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Opinion & Analysis
PELKEY BLOG: StrikeForce/EliteXC preview.....of sorts
By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist
Mar 29, 2008, 08:11
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3/29/08
I think the title is apt. How do you write a full preview of a show
that's gone through so many changes over the last couple weeks? Let's
start from the beginning, shall we? Originally, the card broke down
like this: Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le, Gilbert Melendez vs. Christiano
Marcello (the Chute Boxe Jiu-Jitsu coach), Joey Villasenor vs. "Cyborg"
Santos, Jake Shields vs. Drew Fickett, and Nick Diaz vs. Jae Suk Lim. I
was pretty excited about this event initially. Then the craziness
started. First, "Cyborg" Santos pulled out of his fight and Villasenor
was left without an opponent for about a week. Then, Welterweight champ
Jake Shields got injured and pulled out of his fight with Fickett,
leaving Fickett off the card completely. It's one thing when a
challenger pulls out of a fight, because he can be replaced and it's
still a title fight, but losing the champ just plain sucks.
Next (and forgive me if these are slightly out of order, I'm going
completely on memory here. No research for a blog), it was announced
that Christiano Marcello was never signed to fight Melendez, and he was
replaced by Gabe Lembley. That's not too bad, as Melendez is the main
attraction in that fight, but something about him fighting a Chute Boxe
coach was very intriguing to me. Joey Villasenor was finally given a
replacement opponent in Ryan Jensen. He's no "Cyborg", but as far as
replacements go, you can do worse than Ryan Jensen.
And now the real craziness began. It was announced that Nick Diaz (one
of my all-time favorites, by the way) was denied a license to fight by
the CSAC. CSAC claimed it was because he didn't have his medicals
turned in on time, but Diaz's management says its because he has a
prescription for medicinal marijuana. I'm inclined to believe Diaz's
side here. Who would admit to that if it wasn't the real reason? The
problem is, that's a LEGAL prescription in the state of California.
Diaz didn't fail a drug test. He volunteered to take one to prove he
hadn't been smoking, but the CSAC declined. Diaz's team, for their
part, is threatening legal action, which I whole-heartedly support.
Denying a man his right to make a living when he not only hasn't broken
any laws, but any rules is ridiculous.
So....once Diaz was dropped, Drew Fickett got the call and was put back
on the card to fight Lim. Seriously, this all happened within about two
weeks. Who knows what fights will actually take place tonight in San
Jose, but luckily the one fight that wasn't affected in all of this was
the main event. Thank god (or whoever you thank). Frank Shamrock-Cung
Le has me so excited I can't wait. Shamrock has been notorious the past
few years for hand picking his opponents, and not fighting anyone who
he feels is a threat to him. Is Le one of his hand-picked opponents, or
did Stikeforce step in and force (no pun intended) Shamrock to fight
the next logical challenger?
I hope it's the latter, but it doesn't really matter either way. Cung
Le's striking is on another level. For those not familiar with his work
go ahead and look him up on YouTube. Go ahead. I'll still be here when
you get back. Think Anderson Silva, but with more flair. What we don't
know about is his ground game. He comes from San Shou, with rules
allowing striking, clinching, and takedowns, but no actual ground
fighting. Once a fighter goes down, its just like boxing. For what it's
worth, Le's takedowns were almost as impressive has his striking. If he
can avoid being taken down, this fight is his to lose. His striking is
so good, even in his few fights under full MMA rules, we still haven't
seen him on the ground. I know I'm picking with the heart here, but I'm
calling the upset and taking Le by second round TKO.
As you can see, I'm not breaking down this card fight by fight as that
would be an exercise in futility. Who knows what fights will actually
take place once tonight rolls around, but as long as the main event
goes on as scheduled, it should be worth the price of admission
(whatever your cable company charges per month for Showtime).
3/9/08
(3.0) Well if you didn't catch Cage Rage last night you didn't miss much. First off let me say that the way they timed everything out was bizarre. Showtime was advertising a double bill of "combat sports" last night starting with a cruiserweight title boxing match at 9:00. It was slated to go until 10:30 when Cage Rage was to start and go until 1:00 a.m. Well the title fight went only two rounds and instead of filling the rest of the time with undercard fights from earlier in the night, they had about ten minutes of post-fight interviews and analysis and then went straight to Cage Rage at about 9:45. I figured it could be sweet as maybe they'd show more of the undercard fights of THAT show. Not so much. Four fights were scheduled to air on Showtime and that's all they gave us. Add to that the fact that three of the four ended in the first round and the show ended at about 11:15. That an hour and forty-five minutes before it was supposed to end! Inexcusable.
