednesday and don’t miss the 12th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Here’s a Sneak Peek
http://www.ultimatefighter.com/videos/countdown-to-tuf-12
MMA Mondays: UFC 118 Aftermath
Another UFC Pay Per View is in the books, another exciting night of fights, and many more reasons why you should watch MMA. Remember the old days when all the celebrities used to go to Madison Square Garden to watch the top boxers in the country? Well now Celebs are buying the MMA tickets and coming out to watch the top fighters in the world. Even Shaq wants a taste of the action…
Saturday’s Pay Per View was filled with many interesting fights which certainly lived up to the hype. Here are my thoughts on what I thought were the top 3 fights of the night.
3. NATE DIAZ VS. MARCUS DAVIS
Nate Diaz (blue jeans) vs. Nate Diaz (green trunks)
The first fight of the night was Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis. I was looking forward to this fight because I’ve been looking for someone to silence Nate Diaz and his cocky, arrogant attitude. I thought Davis could’ve been the guy to shut Diaz up but it ended up being the other way around. Nate Diaz certainly talked the talk but it turns out he can also walk the walk; so watch out for Diaz in the future. Davis began the fight with a good flurry of punches, but was eventually outboxed by Diaz.
Marcus Davis (left) being peppered with a mix of jabs and power punches to the face by Nate Diaz (right) which clearly did damage. Diaz ultimately wins via the chokehold.
2. RANDY COUTURE VS. JAMES TONEY
There really wasn’t much to say about this fight, if you look at my UFC 118 Predictions you see that I picked Randy Couture to win in the first round and Couture didn’t let me down. Randy Couture has been in this business too long for a boxer to come along and beat him. To those partial to boxing, it has always been referred to as “the sweet science” but Saturday proved the point that I have been making all along in that MMA is the skill of many sciences. Toney knew for as long as this fight was made, that Randy Couture was going to try to take him down to the ground, and Toney couldn’t do anything about it. Long story short, James Toney couldn’t stop the take down, he couldn’t stop Randy Couture’s ground and pound, and he couldn’t stop the chokehold, which is what finally put Toney out of his misery.
So will a boxer ever beat an MMA fighter? If the fighter is willing to put in the years of training coupled with some tune up fights before he takes on a top tier MMA fighter, then yes he may hypothetically have a shot. Until then, expect to see more of this.
James Toney laying on the floor choked out by Randy Couture as he celebrates his 1st round victory
And the fight of the night, and certainly the surprise of the night goes to…
1. BJ PENN VS. FRANKIE EDGAR
A couple of weeks ago, in my UFC 118 Predictions page, I told you that lightning would not strike twice and that Frankie Edgar would lose his belt to BJ Penn, who would reclaim victory. I was not the only one saying this either. About 95% of MMA critics were saying this too. No one was giving Frankie Edgar a chance to win. Edgar did a lot of TV interviews on the rematch as well and it seemed as if he was always being asked “was your victory over BJ Penn a fluke?” and “did you think BJ Penn was caught off guard?” Week after week he heard words like fluke, lucky, and auspicious. People tried to paint an inaccurate picture that Edgar didn’t get the best version of BJ Penn and If you ask me it got under his skin.
As a former athlete, I can speak to this: anger will either cause you to break under pressure or it will cause you to have a chip on your shoulder. How did Frankie respond you ask? With the kind of intensity that will give you an edge. Frankie Edgar was insulted that people thought he got lucky. He was upset that people weren’t giving him the credit he deserved. It was almost as if people were overlooking the fact that Frankie Edgar was the Lightweight Champion of the world. I believe it motivated him to train harder and to prove that he wanted BJ Penn at 100 percent on Saturday, so he can do the impossible again, and it showed before Edgar ever even got into the ring. You could see a bounce in his step, and a fire in his eyes
YourMVP’s thoughts:
Saturday’s fight with BJ Penn was 5 rounds of domination from start to finish. From the take downs to the punches to his tenacity during the fight, it was clear that Frankie Edgar made a statement. I had him winning 4 out of the 5 rounds. People that saw the fight may say that BJ Penn didn’t look motivated for that fight, but I don’t know how much more motivation you need if you’re fighting for the championship belt. This is actually a problem with BJ Penn. He may look unstoppable in one fight and will look zoned out on the next. Yes, I do think Penn looked to be a little bit unmotivated on Saturday, but there is no way anybody was going to beat Frankie Edgar that night.
