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by Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Senior Columnist June was a mammoth month for mixed martial arts, with no fewer than nine semi-major to major events taking place within its days. As it happens, there are quite a few things we can take away from the fights of the early summer. We’ll go in chronological order, starting, appropriately, with the first day of the month.
WEC 34:
•We learned that Urijah Faber is the best featherweight in the world when he brought about the destruction of Jens Pulver in five rounds. It was also solidified that Faber needs to fight Norifumi Yamamoto, who is probably the second-best featherweight in the world. Yamamoto will fight at Dream 5 against Faber pupil Joe Benavidez, so hopefully “Kid” will call “The California Kid” out after the fight or something, and we can make this thing happen. It needs to happen.
•Miguel Torres is the best bantamweight fighter in the world, and it’s just a great thing that he has a stage in North America to show off. His fight with Yoshiro Maeda was nothing short of fantastic, and don’t expect anyone to be taking the belt from the mulletted one any time soon. Just as a side note, Torres boasts one of the most impressive records this side of Fedor Emelianenko – and astounding 34-1 (his only loss was to Ryan Ackerman, whom he submitted almost two years to the day after said loss.)
•There were two fights that we didn’t see on this WEC card that potentially showcased some breakout stars. Will Ribeiro beat out former 135-lb champion Chase Beebe, while Mike Thomas Brown knocked off 145-lb contender Jeff Curran. Both fighters who lost are top-ten in their divisions, so perhaps we’ll be hearing more from the winners in the near future.
UFC 85:
•This event has been talked to death by now, but seriously, how about Matt Wiman? No one thought he was going to trounce Thiago Tavares, but that’s exactly what he did, and he’ll be very interesting to watch in his next fight, which will surely be against a top-caliber fighter.
•Martin Kampmann, Luis Cane, and Thiago Alves are beasts. Alves is rumored to square off against Diego Sanchez in what should be a very intriguing fight at UFC 89.
•Once again we learned never to sleep on any opponent, ever. When Kevin Burns submits Roan Carneiro, something didn’t happen like it was supposed to.
Sengoku – Third Battle:
•Early stoppages don’t just happen in America. The Rodrigo Damm-Jorge Masvidal seemed a bit premature to me. Masvidal was out briefly, but Damm was about to follow him to the mat, and by the time he would have gotten there, Masvidal looked like he would have been ready to defend. But the ref stopped the fight. I’m not saying the stoppage was bad, because it’s never a bad idea to stop the fight when a fighter looks like he’s out. But Masvidal wasn’t out, and that’s got to be disappointing for him.
•Nick Thompson is no joke. Sporting an intimidating handlebar mustache and some sideburns adjacent to his bald dome, Thompson tapped Michael Costa with a kimura after being knocked down by a punch and nearly guillotined. He was thoroughly thrashed by Karo Parisyan in his lone UFC appearance two years ago, but “The Goat” has since rattled off 12 straight victories, including wins over Eddie Alvarez, Chris Wilson, and Ansar Chalangov. Thompson is long and rangy, and he’ll give Jake Shields all he can handle when the two go head to head for EliteXC’s vacant welterweight title on July 26.
•It may be time for Kazuyuki Fujita to hang ‘em up. When you come into a fight looking like Fujita did and then end up getting knocked out inside of two minutes by Travis Wiuff, things are not good for you. Of course, being popular in Japan, Fujita will likely hang around for another five years, fighting in meaningless fights and being used as a showcase for up-and-comers.
EliteXC – Return of the King:
•Murilo Rua looked as good as I’ve seen him in a long time. I’ve never been enamored with Rua, but he was impressive here.
•I had only heard of Dave Herman in passing before this event, but dude is nasty. He smoked Ron Waterman, and I’m looking forward to seeing him fight again. (As a side note, more people should use knees to the body like Herman did. He rammed a big knee into Waterman’s side before mounting and finishing the big man.
•Speaking of guys who are for real, KJ Noons is no fluke. He did something that only one other fighter has done, and that’s finish Yves Edwards with strikes (the stoppage loss to Joe Stevenson was techinically a TKO, but it was stopped due to one of the nastiest cuts you’ll see in an MMA fight – and the two were even by my count going into the third round.) Not to mention Noons did it in under a minute. No one expected that kind of thrashing to take place, and if they did, they probably expected Noons to be the thrashee. Look for KJ to put on a repeat performance against Nick Diaz when the two fight again.
•While we’re on the topic of Diaz, that whole post-fight melee was a joke. Whoever decided to let Nick Diaz into the cage after Noons’s fight, expecting him to be civil, is either deluded or a liar. I’m going with the latter. There’s no way you expect Nick Diaz to go in there and congratulate KJ Noons on his title defense, show some respect and politely talk up their rematch. Diaz takes everything personally, and he sees Noons as a spoiled rich kid punk. You’re going to tell me that anyone was surprised by what happened there?
Dream 4:
•In case you missed it, Shinya Aoki is a wizard. A gogoplata from the top? Ridiculous. Even Bas Rutten was mystified. The rest of the Lightweight Grand Prix is going to be very interesting with Aoki vs. Uno and Alvarez vs. Kawijiri.
•Alistair Overeem has still got some power at heavyweight. He wants to fight Cro Cop? Make it happen, regardless of how the Croatian fares against Jerome LeBanner. (I still think he could be a factor at 205 with some good cardio and a good camp.)
•If you’re high on Ralek Gracie, just settle down a second. He’s great with grappling, but every other aspect of his game is extremely rudimentary.
•Ronaldo Souza can go 15 minutes and win, but I still want to see if he can take a punch. We may get to find out if he faces Melvin Manhoef in the next round.
•Speaking of Manhoef, Kazushi Sakuraba needs to retire before he gets himself hurt. Manhoef just made him look silly and old.
TUF Season 7 Finale:
•I wasn’t sure going into the season, but the UFC may have something on their hands with as many as four fighters from the show. Amir Sadollah (who won, of course), Jesse Taylor, CB Dolloway, and the young Matt Riddle have some potential. Sadollah in particular just looks better every time you see him in the cage, and Riddle is young enough to take a lot of time being built up.
•Diego Sanchez is back, and I can’t wait to see him fight Thiago Alves.
•Dustin Hazelett is going to be around for a long, long time. That was an insane armbar that he hung on Josh Burkman. Check it out if you haven’t seen it.
•I don’t want to say it’s time for Evan Tanner to retire, but I don’t know what else the UFC can do for the guy.
Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson
•Yet another pure striker comes into MMA and gets submitted in under a minute. Raymond Daniels of World Combat League fame was smoked by Jeremiah Metcalf. Undefeated in the WCL, undefeated in kickboxing, 0-1 in MMA. And the circle of life goes on.
•Bobby Southworth might be the most boring fighter on the planet. I’m just sayin.
•Just to show once again that no one knows anything, Josh Thomson dominated Gilbert Melendez for five rounds. Very few gave Thomson a chance of winning, let alone shutting Melendez out. So once again we learn that no one is indestructible, and we’re left to wonder what’s next for Melendez. “El Nino” has always had trouble finishing top opponents, though he has a few wins over some of the better lightweights around. As for Thomson, perhaps he’s finally about to break through again. Up until now, Thomson has faltered at the big challenges (his UFC fight against Yves Edwards and his first title shot in Strikeforce against Clay Guida.) So perhaps now we’ll get to see the full potential of “The Punk.”
So here’s to an eventful June, and hopefully more fireworks on the way for July. Until next time, enjoy the fights.
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