Another complaint I had is that MMAWeekly had the Gary Turner-Mustafa Al-Turk fight listed as one of the fights scheduled to be shown on the Showtime broadcast. I was actually looking forward to that fight. Instead we got the ultra-sloppy, über-boring fight between super-heavyweights Neil Grove and Rob Broughton. I certainly don't mind a fight going the distance if its filled with quality, compelling action, but this was far from it. If I wanted to watch two fat guys throw an occasional, sloppy punch while they gasped for air I'd watch myself shadowbox in the mirror. I don't know if MMAWeekly was given incorrect information, but this clearly wasn't a live broadcast and Cage Rage is to blame for subjecting me to this 15 minute snoozefest.
The other three fights were fine, but all too short to be anything good. The best fight was easily the featherweight bout between Jean Silva and Masakazu Imanari. It only lasted a couple minutes but Imanari put on an absolute ground clinic, transitioning from submission to submission before locking on a devastating heel hook that forced Silva to tap, and looked to tear up his knee in the process.
The Pierre Guillet-Tom Watson fight had a cool finish, but the action leading up to it wasn't anything special. Guillet had Watson on his back and looked to come down with a flying punch, but instead ate an upkick from Watson that put him down and out. Nothing else of note happened in the fight.
And then there was the main event. Oh Ken Shamrock. What has happened to you? Why is it that every time Shamrock fights, he claims he's finally healthy, his injuries have healed, and he's in the best shape of his life? Perhaps a better question would be: why do I keep believing him when he comes out and finds new ways to lose every time? This time he was KO'd by a jab. That's right folks. MMA legend and pioneer, and UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock can now be put down with a jab. I know it won't happen, but I sure hope he decides to hang it up after this, because if he goes through with the proposed with with is brother Frank, he'll be far more embarrassed by Frank than he was by Robert "Buzz" Berry.
Overall not much positive to say. If you want to know which fights to go find from this card, look up the Imanari-Silva bout and let the rest die in peace. Imanari looks scary good. Here's hoping Dana White was watching and tries to sign him to a WEC contract so he can challenge Urijah Faber for the 145lb. throne.
3/8/08
Well I don't have much to say today. I just wanted to remind anyone with Showtime to watch Cage Rage 25 tonight at 10:30 (est). It looks like a pretty decent card. The only name that's really recognizable to American fans will probably be Ken Shamrock. He's headlining against Robert "Buzz" Berry. The intrigue here is not only watching a legend's return to the cage, but word on the streets is that if Ken wins this fight it will likely set up a grudge match with his brother Frank. That's big news. Who would ever think we'd see two brothers fight in a cage without a Hollywood script?
I'll be around tonight on the boards if anyone else is watching and wants to chat it up. I'll also have some more in-depth thoughts post-show sometime tomorrow. That's all for me right right now. Back to the Women of Ninja Warrior Marathon. Thank God for G4!
3/7/08
So it looks like Rashad is Shogun's replacement to fight Chuck Liddell. It seems like someone around here called that. Let's see...who was it? Oh that's right, it was me! You need to spend some more time on the message boards if you don't believe me. Now if they could just move Wilson Gouveia up into the fight with Thiago Silva I could give myself the double pat on the back (take THAT Barry Horowitz!). Anyways, I'm a big fan of this match-up, especially if it's on free tv. Liddell gets a credible replacement, who should keep him motivated, and Rashad gets a chance at a career springboard win. Anyone who thinks the Bisping fight should've done that is just plain silly.
The match-up is also intriguing from an X's and O's perspective. Liddell is the same fighter he's always been. He's used his wrestling background to form the best takedown defense in the bizz (although GSP is quickly gaining), and he just sits back and waits to land the big strike. Rashad is also a wrestler, but he's very patient and his strikes are greatly improved. We'll certainly break down this fight more in-depth as it approaches, but I'll just say I'm leaning towards the upset at this point.
Changing gears a little, with all due respect to my fellow columnist Frank Hyden, "best pound-for-pound fighter in the world" is probably the best title Anderson Silva will ever attain. It's not his fault. He was made to fight at 185. That puts him at a huge disadvantage against the heavyweights. Silva has decent power for his division, more than you would think just looking at him, but it's not like he's piled up one strike KO's. His primary strength lies in his ability to stagger an opponent with a strike and then follow up with five or six more that land as cleanly as the first. It's just nature that the bigger you are, the more power it takes to knock you out. Bigger bodies and bigger heads give you a steadier base and the ability to withstand more punishment. Silva might be able to out-point a striking heavyweight, but put him in there with a top-level grappler with a sixty pound weight advantage and he's in big trouble. Just my opinion.
Enough of my opinions though. I want to hear YOUR'S. Everyone be sure to read my Torch Awards column and let their voice be heard on the message boards. Or just shoot me and E (c) at matt6buckeye@hotmail.com and let me know what you think.
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