So an apology is in order on my behalf to Frankie Edgar for doubting him a second time. He made me realize that I broke my own rule: never underestimate someone’s will to win. It’s why I’m such a fan of underdogs in the first place. Because of this fight and what he represents, Frankie Edgar is now my new favorite fighter in the lightweight division.
If you’ve never seen Frankie Edgar in action, take a look at this cool highlight reel appropriately dubbed with Eminem’s Cindarella Man in the background.
and as always, until next post, this has been YourMVP.
Image source: ufc.com
Video Source: youtube.com
MMA Mondays: MMA For Idiots.
Hello everyone, and welcome to your weekly MMA Mondays segment. This week I was going to write about the upcoming fight this weekend, but I realized that there are a lot of people that aren’t really familiar with the sport. Every week, I get someone that leaves me a message (usually on twitter @mikesviewpoint) asking, above many things, “what exactly is MMA?” Well…once and for all, I am here to explain MMA for idiots. So lets start with the most common question, and quite frankly the most annoying one…
DOES MMA MEAN UFC?
NO!!!Newbies commonly refer to the sport of MMA as UFC and asking this question is a telltale sign that you know nothing about the sport! But have no fear, YourMVP is here. For those that don’t know already, MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. Long story short, you use MMA to beat someone down. UFC stands for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It is a company (one of many) that pays MMA fighters to come and fight for championship belts. The UFC has 4 divisions: Lightweight, Welterweight, Light Heavyweight, and Heavyweight.
WHY DO THESE FIGHTERS ROLL AROUND WITH EACH OTHER LIKE THAT?
This is another question I always get asked by the newbies (usually the lady newbies). The “rolling around” is a fighting style. It is a series of technical moves by both fighters to try and gain the better position over the other and try and gain a win via a knockout or a submission. There are a number of fighting styles including Boxing, Wrestling, and Martial Arts. Your most skilled wrestlers prefer this fighting style over any other, and this usually results in the rolling around that the newbies refer to. This fighting style is also commonly referred to as Ground and Pound. You may also hear some people refer to the Boxers as “scrappers” or “brawlers.” Martial Artists may use a bunch of fighting techniques like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (a.k.a BJJ) or Muay Tai. Your best fighters are really good at all areas of boxing, wrestling, and Martial Arts. Hence earning the title of being Mixed Martial Artists. These MMA fighters are truly the most talented, gifted, and diverse athletes when it comes to fighters, which is why the sport is absolutely blowing up in popularity.
Now here is the most important question that I get and it’s something that needs to be highlighted, especially if the sport is going to move forward.
BECAUSE OF THE BRUTALITY, BLOOD, AND VIOLENCE OF THE SPORT, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MMA AND SAY, DOG FIGHTING OR A FIGHT AMONGST STREET THUGS?
YourMVP’s thoughts:
At one point, many years ago, this sport was banned in about 40 of the 50 states in the U.S. The reason that these states banned the sport was because the fighters fought with no real fighting technique, poor conditioning, and bare knuckles. This obviously proved to be very dangerous and there was no holds barred in the sport. For instance, back then, a 400 pound man could be paired up with a 145 pound man and it would have been considered a fair fight. However there have been pioneers of the sport like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Dan Severn, & Chuck Liddell (to name a few). These pioneers have all made incredible strides for the sport and have brought about certain safe, legal, and equalizing parameters for all fighters like 10 ounce gloves, weight classes, and perhaps most importantly, judges and referees from that particular states’ athletic commission.
These are 10 oz. fighters' gloves which are used for every MMA fight today in the sport
UFC events are most commonly held in Las Vegas, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission appoints referees like this guy who is very well respected among MMA fighters. Big John McCarthy.
UFC President Dana White, who took over the UFC and has lobbied in just about every state to show how much he's cleaned up the sport's act.
These are just 3 examples of how the sport of MMA has made incredible strides in becoming just as well respected as any other sport. In about 10 years, this sport has gone from being the laughing stock of every critic to the Pay Per View leader when it comes to viewers. These days UFC Pay Per Views gross almost more than double in revenue than boxing, and also brings in twice the viewing public than other boxing events.
So there you have it…MMA for idiots complete. I hope you’ve enjoyed your formal introduction to this popular and growing sport.
