UFC 118 is bringing back memories of the single digit UFCs in the early '90s, which featured specialty matchups such as "boxers versus wrestlers" and other bouts of that nature. I'm referring to the close to being signed fight between Randy Couture and James Toney.
Couture is of course a legend in the game, and still going strong in the latter half of his forties. Toney himself is one of the better boxers the game has seen, who will be 42 by the time this proposed fight takes place in August. And will be looking to make his MMA debut in bout in Boston.
The whole situation seems super-strange. Toney making his debut in the sport against one of the greatest fighters MMA has seen; and taking on a fighter who has over a dozen years of MMA experience under his belt. The UFC deciding to put on a fight is itself quite bizarre. UFC president Dana White has prided himself and his organization for not putting on spectacle-type fights, but this one does lend itself to be a bit of spectacle. White is of a boxing background himself and has stated he has tremendous respect for Toney, so that has also most likely played a big part in facilitating this deal apparently come to fruition.
On the plus side of the equation, this fight is likely going to draw some interest from boxing fanatics, who will be curious to see how one of their bigger names in the game does in the MMA scene. And the fight might draw in some more fans into the game.
As far as proving anything, I don't think the fight will do much in that department. If Couture wins, he's definitely suppose to come out victorious against an MMA rookie. If Toney KOs Couture (I can't imagine a submission or decision win from Toney), that's just another homage to the classic MMA statement that "anything can happen" in the sport. We witnessed a 48 year old Ray Mercer knockout Tim Sylvia in 9 seconds, it what was Mercer's first fight against a former 2-time UFC heavyweight champion.
Couture will definitely have to be careful with not tagged with some big punches, but anticipate the former UFC champ to taken down Toney and from there get the mount. After that he'll either be scoring a TKO win or choking out Toney if he gives "The Natural" his back. I'd really love to see this fight be a fantastic war, and witness Toney sprawl and avoid takedowns from Couture. And if Toney does get taken down, use some incredible scrambling ability against Couture (a-la Chuck Liddell) and get back to his feet and use his boxing game. That'd be a wonderful fight that would make for a highly intriguing matchup. But for an MMA rookie to pull off that kind of stuff against an MMA fighter with the knowledge, experience, talent and determination of a Randy Couture, seems very unlikely.
But then again, I guess, in MMA, anything can happen.
TAGS: Boston, Boxing, James Toney, Mixed Martial Arts, Mma, Randy Couture, Ufc, Ufc 118, Ultimate Fighting
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Congrats to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for putting a definitely mark on who the UFC light heavyweight champ is at UFC 113. It's one thing to fight to a close decision and keep things in limbo, it's another thing to separate you opponent from consciousness. It was a very impressive performance for Shogun, who took the fight to Machida, and came back from two takedowns, got back up, imposed his striking and aggressively KO'd the formerly undefeated champion.
Who's next for Shogun? Nobody knows. There's a strong contingent who feel the winner of Rampage vs Rashad will get the nod to take on Shogun, which would both make for some interesting fights. Rashad has some stellar takedowns and is willing to strike, and Rampage would have revenge on his mind after being TKO'd by the Brazilian in Pride FC days.
But an even more intriguing matchup could be Jon Jones taking on the new light-heavyweight king. "Bones" has lit up the division and showed some incredible skill. Many agree he is the future of the division, could that future be right now if he's given the shot? I'd answer yes. Shogun would be hard to beat, and he would definitely test the chin of Jones in the fight, but I feel the diversity of attack in Jones' game, and certainly the effectiveness of his wrestling will be able to curtail some of Shogun's striking attack, and allow the American to score a win over Rua. It'd be a great fight but I don't think Jones will be getting his shot just yet. He's evidently slated to take on Vladimir Matyushenko.
But when Shogun and "Bones" eventually do meet up, while Jones may come in as an underdog, I feel he'd be able to find a way to win that bout and become the new 205 pound king in the UFC.
TAGS: Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida
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Jose Aldo defended his WEC featherweight title in Sacramento as he won a unanimous decision over former 145 pound king, Urijah Faber. Aldo was in complete control of the battle, landing big strikes on the feet and picking Faber apart. Big leg kicks would force Faber to switch stances on occasion, but that would be swiftly countered by thunderous body kicks from the Brazilian. It became clear as the fight went on that the only position that Faber might have chance to defeat Aldo in was if he was able to get on top of Aldo. But Faber missed several takedowns and his only successful one was successfully countered by Aldo, who instantly got back to his feet. Faber showed tremendous heart at the end of round 4, when Aldo had both of his opponent's arms pinned down on the ground from side control and was raining hard punches and elbows and Faber was not able to escape. 99 out of 100 fighters in that spot could have been finished in that spot, but Faber hung in there. Thankfully the round ended, because it was just painful and torturous to watch Faber grimace in pain as he continued to unsuccessfully to find a way out. Aldo defeated Faber via unanimous decision (49–45, 49–45, 50–45).
Ben Henderson once again defeated Donald Cerrone in the lightweight title bout. This time however it was not a back and forth 25 minute adventure--Henderson attacked quickly and was able to put away Cerrone in 1:57 into the fight with a tight guillotine. Cerrone was looking to strike early and a kick was quickly grabbed by Cerrone. Although the single and double was stopped, Henderson got the clinch, landed big knees to the thighs and face of Cerrone, dragged "The Cowboy" to the mat. A scrambled ensued and Henderson snapped on an extremely tight guillotine and Cerrone tapped out just under 2 minutes into the fight.
