UFC 104 Thoughts

No card in recent memory has stirred up the ire of MMA and general sports fans like UFC 104. Accusations of fight fixing, robbery, and just plain old bad judging have riddled the net since Machida was announced as the retaining Light-Heavyweight Champion. Shogun looked as good as he has ever looked and Machida looked as bad as we have ever seen him but at the end of the day literally nothing was settled. Debates rage on in message boards and offices alike, but this was not a one fight show. The card as a whole was filled with talent and storylines, enough to keep us busy, at least until November 7^th.

Anthony Johnson’s Weighty Decision

Anthony Johnson came in to the weigh-ins 6 pounds over weight, admitting that he was physically unable to lose any more weight. It is not that he did all he could and was close or that he came within 6 pounds but forgot the day of the weigh-ins; he was way overweight and had no room to work. Fortunately for him, his opponent had a similar problem, making their fight little more than an exhibition contest. Johnson did what everyone expected and ran through Yoshida but now the question now turns to weather or not he should move up in weight. Early reports say he is not remotely interested in the move, but only time will tell what his body will say. If he keeps having problems cutting to legal weight, he will start having problems being a professional fighter. For now, he is moving his way up in a division that needs contenders so if he can make the weight regularly, he might stumble into a title shot with a smaller champion.

Joe Stevenson Gets on Track

Joe Daddy has been a fairly popular fighter since graduating from The Ultimate Fighter but things haven’t always gone his way. He had a string of bad luck meeting top level fighters that were able to outclass him at almost every turn and looked to be far from a legit contender. Stevenson looks like he is back on track though with a few wins under his belt and a noticeably improving, well rounded game. As for Fisher, perhaps the move down in weight is what the doctor ordered. He is a talented fighter but has constantly proven he that he has difficulty with next level competition.

Cain Velasquez is the Real Deal

I will be the first to agree that Ben Rothwell had a little left in him when the fight was stopped, but the pattern of that fight was not going to change. Velasquez looked sharp in all aspects of his game. His stand-up is quick and precise, his takedowns are effective, and his ground control seems virtually impossible to overcome. Every time I think we are going to see him challenged he comes out and looks more impressive than he did before, rendering a top level title contender the only logical next step.

Okami Finally Falls

It was almost like it was a matter of time. If a fighter is kept from a title shot long enough and suffers enough setbacks, matchmaking can manifest its own destiny and that is just what happened here. Sure, maybe Okami was never a threat to Anderson Silva’s title but he was at least worthy of consideration in the eyes of everyone but Zuffa brass. He falls back down the ranks and we all saw it. I have to feel a touch bad for him but I am not surprised it eventually happened.

The Big Questions

Who won? Will there be a rematch immediately? These are the two questions everyone is asking right now. The answer to the first question is Machida. The only three people who’s opinion mattered declared it so. I for one think the fight was very close and it was a very good fight. Shogun looked great but he didn’t run away with the show or anything. I think there are three things contributing to this muddled situation. 1) Shogun was given no chance by most pundits to win this fight. When he came out with a great gameplan, looking sharp, it caught a lot of people off guard. I think some people are giving Shogun a touch more credit than he deserves for his actual performance in those 25 minutes and comparing what he did to what they thought he would do. 2) If anyone can get away with moving backwards and not being the aggressor without losing points its Machida. He has done it in every UFC fight he has been in for some time and it has proven effective. Judges know his style and likely didn’t take the “aggression” of Shogun into much account. 3) Finally, I am of the opinion that judges get forumal’s in their heads before a fight. If a ground fighter meets a stand-up fighter and they stand the whole time, they are going to think the stand-up fighter is controlling the pace of the fight. I think they saw a technically sound stand-up fight that went the distance and saw the perfect Machida foruma. It doesn’t mean I think they were right or wrong but all anyone seems to want to know is how the judges could come to that decision. Of course they really don’t want to know how, they just want to bitch about the decision but you get the idea. I think this is a great opportunity for MMA professionals at all levels to take a look at the judging in MMA and actually do something about it. What’s done is done and as a Machida fan I know that is easy for me to say, but it is time for us to learn and make steps to improve our sport.

I got caught in the mountain-riddled county of Peyongchang while I was waiting for the winds to be right to paraglide last weekend so I didn’t get to finish my rankings before the ppv. They are almost complete so after a little tweaking they will be up this week hopefully. It is just two weeks before MMA takes off on a 3 week blitz of action so check back.

Quinton "Hollywood" Jackson

When I heard that Rampage was going to be in the new A-Team movie I was mad. Not because I thought it would affect UFC 106 or any other event for that matter but because I thought it was a stupid choice. Look, Rampage is funny, he is talented, and he is charismatic but I am not convinced that any of those things are going to translate well to the big screen. That was nothing compared to how upset I was when I found out that Rampage would first postpone his bout with Rashad Evans and then strait up retire for the part. I am not saying Rampage is scared, far be it for me to accuse him of that, but it does seem to be a fight the MMA world is ready for and Rampage seems to rank it fairly low on his priority list. There are three big ramifications to this decision.