And as always, until next post, this has been YourMVP.
MMA Mondays: YourMVP’S UFC 118 Predictions
Welcome once again to your weekly MMA Monday segment. This week we’ll be taking a look at the upcoming pay per view event, UFC 118 which comes to you live August 28th. It includes two very interesting fights that I will be highlighting for very different reasons. The main event features a rematch of BJ Penn against Frankie Edgar. The second fight is the co-main event and is being highly advertised as the fight that will answer the question that has been asked ever since inception of MMA. On August 28th, former boxing champ James Toney will square off against Randy Couture and the outcome will finally answer whether boxing or mixed martial arts is the true fighting sport.
BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar II
BJ Penn (left) Frankie Edgar (right)
BJ Penn is a Hawaiian born mixed martial artist and is a seasoned veteran that has over 13 years of fighting experience and sports a record of 22 wins, 15 losses, and 1 draw. Frankie Edgar is a rising star whose talent reached its ultimate potential by defeating the lightweight champion, BJ Penn, in what some are calling a controversial decision victory. I won’t go into too much detail about how Frankie Edgar beat BJ Penn the first time around, but I will say that this was possibly one of the biggest upsets in the past 10 years (right next to Brock Lesnar becoming heavyweight champ last year). What made the outcome of this fight such a big upset? A few things, actually, but here are just 2:
- First, BJ Penn is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and has earned the nickname “The Prodigy” by obtaining his black belt in just 3 years. Normally, it takes someone an average of 8 to 10 years to get a black belt in any martial arts fighting school. And yes, BJ has lost fights before, but he has only done so to other top caliber fighters like Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, and Lyoto Machida. Penn has never lost to a fighter with such little fighting experience, though I won’t take any credit away from Frankie Edgar for winning that night.
- BJ Penn prides himself on his training and his discipline to staying in shape and always walks around with an arrogant “you can’t beat me” attitude. For those that don’t know, this guy is by no means a humble fighter.
So, if BJ Penn comes so highly acclaimed, why did he lose the first time?
Here we see Frankie Edgar (right) delivering a left hook that caught BJ Penn (left) off guard and staggered him momentarily
Because Frankie Edgar wanted it more.
YourMVP’s thoughts:
As I’ve said before, this sport is as much mental as it is physical. BJ Penn was the champion and had nothing to prove against a fighter who had nothing to lose. Penn wasn’t particularly fired up for this fight and completely underestimated Frankie Edgar, a decision that cost him his belt. Because Penn overlooked Edgar’s abilities, he probably also overlooked, even if slightly, his dedication to training. The 5 round fight was very close and it could have gone either way, but if Penn trained with the intensity that he had when he fought Diego Sanchez for instance, the fight would not have been that close. Frankie Edgar proved the age old saying (and my personal favorite quote), “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
Sadly, that is where this feel good story ends, ladies and gentlemen. As valiant of an effort as that was, lightning will not strike twice on August 28th. My prediction is that BJ Penn will once again become lightweight champ via a submission in the 3rd round.
James “Lights Out” Toney vs. Randy “The Natural” Couture
James Toney (left) vs. Randy Couture (right)
The co-main event that night will feature a former WBC heavyweight champion against a five time UFC champion, and by many accounts is a representative fight for the question to exactly which discipline is superior over the other. Is boxing the ultimate display of fighting ability or does mixed martial arts represent the evolution of the modern day fighter?
Well, in order to be considered a superior boxer, you must possess the ability to establish a firm base with your jabs and you must have a knockout punch. James Toney has that…
On the other hand, in order to be considered a superior MMA fighter, you must posses a firm wrestling base AND the ability to finish someone. Here is where it gets tricky because in MMA, you don’t need to be on your feet to finish someone. A tool that Randy Couture has at his disposal because of his Greco-Roman wrestling background and boxing capabilities. Observe exhibits A and B:
This is "ground and pound" 101. Randy Couture can finish you on the ground while you are on your back, as he does here against then heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia
or he can finish you standing up with his second to none boxing skills as Randy Couture (red trunks) did here against Chuck Liddell.