In another quick fight and a huge upset, Manvel Gamburyan shocked fans by scoring a knockout over former WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown. Gamburyan showed improved standup, much more tighter and technical, and scored a counter right hand that dropped Brown, and Gamburyan pounced on the dazed brown and put him out 2:22 into the fight.
TAGS: Ben Henderson, Jose Aldo, Mike Brown, Urijah Faber
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I have to give Jake Shields a lot of credit in his recent title defense over Dan Henderson. Shields had an excellent single-leg, mounted Henderson off all takedown attempts and was able to thwart and win a clear cut decision over one of the greatest fighters of all-time. I didn't give Shields much of a shot to win the battle, and the Californian proved myself among many other naysayers wrong in his triumphant win in the cage in Nashville.
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Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will square off once this season of TUF is done, and many are curious as to who will win this 3rd installment of their trilogy. Although time has passed, once thing remains eternal in MMA--styles make fights. And stylistically it's still a similar battle. Ortiz will have a tough time taking down and holding down Liddell, and Liddell will still have to be favored in a striking battle. It should be close, and Ortiz could very well pull it off, but stylistically it makes for a similar outcome--Liddell winning.
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Brandon Vera takes on Jon Jones this weekend, and while the veteran Vera has notched some solid wins in the division and is a bonafide 205er, rising star Jon Jones is the favorite for this fight. Vera probably has mixed emotions about his role as underdog. On the one hand there's less pressure, but on the other he is probably wondering why he isn't the one being favored due to his solid wrestling, striking, BJJ and impressive performance against Randy Couture, albeit by defeat.
But Jones is a hard guy to pick against these days. His last fight, a loss, was probably the best and most dominating loss for the losing fighter, save the DQ loss Anderson Silva had against Yushin Okami, where Silva knocked out Okami from an illegal upkick. Jones in his fight against Matt Hamill was pounding away from mount and really taking out the tough as nails Hamill, but landed the dreadful 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock strike with his elbow which was illegal, and also helped in stopping Hamill from continuing and resulted in a DQ loss for Jones.
In this fight versus Vera, Jones will be the guy I pick. He's a very explosive, athletic fighter, who has unorthodox striking, great wrestling and just an "it" factor, in addition to tons of momentum, despite losing his last bout. I'll go with Jones in this bout. Vera is very motivated after his loss to Randy Couture, which was razor close and debated heavily amongst many of the MMA faithful. Vera is hungry, but I think Jones' skill and confidence right now makes him a bad matchup for almost every 205er in the game. He is arguably the future of the light heavyweight division, and he'll make a big step into that future on Sunday. Jones by decision.
TAGS: Brandon Vera, Jon Jones
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Nog over Velasquez. Tough one to pick, but striking and BJJ prowess and experience wins here.
Bader over Jardine. Takedowns are still worth alot.
Silva over Bisping. Still hard to bet against the Axe Murder in this one, even though he hasn't been as terrifying as he was in the past.
CroCop over Rothwell. CroCop has been uninspired in his last fights and doesn't even know if he wants to fight anymore, but I still have trouble betting against him. Maybe I'm just banking on past heroics too much, but I'm going down with the ship on this one.
Stevenson over Sotiropoulos. Stevenson has great wrestling and has been in there with the best.
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StrikeForce Miami proved to be an entertaining card. 47 year old Herschel Walker was able to pick up a win in his MMA debut, and Nick Diaz and Cris Santos won their respective title bouts. Cyborg showed her domination against the tough and big hearted Marloes Coenen. But in the third the Brazilian poured it on to score the win.
In the most dramatic comeback of the night, Robbie Lawler came back from eating thunders strikes for the whole first round against Melvin Manhoef, to come back and unload a single right hand which dropped the Dutch striker.
TAGS: Robbie Lawler
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Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz duke it out live on Spike TV on Monday in Fairfax, Virginia, on the UFC Fight Night Card. It's a good fight, and it's a chance for Maynard to get revenge for the time he was bested by Diaz on The Ultimate Fighter 5 reality series. I feel Maynard will secure the win in this bout. He is hungry and I think he has highly improved standup, excellent wrestling, and knows his BJJ defense has to be top notch against Diaz, and therefore will be fine defending sub attempts from the top position. I see Gray doing well on the feet but taking the fight to the mat to score some points, get some ground and pound in, and score the decision win. One thing you know though is that Diaz is always dangerous whether it's 5 seconds into the fight or 2 seconds remaining in the bout. He is there to fight until the final bell rings and Maynard has to be perfectly alert for every submission attempt the Stockton native attacks with.
TAGS: Gray Maynard, Nate Diaz
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What a 2009 Jose Aldo Jr. has had:
4 wins,
all stoppages,
all TKO/KOs,
3 in the first round,
1 in 8 seconds,
an incredible double flying knee combo knockout,
stopping Mike Brown to become the new WEC featherweight champ.
Jose Aldo is being compared to a mini-Anderson Silva, and if he keeps his act up he will definitely be considered a 145 pound Silva. Congrats on a tremendous year Jose Aldo, and we hope you have an even great 2010. Best of luck.
TAGS: Jose Aldo
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