First of all, I think the UFC has got to lose a little respect for Rampage. Zuffa has to be scratching its collective head. Is this the same Rampage Jackson that they bailed out of jail and supported with a legal team when he got hopped up on energy drinks and took his monster truck bahaing in Los Vegas or Los Angeles or one of those big Loses? They stuck their neck out for him and his big mess fell by the wayside. You think that would have happened if it were a major figure in a more popularly accepted sport? Answer: nope. Jackson turning down the first fight with Rashad is completely understandable but this fight was booked well in advance and was given an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter to lube up the hype machine. Rampage pushing the fight back and then pulling out of the UFC at this point at this point doesn’t even allow the UFC to replace him. It leaves Rashad hanging, it leaves the UFC hanging, it made Dana and Joe Silva scramble to reassemble cards at the tail end of the year, and it left TUF season 10 with no pay off. Business is business and Rampmage has to feed himself and his family but from where I sit it seems like one would want to pay back the company that saved your ass, even if it meant passing on a perfect nitch movie role.

This will extend beyond Rampage and UFC 106. Don’t expect coaches to start seasons of TUF with verbal agreements to fight anymore. The UFC took Rampage’s word (as well as Rashad’s) that he would fight after the season was done and then booked an entire event around Jackson fighting in his home town. I expect verbal agreements are going to be followed very closely with signed contracts from here on out. The UFC has gotten into the business of planning months in advance lately, which requires them to switch things up a lot before making official announcements. This really only affects the dorks like myself who are interested in rumored fights 5 months before they happen but Rampage’s actions will likely affect fighter contracts. If fighters are interested in taking movie deals or being flexible about their fights, they may have the UFC brass to contend with. Keep an eye on the way fight contracts play out as a result of this.

Let me be clear, I don’t think this is the last time we have seen Rampage in a UFC cage. No one I have talked to really believes that. At the end of the day I just think it is a bad idea. Sure, Rampage wants to make his own star and this will likely make his fights more lucrative in the future, but the UFC is a business that makes its money on its brand. Certain fighters will always make more for the company than others but at the end of the day its UFC and then a number. Its brand first, sport second, fighter third. While Rampage will get plenty of publicity for the move and the roll itself, I tend to think Rampage would have been better off overall if he simply took this fight and kept being a top notch mixed martial artist. This was essentially a number one contenders fight, especially for Jackson if he won. It kind of makes the sport look silly if you think about it. Would Kobe Bryant skip a round of the playoffs to make a movie? What about Adrian Peterson, Alex Rodriguez, or Sidney Crosby? Hell do you think they would miss a regular season game for a movie roll? If MMA wants to be taken seriously by popular sports culture, it has to be taken seriously by its own athletes. Rampage is one of our biggest stars and he doesn’t care enough about the sport to take a fight he agreed to and spent time building? The same can be said for Mr. Le who is basically holding the Strikeforce MW title hostage while he makes movies that no one will ever watch. This is why MMA is still seen by many as a trend. If you want to go do some acting go do it when you take a break from the sport for a bit. Don’t do it when you should be in the limelight, competing at the top levels. The majority of the sports top athletes take MMA very seriously and I wish cases like Jackson and Le didn’t make MMA look like a stepping stone to “real careers.”

*steps off soap box*

Another Return

As anyone who has stumbled across this blog knows, I have recently moved to Korea and the move was a bit taxing on my time. The free time I have had has usually gone to sleep, catching up with friends, or adjusting to living on the other side of the world. I thought I would return with a little bit of a summary of how MMA is covered here. There are entirely too many stories to cover so my promise to myself (as I am the only one who frequents this blog) is to get a top 10 ranking out for the major divisions before UFC 104 as well as my thoughts on the approaching event and the Rampage/Dana/Rashad/TUF 10 saga. I likely wont keep the promise but I am going to give it a good go, now onto MMA in Korea.

MMA is a bit more mainstream here, as one might have guessed. For example, I was flipping through some cannels that I didn’t understand and I came across some sort of game show that hurt my brain. People were taking turns playing with a cat and were totally stoked on it. Then, out of nowhere, a picture of Fedor came up with some Korean text beside it. I have wished I could read Korean since I have been here but not once more than that moment. There was just a big grinning Fedor smiling at me while people played with cat.

Akyama can be found on a number of advertising billboards, including my personal favorite of him in a suit and tie eating some food while leaning on a dishwasher, two poses.

UFC events are free on regular cable, as are DREAM events. They are carried on different channels, which caused me to miss half of the last DREAM card due to confusion. Before UFC events they do an hour long countdown, talk show that is what a MMA countdown show would look like if ESPN did it.

They are clearly still hung up on Pride fighers here. For the UFC 103 countdown show Cro Cop dominated the coverage, taking at least 50% of the airtime. The other three headlining fighters split the difference between themselves. I didn’t understand what they were saying so that is only based on who was actually on the TV.

This has nothing to do with Korean culture but most of my coworkers here are really into MMA, which means I actually have people to talk to about the events. This is just plain ol’ exciting.

Be back shortly folks… be back shortly.