This fight will be entertaining to say the least, but I think this fight is a couple of years overdue and would have been a much more exciting fight back when both competitors were in their early 30′s (both are in their mid-late 40′s). Both fighters are slightly past their prime, but don’t tell Randy Couture I said that because he’s won his last 2 fights convincingly. James Toney does have a slight puncher’s chance to win this fight, but that’s about the only chance he has to win this. If (and that’s a big IF) Randy Couture feels threatened by James Toney’s punches, he can easily take him to the ground and finish the fight there.
My prediction: Randy Couture wins in the 1st round via the knockout (which may or may not come on his feet).
Until next post,
this has been YourMVP
Image source: UFC.com
MMA Mondays!
Welcome everyone to MMA Mondays! Allow me to begin by giving you a small taste of what MMA is like. Regardless of how educated or uneducated you are in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, this past weekend was a perfect example of why the sport is absolutely blowing up in popularity. How popular is Mixed Martial Arts, you say? When professional football players, current and former boxers, and pro wrestlers all want to jump on board and sign up for a fight, you know the sport is becoming mainstream.
This past Saturday, we saw a who’s who of UFC fighters at UFC 117 that had a main event which was worthy of a Muhammed Ali fight at Madison Square Garden. Anderson Silva (left), a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt squared off with Chael Sonnen (right) who is himself a top notch American Wrestler and Boxer.
YourMVP’s thoughts:
Chael Sonnen purposely talked a lot of trash in the weeks that led up to the fight in order to antagonize Anderson Silva into fighting angrily. A tactic that I thought worked very well. Chael didn’t exactly succeed in ticking Silva off as it didn’t seem that Silva fought angrily. Rather, I think Sonnen’s smack talk threw Silva off his game a little bit. Also, it should be noted that Anderson Silva is the pound for pound best fighter in his weight class in the Middleweight division.
So when you’re the best and all of a sudden you hear another guy specifically say that he is going to “punch a hole into your face” week after week at interview after interview, you start to expect Chael Sonnen to be the aggressor. Usually that is Silva’s strategy. Now all of a sudden if you’re Anderson Silva you need a new game plan. Add to that, the fact that Dana White, the president of the UFC, has threatened to fire Silva if he continued his arrogant, showboating ways and now you have a bunch of worries before you even step foot into the octagon.
From the start of this five round fight, punching a hole into Anderson Silva’s face was an understatement. Usually, you want to prepare for these championship fights as if you are running a marathon, not a sprint. Someone forgot to give Sonnen that memo.
What really surprised me here is that Chael Sonnen relentlessly attacked Silva for 5 rounds, and didn’t seem tired. What I always look for when someone constantly comes at you is an open mouth. When that happens, the fighter is winded and his punches no longer have that “oomph” behind them. Sonnen must have had a hidden air supply somewhere because he was not open-mouthed at all. This was truly a testament to Sonnen’s conditioning. This “ground and pound” as it’s referred to is it’s own defense because the weight of the fighter rests completely on top of the guy that’s on his back.
Ok, so let’s go ahead and go through Sonnen’s MMA Checklist, shall we?
- Ground and pound? Check.
- Conditioning? Check.
- Fighter on his back and winning every round? Check.
- Victory?
Here we see Anderson Silva (bottom) applying a variation of an armbar, where Sonnen's arm is being pushed against his elbow. A move that can snap your arm if you don't tap
Not so fast my friends.
The modern day fighter has to excel not only physically, but mentally as well. This is the fighting world’s version of thinking on your feet. Anderson Silva was getting beat up. Badly. Although Silva knew he was losing 4 out of the 5 rounds that he was supposed to fight, his brain was going a thousand miles a minute. Somewhere in the 5th and final round, he realized he wasn’t going to win if this went to the judges’ scorecards. Silva had to finish the fight before that bell rang. So what’s the best defense for someone who is raining down punches on you? Catch an arm and make him tap out.
In football, when a wide receiver catches a ball that is near impossible to catch it is sometimes referred to as the immaculate reception. If that’s the case, I’d like to coin this move in MMA as the “immaculate submission.” Here we see Silva catch Sonnen’s left arm, trap it against Sonnen’s neck and then use the very arm that punished Silva against him. Now Silva has 2 ways of submitting Sonnen: he can either choke Chael out or torque his arm until it snaps. Sonnen is left with no choice but to tap out.
And that ladies and gentlemen is why Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the champ and is recognized as the pound for pound the best fighter in UFC.
Until Next Post,
This Has Been Mike’sViewPoint
Image source: ufc.com
